The Social Relations of Divorce [pp. 352-355]

THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF DIVORCE.
plied a thousand-fold; the sacredness, the
stability, the moral significance of the union
would be at an end; thousands would never
enter the marriage relation at all, thousands
more would treat the relation as lightly as any
other mere matter of caprice or passion; all
love, all mutual confidence, all forbearing one
another in love, all the moral effect and discipline from the conviction of the all but irrevocable force of the vow of union, would be lost out
of society; trifling disputes, instead of being
healed, would be inflamed and allowed to increase and gather till they would force the final
plunge.
Facility of separation is a two-edged sword
in its destructive power on society. It removes
from the married pair the wholesome moral
effect of restraint and discipline, which arises
from the consideration that the union between
them is irrevocable, that they are to live together,
adapt themselves to each other, overcome little
differences of temper, grow into one spirit, and
build up in their own little circle a home of
happiness and virtue. On the other hand, if
husband and wife are perpetually admitting to
themselves the possibility of separation, the
very facility of a dissolution is a temptation to
resort to it, even in cases of mere domestic
disagreement, in the haste and passion of a
transient dispute, and many would make the
fatal plunge under a momentary aggravation,
probably to spend the rest of their lives in
repenting their folly.
But facility of separation necessarily draws
after it the possibility of marrying with the
premeditated intention of terminating the union
after a limited time, and thus a fatal blow is
struck to the whole meaning and sanctity of
marriage. For if, when the union is formed, it
is not intended and fully expected to be a lifeunion, what is the marriage but a formal and
recognized prostitution? Exactly this point was
reached in Roman demoralization, and then
came the end. So old Sims in Terence represents, that there can be no great harm if a
young man, where it seems to be convenient,
marry a lady whom he does not love: "You
need not be afraid to take her. If you find you
do not like her, you will only have to give her
up." Not to reprobate and detest such pretended marriages, is to justify the sensualism
of every libertine. Says an English writer, who
is by no means illiberal in his views on this
subject, "No persons of high and pure mind
can ever intend not to reprobate, not to detest,
not to express disgust, at'temporary unions,'
intended to be temporary from the first; but if
unlimited divorce is to be permitted, and is not
to be resented, we lose all right to judge or
reprove any union which covers itself by the
mere word'marriage.' For though we may be
clearly convinced that it is intended to be temporary, we have never a right to assert it while
the parties keep their own counsel." The purpose may, indeed, be that of only one of the
parties, unknown to the other, and the whole
marriage, as far as he or she is concerned, be
only a base fraud and deception of other parties.
Thus would be undermined the foundation of
all domestic virtue and happiness. What parent
could feel the least security in giving his daug,hter into hands that may cast her off at pleasure,
or to a husband who, at the very time, may mean
that the union shall be only temporary? What
bride would feel the joy of confiding and hoping
love on entering into a union that may soon be
repudiated?
But our article is growing too long. We
have said enough to indicate how vitally the
sanctity and inviolability of the marriage relation is linked with the purity, happiness, and
safety of society. God foresaw this firom the
beginning, and prescribed for the very first pair,
the only, perpetual, and irrevocable law, that
can adequately guard and preserve this institution. If there be a truth beyond all question,
where God's law, social experience, the uniform
record of our species, the inevitable and hlorrid
results of its violation, every source of testimony, warning, and appeal concur, it is the
sacredness of the marriage bond, and the national decline which attends a tolerated disregard or facile rupture of its divine constitution.
"From the beginning of the creation God made
them male and female. For this cause shall a
man leave his father and mother, and cleave to
his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together, let
not man put asunder."
WHERE the predisposition or susceptibility
exists, a book read at the right time often gives
an abiding complexion to the character, or a
life-long direction to the faculties. The delight
with which Pope, when a schoolboy, read
Ogilby's Homner, resulted in our English Iliad;
and the copy of the "Fairy Queen" which
Cowley found on the window-seat of his mother's
room committed him to poetry for the rest of
his days. Alexander Murray used to ascribe
the first awakening of his polyglottaI propensities to the specimens of the Lord's Prayer in
many tongues in Salmon's Geographly; and
James Wilson was made a naturalist by the gift
of " Three Hundred Wonderful Animals."
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