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VOL UJIT. TH EEE
NUJISER THIRTY-STEVEN
GOOD NEWS'
The last telegram from the Editor, who is now in Texas, brings the positive announcement that next
week will be the last of our “baby issues,” that have been made necessary by the change of plans and
office force, and, in a note of detail, he says:
“Express my everlasting gratitude to our readers for their beautiful patience and their cheering loyalty
during these days of necessary waiting. lam jubilant over the prospect that THE GOLDEN AGE is
entering upon a larger and more inspiring career of usefulness than it has ever known.”
“Thou shalt not commit adultery.’’—Ex. 20:14.
OIN'G back to the beginning we arc in
the laboratory of divine creation. The
world has been formed and man put in
charge of affairs. It is the sixth day
of the creative week. Eden with all
its ravishing beauty lies stretched
before us, forming the grandest pano
rama the eyes of man ever looked upon.
Adam, our first parent, fresh from the
G
hands of his divine Creator, walks before us as lord
of all he surveys. But Adam, with all his wealth, is
not satisfied. The various forms of animal life are
marched before him and each receives its name.
Adam is told that these are subjects to his will. But
still he is not satisfied. So I ‘the Lord God caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept; and
he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in
stead thereof; and the rib which the Lord God had
taken from man, made He a woman, and brought
her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of
Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and
his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they
shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the
man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
This is God’s account of the formation of the
first home this earth ever knew. From this time
on everything possible is done to point out the
duty of the home relation and the laws that gov
ern it. It was for this purpose that our command
ment was given.
The seventh commandment is a band with which
to bind together the sanctity of the home and the
safety of the nation.
I know in discussing the commandment we are
dealing with an exceedingly delicate subject for a
THE SEVEMIH COMMANDMENT
Tabernacle Sermon by Reb. Len G. <Broughton, D. 2).
Steuographically reported for The Golden Age. —Copyright applied for
ATLANTA, GA., OCTOBER 29, 1908.
mixed crowd, but the very fact that it is so deli
cate is additional reason for its being discussed.
And I hope I am endowed with enough common
sense and know enough about the proprieties of
things to handle it in a becoming manner.
My purpose shall be to discuss the things leading
up to its violation. It is not necessary to discuss
the commandment itself. It is plain enough, be
sides, society thunders against its violation.
LOOSE VIEWS OF MARRIAGE.
The first cause I wish to discuss is that of loose
views of marriage. The most sacred institution of
God is that of marriage. I know that human legis
lation defines marriage as “a civil contract,” but
it is more than that; it is a sacred, religious con
tract. It is a divine ordinance, older than any hu
man institution, older than man’s fall, older than
God’s Sabbath. Marriage is as old as Eden.
In creating woman and presenting her to man,
God the Creator ordained the marriage institution.
Yet how flippantly it is regarded today! In the
majority of our states the marriage contract is
dissolved for almost no cause. I heard of a man
who said that it was easier to get rid of his old
wife and marry a new one than it was to pay a
dental bill for her. It would cost him S2O for a
new set of teeth to fix her up, and he could get
a divorce for $lO and then have $lO to take a
bridal trip with his new wife.
This seems silly talk, and it is; but it is scarcely
more so than the silly conduct of many of our peo
ple today with reference to this matter of divorce.
Think of it! One out of every twelve marriages
is subsequently divorced. Jesus Christ allows on
ly one ground for divorce: “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.” The “put away”
of Jesus means the restoration of former marriage
privileges. I do not believe that it is contrary to
the Scriptures for man and wife to separate under
certain conditions. But God does thunder His
wrath against the putting away, with primal priv
ileges of marriage, for any other cause than forni
cation. All such divorced and remarried people are
living in perpetual adultery, and are barred from
the kingdom of heaven. You may say this is hard,
but it is only the echoing of the word of God. You
had better see it now than after it is too late.
I must think, however, from a careful study of
the teaching here, that where a man abandons his
wife entirely or where she abandons her husband
entirely, the moral force of the marriage contract
is annulled, so far as the one abandoned is con
cerned, and the one abandoned is left free.
But you say: “We are mismatched and cannot
get along together, and our home is a hell on earth.”
Go to God in prayer, ami live right yourself, and
if no possible change can be brought to pass, do the
best you can. This constant grind of the divorce
mill in this country must be stopped or else the
institution of the home is gone forever.
DANGEROUS OCCUPATION.
Again, one of the most frequent causes leading
up to the violation of the seventh commandment
today is that of occupation. In my judgment, God
has intended man for one kind of work, and woman
for another. Yet I know women often must resort
to almost any kind of work to make a support.
I honor every working girl on the face of this
planet who had rather work than be disgraced.
Every time I see the stream of working girls going
down our streets I feel like taking off my hat to
the entire company. Many of them are working to
keep up lowdown fathers, and many of them are
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.
IIVE CENTS A COTY.
