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Now there is not and cannot be such an institution as Christian
marriage, just as there cannot be such a thing as a Christian liturgy
(Matt. vi. 5-12; John iv. 21), nor Christian teachers, nor church
fathers (Matt. xxiii. 8-10), nor Christian armies, Christian law courts,
nor Christian States. This is what was always taught and believed by
true Christians of the first and following centuries. A Christian's
ideal is not marriage, but love for God and for his neighbor.
Consequently in the eyes of a Christian relations in marriage not only
do not constitute a lawful, right, and happy state, as our society and
our churches maintain, but, on the contrary, are always a fall.
Such a thing as Christian marriage never was and never could be. Christ
did not marry, nor did he establish marriage; neither did his disciples
marry. But if Christian marriage cannot exist, there is such a thing as
a Christian view of marriage. And this is how it may be formulated: A
Christian (and by this term I understand not those who call themselves
Christians merely because they were baptized and still receive the
sacrament once a year, but those whose lives are shaped and regulated
by the teachings of Christ), I say, cannot view the marriage relation
otherwise than as a deviation from the doctrine of Christ,--as a sin.
This is clearly laid down in Matt. v. 28, and the ceremony called
Christian marriage does not alter its character one jot. A Christian
will never, therefore, desire marriage, but will always avoid it.
If the light of truth dawns upon a Christian when he is already married,
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