The Golden Themis

CHAPTER III.

What the effect of these laws is in general, and what the circumstances of place, means, end, and time are.

We have discussed the efficient cause or promulgator of the said laws or rules more than enough. Now, we must speak of their effect and other circumstances. The effects in general correspond to their cause. For if the author of the laws is an entirely upright and excellent man, those laws will not be bad. If the laws are good, their effects, as offspring from a father and grandfather, will not degenerate.

These laws are such that they have corresponded to their end and have maintained the venerable Fraternitas Brotherhood in an inseparable order. If they did not agree with all reason, nature, and the truth of the matter, they would have collapsed long ago, and together with that society, they would have fallen into oblivion or never have reached the notice of the world. Many things are established for a good end which they do not attain, and many people sail toward ports which they cannot reach, swept away by the force of the winds and carried off by the waves. The helmsman of the ship is not always the cause that the path must be turned and the sails adjusted; not infrequently, the storm and gale prevail. Thus, whoever begins some work or business is often hindered or delayed by intervening factors. Yet this has not happened here in the least, and it must be ascribed to the blessing of God:

The said Brothers have lived under the yoke of these laws