Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1884-04-17

sary harmony. AS late as 1865. too.
when everyone was rejoicing at the
final triumph Of nationality, many
abuses remained in our prisons and
public charities.
But tne unprecedented advance of
the present is wonderful when compared
with the snairs pace of any former age.
Some of the reforms made have been
accomplished by distinct and striking
acts of legislation, and it is no doubt
natural that we should assume that the
reform itself is thereby completed. The
assumption, however, is made without
reflection. Law of itself cannot effect
reform; the moral standard Of the
people must determine that of the laws,
instead of being determined by them.
The laws express the prevailing opin-
ions of the people, and in this may be
seen the reason why the law cannot be
an educator of the people. An exam
ination OF the apparent exceptions TO
this rule will only serve TO confirm il.
The laws which determine civil rights
are most likely TO be an exact express
sion of prevailing public opinion on these
subjects. In the main they will be
laws only because custom of general
observance has made them so. Those
governing the county or the state are
commonly in advance of public senti-
ment, because they are shaped by phi
lanthropists, but the test is its admins
tratiOn and the laws of legal charity in
their practical application, like all other,
fall below the general sentiment TO con-
slider third class, those laws which
define and punish crimes These are
certain to be below the prevailing opin-
on, since they are made for exception
ally bad cases, and if the act is not one
which the community by q decided vote
condemns. an acouittal is almost NOR
ally certain, if an excuse for it can be
found. This is the general fact. If
now we enact laws in advance of pub
lie sentiment, the laws, instead of edu-
eating the people up TO their standard,
only teach them that il may be entirely
excusable to di.obey the law.
Then there are laws which pertain
either to civil rights or to criminal
penalties, or TO both, whose aim is
defeated by laws of social nature and
unrecognized by the state. or this
character are the laws against duelling,
Notwithstanding which, Alexander
Hamilton went ont on the summons of
Il debauchee and trickster, and with
pure motives, lest he might be mis-
judged by his fellows, stood up to be
shot to death.
Another truth, often overlooked, is
that any considerable change in law or
in government requires the favoring
aid of time before it can accomplish its
intended benefits. Reformation is
individual as well in general morals as
in religion, and Il corrupt nation is only
made better as It's individual citizens
put off their corruption. The destruc-
ton of slavery, grand and benefcent
as it was, brought with it evils of
social and political character which
have by no means as yet entirely passed
sway
The laws which confirmed to women
the rights in property which the COM
mon law took from them on marriage
ana which relieved them of most of the
disabilities of couture, brought with
them many minor difficulties. And a
great reform, calculated to elevate the
marriage relation, went hand and hand
With great increase in appeals for
divorces. This increase in the number
of divorces led good men to turn TO the
law with their upbraidings. Society
was being demoralized, 1t was said by
liberty of divorce which was given, and
i: was demanded that this liberty should
be restricted. But if the existing laws
are fairly indicative of a prevailing.
though vicious public sentiment, the
expectation Of a reformation from a
mere change in the law is like an ex-
pectation of the total reform of
depraved man by simply commanding
It.
A noticeable fact is that the laws
which are complained of prevail in all
parts of the country. New England,
the land of the Pilgrims and Puritans,
permits divorce for causes that may al
most be said to accommodate all de-
sires. The laws have become what they
are as result of public feelings. Law
is not missionary, and even in Utah,
when it cannot be openly resisted. it
has no converting influence. If law
had inherent power to elevate people
to Its own standard, the task in nation
al publication and perfection would
consist in conforming the statutes to the
golden rule. Unfortunately neither
history nor observation warrants us in
the belief that the time is near at hand
when the moral code and legal code can
be coincident.
The same inclination to rely upon
legal enactment as an educating and
force is manifested in many
other directions. The fact that crime
is fearfully increasing arouses our anx-
iety and indignation, and we call for
severer penalties, forgetting that refor-
nation is an individual matter, and
must in the main be done without other
than such as comes to the
conscience. The office of
of charities like that of prisoners must
be to large extent extra-oflicial and
voluntary.
1t was not his purpose, the speaker
said, To discourage the aspiration for
perfection in the law. "On the contrary
the purpose has been to advance and
strengthen that aspiration by correct
ing some errors which now lead TO
wasted labors, and by directing atten-
ton to the indispensable foundation of
good laws, namely, people willing to
govern themselves by them. Reforma-
ton in the laws may go hand in hand
with reformation inprivase and public
morals, but cannot precede it. The
foundation must be SUFFICIENT to support
the superstructure, or the superstruc-
4 IL