1 00:00:04,660 --> 00:00:10,439 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:10,439 --> 00:00:15,019 moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And 3 00:00:15,019 --> 00:00:23,820 today, I want to challenge you to think through the issue of the 5,000-year leap and the moral 4 00:00:23,820 --> 00:00:32,640 preconditions for such a leap having been made. We've been treating recently of the amazing 5 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:38,880 progress that American culture and society has made over the centuries, and even the skeptics 6 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:44,380 have had to admit, indeed, that America has made giant leaps and strides, whether it's in the 7 00:00:44,380 --> 00:00:52,100 area of transportation, where we now, after 5,000 years, are able to go faster than the average horse, 8 00:00:52,799 --> 00:00:59,299 and we've been able to fly with heavier-than-air machines, and we've been able to do that all 9 00:00:59,299 --> 00:01:04,959 the way to the moon, for that matter. We've made tremendous progress in terms of human freedom 10 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:11,859 as well, to where the average man, rather than just the prince or the king, can make great advances in 11 00:01:11,859 --> 00:01:19,959 his own life and have instruments and toys and plenties of food and provisions for himself and 12 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:26,620 his family that were never possible in the last 5,000 years of human history. And that's been 13 00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:33,459 because, foundationally, primarily because of the constitutional system that we have had in America, 14 00:01:33,459 --> 00:01:41,700 where we say, we the people, rather than I the prince, or no one in anarchy, right? We've looked 15 00:01:41,700 --> 00:01:48,480 at the both ends of a human power, and they've been either the ruler's law, or they've been complete 16 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:55,500 and utter anarchy. What is the sweet spot right in the middle is people's law, that is we the people. 17 00:01:55,500 --> 00:02:03,920 So we establish then and ordain the Constitution of the United States of America. And we've seen how, 18 00:02:04,540 --> 00:02:13,819 indeed, that has been the strata for us to operate within in America and throughout the world. And we 19 00:02:13,819 --> 00:02:18,759 have been a beacon then of hope. We've been a beacon of freedom and liberty ever since then. 20 00:02:18,759 --> 00:02:29,939 So this is the precondition of liberty and freedom in America. And the absolute precondition, 21 00:02:30,039 --> 00:02:35,400 the bottom line precondition for the 28 principles of the Constitution that we're going to be 22 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:43,240 reviewing is indeed the absolute requirement that if we are to restore the Constitution to America, 23 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:50,699 we must first find repentance and reformation in America. When our founding fathers talked about 24 00:02:50,699 --> 00:02:57,120 the book, or they talked about religion in America, they were not speaking of the Quran or the Bhagavad 25 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:03,419 Gita. They were rather speaking of the Bible. When they were talking about religion, they were not 26 00:03:03,419 --> 00:03:10,759 talking about Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism. No. When our founding fathers talked about religion being 27 00:03:10,759 --> 00:03:17,240 the foundation of the moral character of America, they were talking about biblical Christianity. When the 28 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:23,240 patriots grabbed their muskets to go and fight King George III and his red coats, they cried, no king but 29 00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:31,439 Christ, no king but Jesus. Now, even many atheists, they like to quote this phrase, because it shows our 30 00:03:31,439 --> 00:03:38,780 disdain for monarchy as Americans. But those patriots did not neglect the other meaning implicit in that 31 00:03:38,780 --> 00:03:45,680 phrase. That is, while no mere man could be king over their lives, another could. And that is the 32 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:53,060 God-man, Jesus Christ. In fact, it was Christ and his gospel that was the precondition for freedom 33 00:03:53,060 --> 00:04:00,479 preached all over the American continent before the Revolution. Spiritual life and liberty, first in 34 00:04:00,479 --> 00:04:08,139 Jesus Christ, physical life and liberty, second as a consequence of the gospel. And that's still how it is 35 00:04:08,139 --> 00:04:17,279 today. Because unless Christ governs first in the heart of man as king, no man can be truly free to 36 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:24,000 govern himself on the earth as his own king. Oh, Daniel Webster says, I love this quote, Daniel Webster 37 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:30,699 said two centuries ago, if the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the 