Unlimited Power is Bad

Posted on July 3, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing.  Human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion.  God alone can be omnipotent, because his wisdom and his justice are always equal to his power.  There is no power on earth so worthy of honor in itself or clothed with rights so sacred that I would admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant authority.  When I see that the right and the means of absolute command are conferred on any power whatever, be it called a people or a king, an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I say there is the germ of tyranny, and I seek to live elsewhere, under other laws.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, Vol. 1. (New York: Knopf, 1945), p. 260 [Emphasis added]

Alexis de Tocqueville published Democracy in America in two volumes (1835 & 1840) after traveling to the United States in the early 1830’s.  Originally in French, it was translated into English quickly and became well known in Europe and America.

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Thomas Jefferson on History

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.  But as we have employed some of the best materials of the British constitution in the construction of our own government, a knowlege of British history becomes useful to the American politician. There is, however, no general history of that country which can be recommended.”     “Letter of Thomas Jefferson to John Norvell Washington,” June 14, 1807. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl179.p

 

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What did Thomas Jefferson Read on Government?

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/thomas-jefferson/letters-of-thomas-jefferson/jefl179.php 

In 1807 President Thomas Jefferson responded to the questions of John Norvell Washington regarding the study of civil government and history.  The letter is dated June 14, 1807.  Jefferson answered plainly: “I think there does not exist a good elementary work on the organization of society into civil government: I mean a work which presents in one full & comprehensive view the system of principles on which such an organization should be founded, according to the rights of nature.”

However, did Jefferson know of any books that might suffice?  He wrote, “I should recommend Locke on Government, Sidney, Priestley’s Essay on the first Principles of Government, Chipman’s Principles of Government, & the Federalist. Adding, perhaps, Beccaria on crimes & punishments, because of the demonstrative manner in which he has treated that branch of the subject.”

First, he recommended John Locke’s Treatises on Civil Government.  This is no surprise since he borrowed heavily from Locke’s ideas to write the Declaration of Independence.  Second, he recommended Algernon Sidney’s Discourses Concerning Government.  Sidney was a republican contemporary of Locke who opposed the Restoration Monarchy and suffered execution for it in 1683.  Both authors wrote in response to Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha (a defense of the divine right of monarchs) and both dealt with the arguments of Thomas Hobbes regarding absolute rule.  Third, Jefferson referred to Joseph Priestley’s Essay on the First Principles of Government in which he argued for political and religious liberty in England in the late 18th century.  Fourth, Jefferson recommended Nathaniel Chipman’s Sketches of the Principles of Civil Government.  Chipman was a lawyer, politician, and judge from Vermont.  He had fought in the Revolutionary War.  Lastly, Jefferson recommended the Federalist Papers written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton.  One could argue that these works form the basis for classical liberal and early American political thought.  Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments laid the foundation for modern criminology and called for reform of prisons in 1764.  It condemned both torture and the death penalty.

Jefferson could have stopped there but he chose to recommend two works on money and commerce.  First, he encouraged Mr. Washington to read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations which rejected government-regulated mercantilism and argued generally in favor of free markets and self-interested merchants.  Second, Jefferson recommended Jean-Baptiste Say’s work on economics which at the time was only available in its original French Traité d’économie politique. It was later translated into English and influenced economic theory in the 19th century. (Do a search on Say’s Law.)

In this letter Thomas Jefferson has recommended the works we should read to understand civil government and economics in the early 19th century.  He set forth a list of works on classical liberalism and free market economics.  They are all available in print and many of them in complete texts online.  Perhaps, we should at least be familiar with the basic arguments of these works.

 

 

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Martin Luther on the Source of Reason and Intellect

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“It is amazing that the evangelist St. John is able to discuss such sublime and weighty matters in such plain and simple language.  He wants to say the Son of God draws so close to men that He is their Light.  And this Light is far different from that which all the irrational animals perceive.  The cows and the pigs, to be sure, also enjoy the universal light of the sun by day and the light of the moon by night.  But man alone is endowed with the glorious light of reason and intellect.  Man’s ability to devise so many noble arts and skills, his wisdom, dexterity, and ingenuity, all are derived from this Light, or from the Word, who was the Light of men.  Thus this Light, Christ, is not merely a light for itself; but with this light He illumines men, so that all reason, wisdom, and dexterity that are not false or devilish emanate from this Light, who is the Wisdom of the eternal Father.”  Martin Luther, Sermons on the Gospel of St John, in Luther’s Works, vol. 22, p. 30. [Emphasis Added]

While preaching on John 1:4, Luther explains the significance of human beings made in the image of God.  Notice that Christ as the Light illuminates humanity and provides all intellectual, artistic, and even mechanical gifts.

