INIQUITY ABOUNDING

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Thursday, January 8, 1880

FromThe Review and Herald, Vol. 55, No. 2

INIQUITY ABOUNDING.

Christ in speaking of the last days, said, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matt. 24: 12. It would seem difficult to find a more striking fulfillment of this passage than in the following description of the moral condition of the city of Cincinnati, by a correspondent, J. M. Foster, of the Christian Statesman. It is by a resident, and proves that the city has well earned its unenviable distinction as “the Sodom of America.” Under date of Dec. 23, 1879, Mr. Foster says:—

“Our city is now designated by the press generally as ‘the Sodom of America.’ Mr. Fitzgerald, a member of the Board of Councilmen, said in their meeting last Friday: ‘The city of Cincinnati is to-day ahead of any other city in the Union in the line of unbridled license, in the line of all which is a disgrace to humanity.’ In Sabbath desecration, in female prostitution, and in wholesale drunkenness and gambling, this place surpasses every other in the land. And what is worse, these poisons in the moral atmosphere have the same benumbing and sickening effect upon the Christian people here that entering a malarious district has upon the strong and healthy. Why, the moment Christians from other places, who have been in good and regular standing in the church, come in contact with the miasmatic exhalations from this sour, festering marsh, their religion leaves them, and they have no further use for the church. And what is a still more suggestive fact, while only four of our ministers can attend a National Reform meeting, the purpose of which is to bring back King Jesus, the rightful Sovereign whom our nation has formally rejected, the great majority of them could attend a meeting to ‘welcome General Grant as the hero of the Mississippi valley who received the sword of Pemberton, and of Virginia who received the sword of Lee.’”

“Sabbath-desecration became so open, bold, and defiant that law-abiding citizens felt called upon to do something. Accordingly a Sabbath Committee was formed about a year ago. They set themselves to the task of arresting the current of this great evil. But now one of the members tells me that ‘they find it impossible to do anything. The laws are not worth the paper they are written on. They cannot fine any man more than one dollar for the most flagrant Sabbath desecration. There is no hope of doing anything until the laws are modified.’ Their work so far is abortive. The evil is unchecked. Variety shows and houses of ill-fame are becoming so numerous and vile that even the heathen editors of our daily papers blush as they speak of them. The worst feature of this evil is that the whole of the police force, from the Chief throughout, are in sympathy with these institutions and are more ready to help than to suppress them. Last summer the odor from these dens of vice became so oppressive that the Mayor ordered an investigation. To secure the defeat of the whole movement, the Chief of Police made a raid on a great number of these houses at once and filed a great company of these prostitutes into the court room. The only effect of this crusade was to advertise these dens of iniquity and increase their trade, which has been going on with increased momentum ever since.”

“About three weeks ago the Mayor ordered that all the variety shows running without license be suppressed. To make the order appear odious, the Chief of Police ordered a general raid upon all the theaters last Sabbath two weeks. The streets were filled with their contents, a wild surging drunken mass, from the lower strata of society, and a perfect furor of excitement ensued. This was all done in mock justice. The shows have been in full blast ever since. The Board of Councilmen, however, passed an ordinance last Friday, which, if enforced, will at least put a wholesome check upon them. Our city is, indeed, in a deplorable condition. May God speed the day when these glaring evils will be purged away. As Mr. Fitzgerald remarked in the Council: ‘Every father and mother, every decent man and woman in Cincinnati, joins in the cry for the suppression of these dens. That cry, long and loud, has finally come into this chamber, and in keeping with that unanimous demand of all who desire that this city shall be the equal of other cities in morality, who desire that their wives, their daughters, and their sisters shall be protected in the streets and in places of amusement,—in keeping with that unanimous demand, these ordinances are presented.’”