The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-26
gro the Pure aII ThIngs are pure.,

"AO tuG ETufe III In1ufA are Pufe."
Dr.. Howard Crosby on 1.-THE Nude In Art" in In
Christian a. Work.
When you object to q Venus OF Titan
as simply indecent, you are met with {
very supercilious look and the remark
INTENDED to be very cutting, ITO the
pure all things are pure" I have heart
the most impure men glibly use that pro.
verb. Under its cover they pursue their
immoral course.
These quoters Of this Scripture do not
know It's meaning. They suppose II
means, "a pure man will see nothing i'm,
purein any object" a sentiment which is
absurd-as II vice was not vicious to a
pure mans eye. If you put immortality
before a pure man, he sees it as immorali.
ty. Further, iiyou put temptation to
immortality before a pure man, 1t will be
to him a temptation to immortality in spite
Of his purity.
The quoted text las the context provost
means this: Everything that belongs to a
pure man is pure" See the contrast that
~follows-'but nothing that belongs to the
defled and unbelieving is pure, but even
their mind and conscience Is defled,"
Instead OF justitying a mans praise Of a
Titian's Venus, this Scripture declares
that a man would not possess such a Ibid
inous picture. 1t Is under such false quo.
tations as this, and under a sickening cant
about ''high art" that Christians are iii.
ing their parlQrS with statuary and paint.
ings calculated to excite the lowest pas.
sions of the young. There is a natural
prurienCy that Is charmed with this dilet.
tantism among indecent things as the %.
lite distances To which refinement can 90
in licentiousness. 1t would be apuosite 10
ask how many youth it is unable to re.
strain within these bounds, after having
thus far inaamed their desires. God has
clearly shown us that the human BODY is
to be covered. Art comes forward and
declares in direct opposition to God that
the human body shall be stark naked,
Christian. leave God and follow art. Then
when we tell these Christians that thew are
aiding vice, they ridicule our verdancy,
and call on the world Of culture to ioin
them in the laugh.
1t Is not the question whether it is poss.
ible to have q white marble nudity that
would be pure to every pure mind. To
that all will agree. But the practical cues.
ton Of to-day for Christians to settle as
before God and His Word, is whether thew
can approve Of nudities in every degree Of
color to represent life in evefy attitude of
wantonness-whether in the name OF art
they can NEEDLE with such filthy subjects
as Leda and the Swan, Danae, Venus and
Adonis, ETC., and not be deiled.
The French school OF art has q faculty
for putting vice forward in voluptuous and
attractive forms to the young, while the
moral III there be any, as in the "Prodi-
gal Son" ) is almost hidden in a r
And this French school is now the fash
ionable school for American Christians.
Beside the seductive influences OF these
obscenittes upon our youth, we are to re.
member that every nude pictured female
presupposes a nude real female sitting be.
fore the artist rs his model. The immor.
atty Of this business every one who has
read the history OF art knows.
Has it come 10 this, that the church OF
Christ is ready to break down the barriers
which separate 1t from the llcentious
world, and to adopt Greek culture in the
place Of Christian ethics2 French art
and the theatres are doing all they can to
promote loose notions OF the relations be-
tween the sexes and to steep society in
immortality, Easy-going Christians are
being caught in this snare. 1t is fashion
able to admire indecencies, and Christians
wish to be fashionable. 1t is now hard
TO convict NJ low, obscene theatres be-
fore the courts, because the plea is that all
the respectable theatres have the same
.obscenities, and Christian mothers take
their daughters TO see them.
May God in His mercy purify His
church, lit takes the whirlwind and the
earthquake to do 1t.