THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIAL EVIL.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1154, 10 April 1872, Page 2

THE SUPPRESSION OF THE SOCIAL EVIL.

["WESTMINSTER REVIEW.] We have already expressed our distinct and assured belief that prostitution^ ia not a necessarily inherent part of the social life of human beings : in the face of £fche mournful array of discouraging experiences we have now set forth, we do not ; hesitate ,to repeat our affirmation of that belief; and though it is no part of our present task to justify it, yet if the fitting time and opportunity for our doing so should come, we shall be prepared to show that .our faith does not repose on mere sentimental enthusiasm,- but- that' it is firmly built, up of. solid reasoning on the indestructible basis of established biological facts. Meanwhile we, suggest to Christian writers, Christian statesmen, and Christian ; ministers, to consider whether the repressive policy which has been pursued in respect to prostitution by different Christian states, and by none so resolutely and so inexorably as by the Church of Rome, is really and truly Christian. We are fully aware, as indeed we have shown, that the policy in question has been pursued in faithful obedience >to the dictates of Christian doctrine as hitherto interpreted ' by all the churches ; but it seems to 1 ; us that in this matter, as in many others' of great vital concern, men have heeded the form rather than the essence, the letter rather than ' the ' spirit. In our opinion the most precious part of Christianity — the permanent element that will live when much of it now deemed essential will be seen^tojhaye been transient. gnly,^and..to have passed away — is precisely that part which was iri the* wo&d> before Christ appeared, but. which became organised in ? Him as a subtle living force, 6apable)of transforming j the minds, of men into its. own likeness with a power and effectiveness which the world never witnessed before His advent. , That force was not physical, but psychical ; it was the force of attraction, of Love. The policy of repression works by physical foree — the force of repulsion, the iorce made use of by. those Jews w.ho dragged into the presence of Christ the woman taken in adultery, asking Him to pronounce her condemnation ; but, displaying the infinitely nobler and infinitely greater power of love, He wrote on the ground, " Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." If Christians will humbly meditate on this lesson which Christ -taught, not by a set form of words which might be misinterpreted, but by the unmistakeable example of His own life— if they .will conscientiously compare His treatment of fallen woman with their own, they will perhaps discover that. in no so-called Christian state has their treatment of Her been verily Christian. Men steeped in Bin themselves have dared to stone her, and have hypocritically cloaked their own sensuality in the outward. garb of punishing the being whom they alone have brought to shame. They have made her the' scape-goat of their brutishriessr^of their animal passions unhallowed by,aftection, and have paraded their owh self • righteousness by driving her into ' the wilderness.. If men were not blinded by .selfishness or spiritual, pride they would see that their presumptuous.interpretation of the divince intentions (as to disease being-the- punishment of- Bin) is falsified by experience ; that though calling themselves Christians they have not even apprehended the essential ,_ nature of .„ the Christian spirit ; and 6f.';course in thpir^ dealings with harlotry have in no serise -applied it. 'When/ seeking to lessen and put an end to the- disease associated with prostitution, they have thoroughly tried •the redeeming, power of that force which Christ personally exemplified-— and have found. it fail, then, but not until then, will they be justified in saying that the principle— "Do unto others as you would they should do unto yon," is of no avail ; that prostitution is really an unavoidable; part of every considerable aggregation of nunian beings ;, and that in respsct to it, the teacHings of "Christianity arid the daydreams of philanthropic idealists are alike confuted by the crushing logic of facts attested by the experience of all ages and nations, ■