Christ, it is His emphasis on reality. It is in this that the height and
depth of His morality stand revealed. We do no service--we do a profound
dis-service--to morals when we admit that a marriage is so utterly devoid
of reality that the best thing we can do for a "married couple" is to
separate them from each other altogether--set them apart--free them from
each other's "rights"--break up their home--and yet maintain the legal lie
that they are still a married couple.
It will be asked how the interests of the children can be safeguarded.
The interests of children are best safeguarded by the education and
enlightenment of parents. They cannot be wholly saved if, after all, their
parents have ceased to love or respect one another, for nothing the law can
do will make up to them for that which is every child's right--a home ruled
by love and full of happiness. The best that can then be done is to rescue
them from the misery of a home full of unhappiness and hatred, and to
assign them to the parent who, in the judgment of the court, is best fitted
to care for them.
Let me add that, while I hold that the persistent and unconquerable
conviction of two people that they ought to be divorced ought ultimately to
entitle them to it, this should not be the case if one only of two married
people seeks release. In this case, the decision should be entirely with
the court.
To those who feel that not only our Lord's words but also the
interpretation put upon those words by the Church is of supreme importance,
the following statement will be of interest: "It is quite arguable that
relief may be granted on the grounds that what is impossible cannot be
done. It may be shown on the one hand that to such and such a person it is
morally impossible to live with such and such another person, and on the
other hand that it is morally impossible to live without marriage. In such
instances there is room for the exercise of our 'dispensation from the
impediment of the legamen' (bond). This is the practice of the Eastern
Church, which allows the innocent party to re-marry, and also grants relief
in cases of incurable insanity."
With regard to the Western Church, "Divorce and subsequent re-marriage
in pre-Reformation days were only allowed on grounds existing before the
contract was entered into. (There seems good reason for the belief that our
Lord's words as recorded by St. Matthew refer to prenuptial unchastity.)
But in spite of this apparently narrow restriction there were fourteen
grounds on which a marriage could be declared null and void before the
Reformation, and it was constantly being done. Canonists and Theologians
taught that the full and _free_ consent of parties was essential to
marriage--which teaching obviously would enable a very wide view of the
subject to be taken."[J]
[Footnote J: From a "Memorandum on Divorce," published in _The Challenge_,
July 5, 1918.]