Page:Christian Marriage.djvu/143

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UNDER MODERN CONDITIONS
127

apprehend what is their duty without any hesitation. The law of the Church—according to their theory—holds their allegiance by divine right; they must obey God rather than men. This simple and, to those who can accept it, satisfactory solution of a difficult problem will not be possible for the student of social science, or of history, or of ecclesiastical law. For he will be met at the start by the unquestionable fact that all the assumptions of that facile theory are unsound.

There is no institution now existing on the earth which can make out a good title to the character of the divinely-ordained exponent of the mind of Christ; there is no agreement between the churches on the subject of marriage; the conditions of a sound political treatment of the most important of all social relationships are only now coming within the range of human knowledge, as science, physio- logical and sociological, yields her witness. It is plain enough that the task of determining the way of duty for a Christian man is by no