38 00:04:30,699 --> 00:04:40,100 land. Anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or 39 00:04:40,100 --> 00:04:49,879 end. Unquote. How prescient he was. How insightful Daniel Webster was. Because we see it now individually in the 40 00:04:49,879 --> 00:04:59,459 hearts and lives of so many around us, do we not? Oh, who or what will be king in your heart today, I ask. I bid you to 41 00:04:59,459 --> 00:05:06,800 faith in Jesus Christ this day, if you don't know him. And perhaps all you know is the degradation and misery, if you 42 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:14,339 will, as Daniel Webster says, of life. I invite you to the health and life of the gospel today by believing on the 43 00:05:14,339 --> 00:05:22,660 Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Simple faith in Jesus will bring your soul to life in God and you will 44 00:05:22,660 --> 00:05:30,180 find joy instead of misery, light instead of darkness, health instead of corruption. Jesus himself assures 45 00:05:30,180 --> 00:05:37,699 you, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and 46 00:05:37,699 --> 00:05:45,019 learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. This is the absolute 47 00:05:45,019 --> 00:05:53,000 precondition, dear listener, before we tackle the 28 principles of the Constitution, which have been 48 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:00,899 articulated. These 28 principles, they're not mine in origin or conception, rather indeed the National 49 00:06:00,899 --> 00:06:11,379 Center for Constitutional Studies, which was headed up then by Dr. Skousen, who is a deceased now, but his 50 00:06:11,379 --> 00:06:16,480 legacy lives on, at the National Center for Constitutional Studies, and you'll find it at 51 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:26,939 nccs.org, the National Center, excuse me, for constitutional studies.org, nccs.org, and you'll find 52 00:06:26,939 --> 00:06:33,100 there you can get the materials, the book, the 5,000-year leap, for example, where many of these 53 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:39,759 things are ensconced. But let me tackle principle number one of the 28 principles then of the 54 00:06:39,759 --> 00:06:45,500 Constitution. Every nation has a basis for government, doesn't it? What is the reliable basis 55 00:06:45,500 --> 00:06:52,819 for sound government and just human relations? Principle number one. Every nation has a basis for 56 00:06:52,819 --> 00:06:59,279 government and human relations, and the only question then becomes, what is that basis? Well, sometimes 57 00:06:59,279 --> 00:07:08,259 that basis for government and human relations is systematic and haphazard, systematic and thought 58 00:07:08,259 --> 00:07:14,800 out, excuse me, but more often that system of human government and relations comes together in history in 59 00:07:14,800 --> 00:07:21,740 a piecemeal and a haphazard fashion, if you will, out of necessity and chance. Napoleon and the leaders of 60 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:28,639 the French Revolution tried to build a system of law based upon godless reason in a systematic way, 61 00:07:28,779 --> 00:07:35,459 and they utterly failed. And Spain is a classic example of a land where law and government came 62 00:07:35,459 --> 00:07:42,860 together haphazardly through history as a variety of kings imposed their own personal wills on the 63 00:07:42,860 --> 00:07:49,759 people and their traditions. Well, the Constitution of the United States of America is the only document 64 00:07:49,759 --> 00:07:56,579 that was thoroughly constructed from top to bottom in accord with one single coherent philosophy, 65 00:07:56,579 --> 00:08:04,899 and that was composed in an atmosphere of peace and deliberation. Oh, James Wilson says this about the 66 00:08:04,899 --> 00:08:11,860 Constitution, a contemporary. He says, governments in general have been the result of force, of fraud, 67 00:08:11,860 --> 00:08:20,939 and accident. After a period of 6,000 years has elapsed since the creation, the United States exhibit to the 68 00:08:20,939 --> 00:08:28,639 world the first instance of a nation unattacked by external force, unconvulsed by domestic insurrections, 69 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:38,200 assembling voluntarily, deliberating fully, and deciding calmly concerning that system of government under which 70 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:46,940 they wish that they and their posterity should live, unquote. A really great discussion and description of 71 00:08:46,940 --> 00:08:55,759 the attitude and the tone of the Constitutional Convention. Well, then, upon what basis did this calm, 72 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:03,080 deliberative body found their Constitution? Well, this brings us to the first principle in the 28 73 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:09,360 principles of the founders who established the Constitution of the United States. That's the heart 74 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:16,639 and core of the 5,000-year leap