CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE AND MORALITY 47 



Church of Rome towards marriage has remained un- 

 changed. It is regarded as a ceremony which a priest 

 alone can perform, while its essential uncleanness is 

 asserted by the existence of nunneries and monasteries, 

 to which women and men are invited to betake them- 

 selves for the purpose of leading a holy life. Nor 

 did the Eeformation essentially modify the ecclesias- 

 tical law in England beyond allowing the clergy to 

 marry, and sanctioning marriage at all seasons of the 

 year. After the pope's supremacy was overthrown, 

 the doctrine and discipline of the Church with respect 

 to marriage continued to be pretty much as before. 

 Edward VI contemplated allowing divorce for 

 "adultery, desertion, cruel usage, or perpetual con- 

 tention." This would have been a very liberal 

 measure, but unhappily its projector died before it 

 was carried into effect, and the English Divorce Act 

 was not passed till the year 1857. Other European 

 countries have, like England, established civil liberty 

 with respect to the marriage contract, but the ecclesi- 

 astical spirit remains everywhere opposed to divorce, 

 and inculcates the impurity of an instinct which it 

 identifies with " original sin." 



It would seem that in the course of these many 

 centuries the Christian doctrines of purity have prac- 



