The Foundation of Law by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 1, 1903

The Foundation of Law

By L. A. S.

THE foundation of all right law is the law of God. This law covers every relation of man to his fellow man, and its requirements represent the strictest justice. It is the product of omniscient intelligence, and is therefore beyond the possibility of error. It embodies the deepest wisdom, and presents an inexhaustible field for human study. The commandments of God are “exceeding broad.”

The law of God is the way of God, the way of righteousness. Righteousness is always law; to do right is always binding upon every creature. Hence law, in its true sense, can not originate in any human authority, for men can not make right and wrong. At the most, human enactments can but define the law of right which already exists, applying it to the particular case or subject concerned. Human statutes can only aim at justice, and the history of mankind shows how prone are such statutes to miss the mark.

The study of the law of God, the perfect model, is in the highest degree proper for those who would legislate in the affairs of men. The better that perfect law is understood by those having to do with human laws, the better prepared will they be to discern between right and wrong, and to maintain justice in the human relationships which they are called upon to define. The more they know of the law of God, the better will they be able to embody the spirit of that law in the legislation to which they give birth. The law of God breathes forth love,—love to the Creator and love to the beings created. It is this spirit which enables a man to recognize the great truth that “all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” which it is the true purpose of human governments to maintain.

The law of God, the law of right, should be adhered to in all human enactments. Any statute which sets up a different standard of right is null and void, since no legislation can ever turn wrong into right, or release any person from the perpetual obligation to do right. Not merely “What is the law?” but “What is right?” is the underlying question to be settled by every person in the determination of duty. It is God, the supreme One, whose kingdom is over all, who holds every person to the obligation to do right.

The law of God and the laws of men must not be confounded. They are on altogether different planes, even as God and man are on different planes of being. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;” it is also “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” It deals with the hidden motives which only God can see, as well as with the outward acts cognizable by the laws of men. For the maintenance of that law God has his own divine agencies, as superior to the agencies of this world as heaven is superior to the earth. No body of men has the authority or the power to enact or enforce the law of God. The attempt to do this is a mistake which a knowledge of that law will enable men to avoid. The bloodiest persecutions which have stained the pages of history have sprung from the use of human conceptions and agencies to enforce the divine law. These persecutors had a blind zeal for God, but not a knowledge of his law. They attempted to do through human legislation far more than any human government has the authority or right to do, and as a result they utterly failed to do that which it is the business of human governments to do,—to establish justice, and maintain the rights which no human power is authorized to invade. The more men become familiar with the law of God, the more perfect will be their conceptions of right and justice, and the more will their zeal for God be according to knowledge. L. A. S.