The Law of Nature and of Nature's God
The first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence sets the stage for the American Revolution and its absolute reliance on the laws of God:
When in the Course of human events, t becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the seprate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires rhat they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
The "Laws of Nature and of Nature's of God" had been defined by historic legal writers,such s Sir William Blackstone and others, as the law that God, the Creator of the universe, had established for the governance of people, nations,and nature. Blackstone's Commentariess on the Law, which had become the primary law book of the Founding Fathers, explained "the laws of nature" as the well of God for man, which can be ascertained by people through an examination of God's creation, the text of the Bible, and to a certain degree, instinct or reason. Blackstone stated:
Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. . . . And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, 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. . . . This law of nature, being coeval [nonexistent] 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 humanlaws are of any validity, if contrary to this....
And id our reason were always ... clear and perfect... the task would be pleasant and easy; we should need no other guide but this [the law of nature]. But every man now finds the contrary in his own experience; that his reason is corrupt, and his understanding full of ignorance and error. This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of Divine Providence; which . . . hath been pleased, at sundry times and in direct revelation. The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found on in the Holy Scriptures....
Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that it is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.
The "Laws of Nature and of Nature's of God" had been defined by historic legal writers,such s Sir William Blackstone and others, as the law that God, the Creator of the universe, had established for the governance of people, nations,and nature. Blackstone's Commentariess on the Law, which had become the primary law book of the Founding Fathers, explained "the laws of nature" as the well of God for man, which can be ascertained by people through an examination of God's creation, the text of the Bible, and to a certain degree, instinct or reason. Blackstone stated:
Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being. . . . And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, 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. . . . This law of nature, being coeval [nonexistent] 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 humanlaws are of any validity, if contrary to this....
And id our reason were always ... clear and perfect... the task would be pleasant and easy; we should need no other guide but this [the law of nature]. But every man now finds the contrary in his own experience; that his reason is corrupt, and his understanding full of ignorance and error. This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of Divine Providence; which . . . hath been pleased, at sundry times and in direct revelation. The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found on in the Holy Scriptures....
Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that it is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.
