Chapter XIV.

39. “It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.” This is the lesser righteousness of the Pharisees, which is not opposed by what our Lord says: “But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery:123    Per alias nuptias, quarum potestatem dat divortium (“by another marriage, power of which divorce gives.”—Bengel). So also Meyer, Alford, etc. and whosoever shall marry her that is loosed from her husband committeth adultery.”124    Solutam a viro…moechatur; Vulgate, dimissam…adulterat. For He who gave the commandment that a writing of divorcement should be given, did not give the commandment that a wife should be put away; but “whosoever shall put away,” says He, “let him give her a writing of divorcement,” in order that the thought of such a writing might moderate the rash anger of him who was getting rid of his wife. And, therefore, He who sought to interpose a delay in putting away, indicated as far as He could to hard-hearted men that He did not wish separation. And accordingly the Lord Himself in another passage, when a question was asked Him as to this matter, gave this reply: “Moses did so because of the hardness of your hearts.”125    Matt. xix. 8. For however hard-hearted a man may be who wishes to put away his wife, when he reflects that, on a writing of divorcement being given her, she could then without risk marry another, he would be easily appeased. Our Lord, therefore, in order to confirm that principle, that a wife should not lightly be put away, made the single exception of fornication; but enjoins that all other annoyances, if any such should happen to spring up, be borne with fortitude for the sake of conjugal fidelity and for the sake of chastity; and he also calls that man an adulterer who should marry her that has been divorced by her husband. And the Apostle Paul shows the limit of this state of affairs, for he says it is to be observed as long as her husband liveth; but on the husband’s death he gives permission to marry.126    Rom. vii. 2, 3. For he himself also held by this rule, and therein brings forward not his own advice, as in the case of some of his admonitions, but a command by the Lord when he says: “And unto the married127    In conjugio…mulierem; Vulgate, matrimonio…uxorem. I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife128    In conjugio…mulierem; Vulgate, matrimonio…uxorem. depart from her husband: but and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.”129    1 Cor. vii. 10, 11. I believe that, according to a similar rule, if he shall put her away, he is to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to his wife. For it may happen that he puts away his wife for the cause of fornication, which our Lord wished to make an exception of. But now, if she is not allowed to marry while the husband is living from whom she has departed, nor he to take another while the wife is living whom he has put away, much less is it right to commit unlawful acts of fornication with any parties whomsoever. More blessed indeed are those marriages to be reckoned, where the parties concerned, whether after the procreation of children, or even through contempt of such an earthly progeny, have been able with common consent to practise self-restraint toward each other: both because nothing is done contrary to that precept whereby the Lord forbids a spouse to be put away (for he does not put her away who lives with her not carnally, but spiritually), and because that principle is observed to which the apostle gives expression, “It remaineth, that they that have wives be as though they had none.”130    1 Cor. vii. 29.

CAPUT XIV.---39. Dictum est autem, Quicumque dimiserit uxorem suam, det illi libellum repudii. Haec justitia minor est Pharisaeorum, cui non est contrarium quod Dominus dicit, Ego autem dico vobis, Quicumque dimiserit uxorem suam excepta fornicationis causa, facit eam moechari; et qui solutam a viro duxerit, moechatur. Non enim qui praecepit dari libellum repudii, hoc praecepit, ut uxor dimittatur: sed, Qui dimiserit, inquit, det illi libellum repudii; ut iracundiam temerariam projicientis uxorem libelli cogitatio temperaret. Qui ergo dimittendi moram quaesivit, significavit quantum potuit duris hominibus, se nolle discidium. Et ideo ipse Dominus alio loco de hoc interrogatus, ita respondit: Hoc Moyses propter duritiam vestram fecit (Matth. XIX, 8). Quantumvis enim durus esset qui vellet dimittere uxorem, cum cogitaret libello repudii dato jam sine periculo eam posse nubere alteri, facile placaretur. Dominus ergo ad illud confirmandum ut non facile uxor dimittatur, solam causam fornicationis excepit: caeteras vero universas molestias, si quae forte exstiterint, jubet pro fide conjugali et pro castitate fortiter sustineri; et moechum dicit etiam virum qui eam duxerit, quae soluta 1249 est a viro. Cujus rei apostolus Paulus terminum ostendit, quia tamdiu observandum dicit, quamdiu vir ejus vivit: illo autem mortuo, dat nubendi licentiam (Rom. VII, 2, 3). Hanc enim etiam ipse regulam tenuit, et in ea non suum consilium, sicut in nonnullis monitis, sed praeceptum Domini jubentis ostendit, cum ait: Eis autem qui sunt in conjugio praecipio, non ego, sed Dominus, mulierem a viro non discedere; quod si discesserit, manere innuptam, aut viro suo reconciliari: et vir uxorem non dimittat (I Cor. VII, 10, 11). Credo, simili forma, ut si dimiserit non ducat aliam, aut reconcilietur uxori. Fieri enim potest ut dimittat uxorem causa fornicationis, quam Dominus exceptam esse voluit. Jamvero si nec illi nubere conceditur vivo viro a quo recessit, neque huic alteram ducere viva uxore quam dimisit; multo minus fas est illicita cum quibuslibet stupra committere. Beatiora sane conjugia judicanda sunt, quae sive filiis procreatis, sive etiam ista terrena prole contempta, continentiam inter se pari consensu servare potuerint: quia neque contra illud praeceptum fit, quo Dominus dimitti conjugem vetat; non enim dimittit, qui cum ea non carnaliter, sed spiritualiter vivit: et illud servatur, quod per Apostolum dicitur, Reliquum est ut qui habent uxores, quasi non habentes sint (Ibid. 29).