THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND AND DIVORCE
SIR,—Certainly, as your correspondent Bishop Kerr says, 'there is no need to multiply authorities,' for he has quoted none, and multiplying nought is an unsatisfying operation.
There is only one Authority for Christians in the matter of divorce and remarriage: Christ himself. The Christian law of marriage does not stand or fall on the issue of whether marriage is or is not a sacrament, but on the words of our Lord as reported in the Gospel.
The so-called Matthean exception, 'except it be for fornication,' does not appear in the parallel passage in St. Mark, whose Gospel is almost univer- sally held to be the more primitive, and even in the Matthean passage there is no exception to the clause, 'whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.' Moreover, it is held by reputable scholars that the fornication here mentioned as the only ground for 'putting away' a wife refers to that sin committed during the period of betrothal, and an illustration of this is to be found in the story of JoSeph, who was 'minded to put away' his espoused wife Mary (before actual marriage) because he sus- pected her of being with child by another man. The proper.word for carnal intercourse with another after marriage would be adultery, not fornication, and when one remembers that our Lord extended the sin of adultery to, include 'looking on a woman to lust after her,' it seems unlikely that he allowed adultery as a ground for divorce. What marriage would be safe by that standard? Or does Bishop Kerr number this among the sayings of our Lord which are not to be taken literally?
Of course our Lord did not give us a code of laws : He came to fulfil the Law. He did, however, give us some commandments and made the keeping of them the test of our love for Him.
As for 'ideals and principles,' your correspondent seems to think that the former are unattainable and that the latter may be compromised if they are not convenient. This is to repudiate the Grace of God, by which alone Christians can live the super- natural life which our Lord died to give us.—Yours
Hostel of the Resurrection, Springfield Mount, Leeds, 2
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