God never overlooks rebellion against his throne--never pardons the rebel
until he repent and submit. God does not command us to forgive our
offending fellow-men, unless they repent. "If thy brother trespass against
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn to thee, saying,
I repent, thou shalt forgive him." God is in a forgiving attitude; so
ought we to be. But he does not _express_ forgiveness until the rebel
expresses penitence; neither are we under obligation to _pronounce_ an
enemy forgiven until he signify his compunction and sorrow, and desist
from his injurious conduct. If my child rebel against my law and my
rightful discipline, I am not allowed by the spirit of love to pursue him
with vengeance; neither am I bound by the law of God to release him from
the penalty of his sin, until he shall have exhibited signs of submission,
of sorrow, and of obedience. I may pity him, and cherish toward him the
_spirit_ of forgiveness; but for his own sake, for the order of the
household, and on account of my innate sense of justice, I must not
pronounce his acquittal, nor declare the controversy ended, until he shall
have satisfied my governmental authority, and the sentiment of justice
which both his own conscience and mine, constitutionally, and therefore by
necessity, cherish. And I do not see that Government can safely pardon a
rebel against its statutes, its honor and its common brotherhood, until
his rebellion cease; until he bow to law, confess his crime, and signify
his sorrow. I speak not of oppressive government, of iniquitous law; but
of _good_ government, of statutes healthful, humane, equal. Although in
the former case rebellion cannot be justified until every constitutional
measure has been resorted to for redress,--then, if redress be not given,
the voice of the people in all representative governments may legally
change oppressive for just laws, and oppressors for rulers who shall
regard the popular will. And in despotisms, when the people have the
_power_ to redress their wrongs, and to enter on a career of development
in mind and morals, in the arts of civilization,--when every other course