mt iifornia onal ity l-OfiAiimff/i^ ^Vjr-LAlll-U/i'/l^ Aavaaii^ ^^AavaaiH^ ^riuoNvsoi^ Aj:lUVANlitLtr>, S!UNIVERy//j -Tl 9 ^lOSANCnf/^ "^MAiNnaftv^ -5^^H!BRARYQ^, ^iJOJIWDJO^ ^(aOJUVDJO^^ \M)NIVER5"//. %, 5 S- f moNvsoi^ % o r /r nr y . CO ■^/SJBAINn]WV> ^.OFCAIIFOR^ >&A«vaan# ^OFCAlIFOff^ ^^Aavaan-1^ KEUBRARYQc^ so 5r> -5^1'UBRARYa^ ,^^WEUNIVER% ^lOSANCElfj-^ %a3MNft3l<^ iFCAlIFO/?^ c-i uavaaii^' ^OF-CAIIFO%. ^^AHvaaiH'^ 4WEUNIVER%. ^lOSANCElfx^ o '^TiUMSOl^ "^SiBAINrt-aV^ ,;;^."r. HNlVtBJ/^ ^lOSASCElfr^ -i^lUBRARYQc. -<^^l•UBRARYQ^, ,MEUNIVER% ^IOSANCEI^Ta ^OFCAUFOff^ ^OFCAIIFO% I TREATISE ON MATRIMONY, ACCOUDIXG TO THE DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE OP THE CATHOLIC CHURCH BY RT. REY'D DOCTOR AMAT, BISnOI" OF MONTERETi CALIFORNIA. CI cl. '^ { c| c c 51 c c ^1 SAN FRANCISCO: PUBLISHED BY MICHAEL FLOOD, 428 KEARNY ST. Towne & Bacon, I'riiitcrs, 53ti Clay Street. 1864. "f A/\ A^. A/\ ATI A A A A A A A7^ nyi rtrv ATv A /A n n .--vr. A/\ /I A rtn A/\ A /^ "^ EX LIBRIS ROBERT ERNEST COWAN TREATISE ON MATRIMONY, ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE or TES CATHOLIC CHUKCH BY ET. EEY'D DOCTOR AilAT, BISHOP OF MONTEBET, CALIFORNIA. SAN FRANCISCO: PUBLISHED BY MICHAEL FLOOD, 428 KEARNY ST. Towne & Bacon, Printers, 536 Clay Street. 1864. \osi TREATISE ON MATRIMONY. \c Matrimony, one of the institutions of God himself r" from the beginning of the world, for the preservation . of the human race, created after his own imasje and "/ likeness, was to bear the stamp of the divine goodness, which the Supreme Architect had impressed on all his ^ works; "and God saw all the things that he had made, ^ and they were very good." (Gen. c. 15, v. 31) ; and. ^ being designed, as we learn from the great Apostle, to «s symbolize that admirable union which was to be effect- 52 ed in the fullness of time, by the infinite charity of God, -^ of the divine and human nature in the Person of the Eternal "Word, incarnate; and of the Eternal "Word incarnate, Jesus Christ, with all the members of the human race, engrafted in Him by the grace of regene- ration, namely the Church ; it was necessary that it should have also the stamp of unity and perpetuity, grounded on charity and love, superior even to that which man owes to his progenitors : " For this cause, thus speaks the above cited Apostle (Eph. c. 5, vv. 31, 32), shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh : This is a great sacrament ; but I speak in Christ and in the Church." Hence Matrimony, from the very be- gmning of creation, was a sacred sign, although not a 29i0iiH sacrament, a dignity which was reserved for the time of the Christian Dispensation ; it was a sacred sign of the most sacred and admirable union of Jesus Clirist with his Church, and of the grace wliich was to be conferred by Christian marriage under the new dispensation. As the ancient sacrifices had no virtue of their own, but through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which they prom- ised and of which they were a figure ; they were as " a shadow of the good things to come" (Heb. c. 10, v. 1), as St. Paul says, so also matrimony amongst our fore- fathers was a figure of the Christian marriage, and of the grace which was to be annexed to the same by our Lord Jesus Christ, in order that those engaged in the matrimonial state, under the perfect law of the gospel, which is a law of charity, might more fully represent the union of Christ with the Church, and raise up their children in the love and fear of God, and obedience to Jesus Christ. Hence, matrimony can be considered under two dif- ferent aspects : as a contract, and as a sacrament. As a contract established by God himself from the begin- ning ; and as a sacrament of the %ew law, established by Jesus Christ — these two qualities being inseparable in the Christian marriage, since it is the same matrimo- nial contract, established by God from the beginning, which our divine Saviour raised to the dignity of a sac- rament for all those who have received the Christian baptism. On the knowledge of the matrimonial con- tract greatly depends the right understanding of the .same as a sacrament — the object we have in view by these few lines, for the benefit of our Catholic friends. Although matrimony, as we shall see, is a mutually onerous contract between man and woman; and on thi3 account it might be as well called patrimony as matri- mony, which means — the duty both of father and moth- er {Patris vel Matris inunus) — still as it is much more onerous and laborious to the woman, to whom it belongs to conceive, bring forth, and train up her offspring, it is for this reason called, more appropriately, " matrimony." It is likewise called "■ wedlock " {conjug ium), ^vom the conjugal union of man and wife, united, as it were, by a common yoke, and mutually bound to each other. Matrimony can be defined thus: "The conjugal and leoitimate union of man and woman, which is to last during life." The word " union " expresses the mutual tie and obligation by which the man and woman are bound to each other; that of "conjugal" indicates the peculiar character of this union, binding their own per- sons to each other, which distinguishes the matrimonial contract from all others; "legitimate," this word not only means that said union is honest and lawful, but also that it is to be contracted under certain laws ; the words " which is to last during life," express the indis- solubility of the tie which binds husband and wife. Matrimony is a natural contract established by God from the beginning of creation ; hence we read in the first chapter of the book of Genesis (vv. 27, 28), that " God created man to his own image male and female he created them ; " and again, " God blessed them, saying, increase and multiply," which woi*ds by no means imply a precept for all to marry, as some erroneously interpret them, as we shall see hereafter ; but they merely express the object of matrimony, the propagation of the human race, for which purpose he 6 had made them male and female, and rendered them fruitful by his blessing. In the second chapter of the same book, we learn