Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1886-03-20

good the claim, has assumed himself
to be the fttest.
In the present condition ofsociety
crowded as it is into dense masses of
population, it requires no gifts of
heather augury or of christian pro-
phecy, to understand something of
the effect of removing the barriers
of constitution and laws from the
paths of bold, unrighteous men.
The civil governor is appointed by
God, to whom he is responsible, for
the purpose of restraining the az
gression and the oppression of the
strong and violent; and of protect
ing the life, the liberties, and the
property of those who could not
defend themselves, it matters not
how insignificant they may be. To
this end he is armed with authority
to infict needful penalty even to the
taking away of life. For it is prin-
ciple of the divine government that
punishment must be proportional to
the offense.
With powers so large and so far
reaching, it is evident that the officer
ofjustice bears an enormous respon-
sibility, and needs to be SO qualified
and so surrounded as to be at the
farthest possible remove from every
influence of pride, passion, prejudice,
ignorance or selfish interest in dis
charging these weighty functions.
The characteristics of the man who
is set to exercise civil rule, are given
with much clearness in the word Of
God He must needs be a just
man, righteous, God-fearing, fearing
nought else; valiant for the truth,
strong to do right, mighty to resist
wrong, honest, sober, conscientious,
resolute.
need hardly say, how sadly this
divine conception is marred by the
whole system of political partizan-
ship which reigns in all countries
There are many and determined
foes to all government. Mis-govern-
ment is responsible for much ofthis.
The tyranical expressions of other
days and Of other lands, have soured
the minds OF men -and en- Uttered
them against all restraint. The re-
action is asserting itself in our day
with tremendous energy, in its un-
reasoning and frantic efforts to throw
off all rule and to destroy all re-
ligion, in which the civil pollty finds
it's only security, and without which,
the individuals rights must perish.
Socialism, which in it's final analy-
sis, means that the do less, the vic
ious, and the criminal, shall live upon
the products of the Industrious, and
the honest and the pure; socialism is
rallying around its standard the
seething crowds who decry wealth,
and whose vociferous demand is
Let us have all things in common.
Let there be one store .house-one
treasury. Let there be no more the
distinction between mine and thine.
This ideal crept into the heart of the
infant church of the early christians,
in the first breathings of their rap
turous love. But scarcely was the
experiment born, when Ananias and
his wife, Saphhira, stole into the
brotherhood, thinking to make a
gainful investment, upon the basis of
the pious simplicity which ruled
among those who slowed one anoth-
en-" Very soon a ripper discretion
a sounder wisdom taught the disci-
Piles that even love, that even heav-
en-, could not blot the eighth COM
mandment from the law. There, as
well as here, it must ever remain
true This is mine-that is yours
Socialism is a radical, vital er-
ror. But it is an error which is
brandishing its long brawny arms at
the very gateway to the Palladium
of our liberties and independence
In this land where every voter is a
king and every citizen is crowned
head, the thought that such princi-
pies as these are gaining so wide and
so deep hold, may well lead every
thoughtful man and woman to pause
for reflection, and TO ask the ques-
ton, though they may be unable to
answer it, whittier are these things
tending? "What shall the harvest
be?" We hear the ominous mutter-
ings of the storm, as the Monday
morning daily brings to our fireside
each week, the reports of the social
istic clubs which have held their
meetings on the Sabbath; in which
the laws of the land are held up to
scornful contempt, and Gods holy
name is blasphemed. These things
are dark clouds hanging sullenly
upon the horizon. They are cancer
Gus plague-spots upon the surface of
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