The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-01-13
CHRISTIANS AND THIEVES.

the Lndspendent, both Of which must, we im-
agInc, have based their judgment on the news
paper summary Of IT. The whole discourse is,
in fact, the ableet and most searching examina-
ton OF the real cause of the operations OF the
Z Ring we remember to have seen anywhere. 1t
passes condemnation on them IN language tulI a.
strong as anybody has employed, but it urges,
and with great force, the view, which we believe
70 be thoroughly sound, that it will not do
u treat the members Of the Ring AZ isolated
rimima that they are the product Of a cor
rupt social state which we have ali helped 10
create, by loOseness in our commercial dealings,
by cOnniyance at small frauds and ialsehoOds,
and by the persistent pursuit Of low aims. There
fore, we are all IN a measure responsible for
Tweed, and Connolly, and Hall, although 1t is
true an. just that Tweed, and Connolly, and
Hall, having stolen. ought 20 be punished. The
passage, and the only one in the whole sermon,
in which Mr.. Beecher has furnished excuse for
the structures on him, is the following
"You know that 1 have been blamed for severity and vehe-
meuce and denunciati9n- Yes, when everybO else was sull,
is making a racket, / feel more like comforting those who are
cast down So far az I can do II an consistency NTH public
justice, l would stand by their side, that they Be not over
Thelmed. For they are men and they suffer, many Of them,
cuipnt The humanity. l would look as suppose God looks
upon the great sinni- world, abhorring iniquty. and longing
have good qualities and long for their redemTrion. And |
would take part q the blame myself l would alsOdis'ribute
part Of il on YOU"
The italics in the above are ours. 1t is hardly
fair TO read or comment on this passage apart
from the rest of the sermon Nevertheless, there
are one or two points in it which will, Just as
they stand, bear criticism. Mr.. Beecher here
takes what we may call a professional view of
the sinner, which ministers, discoursing OF these
matters, often feel bound to take, but it is not
one which, in our opinion, can be properly
offered to any citizen, as such, as a rule of con-
duct. 1t IS not possible, the world being what
it is, to stand by Tweed's or Halls side without
weakening the righteous indignation on which
the execution of - public justice " depends and
this would be true even if these men had sub
mitted themselves to the law. In addition to
this, we doubt the theological soundness Of Mr..
Beecher's position, though we do SO with proper
lay difidence. We deny that there is in the
Christian system, or any other system of ethics
on which it is possible to base human society,
any obligation to pity, or sympathize with, or
succOr any wrong-doer who has not repented of
and sought to atone Tor his offense. A contuma-
cIous thief, who does not deny his theft, but
brazens it out and holds on to his plumber, is, we
affirm, not entitled to a Christian mans . COM
fOrting or support. AS long as this state of
facts lasts, the Christians place, as Christian, is
at the side of those whom the thief has robbed,
and any pity or sympathy. he has at command is
their due. We believe there is no Christian sect
which does not make repentance a condition pre-
cedent to reconciliation, and We believe, further,
that there has been in the practice of the church,
from the earliest ages, no departure from the
sound and wholesome rule that a 90 notorious evil
liver " is not a fit subject for a Christian mans
company and countenance. Mr.. Beecher is not
entitled to assume, as he does assume, that Hall
and Tweed have suffered, - in any sense of
that word on which they can base Il claim to for
bcarance or protection. They have given as yet
no evidence of any suffering, except such as a
criminal necessarily undergoes when he finds
himself hard pressed by the police. Tweed does
not give any sign even Of this. Connolly is the
only man of the party who has established the
smallest title to any sympathy which a Christian
can really gIve-that is, sympathy with a man
who has done wrong, and is sorry for it, and
shows that he is sorry by seeking to make
amends. We deny altogether that there Is in
Bible, canons, or traditions, any warrant for the
doctrine that sympathy with the perplexity of a
criminal who is trying to escape without aban-
donlng his swag " is a Christian duty, even of
imperfect obligation. We may add that any one
who finds himself haunted by any such feelings
may be satisfied that his moral vision is per-
verted, and that his breast is the seat of emo
tlons which, from whatever quarter they come,
do not descend from heaven.
We will go a little further and say-and we
mean no pleasantly in saying it-that the prac-
tice of trying to look at the world and at our
fellOwmen 1" as God looks at them, - in which so
many excellent people indulge, is a failure, and
had better be given up. There are one or two
obvious objections to it. The first is, of course,
that God eyes are all-seeing, while our range of
vision is very narrow, and that His voice is
almighty, while ours is very weak. That is,
"hOi LIZ VI at 4NCCOyd anu IId1l anu SOulOllN,
He sees the very secrets of their hearts, and
knows exactly the degree of their guilt, and can
in no wise be deceived by their conduct or their
talk. Moreover, 1t is a matter of complete in
difference, SO far as the ends of divine justice are
concerned, whether they repent now or Fifty years
hence. From that justice there is no hiding
place, and it is barred by no statute of limita-
tions-an idea which is expressed in the often
quoted saying that : the mills of God grind
slowly, but they grind exceeding small" When,
fhnratnPn Il son n r,rt,n rra1nar1n- nA.-l .
long years, proud of his roguery, and revealing
in the luxuries it brings him, we have no right
to assume that the forbearance of Providence,
which is displayed in his case, furnishes a model
for our imitation as citizens. In fact, the more
firmly a man holds to the theory of the moral
government of the world by a personal deity, the
further from him should this notion be put. God
is not under the necessity Of Influencing the cleo
tions, or bringing the Democratic party to shame,
or even of - saving the Republic Indeed, for
aught we can tell, it may be in the courts of
heaven n matter of no consequence whatever
whether the Republic lasts to the end of a cen
fury or not. 1t may be part of the plan of
human education that the experiment which is
now being made on this continent, fair and full
of promise as it seems TO us, should fail utterly
at the very outset, and leave behind it chaos and
despair. Things not unlike it have happened in
the worlds history, and afterages have recog-
nized in them, after all, steps in that tremendous
march out of mystery into mystery in which the
race is engaged, and which, marked though it is
by faltering here and falling there, and much
weariness everywhere, is, we know, on the whole
an uproard march. To any man who looked out
ON the world at the close of the fifth century, it
seemed as if endless night was settling down on
the earth, and yet in the very horrors of that
time the foundations of a better civilization were
being steadily laid. We doubt indeed if there
be any weakness which has done more to bring
about the corruption and looseness which we are
all mourning over, than these Sentimentalist at
tempts to initiate the Divine government in the
matter of dealing with offences against social
morality. God can well afford to let a thief run.
because he can catch him whenever he pleases.
but we must catch him before he takes the
steamer or disposes of the goods. God can indict
and convict him now, or half a century hence,