innocent person might cease to be married without knowing it, and that if an adulterous partner be forgiven there should properly be a fresh marriage; but these objections are not very serious. Marriage is a legal contract as well as a natural union; the latter may be destroyed while the former remains unaffected. Only the law can undo the work of the law. Divorce is a legal act dissolving marriage; but marriage is far more than a legal act; it is a natural union, and the religious validity of the legal act depends on its relation to the natural union.
It is true that the natural union may be dissolved without the knowledge of the innocent partner; but that is precisely the reason why the prophets and the Christian Church emphasise the religious aspect of marriage. The All-Seeing is a witness of all marriages, and He watches over the fidelity of those whose union He has ordained. Human law must follow, so far as it can, the lines of moral fact. The State ought not to uphold a covenant which
