The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-04
EASY DIVORCES
LEAD FROM GOD
DIVORCE EVIL DISCUSSED
BY REV. WILLIAMS ON "TwENTI-
ETH CENTURY PAGANISM.'

Degrading SOciety-Means Depray-
ity of Offspring and Lowering OF
MarriaEe-Dcstroys Purity and
Sanctity of MarrihEe-Greed OF
Politicians a Force That Is Work
ing for GOdIessness.
From the subject Twentieth Cen
tury Paganism," Rev. DIR. A. NJ. Will
liams, pastor of Trinity Methodist
! Church last night discussed the things
which are drawing men away from
God
Divorce and the violations of the
Sunday laws were criticized. The text
was taken from 1 Thess. iv:5: Even
as the Gentiles which know not God"
Among other things DR.. Williams said:
There are tendencies in our day
which threaten a relapse into virtual
paganism. The essential feature of
paganism is disregard of a personal
God. This takes various forms. Some
times in pantheism which blends all
existence into unintelligble unity. At
other times in polytheism which peo-
pies the unseen world with fanciful
metaphors and calls them deity. Then
as agnosticism it appears, which al
lows the possibility of a God, but ig-
nores him. Occasionally this latter
appears as amiable philosophy, but too
often it is blatant practice.
In either case there is decay of
the God faculty which results in mans
| effort to run the world on his own ideas
independent of personal responsibility
| to a Supreme Power adequately en-
| dowed to govern.
There are two tables of the law as
given by Moses and l desire to point
out modern attitude to them, and show
where it is productive of paganism.
select one principle for each table. My
selection is based on that element most
essential to the integrity of moral veal,
and on which the modern tendency is
making it's most deadly attack.
Undermining of Home.
The silent, steady, undermining of
| the Christian home is one of the sur
est evidences of a relapse into pagan
| ism. The home is the alembic of So
ciety. There civilization takes it's
complexion. Permanently and purity
are absolute essentials to it's efficiency.
THE divorce evil which is attaining
such proportions destroys both.
| knowledge of easy divorce favors mar
| riage on improper and hasty grounds.
| The facility with which they are Sc
| cured destroys that restraint and self
control which promotes purity as we'll
| as insures permanence. The confusion
| in relationship, social intercourse and
| degradation of character that comes
| from the prevalence of divorce makes
our country parallel to the heathen-
| ism of the ancientS.
THE relation of the question to God
is clear. God is explicit in forbidding
| divorce. Man first tries to interpret it
| out of His revealed will. The next step
is the substitution of human reason
| ableness for Divine command. This
effort supplants the wisdom of God
by mans short sightedness. This sta
| dunn passed, the marriage vow, taken
under the most solemn circumstances
| become a matter of human conven-
| fence.
"On the most frivolous, oftentmes
| false and frequently cowardly grounds.
| men put away their wives and women
| divorce their husbands. The inev-
table consequence of such a course is
! the reign of lasciviousness. the degra-
dation of marriage, and the depravity
of the offspring. The old-fashioned
God is needed to maintain the old
fashioned morals.
Dissertation of the Sabbath.
IT turn to the second table and its
vital commandment demanding due
| and proper recognition of the Sabbath.
| The entertainments of pleasure seek
ing. profit seeking by corporations and
Goddess individuals, and the demands
of toll have well nigh destroyed our
Sabbath. Instead of Gods day. Sunday
| is fast becoming the most Goddess day
| of the week.
Saloons run open, consuming the
wages of the workngman, enticing the
| n o.
| lawlessness, disorder and vice. Excur-
| sions scour land and sea, breaking the
| stiffness of the day and invading the
! sancity of worship in the country as
we'll as in the city and teaching men to
| forget God.
Few TOIIinE Church Bells.
1.-THE noisy amusement and lascivious
attraction house in the public resort
dissipate all serious thought and weak
en- all moral purpose. Save for few
closed stores and the lonely urging of
some church bells. the stranger hover
! ing over Savannah could not tell it
from Pekin. from the standpoint of
| Christianity.
"Only two of the many causes which
have lead to this state of affairs can
be pointed out tonight The exigen-
| cies of modern American politics has
been potent force in working this
ruin. Mans ambition for office. honor,
and power, has combined with lawless-
ness until one restriction after another
has been removed and immortality pre-
walls.
Investigation into the Slocum dis
aster revealed how political pull evaded
inspection laws and reduced fines i'm
posed for the protection of life to ridic-
ulous ineffIciency. The same infiu-
ence has let the fires of hell play on
our Sabbath until the souls of thou
sands have been lost beyond redemp-
ton"