34 THE SABBATH. 



the wishes of God as revealed in the Bible ? Is it not 

 possible to make human life the copy of a divine 

 pattern? The question could only have occurred in 

 the first instance to the more exalted minds. But in- 

 stead of working upon the inner forces and convictions 

 of men, legislation presented itself as a speedier way to 

 the attainment of the desired end. To legislation, 

 therefore, the Puritans resorted. Instead of guiding, 

 they repressed, and thus pitted themselves against the 

 unconquerable impulses of human nature. Believing 

 that nature to be depraved, they felt themselves logi- 

 cally warranted in putting it in irons. But they failed ; 

 and their failure ought to be a warning to their suc- 

 cessors. 



Another error, of a far graver character than that 

 just noticed, may receive a passing mention here. At 

 the time when the Sabbath controversy was hottest, 

 and the arm of the law enforcing the claims of the 

 Sabbath strongest and most unsparing, another subject 

 profoundly stirred the religious mind of Scotland. A 

 grave and serious nation, believing intensely in its 

 Bible, found therein recorded the edicts of the Al- 

 mighty against witches, wizards, and familiar spirits, 

 and were taught by their clergy that such edicts still 

 held good. The same belief had overspread the rest of 

 Christendom, but in Scotland it was intensified by the 

 rule of Puritanism and the natural earnestness of the 

 people. I have given you a sample of the devilish 

 cruelties practised in the time of Polycarp on the 

 Christians at Smyrna. These tortures were far less 

 shocking than those inflicted upon witches in Scotland. 

 I say less shocking because the victims at Smyrna 

 courted martyrdom. They counted the sufferings of 

 this present time as not worthy to be compared with 

 the glory to be revealed ; while the sufferers for witch- 



