Word of God
in the New Testament the phrase "word of God" is translated from the Greek words "logon tou theos", as we see in Mark 7:13, where logon from logos, means the "right reason" of God.
Word of God
The Word of God is a manifestation of the mind and will of God.
Scripture, on the other hand, is merely writings inspired by God and Holy, in the sense separated from other writings. As the sacred writings of the Christian religions it is talking about the right reason of God.
Jesus is called the "Word of God" and as the Word or "Logos" or right reason of God he is independent of the opinions of man. Yet men have opinions about what the words mean and using those words may formulate the doctrines of men.
Because Scripture is the product of revelation by the Holy Spirit it can only be truly interpreted by that same Holy Spirit of God and is not subject to private interpretation any more than the Natural Law can be altered by the opinions or words of men.
Recording In 2010 with a timeless message or press play
They are unchangable in a cause and effect universe while the "legal systems" which we may call "law" are ever changing because they are only created by men through contracts, covenants, and constitutions by consent.
“Civil Law, Roman Law, and Roman Civil Law are convertible phrases, meaning the same system of jurisprudence.”[1]
There are some who want to turn the Torah which was an attempt to explain the Law of Nature and nature's God into a legal system through private interpretation.
That, of course, is a mistake or sin as Christ tried to explain to the Pharisees the same law as the Logos.
Keys of the Kingdom Natural law part 1 and 2
Keys of the Kingdom Sabbath Hour Natural law part 3
The Law of Nature
The freedom or bondage of men is not always the result of the actions of tyrants but is the product of the habitual rebellion to the Law of Nature, and Nature's God.
While violation of the laws and customs of the governments that men establish for themselves may bring about incarceration, it is the rebellion to that fundamental law that pre existed mankind and is also not subject to the opinions of men that will forever determine the outcome of freedom or bondage for men.
That universal law is the Law of Nature according to cause and effect which takes many forms, such as:
- "As we judge so shall we be judged."
- If we choose to bite one another we are likely to be devoured.
” If we enslave our neighbor through covetous practices we will be made merchandise.
"Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator... This will of his Maker is called the law of nature... This law of nature...is of course superior to any other... No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this: and such of them as are valid derive all their force... from this original." - Sir William Blackstone[2]
The Law of Nature, Natural law, Right Reason, Divine Will, the Will of God, the Word of God or the Logos of Christ are often seen as convertible phrases. The "perfect law of liberty" allows the individual to pursue the happiness of the law.
"Where [there is] no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy [is] he." Proverbs 29:18
While that Natural law preexisted mankind, man is subject to it just as he is subject to the laws of physics.
Understanding that Natural law, how it works, and its limitation and powers allows mankind to seek "the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle". Declaration of Independence.
The Law of Nature or Natural Law is defined as, “The divine will, or the dictate of right reason, showing the moral deformity or moral necessity that there is in any act, according to its suitableness or un-suitableness to a reasonable nature. Sometimes used of the law of human reason, in contradistinction to the revealed law, and sometimes of both, in contradistinction to positive law.”[3]
Cicero
- "True law is right reason in agreement with Nature; it is of universal application. Unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions... It is a sin to try to alter this law, nor is it allowable to repeal any part of it, and it is impossible to abolish entirely. We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws at Rome and Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he will suffer the worst punishment." Marco Tullius Cicero, On The Republic (54 BC)
"True law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions..."
- Cicero (De leg., I, v) tells us "Nos ad justitiam esse natos, neque opinione sed natura constitutum esse jus" (i. e. Justice is natural, not the effect of opinion ).
Cicero went on to say:
- "There is in fact a true law - namely right reason - which is in accordance with nature, applies to all men, and is unchangeable and eternal. By its commands this law summons men to the performance of their duties. By its prohibitions, it restrains them from doing wrong. Its commands and prohibitions always influence good men, but are without effect upon the bad.
