Lastly, we must by no means pass over the passage in Paul's Epistle to
the Romans (i. 20), in which he says: "For the invisible things of God
from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse, because, when they knew God, they glorified Him not
as God, neither were they thankful." These words clearly show that every
one can by the light of nature clearly understand the goodness and the
eternal divinity of God, and can thence know and deduce what they should
seek for and what avoid; wherefore the Apostle says that they are
without excuse and cannot plead ignorance, as they certainly might if it
were a question of supernatural light and the incarnation, passion,
resurrection of Christ. "Wherefore," he goes on to say (_ib._ 24), "God
gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts;" and
so on, through the rest of the chapter, he describes the vices of
ignorance, and sets them forth as the punishment of ignorance. This
obviously agrees with the verse of Solomon, already quoted, "The
instruction of fools is folly," so that it is easy to understand why
Paul says that the wicked are without excuse. As every man sows so shall
he reap: out of evil, evils necessarily spring, unless they be wisely
counteracted.
Thus we see that Scripture literally approves of the light of natural
reason and the natural Divine law, and I have fulfilled the promises
made at the beginning of this chapter.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] From the _Tr. Th.-P._, ch. iv, same title.
CHAPTER VI
OF THE CEREMONIAL LAW[8]
In the foregoing chapter we have shown that the Divine law, which
renders men truly blessed, and teaches them the true life, is universal
to all men; nay, we have so intimately deduced it from human nature that
it must be esteemed innate, and, as it were, ingrained in the human
mind.