Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-11-09
For the REPUBLICAN,
The Evils Of the Times.
SABBATH BREAKING.
BY EDWARD D. CLAIMING.

Although much has been written
upon this fruitful subject, and much
said; although clergymen have ex-
horted, and politicians have dis
claimed upon its various phases;
yet we think its Importance is pat
ent to all, and there is room for ms
to lift our voice, though it be only
to gather the crumbs that may have
fallen from discourses of much
more pretention. We do not pro.
pose to touch upon the well-worn
chord of Drunkenness, or draw
from it the doleful sounds of wretch
ed homes or saddened hearth stones;
to portray the sin Of Gambling in
all its enticing forms; or to rehearse
the long list of licentiousness and
crime. Commonly unnoticed and
easily passed over, among the cate
CORY of the vices of men, overlooked
apparently on account of its seem
ing insignificance is the vice of Sab
bath Breaking. Indeed, it is the
growing evil of our land, and one
which, if persisted in, will call down,
if it has not already, the just anger
of heaven.
The peaceful Sabbaths, when all
abstaining from their proclamation,
or even sinful idleness, assembled
with one accord in the house of God,
are among the things that are num-
bered with the past. Our costly and
palatial churches pamper the passion
of pride, and the desire for austen
tatious display, but we fear that the
humble cabins whose places they
fill, accommodated a greater proper
tion of true followers of the meek
and lowly Jesus. Why is it that So
many absent themselves from the
sanctuary Of God? why is it that so
many give way to their baser emo
tions, and utterly unmindful of their
eternal interests, habitually profane
the holy day? and the answer must
come-a disgrace to our age-the
day-spring of millennial glory-that
it is on account of the increase of
human deprayity.
The wine-cup, that wary foe to all
that is good, which biteth like a
serpent and stingeth like an adder,
is a potent cause of this great evil.
Its unfortunate victim is first taught
to disregard God and all things holy
and sacred. There was never a
drunkard in this world who truly
feared his Maker. What wonder,
then, when he has lost the fear of
God, and respect for the sanctity of
His holiness, that he should lose re-
spect for himself and mankind and
sink lower than the brute. But it is
not the wine-cup alone which wields
this baleful influence. Skepticism,
Atheism and Infidelity, bind num-
berless men with their weighty yoke.
The uncurbed, untaught mind of
man refuses credence to anything
not plainly revealed by the dim
light of nature, or grasped within
the limited scope of his own reason;
he essays to search the unsearch-
able things of the Most High, and
fails; the creature presumes to faith
ON the DEGREES of his Creator.
Unable to comprehend His courses
of action, or to understand the laws
of His being, they absurdly fly to
the opposite extreme, and deny His
existence, and denying His existence
they deny the authority of his pre-
cepts. Thus they in their wisdom
know not God, and misinterpreting
the open book of nature, refuse the
light of revelation which shows
Gods goodness, and love in each
tiny leaf; in the refreshing dew; in
the glorious rising of the sun, and
in the changing seasons; in making
all things to subserve some wise end,
all pointing to some great, design
ing first Cause. These, unheeding
of gracious promises, spurning the
day of grace, scoffing at the exhor-
tations of chosen ministry, know
ingly and wilfully desecrate the ho-
ly Sabbath. But what can be pro-
posed to stay this current of wick
edness, which would probably ac-
complish it's end. Legislation
should be resorted to, to stop the
violation of the holy Day by thou
sands of mercenary men, who in the
name of industrial interests, prose
cute their worldly callings during
its sacred hours; to close the doors
of those dens of corruption, those
fostering places of infamy and crime
which lead thousands yearly to the
gates of eternal Death; and to COM
pei all to preserve It's order and per-
form its duties.
Legislation alone cannot accom-
plish this but it must be seconded
by the hearty cooperation of the in
dividuals. The public mind must
be educated, taught in the principles
of true morality, and then, but not
till then, will this much desired end