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Martin Luther on Studying Theology and Reading Scripture

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Moreover, I want to point out to you a correct way of studying theology, for I have had practice in that.  If you keep to it, you will become so learned that you yourself could (if it were necessary) write books just as good as those of the fathers and councils, even as I (in God) dare to presume and boast, without arrogance and lying, that in the matter of writing books I do not stand much behind some of the fathers.  Of my life I can by no means make the same boast.  This is the way taught by holy King David (and doubtlessly used also by all the patriarchs and prophets) in the hundred nineteenth Psalm.  There you will find three rules, amply presented throughout the whole Psalm.  They are Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio.” Martin Luther, “Preface to the Wittenberg Edition of Luther’s German Writings,” Luther’s Works, vol. 34, p. 285.  [Italics in original]

Prayer, meditation, and tribulation (Anfechtung) laid the foundation for Luther’s understanding of Scripture.  Here Luther seeks to demonstrate the proper means to study theology and he begins with Psalm 119.  Studying theology takes place as a part of true piety and within the struggles of the Christian life.

“Firstly, you should know that the Holy Scriptures constitute a book which turns the wisdom of all other books into foolishness, because not one teaches about eternal life except this one alone.  Therefore you should straightway despair of your reason and understanding….But kneel down in your little room [Matt. 6:6] and pray to God with real humility and earnestness, that he through his dear Son may give {p. 286} you his Holy Spirit, who will enlighten you, lead you, and give you understanding.” Ibid., pp. 285-86.

Luther believed a true understanding of Scripture could only take place through prayer inspired by true faith.  The entire Trinity acts as we pray for God to enlighten our understanding by the Holy Spirit through the Son.  For Luther (as with many Christians before him) God acts through the devout, prayerful study of his Word:

“Secondly, you should meditate, that is, not only in your heart, but also externally, by actually repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so that you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them.  And take care that you do no grow weary or think that you have done enough when you have read, heard, and spoken them once or twice, and that you then have complete understanding.  You will never be a particularly good theologian if you do that, for you will be like untimely fruit which falls to the ground before it is ripe…For God will not give you his Spirit without the external Word; so take your cue from that.  His command to write, preach, read, hear, sing, speak, etc, outwardly was not given in vain.”  Ibid., p. 286. [Emphasis added]

 

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Martin Luther on Music

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“I would certainly like to praise music with all my heart as the excellent gift of God which it is and to commend it to everyone.  But I am so overwhelmed by the diversity and magnitude of its virtue and benefits that I can find neither beginning nor end or method for my discourse.  As much as I want to commend it, my praise is bound to be wanting and inadequate.  For who can comprehend it all?  And even if you wanted to encompass all of it, you would appear to have grasped nothing at all.” Martin Luther, “Preface to Georg Rhau’s Symphoniae iucundae,” in Luther’s Works, vol. 53, pp. 321-322.

Martin Luther demonstrated his love of music, especially in Christian worship, throughout his adult life.  Luther studied music as one of the liberal arts.  In this famous preface, written in 1538, Luther described music as a divine gift that appears throughout nature but reaches its perfection in human beings.

“First then, looking at music itself, you will find that from the beginning of the world it has been instilled and implanted in all creatures, individually and collectively.  For nothing is without sound or harmony.  Even the air, which of itself is invisible and imperceptible to all our senses, and which, since it lacks both voice and speech, is the least musical of all things, becomes sonorous, audible, and comprehensible when it is set in motion….Music is still more wonderful in living things, especially birds….And yet, compared to the human voice, all this hardly deserves the name of music, so abundant and incomprehensible is here the munificence and wisdom of our most gracious Creator.” Ibid., 322.

After Luther marveled at the human voice as an instrument that confounds philosophers, he praised the benefit of the divine gift of music.  He understood its power over the human mind and soul to be next to Holy Scripture.

“We can mention only one point (which experience confirms), namely, that next to the Word of God, music deserves the highest praise.  She is mistress and governess of those human emotions….which as masters govern men or more often overwhelm them….For whether you wish to comfort the sad, to terrify the happy, to encourage the despairing, to humble the proud, to calm the passionate, or to appease those full of hate….what more effective means than music could you find?” Ibid., 323. [Emphasis added]

For this reason, Luther explained that the ancient prophets and fathers combined music and God’s Word.  Thus humans combine the gifts of language and song to praise God.

“But when [musical] learning is added to all this and artistic music which corrects, develops, and refines the natural music, then at last it is possible to taste with wonder (yet not to comprehend) God’s absolute and perfect wisdom in his wondrous work of music.” Ibid., 324.

