Sodomites

“ The burning of the wicked cities gives us a faint idea of that hell into which the impenitent Sodomites were cast for ever. The torments of the burning inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha were very terrible; but the torments of the lost souls in hell are far more terrible. The fire of Sodom was kindled from heaven; the fire of hell is kindled by the anger of God. ”

“ Yet these Sodomites, after they were struck blind, continued seeking the door, to break it down, till they were tired. No judgments will, of themselves, change the corrupt natures and purposes of wicked men. ”

“ There stood at my elbow a strange kind of mongrel devil, begot betwixt a black and a white; with a head so bestruck with little horns, that it looked at a distance like a hedgehog. I took the boldness to ask him, where they quartered the Sodomites, the old women and the cuckolds. “As for the cuckolds,” said he, “they are all over hell, without any certain quarter or station; and in truth, ’tis no easy matter to know a cuckold from a devil, for (like kind husbands) they wear their wives’ favours still, and the very same headpieces in hell that they wore living in the world. ”

“ As I live, saith the Lord God, thy sister Sodom herself, and her daughters, have not done as thou hast done, and thy daughters.
16:49. Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and they did not put forth their hand to the needy, and the poor.
This was the iniquity of Sodom, etc.... That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness are the highroad to all kinds of lust ”

“ So far, indeed, may this liking go, that in one case a male to the death is said to have passed himself off as a female, being employed evidently as a passive agent.
“And yet, curious to say, sodomites generally affect the society of their own sex, and avoid that of the opposite sex.
“To them natural sexual intercourse is frequently a matter of absolute distaste.... All this suggests the curious question, whether such aberration of sexual desires may not be the result of an incipient hermaphrodism. ”

“ Sodomy with males, with the above exceptions, is still rarer in the present day, and although we have made the most careful research, we do not know of many professional male sodomites in London; and when we were boys we remember a gentleman who kept a tall young fellow, a Creole, near Leicester Square. ”

“ The Jews seem very successfully to have copied the abominations of their pagan neighbours, even in the matter of the “dog.” [FN#396] In the reign of wicked Rehoboam (B.C. 975) “There were also sodomites in the land and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel” (I Kings xiv. 20) . The scandal was abated by zealous King Asa (B.C. 958) whose grandmother [FN#397] was high-priestess of Priapus (princeps in sacris Priapi) : he “took away the sodomites out of the land” (I Kings XV. 12) . ”

“ Sodomy and tribadism go hand in hand. Where one reigns the other flourishes, and in their development they are nearly identical vices. Boys debarred from women frig themselves, frig each other, and then have each other, and are fortunate if they do not grow up to be sodomites. Girls debarred from men do the same with their own sex, and bloom into perfect tribades by a gamahuche. ”

“ The legend has been amply embroidered by the Rabbis who make the Sodomites do everything à l’envers: e.g., if a man were wounded he was fined for bloodshed and was compelled to fee the offender; and if one cut off the ear of a neighbour’s ass he was condemned to keep the animal till the ear grew again. The Jewish doctors declare the people to have been a race of sharpers with rogues for magistrates, and thus they justify the judgment which they read literally. ”

“ Dum metuit teli vulnera prima novi.
(She—the newly-wed wife—will allow her longing husband just once to lie with her as with a man, while she still dreads the first wounds of the unfamiliar weapon) . Comp. Priapeia, carmen II.
234 For this reason the Greeks called the pathic sodomite also σφιγκτὴρ or σφίγκτης. Hesychius: σφίγκται οἱ κίναιδοι καὶ ἁπαλοὶ. (σφίγκται = sodomites and effeminate men) . Photius: σφίγκται Κρατῖνος τοὺς κιναιδώδεις καὶ μαλθάκους. (σφίγκται used by Cratinus = sodomitish and womanish men) . ”

“ Sooner shall the Sodomites arise out of the salt sea, and the Samaritans return out of the land of Assyria, than they enjoy their peace and prosperity again; for, to their shame be it spoken, it is a comfort to those of the ten tribes, who are dispersed and in captivity, to see those of the two tribes who had been as bad as they, or worse, in like manner dispersed and in captivity; and therefore they shall live and die, shall stand and fall, together. ”

