life of a father and the life of his son are the same, in that the blood (i. e., the life) of the parent flows in the veins of his chil- dren ; so in an analogous sense the life of the husband and wife is one. They have a common life, and that common or joint life is transmitted to their offspring. This is the doctrine of the early Church. The Apostolical Constitutions say : 1 ^ ywrj koiv<ov6<s tern
fiiov, evovfiivrf cis ev trofia e/c Svo 7rapa 6eov.
The analogy which the Apostle traces out in Ephesians v. 22- 33, between the conjugal relation and the union between Christ and his Church, brings out the Scriptural doctrine of marriage more clearly than perhaps any other passage in the Bible. No analogy is expected to answer in all respects, and no illustration borrowed from earthly relations can bring out all the fulness of the things of God. The relation, therefore, between a husband and his wife, is only an adumbration of the relation of Christ to his Church. Still there is an analogy between the two, (1.) As the Apostle teaches, the love of Christ to his Church is peculiar and exclusive. It is such as He has for no other class or body of rational creatures in the universe. So the love of the husband for his wife is peculiar and exclusive. It is such as he has for no other object ; a love in which no one can participate. (2.) Christ's love for his Church is self-sacrificing. He gave himself for it. He purchased the Church with his blood. So the husband should, and when true, does, in all things sacrifice himself for his wife. (3.) Christ and his Church are one ; one in the sense that the Church is his body. So the husband and wife are in such a sense one, that a man in loving his wife loves himself. (4.) Christ's life is communicated to the Church. As the life of the head is communicated to the members of the human body ; and the life of the vine to the branches, so there is, in a mysterious sense, a community of life between Christ and his Church. In like man- ner, in a sense no less truly mysterious, there is a community of life between husband and wife.
From all this it follows that as it would be utterly incongruous and impossible that Christ should have two bodies, two brides, two churches, so it is no less incongruous and impossible that a man should have two wives. That is, the conjugal relation, as it is set forth in Scripture, cannot by possibility subsist, except be- tween one man and one woman.
i Lib. vi. cap. xiv. ; Works of Clement of Rome, edit. Migne, Paris, 1857, vol. l. p 945, c.
vol. in. 25
886 PART m. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
Conclusions.
1. If such be the true doctrine of marriage, it follows, as just stated, that polygamy destroys its very nature. It is founded on a wrong view of the nature of woman ; places her in a false and degrading position ; dethrones and despoils her ; and is pro- ductive of innumerable evils.
2. It follows that the marriage relation is permanent and in- dissoluble. A limb may be violently severed from the body, and lose all vital connection with it ; and husband and wife may be thus violently separated, and their conjugal relation annulled ; but in both cases the normal connection is permanent.
3. It follows that the state can neither constitute nor dissolve the marriage relation. It can no more free a husband or wife " a vinculo matrimonii," than it can free a father " a vinculo pater- nitatis.,' It may protect a child from the injustice or cruelty of its father, or even, for due cause, remove him from all parental control, and it may legislate about its property, but the natural bond between parents and children is beyond its control. So the state may legislate about marriage, and determine its accidents and legal consequences ♦ it may decide who, in the sight of the law, shall be regarded as husband and wife, and when, or under what circumstances, the legal or civil rights and privileges arising out of the relation shall cease to be enforced ; and it may protect the person and. rights of the wife, and, if necessary, remove her from the control of her husband, but the conjugal bond it can- not dissolve. All decrees of divorce " a vinculo matrimonii," is- sued by civil or ecclesiastical authorities, so far as the conscience is concerned, are perfectly inoperative, unless antecedently to such decree and by the law of God, the conjugal relation has ceased to exist.
4. It follows from the Scriptural doctrine of marriage that all laws are evil which tend to make those two whom God pro- nounces to be one ; such laws, for example, as give to the wife the right to conduct business, contract debts, and sue and be sued, in her own name. This is attempting to correct one class of evils at the cost of incurring others a hundred-fold greater. The Word of God is the only sure guide of legislative action as well as of in- dividual conduct.
5. It need hardly be remarked that it rollows from the nature of marriage, that next to murder, adultery is the greatest of all social crimes. Under the Old Dispensation it was punishable