Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-02-18

II The sun wasimmovablci And If the earth
moved, what became Of the Scripture. "The
earth Is established, II can mot Be moved ~
And yetthe Bible gave way and the heresfes
Of Calico are TO day In orthodox school
stance In Book 4, Article 90, OF BIacE1
stone's Commentdries, the first book placed in
my hand when | studied law, we read as fol
lows: IA sixth species Of offense against
God and religion, of which our ancient
books are full, Is a crime of which one knows
not what account to give. / mean not the
offense ofwitcherqft, co'Vurdtion, enehdntSSent
or sorcery. Todeny the possibility, nay, actual
existence, of fwitchcraft and sorcery, is at once
fatty to contradict the revealed Word of God
and various passages Of both the Old
and New Testaments, and the thing is
itself q truth TO which every nation
in the world hath borne testimony, either by
examples seemingly well attested, or by pro-
hibitiDg laws which, at least, suppose the
possibility Of commerce with evil spirits.
The civil law Furnishes with death, not only
the sOrcerers themselves, but also those who
consult them, initiating, in the former. the
express law Of God: "Thou shalt not suffer a
witch to live"
Now, gentlemen Of the Sabbath OBJ
servanee Committed What have you
to say why the same sentence should
not be passed upon the Sabbath day,
that has already been passed upon the Cos
mogony on which it rests, upon the theory
which holds the Universe to be vast watery
vault in which the sun, moon and stars are set,
that light was created the first day and the sun
the fourth, or that has been passed upon the
idea of witchcraft, 30 entrenched not only in
the various witch. stories of the Old Testa-
ment but of the New, aoheTs tke Sabbath has
no hold Dh0teUeT? Why should we not
gather them together as birds of the night
vub hou M rlo in fba Cd nasp Io,-
Of knowledge, and say depart to your holes
and caves, ye bats, whose eyes the light only
blinds the more" Until you can answer
us clearly and distinctly, not all the thunders
of Sinai can awaken the dead institution
they are said to have proclaimed; we are
left to the broad principle of Paul which
"esteemeth every day" To the Christian
no one day is hallowed, but every day is
hallowed. There is, no special Lords day,
for every day is the Lords day. "There are
many persons" says H. w. Beecher, "who
think Sunday is sponge with which to wipe
out the Gins Of the week. Now Gods Altar
stands from Susday to Sunday, and the
seventh day is no more for religion than any
other. It is for rest. The whole seven are
for religion and one of them is for rest"
However vital or beneficial an institution
may be to the people or the age which called
it into existence, it must ever come to those
which have not so demanded it, as austere,
inhexible and despotic. So did it come and
confront Christ and his disciples, as they
supplied their needs with the corn which
Nature offered them. Christ did not
shrink from it, but he wreathed it with a
principle which might have made its stern
visage smile bene6cently upon man forever.
In the letter to which have before referred,
Judge Matthews says: "Christ maintained
his right as Lord of the Sabbath to pluck
ears of corn on that day. And in SO say
| ing he falls into a misunderstanding Of, the
Scripture, which has done more to make the
Sunday an instrument of oppression than
all other things whatsoever. The fact is,
Christ claimed nothing for himself every
thing for man. 1t is paralytic stroke to
Christianity itself to suppose that Jesus
represented immunities and interests sepa-
rate from that humanity whose nature he
partook. The very phrase in which he most
gloried, "Son of Man." shows how he re
cards his own claim and destiny as those OF
the human race. "You shall be one with
me as am one with God" "What you
have done to the least of these my brothers,
it is perhaps the only point ON which ali
churches agree for while some hold Jesus
to be God, others maintaining that he is
semi god, or archangel or prophet-ALL BE
LIEvE THAT He WAS MAN. Mark, then, the
language "The Sabbath was made for man
and not man for the Sabbath: THEREFoRH
the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath u
He claims the right simply and distinctly as
a man. He is Lord of that and all other in.
stitutions, only because he represents the
humanity which is above them all. Man il
more than all his accidents&be they creeds
institutions or what not-as long as theI
serve the wants of his nature we'll so sooI
as they oppress him, he has the highest war
rant known on earth to mold them to sui
his needs, or to abolish them.
Now the reason why the Sabbath Commit
tee will do no good, but harm, is, that thel
bold to the idea that man is bound to serv.
the Sabbath, and not that the Sabbath il
bound to serve man. For instance, becaus,
have asserted that nature demands a day
of rest, and all have a right thereto, an
asked, "Is not this rest, then, one Of the news
boys rights ?" Clearly; and for that reason
let it not be made one of his wrongs. Wher
to sit still or go to Sabbath-school robs hin
of bread and the means of education, or am
thing else, then it is just as sacred right Il
sell papers on that day. His right is a righ
OVER the Sabbath. The Christian law is
that the Sabbath must remember man Il
keep him holy. The idea that the news. DO,
should be coerced into his rights, remind
me of the merchant who one Sunday re
solved to be unusually clever, and take hi
two little boys out into the country thinI
uo uhu ueNCE uOuS uclOIos w uoH tuey Q9C
arrived he took them by the collar, ant
said; "Now, boys, I've brought you ou
: here to enjoy yourselves, and if you don
enjoy yourselves pretty quick, you'll catel
it, that's all ~
Now, the State holds the day of rest as al
institution placed by man on his own code
to suit himself and whose shape OF even ex
istence there is entirely subject to his owl
J requirements. 1t would keep the day frou
violating man. The Sabbath organization
believes it day Of divine authority owe
man, and would keep men from violating
the day. 1t desires to use the Sunday law
conceived in one spirit, to carry out il
any department men need not violsti
the letter of the law, in order to subver
its real intentions. Indeed, statute
have so long been known to be at th
mercy of the spirit in which the
are administered, that the maxim ha
arisen summlm Jus summd injuriG. You
extreme right may be extreme wrong. An,
/ doubt not that the Sunday statutes nigh
be so administered as to place us for one da,
Of the week under religious despOtism. Fo
example, il is proposed to crush out amuse
ments on Sunday. Can it be legally done
The law has not word against the people
being amused on tnat day; it is indiferen
whether people laugh or cry on that day
the Supreme Court has even gone out of il
way to say that amusements are lawful. Bu
excuses were not wanting when the vol
. had determined TO kill the lamb. So we ar
told that amusements must be stopped as ia
vOlving common labor" on the part Of tn
singers or actors. The aVowed spirit is tina
IL is wrong for men to take their pleasure o