| Show S SEX bix bux IX IN RELIGION LN ax address was delivered in the first congregational church of oakland california a short time ago ado by dr I 1 mclean on the subject of sex in religion A report of the discourse was given in the san francisco chronicle we make the following extract ct the statement had heen been made that in the membership of the protestant evangelical church of the united states there were two female communicants to every male ile he had taken pains to g gather a ther statistics on the sa subject abject As far as his own church was concerned with a membership of about soo koo one third were men and two thirds women almost exact exactly lv urther further F than this in all other churches in the state so far as he could learn aggregating a membership of about 6 one third were inen rnea and two thirds women and the ratio held good among all protestant churches throughout the tle country this explanation of this disparity has been given by outsiders that the masculine intellect is not satisfied with what it gets 1 ets from the pulpit and therefore fa leaves aves the digestion of sern sermons ions lons to women lie he did not endorse this argument in the public schools for example lie he had found that this curious state of things began to develop in the primary schools of oakland the sexes remained about equal through the five grades but in the grammar grades they began bean be an to differ and when they came to ige tse the close of the high school course they had almost or quite reached the ratio of the church communicants in the state university lieras he was told that ratio did not prevail but the female gain in the last five years had been large how is it he continued if the male intellect is so superior to the female that the boys drop out of the higher grammar grades high school and university and go to work and leave the intellectual honors to the girls giris iris for it is a fact that the girls are last t t aking taking all the coveted honors in all colleges and other institutions the city prison was full of men but few women were seen there at the lh opera theatre and concert where the entertainment tain ment was wag of a high order the proportion of women to men was as two to one but in the dives where the lowest form of amusement is given iven ivan the men with their four storied intellects were predominant ile he did not not make an effort to explain the remarkable fact of the singular prevailing ratio in the churches but he would simply state his belief as to it that while tile the female mind is not greatly inferior to tiie tile male the feminine moral instinct and spiritual pl ritual power is immensely greater we do not propose to enter into a discussion of tae relative capabilities of the sexes ncr the causes which lead to ane disparity between the numbers of men and of women who become members of the various religious denominations but we have a little to say in regard to the facts and what they suggest according to dr mclean and others who have taken the pains to investigate for every one thousand male members of churches there are two thousand female members now the doctrine of the christian church has been from the beginning nin that christians should marry only christians that those who belong to the church should not intermarry with persons who do not belong to it and bince the schisms I 1 hava have v split christendom asunder have prevailed it has been thought wrong or at lust last unadvisable for catholics to in marry arry protestants and for catholics or protestants te to marry dissenters this is founded upon the teachings of the early apostles who had the precedent of the law of god to ancient israel this law commanded concerning the Gent iless neither thou make marriages with them thy daughter thuu not give to his lis son nor his daughter daughter thou take unto thy 1 1 raul paul aul son instructed the corinthians be ye not unequally yoked joked together with un believers I 1 eor leor for what fellowship hath right righteousness c ausness with wit h uarl unrighteousness ht and what communion hath eath light with darkness and after ad were married not to part without mutual consent he said the wife is bound by the law as lon ion as her husband liveth but if her husband uland li usand be dead she is at liberty to marry whom she will only in the lord if these apostolic injunctions are of any worth and it seems that they should be to people who profess to believe in their inspiration and authority members of the church ought not to marry with non members but if every male member of the churches marries one of the female members there will still be left as many unmarried as married women in those churches what is to be done with them are arc they to remain forever single this would not be right and the same apostle declares that neither is the inan man without the woman neither the woman without the man in the lord either this large number of female members of the church perhaps just as good 0 d and as well qualified by god anlo anio ana nature a for wifehood and motherhood as their sister members who have an opportunity port unity to marry in the church must ee be doomed to spinsterhood or they must violate the law faw against marriaga maneage e with un believers or some men must list marry more wives filan one but the latter alternative will not be countenanced for a moment by the professed christians of the nineteenth century although there Is not a word against it either in tile the new testament or t the e old oid I 1 so the wor word of t the e lord has to be e regarded disregarded Is and the positive injunctions junction 9 of holy writ rejected and set at nought t for marriage is natural to woman and she but follows the tims of nature and her god given tendencies in gravitating to the state of matrimony IloA arable arabie motherhood is one of her rights and she will obtain it if opportunity onner ofner even if she has to go outside of the limits prescribed by her religious belief the exceptions to this rule are only exceptions and they help to prove the rule plural marriage is one of the necessities of a true christian church marriage Is a requirement of the almighty and becomes a religious duty to marriageable members of tile the church chuich of christ if there are more lnore female members than male members of the church some men ought to have more wives than than one so that every woman in the church might have equal privileges with other women in this direction and not be compelled to go outside the church for a husband and be unequally yoked joked yok edwith an unbeliever llever liever 11 if the laws of man prevent this those laws are unjust and are cepres repressive sive of an establishment of religion preventing the free exercise thereof and leading to a disregard of a divine injunction forbidding to marry is denounced by the apostle raul laul as a doctrine of devils christians everywhere should be opposed to such I 1 laws aws or they are inconsistent and host hostile le to the scriptures in which they profess to believe and on which they claim to found their ecclesiastical systems and organizations |
