The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1867-02-01
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+ Breaking of from sin; taking hold
upon q repentance, reformation, and
nsvIspi1t6aI liie; renouncing evil, the
sources of il, the habits that it has be-
gotten, and the tendencies that it has
engendared; retaining from evil COM
1 panionship, and from wild dissipations
-let me say to you my friend, that if
you neglect these duties the community
may have occasion to find fault with
you; but, after all, you are your own
mourner, or ought to be. 1t is your
business more than mine if your pas
sions are rottiug out the very roots Of
your life. | have an interest in the
matter; but you have ths interest in it.
If habits in you are becoming like the
gnarled roots Of che oak; If they are
taking hold more and more ineradically
upon you, | am interested in your vel
fare; but l am not interested in It as
you are. If you continue in sin, it Is
your business pre-eminently. It's mine
because am socially connected with
you; but it is mine refexly; it is mine
with diminished intensity. 1t is yours
chiefly. You can continue the cup;
you can more and more imbrute your
self; you can continue the fatal inter-
course which, seducing, has led you
step by step downward; you can cult
vate malign passions; envy, and jeal-
ousy, and hatreds, and reyenges may
rsnkle. still in your bosom, and I am en-
ough interested to make you a matter of
thought, aud prayer, and solicitude, to
be grieved il view Of your condition,
aud to be rejoiced at your reformation
and turning to that which is right But
on you comes the weight Of the blight;
on you rests the peril, the shame, the
foreboding, the suffering, and the tnal
disaster, or the JOY. sIf thou be wise,
thou shalt be wise for thysalf; but if
thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear il. "
For while we divide responsibilities with
men here, It is only here. The penal
ties, as they work further and further
toward their consummation, become
more and more indivisible. If ten men
unite together to commit murder, the
law does not sit in judgment upon them
and pronounce that each one of these
men isguilty of atenth part of the crime.
The law declares that each man Is gull
ty of the whole crime. And in regard
to the influences of the act, the respon-
sibility is not divided so that one-tenth =
rests upon EACH; but the law says to
each one of them, @Thou alone7-not
alone in the sense that they all do not
suffer, but in the sense that each one, as
far as guilt is concerned, is as if he stood
slone-"rests the whole responsibility
Of the crime" gs 80 sia'
r sA'Thongh hand Join in hand, the wick
cd shalLnot be unpunished.' The join
ing hands may make it easier for them;
II may aarsA- 80 siiay, 4s..:--sss~sHf
acfibg IN social bands lose their feeling
of individuality, and lose their sense Of
individual responsibility but moralpen-
slties and natural penalties alike hold on
their way; and when a man transgress-
es, and refuses to turn from the trans
gres.ion, there is one system Of punish
ment which does not depend for its eff
ficiency upon the police; there is one
system which allows Of no escape; there
is one system where if man is convict
ed there is no delay Of the sentence,
where thereis no possibility of breaking
jail. and where there is no possibility of
obtaining Communication. God admins
ters system of moral causes and effects;
and what man sows that he shall reap.
YOU cannot avoid it nor evade it. a
man may begin IN youth; he may be
inexperienced; he may be under false
education; he may believe that he can
with impunity do such and such things;
but there is the law, and if you violate
IL no matter how innocently you do it,
no matter.if if others coRld have done it
and not suffered, you are arrested, you
are convicted, and the sentence takes
bold of sou, and it is not reversible.