truth from a conscience devoted to truth obeys the divine law in its essence; and every man who does this interprets and administers God’s law for himself. He needs no agent to do it for him. By such subterfuges the law of the land, in many countries, has been set aside in order that alien decrees may be insidiously introduced.”
“The lords spiritual and temporal who have been selected by the king, are your lawful judges, and their authority is fromthe fountain of all law in this land,” rejoined Tobias.
“The king never has been the fountain of all law in Bohemia,” rejoined Nicolas. “He is himself the servant and administrator of the law. By it his authority is conferred. All the lords spiritual and temporal here present will in brief time depart from life. After them will arise other lords whose judgment must necessarily differ from that of the present lords, as their minds will be different. The law is for permanence, that all men may be judged alike before the same standard. As all men are directed to conform their actions tothe rule prescribed, they must be judged by that rule which has been held up as their guide.
“Thus only can the sentiment of the nation be expressed; and thus only can it derive the right to punish. I am not to be judged here by a law I know not of, by a law that no lord spiritual or temporal has even ventured to proclaim, that is to say, a law of his own devising after the act he undertakes to investigate. Such a law can be made to suit the policy,
