The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1882-11-16
VICE AND CRIME.
Dr.. T. A. Hoyts Able Discourse Oh
their Causes, Effects and the Best
Node Of Eomedying the Mani
fold Evils Attendant Upon
Them,
The Advocates Of Vice and Crime TO BIZ
Driven from the Ranks of the
ReSpe
The Same Social Law Of Ostraoism to
Apply to the Han as to the
Woman.

At the First Presbyterian Church
Sunday night IN Nashville Rev. DIR. T.
A. Hoyt, dlscoursed on vice and
crime as it existed at the present day,
the causes that led to these effects,
and the most >fhcient remedies for the
alarming condition Of public morals.
He took as his text, 9th chapter Of
Genesis, 18th verse: "The earth also
was corrupt before God, and the earth
was filled with violence"
Such DR.. Hoyt said, was the con-
diti0n of the affairs of the world 1000
years ago. 1t was Il true descripiiL n
of thu sc ofto-day. To-day the scrip
lures were futile before our eyes;
The earth also was corrupt beforo
God, and the earth was filed with vio-
lence." The widest survey of man
revealed this picture upon the grand
est scale of infamy and reproach. IN
Europe, Asia and Africa and Amer
lea these deplora bic conditions showed
"a fatal uniformity in the fact that they
exhibited widespread corruption,
which, Ia many Instance, resulted in
acts of violence, There must, then,
the speaker said, be some constant
and ever -acting cure for these ever
occurring effects. The results implied
the oneness of the cause When eff
fects were the same. the causes were
the same. What were those causes
that produced these manifold ends?
They lay in human nature itself. It
was because man was vile creature
that his deeds were SO evil. But this
answer was not explicit enough for our
purpose.
Our modern civilization boasted that
tile vice and crime of winch the text
refers, belonged to the historic past.
We had even begun to anticipate the
time when the conditions would give
way before the sun of advancing mo.
ralitY. Especially in America we
had hoped for this. Especially in
this broad land Of the free, we had
hoped to be exempt from the history
of the races. We had peculiar adj
vantages, free schools, and Just laws, |
pure religion, domestic happiness, ETC. !,
still, vice and crime was SO rampant |
among us that our best citizens were |
alarmed, and the ministers of the |
church had been-requested to lift up
their voices against it. Society was
loosened in its bond, and public yir--
tues were obscure I. Our highest Of
fcers were being corrupted. We
were to consider the facts and the rem
edies. What were the facts in the
casel We should not dwell upon
them. they were too self-evident |
The papers teemed with the most re-
and astounding stories OF
crime The most terrible murders
the most sensational scandals and
the most horrible tales Of vice were
eagerly read by the public. If it were
proper, the speaker said, he would
like to speak ofone Of those instances
that had but recently transpired. But
it was not his purpose to localiza or
our community with others
1t was his purpose only to speak AS to
what We were and VIII at
we should be. 1t was his object to re-
fer to the murders, thefts, adulfer-
les, r0DOerleS SNlflQNnG, bribery, ana
aud the thousand other vices and
crimes that held such high carnival
1T this time, and excited in the minds
of good men this feeling of uneasi-
ness. The question 70 which he would
address himself was the cause OF these
Why it was that human
nature assumed this particular char
scter. Notwithstanding our boasted
civilization, we could compare human
nature of to-day with the river Nile.
That river flowed into one vast stream
10 its mouth, where, through numer-
,us mouths, Il found its way to the
,ea. In this wise did human nature
low ON and on, NATL it reached the
point where IN numerous channels il
,mptied itself into The great sea Of
corruption that we now mourned.
Ali secondary causes were effects, as
well rs causes. But our minds were
ixed upon the first that lead to these.
Why was ii that our s0cietv was more
lure Than it / We found, upon
careful investigation, that the first
.uuse was in the family. The mod
.cn training of our children while
-, ,,-,,r,, noble pxepDfione was IN