| Show SELF DEFENCE seli SELF derence DEFENCE has been called the first law of nature when a man is attacked meanly unjustly with a fell intent with a premeditatedly wicked purpose he is tacitly allowed a large choice in his method and means of defence A large portion of this community individually and personally or representatively are attacked in this way every technicality is taken advantage 9 e of to prosecute to and convict usand it itis is our perfect night hight if ir we choose to exercise it to take ad advantage van of every technicality that the law permits peral ts in defending ourselves we are contending for our constitutional rights and privileges our liberties our lives our loving wives and our prattling children our homes and our possessions our hearth stones and our family a altans altars tars our religion and our god our all ill in this we life and that which is to come and it is at our own discretion to exhaust exham st every available human I 1 resource in contending for and defending them and when those are exhausted if th the fight still goes against us it is ours to put our trust in a righteous godsho does as it pleases him in the armies of heaven and among C the inhabitants of the earth it is liberty and peace truth band hand and righteousness that we ar are e seeking after and contending for and we desire to find them if they are to be found and establish them upon this earth earth if it is possible for them to be established here that righteousness may cover the earth as the waters cover the face of the mighty deep and that the will of god may be done on earth as it is done in heaven this is really our sole business and to it we purpose to devote our lives our energies and our fortunes this is only propel business of every people in every land and wherein they fall fail in pursuing it they fall fail in realizing their highest privilege achieving their greatest duty and in attaining to that perfection and that glory which are within their reach in our pursuit cf these objects wo we are a aggressively gres ively antio antin annoyed on oil every ilan iian hand and attacked in in every way we are continually harassed by malicious litigation not only is every technical advantage taken of us but every mean advantage when wo we break no law then is a law made on purpose for us to break brea a law which the mak makers ers err espres expressly intended to be of a kind which they knew our religion would not permit us to keep congress is pestered and urged urged to give all ruling power into the hands bands of our enemies our aggressive enemies who pant like a pack of hounds for the signal to destroy us they have urged congress to pa pass cs against us special proscriptive prescriptive laws of a most sweeping character for our religions sake they deny us the right of naturalization for our religions sake they seek to exclude us from all office from the jury box from trial by any but our enemies from the suffrage for our religions sake they seek to make us guilty before forea a specially prepared and procured unconstitutional law that they tiley may despoil us olour of our wives and our children our houses and our lands our liberties and our rights and a nd hold hells carnival in our peaceful habitations for the sake of our religion they have sought to have laws framed so that we should become legal prey and that it would be the express duty of the courts to prey upon us for the sake of our curreli rell reli gion our judge is our avowed aggressive enemy for the sake of our religion region 11 our prosecutor is our avowed aggressive gres sive enemy for the sake of our religion our executive officers are our avowed aggressive enemies for the sake of our religion our aggressive enemies and their sympathizers although they number not a tenth of the people are made half possibly more of the juries that are to indict and try us we do de not know that we have any more moire bravery courage or fortitude than other people we may or may not be averagely endowed in those respects but we should like to do the best we can with what little or of tho those qualities we may be blessed with and exercise them when and where they will do the most good we may bo harassed and persecuted worried and worn out our sub stance litigiously eaten up and our liberties taken away from us but wo we do not mean to give up our religion if the worst comes to the worst we hope to be able to abide by our convictions and meet the consequences as best we may if it be fines and bonds so be it they are not so bad as it would be to violate our conscience and deny our god and this we mean not to do I 1 he being our helper it is better to fear god than man if we are pushed to the wall we hope to be strengthened to show the american people a spectacle that will cause them to be thoroughly ashamed of the shafts hurled buried at us then will come the reaction in which our malicious persecutors will be overwhelmed in the mighty volumes of merited contempt which will be poured out upon them and the nation at large will be likely to rise to a broader more liberal minded more generous life when we are attacked in this way we have every natural and moral right to take advantage of every available circumstance in defending ourselves in emergencies at our discretion I 1 and this ibis is a matter in which our known ene eue lie lle need not expect to be consul ted nor to have their heeded we are assured that if wo we endure to the end we shall be saved and if we do our best and put our in the almighty we shall tri trl triumph for to us will be the victory and we shall be brought atmore off more moro than conquerors in the end |
