| 706 "It is our opinion that the church should take this ground; that there is but one cause justifying putting away and divorcement, that cause being the one spoken of by the Savior. Further, that any person being guilty of the crime which is a cause for divorce should not retain fellowship in the church after the first known offense, unless they repent and confess; nor at all after the second known offense. We use the words, 'known offense,' because crime and the one committing it must be known to us before we can punish the guilty.
"We have reason to believe that there are many hasty marriages; and that these hasty marriages lead to evil results. The saints should teach and enforce every remedy preventive of crime; and a more considerate, deliberate contracting between men and women, by which they assume so grave relations as those of husband and wife are, would prevent a multitude of evils.
"The world groans under a loose morality fearful to contemplate; and the course of many talented men and women, in teaching and in practicing the absolution of the marriage covenant for trivial causes, is making the world worse; and indeed, it may be said, with some show of truth, that there will come a time, should the teaching of such philosophers become the rule, that virtue and vice, morality and immorality existed but in name; for that which is now vicious and immoral will by teaching and custom have become the rule.
"The church should be the lever of reform in this matter; and while we preach a purer faith, we should also preach a purer practice; while we teach freedom from spiritual bondage to the world, we must insist upon the sanctity and holiness of the marriage bond; for unless holiness shall begin in the domestic relations, it will never be found in the church nor in the state.
"To answer the question direct, 'whosoever' putteth away his or her companion, except for the cause specified by the Savior, and marries another, 'committeth adultery.' Whoever committeth adultery and will not repent and
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