Gordon drew deeply several times at his cigar, then laid it on the
bronze tray for ashes within reach, as though he felt that it might
profane his thought.
"I come to you to-night, Mr. Prentiss, as man to man, knowing that you
wish truth and justice to prevail, and asking you to believe that I
desire the same. We are both of us men of affairs in the modern sense."
The rector bowed.
"Then you as the rector of one of the most influential churches in the
city will doubtless agree that religion must be sane and reasonable in
its demands to-day or it will lose more followers among the
educated--and education is constantly spreading--than it gains from the
ignorant and superstitious?"
"Assuredly."
"I, on my side, as a layman--whatever our differences of precise faith
and dogma--am glad to bear witness that the present social world could
do without true religion less than ever before."
The summary pleased Mr. Prentiss. It was reasonable and progressive.
"We are entirely in accord there," he answered heartily.
"As I supposed. Then it obviates the necessity of feeling my way.
With some clergymen I should not venture to take anything unorthodox
for granted, but I believed that we should readily find a common ground
of agreement."
The assertion was regarded by Mr. Prentiss as a compliment.
Nevertheless he perceived that it behooved him to mark the limits of
his liberality.
"The essence of Christianity has nothing to fear either from the higher
criticism or the modern world's lack of interest in moribund dogma.
May I not say with Paul 'but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are
before'?"
"And from that point of view may I ask why you have felt constrained to
separate Mrs. Stuart and me?"
There was a brief pause. The rector had not the remotest intention of
shirking responsibility, but he wished the precise truth to appear.
"It was Mrs. Stuart's own decision."
"I asked her in good faith, after an attachment of several years, to
become my wife. She loves me fondly, as I do her. She would have
married me had you not convinced her that to do so would be a sin."
"I told Mrs. Stuart that from the standpoint of her highest duty as a
Christian woman, it would be a sin. Not unpardonable sin, if finite
intelligence may venture to distinguish the grades of human error, but
conduct incompatible with the highest spirituality--and modern
spirituality, Mr. Perry."
There was a doughty ring to the rector's tone, betokening that he was
not averse to crossing swords with his visitor.
"Why would it be a sin?"
Mr. Prentiss knocked the ash from his cigar and held up the glowing
tip. "Do you not know?" he asked, fixing his gaze squarely on his
antagonist, so that he seemed to attack instead of defend.
"Because she has a husband living--a brute of a husband who, after
dragging her down, deserted her shamefully; a husband whom she has
ceased to love and from whom the law of this community would grant her
a divorce."
"Proceed."
"Because the Church has seen fit to stigmatize as evil that which the
State sanctions in a matter vitally affecting the earthly happiness of
the human sexes."
Waiting briefly to make sure that the indictment was complete, Mr.
Prentiss rejoined dryly: "You state the case accurately. My answer is
that the Church is merely inculcating the precepts of the Saviour of
mankind."
Gordon drew a deep breath. He rejoiced in his opportunity.
"Mr. Prentiss," he said, "you referred just now to the world's lack of
interest in moribund dogma; we agreed that the demands of religion
to-day must be sane and reasonable. I speak with entire reverence, but
I ask whether you honestly believe that the few casual sentences which
Christ is reported to have uttered thousands of years ago in Palestine
in regard to man's putting away his wife should control complicated
modern human society--the Christian civilization of to-day--so as to
preclude a pure woman like Mrs. Stuart, under the existing
circumstances, from obtaining happiness for herself and her children by
becoming my wife? I ask you as an intelligent human being and a just
man if this is your opinion?"
There was no hesitation on the rector's part; on the contrary, firm
alacrity.
"It is."
"And yet you know that a large portion of the civilized world ignores
the doctrine," answered Gordon, curbing his disappointment. He had not
expected to encounter this stone wall.
"I do, to its shame and detriment. The Church is not responsible for
that."
"Then your argument rests on the letter of Christ's words?"
"It does and it does not." There was triumph in the rector's voice as
he laid emphasis on the qualifying negation. He had hoped to lead his
censor to this very point. "Nor does the spiritual objection of the
woman who has refused to marry you rest solely on that ground. She is
an intelligent person, Mr. Perry. She perceives, as I perceive, that
what you ask her to consent to do would be evil for the human race as
well as contrary to the teachings of our Lord. There is nothing
moribund in that attitude. It is vital, timely righteousness. Mrs.
Stuart must have set this double reason before you."
Gordon remembered that she had. In his agitation during their final
interview, believing that she was laboring under a neurotic delusion,
he had given little heed to her argument. Now, as a lawyer, he
perceived the ingenuity of the plea, though he still regarded her as
the victim of clerical sophistry. Yet he made no immediate response,
and Mr. Prentiss took advantage of the opportunity to elucidate the
situation.
"Mr. Perry, you are led away by the special merits of your own case. I
acknowledge the hardship; I grant the pathos of the circumstances.
They present the strongest instance which could be cited in
justification of remarriage by a divorced person. But there must be
more or less innocent victims on the altar of every great principle.
The Lord has demanded this service of His handmaid, and, though her
heart is wrung, she rejoices in it."
"I see," said Gordon, "and that presents the real issue. Why should
the Church usurp the functions of the State? Why in this age of the
world should it decide what is best for the human race in a temporal
matter, and substitute an arbitrary and inflexible ethical standard of
its own for the judgment of organized society?"
Mr. Prentiss's nostrils dilated from the intensity of his kindled zeal.
"Why? For two reasons. First, because the Church declines to regard
as a temporal matter an abuse which threatens the existence of the
family, the corner-stone of Christian civilization; and second, because
the State has flagrantly neglected its duty, allowing divorce to run
riot through the nation without uniform system or decent limitations.
Is the Church to remain tongue-tied when the stability of the holy bond
of matrimony has become dependent on the mere whims of either party?"
"I see the force of your position. I will answer you categorically.
As to the first reason, it seems to me untenable. As to the second,
you accused me just now of seeing only my side. Let me retaliate, and
at the same time suggest that, though you may seem to have a strong
case, you do not know the real facts." Gordon, having reached a more
dispassionate stage of the argument, remembered his cigar, which he
proceeded to relight. But the rector, not accustomed to such
colloquial dissent, threw his own in the fireplace and crossed his arms.
"Regarding your first plea in behalf of the Church's interference that
the Church does not look on marriage as a temporal concern, let me
remind you," continued Gordon, "that marriage is the only matter in the
realm of human social affairs where the Church undertakes to nullify by
positive ordinance the law of the State--where there is divided
authority. In all other social affairs the law of the State is
paramount. The Church forbids abstract vices--malice,
uncharitableness, lust, selfishness, intemperance, but it does not
attempt to define these in terms of human conduct, or to substitute
canons for the secular statute book."
"The Church regards marriage as a sacrament."
"The Roman Catholic and the Episcopal. If I may say so, the attitude
of both these churches is a foreign influence."