The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1866-05-25

Now, who is to interpret for men p
Iou say the Roman Catholic, whose priest
is his Interpreter of Scripture, is blindly
trusting to the blind. l cannot think
your ministers more infallible than those
OF other denominations, for you produce
no evidence in support of such q theory
Then you must come to the Episcopal
belief in this matter. That each mans
conscience must come to scripture, hum
bly, seeking truth, not favorite tenet or
idea, and that each man must abide by
the lessons he derives from Holy Writ,
and not consider his brother ga child of
the devil" if he does not see with our
eyes, OF direct himself by our conscience.
While the priest, if he truly holds up
dying Saviour as the only Refuge from
eternal death, and exhorts to faith, hope,
and above all, charity, may well occupy
every moment of his precious time, with
out spending it in flourish of rhetoric
about those things which are used as rec
reations, and which have no sin in them,
only SO far as they may be carried to ex-
cess And these fanatics should remem-
Der that old, old truth-the territory of
virtue and vice are contiguous, and a SIN.
gle step is the dividing line
But look at game of cards-gambling
is not what we mean. The former is an
innocent relaxation of the mind; the lat
ter great sin, destructive of principle
and principal. Though I have been
present at many gaines at cards, and have
played frequently myself, I have never
seen any thing, or any amount of money,
gambled for Nor do 1 suppose for an
instant that any member Of any church
would be party to gambling. But am
l to be told by arrogant men, that Jesus,
when He converted water into wine at
marriage feast, set an example to yon
drunkard, wallowing in beastly stupefac.
ton ! Am l to be told, that when the
Bible declares "every creature of God is
good for food" that warrant is given to
that glutton, whose table is his god, and
whose palate is the subject of his daily
musings, to the exclusion of all that ele-
Yates man above the brute Am I,
finally, because men have seized upon
cards and converted them into an engine
of self destruction-am l to be classed
among BeelzebVb's adherents, because
consider it would not harm the purest of
Christians to play game of cards-for
relaxation Do you know the origin of
the game? 1t was not one of Satan's
devices, for he never did anything to re-
heOe man; though his Satanic majesty
may seize them, as he does many of the
good things of life, and use them as a
means to accomplish his purpose which
could as surely have been accomplished if
cards had never been instituted For
where Religion does not stand sentinel at
the heart, it is accessible on all sides, and
its most innocent feelings may serve as
channels through which the deceiver can
gain an entrance, over such feeble bull
wark as Reason presents.
Many years ago there was a certain
King of France, afflicted with that most
dreadful of maladies, arrangement of the
mind; disorder in which man dies
though yet breathing-to his family and
friends, and dwells amid the dark chaos
of misty ideas and shadowy forms, which
have no existence in reality. Some bene-
VIOLENT man, actuated by the desire of his
sovereign's recovery from such sad con-
dition, invented cards and the game of
whist, as means of recovery. 1t was
tried, we may we'll imagine with what
trembling as to the result, and proved to
be a happy restorative. 1t afforded an
opportunity for the exercise of thought
and memory, but put them into channels
where no remorseful remembrance or
narrowing vision could be conjured up.
The mind received relaxation by resting
upon what could not excite painful emo.
ton or violent feeling. So the game of
cards has been used ever since, by wise
men, as means of innocent recreation
for the mind.
We have often spent evenings which
were entirely conversational, and who of
US must not have noted uncharitable re-
mark, evil speaking, exaggeration, mis-,
representation, stale bearing" BY play
AnS S"hO az Ooluo, Wuou W. ueeG
together socially, We occupy tho mind
harmlessly, and the tongue is confined
that "unruly MEMBER" which no man
has or can tame, and which is "set on
fire of hell"
Before concluding, I would recall to
the minds of those who differ from me
about game of cards, that they had bet
ter mediate more frequently upon their
own shortcomings, before they hunt up
"the notes in their brothers eye." IF
they can truly say, ~ am free from envy,
pride, jealousy, evil speaking, emulation,
strife, gluttony, drunkenness and such
like; | do to alas would they should
do to me- say of all what is just and
merciful l exercise faith, hope, and
that charity (which is not easily Offend
ed they can say more, 1 frankly con-
fess, than l can, though l aspire to this
"mark of my high calling in Cnrist
Jesus" and l shall only repeat to them
two verses, aud ask them if it is not
good Christian motto: