The Easy Index
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Laws in General
I. It is of the province of theology to consider God in all His manifestations, and among these as Supreme Legislator. He is the first law-giver, is Himself the law, and is the source whence all other laws, and their sanctity, and their binding force proceed. God is Law as being the exemplar to which all our life must be conformed. The ideas and decrees of God, which are to rule our existence, are revealed in the different laws given to us in the natural law, the moral law, the religious law, the civil law, and in the unwritten laws of progress, health, economics, commerce, and so on. Human actions and their principles, which are man's steps of progress towards his ultimate goal, are closely connected with Law. Conscience, which is our internal guide, must go hand in hand with Law, our external guide, and must be in great measure moulded by it. Our obligations, our rule of right and wrong, the accomplishment of our destiny as citizens of this world and of God's kingdom, are associated at every step with Law. We need to understand its origin, its basis, its obligatory force, its sanctions. Ask God to enlighten you to understand and to respect all law. Let the law of God in all its different forms be your delight and your meditation night and day ; so that you may not be misled into following that law of the members which fights against the law of the mind, and which is a law of death.
II. Consider the nature of Law in the abstract.
1. It is a general regulation for our actions, right and just, accordant with reason and virtue, adapted to our natural conditions of life as to time and place.
2. It is appointed by a public legitimate authority. So it is not the will of any private individual nor of our equals, enforced upon us ; for such have no right to coerce the action of any being who has received the gift of freedom from God. Only those can make true laws who hold a delegated power from God, as being the accredited representatives of human society, and charged with the care of the common weal.
3. Law is not for the private advantage of individuals but for the general good of the community.
4. Law has a binding obligatory force on the conscience and will of men ; it is not to be considered as a burden to be borne under compulsion and evaded when possible; nor is it a mere persuasion or counsel of perfection. Regard law as a sacred thing demanding a willing obedience for the sake of God and the welfare of society; Be subject of necessity, not only for wrath but also for conscience sake (Rom. xiii. 5). Pray God to guide all legislators, that they may devise laws as the expression of His will, and not as the expression of their own covetousness, or arrogance, or poltroonery, or uncivic hatreds and jealousies, or immorality and irreligion.
III. Formal codes of law backed by some coercive force are necessary in our present imperfect state. Men are ignorant of many branches of divine law, or uncertain about its application, and the individual conscience is not a uniform or infallible guide. Many have a bias towards evil, and are indisposed towards that which they clearly know to be best, and, if left to themselves, would give full rein to their destructive, anti-social impulses. There is need of an authority to limit the liberty of each one in the interest of the liberties of all. There is need of an external aid to help the well-disposed to carry out the internal movements of conscience and grace. There is need of a uniform organizing force to direct individual efforts, and to give them the strength that comes from union, so that they be not dissipated ineffectually. Every form of human association, public or private, secular or religious must have its laws. Let every soul be subject to higher powers; for there is no power but from God . . . therefore he that resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God; (Rom. xiii. 1, 2).
