Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1867-09-17
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Gods Severity.

Congregational church of Chicago on
the 18th instant, by Rev. Mr.. Willard,
of New Haven Connecticut. After
treating OF Gods goodness the rever-
end gentleman continued:
In the second place | remark that
God, though good, is also severe. 1t
has been said that goodness and Sc
verify can not exist in one harmoni-
GUS nature; but such is false a5ser-
ton. God is not severe from any
love of His TO witness human suffers
ing. He has made certain laws, and
His severity is in their enforcement.
Can He be lnsulted Can he make
BARGAINS with sinful men No. He
is patient and long-enduring, but He
never allows His justice to be set
aside. Despite His injunction, our
first parents sinned, and they paid
the penalty. In the days OF Noah,
God warned and admonished man.
kind TO flee from the evil way. For
a long time he was patient; out when
at last the world became SO tull OF
corruption that men dehed hum, dis
Justice swept the world. A consld-
Grafton of this subject teaches us les
sons that it will be we'll for US to
remember. 1t tells us there may be
ill>regulated tenderness III the mans
agemont, not only of nations but OF
families. The sin of Eli, unfortun-
ately. is too common in our day. len
children are ruined by ill>judged In
diligence where one comes TO harm
through the we'll regulated exercise
of parental authority. Kindness IS
not always indulgence. Neither is
indulgence always kindness. Those
children who are INDUCED in every
thing are not the happiest OF most
contented, while healthy>toned
severity tends to make them better
men and women. In short, there IS
kind of discipline which, in the
child's mind, is severity, bat which
is needed to make him good man.
During the last thirty years, tho
means OF education have been i'm
creased, hut does the rising genera~
ton promise to make better citizens
then their fathers before them ? 1t is
not their fault il is the fault OF their
PARENTS, wbe must learn TO appreci>
ate the fact that they cannot be too
careful in the training of their chil>
dren.
Again. Nations must sometimes
be severe in relation To the enforce,
ment of laws for the punishment OF
crime. A law may be humane and
just, and still be severe.
Two brigade officers were once sit
tingin a tent, during the time OF war,
engaged in conversation, when SOL
dier entered, and saying to one of tho
gentlemen 1--WE have arrested Il de-
Fscrler" asked for instructions III tho
premises.
"Allow him fifteen minutes longer
to live was the reply; "then shoot
him, and bury him out of sight.
''Do you, never forgive desertion,"
asked the officers companion when
the soldier had retired.
"Never Do you p
"Frequently,' replied the other.
GLOW many have you forgiven DIR.
ring the war p
"About fifty | believe
How many cases ofdesertion have
you had 2"
cover four hundred"
Il, sir" remarked the first, "havo
never pardoned a single deserter,and
yet during. the entire war / have on
ly lost thirteen men by desertion."
Was not severity. continued the
reverend speaker than lenity in such
cases rs this /? Better for the army,
better for the nation. Are we not
right in saying that when man has
done acts of black hearted villainy,
he should suffer the fate of black
hearted villain | for ono do not be-
lieve in tenderness to criminals. Tho
man who plots against his nation or
Stays his brother man, deserves to
die the death of shame. He who
ruins innocence is not punished by
human laws; for his crime is such that
he cannot be punished in this world.
1t is the duty of every man and wo>
man to grind him morally, to powS
der, until he has dragged out tho
thread of his miserable existence,
and entered upon the eternal punish
ment awarded him by eternal Justice
of Almighty God Even as he has
spent his life in filling the cup of an
other misery to the brim, 50 shall
he drink it's bitterness to the very
dregs.
There is then, my friends, such II
thing as false tenderness If we wish
to avoid it, we can find in the Book
of God most holy model. God is
good; yet he is terribly severe. Can.
not nations and parents profit by this
example Let US think over it. |
think that little healthy severity
would be better, not only in the fam
lilies Of the land, but in the legisla-
ton of the land. How thinkest thou ?
How reasonest thou
FIRES IN CHlcAGo.-The ,Jouronl
saps that there have been series of