The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-05-31

This is way of protecting the good cit
izen. The ruler shall be q terror to the
evil, and he is recreant to his trust II he
is not. He beareth not the sword in
vain. God has put it into his hands not
simply for show, but for use, and 10 be
used against the law-breaker. He is not
called upon to play the tyrant in his
way OF executing law, or to be gleeful
over the administration Of punishment:
but he should not finch from his duty, or
be tolerant over the violations of law.
The truth is that tolerance toward the
violation of law means injustice to the
good citizen.
1t is then the duty of our officers to
faithfully and firmly and imrartially ex.
ecute the laws. The State expects them
to do this, and God requires it. Our
officers, both executive and judicial, arc
our agents and Gods ministers to this
end. 1t is not for them to decide what
laws they will execute, and what they
will not. They are bound by the re.
quirement of the State and the terms of
their official oaths. And the fact that the
laws are violated is call to faithfulness.
They hold their places for the peoples
good, and they should be faithful to the
peoples good.
1t is sometimes said by some officials
that If the people want the laws enforced
they will enforce them, and t,ien they
rest, and expect private citizcns to pre-.
sent cases, and play the detective, and
push the administration of law.
Now I submit that the men into whose
hands God and the State have placed
the sword are the ones to do this work,
They ought not to wait until the private
citizen runs down the offender and places
on the block. Vigilance Committees and
Law and Order Leagues may sometimes
be necessary, but they ought not to be,
and l am confident that If courts and
police offices would vigorously and faith
fully carry out the laws, such organizes
tions would never be called for. The men
who have taken the oath of'office should
not trifie with its requirements. The
men who bear the sword ought not to
hide it, but do that for which it has been
placed in their hands.
There is fear in many minds that in
our courts substantial justice is often
sacrificed to legal technicalities, and that
the laws are often used to protect the
criminal rather than the State. It was
this fear that helped to bring on those
terrible riots in Cincinnati. It often
seems that the chances of the law.break.
er's acquittal are multiplied, while the
rights of the State are pushed aside.
There is disposition with some minds
in all professions to run to technicali-
ties. Some ministers run to technical
definitions, and he who cannot subscribe
to these is not orthodox, no matter how
devout he may be, or how blessed work
he may do for the Lord. We find the
same thing in many teachers: they fair
ly bristle with criticisms and exceptions.
And am persuaded that there are hon
est judges who, because of this dispesi-
tion, bear the sword in vain. know,
too, that when a judge is not in sympa-
thy with law and wants to set it aside,
he can find some technicality to do this.
The administration of law is, in the esti-
nation OF many, very sacred trust, and
it ought to be, for its administrators are
Gods ministers; yet the law is not al
ways handled sacredly by any means.