Page:Tolstoy - Essays and Letters.djvu/61

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AN AFTERWORD.

45

concubinage, or polygamy, or polyandry, confined within certain bounds. Among us wholesale dissoluteness finds place: concubinage, polygamy, and polyandry, free from all limitations, and concealed by the pretence of monogamy.

For no better reason than because the clergy, for money, perform certain ceremonies (called marriage services) over a certain number of those who unite, people in our society naïvely or hypocritically imagine that we are a monogamous people.

There never was, or could be, such a thing as Christian marriage, any more than Christian worship,^[1] Christian teachers and Fathers of the Church,^[2] Christian pro-

↑ 'And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they love to stand and pray in congregations and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which, seeth in secret, shall recompense thee. And in praying use not vain repetitions as the Gentiles do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.'—Matt. vi. 5–12.

'Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. You know not whom you worship, but we worship him whom we know. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and by deeds: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and by deeds.'—John iv. 21–24.
↑ 'But be not ye called teachers: for one is your Teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even the Christ.'—Matt. xxiii. 8–10.

(Where the Revised Version is not followed, Tolstoy's Union and Translation of the Four Gospels has been used.)

[1] 'And when ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites: for they love to stand and pray in congregations and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which, seeth in secret, shall recompense thee. And in praying use not vain repetitions as the Gentiles do: for they think they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.'—Matt. vi. 5–12.

'Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. You know not whom you worship, but we worship him whom we know. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and by deeds: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit, and must be worshipped in spirit and by deeds.'—John iv. 21–24.

[2] 'But be not ye called teachers: for one is your Teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even the Christ.'—Matt. xxiii. 8–10.

(Where the Revised Version is not followed, Tolstoy's Union and Translation of the Four Gospels has been used.)

[1]

[2]