For the forcible presentation of any subject it is of extreme importance to beware of such a degree of bias or enthusiasm that one is led to be too ardent in his utterances, because in that event the judicial caution is set aside and the very purpose of persuasion defeated by exciting opposition or disgust. Many a well-meant argument has gone for naught by reason of this error. Would-be reformers and moralists there are who lay too much stress on those phases of the question which do not appeal to a large majority of men, and the result is that they are laughed at and jeered at and not taken seriously.
There are some moralists who sound the slogan: " An equal standard of purity for both sexes!" They accentuate the claim that the sin of unchastity is equally heinous in men and women, and so of course it is morally. But the greater part of mankind are selfish and prefer their own private good before all other things, and by them such an assertion is regarded as unworthy of belief, and is of no effect, true as it may be.
Society has always considered that irregular sexual commerce is a more flagrant transgression in the case of a woman than in that of a man, and, morality aside, it certainly is, for an offence will necessarily be gauged by its consequences. It is a greater sin for a woman to be impure because, as a possible mother, she belongs to a higher and more important sphere, to her being intrusted the rearing up of all posterity.
While the man retains no marks of injury to his anatomy as a result of copulation, nor any other effect to which one can directly point, unless he contract disease, the woman, on the other hand, does so suffer-in bodily injury, in the violation of her more tender emotions and affections, and in her very countenance.
All the conspicuous effects of sexual commerce are heaped upon her: so much so, that an observant man can often conclude, with a good deal of accuracy, by the outward appearance and demeanor of a woman whether she is leading an immoral life.
An immoral man, on the other hand, is not clearly shown to be unfitted for the society of ladies nor for the ordinary duties of life in the way that the immoral woman is. Her own sex spurn her and call her atrocious. Therefore the argument that the crime is equally heinous in both sexes cannot appeal with great force to the ordinary man of the world who knows better.
Morally, his offence is unquestionably baser, for he stifles that chivalric feeling which all men should at all times show to all women; he assumes the aggressive role, while she is passive; he seeks to satisfy a carnal pleasure, while she sins out of a pliant acquiescence or for money; he does the pushing over the precipice in safety, while she suffers the fall; he does the lying, and she the believing; he becomes the father of the illegitimate child and abandons it, while she undergoes the pains of maternity and supports it afterward with her life's blood, unless her moral sense has been so deeply wounded that she is led to destroy it.
But such talk is idle for a large number of men. No limit can be placed upon the subterfuges which the lascivious man can invent in answer to such arguments as do not directly appeal to himself.
The laws of Nature and the laws of morality which we have accepted for our standards will always be found to coincide; and human society and sentiment are in accord with them as to the importance of absolute fidelity of married people to each other.
None are so immoral as to openly advocate adultery, for every one execrates the violator of an oath, especially if made at the marriage altar before God and man. Whether it be single or double adultery, is immaterial; if either party or both be married, it is adultery if they have sexual relations.
In all countries and ages the punishments for it have been serious, and the slaying of the male offender by a woman's husband is even yet condoned and applauded, while juries do not attempt to be severe in their punishment of the avenger. This is universally recognized in all parts of the world.