New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-12-28

no mir
lie il not made the endorser of the lie. His au-
thori;v is not given to it. Nor is the peril OF HIM
who takes it diminished by iot. And so II the
magistrate DEGREES wrong or does It, God La"
is not changed The Right, which He commands,
is no less real is no less binding, than ever be-
fore Il has rot lost an iota OF authority and the
guilt and the hazard Of transgrcssing it are not
leesened. If the Church, which deals with the
articles Of our belief declares to as Untruth IN
stead of Realty--nO matter amid what imposing
ceremonial, or with what authority OF Council and
Concave-her mandates are not binding. Ihey
break like the fax in the grasp OF the lame be-
fore the intrinsic Divinity Of the Truth. ana so
if the State which deals equally with the articles
OF our action in society, command us TO do wrong,
il it establish niQuity as our law and require Us
TO do not what we would that our nelghoor
should do to US, but precisely that thing which
we would not for worlds he should have power to
do 10 us--ts commandments are Invalid. IL has
outstepped its province. 1t has surpassed It's
authority 1t is an agent who has done what he
was not empowered to do 1t ia 6 messenger
who has given his message untruly. The man
who follows it will find it fatal.
This is not strange or doubtful doctrine. The
marvel is that in this nineteenth century OF Christ
it should be needful even TO state 1t, TO go oack
at all TO these principles Of Religion. 1t could
not have been if mems minds were not perverted
by interest or by passion The truth IS 80 clear
that ali must see it. Philosophers and moralists
have developed it fully; and Jurists themselves
have frequently confessed it, Says Calvin F." IT
Rulers command anything against the Lord, II
ought Ito hare the least 11tention." Says Presi
dent Edwards, the younger: Rulers are bound
to rule in the fear of God, and for the good of the
people; and II they do not, then IN resisting item
zee are doing God serrlce" Says Blackstone HIM
gelf-that noble expositor of English Law, who
united philosophic acumen and dignity with the
most elaborate and wide iuridiCal culture; +" The
Law Of Nature, being coeval with mankind, and
dictated by God himself is of course superior in
obligation to any other. 1t is binding over all the
globe in all countries and at all times; no human
lars are OF any ralid0y II contrary 10 this and
such of them valid, derive all their force
and all their authority, medatey or immediately
from his original. The truth is that the princl
pie is too plain to be gainsaid. Take any illustra
tration that puts it fairly before u.s. and al IN.
telligent man will not question it a moment. II
the State should decree deception q virtue,
that would not make it SUCH If it should au-
thorise by law the commission of adultery God
still would punish that crime with his penalty.
If it should enoin idolatry, encourage suicide,
or egalizo sl&nder-no matter what It should do
Of wrong NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Law Tor Man
would not thereby be changed line. Before all
States, existe that Law Across all States, ex
tends itg re sch On every human soul ID laid Its
authority. y, men States have vanished, it will
abide. Throughout Eternity, when all the instl
tutons and the fabrics Of earth have been forgot
Tor ages, IL Stlll Will IN lbs uu
impaired; in it's authority nviolabe; In its exc
cution certain. The spotless character and the
infinite power of God are pledged to its support
Each man whom He has made IS rghtully It's sub
iect. 1t will be permanent as His own being
Wherever another law then cOntradlCts this, this
takes precedence. No rule which man has made,
can stand before it. The Man who dsobeys it
10 matter on what Inducements, no matter amid
what popular aCclamatlOns, no matter on what
Injunction of his fellows in the State-s in peril
Of the Judgment.
But how shall it be known by Man that the
Law which God has given him is in conflict with
the Law which he meets in the State Through
what organ shall it be shown to him that the
former requires what the latter orblds and that
therefore obligation to the latter has ceased
The question deserves our most careful attention
Wherever the Word Of God has directly de-
cared to u.s. in definite and unmlstakable terms
and in regard undenably to the act before u.s.
that that particular act is wicked and criminal
and not to be done-there it will probably be
agreed that doubt must vanish we must
know then, what Gods Rule is; and knowing Is
must obey it, in distinction from every other
But ottentimes this is not so, There are many
they are the most numerous cases, occurring IN
der the administration OF Civil Government
where the particular direction OF God is not CIV
EN-. This is not accident. 1t is not oversight.
There is purpose and plan in it. 1t is the chosen
method Of God-and in it is found an expression
instructions that shall fit themselves perfectly to
all the relations and surfaces of lite but the gen
era principles of Right and Duty, which he must
receive and apply for himself. II God had done
the former, the Scriptures-addresslng them.
selves ms they do to all classes and races in all
stages Of cultivation, and through all the Ages
OF human experience, to man and to woman, to
the prince, the noble, the merchant, the Protes-
sonal man, the mechanic, the iaborcr, the beg.
gar, the child, to men in every department OF
active life, to men under all forms OF government
and society, and connected in all the most m
! tricato and wide relationships OF Llte-Woud
| have been too voluminous for any mind to grasp
and master them. Omniscience might have CIV
] en- them but Opniscience alone could have
] ever considered them. The glory of the Scrip
lures would vanish at once on such system.
| The endless variety and richness, the ever new
vivacty and power, which are conjoned with
simplicity and perfect unity in this wonderful
Word-the blended legislation, narrative, prom
Use, praise, which all shed their light upon Duty
and ETERNITY to which, as the affiuent sources of
instruction and impulse, all classes and races may
equally come, within which they may lind the
Spirit of God, and at which they may drink to
live forever-these would infaibly have been
lost, if precepts and not principles had made the
substance of the Scriptures. In the place of
them we should have had but Dictionary.of
precepts, Date-book Of observances
By such an arrangement, too, if it had been
otherwise practicable, one main design OF God IN
the Scriptures would have been thwarted. That
design is to educate the faculty of man. to develop
his powers. to enrich his resources OF sagacity and
wisdom God does this by giving him principles
to apply, He trains him. upon the same general
method, though on higher and broader level,
which the wise man adopts toward the child whom
he would develop. To give precepts merely,
would secure at the best but outward obedi
ence. 1t would be more likely to enfeebe than to
invgorate the subject addressed God gives him,
therefore, the principles and the elements of Duty;
the examples of His Word, to instruct in their ap
plcation with its promises and its warnings, to
impel and to sustain him and thenhe leaves him
to apply these for hmselfi in the particulars of life