Chapter 56—Divorce
Marriage Is a Contract for Life—In the youthful mind marriage
is clothed with romance, and it is difficult to divest it of this feature,
with which imagination covers it, and to impress the mind with a sense
of the weighty responsibilities involved in the marriage vow. This vow
links the destinies of the two individuals with bonds which naught but
the hand of death should sever
Every marriage engagement should be carefully considered, for
marriage is a step taken for life. Both the man and the woman should
carefully consider whether they can cleave to each other through the
vicissitudes of life as long as they both shall live
Jesus Corrected Misconceptions of Marriage—Among the
Jews a man was permitted to put away his wife for the most triv-
ial offenses, and the woman was then at liberty to marry again. This
practice led to great wretchedness and sin. In the Sermon on the
Mount Jesus declared plainly that there could be no dissolution of the
marriage tie except for unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. “Every
one,” He said, “that putteth away his wife, saving for the cause of
fornication, maketh her an adulteress: and whosoever shall marry her
when she is put away committeth adultery.”
When the Pharisees afterward questioned Him concerning the
lawfulness of divorce, Jesus pointed His hearers back to the marriage
institution as ordained at creation. “Because of the hardness of your
hearts,” He said, Moses “suffered you to put away your wives: but
from the beginning it was not so.” He referred them to the blessed days
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of Eden when God pronounced all things “very good.” Then marriage
and the Sabbath had their origin, twin institutions for the glory of God
in the benefit of humanity. Then, as the Creator joined the hands of
the holy pair in wedlock, saying, A man shall “leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one,” He
enunciated the law of marriage for all the children of Adam to the
1
Testimonies For The Church 4, 507
.
2
Letter 17, 1896
.
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