The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-10-18
MAWK!SH SENTIMENT
(Atlanta eJournai.)

crimes Of violence. He declares that
homicides have increased during the
last fifteen years from 1000 q year 10
nearly 10000, giving US the emf
nence of leading all civilized nations
In the number of bloody deeds lone
among US.
In discussing the of this Ia
mentable condition he says. 'Ihe
immediate cause Of the Whole Of this
state of things, with constantly m
creased disrespect OF law, is, in my
opinion, a kind of slckly sentiment
p~erVading the whole country on TINS
subject. which, While it claims to be
humanity, is really the greatest cruel
ty, in that it is mainly responsible Tor
ali these murders. It is on account
of this mawkish sentiment that tflou-
sands Of Widows and orphans are IN
bereavement and poverty today"
DR.. White is quite right about the
cause of all these crimes OF violence
and the general moral conditions from
which they spring. A maWk1Sn sem
timentaIity has weakened moral con-
victions and lowered respect for law.
But what is the source of all this
mawkish sentimentaiity which is so
widely prevalent? In locating the
cause of a pestilenCe it is not enough
to say that the disease spreads from
certain germs; we must seek also the
breeding ground Of the d~eath-deallng
germs. What then Causes this sick
ly sentiment which DR.. White so
justly deprecateS?
In answering this question | Ven
turc to affirm that a certain sort OF
popular religious teaching with when
both press and pulpit haVe been filled
for some time past, has been .ano
is a very fruitful source Of the evil
under discussion. The land has
~abounded in preachers who have
never tired of incorporating both
Gods love and Gods law. They have
assume that the worst thing in the
universe is not sin, but suffering, II
they have laid out all their strength
and ingenuity to remove all thought
of pain and penalty from the divine
government. Sin they have traced
to the misfortune of ancestry and en-
Eironment and they have made of it
a thing to be pitied rather than con-
demned. Salvation they have taught
was a matter Of mora culture, rath-
er than Of repentance and faith in
Christ, and for the absence of such
culture they V planned the COM
munity in bulk rather than, any par
ticular person who showed d want Of
it. Gods law they have construed
so as to allow as much indulgence Of
human desire as possible, and any
suggestion to the contrary they have
denounced as "PuritanIc narrowness."
In their schemes of moral culture
they have demanded the largest pos
sfble room for amusement and pleas
ure and the least possible space for
~self-denial and duty. They have
minifed the future life and magnified
the present world, taking much on
behalf of worldliness and much
against what they have learned from
George Elliot to call ''o~therWorldii-
ness They have insisted that
family government should be a mat
ter of parental coddling Of riotous
offspring in order hat childhood
might be happy In both the family
and the school they nave declared cor
poral punishment should be abolished.
Very naturally they ave denounced
capital punishment by the State, and
they have been ready to pour out
upon criminals and cenSure
upon those who deemed crime worthy
of punishment. Having thus opposed
penalty in all earthly and human
governments they have proceeded to
deny it any place in the divine gov
eminent, repudiating the doctrine OF
future punishment, scouting the idea
of their being any devil or hell in the
universe. OF course their sentimental
system had to have at it's top q God
to match it, and SO these sentiment
tallists have proceeded to substitute
for the God of the Scriptures, (the
God of holiness and j~ustice) a deity of
their own imagining, a goOd-natured,
easy-going God in whose spirit there
was no Indignation against sin, bun
only a maudlin love Of sinners. In
fact they have made a God in their
own image and likeness, and applied
to their idol the sacred name of
Christ.
Wen, we see the outcome of the
reign Of s~entimentality which they
have thus set up. A mania for crime
possesses the land, and murders in
crease at the rate Of five hundred per
cent in fifteen years. The majesty of
law is destroyed in the minds of the
people, human life is held cheap. and
every sort Of selfish indulgence is held
in the highest esteem. Luxury en-
ervateS and laWleSSneSS degradeS,
while the reign Of sentinlentality pre-
walls on all sides. The nation abjureS
nIritu and ahhnrc main Mon an1