Harold H. Lambert Photo





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ADULTERY

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Eichard Cinder





ADULTERY
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RICHARD CINDER

“Daddy, have you ever committed

adultery?”

His knuckles went white as daddy

clenched his newspaper a little more

firmly for a second or so. Then slowly,

he lowered the paper and studied the

child before him.

“Why, Son?—what brought that up?”
“Well, we learned the Ten Command-

ments last Sunday at church and that’s

Number Six: ‘Thou shalt not commit

adultery.’ But, Daddy, what is adultery?”
“.

. . It’s, umm, it’s running around

with another man’s wife. A fellow’s
supposed to stick with his wife once he

marries her.”

“You mean that if you were to go out
with Mamma it would be wrong?”

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A shade of annoyance crossed the
man’s face.

“If I were to go out with your mother,

it would be wrong?” he repeated slowly.

“Which mother? You don’t mean Viola,
do you?”

“No, no, no ! I mean Mamma . . . the
real one . . . where I go for summer
vacation.”

“That’s very complicated. Son. You
know we’re divorced— and, as a matter
of fact, I guess it would be wrong for
me to go out with her again.”
“You mean— she’s not really my

mother?”

“Of course she’s your mother!”

“But you’re not married to her . . .

you mean my mother isn’t your wife?
Is that what you mean. Daddy?”

“But she was my wife. Son. Here . . .
why don’t you look at some of these
magazines? Have you seen this week’s

Life?"

“She’s my mother and she’s not your
wife. It used to be all right for you to go

out with her and now it’s adultery. It

used to be adultery for you to go out

with Viola, but now it’s O.K. Something

must be mixed up somewhere. Daddy .

.

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“Oh, confound those Ten Command-

ments,” the man groaned. “You’re too

young to understand those things. Son.

I’ll explain them to you after you get a

little older. Now why don’t you just go
down and take in a movie?”

For Successful Living

That child raised an interesting point.

It is, in fact, a question that won’t be

solved by looking at Life, or going to the

movies, or confounding the Ten Com-

mandments. It’s a point so serious, so

vital, that it demands earnest considera-

tion and has to be faced by every living

man and woman.
All God-believing people accept the

fact that the Almighty has put certain

strict limits on human conduct— limits
which He codified chiefly in the Ten

Commandments.

It might seem a contradiction to say

that these limits, although in a sense

they restrict our liberty, actually point

the way to our greater happiness here

and hereafter. But it’s a fact. They are

based on the nature of mankind, and

they are the sort of limitation imposed.

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say, by the auto-manufacturer when he

directs the purchaser to keep five quarts

of oil in the crankcase, to shove in the

clutch before shifting gears, etc.

Now one is perfectly free to drive
with only two quarts of oil— or none
at all; and one may attempt to shift
gears without first depressing the clutch.

But most of us are agreed that such a

course of action wouldn’t pay. It would,

in fact, be the action of a madman.

And so it is with the Ten Command-
ments. God is our “Manufacturer.” He
knows how we are to operate most suc-
cessfully and with maximum happiness
to ourselves. Hence He has given us
rules for our direction. And among
those rules we find
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

That is a law based on human nature.

And since human nature doesn’t change,

neither does that law. That is to say, as

long as we’re talking about human

beings, rather than horses, or puppies,

or geese, adultery is wrong.

Violation Is Disastrous

It is, in fact, a principle of the moral

order — parallel with the physical prin-

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ciple that it’s wrong to drink lye, eat

toadstools, or get in the way of a fast-

travelling bullet. And the eifects of

violating a moral principle are just as

disastrous as those following in the

violation of a physical principle. The

difference is that in the one case the

ruination is visible, more or less dra-

matic, and often immediate, while in the

other case the harm done is silent and

generally not apparent for quite some

time.

There is another angle to these Ten

Commandments. Sincb, like the laws

governing good health they are based on

the nature of man as we find him, then
— like the laws of good health— they
are beyond control by human opinion or

legislation. For instance, it is possible

(though hardly probable) that a medi-

cal society might issue an endorsement

in favor of eating toadstools. But that

endorsement and its adoption by crowds

of people would in no-wise change the

poisonous effect of toadstools on the

human system.

Likewise, it is possible (and not too

improbable) that a group of people

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somewhere might issue an endorsement

of adultery. It might be made legal, for

instance, and even recommended by

various misguided elements in the com-

munity. It might even, so help us, be-

come a fad— the practice of adultery

—

all of which would change God’s Law

not one whit, nor would it modify the

disastrous effect on the individual, body

and soul, and on society.

God’s command, then, is unchangeable

and independent of public opinion. No

Gallup Poll can alter it. Like the 98.6

which is the normal temperature of the

human body, it is a permanent fixture.

It will be with us until the end of time.

What Is Adultery?

Now— just what is adultery? Adul-
tery is the exchange of sexual relations

between two people, one or both of whom

are married to someone else.

It is first of all an offense against the

virtue of purity, which dictates that sex

be used only within the limits of a legi-

timate marriage, i.e. between a man and

his wife.

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But it also involves a sin against jus-

tice, whereby husband and wife have

given their bodies, each to the other

until death.

And finally there is a sin against

charity. Each is leading the other astray,

contributing to the other’s delinquency

through bad example.

Adultery, then, is a triple sin.

