Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-08-05


Itv. 1t was the charter of Hebrew, not OF hui
man liberty. A heavy ritual yoke was inc
or;ce Of its civil franchise, through the low
and narrow gate of proselytism alone could
sbe Gentle enter upon its immunities. 1t
was reserved for Christianity to attach inn
measurable worth and sacredness to every hui
man soul, as the offspring of God and the
heir of immortality.
These fundamental ideas of the Christian
revelation, intensified by the humanity aud
the redeeming sacrifice of its Author, are the
twin pillars Of individual freedom. They in
volye inevitable rights, and reciprocal obliga-
t;ons which have these rights for their meas
ure. These rights were recognized, these OBJ
legations owned, from the earliest infancy Of
the Church, in munifcent provision for the
poor, in the free sacrifice Of superhuous wealth
by the disciples, in the institution of an Office
expressly designed for the relief of want, and
in the blending of distant and stranger COM
munites into commonwealth of mutual
charity and almsgiving, the saints of Macedo-
MIA and Achaia sending their liberal contribu-
tions to the necessities of the impoverished
disciples at Jerusalem. The slave, too, be-
came sthe Lords freeman; to his master, mot
now as a servant but above servant, brother
beloved With the progress of Christianity,
the contrasts of social life were everywhere
mitigated, and filiments OF mutual respect and
fellow-feeling, united those who had previ-
ously sustained only the relation ofthe preying
and the proved upon. 1t was the first Chris
tan Emperor that first extended over the
slaves of the Roman Empire the protection of
the law; and it was from the Roman Pontif-
cate, during the rapid calumniation ofits pow
er, that the decree of universal emancipation
went forth.
We must indeed confess, that Christianity
is still far from having accomplished the ap-
appointed mission of human Acknowledgement.
Yet we may trace broad distinction between
the wrongs inflicted and endured in Christen-
dom, and those that are done and borne on
Pagan and Mahometan soil. On the latter
there is an avowed and irresponsible despotism
Property, liberty, and life, are at the mercy
of royalty or its minons, without the pretence
of right, or the mockery of legal sanction. No
self justification, no alleged grounds of public
safety or policy, no forms of legal inquiry and
adjudication, are necessary to legitimate the
foulest acts of extortion or personal outrage
but it is crime enough to be regarded with an
unfrendly eye by one in place and power
Under the most despotie governments of Chris
tendon, on the other hand, and for its most
arbitrary institutions, there are legal forms and
measures-There is not human being in any
nominally Christian country, be he king, no.
BILE, peasant, serf, or slave, who purports to be
either above the control, or beneath the pro-
lection of the law. Wrong must be normal
ly wrought under legitimate pretences. OPP
preston has its limits, and the oppressor be-
yond those limits is penalty accountable. To
be sure, this is less rigidly true in practice
than theory, for the serf or the slave may be
too remote from the centre of power and the
seat of justice, to register his grievance and
claim redress; yet on the statute book, in the
intent, or at least the profession, of the SUI
preme authority, he has rights, few though
they may be, which cannot be invaded with
impunity. This contrast, which did our linn
its permit, we should be glad to trace, even
between the mildest and freest forms of non
christian, and the harshest and most arbitrary
Of ESQ called) Christian governments, author
ICES US, in accordance with the writer, whose
admirable work has ELECTED this paper, to
maintain the identity of the history of person.
al liberty with that of Christianity