_Right and Wrong, or Good and Evil, or God
and the Devil_] _does not exist_! Unjust and oppressive laws _may
indeed be passed_ by human governments. But if _Infinite and
Inscrutable Wisdom permits political society_, having the power of
human legislation, _to establish such laws, may not the same Infinite
and Inscrutable Wisdom permit and require an individual_, who has no
such power, _to obey them_?" [So "if Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom
permits" a Blacksmith "having the power" to forge steel and temper
it, to make daggers, "may not the same Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom
permit and require the individual" carpenter or tailor, who has no
such power, to use the dagger for the purpose intended!] "Conscience,
indeed, is to be reverenced, and obeyed; but still we must remember
that it is _fallible_, especially when the rights of others are
concerned, [that is, the right to kidnap men] _and may lead us to do
great injustice_, [by refusing to punish a man who helps his brother
enjoy his self-evident, natural, and unalienable right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]. The annals of the world abound
with enormities committed by a narrow and darkened conscience." A
_statute_ "is the moral judgment, the _embodied conscience of the
political community_, [the fugitive slave bill the 'embodied
conscience' of New England]. To this not only is each individual bound
to submit, [right or wrong,] but it is a new and _controlling element
in forming his own moral judgment_;" [that is, he must _think_ the
statute is just]. "Obedience is a _moral duty_, [no matter how immoral
the law may be]. _This is as certain as that the Creator made man a
social being_;" "to _obey the laws of the land_ [no matter what laws,
or how wicked soever] _is, then, to obey the Will of God_!"

[Footnote 116: Words of Chief Justice Parker, in _Commonwealth_ vs.
_Griffith_, 2 Pickering's Reports, 19, cited with approbation by Chief
Justice Shaw, in the Sims case, 7 Cushing's Reports, 705, and also
cited from him and acted on by fugitive slave bill Commissioner
Loring, in the Burns case.]

Gentlemen of the Jury, you think I have imagined and made up this
language out of my own fancy. No, Gentlemen, I could not do it. I have
not the genius for such sophistry. I only quote the words of the Hon.
Judge Peleg Sprague delivered to the grand-jury of this Circuit Court
of United States at Boston, March 18, 1851.[117] Gentlemen, I showed
you what Thurlow cou