Читать книгу The Physical Life of Woman: Advice to the Maiden, Wife and Mother - George H. Napheys - Страница 32

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He of Nazareth laid down the law that whoever puts away his wife for any cause except adultery, and marries again, commits adultery; and that whatever woman puts away her husband for any cause save adultery, and marries again, herself commits adultery.

This has been found a hard saying.

John Milton wrote a book to show that the Lawgiver did not mean what He said, but something quite different. Modern sects, calling themselves Christians, after this Lawgiver, dodge the difficulty, and refer it to State legislatures. State legislatures, not troubling themselves at all about any previous law or lawgiver, allow dozens of causes—scores of them—as perfectly valid to put asunder those whom God has joined together.

Science, which never finds occasion to disagree with that Lawgiver of Nazareth, here makes His words her own.

Whether we look at it as a question in social life, in morals, or in physiology, the American plan of granting absolute divorces is dangerous, and destructive to what is best in life. It leads to hasty, ill-assorted matches, to an unwillingness to yield to each other's peculiarities, to a weakening of the family ties, to a lax morality. Carry it a trifle farther than it now is in some of the Western States, and marriage will lose all its sacredness, and degenerate into a physical union, not nobler than the crossing of flies in the air.

Separation of bed and board should always be provided for by law; and whether single, married, or separated, the woman should retain entire control of her own property. But in the eyes of God and nature, a woman or a man with two faithful spouses living, to each of whom an eternal fidelity has been plighted, is a monster.