264 Tke Plan of the Ages.
ing authority and turning it to base ends they gay* fr- those governments their beastly character. Every governmcn has had a majority of wise, just and good laws laws for the protection of life and property, for the protection of domestic and commercial interests, for the punishment of crime, etc. They have also had courts if appeal in mat- ters of dispute, where justice is meted out tc some extent, at least; and however imperfe<5t those in office maybe, the advantage and necessity for such institutions is apparent. Poor as these governments have been, without them the baser element of society would, by force of numbers, have overcome the juster, better element.
While, therefore, we recognize the beastly character of these governments, as rendered so by the exaltation to power of a majority of unrighteous rulers, through the in- trigues and deceptions of Satan, operating through man's weaknesses and depraved tastes and ideas, yet we recognize them as the best efforts of poor, fallen humanity at governing itself. Century after century God has allowed them to make the effort, and to see the results. But after centuries of experiment, the results are as far from satisfac- tory to-day as at any period of the world's history.* In fa<5t, the dissatisfaction is more general and widespread than ever before ; not because there is more oppression and in- justice than ever, but because, under God's arrangement, men's eyes are being opened by the increase of knowledge.
The various governments which have been established from time to time have exhibited the average ability of the people represented by them to govern themselves. Even where despotic governments have existed, the fsu5t that they have been tolerated by the masses proved that as a people they were not capable of establishing and supporting a bet- ter government, though many individuals were always, doubtless, far in advance of the average standing.
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