Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-08-06
Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.

Shall purity or passion rule in human
hearts and in all the b, mes of men? Gal
the vile know how frequently and with wha
facility this high command Of God is trans
gressed. But now and then the curtains 0
sin are suddenly thrust aside and unspeaka
bic impurity is brought to light in circles
hitherto most reputable. False husbands
False wives! Purity is priceless, and did We
know the prevalence of passion We might
doubt that any purity remains.
Nothing is better tonic for public morals
than the law of God. What God thinks and
says about any sin comes with divine en-
phasis to the conscience of the sinner. In
the silence of the pulpit upon this crime
against God and man, and in the disposition
of the press to treat instances of this sin with
sensational, not to say pleasant, jesting, rath-
er than hold them to view in words of stern
and whitening condemnation, society has
grown loose in views and practice.
1t is chiefly by writing the requirements
and prohibitions of God, the shafts and shalt
nots of the word upon the hearts of men that
they are kept in virtue and preserved from
vice. And we Judge that of all high crimes
the pull pit and the press need to proclaim
the law of God upon this with greatest en-
phasis in these passing times. Murderers
and thieves may be many, but adulterers and
whoremongers are a multitude.
No other vice 50 completely ruins the
foundations of individual character. 1t
makes man despised in his own eyes.
Having learned the way to the house of the
strange woman the man feels that he has
mortgaged his soul to evil with hardly pos
slbilIty of redemption. He wallows in the
deep mire and feels that there is no bottom
And especially if his vice becomes public
he despairs of any noble manhood again. He
walks polluted soul among men. lie may
repent, but how hardly The vile woman is
on his track. She may be present when the
gospel serm IN is filing his soul with barbed
arrows and he knows her eyes are upon him :.
He knows too, that almost certainly he must
respond to demands for tribute to avoid ex-
posure. The adulterer walks upon thorns
all the time.
And what of the crime against ueighbor
whose bed the adulterer has defIed? And
the adu!terer's own innocent, true and con-
fding family And if the wife and mother
be the false one
If any would abide il purity it is needful
that this evil be not toyed with afar off. The
first approaches to adultery must be avoided.
Ears must be shut against the first whisper
ings of passion. The doom Of many has been
sealed in seeking to drive near the awful
abyss. Safety is in distance.
The prevalence of this sin is chargeable to
many things. 10 rebuking the evil, commu-
nifty in general must come in for some plain
words. The loOseness of speech regarding
marriage and relations of husband and wife
and the prevailing habit Of low remark are
fruitful in adultery. g Evil Communications
corrupt good m,nners.' A low kind of
pleasantly, bantering in jest, when husbands
and wives are 10 company, may easily be the
beginning of sorrows. Danger should not be
courted. Temptation should not be invited
Disrespect auu the shadow OF ImpurIty in
conversation lead directly towards actual dis
respect and the deed which is sinful The
holy relation of marriage cannot be safely
jestei about. The average morality in ac
tions is not superior to the average morality
in conversation.
A terrible hell awaits the adulturer OF
all men be s1ws to the flesh. The gluttoD
and the drunkard are comparatively pure.
But the shameless, evil-eyei adulterer
breatbes out impurity. lie is full of corrup-
ton. unfit to herd with beasts. Without
are dogs and whOremongers.