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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (May 2, 1890)
mmmmmimtmtmmitit ?! i 10 THE HESPERIAN. pcnd. It preserves the continuity of the universe, bringing order out of chaos, and reducing to system that which would otherwise be utter confusion. The great Richard I looker once said in noble words: "Of Law there can be no less ac knowlcdgcd than that her scut is the bosom of God; her voice the harmony of the world. All things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as not exempted from her power. Both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admir ing her as the mother of their peace and joy." Although the laws of which we have knowledge differ al most infinitely in kind, application and importance, there is one respect in which all are alike. All arc accompanied by rewards and penalties. The man who appreciates the law of gravitation chains the cataract, and is rewarded by having his mill wheels turned. The one who disregards or ignores this law falls from a precipice, perhaps, and receives upon his person the penalty of his lawlessness. The man who lives lempcrnte, self-restrained, and in accord with the laws of his being, reaps the priceless reward of long life and health; while he wiio violates these laws brings upon himself weak ness! sickness, death. The person who uses his mind without abusing it, following that course which is most befitting its nature, acquires an intellect, cultivated, keen and strong. He becomes a mental athlete. But he whose mental activities arc carried on in a slovenly and unsystematic way receives as his penalty an impaired memory, enfeebled reasoning powers and incapacity for consecutive thought. In society the same thing is observed. lie who conforms his conduct to the rul ings of etiquette is honored as a gentleman; while he who docs not is subjected to loss of respect, loss of friends, ostra cism. In the industrial world we know that strict adherence to business principles yields prosperity; while looseness of management is the sure parent of insolvency. When it comes to human law we do not find such unerring peifcction. Human law is at best only man's imperfect imi tation of the wonderful laws of Nature. Instead of being en forced by exact and inevitable penalties, our laws arc depend ent for their execution upon erring and sometimes corruptible human agency. Anil yet, despite this fact, the unanimous testimony of the officers of the law and prison officials is that the way of the transgressor is haid. Punishment is some times delayed. There is also, to be sure, an occasional Tas cott. Hut the rule is that the offender comes to grief. "But how is it in regard to moral law?" says the man who is inclined to cavil, "I can indulge in immorality to my heart's content; and provided I break none of the laws of the land, I can keep out of jail and experience no evil effects whatever. Where is your enforcing or punishing power in this case?" The question put in another way narrows down to this when a violated law is not followed by a penalty that is manifest and immediate, can we assume that there is to be no penalty at all? The answer is No. We know that we may disobey the laws of health in such a way that the only effect is to plant the seeds of disease in the system. But, be cause there is no immediate inconvenience, are we to con elude that that wc arc exempt from the consequences of our law breaking? In later years a broken down frame gives us the answer. It is an axiom that every action has its icaction, and to hold that there can be unrighteous acts without evil consequences is as false as it is illogical. But the strongest aigumcnt to my mind that moral law has penalties for its violators, is that the symmetry of the universal system of law rcquiics it. If its provisions aic not enforced by penalties it stands a glaring exception to the otherwise universal rule. It is a discoidant note in the grand harmony of Nature. The man who admits that there is punishment sure and speedy for the one who care lessly disregards the law of the keen edged razor, and who at the same time' maintains that the one who habitually and flag rantly outrages the eternal laws of justice and right shall be forever free from all penaltysuch a man impeaches the in telligence and justice of the Infinite Author of law. To hold that God provides for the slightest infringement of physical Jaw but allows his moral laws to be set at naught with impun ity, is, to insult the Divinity. No, the immoral man. does not .escape punishment. Wc know not the time, wc know not the plaqe; but wc do know that somehow and somewheic there is m store for the man who tramples upon the highest law of out. natures a just ana inevitable retribution. Thus we