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An evil man seeketh only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.--Prov. xvii. 11.
We have in these words this plain announcement--that Rebellion is a crime,and shall be visited with terrible judgment. Solomon here speaks his ownconvictions; God declares his thought, and utters his sanction of law.This is also the expression of natural conscience,--vindicating in ourbreast the Divine procedure, when the majesty of insulted government isasserted, and penalty applied.
God never overlooks rebellion against his throne--never pardons the rebeluntil he repent and submit. God does not command us to forgive ouroffending fellow-men, unless they repent. "If thy brother trespass againstthee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn to thee, saying,I repent, thou shalt forgive him." God is in a forgiving attitude; soought we to be. But he does not express forgiveness until the rebelexpresses penitence; neither are we under obligation to pronounce anenemy forgiven until he signify his compunction and sorrow, and desistfrom his injurious conduct. If my child rebel against my law and myrightful discipline, I am not allowed by the spirit of love to pursue himwith vengeance; neither am I bound by the law of God to release him fromthe penalty of his sin, until he shall have exhibited signs of submission,of sorrow, and of obedience. I may pity him, and cherish toward him thespirit of forgiveness; but for his own sake, for the order of thehousehold, and on account of my innate sense of justice, I must notpronounce his acquittal, nor declare the controversy ended, until he shallhave satisfied my governmental authority, and the sentiment of justicewhich both his own conscience and mine, constitutionally, and therefore bynecessity, cherish. And I do not see that Government can safely pardon arebel against its statutes, its honor and its common brotherhood, untilhis rebellion cease; until he bow to law, confess his crime, and signifyhis sorrow. I speak not of oppressive government, of iniquitous law; butof good government, of statutes healthful, humane, equal. Although inthe former case rebellion cannot be justified until every constitutionalmeasure has been resorted to for redress,--then, if redress be not given,the voice of the people in all representative governments may legallychange oppressive for just laws, and oppressors for rulers who shallregard the popular will. And in despotisms, when the people have thepower to redress their wrongs, and to enter on a career of developmentin mind and morals, in the arts of civilization,--when every other coursefails--"resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!" Man was not made fortyranny. He was not made for any form of government that crushes out hisintellect and his religious capabilities. He was made to be governedmorally; to be under righteous law; law which, while it restrains passion,selfishness and crime, gives a man all the freedom that he is able andwilling to use safely for himself, and for the commonwealth; all that isconsistent with individual development and the national good.
I am not one of those who believe that the voice of the people is, withoutexception, the voice of God. It was not so at the Deluge, but quite thereverse. It was not so when Israel clamored for a king--not in mercy butin anger, God gave them their request. It was not so when Absalom stolethe heart