Look to the Rock: Lessons of Liberty from 1215
“Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from
which you were hewn.”
Isaiah 51:1
Desmond Tutu, Anglican Bishop Emeritus, titled his 2004 Nelson Mandela Foundation lecture
on this passage from Isaiah 51. 1 He encouraged South Africa, though successful on many fronts,
to remember the founding principles of the liberty movement. He gently chided the
government for resembling, in certain ways, the previous oppressors. 2
In Canada, we face the same danger. Though successful on many fronts, we risk forsaking the
principles that got us here. On the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta, it is a perfect time to
look to the rock from which we were hewn, and examine the principles that have given us
success. Our liberty was not crafted in a moment, but was constructed over hundreds of years,
the authors and actors changing, but certain principles remaining. The Magna Carta is
considered the first link in the chain of English liberty, and it has been viewed by its posterity as
emblematic of our notions of Freedom. In this context, evaluating the Great Charter in relation
to the latest link in this chain, The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, might enable us, “to arrive
where we started and know the place for the first time” 3.
This essay argues the Magna Carta is emblematic of four principles of freedom:
1. Don’t forget the past.
2. Citizens, not Charters defend freedoms.
3. Liberty limits, not expands government.
4. Faith promotes freedom.
1. Don’t Forget the Past
The maintenance of liberty depends on remembering the past. George Orwell noted “the
most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of
their history” 4. In the modern era, forgetting our path to liberty will allow us to transgress
the principles which gave us success. The Magna Carta did not seek to create liberty anew,
but looked to the past for its authority. It did not expunge the past as being a history of only
tyranny and oppression, but drew from the valuable strands of liberty embodied in the
past.
1 Desmond Tutu, “Look to the rock from which you were hewn” (23 November 2004), online: <
http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/2-nd-nelson-mandela-foundation-lecture-delivered-archbishop-desmond-tutu-23november-2004
2 Duncan McLeod, “Mbeki treating me as a charlatan and a liar, claims Tutu”, Financial Times (30 November, 2005),
online: <www.ft.com>.
3 TS Eliot, “Little Gidding” (1 October 2015), online:
<www.columbia.edu/itc/history/winter/w3206/edit/tseliotlittlegidding.html>.
4 George Orwell, 1984 (New York: Penguin, 2008).
The framers expanded on earlier visions of freedom by citing the Charter of Liberties
granted a century earlier by Henry I. 5 Many thought this to be a return to ancient English
principles of liberty followed prior to the Norman Conquest. 6Embedded in the ancient past
are further cries of liberty, like the battle cry of Calgacus, whom Tacitus claimed to have
addressed his troops as follows: “You have not tasted servitude. There is no land beyond us
and even the sea is no safe refuge when we are threatened by the Roman fleet...We are the
last people on earth, and the last to be free: our very remoteness in a land known only to
rumour has protected us up till this day.” 7
The Magna Carta did not create liberty, but was instituted to uphold liberties that already
existed. The framers of the Magna Carta understood that liberty is embedded anciently in our
past. They appealed to an historical vision of liberty shared by their ancestors. In modern times,
liberty was not invented in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but was the culmination of
many centuries of thought, and its rights and language must be examined in this historical
context. Wrested from its context, it can mean anything.
2. Citizens, not Charters, protect freedom
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty…The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each
day or it is rotten” – Wendell Phillips8
Charters, by themselves, mean nothing. The Magna Carta was a newborn when King John
summarily abandoned it. The Charter was reissued repeatedly - in 1216, 1217, 1225, and 1297.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries Sir Edward Coke notes that it was reconfirmed as many as
45 times. 9 It was citizens pressing for liberty that gave the Charter power, not the Charter itself.
Liberty survives not in documents, but in an informed and active citizenry.
It is unwise to delegate to courts and The Charter of Rights and Freedoms the responsibility for
defending our freedoms. Only when an educated and involved citizenry take freedom into their
own hands – is liberty sustainable. We have delegated far too much authority to unelected
courts and tribunals, who in turn oversee the administration of liberty and freedom. Courts and
tribunals will always be necessary, but an active and vocal citizenry is key to maintaining liberty.
