Rome had conquered Greece, but Greek morals had conquered Rome. It was her very victories which ruined Rome’s character. ……. This was the age when the first Christian preachers were appealing to men.

i) There came into life at that time a kind of revulsion against marriage. Juvenal is amazed that any man should marry, while he has a rope wherewith to hang himself, or a window out of which to jump, or a bridge over the parapet of which he may leap (Juvenal, Satires 6.28-32). The satirist sees suicide as infinitely preferable to marriage

ii) It was an age of universal prostitution, or, at least, of universal indulgence in relations outside marriage. Cicero in a speech justifying a loose-living client (On behalf of Caelius 20) justifies his client by the universal practice of the time: “If there is anyone who thinks that young men should be altogether restrained from the love of prostitutes, he is indeed very severe. I am not prepared theoretically to deny his position; but he differs not only from the license of our age but also from the customs and allowances of our ancestors. When was this not done? When was it blamed? When was it not allowed? When was that which is now lawful not lawful?”

iii) It was an age of utter shamelessness in moral conduct. This shamelessness began in the highest places. There was an incredible coarse shamelessness about Roman society at that time.

iv) The result of all this was a fantastic rate of divorce and the nearly complete breakdown of marriage. Seneca (Concerning Providence, 3.16) describes the women of his day: “Is there any woman who blushes at divorce now that certain illustrious and noble ladies reckon the years not by the number of consuls, but by the number of their husbands.

The moral problems which face our own generation are far from new. The fact that they are not new does not make them any less serious, but it does remind us that Christianity is not facing anything which it was not called upon to face before.

Our problems are neither new nor unique; they are part of the human situation, produced by human sin. This the Church has always to face. To this she must be ever bringing the grace of God.

Christianity confronted that situation with an uncompromising demand for purity. Immorality and all impurity are not even to be named among Christians. There must be no filthiness. An immoral or impure man has no share in the kingdom of Christ and God (Ephesians 5: 3-20). Immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire must be inwardly put to death (Col. 3: 5,6). It is only the pure in heart, and there the pure in life, who see God (Matthew 5:8).

He further writes :
The very essence of family is that in it two people take each other to have and to hold all the days of their life. It is precisely this exclusive relationship which gives marriage its security. The family is the one stable group in a fluctuating world; it is the one permanence in the middle of impermanence. It is the one unchanging thing in a child’s life. Take away the family and the very foundations of society are undermined. The basic security would be turned into insecurity – and the ultimate consequences of that on life and on people are terrifying.  It is the sense of security which keeps people sane and healthy; it is the sense of insecurity which makes them anxious and neurotic. Remove the central stability of the home, and the whole life of the nation would be wounded. It is from broken homes that delinquent young people usually come. And the stability of the home depends on the exclusive relationship of the two people round whom it revolves – the mother and father.