NATURE WORSHIP REVIVED.
By Editor
It is too sad to chronicle, and we therefore suppress the names of the persons mentioned and the church involved. It is reported in the Kansas City Journal of a congregation belonging to one of the leading Protestant, evangelical bodies in the world. It is not the desire of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES to seek out and expose the faults or backslidings of any person or denomination. It notes a very few of these things for three reasons—to show that they are not Christian tho practised by professed Christians, to warn against the evil, and to show the fulfilment of prophecy and the times in which we are privileged to live. These rapidly increasing dark spots of earth are cumulative evidence of the coming day. The report above referred to is as follows, with personal references omitted:— The young people of the North Greenfield, O.,— church gave a hugging social the other evening, and raised $75 toward paying off the church debt. Following were the rates charged: Girls under fifteen years of age, 15 cents for two minutes hug. Girls under twenty years, 50 cents. Twenty to twenty-five years, 75 cents. Another man's wife, $1. Old maid, 3 cents and no time limit. The girls of the congregation set another meeting for February 1st; but the older members say it must be called off, as the bounds of propriety have already been overstepped. The recent hugging match has widely advertised the affair, and the girls say that, if the one arranged for February 1st is given, they will pay off the entire debt. The social was more largely patronized by middle-aged and old men than by the young men. It is horrible. The very thought of it is disgusting, monstrous. Among the old heathen cults beautiful women prostituted themselves at the shrines of Pan, Priapus, Adonis, Hermes, and other gods in the name of religion. The above does not go so far as that in overt act, but it is of the same spirit. Think of sweet, pure-minded young women and girls from twenty-five down to fifteen submitting themselves, nay, prostituting themselves to the amorous, lecherous hugs of libertines, ranging from the hot-blooded youth to the gray-haired debauchee, the wolf in sheep’s clothing. What could be thought of the fathers and mothers in a church, to say naught of its pastor, who would yield the flower of their womanhood to such degradation. Such darkness is only conceivable on the supposition that the church has turned from the light of the Word to walk in her own ways. What will the harvest be to those who on this occasion took their first bold step in transgression, who may have yielded for the first time to the overpowering impulse of the baser passions? This first step may be the first yielding to the devil’s hypnotism. The gateway to virtue’s citadel is opened; the utter surrender is but a question of time. Such it may be to some. Others, would there were many, will find their whole nature revolt against its repetition. Let all such know that God is with them. Will this sad occurrence be the last? In the light of present tendencies we can hardly expect it. Well did the apostle say, ‘This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . without natural affection, . . . incontinent, . . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.’ 2 Tim. 3:1–5. Such proceedings as those in North Greenfield may pay church debts, but it is at a fearful cost. Better a mortgage which would sink the church into the mold of the ages than that womanly modesty and virtue should be sacrificed to its removal.