Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-10-20
Sunday School
Lesson
CBy BEN NEwsoMEj.


clined to tear loose from precedent
and mark out course for ourselves.
we have shaken or many old Euper.
Stitions and at the same time have
learned 10 disregard many things
which should be cherished and kept
alive In our plans OF living. one Of
these IL the sdnctity Of thu home
tho saCredncss Of the marriage rela-
ton, and the holiness OF a righteous
obedience Of the command to in
crease and multiply Some Of our
lost regard probably ls due 10 over
emphasis ia the past Of teachers who
would have uH believe that every
thing regarding the carnal man was
Impure and irreliRiour. The fact X,
as every Christian can find out for
himself II he reads the Scriptures.
that the bearing Of children and
rearing them ig high and holy
duty. and Is only evil insofar az lust
has made n holy function dcfiled by
It's eXcesses. The fact that polite 50.
Ciety does not counienance the dis
cussion OF questions concerning the
conception and birth Of children is
not because the subject IN an inn
proper one, but because long ages of
sinfulness have surrounded tho sub
ject with an air Of unchasiity,
children grow up ignorant Of sexual
matters until such time as they
learn them by stealth from foul
mouthod companions or discover
them by Rad experience The boys
grow up with tho unspoken belief
that II Is manly TO be unChaste. and
the girls are taught that everything
concerning tho other sex is vulgar
and improper and that boys are un.
clean things to he kent strictly at a
distance Later In life. Of course.
the instincts of sex assert themselves
and tho attitude OF courtship IL ap.
preached with fear and shame. That
high and holy mating OF the sexea II
regarded as something nasty. and
the boys are taught that no girl IA
instinctively virtuous and the girls
that every boy is n potential menace
10 their purity. This cloisterinE OF
the girls in Ignorance OF what life
properly held for them: this corrup-
ton OF the boys that destroys their
respect for clean womanhood, arc
the natural results of our unholy
methods OF handling sexual subjects.
and have proven the cause OF the
greatest moral uncleanness among
both sexes
What is the remedy The word
OF God conscientiously followed anf
taught In the rearing Of a family.
Family prayer In good thing. but
prayer alone. without consistent Ac-
ton. will not produce righteous chill
dren, II IL first up to the parents to
have high and noble ideas of raising
children. This is hard to do az
long as marriages are leaps In the
dark. and other motives besides
Christian reproduction are I h Q
causes OF hastily formed unions and
constantly increasing work for the
divorce courts. The divorce evil does
not spring so much from impatience
with marital bonds as It does from
ill-advised marriages. People de-
pend too much on falling In love"
and not enough on sober and pray
erful choosing OF n Lifetime COM
panion. The way TO stop divorces 10
not by restraining the ability TO sep
arate so much as safeguarding the
inconsiderate jumping into union
with the first or most captivating
mate that attracts tho romanic
fancy. Romance is n good thing.
but there 10 vastly more romance In
happy marriage than tortuous
course through the misery Of d.
vorcea.
And until we can have the parents
TO get right conception OF mar
riage. there is little chance that the
children will do better: II, In fact,
they do not. from generation to gem
eration. tend the more to follow In
discriminate usefulness or economic
convenience. instead Of Gods own
way of proper mating. Children are
not good by accident. and happy
marriages are seldom made by a
leap In the dark, Church and sun
day school can help to win your
children TO Christ and to build Chris
tian character in spite of early dis
couragements, but the main oppor-
tunity and obligation rests upon the
home, and unless that homo Is God
fearing we can scarcely expect good
results to come from 1t, II is diff
cult even for the best teaching and
preaching, with its total OF a few
hours a week, TO win u life to God |
when the home talk runs almost |
constantly to money worship, or
fashion worship, or to personal jeal-
ousies and gossip or, worse than ALL |
to habitual pickering between father
and mother
But when there are God fearing
parents. and there Ia maintained be-
tween parents and children that init
mate sympathy which God intended,
the children will be fortified against
the pitfalls OF sexual sin and win
have exalted conceptions of court
ship. marriage and tho raising OF
children. To neglect such intimate.
confidential leading of our children
will. in most cases, leave them to get
the withheld information from the
immoral playmates with whom they
must sooner or later come in con-
tact. II is OF no avail to give them
negative training. for you can't
shut them up In glass case and
congratulate yourself that tempta-
ton cannot reach them. They must
face the world as It Is, not as II
ought TO be, and the ones who come
out OF the contact cleanest are those
who know OF the evil beforehand
and are armed to resist II. Tho
shielded "mamA's darlings' are the
first to fall when unavoidable tempt
alton assails them.
Marriage is holy thing, and we
must return 10 that conception be- |
fore we can hope for better race. |
Eugenics is only the material effort |
to produce and improve race. but n |
is useless unless the spiritual phase |
be taken into first account All our |
fine-spCn theories are folly unless |
the blessing OF God goes with them. |
And we have no patience with those |
who pretend 20 dismiss marriage as |
something secondary to usefnl Nv