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CHAPTER III.

THE RIGHTS OF GOVERNMENT.

263. THE desire of civil society is a powerful spring of human action; and man cannot exist as man except he exist in civil society under the sway of rules of action really enforced by some of the members of the community, who for this purpose are invested with the rights of government, and possess authority in the community.

264. The rights of government are exemplified,—

(1.) Even in the family, and especially in families where the paternal power is most ample.

(2.) When the children of such a family grow up, and when they themselves marry and have children, we may still conceive the habit of obedience to the head of the

family to remain. As the family extends, it becomes a family in a wider sense: a house, a tribe, a clan, a nation; but it may still continue to recognize a supreme right to obedience in the common parent. Such is a patriarchal government.

(3.) The patriarchal form of society being broken up, the mixture of families, their migrations and various fortunes, still further loosen and destroy the bonds of patriarchal government, and form men into nations, according to various conditions of race, dwelling-place, and history. The national government then takes the place of the patriarchal.

265. The supreme authority of a nation may reside in one person, or in many. In most nations there is a difference of ranks connected more or less closely with the exercise of the supreme power. These have certain rights with reference to each other. This constitutes the political structure of society. The laws which determine the structure of the government and the duties of its officers, are the constitution of the nation.

266. The various forms of civil government are

(1.) Absolute monarchy, or despotism, in which the supreme authority and legislative power is vested in one individual.

(2.) An aristocracy, in which it is exercised by a body

VARIOUS KINDS OF LAWS.

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of men, in the election of whom the people are not consulted.

(3.) A democracy, or republic, in which the supreme power is exercised, either collectively in person, or, as in the United States, through their agents or representatives, chosen by them at stated periods for this purpose.

(4.) A mixed monarchy, partaking of all the above forms, yet differing essentially from each. This form is adopted in England and France.

267. The various branches of a well-regulated civil government are, the legislative or law-making, whose office it is to remove out of the laws all that is unjust, so as to make them more and more just; the judicial, which decides disputed questions that arise among its citizens concerning their rights and obligations; and the executive, which executes existing laws, and judicial decisions.

268. Offenses against the rights of government are, rebellion, when subjects openly and by force resist their rulers; treason, when by combination and contrivance they seek to dispossess them; sedition, when they strive to transfer some of the functions of government to other hands than the regularly constituted authorities.

In many free states, where the citizens have a considerable share in the government, they are divided into parties, which act upon opposite or different maxims in the administration of the state.

When a party acts not for the good of the state, but for its own advantage as a party, it is a faction.

269. Law is distinguished into the law of nature (jus natura), embracing that which is common in the views and determinations of all civilized countries in regard to rights and obligations; and into civil or municipal law (jus civile, or jus municipale), that which is peculiar in the law of a particular state or city.

There is also international jus, or law of nations, which defines and enforces the rights which nations may claim against each other.

270. The obligation of law has been distinguished into moral and natural. We are under a moral obligation, that is, we are bound, in conscience, to obey every good law. We are under a natural obligation, that is, we are determined by prudence, to obey even those bad laws which we cannot transgress without incurring a penalty.

Bad laws, however, we ought not to obey, if our conscience declare it criminal to obey them; and such laws seldom exist in regular society.

All the divine laws are good, and guarded by the most awful sanctions; so that to obey them we are under the strongest obligations, natural and moral.

[Whewell's Elements of Morality.] 271. The following declaration of rights, personal and governmental, is made in our celebrated Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident:-that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the gov erned; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they have been accustomed.

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security."

263. Upon what necessity are the rights of government founded, and what is their nature?

264. Where are these rights exemplified?

265. In whom may the supreme authority of a nation reside?

266. What are the various forms of civil government?

267. What are the various branches of a well-regulated government?

268. What offenses against the rights of government may be committed? 269. How is law distinguished?

270. How has the obligation of law been distinguished?

271. What declaration of rights personal and governmental is made in our celebrated "Declaration of Independence ?"

INSUFFICIENCY OF LIGHT OF NATURE.

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BOOK V.

RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL AND REVEALED MORALITY.

CHAPTER I.

INSUFFICIENCY OF THE LIGHT OF NATURE.

272. In whatever manner it is accounted for, the fact cannot be disputed, that no persons, ancient or modern, who had only the light of nature to guide them in their researches, have attained to the true knowledge of the unity of God; or have formed such notions of his worship, as were suitable to his majesty, holiness, and spirituality; or have composed a system of morality, founded on just principles, and enforced by sanctions of such efficacy, as to insure obedience to its precepts; or have established by convincing arguments the doctrine of the future existence of the soul.

Perplexed with doubts, and sensible of the weakness of their reason, the heathens themselves, not the vulgar only but philosophers, have acknowledged the necessity of a divine revelation.

273. Yet modern infidels, in proof of the sufficiency of reason, among other things, allege that they can produce a system of natural religion complete in all its parts, and` supported by incontestable evidence. But to what cause shall we attribute their superiority to the wisest men of antiquity; to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle? Does nature now speak with a louder voice, and are her lessons written in more legible characters? No; but the circumstances of our modern infidels, and of the philosophers of antiquity, are exceedingly different. The latter felt their way amid the dubious twilight of nature, while the former walk in the sunshine of revelation. When an infidel boasts of the clearness and extent of his ideas on the subject of natural religion, he is a dwarf mounted on the

shoulders of a giant and vaunting that he sees further than a man of ordinary stature. He is a thief, impudently attempting to rival or eclipse the splendor of another man, by a display of those riches which he has previously stolen from him. It is to the Scriptures, either directly or indirectly, that he is indebted for the greater perfection of his system.

274. If human nature is depraved, as both history and experience prove, the same knowledge will not suffice us, which would have been sufficient in a state of innocence. Although reason were able to discover all the articles of natural religion, it would not have been a competent guide, because the new circumstances of man, in consequence of his sins, required the knowledge of new truths, which lay beyond the range of its inquiries. Reason could give us no adequate information respecting the means of recovering our innocence, and regaining the favor of our Maker.

We need to know whether God will pardon our offenses, and on what terms he will pardon them; and it is manifest that on these points none can give us information but himself. On the supposition of a remedial scheme, or a divine interposition in our favor, there must be new duties incumbent on us, of which the light of nature could give us no notice, because they are the result of a new dispensation. [Dick on Inspiration.]

272. Is the light of nature found sufficient to teach us our duty, and to conduct us to happiness?

273. What do infidels allege in proof of the sufficiency of reason; and how is their allegation to be met?

274. What proof of the insufficiency of reason in matters of duty and religion, may be drawn from the universal depravity of man?

CHAPTER II.

SUPERIOR EXCELLENCE OF THE MORALITY TAUGHT IN THE SACRED SCRIPTURES.

275. WHILE infidels object to some of the details, and most obviously have no real desire to promote the interests of morality, they nevertheless allow, that "the Gospel is one continued lesson of the strictest morality; of justice,

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