The Use and Need of the Life of Carrie A. Nation [92]
protect and
defend mankind, bringing to them the highest good and finally heaven.
The devil's politics are to deceive, degrade and to make miserable, finally
ending in hell. The Bible fully explains this. The two kinds of seed
started out from Abel and Cain, then Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob.
There are but these two kinds of people. God's crowd and the Devil's
crowd. The first law given and broken in Eden was a prohibition law.
God said: "Thou shalt not." The devil tempted and persuaded the first
pair to disobey. He did it by deceiving the woman. The fact of redemption
now is to bring them back to the law of God. What is law? God
says that sin is a transgression of law. Blackstone says: "Law commands
that which is right and prohibits that which is wrong." Law is
one, as truth is one. It is not possible to make a bad law. If it is bad, it
is
not a law. We have bad statutes. Law is always right. Nothing is wrong
that is legal, and wrong may be licensed, but never legalized. I find lawyers
who do not understand this. I often hear the term "legalized saloon".
When I was passing the building of the supreme court in New York City,
on Madison Avenue, I read an inscription on one of the marble statues
representing a judge with a book on either side of the door: "Every law
not based on wisdom is a menace to the state." This is a false, misleading
sentence for all law is wisdom. It might have read: "All statutes not based
on wisdom, are a menace to the state." Then at the base of the statue
of a soldier, on the other side of the entrance, was this statement: "We
do not use force until good laws are defied." Which ought to read: "We
do not use force until laws are defied." Such ideas as these are corrupting
courts, and biasing the public mind, and the injury is more than apparent
to the observer. If law is not a standard, what standard can we
have? We must have one. We repeat again: "Law commands that
which is right and prohibits that which is wrong." Any statute that does
this is lawful. Any that does not, is anarchy.
God is truly the author of law. The theocratic form of government
was perfect and the only perfect government that ever existed, we need
no other statutes than those that God gave. He said: "We must not
kill a bird sitting on her young; must not see our enemy's beast fall under
his burden and not help him rise." And the refinement of mercy was
taught in the statute that said: "You must not kill the mother and lamb
in one day; must not seethe a kid in its mother's milk; must not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn." The use, and the only use, of law is
to prevent and punish for sin. All law has a penalty for those who violate
it. Governments that are the greatest blessing to its citizens are those
who can prohibit, or abolish the most sin or crime. Crime is not prevented
by toleration, but by prohibition. Nine of the ten commandments
are prohibitive and begin with: "Thou shalt not."
The success of life, the formation of character, is in proportion to
the courage one has to say to one's ownself: "Thou shalt not." It is
not the man or woman who has no temptation to sin, who has the strong
character, but the man or woman who has the desire but will not yield
to sin. Some people ask: "Why did God make the Devil?" The Devil
is God's fire. Like an alchemist God is purifying souls. The Devil is
an agent in salvation. "Every Devil in hell is harnessed up to push every
saint into heaven."
Those who are counted worthy to enter into the delights of that
heavenly land are those who have had their "fiery trials," tried and made
white. Man would have no credit and could not hear: "Good and faithful
servant;" if he had no temptations to do otherwise, man would be
but a mere machine.
God has never used for his work, any but those who prohibit evil.
The pilgrim fathers were forced from the mother country because this
principle of prohibition burned in their hearts. When England would
oppose the colonies, it was prohibition that smashed the tea, over in Boston
defend mankind, bringing to them the highest good and finally heaven.
The devil's politics are to deceive, degrade and to make miserable, finally
ending in hell. The Bible fully explains this. The two kinds of seed
started out from Abel and Cain, then Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob.
There are but these two kinds of people. God's crowd and the Devil's
crowd. The first law given and broken in Eden was a prohibition law.
God said: "Thou shalt not." The devil tempted and persuaded the first
pair to disobey. He did it by deceiving the woman. The fact of redemption
now is to bring them back to the law of God. What is law? God
says that sin is a transgression of law. Blackstone says: "Law commands
that which is right and prohibits that which is wrong." Law is
one, as truth is one. It is not possible to make a bad law. If it is bad, it
is
not a law. We have bad statutes. Law is always right. Nothing is wrong
that is legal, and wrong may be licensed, but never legalized. I find lawyers
who do not understand this. I often hear the term "legalized saloon".
When I was passing the building of the supreme court in New York City,
on Madison Avenue, I read an inscription on one of the marble statues
representing a judge with a book on either side of the door: "Every law
not based on wisdom is a menace to the state." This is a false, misleading
sentence for all law is wisdom. It might have read: "All statutes not based
on wisdom, are a menace to the state." Then at the base of the statue
of a soldier, on the other side of the entrance, was this statement: "We
do not use force until good laws are defied." Which ought to read: "We
do not use force until laws are defied." Such ideas as these are corrupting
courts, and biasing the public mind, and the injury is more than apparent
to the observer. If law is not a standard, what standard can we
have? We must have one. We repeat again: "Law commands that
which is right and prohibits that which is wrong." Any statute that does
this is lawful. Any that does not, is anarchy.
God is truly the author of law. The theocratic form of government
was perfect and the only perfect government that ever existed, we need
no other statutes than those that God gave. He said: "We must not
kill a bird sitting on her young; must not see our enemy's beast fall under
his burden and not help him rise." And the refinement of mercy was
taught in the statute that said: "You must not kill the mother and lamb
in one day; must not seethe a kid in its mother's milk; must not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn." The use, and the only use, of law is
to prevent and punish for sin. All law has a penalty for those who violate
it. Governments that are the greatest blessing to its citizens are those
who can prohibit, or abolish the most sin or crime. Crime is not prevented
by toleration, but by prohibition. Nine of the ten commandments
are prohibitive and begin with: "Thou shalt not."
The success of life, the formation of character, is in proportion to
the courage one has to say to one's ownself: "Thou shalt not." It is
not the man or woman who has no temptation to sin, who has the strong
character, but the man or woman who has the desire but will not yield
to sin. Some people ask: "Why did God make the Devil?" The Devil
is God's fire. Like an alchemist God is purifying souls. The Devil is
an agent in salvation. "Every Devil in hell is harnessed up to push every
saint into heaven."
Those who are counted worthy to enter into the delights of that
heavenly land are those who have had their "fiery trials," tried and made
white. Man would have no credit and could not hear: "Good and faithful
servant;" if he had no temptations to do otherwise, man would be
but a mere machine.
God has never used for his work, any but those who prohibit evil.
The pilgrim fathers were forced from the mother country because this
principle of prohibition burned in their hearts. When England would
oppose the colonies, it was prohibition that smashed the tea, over in Boston