Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to challenge you to think through the issue of the 5,000-year leap and the moral preconditions for such a leap having been made.

We've been treating recently of the amazing progress that American culture and society has made over the centuries, and even the skeptics have had to admit, indeed, that America has made giant leaps and strides, whether it's in the area of transportation, where we now, after 5,000 years, are able to go faster than the average horse, and we've been able to fly with heavier-than-air machines, and we've been able to do that all the way to the moon, for that matter.

We've made tremendous progress in terms of human freedom as well, to where the average man, rather than just the prince or the king, can make great advances in his own life and have instruments and toys and plenties of food and provisions for himself and his family that were never possible in the last 5,000 years of human history. And that's been because, foundationally, primarily because of the constitutional system that we have had in America, where we say, we the people, rather than I the prince, or no one in anarchy, right?

We've looked at the both ends of a human power, and they've been either the ruler's law, or they've been complete and utter anarchy. What is the sweet spot right in the middle is people's law, that is we the people. So we establish then and ordain the Constitution of the United States of America. And we've seen how, indeed, that has been the strata for us to operate within in America and throughout the world. And we have been a beacon then of hope.

We've been a beacon of freedom and liberty ever since then. So this is the precondition of liberty and freedom in America. And the absolute precondition, the bottom line precondition for the 28 principles of the Constitution that we're going to be reviewing is indeed the absolute requirement that if we are to restore the Constitution to America, we must first find repentance and reformation in America. When our founding fathers talked about the book, or they talked about religion in America, they were not speaking of the Quran or the Bhagavad Gita. They were rather speaking of the Bible.

When they were talking about religion, they were not talking about Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism. No. When our founding fathers talked about religion being the foundation of the moral character of America, they were talking about biblical Christianity. When the patriots grabbed their muskets to go and fight King George III and his red coats, they cried, no king but Christ, no king but Jesus. Now, even many atheists, they like to quote this phrase, because it shows our disdain for monarchy as Americans.

But those patriots did not neglect the other meaning implicit in that phrase. That is, while no mere man could be king over their lives, another could. And that is the God-man, Jesus Christ. In fact, it was Christ and his gospel that was the precondition for freedom preached all over the American continent before the Revolution. Spiritual life and liberty, first in Jesus Christ, physical life and liberty, second as a consequence of the gospel.

And that's still how it is today. Because unless Christ governs first in the heart of man as king, no man can be truly free to govern himself on the earth as his own king. Oh, Daniel Webster says, I love this quote, Daniel Webster said two centuries ago, if the power of the gospel is not felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. Anarchy and misrule, degradation and misery, corruption and darkness will reign without mitigation or end. Unquote.

How prescient he was. How insightful Daniel Webster was. Because we see it now individually in the 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 faith in Jesus Christ this day, if you don't know him.

And perhaps all you know is the degradation and misery, if you will, as Daniel Webster says, of life. I invite you to the health and life of the gospel today by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Simple faith in Jesus will bring your soul to life in God and you will find joy instead of misery, light instead of darkness, health instead of corruption. Jesus himself assures you, come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

This is the absolute precondition, dear listener, before we tackle the 28 principles of the Constitution, which have been articulated. These 28 principles, they're not mine in origin or conception, rather indeed the National Center for Constitutional Studies, which was headed up then by Dr. Skousen, who is a deceased now, but his legacy lives on, at the National Center for Constitutional Studies, and you'll find it at nccs.org, the National Center, excuse me, for constitutional studies.org, nccs.org, and you'll find there you can get the materials, the book, the 5,000-year leap, for example, where many of these things are ensconced.

But let me tackle principle number one of the 28 principles then of the Constitution. Every nation has a basis for government, doesn't it? What is the reliable basis for sound government and just human relations? Principle number one. Every nation has a basis for government and human relations, and the only question then becomes, what is that basis?

Well, sometimes that basis for government and human relations is systematic and haphazard, systematic and thought out, excuse me, but more often that system of human government and relations comes together in history in a piecemeal and a haphazard fashion, if you will, out of necessity and chance. Napoleon and the leaders of the French Revolution tried to build a system of law based upon godless reason in a systematic way, and they utterly failed. And Spain is a classic example of a land where law and government came together haphazardly through history as a variety of kings imposed their own personal wills on the people and their traditions.

Well, the Constitution of the United States of America is the only document that was thoroughly constructed from top to bottom in accord with one single coherent philosophy, and that was composed in an atmosphere of peace and deliberation. Oh, James Wilson says this about the Constitution, a contemporary. He says, governments in general have been the result of force, of fraud, and accident.

After a period of 6,000 years has elapsed since the creation, the United States exhibit to the world the first instance of a nation unattacked by external force, unconvulsed by domestic insurrections, assembling voluntarily, deliberating fully, and deciding calmly concerning that system of government under which they wish that they and their posterity should live, unquote. A really great discussion and description of the attitude and the tone of the Constitutional Convention. Well, then, upon what basis did this calm, deliberative body found their Constitution?

