cams_benton_b028_f012_002_024

24. [centered]

To all I counsel moderation, but firmness; caution, but energy.
Where real justice is impartially done, then are "law & order", & nowhere
else. The things, the realities, not the figments & shows, are what we want.
Keep a narrow watch upon public affairs & public men. The honest, able,
and manly among them challenge your scrutiny. You can not harm
them. Those who like not to be watched can easily resign.

For yourselves, set good examples; be calm, courteous, dignified. Let not
your conduct go to the debauching of the public sentiment, to the depravation
of the public morals. Frown on vice; walk in the majesty of virtue; clothe
yourselves in the panoply of righteousness.

Good laws, well administered are our best safeguards. Still keep this in
mind. It is a serious thing to set them the laws aside & override them, even
when they are poor, & not well administered; & even when we must; and always
should it be done in sorrow, not in anger.

We trust the time is at hand when we may dwell in peace & feel secure. And, that
we may so dwell; let all fear God, keep his laws, observe his sabbaths, worship
in his temples! Let us earnestly pray that law, broken & forgotten, may rise from
the dust, take on her beauty again, resume her robes of unstained ermine, & go forth on
her majestic march, strewing the land with blessings – that law, sacred, pure, &
holy, "whose seat is the bosom of God, whose voice is the harmony of
the worlds!"