the secondary object of the matri- monial contract, as intended by God, namely, the mu- tual comfort and assistance of husband and wife, their domestic felicity, as comprised in these words which God said : " It is not good for man to be alone, let us make him a help like unto himself" (v. 18) ; and having formed the first woman out of one of the ribs of Adam? by which God intended to teach them, that they were to treat each other as companions and not as servants, God brought the woman to Adam, " And Adam said, this now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh ; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man ; wherefore a man shall leave father and moth- er, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh" (vv. 23, 24). That these words, although pronounced by the first pai'ent of the human race, were pronounced by God's authority establishing matrimony, is authoritatively declared by our Lord Jesus Chi-ist, answering the question proposed to him by the Phari- sees, whether " it were lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ; he answered and said to them, have ye not read, that he who made man in the beginning, made them male and female ? and he said, for this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave unto his Avife ; and they two shall be in one flesh ; M-herefore they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." (Matt. c. 19, v. 3, etc.) This matrimonial contract, having the seal of God's authority, the Supreme Author of nature, and being according to the end which he proposed to himself in the formation of the two first parents of the human race, even before their prevarication, could not be but good and holy ; contrary to the teaching of those ancient her- etics, who, as Saint Paul says, writing to his disciple Timothy, departed " from the faith, giving heed to spirits of error, and doctrines of devils," and " forbidding to marry,"" (First Tim. ch. 4, v. 1, and following,) as com- ing from an evil principle. This monstrous doctrine needs no confutation, since it is evident by the very words of its institution, that matrimony was established by the Almighty for the purpose of preventing the pro- miscuous intercourse of the sexes in the procreation of children, for promoting domestic felicity, and for secur- ing the maintenance and education of children ; all of which is well protected by its unity and indissolubility, being " two in one flesh," and placed out of the reach of man to dissolve the union ; " what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." Such was the matrimonial contract — from the begin- ning, one and indissoluble ; and being such by divine institution, it was held in great veneration amongst all nations, to which the knowledge of its divine origin had reached by oral tradition from the first parents of the human race, to whom, the union of Jesus Christ with his Church, by which, as the Apostle says : (Eph. ch. 5, V. 31) " we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones," and which is represented by the matrimonial contract, was made manifest by divine light when he took for his wife the first woman whom he called " bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh." Hence, before the coming of Christ our Lord, no human legislator ever 8 dared to touch, with profane hands, the matrimonial contract, but it was left altogether under the control of religion, whose ceremonies ordinarily accompanied its celebration ; such was the case among the Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; they considered and held matrimony as a sacred thing, and used to call it " a communication of the divine and human right," and the woman by it was said to be " partaker of sacred things." Human legislation cannot loose the ties that bind the offspring to their parents ; much less could it dissolve the conjugal union, far superior to the first, since by it the first is dissolved. " A man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife." How could the human legislator separate two persons united into one and the same flesh ? " And they shall be two in one flesh." No ; " what God hath joined together let not man put asunder." By what has been said, it appears evident that matri- mony, as an institution of God, is one, holy and indis- soluble ; or has three essential conditions: Unity, Sanctity, and Indissolubility. Unity : they are not two, but " one flesh." Sanctity : representing the union of Jesus Christ with his church ; and Indissolubility : ••' what God hath joined together, let not man put asun- der." Unity condemns polygamy, or the plurality of wives, against the practice of Mormonism. Sanctity condemns all those who look upon matrimony as a mere civil contract, and treat it as such. And Indissolubility condemns divorce, as coming from Judaism. We there- fore proceed now to the consideration of these three dif- ferent errors, as we consider them in opposition to the nature of the matrimonial contract according to God's institution. Although polygamy be contrary to the matrimonial contract, as established by the Creator, who made it one, as Ave have said ; and ahhough even it be not con- ducive to the secondary end of matrimony, which is, as we have seen, domestic felicity, no one can doubt, how- ever, that God can dispense with it, since it is not con. trary to the fix'st and principal object of matrimony, the procreation of children ; and if any shadow of doubt should remain on tlie subject, it would be easily removed by the fact that God granted such dispensation to sev- eral of the patriarchs, as Abraham, Jacob, and David, as it can be seen in the Holy Scriptures (Gen. c. 16: 29, 30, and Second Kings, c. 5) ; for we could not con- sistently with the Holy Word of God, sustain the sanc- tity of those holy fathei-s, but by supposing the divine dispensation of a law which by no means could be unknown to them. Such being the case, it would be temerity for us to ask the reason why God granted such dispensation. We know it was done for the most wise reasons, entering into the designs of his divine provi- dence, foreshadowing something