According to St. Augustine, an unjust law does not appear to be a law: _Lex esse non videtur quæ justa non fuerit._[206] And the great Fathers of the Church, while adopting these words, declare openly that unjust laws are not binding. Sometimes they are called "iniquity," and not law; sometimes "violences," and not laws.[207] And here again the conscience of each person is final arbiter. But this lofty principle is not confined to the Church. Earlier than the Church, a sublime Heathen announced the same truth. After assailing indignantly that completest folly which would find the rule of justice in human institutions and laws, and then asking if the laws of tyrants are just simply because laws, Cicero declares, that, if edicts of popular assemblies, decrees of princes, and decisions of judges constitute right, then there may be a right to rob, a right to commit adultery, a right to set up forged wills; whereas he does not hesitate to say that pernicious and pestilent statutes can be no more entitled to the name of law than robber codes; and he concludes, in words as strong as those of St. Augustine, that an unjust law is null.[208] A master of philosophy in early Europe, of intellectual renown, the eloquent Abelard, in Latin verses addressed to his son, clearly expresses the universal injunction:-- "Jussa potestatis terrenæ discutienda: Coelestis tibi mox perficienda scias. Si quis divinis jubeat contraria jussis, Te contra Dominum pactio nulla trahat."[209] [206] De Libero Arbitrio, Lib. I. c. 5. See Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, 1ma 2dæ, Quæst. XCVI. art. 4; also, Balmez, Protestantism and Catholicity compared in their Effects on the Civilization of Europe, Ch. 53. [207] _Magis iniquitas quam lex, magis violentiæ quam leges._ Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., 1ma 2dæ, Quæst. XC. art. 1, XCVI. art. 4. The supreme duty to God is recognized in a text of St. Basil, _Obediendum est in quibus mandatum Dei non impeditur_, quoted by Filmer, Patriarcha, Ch. III. § 3. The mandates of an earthly power are to be discussed; those of Heaven must at once be performed; nor should we suffer ourselves to be drawn by any compact into opposition to God. Such is the rule of morals. Such, also, by the lips of judges and sages, is the proud declaration of English law, whence our own is derived. In this conviction, patriots have braved unjust commands, and martyrs have died. [208] De Legibus, Lib. I. capp. 15, 16; Lib. II. capp. 5, 6. The conclusion appears in the dialogue between Cicero and his brother Quintus. ARC. Ergo est lex justorum injustorumque distinctio, ad illam antiquissimam et rerum omnium principem expressa naturam.... "QUINT. Præclare intelligo; nec vero jam aliam esse ullam legem puto non modo habendam, sed ne appellandam quidem."