Page:The Relations Tolstoy.pdf/52



... You are united by two things, by your convictions (faith), and by love. In my opinion even one of these is sufficient. Real true union is in human Christian love; if this exist and the sentimental love grows from it then well and good, the position is firm. If there is only the sentimental love, then, it is not bad, though there is nothing good in it, -but still the position is possible; and with honest natures and great struggle one can exist with such love. But if there is neither the one nor the other but only a pretence of either, then without any doubt the position will be bad. One should be as strict as one can with oneself, and know in what name it is one is acting.

Novels conclude by the hero and heroine marrying. One might begin by that and conclude by their unmarrying, that is, becoming free (chastity). Otherwise, to describe the life of men and cut short the description at marriage, is like describing a journey and cutting it short at the place where the traveler falls into the hands of thieves.

In the Gospel there are no instructions to marry. There is the negation of marriage, there is opposition to dissipation, to lust, and to the divorce of those who are already married, but to the institution of marriage itself there is no allusion, though the Church asserts it. Nothing except the absurd miracle at Cana, which establishes marriage to the same extent as the visit to Zaccheus establishes collection of taxes.

Yes, I think that marriage is an unchristian institution. Jesus never married, neither did his disciples, and he never instituted