1. NAMELESS CRIMES.--The nameless crimes identified with the hushed-up
Sodomite cases; the revolting condition of the school of Sodomy; the
revelations of the Divorce Court concerning the condition of what is
called national nobility, and upper classes, as well as the unclean
spirit which attaches to "society papers," has revealed a condition
which is perfectly disgusting.
2. UNFAITHFULNESS.--Unfaithfulness amongst husbands and wives in the
upper classes is common and adultery rife everywhere; mistresses are
kept in all directions; thousands of these rich men have at least two,
and not seldom three establishments.
3. A FRIGHTFUL INCREASE.--Facts which have come to light during
the past ten years show a frightful increase in every form of
licentiousness; the widely extended area over which whoredom and
degrading lust have thrown the glamor of their fascinating toils is
simply appalling.
4. MORAL CARNAGE.--We speak against the fearful moral carnage; would
to God that some unmistakable manifestation of the wrath of God
should come in and put a stop to this huge seed-plot of national
demoralization! We are reaping in this disgusting center the harvest
of corruption which has come from the toleration and encouragements
given by the legislature, the police, and the magistrates to
immorality, vice and sin; the awful fact is that we are in the midst
of the foul and foetid harvest of lust. Aided by some of the most
exalted personages in the land, assisted by thousands of educated
and wealthy whoremongers and adulterers, we are reaping also, in
individual physical ugliness and deformity, that which has been sown;
the puny, ill-formed and mentally weak youths and maidens, men and
women, to be seen in large numbers in our principal towns and cities,
represent the widespread nature of the curse, which has, in a marked
manner, impaired the physique, the morality, and the intelligence of
the nation.
5. DAILY PRESS.--The daily press has not had the moral courage to
say one word; the quality of demoralizing novels such as have been
produced from the impure brain and unclean imaginations; the subtle,
clever and fascinating undermining of the white-winged angel of purity
by modern sophists, whose purient and vicious volumes were written to
throw a halo of charm and beauty about the brilliant courtesan and
the splendid adulteress; the mixing up of lust and love; the making
of corrupt passion to stand in the garb of a deep, lasting, and holy
affection--these are some of the hidious seedlings which, hidden amid
the glamor and fascination of the seeming "angel of light," have to so
large an extent corrupted the morality of the country.
6. NIGHTLY EXHIBITIONS.--Some of you know what the nightly exhibitions
in these garlanded temples of whorish incentive are. There is
the variety theatre with its disgusting ballet dancing, and its
shamelessly indecent photographs exhibited in every direction. What a
clear gain to morality it would be if the accursed houses were burnt
down, and forbidden by law ever to be re-built or re-opened; the
whole scene is designed to act upon and stimulate the lusts and evil
passions of corrupt men and women.
7. CONFIDENCE AND EXPOSURE.--I hear some of you say, cannot some
influence be brought to bear upon this plague-spot? Will the
legislature or congress do nothing? Is the law and moral right to
continue to be trodden under foot? Are the magistrates and the police
powerless? The truth is, the harlots and whoremongers are master of
the situation; the moral sense of the legislators, the magistrates,
and the police is so low that anything like confidence is at present
out of the question.
8. THE SISTERHOOD OF SHAME AND DEATH.--It is enough to make angels
weep to see a great mass of America's wealthy and better-class sons
full of zeal and on fire with interest in the surging hundreds of
the sisterhood of shame and death. Many of these men act as if they
were--if they do not believe they are--dogs. No poor hunted dog in the
streets was ever tracked by a yelping crowd of curs more than is the
fresh girl or chance of a maid in the accursed streets of our large
cities. Price is no object, nor parentage, nor home; it is the truth
to affirm that hundreds and thousands of well-dressed and educated
men come in order to the gratification of their lusts, and to this end
they frequent this whole district; they have reached this stage,
they are being burned up in this fire of lust; men of whom God says,
"Having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease sin."
9. LAW MAKERS.--Now should any member of the legislature rise up and
testify against this "earthly hell," and speak in defence of the moral
manhood and womanhood of the nation, he would be greeted as a fanatic,
and laughed down amid derisive cheers; such has been the experience
again and again. Therefore attack this great stronghold which for the
past thirty years has warred and is warring against our social manhood
and womanhood, and constantly undermining the moral life of the
nation; against this citadel of licentiousness, this metropolitan
centre of crime, and vice, and sin, direct your full blast of
righteous and manly indignation.
10. TEMPLES OF LUST.--Here stand the foul and splendid temples of
lust, intemperance, and passion, into whose vortex tens of thousands
of our sons and daughters are constantly being drawn. Let it be
remembered that this whole area represents the most costly conditions,
and proves beyond Question that an enormous proportion of the wealthy
manhood of the nation, and we as citizens sustain, partake, and share
in this carnival of death. Is it any wonder that the robust type
of godly manhood which used to be found in the legislature is sadly
wanting now, or that the wretched caricatures of manhood which find
form and place in such papers as "Truth" and the "World" are accepted
as representing "modern society?"
11. PURITANIC MANHOOD.--It is a melancholy fact that, by reason of
uncleanness, we have almost lost regard for the type of puritanic
manhood which in the past held aloft the standard of a chaste and
holy life; such men in this day are spoken of as "too slow" as
"weak-kneed," and "goody-goody" men. Let me recall that word, the
fast and indecently-dressed "things," the animals of easy virtue, the
"respectable" courtesans that flirt, chaff, gamble, and waltz
with well-known high-class licentious lepers--such is the ideal of
womanhood which a large proportion of our large city society accepts,
fawns upon, and favors.
[Illustration]
12. SHAMEFUL CONDITIONS.--Perhaps one of the most inhuman and shameful
conditions of modern fashionable society, both in England and America,
is that which wealthy men and women who are married destroy their own
children in the embryo stage of being, and become murderers thereby.
This is done to prevent what should become one of our chief glories,
viz., large and well-developed [Transcriber's note: the text appears
to read "home" but it is unclear] and family life.
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