Then was put to Him the question concerning the existing law: "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?" His answer was that "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so." Jesus although disapproving of the breadth of the Mosaic law did not declare against divorce; quite the contrary, for He said: "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." Unless we assume that Jesus was concealing rather than expounding His views, the plain meaning is that He considered fornication to be the sufficient and only cause for an absolute divorce. Josephus interpreted the Jewish divorce law as follows: "He who wishes to be separated from his wife for any reason whatever--and many such are occurring among men--must affirm in writing his intention of no longer cohabiting with her." The ancient Jewish law made of woman a chattel and a marriage derelict at her husband's pleasure, but it gave the woman no right to divorce her husband for any cause. The poet, John Milton, in the least worthy of his writings, relied upon the Mosaic law in his specious argument in favour of unlimited divorce. St. Augustine contended that the question of divorce is not clearly determined by the words of Jesus, but there can be no mistake concerning the theological attitude of the Roman Catholic Church of to-day on this subject. It positively holds that no human power can dissolve a marriage when ratified and consummated between baptized persons. If one is prepared to concede the principal dogma of Roman Catholicism, namely, the infallibility of the Church, there is no lack of logic or authority in such an attitude, even though it differs or varies from the Mosaic law or the sayings of Jesus. We must remember, however, that modern divorce law is not founded on theological dogmas or theories, but upon practical social science and humanity. In most countries there is no distinction between the husband and the wife as to grounds of divorce. The Mohammedan law of Egypt and the statute laws of Belgium and England being conspicuous exceptions to the rule. Usually the domicile of the husband is the place where the action must be instituted, but in the United States of America a wife may acquire a separate domicile from that of her husband if he has given her cause for divorce.