- "To invalidate this law of human legislation is never morally right, nor is it permissible ever to restrict its operation, and to annul it is impossible. Neither the Senate nor the people can absolve us from our obligation to obey this law, and it requires no Sextus Aelms[4] to expound and interpret it. It will not lay down one rule at Rome and another at Athens, nor will it be one rule today and another tomorrow.
- "But there will be one law, eternal and unchangeable, binding at all times and upon all peoples; and there will be, as it were, one common master and ruler of mankind, namely God, who is the author of this law, its interpreter, and its sponsor. The man who will not obey it will abandon his better self, and, in denying the true nature of a man will thereby suffer the severest of penalties, though he has escaped all the other consequences which men call punishments."
Aquinas
Aristotle believed the existence of a natural justice that is equally valid everywhere, positive, and is "not existing by people thinking this or that."
Stephen Buckle, a fan of Thomas Aquinas, (1224/25–1274 CE), wrote in 1991 in His "Natural Law and Theory of Property":
- "The idea of Natural law is sometimes described as the view that there is an unchanging, normative order that is part of the natural world"
The natural law, according to Aquinas, has certain precepts or dictates by the creator that are knowable to any human by right reason but are unchangeable by him.
- “It is only God who creates. Man merely rearranges.” ~ Thomas Aquinas
Aquinas argues any "rearranges" or legal additions are only, "things for the benefit of human life [which] have been added over and above the natural law, both by Divine law and by human laws" ( ST I-II, 94, 5 ).
By "Eternal Law" Aquinas seems to mean God's rational plan, pattern, and purpose "for all things" which also appears to coincide with the Logos of Christ as the "Word of God".
"Law is an ordination of reason, by the proper authority, for the common good, and promulgated." ~ Thomas Aquinas
"A man's heart is right when he wills what God wills." ~ Thomas Aquinas
Napolitano
Judge Andrew P. Napolitano as a Libertarian willing to have the discussion presented what he sees as the difference between Natural Law and Legislated Law the waving of rights, by actions, contract and/or the consent of the people.
Can you voluntarily surrender access to rights by contract?
Is he right about "We the People"?
Is he right about no one alive today has consented?
Do they steal rights or do we sell them by consent?
Is consent by violation of the law?
Aesop said, “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.”
If we elect thieves to steal for us are we not coconspirators in the robbery?
If so, are there other Natural laws that are equal to his example of robbery?
Is there not the same forfeiture of rights with other natural usurpation?
And if by contract where are the terms?
Can darkness be imposed or is it merely desired?[5]
Defined law
Natural law, or the defined law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis), is a system of law that is determined by nature, and so is universal.
Classically, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature — both social and personal — and deduce binding rules of moral behavior from it.
Natural law is often contrasted with the positive law of a given political community, society, or state.
“3. Law of nature, is a rule of conduct arising out of the natural relations of human beings established by the Creator, and existing prior to any positive precept. Thus it is a law of nature, that one man should not injure another, and murder and fraud would be crimes, independent of any prohibition from a supreme power." Webster.
The Natural law, Law of Nature, and "Divine Will" are convertible phrases, meaning Right reason because "The foundation of this law is placed by the best writers in the will of God, discovered by right reason, and aided by divine revelation; and its principles, when applicable, apply with equal obligation to individuals and to nations." 1 Kent, Comm. 2, note; Id 4, note. See Jus NATURALE.
"Man has been subjected by his Creator to the moral law, of which his feelings, or conscience as it is sometimes called, are the evidence with which his Creator has furnished him .... The moral duties which exist between individual and individual in a state of nature, accompany them into a state of society. their Maker not having released them from those duties on their forming themselves into a nation." Thomas Jefferson.
"The rule and dictate of right reason, showing the moral deformity or moral necessity there is in any act, according to its suitableness or unsuitableness to a reasonable nature." Tayl. Civil Law, 99.