“ The Lord complained that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was "very grievous," and said that the great cry of it had reached him in heaven. Being much concerned about their "goings on," he had resolved to drop down and see for himself if they were realty as bad as he suspected. "If not," said he, "I will know." In the Old Testament, God, who knows everything, is always seeking information.
Abraham surmised that the Lord meant to play the devil with the Sodomites, and he was anxious about Lot who dwelt with them. ”

“ Imperseverant, undiscerning. This word I have never met with but twice,—in Shakspeare's Cymbeline, with the sense above given; and in Bishop Andrewes' Sermon preached before Queen Elizabeth at Hampton Court, A.D. 1594, in the sense of unenduring:
"For the Sodomites are an example of impenitent wilful sinners ”

“ The sin of Sodom is reckoned amongst the worst sins, but in the catalogue of lusts, or sins against the natural law of chastity only, for, in other respects, it is certain that there are worse sins, such as heresy, infidelity, blasphemy, sacrilege, despair, hatred of God. Those therefore who rejected the Apostles, and in so doing rejected the grace and salvation of Christ, sinned far worse than the Sodomites, and that, not by a single, but by a manifold sin, viz., 1. ”

“ These kings had laid waste all Syria, and overthrown the offspring of the giants. And when they were come over against Sodom, they pitched their camp at the vale called the Slime Pits, for at that time there were pits in that place; but now, upon the destruction of the city of Sodom, that vale became the Lake Asphaltites, as it is called. However, concerning this lake we shall speak more presently. Now when the Sodomites joined battle with the Assyrians, and the fight was very obstinate, many of them were killed, and the rest were carried captive ”

“ Scripture itself. For the men of Nineveh repented in this life, and therefore their repentance was fruitful, inasmuch as they sowed in that field which the Lord meant to be sown in tears that it might afterwards be reaped in joy. And yet who will deny that God's prediction was fulfilled in their case, if at least he observes that God destroys sinners not only in anger but also in compassion? For sinners are destroyed in two ways,—either, like the Sodomites, the men themselves are punished for their sins, or, like the Ninevites, the men's sins are destroyed by repentance. ”

“ Each of the first three murders was apparently the work of some prude not at all criminally minded, but feeling himself the mandatory of society in ridding the world of “a monster of deepdyed depravity,” according as he was taught by church and synagogue. The hare-brained prude had been prohibited by public opinion from learning the truth that androgynism is 223|Androgynes Not Sodomites.| solely a matter of abnormal psychology and anatomy, and not at all immorality. The term which best calls up the sensations of revulsion of such a murderer is “sodomite.” ”

“ The number of old and young roués is large, and because they are satiated and dulled by excesses, they require special stimulants. Beside those in whom love for their own sex (sodomy) is innate, there are many who succumb to this perversity of the Greek age. Sodomy is [205] far more widespread than most of us imagine; the secret documents of many police departments might reveal appalling facts. ”

“ This was the sin of Sodom, and is thence called Sodomy. The Dead Sea, which was the standing monument of God's vengeance upon Sodom, for its filthiness, was one of the boundaries of Canaan, and lay not many miles off from Gibeah. We may suppose the men of Gibeah had seen it many a time, and yet would not take warning by it, but did worse than Sodom (Ezek. xvi. 48) , and sinned just after the similitude of their transgression. Who would have expected (says bishop Hall) such extreme abomination to come out of the loins of Jacob? Even the worst pagans were saints to them. ”

“ Sodom and Samaria. Likewise ecclesiasticism, the clergy and their following of “best people”, will be in shame over the fact that their iniquity was an incentive to the evil doing of the baser elements of Christendom.
16:56-59. For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride. Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord. ”

“ He is as much, and as visibly, our Redeemer, there bound, there fainting, and bleeding from the scourge, with the cross in view, as if he sat on his throne of glory in the heavens! Sodoma, in this matchless picture, has done more towards reconciling the incongruity of Divine Omnipotence and outraged, suffering Humanity, combined in one person, than the theologians ever did. ”

