be the same infinite good and wise Disposer and Governour of the whole System of rational Beings and this our benevolence by giving him Glory Love Reverence and Obedience fulfils all the Duties of humanity towards those of our own kind which answers both the Tables of the moral or natural Law and in this consent of our minds with the divine Intellect consists that compleat harmony of the Vniverse of intellectual Beings The great influence of these Principles upon all the parts of natural Religion may be more fully express'd and made out by these following considerations 1. The voluntary acknowledgment and consent of our minds to the Perfections of the divine Nature and Actions include the agreement and concurrence of our chief Faculties viz. The understanding and will therewith and moreover naturally excite all our Affections to comply with them and so strongly dispose us in our future Life and Actions to compose our selves to the imitation thereof to the utmost of our Abilities particularly these Principles naturally produce in us First Praises and Thanksgivings to God private and publick for goods already done to our selves or others wherein the Essence of Prayer is contained 2. Hence also arise Hope Affiance or Trust in God which I willingly acknowledge is fullest of assurance when founded not only on observations or past experience of Providence but hath also revealed promises annex'd relating to future Good 3. To conclude when our Acknowledgment and high esteem of the divine Attributes move us to the imitation thereof we must needs thereby arise to those high degrees of Charity or the endeavour of the greatest publick good which we observe in God to prosecute and such Charity imports not only exact Iustice to all but that overflowing bounty tenderness and sympathy with others beyond which humane Nature cannot arrive because these not only harmoniously consent with the like Perfections in God but also co-operate with him to the improvement of the finite parts of the rational System whereof he is the infinite yet Sympathizing head who declares he takes all that is done to the Members of this intellectual Society as done to himself Nevertheless I profess my self to understand this Sympathy or compassion in God in such a Sence only as it is understood in Holy Writ for that infinite concern for the good of his best Creatures which is contained in his infinite goodness and is a real perfection of his Nature not implying any mistake of others for himself nor any capacity of being lessened or hurt by the power of any mans malice but yet fully answers nay infinitely exceeds that solicitous care and concern for the good of others which Charity and Compassion work in the best of men In short if the Reader will take the pains to peruse the Three first Chapters of this Discourse he will find that we have in explaining the terms of this Proposition not only given a bare interpretation of Words but also have proposed the true Notions and Natures of those things from whence they are taken as far as is necessary for our purpose and may observe that by one and the same labour we have directly and immediately explained the Power and necessity of those humane Actions which are required to the common Happiness of all men and also to the private good and necessity of particular Persons Altho' it seemed most convenient to use such general words which may in some Sence be attributed to the Divine Majesty and to have done it with that Design that by the help of this Analogy thus supposed not only our obligation to Piety and Vertue but also the Nature of Divine Iustice and Dominion may be from hence better understood But as for what concerns the form of this Proposition it is evident that it is wholly practical as that which determines concerning the certain effects of humane Actions But it is also to be noted that altho' the words conduces or renders in either of these Propositions are put in the present Tense Yet it is not limited to any time present but abstracts from it And because its truth doth chiefly depend upon the Identity of the whole with the parts it is as plainly true of all future time and is as often used by us in this Discourse with respect to future as well as present Actions And therefore this Proposition is more fit for our purpose because built upon no particular Hypothesis for it doth not suppose men born in a Civil State nor yet out of it neither see any Kindred or Relation to be among men as derived from the same common Parents as we are taught by the Holy Scriptures since the obligation of the Laws of Nature is to be demonstrated to those who do not yet acknowledge them Neither on the other side doth it suppose as Mr. H. doth in his de Cive a great many men already grown and sprung up out of the Earth like Mushrooms But our Proposition and all those things which we have deduced from it might have been understood and acknowledged by the first Parents of mankind if they had only considered themselves together with God and their Posterity which was to come into the world Neither may it less easily be understood and admitted by those Nations which have not yet heard of Adam and Eve Neither may it be amiss to observe concerning the Sence of this Proposition that in the same words in which the Cause of the greatest and best effect is laid down there is also delivered in short the means to the chiefest end because the effect of a rational Agent after it is conceived in its mind and that it hath determined to bestow its endeavours in producing it is called the End and the Acts or Causes by which it endeavours to effect it are called the means and from this observation may be shown a true method of reducing all those things which Moral Philosophers have spoken about the means to the best end into natural Theorems concerning the Power of humane Actions in producing such Effects and in this form they may more easily be examined whether they are true or not and may be more evidently demonstrated so to be and also we may hence learn by the like Reason how easily all true knowledge of the force of those natural Causes which we may any way apply to our use does suggest fit Mediums for the attaining of the end intended and so may be applyed to Practice according to occasion Lastly from thence it appears that either of these Propositions which we have now laid down do so far approach to the nature of a Law as they respect an end truly worthy of it viz. The common good of all rational Beings or else if you please to word it otherwise the Honour or Worship of God conjoyned with the common Good and Happiness of mankind And tho' it doth not yet appear that this Proposition is a Law because the Lawgiver is not yet mentioned nevertheless I doubt