Point of departure
The point of departure for this conception was the Stoic doctrine of a life ordered “according to nature,” which in its turn rested upon the purely supposititious existence, in primitive times, of a “state of nature;” that is, a condition of society in which men universally were governed solely by a rational and consistent obedience to the needs, impulses, and promptings of their true nature, such nature being as yet undefaced by dishonesty, falsehood, or indulgence of the baser passions. In ethics, it consists in practical universal judgments which man himself elicits. These express necessary and obligatory rules of human conduct which have been established by the author of human nature as essential to the divine purposes in the universe and have been promulgated by God solely through human reason...
We understand all laws to be either human or divine, according as they have man or God for their author; and divine laws are of two kinds, that is to say: (1) Natural laws; (2) positive or revealed laws. [6]
A natural law is defined by Burlamaqui to be “a rule which so necessarily agrees with the nature and state of man that, without observing its maxims, the peace and happiness of society can never be preserved.” The knowledge of “natural laws” may be attained merely by the light of right reason by the unbiased observation of human nature. The positive or revealed laws are not founded upon mere human observations but only upon the revealed will of God or knowledge of God.[7]
John Locke
John Locke and the Law of Nature:
“For though the law of nature be plain and intelligible to all rational creatures; yet men, being biased by their interest, as well as ignorant for want of study of it, are not apt to allow of it as a law binding to them in the application of it to their particular cases.” John Locke, English philosopher.
John Locke believed that if a ruler goes against natural law and fails to protect “life, liberty, and property,” then the people are justified in overthrowing the existing state. But if they have already waived their right to property, plotted to take the liberty of others they may also forfeit their life.
But the question must be answered concerning the morals of the lawmaker if “a rule which so necessarily agrees with the nature and state of man that, without observing its maxims, the peace and happiness of society can never be preserved.” The Principles of Natural Law is a primary source for the ideas found expressed in the Declaration of Independence by Jean Jacques Burlamaqui (1694-1748), a Swiss jurist.
John Locke refuted the theory of the divine right of kings and argued that all persons are endowed with natural rights to life, liberty, and property. The only way the people get the right to govern anyone else other than themselves is when the people give their consent. John Locke's social contract held that the obligation to obey civil government under the social contract was conditional upon the protection of the natural rights of each person, including the right to private property.
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom."-John Locke
The rulers who fail to protect those rights may be removed by the people, even by force if necessary, but the right of property through debt and obligation may limit the powers of the people through reciprocity which can establish hierarchy if the debt is not repaid.
- He who receives the benefit should also bear the disadvantage.
- Cujus est commodum ejus debet esse incommodum.
- He who has the risk has the dominion or advantage.
- Ejus est periculum cujus est dominium aut commodum.
- "It is natural for a thing to be unbound in the same way in which it was bound."
- Naturale est quidlibet dissolvi eo modo quo ligatur. Jenk. Cent. 66; Broom, Max. 877.
Locke favored a representative government such as the English Parliament, which had a hereditary House of Lords and an elected House of Commons. But he wanted representatives to be only men of property and business. Consequently, only adult male property owners should have the right to vote.
Quotes
"The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom."-John Locke
“Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.” Each of us, Locke argued, has “a property in” his or her person, and that property is inalienable, that is, it cannot be transferred to another.
"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another." -John Locke
Common Law
Although natural law is often conflated with common law, the two are distinct in that natural law is a view that certain rights or values are inherent in or universally cognizable by virtue of human reason or human nature, while common law is the legal tradition whereby certain rights or values are legally cognizable by virtue of judicial recognition or articulation.
- "Many things have been introduced into the common law, with a view to the public good, which are inconsistent with sound reason."
- Multa in jure communi contra rationem disputandi pro communi ultilitate introducta sunt. Co. Litt. 70; Broom's Max. 67; 2 Co. R. 75. See 3 T. R. 146; 7 T. R. 252.
Legal charity was introduced into common law from Lady Godiva to Alexis de Tocqueville and implemented by men from Cain and Nimrod to Herod and FDR.
Natural rights professes itself to be "the presumption of liberty" but while man "biased by their interest, as well as ignorant for want of study of it" may find the covetous practices of the past and present presumably acceptable though it is listed with robbery, fraud, and murder.
