Chapter 11 [X.]—The Sacrament of Marriage; Marriage Indissoluble; The World’s Law About Divorce Different from the Gospel’s.

It is certainly not fecundity only, the fruit of which consists of offspring, nor chastity only, whose bond is fidelity, but also a certain sacramental bond35    Quoddam sacramentum. See above, On Original Sin, ch. 39 [xxxiv]. in marriage which is recommended to believers in wedlock. Accordingly it is enjoined by the apostle: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church.”36    Eph. v. 25. Of this bond the substance37    Res sacramenti. undoubtedly is this, that the man and the woman who are joined together in matrimony should remain inseparable as long as they live; and that it should be unlawful for one consort to be parted from the other, except for the cause of fornication.38    Matt. v. 32. For this is preserved in the case of Christ and the Church; so that, as a living one with a living one, there is no divorce, no separation for ever. And so complete is the observance of this bond in the city of our God, in His holy mountain39    Ps. xlviii. 2.—that is to say, in the Church of Christ—by all married believers, who are undoubtedly members of Christ, that, although women marry, and men take wives, for the purpose of procreating children, it is never permitted one to put away even an unfruitful wife for the sake of having another to bear children. And whosoever does this is held to be guilty of adultery by the law of the gospel; though not by this world’s rule, which allows a divorce between the parties, without even the allegation of guilt, and the contraction of other nuptial engagements,—a concession which, the Lord tells us, even the holy Moses extended to the people of Israel, because of the hardness of their hearts.40    Matt. xix. 8. The same condemnation applies to the woman, if she is married to another man. So enduring, indeed, are the rights of marriage between those who have contracted them, as long as they both live, that even they are looked on as man and wife still, who have separated from one another, rather than they between whom a new connection has been formed. For by this new connection they would not be guilty of adultery, if the previous matrimonial relation did not still continue. If the husband die, with whom a true marriage was made, a true marriage is now possible by a connection which would before have been adultery. Thus between the conjugal pair, as long as they live, the nuptial bond has a permanent obligation, and can be cancelled neither by separation nor by union with another. But this permanence avails, in such cases, only for injury from the sin, not for a bond of the covenant. In like manner the soul of an apostate, which renounces as it were its marriage union with Christ, does not, even though it has cast its faith away, lose the sacrament of its faith, which it received in the laver of regeneration. It would undoubtedly be given back to him if he were to return, although he lost it on his departure from Christ. He retains, however, the sacrament after his apostasy, to the aggravation of his punishment, not for meriting the reward.

CAPUT X.

11. Sacramentum nuptiarum. Matrimonium 0420 indissolubile. Lex saeculi quoad divortium alia a lege Evangelii. Quoniam sane non tantum fecunditas, cujus fructus in prole est; nec tantum pudicitia, cujus vinculum est fides; verum etiam quoddam sacramentum nuptiarum commendatur fidelibus conjugatis, unde dicit Apostolus, Viri, diligite uxores vestras, sicut et Christus dilexit Ecclesiam (Ephes. V, 25): hujus procul dubio sacramenti res est, ut mas et femina connubio copulati quamdiu vivunt inseparabiliter perseverent, nec liceat, excepta causa fornicationis, a conjuge conjugem dirimi (Matth. V, 32). Hoc enim custoditur in Christo et Ecclesia, ut vivens cum vivente in aeternum nullo divortio separetur. Cujus sacramenti tanta observatio est in civitate Dei nostri, in monte sancto ejus (Psal. XLVII, 2), hoc est, in Ecclesia Christi, quibusque fidelibus conjugatis, qui sine dubio membra sunt Christi, ut, cum filiorum procreandorum causa vel nubant feminae, vel ducantur uxores, nec sterilem conjugem fas sit relinquere, ut alia fecunda ducatur. Quod si quisquam fecerit, non lege hujus saeculi, ubi interveniente repudio sine crimine conceditur cum aliis alia copulare connubia; quod etiam sanctum Moysen Dominus, propter duritiam cordis illorum, Israelitis permisisse testatur: sed lege Evangelii reus est adulterii; sicut etiam illa si alteri nupserit (Matth. XIX, 8, 9). Usque adeo manent inter viventes semel inita jura nuptiarum, ut potius sint inter se conjuges qui ab alterutro separati sunt, quam cum his quibus aliis adhaeserunt. Cum aliis quippe adulteri non essent, nisi ad alterutrum conjuges permanerent. Denique mortuo viro cum quo verum connubium fuit, fieri verum connubium potest cum quo prius adulterium fuit. Ita manet inter viventes quiddam conjugale , quod nec separatio, nec cum altero copulatio possit auferre. Manet autem ad noxam criminis, non ad vinculum foederis: sicut apostatae anima velut de conjugio Christi recedens, etiam fide perdita Sacramentum fidei non amittit, quod lavacro regenerationis accepit. Redderetur enim procul dubio redeunti, si amisisset abscedens. Habet autem hoc qui recesserit ad cumulum supplicii, non ad meritum praemii.