Well, this brings us to the first principle in the 28 principles of the founders who established the Constitution of the United States. That's the heart and core of the 5,000-year leap is our own Constitution. And that first principle is, the only basis for sound government and just human relations is natural law. Number one, the only basis for sound government and just human relations is natural law. Well, what in the world is natural law, you may ask?

I've never even heard of such a thing, right? Well, this rich idea has deep roots in history stretching back to the ancient philosophers. And one of the best definitions of natural law comes from the pen of the great British jurist Sir Edward Coke. He says of natural law, the law of nature is that which God, at the time of creation, infused into his heart for his preservation and direction. And this is lex aeterna, the moral law, lex aeterna, called also the law of nature.

And by this written with the finger of God in the heart of man were the people, a long time governed, before the law was written by Moses, who was the first reporter or writer of law in the world, unquote. In fact, this is the very principle ensconced in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, who incidentally read extensively from Sir Edward Coke, when Jefferson speaks of the supreme being of the universe, who gives us our rights. Of course, in the Declaration, he says, to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitled them. The laws of nature is nothing less than the sum of natural law.

And nature's God is nothing less than the God of the Bible, Yahweh Elohim. Well, of what importance might this have for you, oh fellow American? What importance does it have for your daily grind in life today? Is this a point of debate for college professors in their ivory towers? Or does natural law have any reference to you and me living in the 21st century America?

Oh, please, fellow citizen of the greatest nation on earth, know that this principle of natural law is the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations. Yes, the principle of natural law is the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations. And it is so germane to your liberties and your freedom. Today, let me illustrate with several examples. For example, in the day of our founding fathers, capital punishment was in the hands of individual men and not the law.

King George III and his lieutenants arbitrarily decided who should live and who should die. And our founding fathers saw to it that this arbitrariness ended. And they thus insisted that the accused be tried by a jury of his peers. Oh, the jury trial, which has been lost in today's modern justice system too. But our founding fathers insisted that the accused be tried by a jury of his peers, along with other safeguards like habeas corpus.

These were principles derived from natural law, that is, ideas flowing from what had been established in common law over the centuries in England and the American colonies. In our own day, the opposite case obtains. We can say capital punishment has been taken away from the people as a just and equitable punishment for the most heinous criminals among us. And it is time, it is time that the principles of natural law, like thou shalt not kill, be applied to the real world again. Well, secondly, another example, indeed, how natural law is the only reliable basis for sound government and just human relations.

Our second example is that natural law had observed over the centuries, that whenever the state imposed itself on the private religious beliefs of the people, bloodshed and oppression ensued. Oh, and we can cite as a historical example, the 30 years war in Europe, where indeed Protestant and Catholic shed blood over 30 year period, and the borders of the respective states remained the same remained the same, even after 30 years of terrible bloodshed. On the other hand, our founders were also intensely aware that when God was taken out of the lives of men in government, corruption ensued, like the French Revolution.

That would be exhibit A to their generation. And in our own day, look at Governor Cuomo in New York, for instance, how should the founding fathers then best balance the two extremes of oppression for too much government and religion on the one hand, and too little religion in government on the other? This is the true derivation of the First Amendment in our Constitution. And that reads, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, right? The establishment clause in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Wow. Natural law, we must also say, natural law had also observed over the centuries that if the state was the only entity that had arms, then a well-regulated militia, that is the people's army, could not possibly be maintained. Yes. Oh, if only the state had arms, you had tyranny. And so, the right of the people at large to maintain weapons shall not be infringed.

That's what our Constitution ensconces. The founding fathers understood to their toenails that the general population of citizens was the only safeguard for freedom, and that that freedom could not possibly be maintained without the ability to defend it to the point of death, that is, with a weapon. The ruse of liberals, that this only applies to the state militia when called up by the governor, is an attempt, excuse me, to artificially restrict the sense of the Second Amendment originally intended by the founding fathers.

The founding fathers understood better than anyone that in addition to an unlikely invasion from a foreign power, the average citizen needed deadly force to protect himself in his own home against the criminal element in his community and, as well, against the predations of his own government from time to time, right? Oh, with all of these constitutional rights and more, we are driven to conclude that the law, shaped and driven by the people's experience of it over the centuries, was built in and inherent in the very nature of man. Nature's law, right? It is what we call natural law.

In fact, in speaking of the law of God, which is written on the hearts of even lost men, Paul says, and I quote the Apostle Paul from Romans chapter 2, when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law unto themselves. Even they do not have, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.

As a pastor of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I must indicate to you that this is first and foremost an articulation of the Apostle Paul's understanding of man's conscience before God in regard to his justification, whether he is regarded as just before an all-holy God apart from Jesus Christ, and the right standing he offers the sinner in himself in Jesus Christ. Paul says that no, a man can never be just and righteous before God apart from Christ. He has a conscience hardwired into his nature. That is enough to tell him he is wrong and condemned, but not enough to save him.

Therefore, every one of us needs the just standing offered in the gospel if we are to see heaven, a just standing before God that is offered to us by grace alone, apart from any works that we might do. If any one of you has not done this yet consciously and prayerfully, then I exhort you to it today. This is the first step in living a life of righteousness and peace and freedom. And it begins in this life and extends into eternity. Well, what is pertinent to our 28 principles today is that there is a measure of the law of God written in the hearts and consciences of men all over, regardless of race, geography, or nationality.

