Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend 'thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell. It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement; but I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. Matthew v. 27-32.
One woman for one man, one man for one woman, and no more. That is the law of Jesus for the sexes. In nothing that he said anywhere did he relax the rule he laid down here in the Sermon on the Mount. When will professed followers of him learn this plain lesson, and keep his words concerning these things? When will those whom churches have set up for leaders and preachers, learn to refuse the sanction of the Church of Christ (?) to even the outward things which Jesus condemned? When will ministers of the Gospel deny church-rites to adulterers? When will nations model their laws on the law of the Master? No greater misfortune can come to a nation, or to humanity, than results from laxity here.
Our country is now full of Temperance agitators; but that which destroys the home at a blow, pollutes the purest and loveliest and best of God's creatures, and drags them down with one crushing act into the mire of despair and degradation, is worse than the slow process of the drunkard's cup.
