marriage from that point of view, can one desire that it should
be anything less than permanent, indissoluble? That which God made, and,
therefore, which no man should put asunder? Let the community--both Church
and State--teach this. Let us make it clear that men and women should not
marry unless they do sincerely believe that their love for each other is
of this character. Let them understand that physical union should be
the expression of a spiritual union. Let them learn that love, though it
includes passion, is more than passion, and must transcend and outlive
passion. And let us insist that all should learn the truth about
themselves--about their own bodies and about their own natures--so that
they may understand what they do, and may have all the help that knowledge
can give in doing it. I hold that on such knowledge and such understanding
the community should insist, if it is to uphold the high and difficult
standard of indissoluble monogamous marriage. So only _can_ it be rightly
upheld.

I urge also that when a marriage takes place the State has a right and a
duty with regard to it. For the sake of every citizen, and most of all for
the sake of the children, it should "solemnize" marriage, and should do so
on the understanding--clearly expressed--that those who come to be married
intend to be faithful to each other "as long as they both shall live."

In doing this I believe the State does all--or nearly all--that it usefully
can to uphold the dignity of marriage and a high standard of morality. I do
not believe that it should seek to penalize those whose sex-relationships
are not of this character, except so far as legislation for the protection
of the immature or the helpless is concerned. And I do not think it should
compel--or seek to compel, for compulsion is, in fact, impossible--the
observance of a marriage which has lost or never had the elements of
reality.

Is this to abandon the ideal I have been upholding? I do not think so.
Let us refer again to the greatest of Teachers and the loftiest of
Idealists--Jesus Christ. See what He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount and
elsewhere. Everywhere He emphasizes the spiritual character of virtue
and of sin. To be a murderer it is not necessary to kill: to hate is,
in itself, enough. If you hate you are essentially a murderer. To be
an adulterer it is not necessary to commit adultery: to look on a woman
lustfully is already to have committed adultery with her i