Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-10-20
&eadima tor the $abbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
Original ]
RIGHT.

RlU1lis
There are some things about which many
talk much and understand little. 1t is as
tonishing how little the wisest men know, and
more astonishing how much ignorant men
think they know. This is demonstrated by
the vague, underlined and ill.digested notions,
which, perhaps, more than one half of the
civilized portion of the human family have
of what is meant by right and its opposite,
wrong. Few ever stop to think whence the
origin of right, or why it is that one act is
right and another wrong.
That act is right which conforms to law.
He who obeys the law of his country acts
legally right, and may be called a righteous
man. On the contrary, whoever violates the
laws of his country does wrong, and in the
eyes of the law is an unrighteous man.
Man, however, is moral being, and con-
seq uently is the subject of d moral law. He
therefore, who obeys this moral law acts
morally right.
If human enactments and the moral law
conflict, he who obeys the former must DISC
hey the latter; hence, when tried by the laws
of his country he is righteous, but when tried
by the moral law he is unrighteous. 1t may
be asked, what is the moral law? This is an
important question. Some are ready to say,
1T is conscience" Ifso, then the conscience
of all men approve of the same thing and
disapprove of the same thing. If this be
not the case, then conscience is not law.
No man needs to be told that conscience,
while it is not creature Of education, is,
nevertheless, controlled by innuumerable cir
cumstances. With no rule but conscience,
no two men Of all the countless millions OF
the human family would agree as to what is
right and what is wrong. Each one would
be what the peculiarities of his situation have
made him. Had he been raised canniha]
he would think it strictly right to devour tue
flesh of his fellow men. Such acts would
give him no goadings of conscience. What
then, is that law, obedience to which makes
an act morally right, and when disobeyed the
act is morally wrong? We answer, it is the
revealed will of God as contained not in Gre
alton nor in providence, but in the Bible
This is the only perfect rule of faith and ODE
dience. 1t is summarily comprehended in
the Ten Commandments.
What God, in the Bible, commands, it is
right for US to do, and wrong for US to neg
lect or do the opposite Hence, in settling all
matters of right and wrong, the appeal must
be made to the Bible. 1t will be unsafe to
appeal to conscience, equally unsafe to appeal
to the manners and customs of nations, or
even legal enactments of nations, no matter
how civilized. Right, to be right, must be
universal. 1t must be modified, restricted
or changed by neither time, place or circum'
stance. Right to-day was always right, and
will always be right. What is right in Eu'
rope is right in America. What was right
six thousand years ago is right today, and
will be right tomorrow. Right, in one word,
is conformity to the will of God The only
source from which we can, with any degree
of certainty, learn what the will of God is, is
from the Bible. Every other rule, law or
regulation changes but the Bible, like God
himself, is "from all mutation free"
Sometimes persons hastily conclude that
whatever is done with good motive or inten-
ton is right This is surely strange con-
clusion, and will be so regarded by every one
who will give it serious consideration. Our
motives are regulated by our knowledge
Wrong motives have their origin in ignorance.
Some heather nations offer up their children
as sacrifices to dumb idols No one can
question their sincerity. No one doubts but
they are impelled to this by the best inten.
tious. Their motives are good, in that they
think this is one way to serve their god; but
no man, with even smattering of correct
Bible knowledge, will say that it is right tor
parents to sacrifice their children to dumb
idols. Our motives have no control over law.
may violate physical law with, l may
suppose, good intentions, but the result is not,
in the least, controlled by my motives.
The simple fact is that when right and
proper act is done with an evil motive, then
to the individual performing the act it is
wrong. In such case there is always a
combination of knowledge and perversity OF
heart.
When wrong act, or an an act forbidden
by Gods law is performed, no matter what
may be the motive, it is wrong. In order to
do right and avoid doing wrong, two things
are absolutely necessary. The first is cor
rect knowledge of the law, and the second is
new heart. No man can obey law of
which he is ignorant; and without spirit of
obedience no knowledge is, itself, sufficient.
COUNT THEM.-Count what? Why count
the mercies which have been quietly falling
in your pathway through every period Of
your history. Down they come every morn.
ing and every evening, as angel messengers
from the Father Of light, to tell you of your
best friend in heaven. Have you lived these
years. wasting mercies treading them beneath
your feet, and consuming them every day,
IL