The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1890-08-14

unattainabls, admits Of infinite graduation
in degrees Of proximity, Such is thu
Christian ideal Of the founding Of God'i
kingdom, the union Of all living creatures
by the bonds Of love. The conception o.
It's attainment is incompatible with thu
conception Of the movement Of life. Whal
kind Of life could subsist II all livinl
creatures were joined together by the
bonds Of love? None. Our conception Of
life is inseparably bound up. with the con
ception Of q continual striving after an
unattainable ideal.
But even il we suppose the Christian
idea Of perfect chastity realized, what
them We should merely find ourselves
face to face on the one hand with the IA.
miliar teaching Of religion, one Of whose
dogmas is that the world will have an end
and on the other, Of so-called science,
which informs us that the sun is grad.
ually losing its heat, the result Of which
will in time be the extinction Of the hu.
man race.
II the lives Of us Christians are char
acterized by such a frightful contradiction
between our cOnsciences and reality it is
because we fail to understand the doc
trine Of Christ, which points to an unat.
tainable, imperishable ideal, and in con-
sequence allow ecclesiastical prescriptions,
wrongly called Christian, to be substi-
tuted for the Christian ideal. This has
been done in the matter Of divine service
Of apostleship, Of power and Of much else.
The same thing has been done in respect
to marriage. Christ not only never in
stituted marriage, but il we search the
formal precept on the subject we find that
he rather disapproved Of It than other
wise. (''And every one that hath for
saken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife or children, or
land for my names sake shall receive an
hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting
life" Matt, xix, 20; Marx, K, 20, 81 ;
Luke, xviii, 20, SO). He only impressed
upon married and unmarried alike the ne
cessity Of striving after perfection.
The churches, however, by endeavor-
ing, contrary to Christ's teaching, to es-
tablish marriage as a Christian institu-
ton, failed 10 create a solid institution
and yet deprived the people Of the guild
ing ideal set up by Christ. The upshot of
this iIl-advised effort was that people flung
away the old before receiving the new ;
they lost sight Of the true ideal Of chas-
tity pointed out by Christ and embraced
outwardly the ecclesiastical dogma Of the
sacrament Of marriage, a doctrine that
has been built up upon no foundation
whatever, and in which men do not really
and sincerely believe. This affords us a
satisfactory explanation Of the fact, which
at first sight seems a strange anomaly,
that the principle Of family life and its basis
(conjugal fidelity are found to be more
fi'mly rooted among people who possess
clear and minute external religious pre-
scriptions on the subject-among Moham-
medans and Jews, for instance-than
among so-called Christians. The former
have a code Of clear, detailed, external
precepts respecting marriage, whereas the
latter have nothing Of the kind. 1t is
only over q very insignificant fraction Of
the unions which they contract that the
men and women Of our society have a
performed by the clergy to
which they give the name Of sacramental
marriage; they then live on in polygamy
and pOlyandry and giving themselves up
TO vice, in the belief that they are prac-
ticing the mOnogamy they profess.
. Now, there is not and can not be such
an Institution as Christian marriage, lust
as there can not be such a thing as
Christian liturgy Matthew, vi, 5.l2 John,
Nv, 2l) nor Christian teachers nor church
fathers Matthew, xiii, S-lO), nor Chris
tian armies, Christian law courts nor
Christian states. This is what was al
ways taught and believed by true Chris
tiRns Of the first and following centuries.
A Christians ideal IL not marriage, but
love for God aud his neighbor. Conse-
quently, in the eyes Of a Christian, rela-
tons in marriage not only do not consti-
tute a lawful, right and happy state, as
our society and churches maintain, but,
on the contrary, are always a fall.
Such thing as Christian marriage never
was and never could be established.
Christ did not marry, nor did he establish
marriage; neither did his disciples marry.
But II Christian marriage can not exist
there Is such = thing as 4 Christian view
of marriage. And This Is how il may be
formulated: A Christian land by this term
l understand not those who call them
selves Christian merely belsuse they were
baptized and still receive the sacrament
once . year, but those whose lives ART
shaped and regulated by the teachings oil
Chnst), Christian, say, cannot view
the marriage relation otherwise than a
q deviation from the doctrine Of Christ
las . sin. This Is clearly laid down 10
Matthew, v, 2S, and the ceremony called
Christian marriage does not alter It's char
acteT one jot.- A Christian will never
therefore, desire marriage, but will Away
avoid Il.
II the light Of truth dawns upon a Chris
tian when he Is already married, or II
being . Christian, from weakness he en-
ters into marital relations with the cere
monies OF the church, or without them, h
has no other alternative than TO abidG
with his wife land the wife with her hus
band, II il is she who Is n Chris.ian) ant
TO aspire together with her 10 free them
selves Of their sin. This Is the Christian
view Of the marriage; and there can no
be any other for q man who honestly en-
deavors 10 shape his life iE accordance
with the teachings Of Christ
To very many. persons the thoughts
have uttered here In the THE Kreutze
Sonata" will seem strange, vague, ever
contradictory. They ceTtainly do contra
dict, not each other, but the whole tenO
Of our lives, and invOluntaFily 4 dOub
aEiaaa lnu uhinh aiAn Il A.l.Lk-.. Al.