The news & observer., 1897-02-07
HUMAN RIGHTS VS.. BRADLEY
MARTIN.
(By e. A. Yates.)

10y IL. ~. dIeS.b
The newspapers are discussing Mr.. and
Mrs. Bradley Martin, of New York, who
are very wealthy and propose to give
100000 fancy ball in the near future.
These poor creatures are getting all the
notoriety they were looking for, doubt
less, and might be excused, to some ex-
tent, upon the ground that idiots are
exempt from the penalties of the law.
That is, if they are really such idiots as
they appear to be, Bishop Potter, OF New
York, discusses the subject from the
standpoint of the dangerous power OF ac-
cumulated wealth, and with him agrees
Mr.. Herbert Spencer. But, while this
may be true, the danger is mainly to gov
ernment. And this is not where the shoe
pinches. TO properly appreciate this glar-
ing folly, we must look at it from this
standpoint, to-wit, that Mr.. and Mrs.
Bradley Martin have no possible right to
have such a ball. Wealth is not of itself
dangerous if it is obtained and used
righteously, that is, in accordance with
Gods law.
If there are any human beings on the
planet Mars, the Ten Commandments
would be as applicable to them as they are
to the inhabitants of earth. Law is
eternal. Law is not made. Law is dis
covered. Man in his fallen condition
thinks that he must make law, and in
stead of profoundly studying in order
to discover what is law, he makes carl
cature, and often does more harm than
good. Man, under such laws, may claim
certain relative rights; and for the good
of the whole people these rights must
be respected SO long as his conduct is
just. But all law must conform to Gods.
law, or it carries no real rights to any
man; for it is plain that no power in
heaven or earth can give to any moral
being right to do wrong.
No natural right of man can possibly
conflict with the immutable and eternal
law of God, and no civil or relative right
can do so without mourning its penalties.
And hence there is an AWFUL day of reck
oning for those who, having like reck-
less and drunken pirate in a storm. ex-
ercise supposed rights contrary to Gods
eternal Law of justice and righteousness;
for no government can guarantee such
rights when the flood of retributiye JUS
tice rises and the hail sweeps away the
refuge of lies and the water overhows
the hiding places.
4 few thoughtless persons may suppose
that Mr.. Bradley Martin has the right
to give a 100000 ball if he so desires.
Is he not immensely wealthy? Has he
not fee-simple to his great property?
May he not spend it as he thinks best?
Who will deprive him of his legal rights?
Before we answer let us ask the 100000
poor, homeless women and children liv-
ing within radius of two miles from
Mr.. Martins palace, who would be glad
b. Al, he, Fol hs1,
table. Let us ask the millions OF sweatty
laborers who toll and labor and die, while
their wives and little ones often cry in
the night because they have no bread for
the morrow, and on the Sabbath have no
comforts or even necessaries of life to
cheer the Lords day to them, while
Mr.. Bradley Martin and wife sit in their
cushioned pew dressed in silks and dia-
monds, and wipe their eyes with $100
handkerchiefs at the Armenian suffer
ings detailed by some sap-headed preach
er. No, we answer, Mr.. Martin has no
right to dance ON the tears and tolls and
rags and death of humanity around him,
and he is only helping to heap up wrath
against the day of wrath, when govern
ment itself will not be able to stay the
fiery flood of revolution. The French
people in 1879 put up sign-post of
warning for all nations on the way to this
hell.
The natural rights oe man are in
strict harmony with the law of God.
Right to life, liberty, food, air, sunshine,
love, home, happiness. Unless he for
feits these by crime, he who seeks to
deprive man of these is himself crimi-
nal. And it is only question Of time
when the accumulated invasion of these
rights requires revolution. For in pro-
portion as a people become educated and
enlightened, the less disposed they are
to bear oppression. There is constantly
going on, therefore, an accretion of anita
gonism to injustice, until, at a certain
point the fatal train takes fire and the
world is blow up!
When republics fall they fall fast.
When Cesar crossed the Rubicon free
dom expired in Rome; and human ex-
perience and human history both teach
that unless a radical and far-reaching
reform takes place, and takes place
soon, the Rubicon will have been crossed
and freedom will be secured to man by
the death Of the American Republic as
it now is.
And l feel it a duty to say-and | say
it in the fear of God, and in view of all
that may be offered in extenuation-that
the law is ungodly that enables and per-
mits Mr.. Bradley Martin, of New York,
or anywhere else, to give a 100000
ball. Not because ball is wrong, but
because the expense is paid by the blood
and sweat and suffering Of countless
men, women and children. AS sure as
heaven is just, the flood is coming as it
came to other nations in the past.
'The mills Of the gods grind slow,
But they grind exceeding fine"
There is an infinite and eternal justice
that brings retribution as certain as the
flowers will bloom, when the sun is in
Cancer and the SHOWS fall when he is in
Capricorn.
Don't Daily with rheumatism. Purify