Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 7.djvu/282

278 time, and was telling thorn, "Pray, lest ye enter into temptation." Judas came and gave Him a kiss. To the cloven it seemed the friendly kiss, obeying "the will of God." To the marshal it also seemed a friendly kiss.—obeying "the law of man." So, in the same act, he obeys "the law of God" and "the will of man," and there is no "incompatibility!"

Of old it was said, "Thou canst not, serve God and mammon." He that said it has been thought to know something of morals,—something of religion.

Till the Fugitive Slave Law was passed, we did not know what a great saint Iscariot was. I think there ought to be a chapel for him, ard a day set apart in the calendar. Let him have his chapel in the navy-yard at Washington. He has got a priest there already. And for a day in the calendar—set apart for all time the 7th of March!

Let us look at some other things in that judge's address to the grand jury. "Unjust and oppressive laws may indeed be passed by human government. But if infinite and inscrutable wisdom permits political society … to establish such laws, may not the same wisdom permit and require individuals … to obey them?" Ask the prophets, in such a case, if they would have felt themselves permitted and required to obey them! Ask the men who were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection; who had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: who Were stoned and sawn asunder; who were slain with the sword; who wandered about in sheepskins and goat-skins, destitute, afflicted, and tormented, of Whom the world was not worthy! Ask the apostles, who thanked God they were count; A worthy to suffer shame in the name of Christ! Ask Paul, who was eight times publicly beaten, thrice shipwrecked; and in perils of waters, of robbers, of the heathen, of false brethren—that worst of all peril! Nay, ask Christ; let the Crucified reply,—whether, when a wicked law is made, and we are commanded to keep it, God means we should! Ask the men who, with their ocean-wearied feet, consecrated the rock of Plymouth for ever! Ask the patriots of the revolution! What do they say? I will not give the answer.