Chapter 3: Doubtful Actions are Sinful After all that has been said on this subject, and all the light that has been thrown upon the question, is there a man living in this land who can say he sees no reason to doubt the lawfulness of this business. To say the least that can be said, there can be no honest mind but must be brought to doubt it. We suppose, indeed, that there is no honest mind but must know it is unlawful and criminal. But take the most charitable supposition possible for the distiller or the vender, and suppose he is not fully convinced of its unlawfulness.
We say he must, at least, DOUBT its lawfulness. What is he to do then? Is he to shut his eyes to the light, and go on, regardless of truth, so long as he can keep from seeing it?
No. He may cavil and raise objections as much as he pleases, but he knows that he has doubts about the lawfulness of his business; and if he doubts, and still persists in doing it, without taking the trouble to examine and see what is right, he is just as sure to be damned as if he went on in the face of knowledge. You hear these men say, "Why, I am not fully persuaded in my own mind that the Bible forbids making or vending ardent spirits." Well, suppose you are not fully convinced, suppose all your possible and conceivable objections and cavils are not removed, what then? You know you have doubts about its lawfulness. And it is not necessary to take such ground to convict you of doing wrong. If you doubt its lawfulness, and yet persist in doing it, you are in the way to hell.
2. So where an individual is engaged in an employment that requires him to break the Sabbath.
As for instance, attending on a post-office that is opened on the Sabbath, or a turnpike gate, or in a steam-boat, or any other employment that is not work of necessity. There are always some things that must be done on the Sabbath, they are works of absolute necessity or of mercy.
But suppose a case in which the labor is not necessary, as in the transportation of the mail on the Sabbath, or the like. The least that can be said, the lowest ground that can be taken by charity itself, without turning fool, is, that the lawfulness of such employment is doubtful. And if they persist in doing it, they sin, and are on the way to hell. God has sent out the penalty of his law against them, and if they do not repent they must be damned.
3. Owning stocks in steamboat and railroad companies, in stages, canal boats, etc., that break the Sabbath.
Can any such owner truly say he does not doubt the lawfulness of such an investment of capital? Can charity stoop lower than to say, that man must strongly doubt whether such labor is a work of necessity or mercy? It is not necessary in the case to demonstrate that it is unlawful though that can be done fully, but only to show so much light as to create a doubt of its lawfulness. Then if he persist in doing it, with that doubt unsatisfied, he is condemned and lost.
4. The same remarks will apply to all sorts of lottery gambling. He doubts.