The Church, dualistic and ascetic from its inception, waged war against
sensuality as the evil of evils. "As fire and water will not mix," wrote
St. Bernard, "so spiritual and carnal delights cannot be experienced
together." The toleration of matrimony was never more than a compromise;
we require no proof that as far as the Church was concerned, chastity
was the only real value. Even Luther took up that position, and to this
day Christianity and sexuality remain unreconciled. But both the
Catholic and the Protestant professions of faith regarded matrimony as
the lesser evil, a concession made to the enemy, in order to render
existence possible. It is very interesting to observe the position taken
up by the Church in connection with the new woman-worship which,
although it sprang from the most genuine Christian dualism, had for its
object not God, but mortal woman. The logical attitude of the Church
would have been one of welcome, for the chaste worship of woman which
regarded matrimony as an inferior state, was her natural ally.
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