verse of Solomon, already quoted, "The instruction of fools is folly," so
that it is easy to understand why Paul says that the wicked are without
excuse. (99) As every man sows so shall he reap: out of evil, evils
necessarily spring, unless they be wisely counteracted.

(100) Thus we see that Scripture literally approves of the light of natural
reason and the natural Divine law, and I have fulfilled the promises made at
the beginning of this chapter.





CHAPTER V. - OF THE CEREMONIAL LAW.
(1) In the foregoing chapter we have shown that the Divine law, which
renders men truly blessed, and teaches them the true life, is universal to
all men; nay, we have so intimately deduced it from human nature that it
must be esteemed innate, and, as it were, ingrained in the human mind.

(2) But with regard to the ceremonial observances which were ordained in the
Old Testament for the Hebrews only, and were so adapted to their state that
they could for the most part only be observed by the society as a whole and
not by each individual, it is evident that they formed no part of the Divine
law, and had nothing to do with blessedness and virtue, but had reference
only to the election of the Hebrews, that is (as I have shown in Chap. II.),
to their temporal bodily happiness and the tranquillity of their kingdom,
and that therefore they were only valid while that kingdom lasted. (3) If in
the Old Testament they are spoken of as the law of God, it is only because
they were founded on revelation, or a basis of revelation. (4) Still as
reason, however sound, has little weight with ordinary theologians, I will