§ 12. I come now to consider that together with the knowledge of this visible World of which our selves make but a small part there is likewise convey'd into our minds by our Senses a certain knowledge 1. Of divers natural outward goods 2. And those not only peculiar to our selves alone but common to all those of our own kind 3. Of which goods some are greater than others and that good which hath none that we know excels it we may call the greatest or highest 4. Also of those some are commonly in our Power others we understand to exceed the narrow limits of our humane forces but since the Nature of these things is by two several ways discovered to us either more confusedly by common experience and daily Observation or else more distinctly from experimental Philosophy and the Mathematicks the former of these methods being easie and obvious to every one I shall rather make use of that whereas the other would be only proper for Philosophers and Mathematicians since the Grounds or Principles of the Law of Nature ought to be alike evident to the Illiterate as well as to the Learned for all are under the like obligation to observe them and therefore I shall only put you in mind of such vulgar and easie Observations which no Rational Man can dispute or deny and such as from which I undertake to prove that the Knowledge and Coherence of the Terms of this Proposition may evidently be deduced § 13. Our first Natural Observation therefore is that by our free use and enjoyment of those products of the Earth that come under the general Titles of Food Clothing Houses c. and also by that help or assistance which one or more Persons can afford each other Men may be preserved and live as happily and contentedly for several years as their frail Nature will permit And in the next place that these effects being not only agreeable but necessary to our Natures are naturally good as tending to their Preservation or Perfection and therefore by the same reason Men's affections from whence these outward things and acts do proceed and which produce all these good effects are conceiv'd under the notion of good Will or Benevolence which must be also good since whatever goodness is contain'd in the effects must be likewise in the cause And we are also sensible that by this Benevolence we are not only able to help our selves or some few Persons but many others as well by our advice as by our strength and industry especially when we see divers others of our own kind who are able and seem also willing to requite us in the like manner So that each of us in particular may be provided with a sufficient stock of all the necessaries of Life by our mutual help and assistance all which would not only be wanting to us but we should be expos'd to innumerable mischiefs and hazards as also to a great want even of necessaries if all Persons looking only to themselves should always shew themselves ill-natur'd malevolent and enemies towards other Rational Beings whereas the contrary endeavours being thus helpful and necessary to so many others may easily and naturally produce in our minds a notion of this Common good of Rationals which from the obvious Similitude of Rational Beings to each other must equally respect all those which we have opportunity or occasion of knowing or conversing with as also those with whom we have not § 14. And I may add farther from constant experience that we are able to contribute more to the good and assistance of those of our own kind than any other Creatures because their Nature and consequently what is good or destructive to it is more evident to us from the knowledge we have of our selves than of other Creatures For as our Nature is capable of more and greater goods than they and in the attaining of which we can better assist each other so we must also confess it to be liable to greater Dangers and Calamities for the declining and removing of which God hath appointed our mutual Benevolence expressed by our endeavours and assistance of each other as the most suitable and necessary means thereunto § 15. And we may also observe that by our Advice and Counsel communicated by apt Signs or Words we are able to contribute many helps and conveniencies of Life to those of our own kind of which other Animals are altogether uncapable either of acting or receiving And farther because of the Similitude of those of our own kind with our selves we cannot but think it agreeable to our Rational Natures to do or to procure the like things for them as for our selves and can also be sensible of greater Motives to benefit Men than other Creatures since we have all the reason to hope that those we have thus done good to or obliged being moved by our benefits will make us a suitable return whenever it lies in their power and that they may one time or other in the like or some other way oblige us So that it is evident from Common Experience that there can be no larger Possession nor any surer defence for Mankind than the most sincere Piety towards God the Head of Rational beings and the most diffusive Love and sincere Benevolence of all Persons towards each other since if they prove malevolent or ill-natur'd they may easily bereave us of all things we enjoy together with our Life it self nor can the Love or Good-will of others be obtained by any more certain or powerful means than that every one should shew himself so affected in his Actions towards others as he desires they should be towards himself That is Loving and Benevolent upon all occasions though more particularly to those to whom we are obliged by Friendship or Relation § 16. Last of all the same Experience that demonstrates the mutual Benevolence of particular Persons to be the most powerful Cause of their Felicity does as necessarily teach us from a like parity of Reason that the Love or Good-will of any greater number of Men towards any the like number hath a-like proportionable effect so on the other side the constant Malice or Ill-will of all Men towards all express'd by suitable Actions would soon bring destruction to the whole Race of Mankind since it would soon destroy all the Causes requisite to their Happiness and Well-being and introduce a perpetual Enmity and War which are the certain Causes of the greatest Miseries and Calamities which can befall Mankind all which though Mr. H. himself acknowledges yet he will not own the necessity of Men's mutual Love and Concord to be also as necessary to their Preservation But why the Causes of Men's Preservation and Happiness as being Prior in Nature should not be more evident than those of their Destruction since the one is altogether as evident and necessary and may be as easily foreseen and prevented as the other I can see no reason and I should be
and obvious Observations from the Nature of those things without us which we daily stand in need and make use of as may serve to prove after what manner we ought to make use of them and whence that Right arises we have to them I come now to make the like Observations from the Nature of Mankind in order to the proving that we are designed by God for the Good and Preservation of others besides our selves and that in the doing of this we procure as far as lies in our Power the Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings in which our own is likewise included To perform this task I shall first take notice of those Qualities or Properties that belong to man 1 as a meer Natural Body 2 such as belong to him as an Animal 3 such as are peculiar to him as a Rational Creature endued with a higher and nobler Principle than Brutes viz. an Immortal Soul § 2. To begin with the first of these it is evident that as a Natural Body he is endued with these Properties common to all other Natural Bodies First that all his motions in which his Life Strength and Health consist do all proceed from God the first and Original or Cause of them and are necessarily complicated with and depend upon the motions of innumerable other Bodies among which the Corporeal motions of others which do often limit and restrain our own are first and chiefly to be considered 2 That from them as from other Bodies motion may be propagated Indefinitely and which does not perish but concur with other motions to perpetuate the Succession of things that is contribute to the conservation of the Universe and as the former teaches us that a particular end viz. our own Preservation