mysterious of the union of Jesus Christ with his church, always represented by matrimony : perhaps the plurality of nations and tribes, called and united into one and the same church, one and the same faith, by christian baptism, through Jesus Christ, whom the patriarch also prefigux-ed. Such was the opinion of Saint Augustin, saying {De bono conjiig. c. 18, V. 21), " plures uxores antiqurum Patrum significaverunt puturas nostras ex omnibus gentibus ecclesias, uni viro subditas Christo." He might also have granted such dispensation to the patriarchs, his faithful servants, for the purpose of increasing the num- 10 ber of his true adorers in a time when idolatry was so ■widely spread over the world that few only, compara- tively, knew and worshiped the true God. There are plausible reasons for granting said dispen- sation, which, however, could never be applied to the plurality of husband i, never granted by Almighty God, as being contrary to all and each of the ends of mat- rimony, especially to the first, the propagation of chil- dren. These reasons having ceased by the coming of the Divine Redeemer, and the estabhshment of one spiritual kingdom over the world, by the preaching of His doctrine, we can see no cause why polygamy should have been allowed under the christian dispensation, and not rather abolished, and matrimony restored to its first unity, namely : that of " one man with one woman," representing the union of Jesus Christ with his Church, formed out of all nations ; thus thought also the afore- said Father, (loc. cit.), " Onius uxoris vir significat ex omnibus gentibus unitatem uni viro subditam Christo ;" and "therefore," continues Saint Augustine (same place), "as the mystery of several wives anciently sig- nified the future multitude of all earthly nations that were to be subjected to God : so also in our days, the mystery of one wife with one husband represents the unity of us all subject to God to be perfected in one heavenly city." However, whatever may be the rea- sons against polygamy and in favor of the unity of matrimony, it is certain that Jesus Christ, the true Leg- islator of mankind, to whom all power was given by his Eternal Father (Matt. c. 28, v, 18), and whom we are commanded to obey (Luke c. 9, v. 35), abohshed polygamy or the plurality of wives, under the christian 11 dispensation ; restored matrimony to its primitive unity, such as it was established by God in the beginning, and declared the matrimonial engagement, whether made by male or female, whilst a previous one exists, although the dissolution of the first may be pretended by virtue of a divorce, to be but an adulterous union, and by no means a lawful matrimony : " From the beginning of the creation," says he, " God made them male and female ; for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh," and " whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery. * * And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery." (Mark, c. 10, vv. 6, — 8, 11, 12.) Such is the standard law of Jesus Christ, the Supreme Legislator of mankind, binding all men, whether Jews or Gentiles ; condemning by it po- lygamy, and every kind of Mormonism of the past, pres- ent and future time, and rendering null and void every human law in opposition to his. Matrimony, as we have seen, is a natural contract, sanctioned by divine authority, for the procreation of children and preservation of society ; this is its primary object ; and on this account it is evident that society is greatly interested in its rightful celebration. Its sec- ondary object being to promote domestic felicity, the happiness and comfort of the family, on which greatly depends the well-being of society at large and the pros- perity of nations, since it is the collection or aggregation of such that forms the nation and greatly affects it, espe- cially with regard to legitimacy, and the right of inher- itance. Therefore civil rulers are bound to protect it by 12 wise laws, and to preserve always the sanctity of the matrimonial contract, according to God's institution- Hence comes the distinction between natural and civil contract, religious and political engagement. Hence the zeal of civil masristrates and legislators in enacting laws resfulating marriages or the matrimonial contract ; and hence, too, the error of those, whether civil magisti-ates, legislators, or the common people, who, regardless of the laws of God and of religion, call matrimony and hold it as a a mere civil contract, treating it as any other con- tract or transaction under their exclusive jurisdiction, enacting laws affecting its validity or invalidity, and pronouncing decrees of divorce or dissolution of the ties of matrimony, granting leave to marry or to be married to another ; all of which can never make good what God has invalidated, or dissolve what God has united, since thei-e is no power against the power of God, who established matrimony one and indissoluble : " a man shall leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh ; wherefore they are no more two, but one flesh ;" and he has withdrawn from men the faculty of altering it : " what God hath joined together let not man put asunder." Matrimony, as a natural contract, being established by God from the beginning, for the objects above said, is anterior to all society ; and restored by Jesus Christ under the Christian Dispensation, to its primitive insti- tution as to its essential qualities, and placed out of the reach of man to alter it, as we have already established, it becomes evident that the civil contract of matrimony, if there be any, is posterior to the natural one, nor can it affect by any means, God's institution. Therefore, 13 the nature of the civil contract of naatrimony can only extend to and have only civil effects, leaving untouched the natural contract. It is something adventitious, not inherent to matrimony, whicli was perfect as coming from the Creator, and for ages in existance before the civil contract was known ; and it is still perfect to-day without any civil contract whenever there are no civil laws I'egarding matrimony, as it is in several