hort, to practise every austerity of
asceticism.

Tolstoi did not jump to this conclusion. Writing on his novels, Mr. W.
E. Henley called him "the great optimist." The _Kreutzer Sonata_ is the
work of a profound pessimist. Concluding _What To Do_, Tolstoi wrote a
noble passage on the sacredness of motherhood. Now all that is changed.
Motherhood must go too. It will take time, for the old Adam is strong
in us. But go it must, and when we have all brought our bodies under, no
more children will be born. The race will expire, having perfected its
imitation of Christ, and the animals that remain will hold the world
in undisputed possession; unless, indeed, they catch the contagion, and
wind up the whole terrestrial business.

Before we treat Tolstoi's evangel in detail we must remark that he does
not explain the "primeval command" of Jehovah to Adam and Eve--"Be
ye fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." This is very
inconsistent with the gospel of absolute chastity. Jehovah says, "Get as
many children as you can." Christ says, "Get none at all." If it was the
same God who gave both orders he changed his mind completely, and having
changed it once he may change it again. In that case the Koran will
succeed the New Testament, and the _Imitation of Christ_ give place to
the _Arabian Nights_.

_Revenons a nos moutons_. The _Kreutzer Sonata_ is a terrible story,
but like all novels with a purpose, it is inartistic. Othello kills
Desdemona without moralising on the sinfulness of marriage, and
Pozdnischeff stabs his wife from sheer jealousy. All the preaching is by
the way. It might be cut out without affecting the work, and that is its
condemnation. When the preacher steps forward the artist retires. And
as we are dealing with Tolstoi the preacher we shall go straight to his
article in the _Universal Review_.

Tolstoi admits that what he now teaches is incompatible with what he
taught before. When writing the _Kreutzer Sonata_, he says: "I had not
the faintest presentiment that the train of thought I had started would
lead me whither it did. I was terrified by my own conclusion, and was at
first disposed to reject it; but it was impossible not to hearken to the
voice of my reason and my conscience." This is the language of earnest
sincerity.

The conclusion is this--"Even to contract marriage is, from a Christian
point of view, not a progress but a fall. Love and all the states that
accompany and follow it, however