The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-05-01
i The pU/Mf'
"A SERMON IS@
81 TtE REV. A'K
1M%tENDEeSeNWsF

vealed by the testimony in the Thaw
trial and by the statistics of divorce
recently given out by the United
States Census Bureau, over one mill
ion having been granted in the past
nineteen years, furnish the text for
the following sermon written by the
Rev. Ira Wemmell Henderson,, pas
tor of the Irving Square P~resbyter-
ian Church:
Elk. 2O:14, Thou shalt not commit
adultery"
1t is my intention to broaden the
scope of the word which is the OBJ
ject of this sentence, and to cause
it to cover, as I am certain God
means it, to-day, to cover, all that
field Of human ~uncleanness which
strikes at the very core of our COM
mon life. The command hits hard
and swift against the social crime
Of marital %infdelity; but also in the
light of the messages of Christ, it
condemns, with no uncertain sound.
all those men and women in whose
hearts and actions lust receives free
rein.
The Gospel of our Lord insists on
cleanness of act and mind; it censures
unsparingly and scathingly the VIOLA
ton by any and all men, married or
single, of Gods law of purity.
The seventh word, with our Lord
behind it, forbids three sins, and the
three are these: first, the notification
of the marriage bond by inidelity,
with all it's attendant evils. Second
ly, the pollution of the purity of per-
sonal and public life by men and wo-
men who are without restraint or
lawful tie. Thirdly, the degradation
and destruction Of the spiritual and
physical elements in man through un-
bridled lust in the heart.
And now let US to the points. The
covenant by and between two human
beings-one man and one woman
to live together in the holy estate
of matrimony, is the most sacred
contract man may make. Rest
ing as it should always reside
it not unholy and the child Of lust
upon a growing and a gracious love
one for the other-it is the grandest
of inter-human agreements. Upon
its sanctity and preservation, as the
pledges of two people to lifelong
faith, done and given in the presence
Of Almighty God, the glory of our
Father and the happiness of two
souls depend. AS a civil contract it
is the basis of sound political and
social life. Upon the inviolability of
the marriage contract the health OF
the state, the integrity of the home,
entirely depend. Marriage may, be-
fore God, and should, throughout this
land and our world, be invalidated
only upon full and sufficient proof of
infidelity by either party. They who
are in guilt should be denied further
rights to marry. The granting of abb
solute divorce with, permission to re-
marry, for anycause other than proved
unfaithfulness, is unwise, unsafe, IN
j%ustifable and un-Christian. Legal
separation and legalized immortality
are two very different things. Two
people of such uncongenial DISPOSE
lions, as preclude a happy common
life, had much better pursue indie
pendent careers. But the dignity,
the Importance, the sanctity of the
wedding VOW demand that it shall not
be permitted to be used as a cloak
for RIGHTEOUSNESS. The disgrace OF
divorce is a menace to the perpetuity
of our institutions. The cas- with
which absolute release may be pro-
cured does small credit to our brains,
or to Our righteousness as a nation.
The sin and the shame that are
bound up in our system of licensed
polygamy will tend to u own undo
Ing, do we not watch out. The wrong
of Mormonism is a great one; but
IF. contemporaneous co~habitation be
q bad thi1g-and it is-what must
be our judgment upon that consecu-
tive polygamy which pleads personal
convenience ratherthan religious con
viction as its 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 our attitude toward
that other leader in our national af-
fairs whose whole life c~ontravenes
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 browning of clean love,
and that it binds till death, cannot be
overemphasized. The seal of pure af-
lection 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 a 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
courts may declare the other mar
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 a heritage of en-
barrassment 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 a premi-
I'm, nor make vice easy.
No less guilty in 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 be
made to see, to know and to feel that
chasteness is as essential for men as
for women. Away with that goddess