Jus naturale
- This expression, “natural law,” or jus naturale, was largely used in the philosophical speculations of the Roman jurists of the Antonine age[8], and was intended to denote a system of rules and principles for the guidance of human conduct which, independently of enacted law or of the systems peculiar to any one people, might be discovered by the rational intelligence of man, and would be found to grow out of and conform to his nature, meaning by that word his whole mental, moral, and physical constitution.
- "The law of nature is a dictate of right reason, which points out that an act, according as it is or is not in conformity with rational nature, has in it a quality of moral baseness or moral necessity; and that, in consequence, such an act is either forbidden or enjoined." Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius defining natural law
- "We understand all laws to be either human or divine, according as they have man or God for their author, and divine laws are of two kinds, that is to say: first, natural laws; (and) second, positive or revealed laws." Natural law, and the words adopted by Justice Scott of the Supreme Court of Arkansas in 1850-51, from Borden et. al. v State.
- "A natural law is defined ... to be a rule which so necessarily agrees with the nature and state of man, that, without observing its maxims, the peace and happiness of society can never be preserved... These are called natural laws because a knowledge of them may be attained merely by the light of reason, from the fact of their essential agreeableness with the constitution of human nature: while, on the contrary, positive or revealed laws are not founded upon the general constitution of human nature but only upon the will of God; though in other respects such law is established upon very good reason and procures the advantage of those to whom it is sent."[9]
While, many people think and Frank Mobbs states, "if one knows something by faith, it then cannot be an item of natural law"[10]. this cannot be true for faith may be reasonable even though we do not know the reason. Even John Paul counters the claim in both Veritatis Splendor and Fides et Ratio.
While the Will of God is the Word of God, which is the Logos of God which is right reason, the discovery of right reason must flow from the source or "Tree of life, and never solely from the mind of man, or Tree of Knowledge alone.
True faith is in the light of reason because it is the result of revelation born of the Holy Spirit without the bias of man because he loves the light more than the darkness.[11]
Taken from William Blackstone the Introduction to Book 1 of his Commentaries on the Law of England (1756):
- "(The) will of (man's) maker is called the law of nature. For as God, when He created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion. So, when he created man, and endued him with freewill to conduct himself in all parts of life, he laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that freewill is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws....
- "These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the creator himself in all his dispensations conforms; and which he has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such among others are these principles: that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to every one his due."
In his 1901 dictionary, Walter Shumaker proposed this description of natural law:
- "NATURAL LAW. The law of nature; the divine will, or the dictate of right reason, showing the moral deformity or moral necessity there is in any act, according to its suitableness or unsuitableness to a reasonable nature. Sometimes used of the law of human reason, in contradistinction to the revealed law, and sometimes of both, in contradistinction to positive law. They are independent of any artificial connections, and differ from mere presumptions of law in this essential respect, that the latter depend on and are a branch of the particular system of jurisprudence to which they belong; but mere natural presumptions are derived wholly by means of the common experience of mankind, without the aid or control of any particular rule of law, but simply from the course of nature and the habits of society. These presumptions fall within the exclusive province of the jury, who are to pass upon the facts."
Justice Nation of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in Re Indian Residential Schools:
- "Natural Law is ... a code of rules which originates with the divine, nature or reason in contrast to the laws people make.
- "Although the cases cited by the Plaintiffs have considered natural law in interpreting legislation, that does not convert natural law into a recognized part of the law in either Alberta or Canada. Nor does it create a positive duty on the Defendant Canada.
- "Consequently, even if I assume all of the pleadings to be true and apply the most liberal reading thereto, I cannot conclude that a breach of natural law by itself constitutes a cause of action."
Appears in the Bible
1 Samuel 9:27 And as they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a while, that I may shew thee the word of God.
1 Kings 12:22 But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
1 Chronicles 17:3 And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Luke 3:2 Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Luke 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
Luke 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luke 8:21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
Luke 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
John 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Acts 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:
Acts 11:1 And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
Acts 12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
Acts 13:5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
Acts 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Acts 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Acts 13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Acts 17:13 But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people.
