The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-27
MIR. MALLORY SPEAKS.
Distinguished Citizen of State on "Civ-
 ic Righteousness."

Distinguished Citizen of State on "Civ- ic Righteousness."
 Mir. Mallory was introduced at the meeting in the First Presbyterian church by President Armstead Brown of the Alabama Sunday School Conven- tion, as "one of the best known and best loved citizens of the State" In part he spoke as follows:
 Brother President, Ladies and Gen tlemen: I esteem the privilege of speak ing on this subject to body of Sunday School workers, people who are inter- ested in the good of the country in the exaltation of righteousness and who understand the value of good citi zenship to the state and the communi- ty. It is also privilege to stand be- fore an audience in which there are so many women of the commonwealth, for they are more interested in the good of the country than the men themselves, and they are more capable of inf1uenc ing the destiny of the nation than the men.
 | Civic righteousness is conformity to the will of God. and conformity to the will of Man. And in studying this state ment here and at home, we must not for get the standard by which we are meas ured, the standard set forth by the laws found in the Bible.
 Civic righteousness is an old ques- ton. From the beginning of primitive society it began to impress itself upon the mind of man. It Is a subject which has grown with the growth of the race. While it applied to the primitive so- ciety, it also has its application in the complex forms of the higher society as we know it today. History shows that as man has obeyed these laws, he and his country have prospered. and as he has neglected the observance of these laws, his country, himself. and every relation of his life have suffered, We find the essence of the law of good citizenship in the Ten Command ments We need not search the writ ings of learned men for 1t, but we can go to the Bible for 1t. I find in the Bi ble that our Lord summarized his com mandments thus: Thou shalt love Thy God with all thy soul and with Ill thy might and with all thy strength. and thy neighbor as myself" And thus we find the love of God and the love of our fellow men as the cure for all the ills of society.
 Happiness in Loving God.
 'The nation which loves God is great and happy. You cannot imagine a na- tion where God is loved and obeJed which is not good nation, and which does not stand for good throughout the world A nation of God fearin men will be nation of patriots My 1el- low citizens, If we love God, if we obey God. and if we love our fellow man and seek his greatest good-if we do all these things, then we must be a power for good.
 'If we love God and our fellowmen. how easy 1t will be to obey the laws prehend these laws we must under stand the nature of civic duties to the end that we may meet them and not we should render to Caesar as the representative of civic law that which belonged to Caesar, and to God. as rsIP'resenting ,,eI the religious law, that those days, when a one-man power existed. when man was subject to per secution and misrule, how much more
 Good citizenship demands obedi- ence to the law of God. He has given it to us to obey the law. Let us ex- cry one recognizes the necessity of law in the physical life. Abolish law in Nature, and see what chaos and de- in the physical world is true In the social world. Untie the hands of men, and see how soon disaster would over gether who would devour each other like wild beasts. It would turn the lawbreaker loose among the law fear ing The lawbSeaker is an outcast.
  Is against him. It costs today to punish him than all our beneficient
 we must not only set ourselves against lawbreaking in great things but must prevent the breaking of the law in little things. We guard against felonies, and commit smaller offenses which are not reached by the civil law. And yet we know that when we break the law in small things. we are fostering the habit of lawbreaking: There never was a criminal who did not begin breaking the law In small things. And so, civil righteousness re- uuireS that we be constant In small things and for conscience's sake keep the law in small things.
 How shall I regard the law? Shall try to avoid 1t as driver or task master? No one can faithfully dis charge the law who regards 1t in this light. The punishment of law Is nov for good citizenship, it is not for the righteous man.
 Let us look at some of the laws or the Bible Thou shalt not steal Ihat law does not apply alone to such crimes as grand larceny. There are as well. If we are governed by the law of love for our fellow man. we are to be governed by 1t in aevery par. ticular. and no one will steal from ono he loves. No man ever committed murder with love for his fellow man. The murder murdered Abel tn ,tr"1 He was not
 med by the law ot love
 "'Thou shalt not covet thy neigh bor's goods If I love my nelRhbor