h
direct us to God, contain the very order to the common and final
good, which is God; while the precepts of the second table contain
the order of justice to be observed among men, that nothing undue be
done to anyone, and that each one be given his due; for it is in this
sense that we are to take the precepts of the decalogue. Consequently
the precepts of the decalogue admit of no dispensation whatever.

Reply Obj. 1: The Philosopher is not speaking of the natural law
which contains the very order of justice: for it is a never-failing
principle that "justice should be preserved." But he is speaking in
reference to certain fixed modes of observing justice, which fail to
apply in certain cases.

Reply Obj. 2: As the Apostle says (2 Tim. 2:13), "God continueth
faithful, He cannot deny Himself." But He would deny Himself if He
were to do away with the very order of His own justice, since He is
justice itself. Wherefore God cannot dispense a man so that it be
lawful for him not to direct himself to God, or not to be subject to
His justice, even in those matters in which men are directed to one
another.

Reply Obj. 3: The slaying of a man is forbidden in the decalogue, in
so far as it bears the character of something undue: for in this
sense the precept contains the very essence of justice. Human law
cannot make it lawful for a man to be slain unduly. But it is not
undue for evil-doers or foes of the common weal to be slain: hence
this is not contrary to the precept of the decalogue; and such a
killing is no murder as forbidden by that precept, as Augustine
observes (De Lib. Arb. i, 4). In like manner when a man's property is
taken from him, if it be due that he should lose it, this is not
theft or robbery as forbidden by the decalogue.

Consequently when the children of Israel, by God's command, took away
the spoils of the Egyptians, this was not theft; since it was due to
them by the sentence of God. Likewise when Abraham consented to slay
his son, he did not consent to murder, because his son was due to be
slain by the command of God, Who is Lord of life and death: for He it
is Who inflicts the punishment of death on all men, both godly and
ungodly, on account of the sin of our first parent, and if a man be
the executor of that sentence by Divine authority, he will be no
murderer any more than God would be. Again Osee, by taking unto
himself a wife of fornications, or an adulterous woman, was not
guilty either of ad