Page:The collected works of Theodore Parker volume 8.djvu/60

56 Egyptian, the Flemish, or the American mode of society is of Divine appointment, and men bound by God to limit themselves to it. It would be thought ridiculous to claim Divinity for Dutch farming, or any other special mode of farming; but it is just as ridiculous to claim Divinity for Dutch society, or any other society. The farm and the society are alike and equally the work of men.

Then we are often told, that human government is of Divine appointment, and men morally bound to submit to it; government being used as a collective term to include the political, ecclesiastical, and social establishments of a people, and the officers who administer them. If this means, that, at a certain stage of man's progressive political development, it is necessary to have certain political, ecclesiastical, and social establishments, such as a monarchy or an aristocracy, with persons to administer them, then it is true, and government is of Divine appointment. But the fence of a farm is just as necessary to agriculture, at a certain stage of agricultural development, as government to society. However, it does not follow from this, that a stone wall or a rail-fence is of Divine appointment; and it no more follows that a monarchy or an aristocracy is of Divine appointment. It would be thought ridiculous for a farmer to claim Divinity for his fence: it is just as absurd for a politician to claim it for his government. Both are alike and equally the work of men.

Again, it is said that human statutes are of Divine appointment, and therefore binding on the conscience of men. If this means, that, at a certain stage of social and political development, men must form certain rules for social and political conduct, then it is true, and human statutes are of Divine appointment. But rules for agricultural conduct are just as necessary for the farm and the garden as political rules for society and the State, and so equally Divine. But it does not follow from this, that the agricultural rules for the farm and the garden laid down by Columella the Roman, or Cobbett the Briton, are of Divine appointment; and it no more follows that the political rules for society and the State laid down by the men of New England or the men of New Holland—by men “foreordained” at birth to be lawgivers, or by men “elected” in manhood to make laws—are of Divine