Institutes of Divine Jurisprudence, with Selections from Foundations of the Law of Nature and Nations. Christian Thomasius
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And there is no need to say anything more about the interpretation of natural law. For in putting forward the conclusions we will use the same method of demonstration and the same kind of reasoning as before. In positive law, however, we have another kind of interpretation, which uses conjectures or probable arguments instead of demonstrations. For positive law is not inscribed on the hearts of humans.
§81. It thus has to be explained in certain general rules how these probable arguments are to be formed. But this discussion has to be deferred until we have explained the nature of agreements and the duties concerning them.
§82. For God, in his supreme benevolence, accommodated himself to the capacity of the human understanding when he revealed positive law by using human speech, and so here the same rules are to be observed as in the interpretation of agreements. Thus, we cannot examine it [positive law] before looking at the rules concerning speech and agreements. Moreover, scholars agree almost unanimously on the interpretation of the divine law that is relevant to the duties discussed here.
[print edition page 144]
On the Duties of Man Toward God
§1. By a duty of man toward God we here do not mean some theoretical principle, but a practical one. And this principle does not regulate internal actions only, but mainly external ones. It is, however, not a first practical principle, but a specific one which can be demonstrated by way of a conclusion from the first principle of natural law or positive law.
§2. It is contained in this one precept: “Worship God according to the manner revealed by himself.”
§3. What we mean by God is evident from the preceding passages; by worship we mean an external human action, consisting in speech, deed, or gesture, which signals the attention and reverence that is due to another.
§4. Divine worship is sometimes divided into internal and external, yet internal worship is in fact not worship in the absolute and most proper sense, but only a presupposition of external worship.
§5. Thus, those matters which tend to be referred to internal worship—that man should honor and revere God, or that he should admire his supreme power and goodness; that he should love him as the author and giver of all good; that he should place his hope in him, as all our future happiness depends on him; that he should acquiesce in the divine
[print edition page 145]
will which does everything according to his goodness in the best possible way; that he should fear him as being all-powerful and the one whose displeasure can cause the greatest evil; finally, that in all matters he should most humbly obey him as creator, lord, and best and greatest ruler—all these, I say, insofar as they can be demonstrated from natural reason we already assume to be included in the first general principle of divine jurisprudence, “Obey God.”
§6. Thus, the external worship of God, that is, the worship of God in the simple sense, or the religious worship of God, is either general and thus common to most, if not all, nations, or special. The former, it seems, can be considered mainly in relation to three elements: the invocation of God, praising him, and showing gratitude.
§7. I call special external worship the different kinds of invoking, praising, and thanking God, which vary between nations. Among Christians, for example, this concerns the usual practice (or what should be the usual practice) of appealing to God in the name of Christ, with a mind free of vengefulness, in public, by extending one’s hands, baring the head, even toward one’s enemies, through music, fasting, and listening to the word of God. The sanctification of the Sabbath and the use of the sacraments, etc., also belong here.
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