THE SABBATH. 317 



saw before them instead of the glories of heaven the infinite tortures 



of hell. Not to the fall of Sarmatia, but to the treatment of witches in 



the seventeenth century, ought to be applied the words of your poet 



Campbell : 



" Oh ! bloodiest picture in the book of time ! " 



The mind sits in sackcloth and ashes while contemplating the scenes 

 so powerfully described by Mr. Lecky in his chapter on " Magic and 

 Witchcraft." But I will dwell no further upon these tragedies than to 

 point out how terrible are the errors which our clergy may commit 

 after they have once subscribed to the creed and laws of Judaism, and 

 constituted themselves the legal exponents and interpreters of those 

 laws.* 



Turning over the leaves of the Pentateuch, where God's alleged 

 dealinsfs with the Israelites are recorded, it strikes one with amaze- 

 ment that such writings should be considered binding upon us. The 

 overmastering strength of habit, the power of early education pos- 

 sibly a defiance of the claims of reason involved in the very constitu' 

 tion of the mental organ are illustrated by the fact that learned 

 men are still to be found willing to devote their time and endowments 

 to these writings, under the assumption that they are not human but 

 divine. As an ancient book, claiming the same origin as other books, 

 the Old Testament is without a rival, but its unnatural exaltation pro- 

 vokes recoil and rejection. Leviticus, for example, when read in the 

 light of its own age, is full of interest and instruction. We see there 

 described the efforts of the best men then existing to civilize the rude 

 society around them. Violence is restrained by violence medicinally 

 applied. Passion is checked, truth and justice are extolled, and all in 

 a manner suited to the needs of a barbarian host. But read in the 

 light of our age, its conceptions of the Deity are seen to be shockingly 

 mean, and many of its ordinances brutal. Foolishness is far too weak 

 a word to apply to any attempt to force upon a scientific age the edicts 

 of a Jewish law-giver. The doom of such an attempt is sure ; and, if 

 the destruction of things really precious should be involved in its 

 failure, the blame will justly be ascribed to those who obstinately per- 

 sisted in the attempt. Let us, then, cherish our Sunday as an inheri- 

 tance derived from the wisdom of the past ; but let it be understood 

 that we cherish it because it is in principle reasonable and in practice 

 salutary. Let us uphold it, because it commends itself to that " light 

 of nature " which, despite the catastrophe in Eden, the most famous 

 theologians mention with respect, and not because it is enjoined by 

 the thunders of Sinai. We have surely heard enough of divine sanc- 

 tions founded upon myths which, however beautiful and touching 

 when regarded from the proper point of view, are seen, when cited 



* The sufferings of reputed witches in the seventeenth century, as well as those of the 

 early Christians, might be traced to panics and passions similar in kind to those which 

 produced the atrocities of the Reign of Terror in France. 



