Humpty Dumpty on unholy matrimony

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The Book of Common Prayer stands alongside Shakespeare and the King James Bible as one of the great monuments of Elizabethan English, and therefore of the English language itself. For the Elizabethans gave us the most glorious period of the ever-fecund English tongue.

The prayer book's service for the Solemnization of Marriage begins with these words, whose familiarity has never dimmed their force or reverence:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here in the sight of God, and in the face of this company, to join together this Man and this Woman in holy Matrimony.

The service goes on to note that marriage is "an honourable estate instituted of God" and is not "to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God."

Now prepare for the swift comedown to Chief Justice Margaret Marshall's prose as she explains, on behalf of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, why civil marriage need no longer be limited to man and woman. It's like taking an elevator down 40 floors in 20 seconds:

"In short, for all the joy and solemnity that normally attend a marriage, governing entrance to marriage is a licensing law."

Her honor might be talking about obtaining a building permit or occupation license. "In Massachusetts," she explains, "civil marriage is, and since pre-Colonial days has been, precisely what its name implies, a wholly secular institution."

In short, don't let all that joy and solemnity fool you. It's just another civil procedure. Once that is understood, marriage can be anything the almighty state says it is, and may unite whatever two people it designates. (Gosh, why only two?)

Where civil marriage is concerned, the state now has superseded not only the deity but also the dictionary. Forget Webster's or Black's or the simple, everyday meaning of marriage. The Supreme Judicial Council of Massachusetts has overturned them all.