is our own Constitution. And that first principle is, the only basis for sound 75 00:09:16,639 --> 00:09:24,100 government and just human relations is natural law. Number one, the only basis for sound government and 76 00:09:24,100 --> 00:09:31,139 just human relations is natural law. Well, what in the world is natural law, you may ask? I've never even 77 00:09:31,139 --> 00:09:37,500 heard of such a thing, right? Well, this rich idea has deep roots in history stretching back to the 78 00:09:37,500 --> 00:09:43,000 ancient philosophers. And one of the best definitions of natural law comes from the pen of the great 79 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:50,919 British jurist Sir Edward Coke. He says of natural law, the law of nature is that which God, at the time 80 00:09:50,919 --> 00:09:57,840 of creation, infused into his heart for his preservation and direction. And this is lex aeterna, 81 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:05,539 the moral law, lex aeterna, called also the law of nature. And by this written with the finger of God 82 00:10:05,539 --> 00:10:11,419 in the heart of man were the people, a long time governed, before the law was written by Moses, 83 00:10:11,779 --> 00:10:20,480 who was the first reporter or writer of law in the world, unquote. In fact, this is the very principle 84 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:26,980 ensconced in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, who incidentally read extensively from 85 00:10:26,980 --> 00:10:35,259 Sir Edward Coke, when Jefferson speaks of the supreme being of the universe, who gives us our rights. 86 00:10:35,720 --> 00:10:41,360 Of course, in the Declaration, he says, to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them. 87 00:10:42,139 --> 00:10:49,340 The laws of nature is nothing less than the sum of natural law. And nature's God is nothing less than 88 00:10:49,340 --> 00:10:56,279 the God of the Bible, Yahweh Elohim. Well, of what importance might this have for you, 89 00:10:56,500 --> 00:11:02,179 oh fellow American? What importance does it have for your daily grind in life today? 90 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:10,299 Is this a point of debate for college professors in their ivory towers? Or does natural law have any 91 00:11:10,299 --> 00:11:13,940 reference to you and me living in the 21st century America? 92 00:11:13,940 --> 00:11:22,120 Oh, please, fellow citizen of the greatest nation on earth, know that this principle of natural law 93 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:30,159 is the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations. Yes, the principle of natural law 94 00:11:30,159 --> 00:11:39,740 is the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations. And it is so germane to your 95 00:11:39,740 --> 00:11:45,700 liberties and your freedom. Today, let me illustrate with several examples. For example, in the day of our 96 00:11:45,700 --> 00:11:51,279 founding fathers, capital punishment was in the hands of individual men and not the law. King George 97 00:11:51,279 --> 00:11:57,360 III and his lieutenants arbitrarily decided who should live and who should die. And our founding fathers 98 00:11:57,360 --> 00:12:05,580 saw to it that this arbitrariness ended. And they thus insisted that the accused be tried by a jury of 99 00:12:05,580 --> 00:12:13,559 his peers. Oh, the jury trial, which has been lost in today's modern justice system too. But our founding 100 00:12:13,559 --> 00:12:20,139 fathers insisted that the accused be tried by a jury of his peers, along with other safeguards like 101 00:12:20,139 --> 00:12:27,340 habeas corpus. These were principles derived from natural law, that is, ideas flowing from what had been 102 00:12:27,340 --> 00:12:34,600 established in common law over the centuries in England and the American colonies. In our own day, 103 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:41,320 the opposite case obtains. We can say capital punishment has been taken away from the people 104 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:47,639 as a just and equitable punishment for the most heinous criminals among us. And it is time, 105 00:12:47,740 --> 00:12:54,360 it is time that the principles of natural law, like thou shalt not kill, be applied to the real world 106 00:12:54,360 --> 00:13:02,120 again. Well, secondly, another example, indeed, how natural law is the only reliable basis for sound 107 00:13:02,120 --> 00:13:09,559 government and just human relations. Our second example is that natural law had observed over 108 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:15,899 the centuries, that whenever the state imposed itself on the private religious beliefs of the people, 109 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:24,620 bloodshed and oppression ensued. Oh, and we can cite as a historical example, the 30 years war in Europe, 110 00:13:24,759 --> 00:13:31,899 where indeed Protestant and Catholic shed blood over 30 year period, and the borders of the respective 111 00:13:31,899 --> 00:13:36,759 states remained the same remained the same, even after 30 years of terrible bloodshed. On the other hand, 112 00:13:37,580 --> 00:13:44,659 our founders were also intensely aware that when God was taken out of the lives of men in government, 113 00:13:44,899 --> 00:13:52,259 corruption ensued, like the French Revolution. That would be exhibit A to their generation. And in our own day, 114 00:13:52,259 --> 00:14:02,120 look at Governor Cuomo in New York, for instance, how should the founding fathers then best balance the two 115 00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:08,879 extremes of oppression for too much government and religion on the one hand, and too little religion 116 00:14:08,879 --> 00:14:15,279 in government on the other? This is the true derivation of the First Amendment in our Constitution. 