countries, and also amongst tribes uncivilized ; and as valid as to the matrimonial contract as it can be under the most refined civil legislation. We by no means, however, pretend to deny to civil legislators the faculty of enact- ing laws concerning marriage, since from it proceed, as we have already said, rights and duties which fall under the control of civil magistrates, and consequently must of necessity be regulated by wise civil laws, which we said shall produce their civil effects, and bind the citi- zens. But moreover, bound as they ai'e, to protect by wise laws the rights of citizens, the eternal laws of jus- tice and public morality which corrupt people are too apt to violate, unless restrained through the fear of them who, as Saint Paul says (Rom. c. 13, v. 4) :bear "not the sword in vain," being the ministers of God and avengers " to execute wrath upon " them that do " evil :" so they are not less bound to protect matri- mony, as an institution of God, to secure its essential qualities, especially in a country where every system of religion being authorized, or at least tolerated, by law, the corruption of the human Iieart and its untamed pas- sions are apt to introduce, under the pretext of religion, to the prejudice of public and even common decency, the most infamous crimes and abominations, as is testi- fied by the history of humanity. 14 Let, then, human legislators, in enacting laws con- cerning marriage, be careful not to extend their legis- lative i^ower beyond the civil power confided to their care ; directing well, according to the rights of eternal justice, the effects resulting from the matrimonial con- tract, inasmuch as they may affect civil order or the order of society ; and leave sacred and untouched the matrimonial contract itself, as an institution of God ; and their laws will be by all respected. But if they go beyond that, their laws shall command neither re- spect nor esteem, nor even obedience, whenever peo_ pie will be able to evade them. Let them not yield, in the formation of their laws, to the depraved inclina- tions of the human heart, which would bring them to legalize the most brutal passions, without satisfying them ; but rather enforce by wise laws the essential conditions of the mati-imonial contract established by the Creator of mankind for the preservation and per- fection of human society, and thus they will effectually cooperate to its enlightenment and to the preservation of the image and likeness of God, which we bear in our souls and distinguishes us from the brute creation. Having thus briefly explained our candid views con- cerning polygamy, and the error of such as look upon mati'imony as a mere civil contract, as being opposed both to the union and sanctity of the matrimonial engagement, it remains for us to show how divorce also is opposed to its indissolubility or perpetuity. Every one can easily understand that although the primary object of the matrimonial contract, the pro- creation of children, demands not its perpetuity, since they could be obtained with only a temporary contract ; 15 still the proper training of the same, their education, the noblest part of the same primary object, as also the secondary one, namely, domestic peace and felicity, resulting from love, uniting the parents amongst them- selves and the offspring to their parents, cannot be secured without the perpetual tie that binds the couple to each other ; and since God made all things good from the beginning, and He made the first man perfect, and destined his children to be taught by the parents, and thus be conducted to perfection, He must have made the matrimonial tie perpetual, or else He would not have sufficiently provided for the object He had in view. Whether He could dispense with it, we will not venture to ask ; since He could have even established the matrimonial tie temporal, providing some other means for the proper education of children, so He could dispense with the law which He himself had made, and allow its dissolution, as He really did, granting to the •Jews, for certain reasons, the faculty of giving the bill of divorce, remaining free after that to marry another. But Jesus Christ abolished said permission under the Christian dispensation, and restored matrimony to its primitive institution, rendering it perpetual and indisso- luble ; answering to the Jews who justified themselves in the practice of putting away their wives, alleging the law of Moses which " permitted " to write a bill of divorce and to put them away, Jesus said to them, " Because of the hardness of your heart he Avrote you, that precept ; but from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female ; for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. What, there- 16 fore, God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." And immediately after, speaking to his disciples con- cerning the same thing. He said to them : " Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her ; and if the wife shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery." (Mark, c. 10, vv, 4-12.) This is the standard law of Jesus Christ under the Christian dispensation, binding all men, whether Chris- tians, Jews, or Gentiles ; a law superior to all human laws ; which no human law can ever destroy, and which annuls all laws against it, from whatever author- ity they may proceed and by whatever magistrate they may be enacted, whatever may be the opinions of men to the contrary, since there is no power against the power of God : " what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." Let civil magistrates grant divorces of marriages previously legally contracted ; let them exercise this power as long as they please, they can* never prescribe against the law of God declaring mat- rimony to be one and indissoluble. They may grant to the couple divorced the faculty of marrying again, and declare the second engagement valid according to the civil law ; but according to the law of God and the gos- pel, it shall always be an unlawful union and a [^real adultery : " Whosoever shall put away his wife] and marry another, committeth adultery ; and if the wife shall put away her husband and be married to anotherj she committeth adultery." We have elsewhere said, that the matrimonial con- tract, from its first institution, was a holy, a sacred thing ; not only on account of its divine origin, but 17 moreover on account of its being designed to represent that admirable union which was to be effected in the fullness of time between Jesus Christ and his Church. There is nothing in matrimony so strikingly representa- tive of this union as its perpetuity and indissolubility ; for the human flesh which the Eternal Word assumed for the redemption of mankind He shall never abandon, as is beautifully expressed by Saint John, saying, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us " (c. 1, V. 14) ; and the same He assumed in heaven at the right hand of his Eternal Father. This is the reason why Jesus Christ did not allow any longer divorce under the Christian dispensation, restoring matrimony to its primitive purity, and I'endering its tie indissoluble. We have considered matrimony so far under the aspect of a natural contract, established by God from the beginning, one, holy, and indissoluble ; excluding equally polygamy and divorce, and condemning such as would consider it as a mere civil contract, depriving it of the sacredness attached to it by the Almighty. We proceed now to consider the same as a sacrament of the new law established by our Lord Jesus Christ for all who have received Clmstian baptism. That matrimony, under the Christian dispensation, or the matrimonial contract between two baptized and faithful Christians, be one of the seven sacraments established by our Lord Jesus Christ, which He left in the Church for the sanctification of its members, is one of the dogmas of the Christian faith and of divine rev- elation, constantly held in the Church, sustained by the Fathers, expressed in the rituals, and believed by the faithful ; and thus defined against the Reformers by the 18 General Council of Trent : " If any one say that mat- rimony is not verily and properly one of the seven sacraments of the evangelical law instituted by Christ our Lord, let him be anathema." (Can. 1, Sec. 24.) Not only did our divine Saviour honor matrimony as an institution of God by his presence at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee (John, c. 2), and sanctified it by his first miracle changing water into wine, condemn- ing thus by his conduct such as were afterwards " giv- ing heed to doctrines of devils," as we observed before, forbidding marriage as an unlawful deed ; but, more- over. He confirmed by his authority the unity and indissolubility of the matrimonial tie, condemning po- lygamy and divorce against the Mormon and Jewish practice (Matt. 19 and Mark 10), as we have already proved ; and this matrimonial tie, a mere figure of the union of Jesus Christ with his Church before his incar- nation, He rendered productive of divine grace, through his passion and death, for the sanctification of the con- tracting parties, as He also sanctified his Church ; and thus enabled them to fulfill those supernatural duties resulting from Christian marriage — duties which could not be duly complied with unless by a special and supernatural grace, which grace God will not refuse ; and has consequently annexed it to this sacrament, as the Church has formally declared as an article of divine faith : " If any one say that matrimony . . . does not confer grace, let him be anathema." (Can. 1, Sec. 24.) From this principle of divine faith, that matrimony, or the matrimonial contract, amongst Christians, is a sacrament, and that it confers sanctifying grace, it fol- lows as a necessary consequence, that it is a sacred 19 thing of a supernatural order, whose management and administration belongs to the church and its ministers, they being, according to the doctrine of Saint Paul, " the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mys- teries of God." (1st Cor. c. 4.) And this is precisely what the church, in the Council of Trent, decided, when she said (Can. 11, Sec. 24) : " If any one say that the matrimonial causes do not belong to the ecclesiastical judges, let him be anathema." To the church, then, it belongs to regulate the Christian matrimony, or the marriage of those who profess the Christian faith and belong to the chui'ch, having received Christian bap- tism ; such marriage, as we have said, being a sacra- ment, and being the same matrimonial contract which God estabhshed from the beginning, which our Saviour raised to the dignity of a sacrament, attaching to it sanctifying grace. Hence it has been confided to the church and placed under her protection, and therefore to the church belongs to regulate, by wise laws, the marriage contract amongst Christians ; so that on the observance of said laws will depend the lawfulness and validity of the matrimonial tie. This has also been defined by the church as an article of faith, condemning as heretics such as would deny to her the faculty, or would dare to afiirm that she has erred in exercising the same, saying : " If any one say that the church can- not establish impediments annulling matrimony, or that she has erred in establishing them, let him be anathe- ma." (Can. 4, Sec. 24.) These few points, on which depends all that we are to say, or can say, concerning Christian marriage, being decided upon by the infallible authority of the church, 20 against which the gates of hell shall never prevail (Matt. c. 16, V. 18), and which, being "the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. c. 3, v. 15), we are com- manded by our Lord to obey, even as himself (Luke c. 10, V. 16), we can say, with full confidence, that we are placed on solid ground, independently of any other proof from Holy writ ; but they have, besides, for their support, the doctrine and practice of the great Apostle Paul, who has written the first code of legislation, by which the church has been guided in matrimonial con- cerns. In the fifth chapter of his Epistle to the Ephe- sians, Saint Paul draws a line of comparison between matrimony and the union of Jesus