14
LIBERTY
We live iran eri of change, So many of the assumptions of the past have been sept ava. and ir is
mmcreasinglv ease to guestron such ance scaled principles as the separation of Src and state, Atier
all, some reason, ite are to reman more than a nonunally Christian secien it neh be necessary
to use the posver of the state to reinforce moralin 1
aberty magazine has not changed on its princi-
pled crpnciation of the separation of powers, as this excerpt from April 1906 shows. Editors, 2000.
The 1 1maits
of C1VIL
here are limits to the authority of
the civil power, and these limits
should be clearly understood by
the people. A republican form of
government, as contrasted with an
absolute monarchy, implies a hmitation to the
powers of the government bevond which it can-
not righttully
Civil government is not the custodian of the
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souls of the people. Upon all the pages of human
history the truth is written plainly that there are
two spheres of lite within which man moves,
with one of which—the higher sphere of con-
science and of his relation to God—the civil
power can rightfully have nothing to do. Again
and again the Almighty has vindicated the
course of those who, in order to be true to Him,
have refused obedience to tinjust mandates from
the civil authority. The darkest pages of history
are those recording the results of the invasion by
the civil power of the realm of conscience. The
carly history of most of the leading religious
denominations of this day was marked by their
resistance to the dictates of the civil power out-
side the sphere of its legitimate authority.
The true sphere ot civil government was well
defined by the men who founded the American
republic. The Declaration of Independence,
justifying the separation from Great Britain that
led to the founding of this nation, savs: "We
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hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal. that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights, that
among these are file, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, That to secure these rights, govern
ments are instituted among men, derving their
just powers from the consent of the governed.”
This is the principle of government upon which
this nation 1s established.
Governments are stituted among men to
preserve the natural, unalienable rights that
men have by creation, that is, as individuals; and
not to curtail these rights, or to take then away.
When civil government invades these rights, it
does exactly the opposite of that which it is
instituted to do. This 1s a perverted and illegiti-
mate use of its power.
Legislatures cannot create natural rights, nei-
ther can they make right wrong, or wrong right.
The law of right and wrong is a law antedating
and wholly independent of any legisiative enact
ments. Legislators are bound to shape their leg-
islation by their knowledge of this Taw of justice
which is inherent in the human mind, and their
legislation will be excellent in proportion as they
approximate to this ideal standard. [tis proper
to say, theretore, that the province ot the legisla
ture 1s not to create law, but to ascertain and
define 1 Righteousness 1s a Taw, and has been
such from the toundation of the world. It is