East Saginaw courier., 1866-05-23
y 1T = ~ T---- --------|-
straining the SABBATH Gnat.
From tho Cincinnati Enquirer

man, and not man Tor the Sabbath,
is the declaration of one whose claims
to, divine authority it is not in order
to dispute; and who, at all events,
was gifted with keen perception of,
and a thorough contempt for, the
shams and hypocricies of his time
who in one signal instance exemplified
his doctrine by deliberately doing, and
boldly iustifying that which in the
eyes of conceited Scribes and intol-
Grant Pharisees, was a wicked desc
Grafton of holy time. 1t is a curious
fact ia the history Of mankind, but
one to which the records of all ages
bear abundant testimony, that in pro-
portion as the spirit Of religion be-
comes weak and inactive, and fails to
exert reforming influence upon the
characters of men, the tendency to in
sist upon dead forms and barren OBJ
servances is greatly increased. Men
contemplate God as one almost, if not
altogether, like themselves-blind, pas
sionate, exacting and inconsiderate I;
and believed, that, unable to see into
their hearts, he is content with mean
ingless ceremonials and pleased with
the evidences of tina. arbitrary and
prosecuting spirit which would invoke
the law to compel others to mere
mechanical conformity with rules,
which, in his name, but without his
authority, they have established.
''One man esteemeth one day above
another; another esteemeth every day
alike; let every man be fully per-
suaded in his own mind" This is
the rule Of universal federation laid
down by one whose writings have for
eighteen hundred years been revered
as the fundamental cannons Of chris
tianity; and to those who would in
tolerantly set up another only this
sentence is due: "Ye do indeed trans
gress the commandment of God by
your traditions" .t
We observe, in various quarters,
attempts, by means of penal and re-
pressive statutes and police regula-
tions, to enforce what is called the OBJ
servances of the Sabbath. God is
said to be greatly dishouored and out
ragged by the Indifference of men to-
ward his holy day; and, such has
been the amount of sin committed in
that behalf, that the authorities of that
most exemplary State, New York, in
a sudden paroxysm Of pious alarm,
have fonnd it essential TO interfere
between HIM and his subjects, and
carry into effect those rules, which,
either through Indifference or preoc-
cupation, he, no has allowed to go
without miraculous vindication. Cof-
fee-houses and places of popular re-
sort have been closed; lager, bsawe9R.
ue5dnIvi ruseoo,ars. eiv a16T, the seveiIln;
athirst more for mixed bev-
erages than for the water of life, wan
dered the streets, or strolled into the
neighboring States, in search of their
favorite refreshment, and the righteous
like the saints of the Protectorate,
who prohibited bear-baiting not be-
cause they pitied the bear, but because
they hated that men should enjoy
themselves were greatly edited and
strengthened by the spectacle.
2 After great wickedness, then great
after great laxity, then
great stringency after years spent in
the active service of the devil, then
bigoted and -perfunctory service to
God. When the Almighty has been
dishonored by innumerable crimes, the
compensation is to insult him by in
Vulnerable falsehoods. When every
practical precept of the Gospel has
been ruthlessly trodden upon, then
an inordinate and inquisitoriol jeal-
ousy for the personal honor of its au-
thor The country has been reveling
in saturnalia Of wickedness. After
the carnival follows the lent; after the
seven fat comes the seven lean sea-
SONS; after huge dobauch, period
of cowardly reaction and meritless re-
pentence. 0, the length and the
breadth, the heighih and the depth
of the shams, the impudences, the in
consistencies, follies and barbarisms,
in which men indulge. in the name of
religion t.fWt..r 1tfu.a..
There is no denying the general
propriety Of the custom of interinit-
ting, one day in seven, the ordinary
avocations of industrial life. The au-
thor or compiler of the Mosaic code,
whoever he may have been. did wisely,
according to his light, in epjoining
upon the Jews an exceedingly SUI
persticious and covetous people--the
rest of the seventh day: and in citing
for its sanction the myth->.whose lit
eral truth at this day no ,nan of ordi-
nary intelligence believes-of the sew
enth day rest of the Creator. In its
origin the Jewish Sabbath was rea-
sonable institution. 1t was emphati-
cally day of rest from labor. In
the modern or the Pharisaic sense the
Jewish religion knew no Sabath.-
There were no collections for public
worship. The vicarious sacrifices in
the temple were the same on the sew
enth as on other days; for the syna-
goguc was IN invention of long after
ages of the captivity. All that the
people were required TO do was to stay
at home, repose and enjoy themselves.
Con was represented to have recuper-
ated his exhausted energies by day
of lassitude; and, wisely enough, his
children were enjoined to follow his
example. Men were forbidden to la
Dor; they were forbidden to go upon
journeys; but in every othor respect
they were free to indulge their desires
and follow their inclnations, ,ts.,
Corrupted from the Sabbath of the
Leviticus, the Sabbath of tho Phar.
isees- the pattern and prototype of
that which Christian bigotry is now
seeking to establish lis the one which
Christ openly dishonored. 1t is not
Christ, but his cotemporary Pharisees