Acts 18:11 And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Acts 19:20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
Romans 9:6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
1 Corinthians 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
2 Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Colossians 1:25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
1 Thessalonians 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
1 Timothy 4:5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
2 Timothy 2:9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
Titus 2:5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Hebrews 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
2 Peter 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
1 John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Revelation 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Revelation 1:9 I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Revelation 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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Footnotes
- ↑ Black’s 3rd p 332.
- ↑ "Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. A being independent of any other, has no rule to pursue, but such as he prescribes to himself; but a state of dependence will inevitably oblige the inferior to take the will of him, on whom he depends, as the rule of his conduct: not indeed in every particular, but in all those points wherein his dependence consists. This principle therefore has more or less extent and effect, in proportion as the superiority of the one and the dependence of the other is greater or less, absolute or limited. And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker's will.
This will of his maker is called the law of nature. For as God, when he created matter, and endued it with a principle of mobility, established certain rules for the perpetual direction of that motion; so, when he created man, and endued him with freewill to conduct himself in all parts of life, he laid down certain immutable laws of human nature, whereby that freewill is in some degree regulated and restrained, and gave him also the faculty of reason to discover the purport of those laws.
Considering the creator only as a being of infinite power, he was able unquestionably to have prescribed whatever laws he pleased to his creature, man, however unjust or severe. But as he is also a being of infinite wisdom, he has laid down only such laws as were founded in those relations of justice, that existed in the nature of things antecedent to any positive precept. These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the creator himself in all his dispensations conforms; and which he has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions. Such among others are these principles: that we should live honestly, should hurt nobody, and should render to every one his due; to which three general precepts Justinian has reduced the whole doctrine of law.
But if the discovery of these first principles of the law of nature depended only upon the due exertion of right reason, and could not otherwise be obtained than by a chain of metaphysical disquisitions, mankind would have wanted some inducement to have quickened their inquiries, and the greater part of the world would have rested content in mental indolence, and ignorance it's inseparable companion. As therefore the creator is a being, not only of infinite power, and wisdom, but also of infinite goodness, he has been pleased so to contrive the constitution and frame of humanity, that we should want no other prompter to inquire after and pursue the rule of right, but only our own self-love, that universal principle of action. For he has so intimately connected, so inseparably interwoven the laws of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual, that the latter cannot be attained but by observing the former; and, if the former be punctually obeyed, it cannot but induce the latter. In consequence of which mutual connection of justice and human felicity, he has not perplexed the law of nature with a multitude of abstracted rules and precepts, referring merely to the fitness or unfitness of things, as some have vainly surmised; but has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this on one paternal precept, ``that man should pursue his own true and substantial happiness. This is the foundation of what we call ethics, or natural law. For the several articles into which it is branched in our systems, amount to no more than demonstrating, that this or that action tends to man's real happiness, and therefore very justly concluding that the performance of it is a part of the law of nature; or, on the other hand, that this or that action is destructive of man's real happiness, and therefore that the law of nature forbids it.
This law of nature, being coeval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; an such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original." Of the Nature of Laws in General, Commentaries on the Law of England, Sir William Blackstone, Introduction, Section 2. - ↑ 1.3 Bouvier, Inst. n. 3064; Greanleaf, Ev. É 44.
- ↑ Sextius Aelius Catus was a Roman senator and consul ordinarius
- ↑ Matthew 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
- Luke 1:79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
- Luke 11:34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. 35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
- John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
- ↑ A Law Dictionary: Henry Campbell Black. West Publishing Company, 1910 - Law - 1314 pages.
- ↑ Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
- ↑ The Age of the Antonines was under the rule of the Four or Five Good Emperors; Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus.
- ↑ Jean Jacques Burlamaqui
- ↑ Is Natural Law Contained in Revelation? Frank Mobbs
- ↑ John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
- John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
- John 12:46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.
- 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
- 1 John 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
- 1 John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
- Revelation 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
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