117 00:14:15,279 --> 00:14:20,879 And that reads, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or 118 00:14:20,879 --> 00:14:25,960 prohibiting the free exercise thereof, right? The establishment clause in the First Amendment to 119 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:33,100 the Constitution. Wow. Natural law, we must also say, natural law had also observed over the centuries 120 00:14:33,100 --> 00:14:41,220 that if the state was the only entity that had arms, then a well-regulated militia, that is the 121 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:49,460 people's army, could not possibly be maintained. Yes. Oh, if only the state had arms, you had tyranny. 122 00:14:49,779 --> 00:14:56,179 And so, the right of the people at large to maintain weapons shall not be infringed. That's what our 123 00:14:56,179 --> 00:15:01,200 Constitution ensconces. The founding fathers understood to their toenails that the general 124 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:08,080 population of citizens was the only safeguard for freedom, and that that freedom could not possibly 125 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:14,440 be maintained without the ability to defend it to the point of death, that is, with a weapon. The 126 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:21,419 ruse of liberals, that this only applies to the state militia when called up by the governor, is an 127 00:15:21,419 --> 00:15:26,940 attempt, excuse me, to artificially restrict the sense of the Second Amendment originally intended by 128 00:15:26,940 --> 00:15:32,740 the founding fathers. The founding fathers understood better than anyone that in addition 129 00:15:32,740 --> 00:15:39,879 to an unlikely invasion from a foreign power, the average citizen needed deadly force to protect 130 00:15:39,879 --> 00:15:46,159 himself in his own home against the criminal element in his community and, as well, against the 131 00:15:46,159 --> 00:15:53,480 predations of his own government from time to time, right? Oh, with all of these constitutional rights 132 00:15:53,480 --> 00:16:00,440 and more, we are driven to conclude that the law, shaped and driven by the people's experience of it 133 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:08,000 over the centuries, was built in and inherent in the very nature of man. Nature's law, right? It is what 134 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:15,220 we call natural law. In fact, in speaking of the law of God, which is written on the hearts of even lost 135 00:16:15,220 --> 00:16:21,720 men, Paul says, and I quote the Apostle Paul from Romans chapter 2, when Gentiles who do not have the 136 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:29,679 law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves. Even they do not have, even though 137 00:16:29,679 --> 00:16:35,519 they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their 138 00:16:35,519 --> 00:16:43,059 conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, 139 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:51,600 according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. As a pastor of the gospel of 140 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:57,600 Jesus Christ, I must indicate to you that this is first and foremost an articulation of the Apostle 141 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:04,559 Paul's understanding of man's conscience before God in regard to his justification, whether he is 142 00:17:04,559 --> 00:17:11,819 regarded as just before an all-holy God apart from Jesus Christ, and the right standing he offers the 143 00:17:11,819 --> 00:17:19,359 sinner in himself in Jesus Christ. Paul says that no, a man can never be just and righteous before God 144 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:27,440 apart from Christ. He has a conscience hardwired into his nature. That is enough to tell him he is wrong and 145 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:36,400 condemned, but not enough to save him. Therefore, every one of us needs the just standing offered in 146 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:43,920 the gospel if we are to see heaven, a just standing before God that is offered to us by grace alone, 147 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:50,799 apart from any works that we might do. If any one