Christ with the church, of which it has always been a figure — the hus- band being the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church ; and the members of the church, which is the body of Christ, being therefore " the members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones," as the first woman, taken out of Adam, was said to be '' bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh." He extols the Chris- tian marriage above the ancient one, although the same established by God from the beginning, by the superi- ority of duties resulting from it, such as supernatural love and respect for one another, similar to that which exists between Christ and his church, implying a special grace attached to the same to sanctify the contracting parties, as Christ sanctified the Church, by virtue of which he calls it "a great Sacrament in Christ and in the church ;" and therefoi-e as a sacred thing, as a Min- ister of Ciirist, and Dispenser of the mysteries of God, he knew he had authority to regulate the marriage con- tract amongst Christians, as he did in many instances, 21 especially in the seventh chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, which would have been in itself suffi- cient guaranty for the church to decide upon her power to regulate by wise laws the matrimonial contract amongst Christians, as we have established above. The church, then, of her own authority, that is to say, independently of any civil power or magistrate, but only by virtue of the power she received from her Divine founder, can enact laws concerning Christian marriages, regulating their contract, and affecting their lawfulness and validity, which no other laws can do, by whatever magistrate or authority they may be enacted, unless approved and sanctioned by the same. Civil laws pro- duce civil effects, which Christians will be bound, if they be just, to respect ; if otherwise, might be compelled so to do ; but they can never affect the matrimonial con- tract amongst Christians, it being the same matrimonial contract wnich was raised by our Lord to the dignity of Sacrament — not to be touched by proftuie hands, but exclusively confided to the church and its ministers. This is so clear that Calvin himself admits it, saying (Justit. Book 4th, chap. 19, § 37): "Once admitted that Matrimony is a Sacrament, the matrimonial causes belong to them (the Pastors of the church), because spiritual things cannot be judged by the profane judges." The church respects the civil laws, and even enforces them, whenever they are not in opposition to those of God and of her own ; but in case of any opposition between the laws of the church and those of the prince, or of the State, those of the church would stand, as to the validity or invalidity of the marriage contract before God, whatever might be the opinion and judgment of 22 men to the contrary, according to the words of our Lord: "Whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven " (Matt. c. 18, V. 18), which particularly stands good for what regards the Sacrament, as Matrimony is amongst Christians. The practice of the church in this respect confirms the same truth ; for she, invariably, from the time of the Apostles down to the present day, in all her tribunals, judged upon the validity or invalidity of the matrimonial tie, even amongst princes and kings, according as they were contracted in conformity with her own laws, or against them, without any regard to the civil laws of the country in which they had been contracted. There- fore she constantly held this doctrine, that the civil laws cannot affect the matrimonial contract amongst Chris- tians, this being exclusively confided to the Divine foun- der, and she, most strenuously sustained the trust com- mitted to her, in preserving inviolate the sanctity of matrimony, its unity and indissolubility, according to God's institution, against all the efibrts even of crowned heads who attempted to assail them ; opposing to their mighty will and threats, her patience, constancy, and perseverance, in telling them, in the name of the^Lbrd, as Saint John the Baptist to Herod, non licet, " it is not lawful" (Mark c. 6, v. 18). The church, moreover, has surrounded the Christian marriage with many wise laws, which Christians cannot lawfully disregard ; but are to observe them most carefully, if they wish to find in the matrimonial state, not a source of anguish and despair, but the happy fruits of domestic peace. Thanks 23 then to the untiring zeal of the church, or rather, to our Lord, who has intrusted to his faithful spouse the inter- ests of Christian marriage, and withdrawn it from pro- fane hands, thus preserving the same, as Saint Paul wished it to be, " honorable in all things." (Heb. c. 13, V. 4.) The church of God ever faithful to God's commis- sion, to " preach the Gospel to every creature," and to " teach all nations" the Gospel truths (Mark, c. 16, v. 15, and Matt. c. 28, v. 19), never ceased to inculcate the unity and indissolubility of marriage as established by God for aU men, wherever she has announced the tidings of salvation ; and she never allowed any devia- tion from it, unless authorized by the same author of matrimony and specified in the Gospel. She enacts no laws of her own for them that are out of her pale, fol- lowing in this the example of Saint Paul, who, writing to the Corinthians (1st Cor. c. 5, vv. 12, 13) says : — " "What have I to do to judge them that are without ? . . . For they that are without God will judge." But she did not neglect the Christian marriage ; and her legislation in this respect is the most perfect code of laws that ever existed, full of wisdom from above, be- cause it is grounded on the Gospel. And first of all, well aware of the prohibition of Polygamy, or plurality of wives, made by Jesus Christ under the Christian dis- pensation, as we have seen before, she hath declared it an article of Divine faith, and condemned as heretics such as would dare to deny it, or afiirm that it is law- ful for Christians to have several wives simultaneously (Can. 2, Sec. 24) : " If any one say that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives sinjultaneously, and 24 that the Divine law prohibits the same, let him be anathema." The law of the church, contained in this definition, plainly embraces all Christians ; but that the law of God, on which the same is grounded, extends to all men, whether Jews or Gentiles, or any other kind of Mormons, is also evinced by the practice of the same church ; for in case of the conversion of any of them to the Catholic church who, whilst in their infidelity, had attempted to contract matrimony with several women, she does not allow them to keep but one of them, and that must be the first, as she is considered the only proper wife. Only in the event that the first wife would not live peaceably with the new convert, or would with- draw from him, in such case he would be allowed to leave the first, and take any one of the others unto wife, according to the liberty which the Gospel grants, in favor of the Christian faith, to the new convert. And this is the doctrine of the great Apostle, saying (1st Cor. c. 7, v. 15) : "If the unbeliever depart, let him depart ; for a brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases ; but God hath called us in peace." We need not repeat what we have said concerning the indissolubility of the marriage contract as established by God from the beginning, since the same was con- firmed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and raised to the dig- nity of a Sacrament, under the new Dispensation ; the same doctrine, therefore, is to be applied to Matrimony as a Sacrament ; and the church grounded on said Di- vine teachings, and also on that of the Apostle : " To them that are married not I, but the Lord commandeth that the wife depart not from her husband ; and if she depart that she remain unmarried, or be reconciled to 26 her husband. And let not the husband put away his wife." And again : " A woman is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth ; but if her husband die, she is at liberty ; let her marry whom she will, only in the Lord " (1st Cor. c. 7, vv. 10, 11, 39). And again : " The woman that hath a husband, whilst her husband liveth is bound to the law ; but if her husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. Wherefore, whilst her husband liveth, she shall be called an adulteress, if she be with another man " (Rom. c. 7, v. 2, 3). Grounded, I say, on these eternal truths, in which only death is assigned for the dissolution of the matrimonial tie amongst Christians, the church hath justly declared matrimony indissoluble, only by the death of one of the parties ; and declared heretics such as would dare aflSrm that it can be dissolved, either by heresy or troublesome cohabitation, or by a protracted absence of one of the parties, saying : " If any one say that the tie of matri- mony can be dissolved either by heresy or troublesome cohabitation, or by a protracted absence of one of the parties, let him be anathema" (Can. 5, Sec. 24). She hath, moreover, condemned as heretics, and pronounced the same anathema against those who dare say that " the church errs, teaching that according to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, that the band of matrimony can- not be dissolved for the cause of fornication of either of the married couple ; and that neither of the two — even the innocent, who did not give any cause for the adul- tery, cannot contract another martrimony whilst the other party lives ; but rather, that both, he who puts away the adulteress and marries another committeth adultery, and she who puts away the adulterer aad is 2 26 married to another, committeth adultery." (Can. 7, Sec. 23.) This doctrine of the church, which is that of the Apostle, as we have seen, and is derived fr6m that of Jesus Christ, " What, therefore, God hath joined to- gether, let no man put asunder," evidently is applicable to all men, since Jesus Christ legislates for mankind, as we have established before ; and therefore the church hath never, nor shall she ever recognize the validity of a matrimony contracted in virtue of a divorce from a previous marriage validly contracted. She rather looks always upon it as an adulterous union, according to that of our Lord, " Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her ; and if the wife shall put away her husband and be married to another, she committeth adultery." (Mark, c. 10, vv. 11, 12.) Nor can any Christian at any time, under any pretext whatever, apply to any civil magistrate or any court whatever for a divorce of a marriage validly con- tracted for the purpose of marrying another, or avail himself of a divorce previously obtained to get married again to another. The only exception that exists in this respect is the one mentioned above by Saint Paul, in favor of the Christian faith, when marriage has been contracted by two infidels, or unbaptized persons, and one of them after marriage embraces the Christian faith ; if the unbeliever abandons him, or will not live peaceably with the new convert, this remains free from the first tie, and can get mai'ried to another : " If the unbeliever depart, let him depart ; for a brother or sis- ter is not under bondage in such cases ; but God has called us in peace." The reasonableness of this allow- 27 ance appears plain from the very fact that it would be a great obstacle to embracing the Christian faith, with- out which " it is impossible to please God " (Heb. c. 11, V. 6), if the new convert were bound either to remain with an enemy or persecutor of his faith, or remain for- ever unmarried ; and therefore, when such is not the case, the tie of marriage continues good, and the new convert is bound to keep the infidel or unbaptized com- panion, according to the teaching of the same Apostle, saying, " If any brother have a wife that believeth not, and she consent to dwell with him, let him not put her away ; and if any woman have a husband that believ- eth not, and he consent to dwell with her, let her not put away her husband." (1st Cor. c. 7, vv. 12, 13.) As the above liberty and exception is only in favor of the Christian faith, it follows that a catholic, who, with