Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-11-22

I
ity to determine what God has revealed
and what He has not But in the absence
of that final authority it is extremely diff.
cult for those who believe in divine revela-
that outside OF it no alleged revelations are
or can be genuine. We suppose it must
= be acknowledged that Mormons may and
do really believe in their creed, however
absurd it may seem to outsiders. And if
| the religious view was the one which con-
trolled American governmental policy and
legislation, and if the Protestant theory OF
Christianity was officially accepted in our
Constitution, it would be found very diff
cult to dispose OF such allegations as those
of Guiteau and Cannon.
The pretense of supernatural authority
or command for certain lines of action or
doctrines has been employed so frequently,
and with SO much success, that it was,
until quite recently, had recourse to very
naturally whenever difficulties arose. This
pretense, however, could not produce its
full effects save when the organization en-
ploying it possessed the power to enforce
It's views by temporal agencies. Where
opinion is free, questions will be asked, and
when it becomes possible to investigate the
credentials of those who claim supernatu-
raj authority, belief in the genuineness OF
the revelation is very apt to decline. 1t for
tunately happens that the founders of this
republic were wise enough to insist on
complete separation of Church and State,
and therefore, when the laws Of the coun.
| try are broken, and il defense Of such law
breaking divine revelation is set up, the
plea need not be admitted. There is in
fact nothing to prevent American Courts
from deciding that American law has
precedence in the United States over
alleged divine revelations, ard recent events
have shown this supremacy OF secular juris.
diction to be really quite necessary to the
proper carrying on of government.
We have seen that there is literally
nothing too extraordinary to be defended
on the plea OF revelation. From the
assassination of the President to the
marrying of many women this elastic
and comprehensive line OF defense extends.
1t covers at once Guiteau and Cannon.
1t is employed TO excuse assassination
on the one hand and polygamy on the
other. And it is evident that if such
plea were once admitted there. is nothing
to which it might not be applied. 1t
is indeed more dangerous than the insanity
plea, for it is still more impossible to test
it by the ordinary rules of evidence. The
usual custom in such cases has been to
make the thing revealed the proof of the
revelation, and the alleged revelation the
proof of the authority of the thing re-
vealed. This, of course, is arguing in what
the logicians call "vicious circle" but
it is the only mode of argument these cases
admit of, and heretofore this peculiar
method of ratiocination has been success.
full, simply because any objection to it
was denounced as wicked and blasphe.
nous. The sincere Mormons no doubt
hold that the laws against polygamy are
sacrilegious, and they are consistent in that
belief from their standpoint. But the
weakness of their case lies in the circum-
stance that this Government was not
mixed up, in its foundation, with any
supernatural theories whatever, and con-
sequently that every citizen of the repub-
lie has fair warning that its laws are su-
preme, and that there is no supernatural
appellate court in the United States.
1t has often, but loosely, been asserted
that this is Christian republic. That is
not the fact. This government is purely
political one, and all who live under it are
free to believe what they choose, always
provided that their religious beliefs do not
lead them to adopt practices which are in
contravention of the law of the land. And re-
Election will show, as indeed experience also
shows, how very necessary it is to have a
clear test of what is permissible, such as
the law gives us. For if it had been pro-
vided that alleged divine revelation of any
kind was, under any circumstances, to take
precedence of the law, we should have been
plunged into confusion worse COMPOUNDED.
It might then have been difficult even TO
get Guiteau convicted of murder, and as
for Cannon, we really do 4ot see how his
present declaration could have been met.
But, happily, the American people do not
labor under any embarrassments of this
kind. 1t is not necessary to deny
the alleged revelations even in any
of these cases. Thus it may be
said to Guiteau: POSSIBLY God
"did order you to do what you have done.
"But if SO, he certainly must have in
blended you to be hanged, for He knows
"that hanging is the punishment we inhict
"for murder" And to Cannon and his
people it may be said Perhaps you are
fright about your revelation regarding
"polygamy. But if you are, God must
"have intended you to be sent to the Peni-
"tentiary, for He knows that the laws of
"the United States declare bigamy to be
"felonious offense." There is in fact no
objection TO the assumption of revelation
by anybody, but it must be clearly under
stood that whatever the alleged divine
commission may be, it cannot be advanced
in arrest of the judgment of American
Courts, upon conviction for breaches of
state and national laws. And we trust
that both Guiteau and Cannon may have
early opportunities of realizing this view
of the revelation question.
GRANT AID BLAINE.
| There appears to be a strong desire in
| some Quarters that the feud batree,, C-s,t