The Shasta courier., 1865-12-16
SHASTA COURIER.
Thanksgiving Sermon.

Church, Dec. 4. 1000, Dy heV MT. Ely:
Proverbs IA chap. "a verse.-Righteousnes ex-
alteth nation, dc.
All good governments are founded in JUS
tce.
|. By due recognition of the rights of
man In the Constitution, on which is to rest
a righteous civil code.
l. In laying the foundation of civil gov
ernment it is all important that the basis
should accord with the principles of Gods
moral government: first, because being i'm
mutually just they cannot be changed and
secondly, being just they cannot be over
thrown.
A civil Government, like grand temple,
must rest on sure foundation. When the
rain descends and the floods come-when the
severe tests of time arrive when wars ex
perlence-when recognition of civil, rellg
ious and social amenities shall have ripened
into demands, the foundation should accord
with the inalienable rights Of man in all the
departments of national life. 1t is, there
fore, important that the Magma Charta should
be immoveably Just. On it is to rest fabric
Of immense value, and will correspond with
the nature and character of the foundation
principles If they be light and visionary
the structure will be less adapted to with
stand the tests that time may bring around.
Should the principles of oppression and
tyranny be engrafted into the compact OF
State, the consequences will only be ripen-
ed into fruit when unequal laws have been
promulgated and levelled against class of
subjects who stand in the greatest need of
the fostering hand of the civil power.
g Our next step in this direction is an in
nuiry into the character of men-the mould
of mind required to lay this foundation that
it may demand the superstructure to be the
express image . the efflux of essential Jus
tice" Will a bitter fountain send forth
sweet waters? Shall the lovers of Injustice
those who delight in iniquity-be chosen to
frame the Constitution or the Government of
an enlightened people that will recognise
Justice and equality before the law? Is there
fitness in calling men to such responsible
and all important work who have been rear
ed to the practice of the broadest oppression
who have delighted in the exercise of the
keenest tyrannv-whose whole lives have
been stained with the blood Of the poor and
needy-whO have robbed the laborer of the
avails of his toil-who have seized new born
infants and hurled them from the " high
altitude of Gods image" down to the con-
dtion of goods and chattels who, while
enjoying exalted positions, being consecrated
to their high office by the most binding obli-
gaIlOll, the SduCllOilS VI IL soitiiu otth. hhN .
broken their sacred obligations to God and
man, aud themselves, plunged into vile re
belion against Gods own best earthly gov
ernment-even the - land of the free and the
home of the brave" Shall these whose
hands are yet dripping with the blood of the
nation return to the work OF framing laws
for the present and coming generations?
What moral element can such men possess
that shall fit them for such IA work? A ma
tion cannot afford to foster an element in its
very heart that will cause bloody rebellion
every second generation. The fountain must
be pure if YOU want moral excellence and un
wasting permanence at the base of the civil
fabric Say not that it does not concern you
or me what is laid as the corner stone of the
reconstructed States Of our Union. Coming
generations will feel much as do we in regard
to our fathers concern in permitting that
scion of oppression to be engrafted upon the
tree of Liberty that was destined to spread
its branches over continent. That scion
grew, increased and spread until it levelled a
mighty blow at the life of the parent tree,
and we'll nigh overturned the beautiful
fabric our fathers had eemented with their
precious blood. Shall we with the lamp of
experience shining brightly in our path,
ignore the teachings of the past Shall we
permit corrupting traitors to return to the
work of framing laws while they are like
burning volcanoes, vomiting forth torrents of
bitter hatred against the defenders of oar
national existence. and threatening to expel
the friends of our Government from their
midst soon as the power Of reorganization
will permit
On this day of national conference | call
upon all patriots-all lovers of our own land
all you whose altar pieces have not been
extinguished by the flood waters of secession
and rebellion. to rally around the standard
reared by the hand of the pure and immortal
LINCOLN, and see to it that due recognition
of the rights of men is engrafted into the
great charter of every constructed State.
The people must be free, as to the enjoy
ment of their inalienabe rights. No people
can be secure in the enjoyment of these un
less they possess and retain the fountain Of
power. That power is the elective fran
chise, and must be enjoyed in order to re-
main free. Tyrants do not subscribe to this
doctrine because the thrones on which they
sit are made to tremble. 1t is equally ter
rble to those who would wrest this power of
selfprotecton from portion of the people
from the weak-that they may, by cruel
exactions riot upon the avails of unpaid
toil-wealth lodged in the bodies of human
beings.
1t will be borne in mind that recogni-
ton of the rights of man, even to equality
before the law, does not confer SOCIAL equali.
y This depends on the moral and intel
iectnal worth of the man. Some suppose
that adventitious circumstances, such as
wealth and titled ancestry, &c, are to be
taken into the account in order to fix the
standard of mans social relations one with
another. Mans civil rights and relations
are quite distinct from the social in the par
ticular of endowment. The one is the gift
of the CREATOR, the other is the object of
merit and pursuit
III. Justice can reach and bear equally
upon all subjects. only by the operation of
equal laws.
Ill. By righteous administration of the
government.
l. Those who are called to administer the
laws should regard themselves as ministers
of Cop to us for good.
2. They are to support the public tran
guilty.
8. They should be the patrons of innocence
and virtue
4. They are to be terror to evil-doers.
a. They are to punish the guilty.
~ They are to protect the weak and re-
strain the violent.