  Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.—Isaiah lix. 14. When the press is gagged, liberty is besieged; but when the press assumes the liberty to lie, it discounts clemency, mocks morality, outrages humanity, breaks common law, gives impulse to violence, envy, and hate, [20] and prolongs the reign of inordinate, unprincipled clans. At this period, 1888, those quill-drivers whose consciences are in their pockets hold high carnival. When news- dealers shout for class legislation, and decapitated reputa- tions, headless trunks, and quivering hearts are held up [25] before the rabble in exchange for money, place, and power, the vox populi is suffocated, individual rights are trodden under foot, and the car of the modern In- quisition rolls along the streets besmeared with blood. Would not our Master say to the chief actors in scenes [1] like these, “Ye fools and blind!” Oh, tardy human justice! would you take away even woman's trembling, clinging faith in divine power? Who can roll away the stone from the door of this sepulchre? Who—but God's [5] avenging angel! In times like these it were well to lift the veil on the sackcloth of home, where weepeth the faithful, stricken mother, and the bruised father bendeth his aching head; where the bereft wife or husband, silent and alone, looks [10] in dull despair at the vacant seat, and the motherless little ones, wondering, huddle together, and repeat with quivering lips words of strange import. May the great Shepherd that “tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,” and binds up the wounds of bleeding hearts, just comfort, [15] encourage, and bless all who mourn. Father, we thank Thee that Thy light and Thy love reach earth, open the prison to them that are bound, con- sole the innocent, and throw wide the gates of heaven. |
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