This definition is just. It involves the following points:—1. The law of nature is the Creator's law;—2. It is founded on relations;—3. Human reason is incompetent to discover it in its full extent;—4. Divine revelation alone can make it fully known.
The law of nature is indeed the Creator's law; and rules derived from the consideration of the nature of things, have no binding authority on the conscience, except so far as they indicate the Divine will. They bind the conscience anterior to human legislation. God has not left the law of incest to be collected from the deductions of fallible reason. He himself has promulgated it at different periods, so that heathen nations have learned something of it by tradition; and by his servant Moses, He vouchsafed, in writing, to his chosen people, a full revelation of His will on this interesting subject. Why, then, should any reject the light He has shed on a part of moral duty, so important to be known? We needed the light of revelation to ascertain our duty fully. God has given this heavenly light. Let us thankfully receive the gift, and walk in the light.