depends upon our Common or joynt Forces or Natural Powers so this latter instructs us that such Powers and motions of particular Persons are often most Beneficial and conducing to the Common Good of all men The first of these Conclusions forbids us to hope for or endeavour our own private Good or Happiness as separate and distinct from that of all others and so excites us to seek the Common Good of Rationals as the Original of our own particular Happiness The other Conclusion shews that this endeavour of the Common Good can never prove in vain or to no purpose since it concurrs with the Will of God and conduces to the Preservation of the Universe and of all Humane Creatures therein contain'd and farther that in each complicated motion as well in that towards which divers Causes concurr for the Preservation of any Body for a certain time as also in that whereby each particular Body concurrs to the Conservation of the whole System There is a certain order still observed whereby some motions are necessarily determined by others in a continual Series or Succession all which are yet governed or over-ruled by the motion of the whole System of Natural Bodies And although this sort of Contemplation may seem remote from common use yet is it not to be contemned as altogether unprofitable in Humane Affairs for it makes us more distinctly perceive from some certain general Principles how necessary a constant and certain order is amongst those Causes that Act from Corporeal forces so that many of them may each in their order Successively concurr to an effect foreseen or designed by us and farther shews us a rule how we may certainly judge what Cause does more or less contribute to the Effect sought for or desired so that from the Natural Power of these Causes their Order Dignity or Power in respect to each Effect are to be determined and judged of and we are taught from the Nature of things as well what Causes are to be most esteemed for those good Effects they have or may produce as also which are most diligently to be sought for the obtaining those ends which we desire and by which means it may be also known that those Causes which Philosophers call Universal viz. God the first Cause and the motion of the Celestial Bodies as proceeding from Him are the Original Causes of the Common Good or Happiness of Mankind a part of which we either always do actually or can hope to enjoy § 3. But omitting those Motions which are not in our Power to influence or alter it is certain that among the things which are in either our Power to do or forbear those voluntary Humane motions proceeding from an Universal Benevolence of all Men towards all others are the principal Causes of their Common Happiness and in which every one's private Good is included Since from this source proceed all those Actions by which Men's Innocence and Fidelity towards each other are preserved as also by which Humanity Gratitude and almost all the other Vertues are exerted and performed after as certain a manner as the Natural motions of the Spirits Bowels Nerves and Joynts in an Animal do wholly proceed from the motion of the Heart and Circulation of the Blood which judgment or determination being taken from the Nature of things duly considered should without doubt cause us to yield Obedience to all the Laws of Nature as contributing to this Common Good of Rational Agents and may make us also diligently to take care that the same be observed by others so that there may be nothing wanting that can be done by us whereby we may not be rendered as happy as our frail Natures in this will allow since right reason can propose no higher or nobler End than this of all our moral Actions § 4. Yet whilst we compare the Aggregate Body of mankind as far as we can Act by Corporeal force with the Natural Systems of other Bodies I am not unmindful of the manifest difference there is between them viz. That all the Effects of meer Corporeal Systems are produced by the Contiguity and immediate Operation of Bodies moving upon others that are to be moved by them without any Sense Deliberation or Liberty which are only to be found in Humane Actions in whose Motions and Operations on each other though a great difference often intervenes yet for all that it is evident that the Corporeal Powers of Men when exerted are subject to the same Laws of motion with other Bodies and that divers Men may often cooperate to one certain Effect relating to the Good or Hurt of others so that there is the same necessity of a Subordination between Humane motions as there is between those of other Bodies And I must here farther take notice that Men have frequent opportunities of meeting together and also many other means by which they may hurt or help each other by Words Writing or other Actions So that if we consider the Nature of Mankind in the whole course of their Lives it ought to be considered as one entire System of Bodies consisting of several particular parts So that nothing almost can be done in Relation to any Man's Life Family or Fortune which doth
Case proposed unless first all those Effects which may proceed from it in all its various Circumstances be duly considered and compared together So that the Contemplation both of the Causes on which Men's Safety and Happiness depends as also of the Effects which may be produced by their joint or concurring Forces and Endeavours must necessarily lead our Minds first to the Consideration of all other Men and next of our selves as a very small part of Mankind And in the next place that we proceed to contemplate this System of Things called the Visible World but more especially GOD as its Creator and Governour according to the Method laid down in the Introduction to this Discourse the Idea's of which being duly considered and digested in our Minds we may draw from thence certain Conclusions by which we may judge or determine what Humane Things and Actions are certainly and necessarily conducing to the Common Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings and in which every particular Person 's Felicity or Well-being is contained as a part thereof and in which Rational Dictates or Conclusions I shall hereafter prove this Law of Nature to consist § 5. No body I suppose will think it necessary to the matter in hand that I should here make Physical Disquisitions into the Natures of all Things that are the Objects of our Senses that being the Business of profess'd Naturalists It is sufficient for us to shew That all the Rules of Moral Philosophy and the Laws of Nature may be at last resolved into certain natural and easie Observations gathered from common Experience or else into certain Conclusions established upon the known Principles of Mathematicks and Physicks by which I do not only mean all those natural Laws of Matter and Motion in Bodies but also the Operations of our own Souls as far as we are able to know or enquire into them From all which by the Order of Natural Causes we may be led to the Knowledge of GOD their Creator and Ordainer and so may acknowledge Him as the only Cause of all these excellent Effects since this Nature of Things doth as well suggest to our Minds the Idea of a Creator as of the Things created and so supplies us with sufficient matter from which we may deduce all the Laws of Nature as so many true Practical Propositions though it is only the Knowledge of the First Cause or Creator that can stamp any Authority or Obligation upon them Now although there may be many Things collected from our Knowledge of several Beings in the World that may serve for our