American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1867-01-09


| felt with us that this law was obnoxiou,
because it interfered with the profitable,
demoeaatic employment of raising swine.
Not that kind OF swine which may be
converted into brushes and light; but
great beasts, good for nothing but rolling
in the cutters, and filling dishonored
graves. What mattered ID to the Whis-
key League, that the poor possessed
de moniaa sits clothed and in his right
mind that his swine, instead of being
ehoked II the sea, are metamorphosed
into men clothed and in their right minds.
They lose market for their swill, and
with great noise they pray the Saviour
to depart out of their coast; TO let them
alone with their pigs, and give them
peace in the swill business. No doubt
there were many in the country Of the
Gadareaes who made a living by prep,r
ing pig feed. They must have had
troughs aud kettles, end pens; feed on
hand, aud more engaged; and the Saviour
did not even give them time to wind up
their business, dispose of their fixture,
and look out for some other occupation.
He Just sent the swine into the sea. ,nl
left them to regulate matters as best
they could. We can imagine we see the
poor keepers racing down the hill after
the possessed animals, calling "pig % and
the great CONSERVATION of the people who
depended upon this pig>trade for a living;
but there is no evidence that Christ
showed them any compassion. He ap-
peared to at upon the principle that
man who cannot live without injury 20 his
neighbor, if any such there be, has no
right to live at all; a1d that the redemp-
tion of one man from the power of evil
spirits was matter of far more import
ance than all the varied Interests counec
ted with the swine trade of the Gadarenes
One feature of the case the preacher
did not touch urou, for he limited him
self to the ordinary length of sermons.
forgetting that sermon can afford to be
long when the preacher has Il good sub
ject and understands it. 1t is seldom any
preacher should preach more than one
hour, and few should get beyond thirty
minutes but Mr.. Dick, on the evening
we speak of, should have talked two hours
if he couli have done so without injury
to his health.
One pat Of his subject we should like
to have heard him discuss, and this is,
the effect of the swine trade upon the in,
habitants of Gadarene. A large portion
Of them were Jews, who were forbidden
by the divine laws to use sVine's flesh. -
This law. we think, was founded in the
law of nature, and this food was forbid>
den not only ceremonially to the Jews,
but because it was and is injurious.-
Those who raised it and placed it in
market, were holding out temptation to
others to break the divine law by using
it. As it was wrong for people to eat
swiue's flesh, it was wrong to raise it and
offer it Tor use. The law Of God forbade
the eating of it; and raising it was per
consequence unlawful. At least this is
our view of the case. We cannot re-
call any injunction of the Mosaic law
against raising swine, and as the Saviour's
deed Enthusiastically stamps the business
as unlawful it follows that it was so be-
cause of its inducing the use of an ar
ticle of food injurious and unlawful
This view explodes all the sophistry of
the rumtrade about not compelling any
man to drink 1t is not likely the swine
merchant of Judea compelled any body
to eat ham but they offered the tempta-
tion; and Jesus destroyed their stock in
trade to show that the trade was unlawful
We wish the swine merchants of to-
day, the venders of swill, would take
look at themselves in the glass of truth
as it is held up by the apostle in the his
tory of the poor demoniac of the to lbs
by the Sea of Tiberius.