Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-05-31

principles and aims germane to, if not iden
tical with, those they serve in the land o
! their origin. They are as sure everywhere o
the same human nature as of the sam,
ambient atmosphere. The absolute. un
conditional character of right and wrong
the Unborn, inalienable supremacy of con:
science-the free self.determining power
of the will-man's instructive sense o.
God, true freedom and immortality thest
are your vital convictions. They contra
vene and contradict that material system
which makes utility the ground of good
and evil, and generalizes primary prin.
ciples and motives from the visible world
and outward experience. They imply the
divine origin of man, his possession OF
rights and subsection to duties which come
from heaven and with which nothing un.
der heaven can justly interfere.
Believing that right and wrong are eter-
nal, unchanging verities-that they are
authoritatively declared and enjoined by
conscience-that We have will to submit
4 to or revolt against them-we are obliged
to believe in individual, u unconditional re-
sponsibility, and in our absolute title to
every outward means that will enable us
to meet that responsibility, and i'm the duty
to make use, and the best use, of those
i means.
This is not a thing of air, or thing in
the air. 1t is not barren abstraction,
but the most teeming of all realities. 1t is
the great central truth of ethics, to which
all other ethical truths are to be referred,
and by which their truthfulness is to be
tested. Am asked who in society is %
apply this rule of conformity or nOn-con-
fOrmity? I might answer conditionally,
land say it is for the leaders and rulers to
apply It to the ruled and following and
in turn, for the latter to apply it to the
former classes.
But have more positive reply. say
you are to apply it and not only this, but
| you are bound to apply it, and trust its ap-
plication to no other authority on the
globe. You, you, in the sovereignties of your
| own natures are to arraign all policies
before your reason and conscience, and on
your individual responsibility are to pro-
nounce judgment. You, as enlightened,
just and Christian men and women, are to
| contribute your part towards that en-
| lightened, just and Christian public
opinion which is SO rapidly becoming the
controlling power in the administration of
all the affairs of the world. The thought,
| then, is individual honesty, independence,
| and activity. $1,000.
But society is another necessity of the
race. There are men who fear a destruc-
ton of society /; the thing is impossible.
Man was made q social being he pre-
serves society not only for interest, but by
instinct. Social preservation is as truly
law of nature as self.preservation. So
ciety came without calculation and no cal
culation is needed to save it. Mutual wants
and affinities form social bond which no
art can break.
Socialists can invent systems, but they
cannot invent men for their systems, nor
can they fit men to their systems when, in
doing it, they must cut away any of the
prime elements of human being.
Theories must now satisfy the living rea-
son of men. Even antiquity has lost its
cOnsecrating influence, and prescription
its authority. Years do not change the
essence of things. PaHdemonium, "the
high capital of Satan and his peers" is
older than the oldest thing on earth, and
we revere it not, though it contains
throne of royal state, which far outshines
the wealth of Croesus and of India.
Human rights are authenticated not by
mortal wax and parchment, but by the
image and superscription of our God. The
liberty to be valued traces no doubtful ped
igree from English Magma Charta, for it has
tiers and constitutions may serve it, but Gre
ate it, never. 1t does not live on hypothesis
or history, not in the origin of society, nor
on the course ofsociety it consists in right
and the right to do right. 1t draws its |
breath from law, but not from human law;
it adheres in will but only in right will |
1t is armed with power, but only with a |
just power; it has sanction, but its sanction |
is highest truths; it has sureties, but they |
are the sureties which are given by the |
great Creator.
And here we. learn that our philosophy
and our religion differ only in the forms |
which distinguish without separating them
Of mere form, our religion has pronounce
ed nothing; but of rights and duties-of
authority and obedience-it says much.
In all this world of ours there is no such
friend to man, and no such foe to wrong
as the Scriptures from God. Christianity |
is gospel from Supreme Law Giver-
assuring every man of his eternal worth, |
and claiming from every man obedience
to an eternal law. It makes no excep-
lions and recognizes no distinctions. 1t was
by Daniels as well as by Davids;
by those who refused to do Kings biddings
as well as by kings themselves. Its her
aiding came not by royal proclamation, but
from voice in the wilderness; not from a
king, but from One whom king behead-
ed 1t was born in a manager, and came /
into the world with tyrant's price on its
head: Its disciples were taken from the
people; its message was preached to the
people its miracles were wrought for the
people, and the first proof of its moral force
was that the people heard it gladly. Its
first beatitude was for the :" poor in spirit;n
its first promise kingdonl-but king
dom in the heart; its first denunciations
were against the guilty Scribes. 1t reveal
ed at once the universal brotherhood of the
human race; addressed its lessons to every
man heart and understanding, and argued
personal responsibilities to meet, and per-
sonal lives to live. Its teaching was
Prove all things, and hold fast to that
which is good.n 1t talked with men in
the market places, in the highways, and
ON the hillsides asked and answered
questions; denounced the blind who led
the blind; uttered its heaviest woe against
those who took away the key of knowl-
edge; set at naught the empty traditions
Of the elders; made no account of the
formulas which exalted the means above
the end took no note of majorities and
at no time, no place, and for no reason,
made terms with iniquity.
1t took meat with publicans and sinners, and
was severest on the washed and washing Phar-
sees 1t treated with respect the instincts of