[27] On the depravation of Roman society see Unger, Die Ehe, 80 ff.; Combier, Du divorce, 51 ff.; Popp, Ehescheidung, 23 ff.
[28] Lecky, op. cit., II, 307, 308.
[29] The principal passages are Matt. 5:31, 32; 19:3-12; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18; 1 Cor. 7:10-16; Rom. 7:2,3.
In general, on the interpretation of these passages, consult Geffcken, Ehescheidung, 16 ff.; Esmein, Le mariage en droit canonique, II, 48 ff.; Freisen, Geschichte des can. Eherechts, 769, 770; Friedberg, Lehrbuch, 337 ff.; Loening, Geschichte d. deutschen Kirchenrechts, II, 606; Perrone, De mat. Chr., III, 147-219; Roskovány, De mat. in ecc. cath., II, 61-187; Meyrick, in Dict. Christ. Ant., II, 1110; Zhishman, Das Eherecht der orient. Kirche, 96 ff., 734; Gide, La femme, 169 ff.; Thwing, The Family, 45 ff.; Woolsey, Divorce, 50-85; Popp, Ehescheidung, 51 ff.; Tebbs, Essay, 74 ff.; Strippelmann, Ehescheidungsrecht, 11 ff.; especially Milton, "Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," Prose Works, III, 180 ff.; idem, "Tetrachordon," ibid., 322 ff.; Mentzer, De conjugio, 190 ff.; Sarcerius, Vom heil. Ehestande, 161 ff.; and Bucer, in Milton's Prose Works, III, 296, passim. Partisan writers are Hovey, The Scriptural Law of Divorce; Caverno, Divorce, 29 ff.; Ap Richard, Marriage and Divorce, 77-112; Luckock, Hist. of Marriage, 44-79; Browne, Marriage of Divorced Persons in Church, 27 ff.
[30] On the use here of the generic term porneia (fornication), instead of the specific moicheia (adultery), see Milton, "Tetrachordon," Prose Works, III, 394 ff.; also the labored argument of Woolsey, Divorce, 60-70; Zhishman, Das Eherecht der orient. Kirche, 578 ff.; Meyrick, in Dict. Christ. Ant., II, 1110; Gray, Husband and Wife, 95, 104 ff.; Luckock, Hist. of Marriage, 56, 57; Ap Richard, Marriage and Divorce, 80; Selden, Uxor ebraica, III, 23, 27.
The scope of porneia is of historical importance; for some of the early Fathers and some of the leaders of the Reformation by giving it an allegorical meaning sought to multiply the scriptural grounds of divorce. Cf. Freisen, Geschichte des can. Eherechts, 770; also Milton, in Prose Works, III, 255 ff., 394 ff. In general read the elaborate essay of Morgan, Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce, II, 394-550, on porneia.
[31] Matt. 19:4-6; cf. 5:31, 32, and Mark 10:6-9. This doctrine is laid down in reply to the Pharisees who "tempting him" ask: "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"—doubtless having in mind the teaching of the school of Hillel. When Jesus declares that "what therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder," they further demand: "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" To which "he saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so." Thus, it may be suggested, Jesus admits that legally the followers of Hillel—the "broad constructionists"—are right in their interpretation; while morally he sides with the school of Shammai. See n. 2, p. 13, above. Cf. however, the specious assertions of Woolsey, Divorce, 58.
[32] By the Jewish law, of course, the woman had no right to divorce her husband for any cause; the man putting away his wife could take other wives; and the woman divorced for adultery—the only cause of separation contemplated by Jesus—was stoned to death. Cf. Geffcken, Ehescheidung, 17; and Woolsey, op. cit., 59 ff., 70 ff., who holds that the words of Jesus apply to the wife equally with the man, and that the innocent, though not the guilty, party may marry again, sustaining his position, as he fancies, by reference to Paul in 1 Cor., chap. 7. For a fair sample of theological special pleading see Browne, Marriage of Divorced Persons in Church, 30 ff.
[33] 1 Cor. 7:8-16.
[34] The Catholic doctrine as finally settled. Woolsey, assuming that this is a case of separation of two "believers" for some "dissension" or other cause less than adultery (which he holds allows a second marriage), says, "we have here an actual separation a mensa et toro without a separation a vinculo matrimonii. This third state between absolute divorce and full marriage union has then the sanction of the Apostle—not of course as something desirable, but probably as a kind of barricade against divorce and a defense of the Saviour's commandment. It may be introduced therefore into the law of Christian lands."—Divorce, 73, 74.