34: THE SABBATH. 



possible to make human life the copy of a divine pat- 

 tern? The question could only have occurred in the 

 first instance to the more exalted minds. But instead 

 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 Sab- 

 bath strongest and most unsparing, another subject pro- 

 foundly stirred the religious mind of Scotland. A 

 grave and serious nation, believing intensely in its 

 Bible, found therfin 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 cruel- 

 ties 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 mar- 

 tyrdom. They counted the sufferings of this present 

 time as not worthy to be compared with the glory to be 

 revealed; while the sufferers for witchcraft, in the midst 

 of all their agonies, felt themselves God-forsaken, and 



