2. '• Laws of Nations'''' are those rules which, by a tacit consent, are agreed upon among all communities, at least among those who are reckoned the polite and human- ized part of mankind.
o."Laws of Natin-e." — "The word law is sometimes also employed in order to express not only the moral connection l)etwecn free agents of an inferior, and oth- ers of a superior power, but also in order to express the •nexus criiisrdi.i, the connection between cause and effect in inanimate nature. However, the expression law of nature, hx natiirw, is improper and figurative. The term law implies, in its strict sense. Kpontaneiti/, or the power of deciding between right and wrong, and of choosing between good and evil, as well on the part of the law- giver as on the part of those who have to regidate tlieir conduct according to his dictates" (Kitto, s. v.). More- over, the (lowers of nature, which these laws are con- ceived as representing, arc nothing in reality but the power of God exerted in these directions. Hence these laws may at any time be suspended by God when the
higher interests of his spiritual kingdom require. View- ed in this light, miracles not only become possible, but even probable for the furtherance of the divine economy of salvation. (See BusheU, Nature and the Supei-natu- ral.) See Miracle.
HI. Forms of the Divine I^aw. — The manner in which God governs rational creatures is by a law, as the rule of their obedience to him, and this is what we call God's moral government of the world. At their very creation he placed all intelligences ixnder such a system. Thus he gave a law to am/els, which some of them have kept, and have been confirmed in a state of obedience to it ; but which others broke, and thereby plunged them- selves into destruction and misery. In like manner he also gave a law to ,4 (/«?», which was in the form of a covenant, and in which Adam stood as a covenant head to all his posterity (Kom. v). But our first parents soon violated that law, and fell from a state of innocence to a state of sm and misery (Hos. vi, 7). See Fall.
1. The "Imw of Natu7'e" is the wiU of God relating to human actions, grounded in the moral difference of things, and, because discoverable by natural light, obli- gatory upon all mankind (Com. i, 20; ii, 14, 15). This la^v is coeval with the human race, buidmg all over the globe, and at all times; yet, through the corruption of reason, it is insufficient to lead us to happiness, and ut- terly unable to accjuaint us how sin is to be forgiven, without the assistance of revelation. This law is that generally designated by the term conscience, which is in strictness a capacity of being affected by the moral re- lations of actions; in other words, merely a sense of right amhvronr/. It is the judgment which intellectually de- termmes the moral quality of an act, and this always by a comparison with some assumed standard. With those who have a revelation, this, of course, is the test; with others, education, tradition, or caprice. Hence the importance of a trained conscience, not only for the pur- pose of cultivating its susceptibility to a high degree of sensitiveness and authority, but also in order to correct the judgment and fumish it a just basis of decision. A perverted or misled conscience is scarcely less disastrous than a hard or blind one. Historj- is full of the miseries and mischiefs occasioned by a misguided moral sense.
2. "Ceremonial La^v" is that which prescribes the rites of worship under the Old Testament. These rites were typical of Christ, and were obligator}- only till Christ had finished his work, and began to erect his Gos- pel Church (Heb. vii, 9, 1 1 ; x, 1 ; Eph. ii, 16 ; Col. ii, 14 ; Gal v, 2, 3).
3. "Judicial I^aw" was that which directed the pdlicy of the Jewish nation, under the peculiar dominion of God as their supreme magistrate, and never, except in things relating to moral equity, was binding on any but the Hebrew nation.
4. "Moral Law" is that declaration of God's will which directs and binds all men, in every age and place, to their whole duty to him. It was most solemnly proclaimed by God himself at Sinai, to confirm the original law of nature, and correct men's mistakes concerning the de- mands of it. It is denominated perfect (Psa. xix, 7), peqietual (Matt, v, 17, 18), holy (Kom. vii, 12), good (Kom. vii, 12% spiritual (Kom. vii, 14), exceeding broad (Psa. cxix, 96). Some deny that it is a rule of conduct to believers under the (iospel dispensation; but it is easy to see the futility of such an idea; for, as a tran- script of the mind of God. it must be the criterion of moral good and evil. It is also given for that very pur- pose, that we may see our duty, and abstain from every- thing derogatory to the divine glory. It affords us grand ideas of the holiness and purity of (iod ; without attention to it, we can have no knowledge of sin. Christ himself came, not to destroy, but to f'ldfil it; and though we cannot do as he did, yet we are commanded to follow his example. Love to God is the end of the moral law as well as the end of the Gospel. By the law, also, we are led to .see the nature of holiness and our own de- pravity, and learn to be humbled under a sense of our