“ The whole iniquity and final consequences of our disposition are not laid before us in the mass; but to give the rein to any evil disposition is to yield control of our own life and commit ourselves to guidance which cannot result in good, and is of a nature to result in utter shame and wretchedness.
Turning from the rescued to the destroyed, we recognise how sufficient a test of their moral condition the presence of the angels was. The inhabitants of Sodom quickly afford evidence that they are ripe for judgment. They do nothing worse than their habitual conduct led them to do. ”

“ And just as our fathers are spoken of as keeping herds of oxen, or goats, or sheep, or brood mares, so now they keep boys, solely for the purpose of shameful usage, treating them as females, or androgynes, and doing unspeakable acts. To such a pitch of pollution has the multitude throughout the whole people come!" Another sure indication of the prevalence of the vice of sodomy is to be found in Juvenal, Sat. ”

“ In casibus firmatis evirationis, Sodomista agit tanquam pellex masculina aliis Sodomistis, aut in vestibus femineis ut uxor se gerit. Coloniae sunt Sodomistarum hujus generis in fere omne urbe magna; se invicem cognoscunt, societates, choreas publicas, et dialectum completam habent, praesertim Berolini, Lutetiae-Parisiorum, Neapolis et Washingtonii. Impotentes sunt ad copulam carnalem naturalem.
Sodomia cum effeminatione seu viraginitate frequens est inter mulieres. Hie degenerata marem mente evenit. Impotens vix dici potest, nisi propter aversionem sexualem a maribus. ”

“ Dogging the heels of sodomy walks tribadism, a vice which every man in his heart looks on with kindly eyes. This sister vice appears to have existed from all ages. It is at least as old as sodomy, and still lives, aye, flourishes amongst the supposed modest maidens of our day. In all civilized Europe it exists among single women who have been debarred from men, generally in a narrowed sense, rarely taking other form than mutual frigging. ”

“ This tendency to licentiousness carried with it extremes in the use of abortives whereby to avoid the consequence of illicit pleasures, as well that they might not be deprived of them, as to keep their breasts from softening; for, said they, old women should bear children, not young ones, who have to amuse themselves. Sodomy was practiced by the nations of Cueba, 774 Careta, and other places. ”

“ Sodomy appears to have been one of the most important of the Roman vices and amusements; it was not by any means considered improper. We are speaking of sodomy with males, for we [Pg 108] do not find anything much said about sodomy with women in the literature of the Roman day.
We say now a woman is all cunt, and the Marquis de Sade says that he must be a beginner indeed who has not had a boy, or made a boy his mistress. ”

“ After him arose Asmodai, the devil of lust: “’T is not unknown to you, mightiest King of the deep, nor to you, princes of the land of despair, how many of the gulfs of hell have I filled through voluptuousness and lewdness. What of the time I kindled such a flame of lust over all the world that the deluge had needs be sent to clear the earth of men, and to sweep them all into our unquenchable fire? What of Sodoma and Gomorrah, fine and fair cities, which I so consumed with licentiousness that a hell-shower blazed in their infernal lusts and beat them down here alive, to burn for ages on ages. ”

“ The common law definition of sodomy is more extensive, however, and is not limited to private consensual sex per anum between adult males. It also applies to anal sex under circumstances where one male has not consented or when one partner is below the age of consent ”

“ Nevertheless, Sodom was destroyed,—showing that there were not ten, and presumably not one individual in that city, who was not given up to sin and wickedness. That this was the case with all, old and young, is expressly stated, in the following chapter, where the people of Sodom are described as gathering round Lot's house, with purposes of violence: "The men of the city, the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter." ”

“ Page 173 adise of God, until God the Saviour because of men's1925
sins gave Sodoma and Gomorra to destruction, to the
dark flames. So the son of Aron chose his dwelling-
place there, a settlement in the city of Sodoma, and
brought [24] thither all his possessions, rings and private1930
property from Bethlem, goods, and wrought gold. For
many years thereafter he dwelt by the Iordan: fair
dwelling-places were there, but vicious men also, hateful
to the Lord. The people of Sodoma were bold in sin,1935
shameful in their deeds: they brought upon themselves
eternal woe. ”