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النشر الإلكتروني

CHAPTER XIII.

NON-CONFORMITY TO THE WORLD
IN FOSTERING UNCLEANNESS.

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"Do some that own Christ's sacred name
Lay snares for men to sin?

Jesus must never bear the blame-
His laws are pure and clean."

ALL true Christians must, also, "not be conformed to this world" in any pursuit which fosters, or facilitates, uncleanness. As in the preceding case, this is so palpable that it is almost superfluous to append a single word by way of confirmation. On this account, as well as on account of the tender nature. of this topic, we shall be as succinct as a sense of justice, to this link in the present line of argument, will permit. Repugnant, then, as it is to our feelings to state it, and horrifying as it may appear, the fact cannot be ignored that not only in Scotland, England, and Ireland, but throughout the world, there are houses, which may be counted by hundreds, where the sin of uncleanness is professionally pursued; and, consequently, whose abandoned

inmates, chief and subordinate, are supported by this nefarious mode of life.

In the Capital of the United Kingdom, the great mart of nations, at once the best and the worst of cities, much of this system of iniquity is carried on by foreigners, and kept up by foreign importation; and, even, in the most unabashed and barefaced manner. In the estimation, indeed, of these denizens, the professional fostering of this sin is reckoned a very small matter; so small, it may be, as not to excite the slightest uneasiness of feeling. For, such is the general corruption of public and private morals in continental nations; and so true is it that the Church established by law in these nations is " a Church without a religion," and that the Legislature which exists among them is practically no better, that persons and houses are actually licensed by the State to provide for this heaven-provoking sin. Thus, in the language of Scripture, these States may be said to "frame mischief by a law," to set up "the throne of iniquity," and also to support it. Thus, they avowedly "do evil," not so much, we believe, as a source of gain, as on the ground that otherwise "good may come!" Hence, when these natives of the continent take up their residence in our liberal, but now almost latitudinarian country, "their conscience being

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seared as with a hot iron," they engage, without compunction, in the systematic feeding of the baneful vice in question. So it is not among us, this respect, so far as State sanction is concerned; and may God, in his grace and sovereignty, for ever avert from our beloved country so black a day as the State-licensing of uncleanness.

However, not to insinuate that fallen human nature, when left to itself, is better in us than in others, it must be admitted that by far the greater portion of the fostering of uncleanness, throughout the land, is of indigenous origin, and of indigenous support; not an exotic, but a plant of home growth. So true is this, that, in the most populous of our Scottish Cities, there are said to exist about five hundred houses of this description; and that, in connection with these houses, about five hundred thousand pounds are annually expended in this most abhorrent way. In the next populous of our Cities, matters, in these respects, are not better, if not far worse. Again, in our more populous Towns, and also, in some cases, in our larger burghs, the systematic pursuit of supporting this sin is not a name, but a reality; not a nullity, but one of the greatest of moral nuisances. It is likewise a fact, almost patent as noon-day, that, in many other houses of public resort, and particularly in many public

houses, although the fostering of this sin is not professionally followed after, yet facilities for the same are knowingly, or connivingly, afforded. ›

Now, sinful, shameful, and shocking as all this is, in the highest degree, among those who "make a mock at sin" in every shape, and who are practically infidels, how immeasureably worse is it in those who make even a nominal profession of religion of any kind? How destructive, also, is it to the public weal, no less than to the personal welfare of individuals? In the least, therefore, no less than in the worst, of the wicked ways alluded to above, how thoroughly should every thing, that tends to facilitate this sin, cease from among all who make the smallest pretensions to morality; not to speak of a profession of Christianity? Yet, do not the possessors of some of these houses, of the least, if not of the most flagrant sort, professedly belong to Christian Churches, and also partake of the rite of Christian baptism for their children? Not that we mean to aver, that those who administer that holy ordinance are cognizant of the character of these persons, or of the character of their houses, but the fact now stated is, in many cases, not the less indisputable.

Not to dilate, however, upon details of so revolting a nature, should such an imputation be

chargeable against any who have a place within the pale of a Christian congregation? If the sin of uncleanness is not to be " once named" among those who are Christ's, and is that from which they are to "flee" at the penalty of the "second death," can those, who wilfully afford facilities for the commission of this virulent vice, be engaged in a morally lawful occupation, even where it is civilly legalized? Or, if those who are guilty of uncleanness, and who sin against the Church, as well as Christ her Head, are rebuked and subjected to Church discipline, can those who might have prevented that sin from being committed under their roof, be held guiltless, or allowed to escape with impunity? As in the case of theft of any kind, are they not in the eye of the law of man, and much more in the eye of the law of God, "art and part" in the crime, and should they not be dealt with accordingly? Is not this so self-evident that it cannot be questioned for a moment?

On such grounds as these, not to set them forth in a more aggravated aspect, to all who bear the name of Christ may it not justly be said, as to every pursuit which fosters or facilitates the sin of uncleanness, "be not conformed to this world?" In this, as in other things, should not their daily pursuit, as well as their daily practice,

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