Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-01-27
THE HIGHER LAW.
The International Sunday School Les
son for January 80 is "some Laws
of the Kingdom" Matt. 5:
1925, oe-49.
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


Two reasons are given or admitted
by considerable elements in present
day society which would abolish law.
The first Is, that certain people count
themselves above the law the other
is a frank avowal that they are oppos
ed to law. One group looks upon law
as an edict, the other is in open hos
tility to it. The latter comprise the
lower grade of law-breakers, who think
that law interferes with their pros
perity or comfort. They count them
selves enemies of the police, and all
for which the police are supposed to
stand, They want anarchy because
anarchy would permit them to prey
upon other elements of society.
AS William Allen Whites recent
novel portrayed, the first group talks
airilF about ''the larger good" and
speaks condescendingly Of law as for
merely the little folk. Unable to re-
peal the statutes, it evades them. This
type represents what we find in the
intellectual realm, combating all the
trammels and usages of society, con-
tending for free love and a general ir-
responsibility
President Taft was right in pointing
out the peril OF lawlessness in Ameri
can life Kipling pointed the same
moral earlier. The influence of the
wilderness and the pioneer snirit is
still upon this young western life. We
have not that deep esteem for the
sanctity of law which characterizes
older civilization There is nothing
more deeply needed in our national
life than obedience to the law, and a
spirit of reverence for the law on the
part of judges, lawyers, corporations
and the plain people. Ethically and
Intellectually the need are somewhat
similar return to respect for the
usages which the centuries have
proved good and true. Less lawless
thinking and lawless action, less an
archistic individualism and more re-
spect for the common welfare which
is embodied in the usages of civilized
society.
The Great Law-lnte5preter.
All this is suggested by the fact
that an innumerable company of peo-
pie are about to study the laws of life
as interpreted by Jesus Christ He
came with the frank avowal that his
doctrine meant the fulillment of law,
not the abrogation of it. He was no
leader Of a new esoteric cult which
flouted all the proved ways of life. His
teachings gave no salve to the con-
sciences of the men and women who
had run counter to truth and pro.
priety. Instead, he came teaching
more law, rather than less, but larger
law rather than little. Just as America
is afflicted with too much lawlessness,
1t Is also afflicted with too much leg
islation. We are mad for putting
things on the statute books of the
state. Evils that should be remedied
in the thinking Of the people, we try
to cure by a new enactment of con-
gress. Jesus pointed the way out Of
this wilderness of liberalism into a
large deep spirit Of law which went
clear down to the roots of thought and
conduct. Nor was he averse to point
edly designating the lawlessness of
the great legalists of his time, the
Pharisees. They kept the letter CT
the law, but they broke it in spirit
even as powerful interests today en-
ploy the most learned counsel to keep
within the exact letter of the law,
while violating its essential purport.
This stern-spoken though gentle
Rabbi did not hesitate to point out
that the men who led others astray
with respect to the law; who despised
the commandments of Cod and who
ignored, or antagonized, the law, was
an enemy of heaven and Of earth. It
Is a perilous responsibility which men
take upon their heads when they start
to lead the world astray by ideas that
are counter to the truth
The Laws Present Peril.
In the time of Jesus, the law had
been interpreted to such fine points
that its main meaning was obscured
1t was rendered for special purpose
The teacher was striking at an abuse
which is still common. Law is law
equally applicable to all.
The Spirit of the Law
Law is more than enactment Right