Moral Instruction and the cultivating of our Manners yet I shall for Brevity's sake only select some of the most material of them and such as may serve to explain our short account of the Law of Nature which notwithstanding several Authors have so much enlarged upon it I think may very well be reduced to this single Proposition viz. The most universal Love or most diffusive Benevolence of all Rational Beings towards each other constitutes the happiest State they can be capable of So that their Endeavour of the Common Good by this Benevolence is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and in which they are all contained Note That by this Love or Benevolence I do not mean only a fruitless Desire or Well-wishing but an active Affection exerting it self in all the Acts of Piety towards God Duty towards Parents Kindness and Gratitude towards our Country Friends and Relations and of Charity and Humanity towards all the rest of Mankind as often as any opportunity offers it self § 6. In the making out of which Description of the Law of Nature it is here needless to inquire into the Nature of our Souls and the manner of our Knowledge and Understanding since the former hath been so Learnedly perform'd by the Reverend Dr. Ward late Bishop of Salisbury and the latter so exactly done already in English by the above mentioned Author of the Essay of Humane Vnderstanding I shall only briefly suppose upon his Principles that our Souls do 1. From the very birth by degrees receive Idea's drawn from outward Objects by our Senses 2. That it is their faculty from divers single Notions or Idea's put together to come to make complex ones that is to make divers Propositions or Conclusions not only concerning their own inward Actings but also about all those outward Objects with which they are daily conversant and which may tend to the finding out the readiest means of attaining to and preserving themselves in the happiest State and Condition they are able to acquire These things being suppos'd it were needless to trouble you with any farther descriptions of this Love or Benevolence since every Person cannot but be sufficiently sensible of its Nature Degrees and various Operations that will but make any Self-reflection upon his own Inward Affections § 7. But as for the due Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition in which its Truth does chiefly consist it seems to me plain enough It being no more than to affirm That our endeavour of procuring all the good things in our Power and which are most conducing to our own preservation and Happiness and of all other Rational Beings is the best or chiefest thing that all Persons can do to render both themselves and all others as happy as their Natures will permit or can require and that there is no surer or more powerful means to be discovered by us whereby we may obtain a full enjoyment of all the good things of this Life and the hopes of that to come than by endeavouring our own Felicity in Conjunction with that of others So that from what I have already advanced the Reader may Collect these two Propositions 1. That the Foundation of all our Natural Happiness consists in an habitual determination of the Will to the utmost of its Ability and Perfection whereby we may be always ready and prepared to endeavour this Common good of Rationals 2. That the true Happiness of each Individual Person cannot be separated from that of other Rationals since the whole doth not differ from all its parts taken together so that this Proposition concerning this general or diffusive Benevolence is thus to be understood viz. Not to mean or only intend what any single or a few Persons may perform towards the procuring of their own private Happiness or that of their own Party or Faction distinct from that of the rest of Mankind but what all particular Persons may jointly contribute to render themselves and others happy that is what each of them may rationally perform towards the obtaining this Common Felicity For it ought first to be known in general what all Men are able to do or not to do towards any common end such as is the common happiness of Rationals and then what it is possible for any particular Person in this or that Case to perform for example towards his own private happiness as separate from
that of all others though such cases being Indefinite cannot be certainly or distinctly known § 8. But indeed the care of any particular Persons or a few Men's happiness is rendred useless for the present nor can be hoped for the future if it is sought by opposing or postponing the happiness of all other Rationals because the mind being thus affected a main and essential part of its own felicity must needs still be wanting viz. That inward Peace of Conscience proceeding from a solid Reason and true Prudence always constant and agreeable to it self For whilst such a Person resolves to act by one rule towards himself and by another towards all others who are of the same Nature and therefore need and require the same things with himself he must needs contradict his own Reason and so wants that true Joy and Satisfaction constantly springing in the mind of a Just Benevolent and Good-natur'd Person from the sense of another's good and happiness when promoted or procured by himself So that it is impossible for any Man to be truly happy who not only neglects the necessary causes thereof God and all other Men on whose Help and Assistance his true Happiness and Well-being wholly depends but also provokes them to his certain ruine and destruction so that there is no surer way which can bring any Man to the attaining his own particular Happiness but that which leads him also to endeavour the Common Good of all other men as well as his own § 9. But I here acknowledge that this Proposition concerning Universal Benevolence cannot be of sufficient efficacy for the due ordering our Actions and correcting our Manners until we have first propos'd to our selves this Common Good of Rational Beings viz. Our own Felicity in conjunction with that of others as our main end and that we are convinced that the various Acts contain'd under this general Love or Benevolence are the only true means to procure it The truth of which Proposition is in the first place to be made manifest to us in the next all those other Propositions that can be deduced from thence such as are those less general ones which determine concerning the Natural Power of Fidelity Gratitude Paternal and Filial Affection as also of all other particular Vertues necessary for the obtaining any part of this humane Felicity for as well the whole truth of this Proposition as of all those which follow from thence depend upon the Natural and Necessary Power of such Actions as real Causes producing such Effects § 10. And though perhaps it may at first sight seem to detract from their certainty that they depend upon such an uncertain Cause as Man's Will Yet however it suffices for their truth and certainty that whenever such voluntary Causes shall exert themselves such Effects will certainly be produced Thus in Arithmetick we freely Add and Subtract that is we can choose whether we will perform those Operations or not but if we reckon truly we shall always find the Total equal to all the particulars either Added or Subtracted And there is a like certain and true Connexion between all the Causes and Effects which can be known in any other Science And this I have likewise imitated in this Treatise of Moral Philosophy by reducing all the parts of which it consists to this one Head or Summ viz. Love or Benevolence which Idea I shall improve by enquiring into its several Kinds and shewing the necessary Connexion of this or that particular Action with the Common Good of Rationals which ought to be the great end sought for by us § 11. But since our voluntary Actions alone can be govern'd by Reason and those only which concern intelligent Agents are to be considered in Morals it is evident that from none of all these Actions we can frame a higher or more comprehensive Idea than this of Universal Benevolence which comprehends the willing and endeavouring of all good things and the removal or hindring of all evil ones from those Objects about which it is conversant And this Benevolence extends its self to all Moral Actions as well those of considering and comparing divers goods with each other as of inquiring into the means by which they may be produced nor is it more certainly true that the Addition of several numbers makes a Summ Total than that this Benevolence produces a general good effect to all those towards whom we exert it Thus it is as certain that Piety Fidelity Gratitude paternal and conjugal Affection together with filial Duty make up the chief and constituent parts of this Benevolence as that Addition Substraction Multiplication and Division are several parts of Arithmetick so that it is no material Objection That this Universal Benevolence may be prejudiced or lessened by the wickedness or ill-nature of Men. So that the great end or Summ of the Law of Nature cannot be thereby generally obtain'd as it ought any more than it is an Objection against the certainty or usefulness of Arithmetick or Geometry that some Men should through Lazyness and Inadvertency altogether neglect their Rules or make false Conclusions from those Sciences or should through Ignorance or prejudice deny their certainty So likewise it is in the Science of Morality as contain'd in the Law of Nature which is chiefly imploy'd in weighing and taking a true account of those humane Powers that contribute to the Common Good of Rational Beings which since they may vary somewhat in so great a variety of possible Cases he may be said and that deservedly to have well performed this task who first affirms in general that all those Powers are comprehended under the most general and diffusive Benevolence though he may be able afterwards more particularly to demonstrate that a just division of things Fidelity Gratitude and all the other vertues are contain'd under it and also shew in what Cases they become useful to this end by which means Religion and humane Society with all other things which may render Men's lives happy and safe will be certainly improved and advanced And herein consists the Solution of that most useful Problem concerning the Common good of Rationals procur'd by the most diffusive Benevolence which Moral Philosophy teaches us to search after Nor is the truth or authority of such Precepts at all prejudic'd or diminisht though very many Persons will not obey them or will set themselves to oppose them since this only can be the consequence of it That they will thereby lose their own happiness and perhaps may draw others by their false reasons into the same misery and so I doubt not on the other side but that Men would think themselves oblig'd to perform all the Acts that constitute this Benevolence if they were but once convinced that so great and noble an end as the Common Good of Rational Beings and in which their own happiness is likewise contained will be certainly procured thereby and cannot be had by any other or contrary means
is not needful for themselves § 10. The next Observation we make is from the Effects of the Senses as also the Imagination and Memory in Animals when they are taken up and employed about others of the same kind For since from the Impressions made on their Organs of Sense they cannot but perceive that such Creatures are of the same Nature with themselves such Notions must from the Constitution of their Nature move them to somewhat a like affection towards them as towards themselves But I shall here avoid all Controversies concerning the Knowledge of Brutes or which way their Affections are moved by their Imaginations and shall only suppose That their Imagination excites their Passions and that these Passions do likewise often produce the like Motions or Inclinations in their fellow Animals From whence I collect That this Similitude of Nature does highly conduce to the procuring of Benevolence or Concord amongst those of the same kind unless there be some unaccountable Antipathy or Dissimilitude of Disposition which may happen to excite Enmity or Discord between them which yet not often happens Whence it follows That Animals as long as they are in their Right Senses and are mindful of themselves cannot forget others of the same kind since under the same Idea's by which they conceive their own Nature and the Necessities thereof they cannot but have an Idea of that of others of the same Species with themselves and must also be sensible that such Animals being urged by the like Appetites of Hunger and Thirst as themselves are thereby moved to seek Food when hungry or thirsty and cannot but be also sensible that it is highly grateful to them when the use of these Necessaries is left free and undisturbed or else is administred to them by others or that they are any ways assisted by them in the obtaining them § 11. But since Idea's of this sort do constantly spring in the Minds of Animals as also produce perpetual motions to love or Good-will arising necessarily from this similitude of Nature it also follows that they never so far deviate from their natural state as when through Madness or any other violent Appetite or Passion they act contrary to these first and most natural Dictates as all Men grant it to be a preternatural Disease in a Dog when seized with Madness he bites all other Dogs he meets with or when a Sow through a depraved Appetite eats her own Pigs Nor indeed can I see any reason why all other kinds of inordinate Passions which disturb the natural Disposition of an Animal so as to make it do extravagant Actions and hurtful to its own Species without any just Cause such as Anger and vehement Envy often times produce may not be justly esteemed as preternatural Distempers of the Blood or Brain very like to that of a mad Dog for there often appears in those that are transported with these Passions all the Symptoms of those Diseases that proceed from an overflowing of Choler or a violent effervescence of the Blood such as an icterial blackness of the Face paralytick Tremblings and other Signs well enough known to Physicians Nor is an immoderate needless Fear of Animals of the same kind to be less reckoned among such Diseases since it is not only preternatural or besides their Constitution when in Health but doth likewise as well as other Diseases destroy the Body by driving them into an immoderate Sadness unseasonable Solitude and Watchings with other Symptoms of predominant Melancholy whence an untimely Death is often accelerated Neither can there be any Mean or End put to this unreasonable Fear when once the Mind is touch'd and infected with a false Imagination that all other Men design to kill and destroy them which Madness is very like that of those who being bitten by a mad Dog are afraid of Water and all Liquids though they cannot live without them of which I have met with a famous Example in the French Chronicles of King Charles VI. who being seized with a violent apprehension that all his Servants were bribed by