find that man is situated within a complete en VirdrirtVent of law. Law not only encloses him at all points, but is provided with rewards for obedience that never fail, and penalties for disobedience that he cannot escape. How ever, it is a universal characteristic of human nature to grow restive under restraint. Obligations arc irksome. Man ob jects to being hemmed in by rules and regulations, "Give us more liberty," is the ay. How, then, all things considered, can man attain to the highest degree of liberty? Perhaps no better reply to that question can be found than this, "LlliKR TY IS oukdibnck to law." This is a proposition that has no exceptions. Wc have in these words an infallible criterion as to what is true liberty. Moreover the statement hardly has need of argumentative support for the philosophy of it is Flain. The lawbreaker who languishes in jail is not free. Ic is a slav$ to the penalties of his own misdeeds. "But," says the Russian emigrant, "I came to this country to get away from laws that made me a slave. How can liberty lie obedience to law in Russia?" When a law is passed by one of our states that contravenes the constitution of the United Slates, our courts declare it null and void. It is no law at all. And why? It is out of harmony with the higher law. It lias been well said in regard to the revealed law of God, "On whatever matters this law is declared it is a rule super ior to all others." Therefore, when any legal enactment dc E rives man of his natural rights it is out of harmony with the ighest law and is therefore no law at all in the true sense. It is an unrighteous human statute which would be declared null and void could wc appeal to the Great Court above. How far obedience is due to an unjust human enactment is a ques tion in political ethics beyond the scope of this discussion. But, understanding the word "law" to mean the great re vealed laws of truth and justice and such other laws only as are in harmony therewith, our definition ot "liberty" stands. Thus wc conclude that liberty is not found in breaking over proper restraint. The libertine is not the embodi ment of liberty. The outlaw has not escaped the responsi bilities of law. They have both of them become subject to the bondage of their own misdeeds. On the other hand, in the person of the law abiding citizen, the one who conforms his conduct to all tight law, wc sec the embodiment of the highest type of liberty. That man is absolutely free. There is nothing in heaven or earth that can interfere with his fiec dom. His life is in harmony with his surroundings. He is the king of the world; the lord of ci cation; but a little lower than the angels; the noblest work of God. OUR ENGLISH LANGUAGE. A. C. Douglass, Monmouth College, Monmouth, III. From the rugged rockbound hill-side there bubbles a silver stream. Winding out through a landscape of beauty, its rip pling waters flash diamonds from their sunlit surface. The murmuring music of the wavelets makes sweet harmony with warbling birds. Many a tributary separates the banks. But the stream rushes on, leaping over rocks, plowing through meadows, wandering into deep forests, ever increasing in hrandeur, unJtil a mighty river- -it marks the boundaries of empires, bears on its bosom their stately fleets, and rolls on in majesty to the great ocean. Such is our English language. Starting from its obscure source, this stream has flowed down through fifteen hundred years of history. It has been beautified by the teachings of Nature, broadened by the ceaseless flow of the linguistic ti Mi litaries, and deepened by the ptofoundest thoughts of the hu man intellect, untill it appears to day an accumulation of the learning of ages- the glory of the Anglo-Saxon race the in spiration of the civilized world. Fifteen centuries ago, when an avalanche of savage hoidcs from the Nqrth was sweeping over Europe; when the totter ing walls of the Western Empiic were falling and the glory of the Caesars was departing; when that total eclipse of ancient civilization was coming on, leaving vice and violence to rule the dark night; when philosophy was dead, art forsaken, and literature forgotten; our ancestors- fit types of the age left their homes amid the gloomy wastes and low-lying marshes of Holland, launched their pirate boats on the North sea, and steered forlhc white cliffs of Albion. Their manners weie rude, their chatactcr savage, their religion false. Their speech wn,s,a mongrel dialect; yet it contained the germs of a language, marvelous in power, infinite in influence, divine in mission. The history of this language is the history of the Anglo-Saxon people. Its mechanism contains a truer jirture of race-vicissitudes than is found in the pen paintings of Plume in-r.iiT.,iiiili)ijfai iufciinwi tMtw.imtmmmem
