(January 18, 1689\u2013February 10, 1755), was a French political philosopher who greatly influenced nineteenth century thought. He wrote Persian Letters,<\/i> 1721, which was a satirical reflection on France\u2019s sociopolitical institutions. In 1748, he wrote The Spirit of the Laws,<\/i> introducing a revolutionary concept of government where the powers of a monarch were divided into judicial, legislative and executive bodies to guarantee individual freedoms. In reviewing nearly 15,000 items written by the Founding Fathers, including newspaper articles, monographs, books, pamphlets, etc., Baron Charles Montesquieu was the most frequently quoted source next to the Bible.417<\/p>\n
In the beginning of his work The Spirit of the Laws,<\/i> 1748, Baron Montesquieu wrote:<\/p>\n
God is related to the universe, as Creator and Preserver; the laws by which He created all things are those by which He preserves them. \u2026 <\/p>\n
But the intelligent world is far from being so well governed as the physical. For though the former has also its laws, which of their own nature are invariable, it does not conform to them so exactly as the physical world. This is because, on the one hand, particular intelligent beings are of a finite nature, and consequently liable to error; and on the other, their nature requires them to be free agents. Hence they do not steadily conform to their primitive laws; and even those of their own instituting they frequently infringe. \u2026 <\/p>\n
Man, as a physical being, is like other bodies governed by invariable laws. As an intelligent being, he incessantly transgresses the laws established by God, and changes those of his own instituting. He is left to his private direction, though a limited being, and subject, like all finite intelligences, to ignorance and error: even his imperfect knowledge he loses; and as a sensible creature, he is hurried away by a thousand impetuous passions.<\/p>\n
Such a being might every instant forget his Creator; God has therefore reminded him of his duty by the laws of religion. Such a being is liable every moment to forget himself; philosophy has provided against this by the laws of morality. Formed to live in society, he might forget his fellow-creatures; legislators have therefore, by political and civil laws, confined him to his duty.418<\/p>\n
Montesquieu understood the inherently selfish nature of man, and that, opportunity provided, he would accumulate more and more power unto himself, becoming despotic. He based this understanding on Jeremiah 17:9:<\/p>\n
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?419<\/p>\n
Montesquieu\u2019s philosophy, therefore, promulgated the idea that powers of government should be separated into branches, allowing power to check power in order to safeguard personal liberty. His concept of three branches of Government: Judicial, Legislative and Executive, was based on Isaiah 33:22:<\/p>\n
For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king.420<\/p>\n
In The Spirit of the Laws,<\/i> 1748, Montesquieu wrote:<\/p>\n
The Christian religion, which orders men to love one another, no doubt wants the best political laws and the best civil laws for each people, because those laws are, after [religion], the greatest good that men can give and receive.421<\/p>\n
Nor is there liberty if the power of judging is not separated from legislative power and from executive power. If it [the power of judging] were joined to legislative power, the power over life and liberty of the citizens would be arbitrary, for the judge would be the legislator. If it were joined to executive power, the judge could have the force of an oppressor. All would be lost if the same \u2026 body of principal men \u2026 exercised these three powers.422<\/p>\n
In Book XXIV of The Spirit of the Laws,<\/i> Montesquieu wrote:<\/p>\n
I have always respected religion; the morality of the Gospel is the noblest gift ever bestowed by God on man. We shall see that we owe to Christianity, in government, a certain political law, and in war a certain law of nations\u2014benefits which human nature can never sufficiently acknowledge. <\/p>\n
The principles of Christianity, deeply engraved on the heart, would be infinitely more powerful than the false honor of monarchies, than the humane virtues of republics, or the servile fear of despotic states. <\/p>\n
It is the Christian religion that, in spite of the extent of empire and the influence of climate, has hindered despotic power from being established in Ethiopia, and has carried into the heart of Africa the manners and laws of Europe. <\/p>\n
The Christian religion is a stranger to mere despotic power. The mildness so frequently recommended in the Gospel is incompatible with the despotic rage with which a prince punishes his subjects, and exercises himself in cruelty. \u2026 <\/p>\n
A moderate Government is most agreeable to the Christian Religion, and a despotic Government to the Mahommedan. \u2026 While the Mahommedan princes incessantly give or receive death, the religion of the Christians renders their princes less timid, and consequently less cruel.<\/p>\n
The prince confides in his subjects, and the subjects in the prince. How admirable the religion which, while it only seems to have in view the felicity of the other life, continues the happiness of this!423<\/p>\n
Society \u2026 must repose on principles that do not change.424<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(January 18, 1689\u2013February 10, 1755), was a French political philosopher who greatly influenced nineteenth century thought. He wrote Persian Letters, 1721, which was a satirical reflection on France\u2019s sociopolitical institutions. In 1748, he wrote The Spirit of the Laws, introducing a revolutionary concept of government where the powers of a monarch were divided into judicial, … Continue reading “MONTESQUIEU,
\nBARON CHARLES LOUIS JOSEPH DE SECONDAT”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}