And are not those ten commandments which stand
in every church, a witness of the same thing? They are the very root
of all law whatsoever. And more, the solemn oath which a witness
takes in the court of justice, what is it but a sign of the same
thing, that our forefathers, who appointed these forms, believed that
law and justice were holy things, and that he who goes into a court
of law goes into the presence of God Himself, and confesses, when he
promises to speak the truth, so help him God, that God is the
protector and the avenger of law and justice?
But some people, and especially young and light-hearted persons, are
ready to say: "Obey the powers that be, whosoever they may be, good
or bad, and believe that to break their laws is to sin against God?
We might as well be slaves at once. A man has a right to his own
opinion; and if he does not think a law good, how can he be bound to
obey it?"
You will often hear such words as those when you go out into the
world, into great towns, where men meet together much. Let me give
you, young people, a little advice about that beforehand; for, fine
as it sounds, it is hollow and false at root.
If you wish to be really free, and to do what you like, like what is
right; and do that, says St.
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