CHAPTER IV
MARRIAGE WITHIN THE CHURCH BEFORE THE REFORMATION
"Christianity has had no greater practical effect on the life of mankind than in its belief that marriage is no mere civil contract, but a vow in the sight of God binding both parties by obligations of conscience above and beyond those of civil law." These words of the late Sir Francis Jeune express the conclusion which many students of the history of Christendom have reached.
Gibbon, for instance, rises above his general attitude of scarcely veiled disdain when Christianity is in question, and allows the excellent effect which Christian doctrine and practice had on the domestic life of Europe. After describing the degradation of marriage among the Romans of the later Republic and
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