THE INNOCENT DIVORCED [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Will
you regard it as an intrusion if an American Presby- terian expresses his interest in the letters recently published by you in regard to the Innocent Party in divorce ? As one who feels deeply upon the subject of divorce in general, I am glad to note the emphasis placed upon the sanctity of marriage vows, for there is in the United States an evident drift toward" an entire disregard of such sanctity. But I confess to a surprise at the attitude taken by a number of your correspondents in their praiseworthy efforts to check divorce. It is very clear to those who accept Christ as authority and guide that He did speak of a possibly innocent party in divorce. and that He did permit the remarriage of that innocent party.
Even Bishop Gore, who argues for the absolute indissolu- bility of marriage, concedes that Dr. Charles in his claim for one exception is fully justified, and that a church, which using Christ's one exception allows remarriage, is entirely right. If, then, Christ did make this exception, why should the absolute indissolubility of the marriage-tie be contended for as necessary ? Surely we may trust the wisdom and foresight of our Divine Lord to prescribe aright. In truth and force we lose nothing by making this exception, and if we do not, we shall not be able to meet the accusation that we have gone beyond Our Lord's command, and not only sought a counsel of perfection, but truly of imperfection.
It was strange that one correspondent in his desire to make marriage indissoluble instanced the faithfulness of Thackeray, not seeming to remember.That Mrs. Thackeray's trouble was
insanity, and a world's sympathy goes out to him in his years of faithfulness, as our sympathy has encircled some friends similarly loyal amid tragedy. It is evident that some think the only remedy is one hard rule without Christ's exception, and the only way Bishop Gore can justify this wisdom of man is by asserting the power of the Church to " bind and loose," a lame and impotent conclusion to most intelligent readers of the Bible.
If the party is innocent, as Christ declared, it is a perilous thing to punish innocence, or mark as a crime what Our Lord justified.—I am, Sir, &c.,
S. J. FISHER.
The Board of Missions for Freedmen
of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.
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