of you has not done this yet consciously and 148 00:17:50,799 --> 00:17:57,259 prayerfully, then I exhort you to it today. This is the first step in living a life of righteousness 149 00:17:57,259 --> 00:18:04,920 and peace and freedom. And it begins in this life and extends into eternity. Well, what is pertinent 150 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:10,980 to our 28 principles today is that there is a measure of the law of God written in the hearts and 151 00:18:10,980 --> 00:18:19,079 consciences of men all over, regardless of race, geography, or nationality. That law written on their 152 00:18:19,079 --> 00:18:25,700 hearts cannot save him before God, but it can convict him before God and drive him to Christ 153 00:18:25,700 --> 00:18:32,200 for salvation when he is so brought to Christ by the preaching of the gospel. This is why we send 154 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:39,359 missionaries. What it also does is bring a universal sense of right and wrong to every human culture 155 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:44,460 because the work of the law is written on their hearts while their consciences also bear witness, 156 00:18:44,460 --> 00:18:50,660 as Paul says, every human culture on earth from the most primitive tribe and peggle peggle to the 157 00:18:50,660 --> 00:18:58,500 most sophisticated democracy in the West. These societies have their laws against murder or theft 158 00:18:58,500 --> 00:19:06,099 and for marriage between a man and a woman and only a man and a woman too, not man and man or woman 159 00:19:06,099 --> 00:19:11,980 and woman, among many other similarities. This is what the founding fathers meant by natural law, 160 00:19:11,980 --> 00:19:19,000 the law that is embedded in the hearts of men all over the world, hardwired into our nature from 161 00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:26,420 creation by creation's God. So while natural law has a long and storied tradition in the West, 162 00:19:26,599 --> 00:19:33,539 it has recently been attacked and subtly undermined by an entirely new and antithetical theory of 163 00:19:33,539 --> 00:19:41,119 jurisprudence, that of evolutionary case law. It may sound dry and technical to you, but indeed it has 164 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:46,819 undermined the idea of natural law, the idea of evolutionary case law. And that was pioneered in 165 00:19:46,819 --> 00:19:55,220 America by Harvard professor C.C. Langdell in the late 19th century, and it sought to replace the old 166 00:19:55,220 --> 00:20:01,599 with the new. Oh, the new is always better, isn't it? Not necessarily. And one of Langdell's early 167 00:20:01,599 --> 00:20:08,039 colleagues, John Chipman Gray, coined a phrase that you may be familiar with by now, and that is, 168 00:20:08,039 --> 00:20:15,099 the law is a living thing with a continuous history, sloughing off the old, taking on the new, unquote. 169 00:20:15,660 --> 00:20:21,960 A new and living thing, right? And so, the law and the Constitution became a living, breathing document. 170 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:29,619 Oh, isn't that just so vital? And isn't that just so enticing? The law and the Constitution becomes a 171 00:20:29,619 --> 00:20:36,599 living, breathing document subject to change and development depending on the needs of the present 172 00:20:36,599 --> 00:20:44,700 generation. Instead of creation with man hardwired with law into his nature, Langdell insisted on evolution 173 00:20:44,700 --> 00:20:53,420 with man developing law independently of God over millennia on a case-by-case basis. So, the doctrine of 174 00:20:53,420 --> 00:21:00,960 case law. Instead of God as the supreme judge and giver of the law, Langdell and his students substituted 175 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:08,740 man as the source and origin of law. And ever since then, natural law theory has been pushed out of the 176 00:21:08,740 --> 00:21:16,259 way by that of evolutionary case law. Names you may be familiar with have trumpeted this theory, 177 00:21:16,259 --> 00:21:24,279 whether it be Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. or Louis Brandeis, after whom a university has been named, 178 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:31,720 right? Or the disastrous Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. So, because of this evolutionary model, 179 00:21:31,940 --> 00:21:39,420 dear listener, your Constitution is subject to the whims of legal scholars infinitely more wise and judicious 180 00:21:39,420 --> 00:21:46,180 than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, right? Who subscribed wholeheartedly to the natural 181 00:21:46,180 --> 00:21:52,200 law theory? These men and women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Stephen 182 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:59,799 Breyer or even Barack Obama, they see the Constitution of the United States not as a static document with a 183 00:21:59,799 --> 00:22:07,220 set determined meaning easily traceable to the original intent of the founders, but rather as a 184 00:22:07,220 --> 00:22:14,079 living, breathing document amenable to the whims and changeable temperament of subsequent generations. 