dispensation from the church, would get married to an infidel or unbaptized person, could not avail himself of it to put away his companion and get married to an- other, although ill-treated and persecuted on account of his faith ; but must of necessity abide by its conse- quences (which he well knows, or at least he should know) until the death of either of them. This is the doctrine of the catholic church concerning the unity and perpetuity of the Christian marriage un- der the new dispensation ; and since it is in accordance ' with the teachings of the gospel, as we have observed, it is to be expected that no learned and reasonable man, comparing the same with the teaching of the politicians of this day and the practice of the church with that of civil courts, which are so generous in granting, for very trivial causes, divorces ; and, particularly, comparing 28 the effects produced by holding strictly to the severity of the church with the looseness of morals caused by deviating from the same — no reasonable man can re- proach the first to praise the latter ; but rather will admire the divine wisdom by which the church has always been guided, and will deeply lament the evils brought on the domestic family by the Reformation, depriving the Christian matrimony, under the pretext of Christian liberty, of its sacred character as a sacra- ment, to withdraw the same from the pontiff and give it to the king. In vain did the Reformers repent after- wards, and would reclaim the right of the church and its pontiff for themselves ; the evil seed was sown, and it must produce its bad fruit. But the right of the church is always the same ; the matrimonial contract is a sacrament ; is one and indissoluble ; its administration is confided to the pastors of the church, who alone, of their own authority, can establish laws regulating the same and affecting its validity and lawfulness, which all Christians are bound to observe, as we have heretofore proved. We have, moreover, seen the doctrine of the church concerning the unity and perpetuity of the Christian marriage, and her laws protecting the same. It remains now for us to consider, in particular, the laws of the church affecting the Christian marriage* both as a contract and as a sacrament, and which are called impediments ; as also those which do not affect indeed the Christian marriage, but merely prescribe some things to be observed in order to proceed cau- tiously and prudently in an engagement which lasts for life, and on which depend both the happiness of the contracting parties and the fruits of domestic peace, and greatly contribute to the good of society at large. 29 The laws of the church prohibiting marriage between certain persons are those which we call impediments ; and they either render the contract null and void, or without annulling the contract, they render it only un- lawful unless dispensed with by the same church. We have already proved that the church can establish such impediments, and therefore she can also dispense with the same, since every power authorized to make laws is equally empowered either to annul or dispense with the same, or to change them, according as the circumstances and good of the persons concerned may I'equire ; the power being given, as Saint Paul says (2d Cor. c. 10, v. 8), " for edification, and not for destruction." The church cannot, however, dispense with such impedi- ments as are not established by herself, but by nature or the natural law ; hence she cannot allow those per- sons to contract matrimony whom the nature of the matrimonial contract itself repels, whether it be for want of understanding to know the nature of the engagement as incapable to contract, or for want of capacity to consummate the matrimonial tie as unfit for generation — such persons are said to labor under natu- ral impediments to contract matrimony, nor can they be dispensed by any authority whatever; neither can the church dispense with the laws of God prohibiting marriage, under the Christian dispensation, to them that are already validly engaged in this state until one of the parties die, as we have seen, speaking of the unity and indissolubility of matrimony, and which the divines call an impediment of divine institution. She can, however, dispense with those impediments, or laws prohibiting marriage, within certain degrees of kindred. 30 which God gave to his people, and are contained in the 18th chaptei' of the Book of Leviticus ; both because they do not regai'd Christians, having been abrogated by the gospel, nor are they imposed by the natural law, which alone is obligatory at all times and to all per- sons ; and hence the church hath justly pronounced, in the Council of Trent, the following anathema : " If any one say that only those degrees of consanguinity and affinity which are mentioned in the Book of Leviticus can prohibit matrimony and annul its contract, nor can the church dispense with some of them, or establish that some others may prohibit or annul the same, let him be anathema." (Can. 3, Sess. 24.) We are therefore reduced to the laws of the church prohibiting marriage, rendering it either null and void if attempted, or at least unlawful if contracted without her dispensation. Hence there are two kinds of eccle- siastical impediments, namely, those that both prohibit the matrimonial contract and annul it if attempted, and those that merely prohibit it, but if contracted, although unlawfully, yet becomes binding and obligatory in con- science. The knowledge of them being of the highest importance to the persons called to the matrimonial state, and showing likewise the wisdom of the church on this most interesting subject, we cannot forbear men- tioning them. They are contained in the following verses : " Error, conditio, votum, cognatio, crimen, " Cultus disparitas, vis, ordo ligainen, honestas, " Amens, affinis, si clandestinus, et impos, " Si mulier sit rapta loco nee reddita tuto." These forbid marriage, and annul it if attempted. 81 The following merely forbid it, but it is valid if ^ te hi #1 y '.. 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