PROLEGOMENA. XXxiii. 



there '^can be such a thing as Natural Right. 

 This will appear impossible, since Nature (the 

 corrupted gerund o( nascorj signifies that which 

 is about to he, and implies merely a power of 

 change imparted to certain effects, so as to con- 

 stitute them in their turn causes , it is, therefore, 

 a creature, and therefore can never assume the 

 attributes of the Creator, in originating the 

 direction of motion, in physical things, nor in 

 spiritual things, of becoming a director of Right- 

 Neither can there be two rights as latitudinarians 

 pretend. The same analysis may be applied to 

 similar words. 



Justice comes from jubere, to command 

 (subauditur Deus) ; so that a just man is one who 

 does as God commands him, or who submits to 

 Authority. In Latin, jussiis and Justus have 

 the same intrinsic meaning. 



Wrong, the converse of right, comes from 

 the Saxon verb wringan, and our verb to wrings 

 and signifies wrung or swerved, turned away 

 from the straight line of rectitude. The French 

 tort, and the Italian torto, from torquere, to 

 twist, have the same meaning. 



Heaven signifies a heaven, heaved, or lifted 

 up, that is, par excellence, the place of ultimate 

 exaltation : and this its etymology will explain 

 how it happens to be applied to the starry welkin, 

 as well as to the paradise of eternal glory. 



c2 



