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

III IL GnaC Iney refused TO Uner grow
: ing fellows the use of its broad, un-
} derlying principles, and thus demand
ed to have new wine put into old bot
ties, Of course, the bottles burst and
their narrow-surface Bible became dis
credited; but the real Bible SCARED up
: ward, and led the world onward still,
as the soul rises to broader and higher
life when the burden Of a narrow and
mortal body falls away. This is that
kind of literal and starved ignorance
which lays it's unworthy hand on the
Scriptures, and tells us that, because
Solomon said ''He that spareth the rod
spoileth the child" he meant every
child must be mercilessly whipped; !;
thus dragging down the wisest of
men to the level of their own narrow
and brutal nature ignorant that the
poet-king, putting the concrete for
the principle involved, meant only to
emphasize the truth that the training
of child must include subiection-
by what method obtained each case
and each child's nature must decide.
And thus many brute and ignoramus
has complacently fathered his absurd
blindness and passionate temper on
Solomon and the Bible.
Had not the lecturer Of last week
| CDR. Crooks so ably and eloquently
pointed out his characteristic of Chris
tianity, its opening to the moral and
spiritual need of each age, its ready
and complete adaptation of itself to
the most unforeseen and immense
| ohoxoo, -, 4lo ,,,o,.o1 60 oe croaooI
ing ages-one Of the proofs of its di-
vine origin-furnishing the principles
needed for each larger development of
civilization, and giving its sanction to
the new methods which keener temp
tations and more threatening dangers
demanded-I might have troubled you
with something on this point. You
will allow me to quote what will show
you that even the old divines and
those whose orthodoxy will not be
suspected have, again and again, af-
frmed that a moral agency, being
new, was no evidence at all that Chris
tianity did not include and intend it.
Robinson, in address to the Pilgrim
Fathers" says:
I reveal ny6hng to you by other o nstrr
reeeDe any truth by for am bvey
truth yet to break of his Holy Word.'' '' 'O
The Hon. Robert Boyle Q660) says:
time or people there % are many nam passages
FsfH pO9y %a6 M rSe be By e SS
that indted them to que some foreseen ,Et her.
oonfound some error that hath not yet name.'
Bishop Butler, in his Analogy"
)1797, says:
Nor is it at all incredible that Book which has
oeen long in the possession Of mankind should yet
.ame Pheno9ena and the same fac3ties Of i6vestisa
aTe besn gFema IN
eGg@ in the 9 A. % m
ended that events as they come to pass should open
ure.'' {
The Interpreter Q862) says: I
"a day is coming when Scripture, long darkened by
hin Il tH9 reaed ia ai ia an
as field rich s in d pc Wealth and
res" V
Einet, in his Lectures" says: L
Even now, after eighteen centuries of Christiani
y we may be inyoyed in some me tremendoHs % error Of
shamed' =
Dean Stanley says: !,
Each age of the Church has, as If were turned over
new leaf in the Bible and fopnd s. response to its
ne less new because it is so simple.' 81
DIR. Crosby passes to the great wea- t.
on of the temperance movement, the o
ledge This he calls ''unmanly," "a n
aight-iacket;" says it kills self-res-
ect and undermines all character. 81
Hannah Moore said: 'We cannot e'
xpect perfection in any one; but we e'
nay demand consistency of every n
he" e.
It does not tend to show the SINGER II
ty Of these critics of our cause, when
We find them objecting IN us to what 81
hey themselves uniformly practice on il
II other occasions. If we continue to tt
elieve in their sincerity, it can only C,
e at the expense of their intelligence n
)r. Crosby is, undoubtedly, a member h
{ Church. Does he mean to say ii
hat, when his Church demanded his h
ignature to it's creed and his pledge to f
bey its discipline, it asked what it IL
7as 'unmanly" in him to grant and Il
7hat destroys an individuals charac- b
er-that his submission to this is C,
foregoing his reasoning" sinking 81
ack to his nonage," ETC.? Of course, 81
e assents to none Of these things. 81
1e only objects to a temperance e.
ledge; not to church one.
The husband pledges himself to his ii
7ife, and she to him, for life. Is the C
marriage ceremony, then, a curse, p
indrance to virtue and progress?
| have known men who, borrowing II
money, refused to sign any promissory :
ote They thought it unmanly and Y
vidence that | distrusted them. Does Il
)r. Crosby think the world should
hange its customs and Immediately a
dopt that plan? e
Society rests in all its transactions $;
n the idea that solemn promise, L
ledge, assertion strengthens and as a
ures the act It recognizes this prin- g
iple Of human nature. The witness O
n the stand gives solemn promise to Al
I'll the truth; the officer, about to as 81
ume place for one year or ten, or for 81
fe, pledges his word and oath; the n
rantor in deed binds himself for all \
Ime by record; churches, societies, Il
accept funds on pledge to p
ppropriate them to certain purposes az
nd to no other-these and score Ia
lore Of instances can be cited. In a.
ny final analysis all these rest on the a.
anne principle as the temperance t'
ledge. No man ever denounced them Il
S unmanly. | sent this month leg
cy to literary institution, on GER "
ain conditions, and received in return 81
Is pledge that the money should ever o
,e sacredly used as directed. The l
Doctors principle would unsettle So =
iety, and, if one proposed to apply it a
o any cause but temperance, practical II
nen would Quietly put him aside as S