his Son the Dauphin to poison him did quite abstain from all Food 'till at last he died as truly of Hunger as Fear § 12. And it is evident and Mr. H. himself confesses it that Men as well as other sociable Animals do more or less delight in the society of each other of the same kind as may be observed from those signs of Joy and Satisfaction which they express when they meet after any long absence But since it is as plain that the Causes of this Association and Agreement proceed from the intrinseck Nature of the Creatures and are no other than those by which the Blood Spirits and Nerves are continued and preserved in a due and healthy state it as evidently follows That the Safety and Preservation of each of them cannot be separated from a Propension at least to a friendly Association with those of their own kind so that though they sometimes quarrel about the same Meat or Female yet this does not any ways cross or contradict this great End of Nature of procuring the Common Good of the Universe but is rather in order to it viz. when the Desire of Food in order to their own Preservation or Lust to propagate their Species prompts them to fight and sometimes to destroy each other the time of which Contention is yet but small in comparison of the greater part of their Lives in which they are observed to live in peace And that all Animals are determin'd by Nature to prosecute and endeavour the Common Good of their own Species by the same Causes that preserve the Lives of each of them in particular appears from the great Love and Kindness which Creatures of the same Species but of different Sexes express towards each other and by virtue of which they perform the Act of Generation so highly grateful and pleasing to each other and thereby propagate their Off-spring which when brought forth they love and defend as part of themselves unless some unusual Distemper intervene which may sometimes disturb or change these natural Propensions as when Sows or Rabbets eat or destroy their young ones which happening but seldom is rather to be accounted among the Diseases of the Brain or Distempers of the Appetite than to be ascribed to their natural State or Constitution and does no more contradict this general Law of Nature than the ascent of Water in a Pump does oppose that general Rule of the constant descent of heavy Bodies So that we may for all that affirm That the Procreation of their young and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural Affection they have for them and desire of breeding them up 'till they are able to shift for themselves are seldom or never separated for Preservation is but as it were the Generation of the same Creature still continued So that the same natural Causes excite Animals to the one as well as the other But
it is evident That their Off-spring can neither be generated or preserved unless those of different Sexes do for some time maintain Peace and a Co-habitation with each other which in many others of them continues much longer than the bare time of Generation viz. for the whole season of Coupling and Breeding up of their young ones and in divers others as Doves Pigeons c. This Affection continues like Marriage as long as their Lives And that Creatures are excited to generate their like from the same natural Causes for which their own Preservation is procured appears from this anatomical Observation that part of the same nutritious Juice passes into the Nourishment of the Body and the rest to the Propagation of Seed and the whole Circulation of the Blood with the Causes that produce and promote it as the muscular force of the Heart and that strange and wonderful Artifice of the Valves in the Veins do by one and the same Action serve for the particular Nutrition of the Animal and also perform the more publick Duty of Propagation of the Species whilst it does at the same time send down part of that matter to the Spermatick Vessels out of which the Seed is produced § 13. But leaving the nicer Disquisition of these anatomical Observations to Naturalists and Physicians I shall only add this one Observation That it is evident that all Animals are by these means impelled to the Love of those of a different Sex and also of their own Off-spring and so are brought to impart some of that Self-love with which they are first endued to others of their own kind from an irresistible instinct of Nature And hence it is truly observed of Men That after they are married and have got Children they are more prone to and sollicitous after Peace than before but that this desire of Propagation disposes Men to a greater Affection towards those of the Female Sex is so evident that it needs no proof But since Mr. H. and others of his Opinion do grant these Observations concerning the natural Propensions of Creatures to be true but are wont to evade them by affirming That they only proceed from the sole Love of their own Pleasure and Satisfaction and that all the Actions proceeding from thence tend to no higher end than the Love and Preservation of themselves as I do not in this part of the Discourse intend to dispute so have I not omitted to answer this Objection in the last Chapter which is designed on purpose for answering all those Objections that can well be made against our Definition of the Law of Nature § 14. The last general Observation to be drawn from the Nature of Living Creatures may be taken from that Sweetness and Pleasure they take and enjoy in those Actions and Passions that tend to the Common Good of their own Kind since it is very well known to Naturalists that in those sweeter Passions of Love Desire Hope Joy especially when employed about any great Good towards others the vital Motions of the Blood and Heart are then highly helped and promoted So that the Veins and Arteries are filled with a milder and nobler Juice whilst brisker and more active Spirits are thereby generated and the Circulation of the Blood and consequently all the other animal Functions are more easily and nimbly performed So that by those very Affections by which they do good to Animals of their own Kind they themselves are also satisfied and delighted and as far as they feel this naturally rooted in their very Natures they must needs incline to these Affections so highly conducing to their own Happiness and Preservation whereas on the contrary in Hatred Envy Fear and that Sadness and Ill-humour which necessarily springs from those sour and immoderate Passions the Circulation of the Blood is obstructed and the Heart rendred more heavy and unapt to motion So that it thereby expels the Blood with greater difficulty in its Systole from whence proceeds meagerness and paleness of the Countenance with innumerable Inconveniencies to the whole Oeconomy of the Body but chiefly in the Functions of the Brain and Nerves such as are those Diseases which are attributed to the Spleen deep Melancholy and Discontent But these things being rather of a medicinal Consideration I shall but only just mention them though the Writings of Physicians may yield us divers Examples of such who have hastened their own Fate through immoderate Envy and Regret that they could not satisfie their Malice or Revenge of which I may chance to give you a taste when I come to consider the Sanction of the Law of Nature by Punishments proceeding from the undue and immoderate exercise of those Passions § 15. But as Mr. H. and his Disciples cannot deny these Natural Propensions in Brute Creatures towards mutual Concord so they have no other way to evade these Instances but by supposing some things in