Show THE HIGHER LAW so maxy MANY other topics of public interest have been presented for consideration that we have not had space for comment on the remarks of judge zane in sentencing elder abram H cannon to the full penalty of thelah thy law for living with and supporting nis his wives in response to the question whether he intended to te obey the law in f future brother cannon stated his religious convictions and his acknowledgment of a higher law than that of man namely the law of god judge zane thereupon gave the defendant a severe and heated lecture of considerable length and waxed particularly ticul arly vehement in its enunciation after explaining the discretion vested in the court to make the punishment light or heavy up to a fixed maximum and to omit either the fine or the imprisonment altogether judee zane proceeded to inflict the full fall penalties of both fine and imprisonment the belief of the defendant in the hi hiher higher her law he said could not be considered in his favor it would rather seem to aggravate the offense this may be the view taken by a mission judge but we do not think it is conson consonant aut with justice nor with the liberty in matters of religion which I 1 is 8 breathed in tile the spirit and embodied in the letter of the american constitution that the belief of the defendant was sincere was evidenced by his f furnishing ur the testimony which convicted him anahis and his willingness to suffer the extreme penal penalties ties ot of the law rather than abjure his fait faith h the acts of the defendant self admitted were an infract infraction io n of a special law punishment of course cours ewas was expected to follow conviction but hat it does not appear to a common mind that the defendants honest belief that he was doing right was an aggravation of his offense on the aryit looks as though that should work some mitigation of the penalty when a man does a thing considered by persons in power to be wrong under berthe the unshaken conviction that it was right we do not think that justice would claim he be was deserving deservi n g of heavier punishment th than a n if h he e had known the action was evil the very verv essence of crime is in the intent and ana the purpose to obey what one believes to be a command of god even if it involves the infraction of a law of man cannot be as essentially criminal as the violation of a law without a doubt as to the validity and propriety of that law that the law of god ged is superior to the law ot of man does not seem to be open to dispute people may differ as to their understanding of ef what is divine law as well as of what is sound human dawg law but he be who believes in a god and is sure that a given commandment has come from deity would be irrational not to prefer it to a man made edict the higher law must of necessity to him be paramount and though his bis conviction of its divinity may be shared by others yet his acts springing from his faith faich though obnoxious to secular enactment cannot be as essentially criminal hs as if uninfluenced fluen ced by such assurance to punish him more therefore because of his undoubtedly sincere belief than if he did not entertain it is manifestly improper for it makes faith crimi criminal nul and thought subject to the civil power and it will not avail to argue that severity is needed to correct wrong belief it never did have that effect t and it is sate sale to say that it never will anen a man knows he is singled out for extreme punishment more for his belief than for the acts resulting from it he be naturally resists the wrong in his inmost soul and becomes confirmed in his faith he considers that it cannot be conquered by reason and therefore it is assailed by by force and concludes on that very ground that it must be rig right h t such deep rooted convictions as aa sway the minds of mor imor mon defendants cannot be reached by the hand of the secular ladnor touched by its penalties however harsh and extreme only reason and revelation will affect them and these are apparently outside of the jurisdiction of the federal courts in utah judge zane repeated the very stale and very feeble argument that if the plea of religion was allowed to prevail human sacrifices could be ca claimed a aimed to be right and all manner of crimes could be perpetrated perpetrate ct under the guitie of religion this has been answered so many times that it would be superfluous for us to say more than khatun less that which claims to be religion leans those who practice it to invade the rights of some human being to lite lile libert liberty yand and the pursuit of happiness it cannot truly be denounced as criminal that which pro promotes life cannot be classed with that which destroys life nor malum with malum in inse se judge zanes statement that the religion of the defendant is one of the barbarisms barbari sms that have been swept away is simply an egregious error and all his remarks bi based sed upon it are outside of the question a heathen polygamy and mormon plurality of wives are not alike they cannot truly be considered as similar invectives against the for former mer fall harmless on the I 1 latter the rules rales and precepts which regulate our modern system protect it from the evils that prevailed in barbarous commom commini ties and though there may be exceptional wrongs in mormon households not to be mentioned however with the multitude of greater wrongs in ma society the system is not modeled after the barbaric mode of antiquity nor the oriental methods of less remote ages it is rali radically cally different from either and must be tae examined and judged upon its own merits therefore all the talk about gathering up old customs and practices out of of the rubbish of bygone by gone barbarism and bygone by gone agasto palm them upon a free and civilized peo people ile 11 is so much rot an and d f ustian fustian what gat the latter day saints khints believe has come down fresh and pure f from row the fountain of all intelligence telli gence and is ad adapted apt e d to the times in which we live a and d the progress which the world has made but it Is not in harmony with the vice and degrading customs and habits of what is falsely called civilization and hence the conflict yet it does not seek to palm itself on any person or association there is nothing in it which does not affiliate with every sentiment senti of the declaration of independence and tile the attempt of judge zane to cause it to contrast with the equality of man and woman hand in n hand together is so much claptrap clap trap it opens th the e W way a y tor or a all good women in the society 1 e tv where it is received to go hand band in ha hand d with in man a forever and if ff allowed to work out its mission unimpeded would sweep away in one community at least those beastly barbarisms barbari sms of sexual impurity which are fostered and protected by modern civilization 1 11 and which are the c curse arse of the race and a consuming cancer in the very vitals of modern society As to abraham a very incomplete of whose life and family associations ciati ons has come down f from rom antiquity it may suit judge zanes zane I 1 s purpose to berate and belittle him but une one whose judgment I 1 is even higher and more exalted than that of a federal court iu in a territory has settled the question for all who believe in the verity of the sacred record the inspired writer says and the lord said shall I 1 hide from abraham that thing which I 1 do seeing that abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth snail be blessed in hina him for I 1 know him that he be wi hii 1 I command his bis children and his bis household after him and they shall keep the way of the lord to do justice and judgment that the lord way may bring upon abraham that which he be hath of him genesis 1719 17 19 when small human judges come into the presence of the heavenly court of last resort they will be ver very y happy fi they are prepared for the sweet rest in I 1 abrahams bosom and when the final reward comes if they can sit down in the kingdom of god with abraham isaac and jacob they win will count themselves for ever blessed but there is an irrevocable decree which voicing the eternal eterna 1 law of compensation says with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged Judge dand and the measure ye mete out to others shall be measured to you again pressed down and running ril over I 1 in ff that day abraham the latter day saint will meet with abraham the patriarch and those who faithfully keep 4 the higher law under every trial will receive the plaudits pl audits and reap the rewards in the gift of the almighty lawgiver ai V er who is judge and lord of the W whole h ole universe |