68 



the sufferers from such outrages could obtain no 

 redress, except through those retaliatory meas- 

 ures that must lead to anarchy and bloodshed 

 among the parties concerned. There would be 

 no tribunal by which to try, condemn, and by 

 whose authority to punish such offenders. The 

 weak must surrender to the strong, and right 

 must give way to might. Mere physical force 

 and brutality would triumph over justice and 

 reason. The strong man, like the strong beast 

 •of the forest, would be king among his kindred. 

 But under the authority of good government, 

 the bad man however gigantic in form and 

 strength, may be restrained in his vices, and 

 punished for his crimes.'' Townsend. (Civil 

 (Government.) 



The fact and authority of civil government are 

 before us. Its necessity and wholesomeness are 

 presumptively proved by its presence. Nothing 

 is more evident than that, without effective laws, 

 no government can exist successfully. And ef- 

 fective laws are those, in the violation of which, 

 there is the forfeiture of the opportunity, for a 

 greater or less time, for committing the same 

 transgression again. As the power to exercise 

 law becomes more comprehensive, so also does 

 th£ penalty become more absolute and final. 



Just as the administration of God's judgments 

 are surer than those of civil penalty, so civil pun- 