Man's Nature that render him worse Natur'd and more unmanageable than Bears Wolves c. That so being naturally in a perpetual state of War they can no way be kept from destroying each other but by some Common Supreme Power set over them to keep them all in awe which Arguments and the Answers to them since by their length they would too much perplex the Connexion of this Discourse I shall refer you to the Second part wherein I hope I have made it appear that there is nothing in Man's Nature considered as an Animal that ought to be governed by right Reason and in which alone he excels other Creatures that can lay any necessity upon him of being more fierce and unsociable than Brutes § 16. Having now dispatched these common and easie Observations concerning Man considered as a meer Body and also such as concern his Nature as an Animal tending to prove that the endeavour of the Common Good of his own Species was one great End and Design of God in His Creation I come in the next place to consider those particulars in which the Nature of Man excels that of Brutes and whereby he is rendred much more capable than they of promoting and performing this great End viz. the Common Good of Rational Agents which I shall divide into two Heads either those belonging to the Body or else to the Soul or Mind as to the former though there are divers Anatomical Observations made by curious Anatomists and Learned Physicians concerning the differences between the Constitution of the inward parts or vessels in Men and Brutes yet I shall take notice of no more than what are absolutely necessary to our purpose and which may serve to shew what are the natural Causes of that Excellency and Superiority that is commonly found in Humane Intellects above those of Brutes The first of which Observations may be drawn from the large quantity of brains which is found in Humane Bodies and which bears a much greater proportion in respect of their bulk than in any other Creatures for though the weight
therein contain'd as far as consists with that frail and Mortal state wherein He hath Created them This Proposition hath already been made out in the First Part of this Discourse wherein I have proved that the Preservation and continuance of all the Species of Creatures and consequently of Mankind as one of them does wholly depend upon God's Providence And as for the Individuals or particular Persons since God's Knowledge is Infinite and extends even to the least things and also that of these Particulars each Species of Creatures is made up and consists It is likewise as evident that God designs their Good and Preservation as well as that of the whole kind though I grant He prefers the Good of the whole Species before that of the Individuals 2. It is the Will of God that all Men of sound Minds should be made conscious of this His intention of the Good and Preservation of Mankind and that they should operate as His Subordinate means or Instruments towards this great End Which I shall prove thus 1. It is evident that all Men of sound Minds have a notion of the Good and Happiness of others as well as of themselves 2dly That this Notion or Idea when truly pursued will at last extend it self to all Mankind for it can never stop short of it as long as it may still proceed farther and find new and fit Objects to work on every Individual Member of Mankind making a part of this Universal Idea 3. That this Notion of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings is not only possible to be performed but is also highly Rational and the greatest and noblest End we can imagine or propose to our selves as comprehending the Good and Happiness of the whole System of Rational Beings and is also true i. e. agreeable with the Divine Intellect which I thus make out these grounds being supposed § 4. First It is certain that all the truths our Minds are endued with or capable of are from God since whatever perfection is found in the effect must needs have been first more eminently in its Cause Therefore if the Knowledge of Truth be a perfection as doubtless it is it must be much more so in God the Original Cause thereof so that if this Idea of the Common Good of Rational Beings as the highest Good we Men are capable of knowing it being a clear and perfect though complext Idea drawn from the Nature of God and all other things and being a Collection of the Good and Happiness of the Deity and of all other Rational Agents it must be true and consequently from God And the Divine Intellect doth as certainly agree with our Idea's concerning it as it doth when we judge that the Base of an Equilateral Triangle is equal to either of the Crura or Legs Therefore this Idea of the Common Good is true and that it is also certain that all Truth is from God as likewise that He hath made us truly to understand that he Wills the Good and Happiness of Mankind it is likewise as certain that he would have us act as Rational Agents conscious of this His great design § 5. The Second Part of this Proposition viz. That God would have us Operate as his Instruments to this End will be likewise as clear when you consider what I have already said That God who hath made nothing in vain would not have endued us with an Idea of this Common Good as the greatest End we can propose our selves for mere Speculation but rather for some practical End in order to our own Good and Happiness with that of others especially since God hath placed it so much in our Power to promote and procure this Common Good since as far as we endeavour the Good and Happiness of particular Persons we do so far contribute our share to that of Mankind considered as one aggregate Body Thus whatsoever does good to any one Member does so far benefit the whole Body and the Good and Happiness of an aggregate Body consisting of divers distinct Members consists in that of each of its parts So then if God intends the End viz. the Common Good of Mankind as I have already proved he designs likewise the means to produce it Nor can there be any better means or fitter Instruments for this End than the joint Endeavours of all Men expressed by all the Acts of Benevolence and Kindness towards each other since it is certain as I said before that Men can contribute more to the Hurt or Benefit of each other than all the rest of the Creatures put together Therefore as God hath designed the End and ordained sufficient means to produce it viz. Men's kind and benevolent Actions so it is as evident That he will make use of Men as the necessary means for this End Tho' I grant he hath ordained us to operate not only as mechanick Causes but rather as free and voluntary Agents to produce it that is as true Subjects to this Law of Nature Thus by the same steps that we arrive at the knowledge of God the Supreme Being we are likewise brought to an acknowledgment of this his great Design of the Common Good of Rational Beings And if from all the wonderful Observations and curious Contrivances observed in this last Chapter drawn from the Nature of Things and Mankind we cannot but conclude That they were so disposed by a most Wise Intelligent Being towards this great End And the very same appearances that discover these Things must likewise declare his Intention of making use of us men as necessary means thereunto § 7. The last Proposition for the proving this Description of the Law of Nature to be true is this That GOD having made this Discovery of his Will unto us we thereupon lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this great Law of endeavouring this Common Good To prove which I first suppose that Obligation to an Action enjoyned by the natural Law is the necessary and constant effect thereof upon every Person subject to it and that this immediately results from its own Nature this Law being always just and right as the Will of GOD the Legislator is from whence it proceeds So that I understand Obligation to Active Obedience to be the immediate effect of this Law yet that it primarily flows from that Will of GOD which ordained this Law and made Man a Creature subject to it as Heat in us is the immediate Effect or Action of Fire upon us but originally both the Fire and Heat is from the first Cause Now there is no legal Liberty left us in the case of natural Laws to chuse whether we will be obliged to the Actions therein commanded or rather will submit to the Punishment attending the Violation thereof and although our natural Liberty of Will be not destroyed thereby yet we have no Right left us to determine our selves otherwise than natural Law directs because all Moral Truth or Rectitude is comprehended
