Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1908-05-28

good ana beautiful. When any man
allows any human society to take the
place of the church of God In his life,
that society has become to him posi-
tive evil, and he ought at once to rec
ognize it as snare Of the devil.
These societies do good in their way,
but in comparison with the church of
God they are as rush light to star
of the first magnitude, as a FREELY to
the sun in all his glory and splendor.
I blame these societies for keeping
many men out of the reach OF the
Gospel, for they try to teach men that
morals are as acceptable as religion,
and many men are giving a blind al
legiance to these human institutions
and at the same time believing that
they are serving Almighty God. Men
also have politics to interest them,
and during a political contest 1t seems
utterly out Of the question to interest
the ordinary man In anything else
than a political discussion. Women
have few societies, and, thank
Heaven, they have no part in politics.
Men are more enamored of certain
forms of overt sin than women. and
the devil, through these forms of sin,
Is winning many men away from all
the influences of the church Of Christ.
Gambling and drunkenness are the
sins Of men, and while some women
also fall into these two classes of sin,
they are the exception rather than
the rule. In many of our American
cities we have one legalized place for
the sale Of liquor to every fifty of our
men, and we cannot tell, nor do the
authorities seem to care, how many
gambling places there are in our fair
city. But all of these places live
largely upon the patronage Of men.
Now, is it strange that we have so
few men comparatively In our
churches? Men are far more in the
clutches of overt sin than women,
and that fact must be reckoned with
when you count up the men in the
churches. God pity the great host of
men in our city who have sold them
selves body and soul to the devil, and
who have no care about righteousness
here nor felicity hereafter.
Society places a premium upon the
righteousness, IL not upon the posi-
tive unrightousness, of men by per-
hitting the double standard of NOR
ais. Men do with impunity what a
woman could not do at all II she de-
sired to remain respectable in the es-
timation of her family and friends.
Now, SO long as society. composed in
part of Christian people. permits men
to be libertines and drunkards, and
does not make them smart for their
sins, these same men will have but
little regard for religion. How can
we expect the libertine to have any
respect for religion when he Is made
the welcome guest In the house
where, II the people lived up to their
religion, he would be loathed?
How can we expect sinful men to
come into the church and give up
their sins, when the men and women
with whom they associate do not dis
count them in the least because of the
lives that they lead? How different
with women. They must be pure to
be respectable; they must not fall
once into the sin in which their hus-
bands and brothers riot, for II they
do they will be scourged out of soci-
ETY.. tell you men and women of
Brooklyn, the social order in which
we live puts a premium upon the vice
of men. We are responsible to the
extent of our influence. l plead with
the fathers and mothers to protect
their daughters. Be as willing that
your son should marry fallen woman
as that your daughter should marry
a fallen man. plead with the Chris
tan men before me to refuse their in
innate friendship to impure men. and
under no circumstances to allow i'm
pure men the privilege of social equal
lty in your homes. Not until Chris
tian men take some such stand will
the men of our generation realize the
enormty of social sin.