that it is _fallible_, especially when the rights of others are concerned, [that is, the right to kidnap men] _and may lead us to do great injustice_, [by refusing to punish a man who helps his brother enjoy his self-evident, natural, and unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness]. The annals of the world abound with enormities committed by a narrow and darkened conscience." A _statute_ "is the moral judgment, the _embodied conscience of the political community_, [the fugitive slave bill the 'embodied conscience' of New England]. To this not only is each individual bound to submit, [right or wrong,] but it is a new and _controlling element in forming his own moral judgment_;" [that is, he must _think_ the statute is just]. "Obedience is a _moral duty_, [no matter how immoral the law may be]. _This is as certain as that the Creator made man a social being_;" "to _obey the laws of the land_ [no matter what laws, or how wicked soever] _is, then, to obey the Will of God_!" [Footnote 116: Words of Chief Justice Parker, in _Commonwealth_ vs. _Griffith_, 2 Pickering's Reports, 19, cited with approbation by Chief Justice Shaw, in the Sims case, 7 Cushing's Reports, 705, and also cited from him and acted on by fugitive slave bill Commissioner Loring, in the Burns case.] Gentlemen of the Jury, you think I have imagined and made up this language out of my own fancy. No, Gentlemen, I could not do it. I have not the genius for such sophistry. I only quote the words of the Hon. Judge Peleg Sprague delivered to the grand-jury of this Circuit Court of United States at Boston, March 18, 1851.[117] Gentlemen, I showed you what Thurlow could say at Horne Tooke's trial on the 4th of July, 1777. Nay, I quoted the words of Powis and Allybone, and Scroggs and Jeffreys.[118] But, Gentlemen, the judge of New England transcends the judges of Old England. [Footnote 117: See _Boston Daily Advertiser_ of March 19, 1851.] [Footnote 118: See above, p. 33, 37, _et al._] 3. Having made this general preparation for his work and shaped his vessel to the proper form, he proceeds to fill it with the requisite matter. (1.) He practically makes the Law just as he likes, so as to suit the general purpose of the government, or the special purpose of his private vengeance or ambition. Thus, a. Out of the whole complex of law--statutes, decisions, customs, charges, opinions of judicial men, since the Norman conquest or before it,--he selects that special weapon which will serve his present turn. And tells the jury, "that is the law which you are sworn to enforce. I have not made it--it is the _Lex terrae_, the Law of the Land." Or if in such an arsenal, so copious, he finds no weapon ready made, then