Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
English 513
Dr. Fike
Deuteronomy 24:1 (quoted by Milton on page 937):
"When
a man hath tak'n a wife and married her, and it come to passe that she find no
favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleannesse in her, let
him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out
of his house, &c."
Genesis
1:
28:
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over it, etc.
Genesis
2:
18:
Then the
Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a
helper fit for him.
24:
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his
wife, and they become one flesh.
Matthew
5:
31:
It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a
writing of divorcement;
32:
But I say
unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of
fornication, causeth her to commit
adultery: and whosoever
shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Matthew
19:
3:
The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto
him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4:
And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made
them at the beginning made them male and female,
5:
And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall
cleave to his wife: and they
twain shall be one flesh?
6:
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.
What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
7:
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of
divorcement, and to put her away?
8:
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts
suffered you to put away your wives:
but from the beginning it was not so.
9:
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery:
and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.
I
Corinthians:
7:
But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry.
For it is better to marry
than
to
burn with passion.
DDD2
English 513
Dr. Fike
The opening address
to parliament:
-
Definition of “discipline.”
-
An appeal to Parliament against error, which is described in Spenserian
terms on 930. Error supports Custom,
and Custom supports Error. Milton will be an
advocate for Truth.
-
He is a “new Josiah who has recovered a ‘most necessary, most charitable,
and yet most injur’d Statude of Moses’
buried ‘under the rubbish of Canonicall ignorance:
as once the whole law was… in
Josiahs time” (Lewalski 169).
See 930-31. On 933, he will
“vindicate the sacred honour and judgment of
Moses…from the shallow commenting
of Scholastics and Canonists.”
-
He is “a courageious solitary hero” and “a learned scholar and teacher” (Lewalski
169).
-
He’s writing in English rather than Latin so that his tract will reach a
wider audience.
-
Charity is the guiding principle:
931 right, 932 right.
-
His proposal has several advantages on 933 left:
|
|
Josiah
Meaning: healed by Jehovah, or Jehovah will support
the son of Amon, and his successor on the throne of Judah (2 Kings 22:1;
2 Chr. 34:1)
His history is contained in 2 Kings 22, 23.
He stands foremost among all the
kings of the line of David for unswerving loyalty to Jehovah (23:25).
He "did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all
the way of David his father." He ascended the throne at the early age of
eight years, and it appears that not till eight years afterwards did he
begin "to seek after the God of David his father." At that age he
devoted himself to God. He distinguished himself by beginning a war of
extermination against the prevailing
idolatry, which had practically been the state religion for
some seventy years (2 Chr. 34:3; compare Jer. 25:3, 11, 29).
In the eighteenth year of his reign he proceeded to repair and beautify
the temple, which by time and violence had become sorely dilapidated (2
Kings 22:3, 5, 6; 23:23;
2 Chr. 34:11). While this work was being carried on,
Hilkiah, the high priest, discovered a roll, which was
probably the original copy of the law, the entire Pentateuch, written by
Moses.
When this book was read to him, the king was alarmed by the things it
contained, and sent for
Huldah, the "prophetess," for her counsel. She spoke to him
words of encouragement, telling him that he would be gathered to his
fathers in peace before the threatened days of judgment came. Josiah
immediately gathered the people together, and engaged them in a renewal
of their ancient national covenant with God. The
Passover was then celebrated, as in the days of his great
predecessor,
Hezekiah, with unusual magnificence. Nevertheless, "the Lord
turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger
was kindled against Judah" (2
Kings 22:3-20; 23:21-27;
2 Chr. 35:1-19). During the progress of this great religious revolution
Jeremiah helped it on by his earnest exhortations.
Soon after this,
Pharaoh-Necho II. (q.v.), king of Egypt, in an expedition
against the king of Assyria, with the view of gaining possession of
Carchemish, sought a passage through the territory of Judah
for his army. This Josiah refused to permit. He had probably entered
into some new
Alliance with the king of Assyria,
and faithful to his word he sought to oppose the progress of
Necho.
The army of Judah
went out and encountered that of Egypt at
Megiddo, on the verge of the plain of
Esdraelon. Josiah went into the field in disguise, and was
fatally wounded by a random arrow. His attendants conveyed him toward
Jerusalem, but had only reached
Hadadrimmon, a few miles south of Megiddo, when he died (2
Kings 23:28, 30; compare 2 Chr. 35:20-27), after a reign of thirty-one
years. He was buried with the greatest honors in fulfilment of
Huldah's
prophecy (2 Kings
22:20; compare Jer. 34:5). Jeremiah composed a
funeral elegy on this the best of the kings of Israel (Lam. 4:20; 2 Chr. 35:25). The outburst of national
grief on account of his death became proverbial (Zech. 12:11; compare Rev. 16:16).
|