It is not necessary, incidentally, that

the marriage act be completed before

there is serious sin. Any yielding on
this point, physically or mentally, is a

grave matter as far as Almighty God is

concerned.

So closely related to the subject of

adultery is that of marriage and divorce

that no discussion of the subject could

be closed, in this twentieth century, at

least, without an examination of that

very question: Who is my wife and, if
I divorce her, can I have a second wife?

Who Is My Wife?

First: Who is my wife?— Your wife
is the woman with whom you first ex-
changed your marriage vows. You

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elected her to be the mother of your

children and, before a duly appointed

official of the community, you accepted

her as your wife “until death do us

part.” If either you or the girl were

Catholic, there was no marriage unless

a priest officiated.

You gave yourself to her until death,

and she gave herself to you until death.

You vowed that as long as you lived you

were hers. And she vowed herself the

same way.

That answers the question on divorce

if by' divorce is meant legal separation

with the possibility of re-marriage—
for if by a solemn pledge uttered in the

presence of Almight3^God a person gives

himself to another for life, how can he

give himself to a third party when he

is no longer his own to dispose of?

When Kelly sells his car to Casey, he

loses ownership of that car so that there

can be no question of Kelly’s selling it

again to O’Brien, since Casey is holding

the title.

In somewhat the same sense, every

wife holds title to her husband, and

every husband to his wife.

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Every analogy limps, they say, and

that one is no exception. There is a dif-

ference between marriage and other

contracts. Practically all the others can

be broken by mutual consent. Both par-

ties can agree to call everything off and

restore things to their former status.

But marriage is unique in that it

can’t be broken even by mutual consent,

first by God’s Command, and then be-

cause of the purposes of marriage. It

has to be a permanent union for the

sake of the children.

The Words of Christ

As for God’s command. Our Lord

stated His mind quite clearly in the Gos-

pel and through His apostles.

“Have you not read that He who made

man from the beginning made them male

and female?” He asked the Pharisees.

“For this cause shall a man leave father
and mother, and shall cleave to his wife,

and they two shall be in one fiesh. There-

fore, now they are not two, but one

flesh. What therefore God hath joined

together, let no man put asunder.”

(Matt. 19:4-8).

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When the Pharisees asked Our Lord
why divorce had been permitted under

the Old Testament, He answered that

this had been allowed only “by reason

of the hardness of your heart.”

In St. Mark’s Gospel, we have Jesus

saying that “Whosoever shall put away

his wife committeth adultery against

her. And if the wife shall put away her

husband, and be married to another,

she committeth adultery (10:11-12).

St. Luke quotes Him to the same ef-

fect : “And he that marrieth her that is

put away, committeth adultery” (16:18).

St. Paul the Apostle underscores all

this for the benefit of the early Chris-

tians. Writing to the Eomans, he says

:

“For the woman that hath an hus-

band, whilst her husband liveth is bound

to the law; but if her husband be dead,

she is loosed from the law of her hus-

band. Therefore, whilst her husband

liveth, she shall be called an adulteress

if she be with another man; but if her

husband be dead, she is delivered from

the law of her husband, so that she is

not an adulteress, if she is with another

man” (7:2-3).

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“To them that are married, not I, but

the Lord commandeth,” he writes to the

Corinthians, “that the wife depart not

from her husband. And if she depart,
that she remain unmarried, or be recon-

ciled to her husband” (7 Cor. 7:10-11).

Civil Law No Guide

Nor can we be guided by civil law in
the matter. As St. John Chrysostom

wrote over a thousand years ago:

“Do not cite the civil law made by

outsiders, which command that a bill be

issued and a divorce granted. For it is

not according to these laws that the

Lord will judge thee on the Last Day,

but according to those which He Him-

self has given.”

This, of course, has been Christian

teaching from the beginning. Hermas,

one of the earliest Christian writers,

said, around the year 160— only 60
years after St. John the Evangelist laid

down his pen : “If a man have an adul-

terous wife, let him put her away, and

let the husband remain by himself. But

if he put his wife away and marry then,

he also commits adultery himself.”

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At about the same time (165), St.

Justin Martyr wrote: “Whoever mar-

ries a woman that has been put away

by another, commits adultery.”

St. Clement of Alexandria (150-216)

:

“The Bible declares it to be adultery if

a person marries another while his or

her partner is still alive.”

St. Jerome (340-420) : “As long as

the husband is alive, even though he be

an adulterer . . . and is deserted by his

wife for his crimes, he is still her hus-

band and she may not take another.”

As a matter of fact, until quite re-

cently practically all Protestants re-

pudiated the idea of divorce as breaking

the marriage tie. It has only been in

recent decades that they have reversed

their stand and accepted divorce—
under pressure from their communi-

cants, one must suspect. But if divorce

and remarriage was wrong a hundred

years ago, how can it now be right?

The Catholic Church, comprising the

great majority of Christians throughout

the world, has always held and still

holds that marriage is a world-without-

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end bargain : one wife for life. And any

violation of marriage fidelity, with or

without state approval, is adultery, a

violation of the Sixth Commandment,

punishable by condemnation to the ever-

lasting pains of hell.

Published by

THE CATHOLIC INFORMATION SOCIETY

214 West 31st St., New York 1, N. Y.

(opposite PENN TERMINAL)

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