Divorce and the Pleasures of Sin

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 18, 1907

Divorce and the Pleasures of Sin

The days of Noah were days given over by the great majority of the people to the pleasures of sense. How true a type of our day! The pleasures achieved never satisfy those bent on pleasure. So he who takes great delight in money-getting sees always ahead of him the glittering fingers of the greed god beckoning him on. It is true of every other line of carnal appetite. The following summary of the work of the “divorce mill” in this country speaks volumes in corroboration of these statements:—

According to the report just issued by the census bureau a divorce suit is filed every two minutes and a divorce granted every three minutes in the United States.

During the twenty-year period from 1867 to 1887 there were thirty-three divorces for each one hundred thousand inhabitants, and during the twenty-year period from 1887 to 1907 there were seventy divorces to every one hundred thousand inhabitants, a net increase of more than one hundred per cent.

Some put the blame for this condition upon the teachings of Socialism, which are weakening the ties of the marriage relation. The Socialists declare the charge unfounded, and hold that the capitalistic class is responsible because of their luxurious and ofttimes profligate lives. Neither is wholly responsible. The cause lies in the abounding sinfulness of the human heart. “Without natural affection” is one of the reasons given by Inspiration for these sorrowful last-day conditions. It is not that men and women are without affection; but sin has turned true affection into channels which lead to ruin.