Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1907-04-04
j.. s. sPuRCEOM, President.
7 HE

Tor righteousness. The disgrace OF
divorce is menace to the perpetuity
of our institutions. The ease with
which absolute release may be pro-
cured does small credit to our brains,
OF to our Righteousness as a nation.
The sin and the shame that are
bound up in our system Of licensed
polygamy will tend to our own undo
ing, do we not watch out. The wrong
of Mormonism is a great one; but
if contemporaneous cohabitation be
a bad thihg-and it is-what must
be our judgment upon that consecu-
tive polygamy which pleads personal
convenience rather than religious con-
viction as it's best excuse? If an
elder of the Mormon church is to be
kept from the halls OF Congress be-
cause the civil law forbids polygamy,
what should be cur attitude toward
that other leader in our national af-
fairs whose whole life contravenes
Gods moral law? Yes, my friends,
Mormon polygamy is vicious In prin-
ciple and fact, but not more so than
that system of legalized vice that the
laws of our country now permit. The
sacrednesS of the marriage covenant
must be protected. That marriage
should be the crowning Of clean love,
and that it binds till death, cannot be
Overemphasized. The seal of pure af-
fection is of as much account to those
who will go through life together and
to society at large, as the legal seal
of the state. Fundamentally love
should be the motive of a life
union of two souls. OF this the
state takes no notice. The bureau
of vital statistics has more inter-
est, as a law enforcing body, in the
question of how old is the woman.
than in the motives that lead the man
to wed her. But God looks at the
matter with different eye; and in
His sight no marriage is of good re-
, port that is not based on the union
| of two souls in holy love. The
| riage legal, but the hand of Jehovah
will stamp it as unclean. Thou
shalt not commit adultery" rings
the Messianic message and the law
puts God to shame. Here and there,
| everywhere in America, we may see
the sorrow OF it all. Children in the
| midst OF wrecked unhappy homes,
born and reared to heritage OF en-
! barrassm ent to say the least, and in
! to immoral family conditions to say
| the most Unrestrained divorce is
wicked and it should be prohibited.
| We must not put license at premi-
um, nor, make vice easy.
! No less guilty i'll the eyes Of God
| IS the man who yields his life to sin.
| There is need to-day for a clear,
strong note from the church calling
men to purity in living. Men must Re
made to see, to know and to feel that
! chasteness is as essential for men as
| for women. Away with that goddess
| theory that what is fundamentally
| wrong in morals for women may be
conveniently right for men. God has
no two systems Of morality-the one
for the men, the other for the women.
In His sight there is neither male nor
female, for the law IS equally unto
both. The degradation of man by
man himself is unfair to God and
utterly without honor. And the sad
thing of all is that men will do with
out thought or care the evil that they
do.
But Jesus has shown us clearly
that in the Christian economy that
man is guilty of our stated sin who
harbors lust within his heart. And
although in the last analysis the
man who commits overt sin is guilty
of SHINING to greater degree than
the man who but pollutes his mind
with evil desires and unholy thoughts,
yet both are directly disobedient to
the will of God and the way of each
is the highroad unto death. And I
am not sure but that more Of us are