Advocate of Peace (92) (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... Hooker, and the composite doctrine of these three philosophers became the principles of the British Whig party and of the American colonists. Against the Tory and Imperialist reaction in Great Britain, the Americans insisted upon their traditional principles, making their own declaration of them, and successfully maintained these principles by revolution. The words of the Declaration, when read as an exposition of the legal and political meaning of the Biblical Commandments, are easy to be understood. The equal creation of all men by a Common Creator is taken as the prime axiom of all law and political science. The fundamental duties, imposed by divine command on each man, to his Creator, to himself, and to his neighbor evidently necessitate that he should have those rights against all other men and all bodies of men, which are needful to enable him to fulfill these duties. Such rights are of an extraordinary character. They arise not by the gift of any man, but by "endowment" of "the Creator." These rights not having arisen from gift of any man, cannot be given away by any man. They are "unalienable." The rights which are needful to enable each man to perform the duties imposed by the Commandments are not completely specified in the Declaration, but it asserts that "among these" are the right of "life," the right of "liberty," and the right of "pursuit of happiness." The right of property is regarded as a right which is not fundamental, but as one which is incidental to and limited by these fundamental rights. Governments, however instituted, are declared to be bodies of men who derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. These words are taken from the...