The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-05-29

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vcning His Own-that He requires
submission. The importance and
advantages Of this mode Of govern
mcnt over the capricious will Of q
despot or Of Il mob, may be seen by
the following considerations:
! lst. This alone can give security
and prosperity to II pconlc. 1t mat
ters not so much what the laws are
as that there are laws, and that they
are known, and that they are cZecu
ted. All rights of property, and
al improvements depend on this.
No man will clear and improve a
farm unless there is law that will
protect hin; and TIE want of this
security is the cause of the dCsola-
tion which reigds in the Turkish em-
pirc, in Arabia, in Africa, and in
The regions OF dcslotism generally.
All pub.ic improvements require time
and the fiXedncss and the security
which can be- furnished by laws alone.
They strcsch into future times, aud
demand the continued protection Of
the laws They reach on hey ond
the life of an individual and beyond
the calricious viii Of Il mob, or u
despot, or the purposes cannot be
:ccomlIi Iiohed. They demand the
permancncy of the laws that are
known, and the pl:ghtcd faith Of q
whole people that cannot soon
change. Hhe uniN 2rsitia, OF ONtorl
and Cambridge have held on their
way, difusing the blessings Of
science and religion owe? Ea9 9land,
:.Hd the world more than q thousand
years, because the law which pro
tects them has not been at the con
troll or caprice Of the sovereigns, and
because there has been the plighteA
faith Of the whole nation to secure
them In Ayubia, in Africa, III the
Ottoman empire no such in 5titutions
have becn founded, none could he
maintained. In our own country
there are more rights vested on the
presumption Of the stability and
permanencc Of the laws than an1'oth
er on the face Of the globe. All our
agricultural Improvements; orr
farms and plantations: onr banks,
colleges, churches, Utactolics,
railroad investments, religious semi
naries, hospitals and asylums are
founded Oh the presumption of the
prrmanencc and stability of the
laws; and the announcement that
he caprice Of mob or Of Il drsput
WIS TO rule hereafter in this land,
would cripple or destroy them all in
Il day.
2nd. Gods Government is a GOV
crnmcnt of law. Though He is an
individual and an ahsu,utc Sovcl-
cigu, and thoug no one can control
HIM, vet such in lis view i the I'M
portance OF q government Of law,
that He has made His entirely such.
There is no mere will. There is no
caprice. There is no change from
passion or whim. Men know what
His law is, what to depeud On, and
they can act on it with the utmost
Cert;intY. They calcG! ate with I'M
crring conviction on the laws ot ma
turc, and are assured that there will
he no charge from caprice. The
earth "spiuEIng, sleeps on her axle,
without the slightest variations; the
laws of light and motion in the
heavenly bodies, are thcsame always;
and alike in the natural and the
moral world, God observes unvary
inc rules. The position of the htav-
rnlV bodies can be calculated with
certainty for ages to come; and such
is the stability Of His empire, that
men always know what VIII meet
His appreciation, and What His
frOwn; and in the most absolute and
independent government of the uni
verse, that depending GA the will OF
an individual of infinite power, there
is the mes profound regard paid to
law, and the utmost conceivable
permauencv of administration.
What would the affairs Of the uni
verse be, if His government were
like capriciou earthly despotism,
or like the administration of u mob?
Bird. SO important is the Supre
macy of the laws that God requires
us to submit to them, even when bet
ter laws could be made, unless they
violate the dictates OF conscience.
Thus in our text, He requires sub
mission to the laws of the Roman
empire; though no one can doubt
that d more desirable administra-
tion can he easily conceived than
that of Ca.igula or Nero. When the
laws violate none of the dictates Of
conscience, and command nothing
which God iorbids, it would be al
tended with more evil to disregard
and disobey them, to unsettle the
stability of government aud the per
nanent arrangement of things, thar
submission to them could be. The
one would be private evil; the 9th
er public calamity; and an indi-
vidual evil is to be submitted To
rather than to disturb the public
peace.
1t is frOna consideration such as
these, that the Bible everywhere en-
Joins submission to the laws Of the
land; and that the Apostles and the
Redeemer Himself were among the
most obpdiant citizens Of tne Roman