Squatter sovereign., 1856-01-22

such as God has given VS. and imposed up.
on US, both natural and neral, If eircum.
stances should arise calling for reforma.
ton, the first inquiry should be, are there
any departures from this authority and
law ! any abandonment of 6rst principles
| any corr4ptien or neglect Of thems And
if so, then begin the reformation of com
ing back to FIRST principles and clearing
them Of all corruptions and abuses. If the
evils are not Of this kind. then reform these
evils and abuses by the very laws and
principles of said constitution and economy
The adoption of any other means and
measures will not only prove failure, but
will greatly add to the evils and abuses al
| ready existing.
1t may be assumed as an axiom Of uni
yersal and incontrovertible truth, that all
the evils and abuses existing under and ol
Gods institutions can only be reformed by
that institution itself: if that fails, no other
means will succeed. We affirm that the
only corrective for all the abuses of liberty
as we have defined it, is in liberty itself,
in connection with law. The emily way in
which your child will ever learn to walk
or ride, is to give it the liberty to learn
these things; and It can emily learn to walk
and ride safely and gracefully in obedience
10 certain fixed laws OF Nature. the limits
and safeguards Of the liberty Of walking
and riding. And this simple fact will
serve to illustrate perfect liberty under a
system of perfect law throughout the uni
verse. Perfect liberty is that only which
is under the contro, of laws that are per-
feet, wise and salutary. Thes, and only
then, is liberty SAFE
And we affirm again that thefonly cor
rectivs for ell the corruptions ard abuses
of christianity. is only to be found ia thai
pure system Of christianity which God in
his wisdom and love has given to Us; NOR
can any remedy or corrective be found say
where else but in her principles, spirit and
power.
But our modern reformers, who, in their
pride and salf-esteem, are wise above the
economy and institutions that Gsd ha. es-
tablished, and therefore wiser than e cd,
would repudiate all his institutions, or re-
form them. And thus, in the language Of
one inspired writer, "esteeming themselves
wise they become feols." And III the lam
guage OF another-'s In the greatness Of
their folly they go estray." Like the
heathen, as described by ST. Paul, "When
they knew God, they glorihed him not as
God; but because vain in their imsgins-
tions and their foolish hearts were darken-
ed: esteeming themselves wise they be-
came Ao!s, and changed the glory OF the
incorruptible Sod into an image made like
to corruptible man. and to birds and beasts
and creeping things" And in like man
ner, our modern reformers, rejecting the
teachings OF Divine truth, have in their
wisdom created or discovered three Seities
for their oration-EauALIrY, NEcEssI-
rY, and ExpxDIExcy. The first is to be
established universally, and acknowledged;
tie other two are the means TO he en-
ployed TO effect this object: snd in ,hc
prosecution OF their Object, Necessity must
know no law, and Expediency no la,isude.
Everything that stands in their way.
whether the institutions OF Coz or man.
must be removed. If in their opinion it
is necessary and expedient to abolish the
Sabbath for their success, let the Sabbath
be abolished. II, in their opinion, the in
stitution Of slavery is arbitrary and opposed
to equality, abolish it. If the dispensation
Of christianity is unsui;cd 10 their notions;
as unit for the Intelligence and progress of
the world and the age, away with it from
the world. Aad if slavery appears in
their wisdom to be great moral, social
and political evil, abolish it, no matter if
the Bible sanctions ii; it is an evidence
that the Bible is. opposed to liberty and
equality. and therefore the Bible itself
should be abolished. The wsrld, in their
opinion, has ou,-srown all these arbitrary
and unequal Institutions, and is too in,elli-
gent. free and independen, to tolerate them
any longer.
Such are the sentiments OF those who
substitute their sisdom for the wisdom OF
God. and their speculations for the teach
ings Of Divine truth. And when once
started on their cratic course, no consider
ations will restrain or sonfue their wild
and visionary speculasions: and hence ii
is not strange that among such men we
have Mormonism, MiIlerism, higher-law-
ism, spiri,ualism. woman's rightsism. and
every species of ism that diseased and silly
brains can conceive /; and all these are
| just 50 many parts and parcels of Abeli-
tionism. And all these are the morals, re.