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_Right and Wrong, or Good and Evil, or God and the Devil_] _does not exist_! Unjust and oppressive laws _may indeed be passed_ by human governments. But if _Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom permits political society_, having the power of human legislation, _to establish such laws, may not the same Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom permit and require an individual_, who has no such power, _to obey them_?" [So "if Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom permits" a Blacksmith "having the power" to forge steel and temper it, to make daggers, "may not the same Infinite and Inscrutable Wisdom permit and require the individual" carpenter or tailor, who has no such power, to use the dagger for the purpose intended!] "Conscience, indeed, is to be reverenced, and obeyed; but still we must remember that it is _fallible_, especially when the rights of others are concerned, [that is, the right to kidnap men] _and may lead us to do great injustice_, [by refusing to punish a man who helps his brother enjoy his self-evident, natural, and unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]. The annals of the world abound with enormities committed by a narrow and darkened conscience." A _statute_ "is the moral judgment, the _embodied conscience of the political community_, [the fugitive slave bill the 'embodied conscience' of New England]. To this not only is each individual bound to submit, [right or wrong,] but it is a new and _controlling element in forming his own moral judgment_;" [that is, he must _think_ the statute is just]. "Obedience is a _moral duty_, [no matter how immoral the law may be]. _This is as certain as that the Creator made man a social being_;" "to _obey the laws of the land_ [no matter what laws, or how wicked soever] _is, then, to obey the Will of God_!" [Footnote 116: Words of Chief Justice Parker, in _Commonwealth_ vs. _Griffith_, 2 Pickering's Reports, 19, cited with approbation by Chief Justice Shaw, in the Sims case, 7 Cushing's Reports, 705, and also cited from him and acted on by fugitive slave bill Commissioner Loring, in the Burns case.] Gentlemen of the Jury, you think I have imagined and made up this language out of my own fancy. No, Gentlemen, I could not do it. I have not the genius for such sophistry. I only quote the words of the Hon. Judge Peleg Sprague delivered to the grand-jury of this Circuit Court of United States at Boston, March 18, 1851.[117] Gentlemen, I showed you what Thurlow cou
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