his visible
universe, be allowed to be disorderly, to be a failure in the noblest
part of his being, to make himself like to the brute or to a demon of
malice, to waste his choicest gifts in the indulgence of debasing
pleasure? The Creator is bound by His own wisdom to direct men to high
purposes, worthy of their exalted intellectual nature. But how shall He
direct man? He compels material things to move with order to the
accomplishment of their alloted tasks by the physical laws of matter. He
directs brute animals most admirably to run their appointed careers by
the wonderful laws of instinct, which none of them can resist at will.
But man He has made free; He must direct him to do worthy actions by
means suitable to a free being, that is, by the enacting of the moral
law.

He makes known to us what is right and wrong. He informs every one of
us, by the voice of reason itself, that He requires us to do the right
and avoid the wrong. He has implanted in us the sense of duty to obey
that law. If we do so, we lead worthy lives, we please Him, and, in His
goodness, He has rewards in store.

But can He be pleased with us if we thwart His designs; if we, His
noblest works on earth, instead of adding to the universal harmony of
His creation, make monsters of ourselves, moral blots upon the
beautiful face of His world? It were idle for Him to give us the
knowledge of His will and then to stand by and let us disfigure His
fairest designs; to bid us do what is right, and then let us do wrong
without exacting redress or atonement. If He is wise, He must not only
lay down the law, but He must also enforce it; He must make it our
highest interest to keep His law, to do the right; so that ultimately
those men shall be happy who have done it, and those who have thwarted
His designs shall be compelled to rue it. He will not deprive us of
liberty, the fairest gift to an intelligent creature, but He will hold
out rewards and punishments to induce us to keep the law and to avoid
its violation. Once He has promised and threatened, His justice and His
holiness compel Him to fulfil His threats and promises. A man can commit
no rasher act than to ignore, defy, and violate that higher law of which
we are speaking, and which, if it must direct all men, especially
requires the respect and obedience of those into whose hands he has
placed at times the lives of their fellow-men, the greatest of earthly
treasures.

I have insisted so much, gen