good and evil. Upon this subject, much may be suggested and much has, without suitable caution, been written. But care should be taken not to magnify this fitness, like the fate of the stoics, and make it independent of God; nor to exalt an abstract idea above the Supreme, and render it anterior or superior to him. The fitness of things, and the accommodation of all respective relations, with the corresponding duties, to that fitness, are acknowledged to be true; but this very fitness, like every thing else, when traced to its origin, is derived from God. He renders the relations possible or actual, and he is the sole author of all that is right. All possible things have their foundation in the infinite understanding of God, as upon his omnipotent will, all things, actually existent, depend. The sovereign will of an infinitely perfect being must be always right and fit; "as for God his way is perfect," his law is the only sure and incontestable rule of action, to which every being, capable of moral agency, must be referred.*

"Probably those who have asserted this did not mean any more than that the divine will is so perfect and excellent that all virtue is reduced to a conformity to it-and that we ought not to judge of good and evil by any other rule. This is as true as that the divine conduct is the standard of wisdom.-The nature and will of God is so perfect as to be the true standard of all excellence, natural and moral:

So much of the Law of God as may be known and is, in part, recognised by all men; so much as suffices for the preservation of individuals, for constituting society, and establishing the first principles of morality; whatever may be the obscurity of the knowledge respecting it, is denominated the LAW OF NATURE, because it is not only discovered by the light of nature, but arises from our natural constitution and being. But the clearer discoveries of duties, toward God as Creator, and especially toward him as Redeemer, as well as what men owe to each other, is called, in distinction from the former, the REVEALED LAW, and is found only in the sacred scriptures. This revealed law, in its intrinsic obligation, is of equal force and perpetuity with the law of nature, and is of higher authority than any explanation which human reason can give to a system of morals, because it is expressly defined.— The will of God in his revelation is unequivocally declared.

and if we are sure of what he is, or commands, it would be presumption and folly to reason against it, or put our views of fitness in the room of his pleasure: but to say that God, by his will, might have made the same temper and conduct virtuous and excellent, which we now call vicious, seems to unhinge all our notions of the supreme excellence even of God himself."-Dr. Witherspoon's Works, vol. iii. page 288.

HUMAN LAWS are variously distinguished, conformably to their peculiar principles and different ends. As soon as men enter into a social compact, the equality, essential to a state of nature, ceases. As they increase in numbers and spread over the earth, new societies arise, new nations are formed; which render some common principles necessary for their individual safety, and oblige them to adopt some general laws for their mutual intercourse. What they adopt for this purpose is called the LAW OF NATIONS; which is a law "that regulates the intercourse and determines the rights of peace and war between separate states and kingdoms." Quod naturalis ratio inter omnes homines constituit, vocatur Jus GENTIUM.

The safety, propriety and government of each individual nation require laws suited to their respective choice and circumstances. These are comprised under the denomination of the CIVIL LAW. "Quod quisque populus ipse sibi jus constituit, id ipsius proprium civitatis est, vocaturque JUS CIVILE, quasi jus proprium ipsius civitatis." Justinian.

The civil Law is divided into two branches. That

which relates to the governors, and those who are governed, is distinguished by the title of POLITICAL LAW, or the constitution of the state.* That which respects the mutual rights and duties of citizens is called the MUNICIPAL LAW, not as restricted to a particular municipality, but in a more extensive sense, as the rule by which members of the same community or nation are bound to regulate their conduct towards each other.

Each of these great classes comprehends many subdivisions, agreeably to the different objects to which they relate, or the immediate power by which they are enforced; which give a name or title to distinct kinds of laws, whether they belong to the civil laws of the state, or the canon laws of the Church.-But the law of God is superior in authority to all these. No human laws, of whatever name or description, are of any validity, if they be contrary to the divine law; and such of them as are valid, derive all their force, either mediately or immediately from this original.

* Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws, book 1. chap. 3.

The principal and most accurate distinction admitted in the law of God, as noticed in the preceeding analysis, is that of moral and peculiar. The result will be the same, if it be distinguished into moral and positive; and what is peculiar be introduced as a distinct branch of positive laws. This last arrangement is adopted by some celebrated writers upon this subject.

The MORAL LAW is the eternal, unchangeable and authoritative rule which directs and binds all men in their whole duty towards God, their neighbours, and themselves. It is the infallible standard of what is right and wrong, in regard to their thoughts, affections, words, and actions. It is founded upon the infinite perfections of God, and his relation to his creatures as their maker and sovereign Lord. It is perfectly consistent with their essential nature and

being; and forever binding upon all men in every

situation, age or condition.

This law was manifest to Adam before his apostacy, when he was dignified with the image of his God, "when reason was clear and perfect, unruffled by passions, unclouded by prejudice, unimpaired by