Citizens, not courts are the ultimate guardians of liberties.
5 Magna Carta Translation, translated by Nicholas Vincent (2007), online:
<http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/translation.html>
6 Geoffrey Hindley, The Book of Magna Carta (London, UK: Constable 1990) at 188-189.
7 Tacitus, “Calgacus’ Speech to His Troops (A.D. 85)” (20 September 2015) The Latin Library, online:
<http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/imperialism/readings/agricola.html>.
8 Wendell Phillips, “Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty” (28 January 2015) This Day in Quotes online:
<www.thisdayinquotes.com/2011/01/eternal-vigilance-is-price-of-liberty.html>.
9 Faith Thompson, Magna Carta—Its Role In The Making Of The English Constitution 1300–1629 (Minneapolis: University
of Minnesota Press, 1948) at 9-10.
3. Liberty limits, not expands government
The Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Canadian Bill of Rights, and the Charter of Rights
and Freedom have explicitly set out to limit, not expand, governmental power. We have always
distrusted government – and with good reason. Yet in this day, some of us look to government
to solve all our problems. This is a gross error. Democracy carries within it the seeds of its own
destruction. One quote, attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, states: “[democracy] will endure
until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” 10In this
era, we have forgotten that we have always been suspicious of government. While we laud law
and order, we are skeptical of large bureaucracies and unfettered power.
And yet, many of us demand the impossible from our government. We expect and demand
solutions that will surely limit and proscribe our freedoms, but we do not have the fortitude to
look beyond the immediate benefits these solutions may provide. The free lunch, while still
nonexistent, is promised at every election. Government has its place, but we have always
sought our liberty in limiting, not increasing its reach.
A more insidious version of government intrusion is using the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
as a rationale to promote increasing conformity in thought and practice amongst private
individuals. It is thought for example, that because certain rights are allowed under the Charter,
that not agreeing with the exercise of those rights is somehow illegal. Many Pro-Life and
Christian clubs on Canadian campuses have been shut down or hassled for even being
associated with different points of view on morality. Abortion is legal in Canada. It is also legal
to consider the practice barbaric and cruel. The Magna Carta was not about points of view, or
moral conformity, but to restrain government in its proper place.
4. Faith promotes freedom
Faith in God is the bedrock of our liberty. Established (state) religion, however, tends to be on
the wrong side of history. This dichotomy is seen in the faith of the framers of Magna Carta,
and the contrary reaction of the Pope, who annulled it, and continued to promote the divine
right of Kings. 11
The pop culture lineup of faith vs. freedom misses the nuance. It was by no accident that The
Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains this phrase: “Whereas Canada is founded upon
principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law”. 12 This summarized the
more lengthy Canadian Bill of Rights, which acknowledged not only God’s supremacy, but that
10 “What was never said and who never said it” (2 October 2008), online:
<http://www.correntewire.com/what_was_never_said_and_who_never_said_it>.
11 W.L. Warren, King John (London, UK: Methuen, 1990).
12 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982
(UK), 1982, c11.
we remain free “only when freedom is founded upon respect for moral and spiritual values”. 13
Somewhere along the way this principle has been lost. Faith is seen to be an enemy of freedom
– and indeed, is being more closely circumscribed in the public square 14. Our rights on freedom
of religion were never intended to expunge religious expression in the public square, but were
enacted to protect it. Religious freedom is a double-edged sword. It prevents me from forcing
my beliefs on you, but it likewise prevents you from forbidding mine. Some interpret religious
freedom so shallowly it ought to be rewritten as a freedom not to be bothered by any public
expression of faith. That may be an opinion, but it was not the one constitutionally enshrined in
1982.
The four principles just outlined are the bedrock to notions of freedom that have been with us
for at least 2000 years. At the 800th Anniversary of the Magna Carta, let it not be said of us that
its principles are “on everybody’s lips, but nobody’s hands” – which is to say, words of “liberty”
and “justice” used freely, without a true commitment to their meaning.
13 Canadian Bill of Rights, SC 1960, c 44, preamble.
14 Mouvement laïque québécois v Saguenay (City), 2015 SCC 16, 382 DLR (4th) 385.