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Show THE EVIL OF THE AUK. Never in the history of civilization has there been so much lewdness in society as at present, nor so much bloodshed and crime resulting as now. j The sin invades all ranks in society ' from the highest to the lowest. Some, aye! many of the brightest names in the peerage of England have beened fined, besmirched and bedraggled within the last few years, by this sin. Some of the proudest names in New York, Boston Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis and Cincinnati have been dragged through the divorce courts and into the very dreggs of social filth by this sin. Well did Delegate Rawlins of Utah say, a few weeks since, in congress, con-gress, that the polygamists of the nation did not live in Utah. Everyday we hear of murder, suicide, wretchedness wretched-ness and misery caused by this crime. The fact is the larger number of murders mur-ders are traceable alone to woman's unfaithfulness and man's baser passions. pas-sions. Happy homes are made desso-late, desso-late, honored wives, ornaments to the eex, are rendered disgusting blotches upon the moral status of society, either by their own weakness, fondness for admiration or the acts Of the seducer every day. Note our divorce courts, and see the causes underlying the suits for divorce filed therein. In nineteen out of every twenty cases, lewdness and unfaithfulness to the sacred relation of matrimony is the cause. This is all a new thing comparatively. Some vast and powerful influence seems to be at work among the people. It will not do to f say that the sin is confined to any one rank of society. It pervades all. The trail of the serpent is found in the lord- I lie6t as in the humblest h,"'g''irwr, ;,n iMatl'r,I" mansions of opulence in the cities as in the hovelB of the poor. The remote and lonely dwelling of the farmer, the miner and the laborer, labor-er, none are free from this fearful moral flight. Why is all this? To what cause or causes are we to ascribe this abnomal and perfidious moral blotch? Is its v malign growth to be ascribed to a growing disregard of that purity I taught by St, Paul and other sacred writers? Is it because the church has grown worldly, corrupt or indifferent? Or is it because of the lax administration administra-tion &f the civil law? It might be that the secular papers are largely to blame because of the parade they make of every instance of marital infidelity, every application for divorce and the full reports the papers make of the trials of cases of this kind in the courts? Is it because there is an epidemic of impurity prevailing? la it because women with their increased expenditure, expendi-ture, made necessary by the demandg of fashion, are driven to extravagances their husbands cannot afford and resort re-sort to prostitution to supply the necessary nec-essary means? Our opinion is that all these enter into the matter. What then is the remedy? Let the churches preach against it. Let them insist upon the utmost cleanliness on the part of their membership, both male aad female. Let the courts and juries punish severely every manifestation of lewdness. Let society refuse to open its doors to any man or woman, no matter how intelligent he or she be, how graceful, or cultured, or rich, whose fair name is tarnished in the least in this way. Primary, in our judgment, this revival of lewdneEB is due more largely to the looseness of the social lines than anything else. Here, then, must start the first remedial efforts for its irradication. Let society purge itself it-self and the task of the other restraining restrain-ing agencies will soon grow light indeed. |
