Institutes of the Christian Religion (Vol. 2 of 2)
XV. The moral law, therefore, with which I shall begin,
being comprised in two leading articles, of which one simply
commands us to worship God with pure faith and piety,
and the other enjoins us to embrace men with sincere love,—this
law, I say, is the true and eternal rule of righteousness,
prescribed to men of all ages and nations, who wish to conform
their lives to the will of God. For this is his eternal and immutable
will, that he himself be worshipped by us all, and that
we mutually love one another. The ceremonial law was the
pupilage of the Jews, with which it pleased the Lord to exercise
that people during a state resembling childhood, till that
“fulness of the time” should come,[1452]
when he would fully
manifest his wisdom to the world, and would exhibit the reality
of those things which were then adumbrated in figures. The
judicial law, given to them as a political constitution, taught
them certain rules of equity and justice, by which they might
conduct themselves in a harmless and peaceable manner towards
each other. And as that exercise of ceremonies properly related
to the doctrine of piety, inasmuch as it kept the Jewish
Church in the worship and service of God, which is the first
article of the moral law, and yet was distinct from piety itself,
so these judicial regulations, though they had no other end
than the preservation of that love, which is enjoined in the
eternal law of God, yet had something which distinguished
them from that precept itself. As the ceremonies, therefore,
might be abrogated without any violation or injury of piety, so
the precepts and duties of love remain of perpetual obligation,
notwithstanding the abolition of all these judicial ordinances.
If this be true, certainly all nations are left at liberty to enact
such laws as they shall find to be respectively expedient for
them; provided they be framed according to that perpetual rule
of love, so that, though they vary in form, they may have the
same end. For those barbarous and savage laws which rewarded
theft and permitted promiscuous concubinage, with
others still more vile, execrable, and absurd, I am very far
from thinking ought to be considered as laws; since they are
not only violations of all righteousness, but outrages against
humanity itself.
XVI. What I have said will be more clearly understood, if
in all laws we properly consider these two things—the constitution
of the law and its equity, on the reason of which the
constitution itself is founded and rests. Equity, being natural,
is the same to all mankind; and consequently all laws, on
every subject, ought to have the same equity for their end.
Particular enactments and regulations, being connected with
circumstances, and partly dependent upon them, may be different
in different cases without any impropriety, provided they
are all equally directed to the same object of equity. Now, as
it is certain that the law of God, which we call the moral law,
is no other than a declaration of natural law, and of that
conscience which has been engraven by God on the minds
of men, the whole rule of this equity, of which we now
speak, is prescribed in it. This equity, therefore, must alone
be the scope, and rule, and end, of all laws. Whatever laws
shall be framed according to that rule, directed to that object,
and limited to that end, there is no reason why we
should censure them, however they may differ from the Jewish
law or from each other. The law of God forbids theft. What
punishment was enacted for thieves, among the Jews, may
be seen in the book of Exodus.[1453]
The most ancient laws
of other nations punished theft by requiring a compensation
of double the value. Subsequent laws made a distinction
between open and secret theft. Some proceeded to banishment,
some to flagellation, and some to the punishment of
death. False witness was punished, among the Jews, with
the same punishment as such testimony would have caused to
be inflicted on the person against whom it was given;[1454]
in
some countries it was punished with infamy, in others with
hanging, in others with crucifixion. All laws agree in punishing
murder with death, though in several different forms.
The punishments of adulterers in different countries have been
attended with different degrees of severity. Yet we see how,
amidst this diversity, they are all directed to the same end.
For they all agree in denouncing punishment against those
crimes which are condemned by the eternal law of God; such
as murders, thefts, adulteries, false testimonies, though there is
not a uniformity in the mode of punishment; and, indeed, this
is neither necessary, nor even expedient. One country, if it
did not inflict the most exemplary vengeance upon murderers,
would soon be ruined by murders and robberies. One age
requires the severity of punishments to be increased. If a
country be disturbed by any civil commotion, the evils which
generally arise from it must be corrected by new edicts. In
time of war all humanity would be forgotten amidst the din of
arms, if men were not awed by more than a common dread of
punishment. During famine and pestilence, unless greater
severity be employed, every thing will fall into ruin. One
nation is more prone than others to some particular vice, unless
it be most rigidly restrained. What malignity and envy against
the public good will be betrayed by him who shall take offence
at such diversity, which is best adapted to secure the observance
of the law of God? For the objection made by some,
that it is an insult to the law of God given by Moses, when it
is abrogated, and other laws are preferred to it, is without any
foundation; for neither are other laws preferred to it, when
they are more approved, not on a simple comparison, but on
account of the circumstances of time, place, and nation; nor do
we abrogate that which was never given to us. For the Lord
gave not that law by the hand of Moses to be promulgated
among all nations, and to be universally binding; but after
having taken the Jewish nation into his special charge, patronage,
and protection, he was pleased to become, in a peculiar
manner, their legislator, and, as became a wise legislator, in all
the laws which he gave them, he had a special regard to their
peculiar circumstances.
XVII. It now remains for us, as we proposed, in the last
place, to examine what advantage the common society of
Christians derives from laws, judgments, and magistrates; with
which is connected another question—what honour private persons
ought to render to magistrates, and how far their obedience
ought to extend. Many persons suppose the office of magistracy
to be of no use among Christians, for that they cannot,
consistently with piety, apply for their assistance, because they
are forbidden to have recourse to revenge or litigation. But as
Paul, on the contrary, clearly testifies that the magistrate is
“the minister of God to us for good,”[1455]
we understand from
this that he is divinely appointed, in order that we may be defended
by his power and protection against the malice and
injuries of wicked men, and may lead peaceable and secure
lives. But if it be in vain that he is given to us by the Lord
for our protection, unless it be lawful for us to avail ourselves
of such an advantage, it clearly follows that we may appeal to
him, and apply for his aid, without any violation of piety.
But here I have to do with two sorts of persons; for there are
multitudes inflamed with such a rage for litigation, that they
never have peace in themselves, unless they are in contention
with others; and they commence their lawsuits with a mortal
bitterness of animosities, and with an infuriated cupidity of
revenge and injury, and pursue them with an implacable obstinacy,
even to the ruin of their adversary. At the same time,
that they may not be thought to do any thing wrong, they
defend this perverseness under the pretext of seeking justice.
But, though it is allowable for a man to endeavour to obtain
justice from his neighbour by a judicial process, he is not
therefore at liberty to hate him, or to cherish a desire to hurt
him, or to persecute him without mercy.