185 00:22:14,079 --> 00:22:21,039 That is why, despite the clear language of our Constitution's text, the right of the people to 186 00:22:21,039 --> 00:22:25,940 keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, right? It can be understood to mean that the federal 187 00:22:25,940 --> 00:22:33,460 government can infringe that right whenever and wherever it so chooses. Or where the Constitution or the 188 00:22:33,460 --> 00:22:39,900 Declaration says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion 189 00:22:39,900 --> 00:22:46,519 or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. That is indeed the First Amendment to the Constitution, 190 00:22:46,660 --> 00:22:54,599 excuse me. Rather, they can, via evolutionary case law, establish a religion, that is secular humanism, 191 00:22:54,740 --> 00:23:01,819 and prohibit the free exercise of biblical Christianity, like the display of Ten Commandments or Christmas 192 00:23:01,819 --> 00:23:10,079 crushes whenever and wherever it deems fit, right? Or the right to privacy is nowhere anticipated in the 193 00:23:10,079 --> 00:23:15,539 Constitution by our founding fathers, right, as extending to the heinous practice of abortion. 194 00:23:15,700 --> 00:23:23,059 Nevertheless, those who advocate evolutionary case law can find the shadow of a penumbra of a precedent 195 00:23:23,059 --> 00:23:33,440 via evolutionary case law to justify legalization of unrestricted abortion in the United States. 196 00:23:34,319 --> 00:23:42,839 So, the pernicious nature of evolutionary case law is at the complete and utter odds with the theory 197 00:23:42,839 --> 00:23:49,799 that gave us our Constitution, that is the doctrine of natural law. It is time that we return to 198 00:23:49,799 --> 00:23:56,920 Sir Edmund Koch's definition, that is the law of nature is that which God at the time of creation 199 00:23:56,920 --> 00:24:05,319 infused into his heart for his preservation and direction. And this is lex aeterna, the moral law, 200 00:24:05,579 --> 00:24:13,500 called also the law of nature. For it is this law, dear listener, natural law, that is the only 201 00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:24,079 reliable basis for sound government and for just human relations. Well, we are now on the threshold 202 00:24:24,079 --> 00:24:31,119 of our second principle that our founding fathers understood clearly, and that is a free people cannot 203 00:24:31,119 --> 00:24:37,799 survive under a Republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong. We'll treat 204 00:24:37,799 --> 00:24:48,440 of that in more detail than later. But let us now then conclude with the exhortation to the founding principles, 205 00:24:48,799 --> 00:24:54,980 the 28 principles of our Constitution that we desperately need to return to. They are being frittered away. 206 00:24:55,259 --> 00:25:03,799 They are being forgotten. There is an intentional night of forgetfulness that is descending upon the American 207 00:25:03,799 --> 00:25:11,259 memory where all of these things have been forgotten. Intentionally so. They've been diseducated in our public 208 00:25:11,259 --> 00:25:20,519 school systems, and they have been regularly chided and derided and deformed by the left, by those 209 00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:30,140 who are prosecuting indeed a progressive agenda on America today, and we're losing these and descending 210 00:25:30,140 --> 00:25:36,859 into chaos completely. It's time we stepped out. It's time we remembered that initial principle that 211 00:25:36,859 --> 00:25:45,519 indeed we can't, as a gathered people and American people, we cannot be just and right. We cannot be 212 00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:53,460 constitutional unless we indeed are a moral and ethical people. John Adams said that indeed the 213 00:25:53,460 --> 00:26:00,259 Constitution was made only for a moral and ethical people. It is entirely unfit for any other, unquote. 214 00:26:01,059 --> 00:26:06,880 We need to return to those basic principles if we indeed are to return to our basic constitutional 215 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:13,359 liberties and freedom in America again. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox 216 00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:19,440 Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday. We meet now in relative liberty and freedom. 217 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:26,480 We do celebrate our First Amendment rights, and we worship Jesus Christ unashamedly and unabashedly on 218 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:32,720 Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and we encourage you to join us 219 00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:39,920 at New Geneva, and call us for more information or some feedback, too, if you care to give us some 220 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:49,000 feedback at area code 208-523-0196. That's 208-523-0196.