The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-03-24


the Bible to prefer, if both were equal
ly well supported? Are those whc
degrade the Bible below other Scrip
lures entitled to charge us with ''un
dermining" it? There are othel
claims besides that Of unfermenteC
I wine which are magnificent in theil
daring" and, let me add, in their inso
| lence.
! Some Of the Doctors young hearers
might have been surprised to see di.
vine finging the Bible in the way Of
the temperance movement. But we
older ones and Abolitionists are USED
to such attempts Forty-five years
ago the Princeton Reuieac, represent.
ing the Presby terian Church, denounc.
ed the anti-slavery movement a
time when Garrison stood surrounded
by divines and churchmembers with
out number-as infdel and contrary
to revealed religion Its argument
was the exact counterpart Of DR.. Cros-
bys against our temperance enter
prise. In vain we showed that the
word "slave" in the New Testament
did not necessarily or probably mean
chattel slave, and in vain did Weld S
bible argument" nt"-which was never
answered-prove the same to be true
of the Old Testament. Still we were
denounced as twisting and wrestling
and straining the Scriptures and un-
dermining the Bible" This Crosby
Bible was flung in Garrison's face for
: thirty years. But since his great hand
wrote righteousness on the flag and
sent it down to the Gulf, and since we
boast that no slave treads our soil
since then, nine hundred and ninety
nine churchmembers out of every
thousand will cal! you libeler and
suspect you Of infdelity if you say the
Bible anywhere or in any degree up
holds slavery; and | see your lecturer
last week closed his eloquent and able
address by triumphantly claiming that
the Gospel abolished slavery-which
is true, only he should have stated
that it was the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and not the gospel Of the Church of
that day.
Hence, I am not impatient nor dis
trustful. [ rest quiet in serene assur-
ance that by and by, when our tenn
perance cause is a little stronger, men
will blush to think they ever belittled |
and dishonored the Bible by such |
claims and arguments as these. At |
that time ninety-nine out of every
hundred Christians will look askance
upon you, and suspect your orthodoxy,
unless you believe Jesus never drank
any fermented wine, and that the BIZ
ble's precepts touching wine-drinking
can only be reconciled with each other
Or with it's claim as revealed religion
by recognizing the distinction between
fermented and unfermented wines.
In my active life of fifty years have
seen more men made infdels by these
attempts to prove the Bible an up
holder of slavery than [ ever saw mis-
led by the followers Of Paine; and
think this sad exhibition of New York :
partisanship will have the same result. !
The misled men to whom [ refer were
not ignorant, careless minded, or un-
but men of conscientious
earncstness Of purpose, good culture, 7
and blameless lives.
It is, indeed, mournful to look back a
and notice how uniformly narrow t
minded men, hide-bound in the bark
of tradition, conventionalism, and I
have thrown the Bible in !
5he way of every forward step the $
race has ever made. When the refor- /
nation claimed that every Christian
man was his own priest and entitled to e
'ead the Bible for himself, the cry was: I
'Y You are resisting and undermining
5he Bible" Even before that the
most advanced and liberal churchmen i
denounced their own (unrecognized, '
out true) spiritual brothers de- t
Of their day in Holland and a
ipfdels and contemners
IF the Scriptures. |
When the English Puritan saw
limly republican equality of rights, {
Sir Robert Filmer and the High t
Churchmen tried to frighten him with S
The scarecrow of their Bible. The c
chief apostle says Honor the King" '
and this fellow leaves US no King to '
honor! But even DIR. Crosby would,
IN spite of st. Peter, hardly acknowl- :
edge the Declaration of Independence |
to be contrary to revealed religion" |
One of the strongest proofs that the |
Bible is really divine book is that it I
has outlived even the foolish praises
and misrepresentation Of its narrow v
and bigoted friends. 1
When anti-slavery lecturers first /
entered Ohio, some forty years ago,
they carried the Bible before them as
their sanction for the movement. L
Certain doctors Of divinity, horror e
struck at this proclamation, proposed to |
form society, whose object sh )uld be C
to prove that the Bible sanctioned sla- a
very. Ben Wade was then considered
somewhat of an infdel. But, on the G
principle of the fcrlorn sailor, who I
puts up with any port in a storm, S
these divines sought out Wade, asking C
him to be President of the proposed Q
society. Wade received them most t
Certainly" said he, s
gentlemen, | will serve you gladly, |
and do my best to make this thing a Q
success. But, you know, when we've t
proven that the Bible supports and I
demands slavery as an institution, a
folks will ask you to show them what a
is the worth of such q Bible, here and /
now. And in that matter | cannot be 2
Of any help to you, gentlemen, at all" s
But some adherent Of DR.. Crosby I
may say: Still the New Testament a
does not anywhere specifically and in g
so many words describe a system Of
moral observance like teetotalism. i
Possibly not; and hence the Doctor |
claims that this suiting Christianity to ]
the needs of the age is disguised inf {
deity. t