The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-08-17


tended by the roughs and offscourings
of community and our law is strenu.
ously opposed to such proceedings. But
the best society in all Rome came to
witness the gladiatoral combats and the
law lent its sanction to such work.
But the gospel, by teaching that
eternal destiny is made to depend upon
this life, taught the sanctity of human
life. In the time of Blackstone great
many crimes were punishable with death
At one time in England they would
hang a man for stealing sheet. Now
in this State death is the penalty for
only one offense and that is treason. u
Our law endeavors to protect human
life. No steamboat carrying passengers
can cross our lakes without being pro.
vided with life.preservers to use in case
of accident. The Suspension Bridge at
Niagara must be examined regularly by
competent persons. to guard against the
destruction of human life. When the
railroad bridge at Ashtabula. Ohio, went
down, killing so many, the State Legis.
lature appointed committee of investi-
CATION.
4. The gospel has revolutionized our
ideas of Human Rights. There was a
time when rulers engaged in this or
that enterprise regardless of the wishes
of their subjects. That day is now
passed. There is no longer such thing
as an absolute monarchy, in the strict
sense of that term. Every ruler con-
suits, directly or Indirectly, the wishes
of his people. The Gear never would
have ordered his troops to cross the
Danube had not his subjects clam ored
for war with Turkey. The people have
rights that every crowned head is bound
to respect.
Slavery once obtained among nearly
all nations This originated in mercy.
1t was customary to kill prisoners taken
in war. AS an humane act it was sug.
gested that those prisoners be sold into
slavery instead of being killed. From
this the slave system soon became very
extensive. Gibbor estimates that Rome
one time had sixty millions OF slaves.
Manual labor was despised by freemen
The rich were made proHigate, the mid
die class were driven out Of employment
and the slave degraded. The small
farms were swallowed up by large plan.
tations. The poor people focked to
Rome for employment. The Eternal
City at one time had pauper popula.
ton of FIVE hundred thousand At first
she sold them food at bare cost then
gave them bread, and a: last gave them
meat and bread
When the gospel announced "that
God hath made of one blood all nations
of men," and that eve are all one in
Christ it set influences at work which
are designed eventually to do away with
human slavery.
>. As the world itself is revolution
lied by the preaching of the cross, so is
the character OF the individual
into whose heart Christ finds entrance.
Rowland Hill said he would not give
much for the religion of man whose
cat and dog could not see change in
him after his alleged conversion. The
dog shrinking away as if expecting a
kick, the cat, frightened, leaping out of
the window, when the man entered his
house, did not speak we'll of his pre-
tended piety.
You once kept a pack of cards in
plain view on your centre table. When
you Joined the church you said to your
WIFE Well, Mary, l guess we better
put those cards out of sight now. When
some one comes that we can trust we
will lock the doors, close the shutters,
ADJUST the curtains, and have quiet
game all by ourselves, We have Joined
he church now, and we must reform
'ur lives" Are you sure that this is
he kind of reformation intended when
t is said, If any man be in Christ he
S a new creature"