John Locke
Father of the Enlightenment

One of the British Commonwealth men was John Locke. Locke wrote late in the seventeenth century, but would still probably be classified as an “early Whig.”

His social contract theory provided the philosophical underpinning and source of ruling authority for both the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution of 1787. At some points Jefferson appears to have copied Locke directly.

“And thus that which begins and actually constitutes any political society is nothing but the consent of any number of freemen capable of a majority to unite…this is that, AND THAT ONLY, which did or could give beginning to any lawful government…"

Note the conspicuous exclusion of the ruling authority of God and His Word -- this is the heart of democratic social theory. The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution clearly follows the Lockean model in which representatives of the people contract together to ordain a government independent of God and His law:

“We the people of the United States . . . do ordain this constitution for ourselves and our posterity.” God is ignored in the Constitution, and it is, in fact, forbidden to require a public official to swear allegiance to God under Article VI, Section 3.

Whether or not the founding federalists intended to exclude God is beside the point. The obvious fact is they did exclude God in both the Constitution itself and in their defense of the Constitution.

Contrary to emphasis on the power of the majority with John Locke, the Bible states at Romans 13:4 that “…there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.”

Likewise, the builders of Babel sought for a more perfect union, but on their own terms, not the terms of God’s law. “And they said , Go to, let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4). God’s judgment on them was to confuse their communications in tongue and religion. Because their rebellious religion was false, God’s judgment was to factionalize their error.

A similar judgment has been working itself out in America for over 200 years. A factionalized, pluralistic society, that fails to acknowledge the supremacy of Christ, is doomed to rip itself apart. Anarchy ensues. This did not happen overnight; it has taken many years to squander the spiritual capital built up by the Pilgrims and Puritans. Their lasting Christian influence reduced a would-be conflagration to a slow burn. The French were not so blessed in their violent Revolution of 1790.

Without the law of God, there can be no justice. Without the living and true God, there can be no just law. But alas, the founding fathers did not appeal to the Bible in their deliberations. The four-volume set of notes compiled from the Constitutional Convention contains not a single reference to Scripture.

Neither does the Federalist Papers, written in defense of the Constitution. Having ignored the law of God, the founders had nowhere else to turn but to the social contract of John Locke and so-called natural law. In the latter William Blackstone was their most important mentor:

The law of nature was the will of the Maker discovered not only by reason, but also by direct revelation of Divine Law found only in the Holy Scriptures. These concepts, taken from John Locke, Samuel Rutherford, Charles de Montesquieu, and others, had a profound effect on men firmly grounded in the doctrine of John Calvin; nevertheless, their strongest influence in law was from the Commentaries on the Law of England by Sir William Blackstone, written from 1765-1769 in Oxford, England.—Our Legal Heritage, Administration of Courts Public Administrations office, Montgomery, Alabama

Looking to the “law of nature” or “natural law” in a fallen world is a futile search for justice in all the wrong places. “For the creature [creation] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope” (Rom. 8:20). When man fell, all nature fell with him. A fallen mind cannot properly interpret a fallen creation.

Unbelieving men think themselves wiser than God, though they may not put it in those terms. Nevertheless, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: nether can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14). Unregenerate men tend to create mentally a god in their own image.

Here is how Blackstone put it in the Introduction to his Commentaries:

UPON these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws. —Commentaries on the Laws of England

Blackstone elevates natural law to the same level as Scripture, but only the law of Revelation is acceptable. The so-called law of nature has no stability.

Depending “UPON these two foundations” is like a man standing with one foot on solid ground and the other on a rudderless boat that is drifting away from the shore. He must make a decision to avoid a disaster: either he must put both feet on solid ground, or he must jump into the boat and drift aimlessly.

The framers of the Constitution laid the groundwork for future generations, who would inevitably turn to “natural law.” They opened the door for their posterity to arbitrarily reinterpret a vague social contract articulated by John Locke and thus drift aimlessly. As our current sad plight indicates, the Constitution was no defense against social, economic, and political evolution.

23 John Locke, Second Treatise of Government (New York, NY: The Liberal Arts Press, 1952), p. 56.