That law written on their hearts cannot save him before God, but it can convict him before God and drive him to Christ for salvation when he is so brought to Christ by the preaching of the gospel. This is why we send missionaries. What it also does is bring a universal sense of right and wrong to every human culture because the work of the law is written on their hearts while their consciences also bear witness, as Paul says, every human culture on earth from the most primitive tribe and peggle peggle to the most sophisticated democracy in the West.

These societies have their laws against murder or theft and for marriage between a man and a woman and only a man and a woman too, not man and man or woman and woman, among many other similarities. This is what the founding fathers meant by natural law, the law that is embedded in the hearts of men all over the world, hardwired into our nature from creation by creation's God. So while natural law has a long and storied tradition in the West, it has recently been attacked and subtly undermined by an entirely new and antithetical theory of jurisprudence, that of evolutionary case law.

It may sound dry and technical to you, but indeed it has undermined the idea of natural law, the idea of evolutionary case law. And that was pioneered in America by Harvard professor C.C. Langdell in the late 19th century, and it sought to replace the old with the new. Oh, the new is always better, isn't it? Not necessarily.

And one of Langdell's early colleagues, John Chipman Gray, coined a phrase that you may be familiar with by now, and that is, the law is a living thing with a continuous history, sloughing off the old, taking on the new, unquote. A new and living thing, right? And so, the law and the Constitution became a living, breathing document. Oh, isn't that just so vital? And isn't that just so enticing?

The law and the Constitution becomes a living, breathing document subject to change and development depending on the needs of the present generation. Instead of creation with man hardwired with law into his nature, Langdell insisted on evolution with man developing law independently of God over millennia on a case-by-case basis. So, the doctrine of case law. Instead of God as the supreme judge and giver of the law, Langdell and his students substituted man as the source and origin of law. And ever since then, natural law theory has been pushed out of the way by that of evolutionary case law.

Names you may be familiar with have trumpeted this theory, whether it be Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. or Louis Brandeis, after whom a university has been named, right? Or the disastrous Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren. So, because of this evolutionary model, dear listener, your Constitution is subject to the whims of legal scholars infinitely more wise and judicious than George Washington or Thomas Jefferson, right? Who subscribed wholeheartedly to the natural law theory?

These men and women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg or Stephen Breyer or even Barack Obama, they see the Constitution of the United States not as a static document with a set determined meaning easily traceable to the original intent of the founders, but rather as a living, breathing document amenable to the whims and changeable temperament of subsequent generations. That is why, despite the clear language of our Constitution's text, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, right?

It can be understood to mean that the federal government can infringe that right whenever and wherever it so chooses. Or where the Constitution or the Declaration says that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. That is indeed the First Amendment to the Constitution, excuse me. Rather, they can, via evolutionary case law, establish a religion, that is secular humanism, and prohibit the free exercise of biblical Christianity, like the display of Ten Commandments or Christmas crushes whenever and wherever it deems fit, right?

Or the right to privacy is nowhere anticipated in the Constitution by our founding fathers, right, as extending to the heinous practice of abortion. Nevertheless, those who advocate evolutionary case law can find the shadow of a penumbra of a precedent via evolutionary case law to justify legalization of unrestricted abortion in the United States. So, the pernicious nature of evolutionary case law is at the complete and utter odds with the theory that gave us our Constitution, that is the doctrine of natural law.

It is time that we return to Sir Edmund Koch's definition, that is the law of nature is that which God at the time of creation infused into his heart for his preservation and direction. And this is lex aeterna, the moral law, called also the law of nature. For it is this law, dear listener, natural law, that is the only reliable basis for sound government and for just human relations. Well, we are now on the threshold of our second principle that our founding fathers understood clearly, and that is a free people cannot survive under a Republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and morally strong.

We'll treat of that in more detail than later. But let us now then conclude with the exhortation to the founding principles, the 28 principles of our Constitution that we desperately need to return to. They are being frittered away. They are being forgotten. There is an intentional night of forgetfulness that is descending upon the American memory where all of these things have been forgotten.

Intentionally so. They've been diseducated in our public school systems, and they have been regularly chided and derided and deformed by the left, by those who are prosecuting indeed a progressive agenda on America today, and we're losing these and descending into chaos completely. It's time we stepped out. It's time we remembered that initial principle that indeed we can't, as a gathered people and American people, we cannot be just and right. We cannot be constitutional unless we indeed are a moral and ethical people.

John Adams said that indeed the Constitution was made only for a moral and ethical people. It is entirely unfit for any other, unquote. We need to return to those basic principles if we indeed are to return to our basic constitutional liberties and freedom in America again. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday.

We meet now in relative liberty and freedom. We do celebrate our First Amendment rights, and we worship Jesus Christ unashamedly and unabashedly on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard, and we encourage you to join us at New Geneva, and call us for more information or some feedback, too, if you care to give us some feedback at area code 208-523-0196. That's 208-523-0196.