The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-03-23

Let us consider now some OF the
causes which have led to the increase
of this crime in this country. Some
times by discovering the causes OF a
malady, an efficacious remedy can be
prescribed.
What are the causes for so much
bloodshed in our land?
OF course, the great cause of muir
der is the depravity Of the human
heart. EsThe heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. .
While the depravity Of the human
heart is the fountain head Of this
deadly stream of murder and iniqui-
ty, it is not the cause that demands
our attention just now; for this cause
has been in existence ever since the
first murder was committed, and it
will continue to exist as long as there
is human heart that remains in a
state of total depravity.
Let us NOTICE some Of the causes
which have been at work for the last
few years as instrumentsin increasing
the number of homicides in our land.
1. Sentimentalism of the age is one
cause. Many men think that it is
barbarous to punish even the most
notorious scoundrel who has commit
ted an atrocious crime, except in the
mildest manner. This idea has so
taken hold of the people in some
quarters that they have practically
annihilated in their wicked and dis
torted imaginations the reality of sin,
and the doetrine of retributive JUS
tice. This new theology has gone in
to some churches and even into some
pulpits. You can hear Of men even
in the pulpit now h0oting at the doc
trine of future punishment, and these
men profess to be ministers Of that
Christ whose preaching had SO much
of this doctrine in it. They are too
sentimental, falsely so-called, and too
sowardly, rightly so-called, to preach
what Christ preached. They have so
magni6ed the love Of God that they
have completely destroyed in their
minds the justice Of God.
As long as the tendency continues
in this direction you may expect IAN
increase of crime, not only of murder,
but of other crimes also. If murder
is TO be arrested in its bloody and
hellward march, there must be re-
turn in our believing, and in our
preaching, and in our practice to the
doctrines taught by Christ and Paul
and Augustine and Knox and Spur
geon. You teach men that God is all
love and only love, and that the doc
trine Of future punishment is freak
of the bewildered Imagination; then
you open the hood-gates Of iniauity
and our country will be swept by de-
luge Of destruction. Men may think
that they are in this way destroying a
hell in the world TO come, but they
are in reality laying the foundation
for hell in this world as we'll as in
the future world.
2. Lack of home training is another
cause Of the increase in crime. l
think that any man Of serious thought
who takes calm and dispassionate
view of the situation along this line
will certainly behold scene which is,
in the highest degree, alarming and
distressing. Whenever authority in
the home is not exercised by the par
ents and is ignored by the children,
as it is at the present day, it takes no
man Of broad intelligence to explain
the prevalence Of SO much crime in
our country. The home is the foun-
tain head Of society, and the stream
can never rise above the fountain.
You SOW the wind in the home and
you will reap the whirlwind in sccie-
ty.
We see the bad effects Of this lack
of home training manifesting them
selves everywhere in the land-in the
school room, in the State government,
and in society generally. People
have very little respect for properly
constituted aushority, and very little
reverence for law. The teacher who
tries to administer discipline in his
school to-day, especially as it was
prescribed by one Of the wisest men
that ever lived, is in great danger Of
ilcurring the wrath and displeasure of
the parent. People to-day are great
deal wiser (in their own estimation)
than ever Solomon was. He believed
in the proper use of the rod, but peo-
pie new look upon that instrument as