THE FOUNDERS' WORLDVIEW
THE LAW OF LIBERTY
WHAT IS LIBERTY?
Noah Webster (1828) defines liberty as freedom from restraint and points out that the body is at liberty when not confined and the will or mind is at liberty when not checked or controlled.
In his treatise, Of Civil Government, seventeenth century philosopher, John Locke, whose ideas heavily influenced the Founding Fathers, said that liberty is the power of a person to do or forbear any particular action, and that the natural liberty of man "is to be free from any Superior Power on Earth, and not to be under the Will or legislative Authority of Man, but to have only the Law of Nature for his Rule." However, Man is not supposed to live alone but in a society or nation with others. Therefore, the liberty of Man in a society brings other factors to bear upon Man. "The Liberty of Man, in Society," Locke explains, "is to be under no other legislative Power, but that established, by Consent, in the Commonwealth; nor under the dominion of any Will, or restraint of any Law, but what the Legislative shall enact, according to the Trust put in it."
Here, voluntary submission to legislative power is endorsed but only to the extent of "the Trust put in it." Clearly, Locke's presupposition is that there is a standard of right and wrong against which the legislative power will be judged for trustworthiness. Locke continues.
Freedom then is not what Sir R. F. tells us, O.A. 55. A Liberty for everyone to do what he [chooses], to live as he pleases, and not to be [bound] by any Laws: But Freedom of Men under Government, is, to have a Standing Rule to live by, common to every one of that Society, and made by the legislative Power erected in it; a Liberty to follow my own Will in all things, where that Rule prescribes not; and not to be subject to the inconsistent, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary Will of another Man: As Freedom of Nature is to be under no other Restraint but the Law of Nature.
Thus, the law of liberty first requires "a Standing Rule to live by." Such a rule must be fixed, uniform and universal if liberty is to be experienced by everyone in a society or nation. The truth is, with no standing rule to live by, everyone does what is right in his own eyes and the result is chaos and anarchy in a society and nation. Chaos results when Man lives "as he pleases" without being "bound by any laws." Once chaos happens, externally imposed restraints can be justified and civil government grows in size and power to control the chaos and anarchy.
Under Locke's definition, if Man conforms his life to the "Law of Nature" in accord with principles of individual self-government, no "Power on Earth" has authority to impose on him anything outside the "Law of Nature." This is the essence of liberty.
Paul spoke of this law of liberty (Gal. 5:1-25). Unregenerate, Galatians required the external imposition of the law by their leaders. However, once they believed on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the external imposition of the law was unnecessary and they were enabled to fulfill the law through the internal agency of the Holy Spirit. The legal commandment was "Love your neighbor as yourself." With the Spirit of the Lord helping each person internally to walk by the Spirit, the standing rule of God's law would be cheerfully obeyed. While each person maintains such internal self-control, no external agency has any authority to impose its will over that person.
Such liberty produced greatness for our nation. However, another Humanistic/Atheistic principle now prevails, i.e., no standing rule exists. Therefore, everyone can do whatever is right in his own eyes. Our nation is in chaos. Now civil governmental agencies are usurping more power without authority to "solve" the problems brought about by the State-established religion of Humanism/Atheism.
Unless the standing rule of righteousness is restored to our society, our nation will go "over-the-edge" and liberty will be lost totally. God help us to know what to do so that we can do it!
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Neil F. Markva 9