Conscience and Law: A Discourse Preached in the North Church, Portsmouth New Hampshire, on Fast Day, April 3, 1851 (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

Clark, Rufus W.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1330750152 ISBN 13: 9781330750155

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from Conscience and Law: A Discourse Preached in the North Church, Portsmouth New Hampshire, on Fast Day, April 3, 1851

He whose mission it was to calm the angry passions of men, and who has said, Blessed are the peacemakers, has also said, I came not to send peace, but a sword.

These apparently conflicting principles it will be our pur pose to attempt to reconcile, and we hope to show that we may be obedient to God and true to the dictates of humanity, without infringing in the least degree upon the soundest patriot ism, and the highest reverence for human law.

With the extremes of fanaticism on this question we have nothing to do. And while we would not force into the ranks of the ultra slavery supporters, that large class of respectable citizens who have felt themselves called upon to make speeches and preach discourses in favor of sustaining the Union, and rendering implicit obedience to human laws we would at the same time protest against the disposition that not a few persons have manifested, to class with disunionists and rebels those masses of our citizens who are conscientiously opposed to the fugitive slave bill. If the anathemas, which have been so freely hurled from the pulpit and the press, have been aimed against these opponents of the law as disunionists and traitors, then these writers have been fighting a man of straw. If, on the other hand, this expenditure of acute logic and fervid eloquencehas been called forth by the ultra factions to which reference has been made, then are the threats and power of these fac tions entitled to more consideration than we have been accus tomed to give them. They have suddenly reached a position of influence and power, to which we never dreamed they would attain.

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Product Description

Excerpt from Conscience and Law: A Discourse Preached in the North Church, Portsmouth New Hampshire, on Fast Day, April 3, 1851 Romans XIII, 1, 2. Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. Acts IV, 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. These passages of Scripture bear directly upon a question of vital importance, which for some months past has deeply agitated the community. Nor is it among the least of the peculiarities of this question, that it has, in a certain sense, two right sides. It is right for every man to obey the dictates of an enlightened conscience; and it is the duty of every citizen to yield obedience to human governments. The fact that these general propositions are undeniably true, and yet in their application to a recently enacted obnoxious law, apparently antagonistic, has surrounded the question of "conscience and law" with many difficulties, called forth a great deal of angry discussion, and arrayed even good and able men in hostility to each other. We have had discourses, speeches and newspaper articles innumerable, upon the supremacy of divine government, and our duty to obey God rather than man; and we have had as many, if not more, inculcating implicit obedience to human laws in general, and the fugitive slave law in particular. Writers have denounced "conscience" as an unsafe guide, and at the same time have virtually appealed to conscience to induce the community to obey even wicked laws. Pulpit has been arrayed against pulpit, and press against press. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important hi

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1330750152
• ISBN 13: 9781330750155
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 31