"[i] From which simple utterance have resulted monogamy and (in
the absence of adultery) the indissolubility of the marriage bond. While
in respect of conjugal duties we have such large, but sufficiently
intelligible, commands as "to render due benevolence,"[j] whereby, while
the obligations of the marriage state are maintained, Christianity is
saved from the impurities which, in expounding the ordinances of
Mohammed, surround the sexual ethics of Islam, and cast so foul a stain
upon its literature.
[Sidenote: Elevation of woman.]
Take, again, the place of woman in the world. We need no injunction of
the veil or the harem. As the temples of the Holy Ghost, the body is to
be kept undefiled, and every one is "to possess his vessel in
sanctification and honor."[k] Men are to treat "the elder women as mothers;
the younger as sisters, with all purity."[l] Women are to "adorn themselves
in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety."[m] These, and such
like maxims embrace the whole moral fitness of the several relations and
duties which they define. They are adapted for all ages of time and for
all conditions of men. They are capable of being taken by every
individual for personal guidance, according to his own sense of
propriety, and they can be accommodated by society at large with a due
reference to the habits and customs of the day.
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