each other since this were to level Man with the most despicable Creatures For there is scarce any Beast nay Insect so weak but may sometime or other destroy a man by force or surprize and we read of a Pope who was choaked by swallowing of a Fly in his Drink which if it could be supposed to be done by the Fly on purpose would make the Fly and the Pope to be equal by Nature PRINCIPLE III. That there is a mutual will or desire in all men in the state of Nature of hurting each other § 1. WHich Mr. H. thus endeavours to prove in the same Chapter of his De Cive There is a will says he indeed in all men of doing hurt in the state of Nature but not from the same cause nor alike culpable For one man according to a natural equality allows to others all the same things as to himself which is the part of a modest man and of one that rightly measures his own strength another esteeming himself superior to others will have all things to be lawful for himself only and arrogates an honour to himself above others which is the part of a proud disposition therefore the will of hurting is in this man from a vain glory and a false esteem of his own power as it is in the other from a necessity of defending his own Goods and Liberty against the other's violence Besides since the strife of wit is the greatest amongst men it is necessary that very great discord should arise from that Contention for it is not only odious to contradict but also not to consent for not to consent to another in a thing is tacitly to accuse him of error in that matter so likewise to dissent in very many things is as much as to count him a Fool which may appear from hence that no Wars are more sharply prosecuted than between different Sects of the same Religion and the Factions of the same Commonwealth where there is a strife concerning Doctrine or Civil Prudence But since all pleasure and satisfaction of mind consists in this That a man may have somewhat by which comparing himself with others he may think highly well of himself it is impossible but that they should shew their mutual hatred and contempt sometimes either by laughter words or gestures or by some outward sign than which there is indeed no greater vexation of mind neither from which a greater desire of hurting can arise But the most frequent cause why men desire to hurt each other arises from hence that many desire the same thing at once yet which very often happens they neither may nor can enjoy it in common nor will yet divide it from whence it follows that it must be given to the stronger but who is the stronger can only be known by fighting § 2. From which I shall first observe That it is not true that in the state of Nature there is in all men a like will of hurting each other For in this State the first and most natural condition to be considered is when men have not as yet at all provoked each other nor done them either good or harm And in this condition none but a Fool a Wicked man or a Mad-man can have any desire to hurt another who hath given him no provocation for it Though I grant that there are too many men such as Mr. Hobbs describes who will arrogate more things to themselves than they either deserve or really need yet even in these men there is not a will to hurt every man alike but only those who stand in their way and whose Goods or other things they may think may be useful for themselves Nor yet are these all Mankind since he grants there are some and perhaps as many or more who according to natural equality will allow to others all the same things as to themselves which he grants is the part of a modest man and who makes a true estimate of his own strength And certainly if this modest man judges according to right reason who allows to others the same things as to himself this violent or proud man he here describes cannot acquire any right to the liberty or goods of others from his own unreasonable judgment and false estimation of his own strength or merit Nor is this self-defence of the modest or honest man properly a desire to hurt the other but only a necessity to defend himself against his assaults since he had no intention to hurt him before this violent man gave him a just provocation § 3. As for that strife of Wit which as he says is the greatest among men though there may be some difference in Opinions and Contentions arise from thence Yet doth it not therefore follow that there must from thence necessarily arise a desire in all men of hurting or destroying others For there are many of so equal and reasonable a disposition that they can find no cause of hating much less of hurting others though they often differ from them in opinion or that they must take all others for fools if they prefer their own Judgment before another Man's And as for Mr. H's Instances that there are no Wars more sharp than those between the different Sects of the same Religion or the Factions of the same Commonwealth these Examples will not make out that for which he produces them Since he grants Wars about Religion do seldom happen but amongst those of different Sects in the same Religion which shews it doth not proceed from the Natural State of Mankind which ought to be governed by Reason not Superstition much less from natural Religion but from an unreasonable Superstition or blind Zeal too often inflamed by the Priests of either Party making it not their own but God's Cause or Glory as they call it for which they would have them fight persecute and destroy each other And as for the Wars and Contentions between the different Factions of the same Commonwealth it is apparent they have no place in the meer state of Nature since they are produced by mens entring into Civil Society aud therefore they are not fairly urged by Mr. H. as an Instance of their desire to hurt each other in the state of Nature § 4. In answer to his Assertion That all satisfaction of the mind is placed in something by which a man comparing himself with others may thereby think highly well of himself And therefore it is impossible but they must declare their hatred and contempt of each other sometimes either by laughter c. than which there can be no greater vexation neither from which a greater desire of revenge doth usually arise I thus reply First Neither does this Observation reach so that they must needs take pleasure in puting a higher value upon themselves than they deserve or that right Reason or Prudence should perswade them to affront others either by Words or Actions Neither yet to take for Affronts and mortal Injuries all those