Theism Doctrinal and Practical, or, Didactic Religious Utterances. By Francis W. Newman |
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The Twofold Law.
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The Twofold Law.
He is not yet righteous, who only doeth righteous deeds,
But he who doeth them from deliberate choice of righteousness.
Such a man is God's freeman, constrained by no law,
Save by the law of his conscience, which is God's own voice within.
While this law is intelligent, and conscience bears full sway,
Other law is not needed, nor punishments, nor judge,
Nor petty rules of form, and of time, and of place,
Fettering manly discretion and overriding special proprieties.
For the life that is within will find out all delicate detail,
The rightest place, and time, and mode for each thing.
But the outward law is general, unexcepting and coarse,
Blind as to everything special, and counting on blind obedience,
The obedience of slaves, not freemen; of children, not of men.
But he who doeth them from deliberate choice of righteousness.
Such a man is God's freeman, constrained by no law,
Save by the law of his conscience, which is God's own voice within.
While this law is intelligent, and conscience bears full sway,
Other law is not needed, nor punishments, nor judge,
Nor petty rules of form, and of time, and of place,
Fettering manly discretion and overriding special proprieties.
For the life that is within will find out all delicate detail,
The rightest place, and time, and mode for each thing.
But the outward law is general, unexcepting and coarse,
Blind as to everything special, and counting on blind obedience,
The obedience of slaves, not freemen; of children, not of men.
The child is too ignorant to be guided by inward discretion;
The slave of sin and crime is constrained by punishment.
For such the spirituality of religion is not yet a law,
Nor has it any penalties, nor any sufficient training.
The child must be kept under the tuition of the parent,
And slavish-hearted men under the moral training of law.
The law of the land fulfils not its purpose and the ordinance of God,
Unless it be guardian to those who cannot yet have discretion;
Unless it put down all traffic in sin, which corrupts the weak;
Unless it teach right to the ignorant, and save the outcast from despair.
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For such the spirituality of religion is not yet a law,
Nor has it any penalties, nor any sufficient training.
The child must be kept under the tuition of the parent,
And slavish-hearted men under the moral training of law.
The law of the land fulfils not its purpose and the ordinance of God,
Unless it be guardian to those who cannot yet have discretion;
Unless it put down all traffic in sin, which corrupts the weak;
Unless it teach right to the ignorant, and save the outcast from despair.
The law of the land becomes honourable, when it studies moral aims,
And plants the orphan in families, and trains the untaught to labour,
And fences up the paths of crime, and prevents evil habits,
And cherishes the purity of woman, and watches over the rights of the weak,
And when the innocent are destitute, has a care lest they be made criminal.
Such law is a glory to the land; such law is a blessing from God,
Spreading abroad virtuous habits among the multitude of the ignorant;
Whose virtue is to be industrious and honest and simple-hearted,
Innocent of great offences, and docile to the wiser.
Then, if amid them are found churches which teach a higher doctrine,
And live by the law of the Spirit, in the faith and love of God;
Quickly will such a people run and listen meekly within the church,
And will learn its best lessons, and practise nobler duties;
Until the child grows to be a man, by God's Spirit within,
And the bondman is adopted into the full liberty of the freeman.
And plants the orphan in families, and trains the untaught to labour,
And fences up the paths of crime, and prevents evil habits,
And cherishes the purity of woman, and watches over the rights of the weak,
And when the innocent are destitute, has a care lest they be made criminal.
Such law is a glory to the land; such law is a blessing from God,
Spreading abroad virtuous habits among the multitude of the ignorant;
Whose virtue is to be industrious and honest and simple-hearted,
Innocent of great offences, and docile to the wiser.
Then, if amid them are found churches which teach a higher doctrine,
And live by the law of the Spirit, in the faith and love of God;
Quickly will such a people run and listen meekly within the church,
And will learn its best lessons, and practise nobler duties;
Until the child grows to be a man, by God's Spirit within,
And the bondman is adopted into the full liberty of the freeman.
If Christians were wise and cared more for goodness than for riddles;
If with all their heart and might they loved the souls of their brethren;
They would join heart to heart, hand to hand, voice to voice,
And would claim that the State seek chiefly for moral ends.
They would know their worst foes to be immoral politicians
And all other traffickers in men and women's virtue;
A slave-trade more hateful than all other slave-trades,—
For here soul and body both together are bought and sold,
While the law-makers look on, and talk about interests and freedom.
If with all their heart and might they loved the souls of their brethren;
They would join heart to heart, hand to hand, voice to voice,
And would claim that the State seek chiefly for moral ends.
They would know their worst foes to be immoral politicians
And all other traffickers in men and women's virtue;
A slave-trade more hateful than all other slave-trades,—
For here soul and body both together are bought and sold,
While the law-makers look on, and talk about interests and freedom.
Ah! will the Churches ever cry out against real iniquity,
Against seduction of women and against the hell-fire of drinks?
Will they ever demand that the law shall be moral and the statesmen true?
Or shall their silence and apathy suggest spiritual death,
That God has forsaken them, that they know not his law,
Which is supplanted by forms and rites, by creeds and jargon,
And care not for either law, —whether the law of the land be moral,
Or whether the law of the churches be that of the Spirit?
Against seduction of women and against the hell-fire of drinks?
Will they ever demand that the law shall be moral and the statesmen true?
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That God has forsaken them, that they know not his law,
Which is supplanted by forms and rites, by creeds and jargon,
And care not for either law, —whether the law of the land be moral,
Or whether the law of the churches be that of the Spirit?
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