 

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Peter of Celle on Monastic Reading

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“What should I say about reading? I consider a room without reading to be hell without consolation, a gibbet without belief, a prison without a light, a tomb without a vent, a ditch swarming with worms, a suffocating trap.  A room without reading is the empty house of which the gospel speaks, where the nocturnal and noonday devils assault the idle hermit with as many thrusts of the useless and harmful thoughts as there are hours and moments in the day and night.” Peter of Celle, On Affliction and Reading. 8. in Peter of Celle: Selected Works, trans. Hugh Feiss (Kalamazoo, 1987), pp. 133-134.

Peter of Celle came from minor nobility in the Champagne region of medieval France. He spent most of his adult life as an abbot at Celle, then later at St Remi in Reims.  Peter became bishop of Chartres in 1181, but he only served a short time since he died on February 19, 1182.  Although he remained a traditional Benedictine, Peter had good relations with the Cistercians and the Carthusians.  Additionally, he corresponded with the abbots of Cluny and Pope Alexander III.  He befriended John of Salisbury and supported Archbishop Thomas Beckett in the contest with Henry II of England.

 

 

 

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Martin Luther on the Multiplication of Laws

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“In the papacy we foolish saints added one ordinance to the other.  There were laws without number.  These only terrified the consciences and left people languishing with thirst.  The preachers only intensified the thirst.  This is inevitable.  The teachings of works-righteousness call forth thirst upon thirst….This is also what the jurists do.  They constantly change, amend, and improve the laws, multiplying them without end.  It is like a snowball that rolls from a roof or from a mountain.  It is small when it begins, but it accumulates more and more snow as it rolls downward.  Finally it becomes so large that it would kill a child standing in its path.  Laws and human ordinances followed the same course in the papacy.” Martin Luther, “Sermons on the Gospel of St John,” in Luther’s Works, vol. 23, p. 273.

Here as Luther preached on John 7:38, he discussed the papacy’s use of the law to quench the thirst for forgiveness of sins.  One would only need to study the development of late medieval canon law and the numerous scholastic commentaries of other commentaries on canon law and theology to understand Luther’s point here.  His comparison with the jurists (lawyers) of his time illustrates his point well.  Lawyers and judges twist established law to bring about their desired outcomes. Governments and legal bureaucracies add law upon law, regulation upon regulation, and ordinance upon ordinance until it becomes impossible to understand without the experts’ advice.

 

 

 

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Nature, the Body, and Decency

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“From the beginning nature itself seems to have been thoroughly rational concerning our bodies: she has placed in sight those parts of our form and features that have an honourable appearance, but has covered and hidden the parts of the body that are devoted to the necessities of nature and would have an ugly and dishonourable look.  Nature’s very careful craftmanship is mirrored in men’s sense of shame.  For everyone of sound mind keeps out of sight the very parts that nature has hidden, and makes an effort to obey necessity itself as secretly as possible.  Again, concerning those parts of the body that are used out of necessity, they refer by their own names neither to the parts themselves, not to their uses.  It is not dishonourable to do such things, provided one does them in secret, but it is indecent to speak of them.  Therefore, neither such activity, if it is public, nor indecency of speech, is free from scurrility.”  Cicero, On Duties I. 126-127. eds. and trans. M.T. Griffin and E.M. Atkins (Cambridge 1991), p. 49.

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Humanity as God’s Creation

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Matthew Phillips

“Nature, that is, God, made man a composite of two parts, one celestial and divine, the other most beautiful and noble among mortal things.  He provided him with a form and a body suited to every sort of movement, so as to enable him to perceive and to flee from that which threatened to harm and oppose him.  He gave him speech and judgment so that he would be able to seek after and to find what he needed and could use.  He gave him movement and sentiment, desire and the power of excitement, so that he might clearly appreciate and pursue useful things and shun those harmful and dangerous to him.  He gave him intelligence, teachability, memory and reason, qualities divine in themselves and which enable man to investigate, to distinguish, to know what to avoid and what to desire in order best to preserve himself.”  Leon Battista Alberti, On the Family in Perspectives from the Past: Primary Sources in Western Civilizations, Vol. 1. 5th Ed. (Norton: New York, 2012), p. 390.

Leon Battista Alberti (d. 1472) was born in Genoa in 1404 as the illegitimate son of exiled Florentine man.  Alberti studied law at Bologna, took holy orders, and worked in service of the papacy.  As a Renaissance humanist Alberti wrote about painting, architecture, sculpture, and the nature of the family.  However, he is most well known for his architectural designs.  Here he describes God’s greatest earthly creation, humanity, as the perfect combination mind and body.

 

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