Of Marriage and Divorce
I. Marriage is to be between one man and one woman:
neither is it lawful for any man to have more than one wife, nor for any woman to have
more than one husband, at the same time.a
a. Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:5-6; Prov. 2:17.
II. Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband
and wife,a for the increase of mankind with a legitimate issue, and of the
Church with an holy seed;b and for preventing of uncleanness.c
a. Gen. 2:18.
b. Mal. 2:15.
c. I Cor. 7:2, 9.
III. It is lawful for all sorts of people to marry, who
are able with judgment to give their consent.a Yet is it the duty of Christians
to marry only in the Lord.b And therefore such as profess the true reformed
religion should not marry with infidels, papists, or other idolaters: neither should such
as are godly be unequally yoked, by marrying with such as are notoriously wicked in their
life, or maintain damnable heresies.c
a. Heb. 13:4; I Tim. 4:3; I Cor. 7:36-38; Gen. 24:57-58.
b. I Cor. 7:39.
c. Gen. 34:14; Exod. 34:16; Deut. 7:3-4; I Ki. 11:4; Neh. 13:25-27; Mal.
2:11-12; II Cor. 6:14.
IV. Marriage ought not to be within the degrees of
consanguinity or affinity forbidden by the Word.a Nor can such incestuous
marriages ever be made lawful by any law of man or consent of parties, so as those persons
may live together as man and wife.b The man may not marry any of his wife's
kindred, nearer in blood than he may of his own: nor the woman of her husband's kindred,
nearer in blood than of her own.c
a. Lev. 18; I Cor. 5:1; Amos 2:7.
b. Mark 6:18; Lev. 18:24-28.
c. Lev. 20:19-21.
V. Adultery or fornication committed after a contract,
being detected before marriage, gives just occasion to the innocent party to dissolve that
contract.a In the case of adultery after marriage, it is lawful for the
innocent party to sue out a divorce:b and, after the divorce, to marry another,
as if the offending party were dead.c
a. Matt. 1:18-20.
b. Matt. 5:31-32.
c. Matt. 19:9; Rom. 7:2-3.
VI. Although the corruption of man be such as is apt to
study arguments unduly to put asunder those whom God has joined together in marriage: yet,
nothing but adultery, or such willful desertion as can no way be remedied by the Church,
or civil magistrate, is cause sufficient of dissolving the bond of marriage:a
wherein, a public and orderly course of proceeding is to be observed; and the persons
concerned in it not left to their own wills, and discretion, in their own case.b
a. Matt. 19:8-9; I Cor. 7:15; Matt. 19:6.
b. Deut. 24:1-4.
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