Page:The Moral and Religious Bearings of the Corn Law.djvu/5

 1 KINGS v. 10—12.

is the duty of a minister to state and apply the principles of christian morals, to denounce sin, to rebuke iniquity, whether legal or illegal, whether in high places or in low. The Corn Law appears to me a sinful and wicked thing, and therefore I denounce and rebuke it. The fact of its being a law, so far from constituting a reason for not meddling with it, seems to be just the strongest possible reason for doing so. It is its legal character and operation which makes it the mischievous thing it is, and which involves in it the moral character of the country. If it were some private or personal sin, its guilt would be confined to an individual or a class, and its consequent miseries would be local and limited; but, inasmuch as it is the enactment of a great country, millions participate in its wickedness and its woe. Besides, my religion teaches me charity to the poor. The gospel requires this as a sign and evidence of its operation. Now the poor are deeply