p. 598 | IN THE STOCKS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 30, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 38.

“IN THE STOCKS.”

[An editorial contributor (“Oriel”) in the Melbourne (Australia) Argus of May 12, after speaking of the “religious tumult” of the times, and the two Seventh-day Adventists sentenced to be imprisoned “in the stocks,” expresses himself in the verses below.]

In the days when Charles the Second ruled the glorious British nation, It is said from paths of virtue he habitually swerved; That he spent his whole existence in repulsive dissipation— But at least he took precaution that the sabbath was observed. He was prone, perhaps, to covet the possessions of his neighbor, Or his neighbor's wife or daughter, or his servant or his ox; But he held decided views upon the point of Sunday labor, And he punished all transgressors by confinement in the stocks. Let us cherish the remembrance of a prince so truly pious, And condone his little pleasures as the follies of a king, Close our eyelids to his vices, let them pass unheeded by us, Though in ordinary mortals it would be a different thing; Let us recognize his claim to take a prominent position In the calendar devoted to the saintly orthodox, And insert a special heading in the Sunday school petition, “May God bless Charles the Second, and may Heaven preserve the stocks.” Let us all become detectives, down on sabbath desecration; Let us catch the bold offenders in the very act of crime, That the stocks may never suffer from the lack of occupation, And the prison and the pillory be going all the time. And whene'er we find a citizen who tries the Sunday watering Of his twenty feet of grass plot or his bed of holly-hocks— Well, we can't resort to hanging, or to drawing, or to quartering, But, all praise to Charles the Second, we can put him in the stocks.