Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-05-16
By BISHOP w. A. GAMBLER.

men quote gllDly every udyst III SA-
cuse for their misdeeds, the trite max
i'm that necessity knows no law"
They can not deny their wrong-doing,
and. being unwilling to be regarded as
INSCRIPTIONS, they resort to this
fatalistic saying in order to shift the
blame for their evil deeds from them
selves to circumstances, which they
would have us believe were inevitable
and irresistible. A more unworthy and
ly be conceived.
The provisional and imperfect codes
which men devise may, and do, contain
the idea of constrafning circumstances
which acquit the violators Of their
statutes from blame under certain CON
ditions. This is about the best men
can do in making laws. Eeven Hoses
allowed some evil things on account
of the hardness of Israers heart; but
Jesus reminds us that from the be-
ginning IT was not So" and by His di-
vine word He repudiated the lax leg
islation of Moses and carried men back
to the original and eternal truth.
There are some of the laws of God
which vary in their application with
varying circumstances, as for example
the Sabbath law, under which certain
circumstances must yield to the higher
law of mercy: for the Son of Man is
Lord even of the Sabbath day., ana
being Lord of it, He may command, In
spite of it, certain forms of toll on the
Sabbath. Wherefore it is lawful to
do good on the Sabbath days" (Mat-
thew Xii:12). The piteous cry OF an
unfortunate sheep, fallen into PIT, is
enough to justify the labour required
to lift it out on the Sabbath
Dut there are other laws Of God,
and far the greater number. which
suffer no concession whatsoever to cir
cumstances. They are to be observed
at the cost of life itself. Extreme hun
ger, by which for forty days strength
has been wasted and life threatened,
must answer to every suggestion OF
obtaining food by lawless means. Man
shall not live by bread alone" (Matthew
iv:N. 1t is better for good man to
starve than to feed himself by rebel
ling against the will of God. And this
truth is all important in an era when
regards victuals, rather than eternal
moralities, as "the necessartes OF lire.
L Because the men of the present gen.
Grafton have been so disposed to sub
ordinate law to circumstances the age
has become incapable of producing a
martyr, and the crop of Heroes is so
short among us that notable manu-
facturer of steel has given fund Tor
the stimulation of the production OF
this rapidly vanishing quadruped. There
is no truth so dear to the men or TO-DAY
that they are willing to die for -;
in the region of the highest truth they
seem to regard everything as so un-
settled and uncertain that the only
thing left for US TO do is to practice
sort OF. senseless agnosticism in Thought
and invertebrate tolerance In actoh
The shutting gait and unsteady step or
a kind of Theological locomotor ataxia
Is much admired as the NOSE graceIul
bearing of religious character. The
disease seems to be accepted as a marx
of a certain intellectual aristocracy.
and those who suffer from it are least
willing to be cured of it. The whole
race of defenders of the faith is des-
Missed by these ailing agnostics, ana
thew demand that henceforth all men
shall be fashioned according to the
PATTERN of them who call themselves
truth seekers and who deny that any
body before them has ever found the
truth and that anybody after them ever
will find it. OF course martyrdom for
truths sake under such copditions is
altogether impossible and untninkable-
VIII any man in his sense die for what
is unknown and unknowable? Why
should one lay down his life for
phantom which forever eludes MS
grasp?, Hence an era penetrated by
such principles can not produce mar
tyr; nay, more it can not produce
hero of the first magnitude, but must
buy its heroes in assorted lots pur-
chased with the dividends OF a hero
fund.
These thoughts were deeply impressed
upon my mind a few years ago, when
stood upon the spot in one of the streets
of Oxford, England, where the noblest of
English martyrs were burned at the
stake for the faith which they counted
dearer than life. A short time before
was there an English princess renowned
the faith for which they died and ac-
cepted the faith of the church which slew
them with as much ease as if she had
been laying off one gown to put on an
other. This she did in order to become
the wife of the king of Spain. With the
martyrs of truth which they be-
leved could not yield to, any nee
esslty; with the English princess
a crown could not be lost for the
sake of any truth Her course excited no
surprise why should lit in an age in
which men seriously teach that one re-
ligion is as good as another that creeds
are nothing. thar definite belief is
mark of narrowness, and profound con-
victions is a manifestation of bad man
ners? Why should we expect men or
women to be strenuous for truth or right
in an age which dethrones truth, denies
that what is right shall ever set aside
what is expedient. defies it's comfort, and
deifes it's convictions when it has any
convictions to cruelty?
1t is no wonder that on all sides we
hear the voices of a paralyzing fatalism
uttering such maxims as that necessity
knows no law and drugging the human
conscience with teachings which make
men comfortable, if not happy, in the be-
lief that righteousness is an impractical
BILE thing 1t is the gospel of the de-
spair of, goodness. This enervating fatal
ism lectures in the universities, breaches
in the play-houses, prints through the
pages of much of that which we call
literature. is welcomed in the modish So
ciety with whom 1t is considered more
disgraceful to break a conventional Gus
tom than to violate the sanctity Of the
marriage VOW and it is hailed with accla-
nations in the market place where men