NATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS. 83
and such races will never pervert the law for
bribes, nor so construe and interpret the statutes
as to give an increase of power to the oppressors
of the poor, the weak, and the stranger;1 but,
knowing that God—who is Lord of lords and
King of kings—can as easily cast down those who
are in power as he can exalt them, they will
"enact the laws in righteousness and execute
them in the fear of the Lord."
To see and to feel the force of these reason¬
ings it is necessary to think of the evils which a
bad man may inflict upon a nation. For ex¬
ample, a gifted man, full of cunning, deceit, and
selfishness, endowed with magnetic eloquence, can
so corrupt the legislation of a nation as to bring
upon it, in due time, the vengeance of Almighty
God, which always manifests itself by the sword,
the pestilence, or the famine. (Psalm cvii; Isaiah
ii, 5-21.) "He that ruleth over men must be
just, ruling in the fear of God." (2 Samuel
xxiii, 3.)
If the just man will bring blessings upon him¬
self, the just ruler will bring down from heaven
blessings upon the nation over which he rules.
1 Class legislation, race legislation, and bribery in the
courts of justice, may be regarded as crimes against hu¬
manity, which God will punish in due time, and in a
manner which his unerring wisdom may dictate.
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