The Free Sea

But against this, in every age, free, wise, and religious men have arisen to root out this false persuasion from the minds of the simple, and to convict its remaining defenders of impudence. For they demonstrated that God is the creator and ruler of the universe, and above all, the parent of human nature. He did not separate this nature, as He did other living creatures, into diverse species and various distinctions; rather, He wished all to be of one genus and to be contained under one name. Furthermore, He gave them the same origin, a similar framework of limbs, faces turned toward one another, and language and other instruments for communicating, so that all might understand that there is a natural society and kinship among them. He wrote certain laws—which he assigned to this house or city founded by Him—not in bronze or on tablets, but in the senses and minds of each individual, where they occur for reading even to those who are unwilling and resistant.