"The social compact" may be a very
good idea to employ for convincing an infidel in respect to the
right of Law; but it is too low and loose an idea for a Christian;
it falls far below the truth, and below the just solemnity of
obligation.
The _necessity_ of human Law results very much, if not entirely,
from the injustice of mankind. In no age since the fall of Adam, has
any considerable body of men been found so just and upright, that
civil Law could be dispensed with. The bad would do injustice to the
good, if it were not for Law, and those magistrates appointed by
Law, who are "a terror to evil doers." Conscience is not effective
in the breast of every sinner, and therefore Law must come in, to
hinder that injustice, which, without it, would not be hindered by
individual conscience, and to compel that righteousness which,
without it, individual conscience would fail to enforce. As
individual conscience becomes more stringent, civil Law may become
more lax. If men would be just towards one another of themselves,
there would be no necessity of human Law, to compel them to abstain
from injury and to perform their duties to one another.
Consequently, Law is a friend to the human race. It is the protector
of the good man; and it punishes the bad man, only for the purpose
of securing rights,--property, liberty and life. And even the bad
would be worse off a thousand fold than they are, if there were no
efficient Law to restrain them by its authority and sanctions.
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