s made "either to other".

{107}

It is this Sacrament of Matrimony, Marriage, or Wedlock, that we are
now to consider. We will think of it under four headings:--

(I) What is it for?
(II) What is its essence?
(III) Whom is it for?
(IV) What are its safeguards?

(I) WHAT IS IT FOR?

Marriage is, as we have seen, God's method of propagating the human
race. It does this in two ways--by expansion, and by limitation. This
is seen in the New Testament ordinance, "one man for one woman". It
expands the race, but within due and disciplined limitations.
Expansion, without limitation, would produce quantity without quality,
and would wreck the human race; limitation without expansion might
produce quality without quantity, but would extinguish the human race.
Like every other gift of God, marriage is to be treated "soberly,
wisely, discretely," and, like every other gift, it must be used with a
due combination of freedom and restraint.

Hence, among other reasons, the marriage union between one man and one
woman is {108} indissoluble. For marriage is not a mere union of
sentiment; it is not a mere terminable contract between two persons,
who have agreed to live together as long as they suit each other. It
is an _organic_ not an emotional union; "They twain shall be one
flesh," which nothing but death can divide. No law in Church or State
can unmarry the legally married. A State may _declare_ the
non-existence of the marriage union, just as it may _declare_ the
non-existence of God: but such a declaration does not affect the fact,
either in one case or the other.

In England the State does, in certain cases, declare that the life-long
union is a temporary contract, and does permit "this man" or "this
woman" to live with another man, or with another woman, and, if they
choose, even to exchange husbands or wives. This is allowed by the
Divorce Act of 1857,[2] "when," writes Bishop Stubbs, "the calamitous
legislation of 1857 inflicted on English Society and English morals
{109} the most cruel blow that any conjunction of unrighteous influence
could possibly have contrived".[3]

The Church has made no such declaration. It rigidly forbids a husband
or wife to marry again during the lifetime of either party. The Law of
the Church remains the Law of the Church, overridden--but not repealed.
This has led to a conflict between Church and State in a country where
they are, in theory though not in fact, un