circular argument is thus complete. "The poet, whose Adam prayed the Almighty to give him an _equal inferior_ for his companion in the happy garden, does not appear to have conceived it possible for a woman in her right mind to wish to put away her lord and master."[270] [Footnote 266: For MILTON'S theory of divorce procedure, as summarized in the text, see "Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," _Prose Works_, III, 263-73. _Cf._ JEAFFRESON, _Brides and Bridals_, II, 335-38.] [Footnote 267: SCHEURL, _Das gem. deut. Eherecht_, 294 ff., forcibly argues that the conception of divorce through magisterial intervention, as opposed to self-divorce, is a mark of Reformation thought. According to Luther, God speaks through the civil magistrate. Hence in case of divorce from the bond of wedlock by judicial decree it is not "man," but God himself, who parts man and wife. Therefore the command of Jesus is not broken. So here we have another illustration of the casuistry necessitated by the appeal to authority.] [Footnote 268: Accordingly MILTON justifies Parliament and the clergy in consenting to Henry VIII.'s putting away Anne of Cleves, "whom he could not like after he had been wedded half a year."--"Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce," _Prose Works_, III, 266.] [Footnote 269: _Cf._ JEAFFRESON'S suggestion, _Brides and Bridals_, II, 337.] [Footnote 270: _Ibid._, 338. A representative Catholic writer, REV. WILLIAM HUMPHREY, S. J., defending the sacramental doctrine of marriage, transposes Milton's phrase, declaring the woman in paradise and "as she is now" to be the "subordinate equal of man."--_Christian Marriage_, 16.]