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 slowly revealed to the conscience and reason of the Church, as the Holy Spirit interpreted experience in the light of the principles of the Gospel, so it was to be in the case of this primary and sacred relationship of the sexes. Indeed, to the reflective student of the history of Christendom it will necessarily occur that the indirect consequences of Christ's Gospel have been far more powerful influences for good on human society than His precise directions. Let anyone consider the effect on the doctrine and practice of Christian marriage which has come from four circumstances of the revelation of God in Christ.

I.—The general character of the life of Christ as plainly and confessedly normal. Ascetic contempt of marriage very early stained Christian thought and cast deep shadows over Christian life, but that baleful temper could find no support in the teaching or example of the divine Lord. His contemporaries were perplexed, and even scandalised by the ordinary aspect of His life. It cannot