a marriage for any reason other than those assigned in the Bible, the marriage is not thereby dissolved. In the judgment of Chris- tians it remains in full force ; and they are bound so to regard it. And on the other hand, if the state pronounces a marriage valid, which the Bible declares to be invalid, in the view of Christians it is invalid. There is no help for this. Christians cannot give up their convictions; nor can they renounce their allegiance to Christ. This state of conflict between the laws and the con- science of the people, is the necessary consequence, if a body making laws for a Christian people disregards an authority which the people recognize as divine.
4. The laws of many of the states of this Union, on the mat- ter of divorce, are unscriptural and immoral. If the former, they are the latter in the view of all who believe in the divine authority of the Bible. If the Scriptures be the only infallible rule of faith and practice, they contain the only standard of right and wrong. The moral law is not something self-imposed* It is not what any man or body of men may think right or expe- dient. It is the revealed will of God as to human conduct ; and whatever is contrary to that will is morally wrong. If this be so, then there can be no doubt that the divorce laws of many of our states are immoral. They contravene the law of God. They annul marriages for other reasons than those allowed in Scripture, and even, in some cases, at the discretion of the courts. They pronounce persons not to be man and wife, who by the law of God are man and wife. They pronounce those to be legally mar- ried, whose union Christ declares to be adulterous. That is, they legalize adultery. This is a conclusion which cannot be avoided, except by denying either the authority of the Bible, or that it legislates on the subject of marriage. If marriage were a mere civil compact, with regard to which the Scriptures gave no special directions, it might be regulated by the state according to its views of wisdom or expediency. But if it be an ordinance of God ; if He has revealed his will as to who may, and who may not intermarry, and who, when married, may or may not be re- leased from the marriage bond, then the state has no more right to alter these laws than it has to alter the decalogue, and to legalize idolatry or blasphemy. There is no use in covering this matter over. It is wrong to regard anti-Christian laws as mat- ters of small importance.
The action of the state in this matter is not merely negative. It does not simply overlook or refuse to punish the violation of
406 PART m. Ch. XIX. — THE LAW.
the Scriptural law of divorce, but it intervenes by its positive action, and declares that certain parties are not man and wife, be- tween whom, according to the law of God, the bond of marriage still subsists. It condemns bigamy, but it sanctions what the Bible pronounces bigamy. The law of the state and the law of God, in this regard, are so opposed to each other, that he who obeys the one violates the other.
5. As the Church and its officers are under the highest obliga- tions to obey the law of Christ, it follows that where the action of the state conflicts with that law, such action must be disre- garded. If a person be divorced on other than Scriptural grounds and marries again, such person cannot consistently be received to the fellowship of the Church. If a minister be called upon to solemnize the marriage of a person improperly divorced, he can- not, in consistency with his allegiance to Christ, perform the ser- vice. This conflict between the civil and divine law is a great evil, and has often, especially in Prussia, given rise to great dif- ficulty.
As all denominations of Christians, Romanists and Protestants, are of one mind on this subject, it is matter of astonishment that these objectionable divorce laws are allowed to stand on the statute-books of so many of our states. This fact proves either that public attention has not to a sufficient degree been called to the subject, or that the public conscience is lamentably blinded or seared. The remedy is with the Church, which is the witness of God on earth, bound to testify to his truth and to uphold his law. If Christians, in their individual capacity and in their Church courts, would unite in their efforts to arouse and guide public sentiment on this subject, there is little doubt that these objec- tionable laws would be repealed.
The Social Evil.
This is not a subject to be discussed in these pages ; a few re- marks, however, in reference to it may not be out of place.
1. It is obviously Utopian t6 expect that all violations of the seventh commandment can be prevented, any more than that the laws against theft or falsehood should never be disregarded.
2. The history of the world shows that the instinct which leads to the evil in question can never be kept within proper limits, ex- cept by moral principle, or by marriage.
3. To these two means of correction, therefore, the efforts of the friends of virtue should be principally directed. There can