t. Mark we read: "Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another
committeth adultery against her. And if the wife shall put away her
husband and be married to another she committeth adultery."(540)

The same unqualified declaration is made by St. Luke: "Every one that
putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and he
that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth
adultery."(541) Both of these Evangelists forbid either husband or wife to
enter into second wedlock, how aggravating soever may be the cause of
their separation. And surely, if the case of adultery authorized the
aggrieved husband to marry another wife, those inspired penmen would not
have failed to mention that qualifying circumstance.

Passing from the Gospels to the Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, we
find there also an absolute prohibition of divorce. The Apostle is writing
to a city newly converted to the Christian religion. Among other topics he
inculcates the doctrine of the Church respecting Matrimony. We must
suppose that as an inspired writer and a faithful minister of the Word he
discharges his duty conscientiously, without suppressing or extenuating
one iota of the law. He addresses the Corinthians as follows: "To them
that are married not I, but the Lord, commandeth that the wife depart not
from her husband. And if she depart that she remain unmarried, or be
reconciled to her husband. And let not the husband put away his
wife."(542) Here we find the Apostle, in his Master's name, commanding the
separated couple to remain unmarried, without any reference to the case of
adultery. If so important an exception existed, St. Paul would not have
omitted to mention it; otherwise he would have rendered the Gospel yoke
more grievous than its Founder intended.

We must, therefore, admit that, according to the religion of Jesus Christ,
conjugal infidelity does not warrant either party to marry again, or we
are forced to the conclusion that the vast number of Christians whose
knowledge of Christianity was derived solely from the teachings of Saints
Mark, Luke and Paul were imperfectly instructed in their faith.

Nor can we suppose that St. Matthew gave to the married Christians of
Palestine a privilege which St. Paul withheld from the Corinthians; for
then the early Christian Church might have witnessed the disedifying
spectacle of aggrieved husbands seeking in Judea for a divorce from their
adulterous wives w