from voluntary and contingent causes of man so contactus naturalis in bodies apted and disposed doth necessarily generate yet is there no necessity that this contactus should bee but it might not have beene c. Universall causes in nature produce nothing of themselves but as meeting with particular and materiall causes disposed to production the universall causes are alwaies prime and necessary but their meeting with particular causes are not alwaies so but often times contingent and voluntary As God by the confluence of naturall causes is alwaies the first cause of all creatures by Generation so is he the first cause of the preservation of all Creatures yet doth not he preserve them by any absolute necessity of his part alone but by such meanes as he hath ordained for every Creature I say this meanes doth not alwaies come to passe from inevitable necessity of the part of God but often times from the will of men and contingent causes for example no man lives but as he daily repaires nature by eating and drinking yet there is no necessity that he should eat or drink but he may choose whether he will or not Nor is God less the prime preserver of intellectuall and rationall creatures yet doth he not preserve them as other creatures void of understanding but thus using the intellectuall and rationall faculty of their Soul yet there is no man but may chuse whether he will use his understanding and reason in his actions and that man who doth not use his understanding in his actions but only his affections and passions how great soever he be will live to see misery enough And though Religion and Justice cannot of themselves preserve men in Peace and Happinesse but some superior cause which must order and dispose them thereunto yet so necessary are they for the preservation of peace and happiness that whersoever they are neglected men did ever degenerate into straction confusion and prophanenesse this superior cause which dignifies men above all other creatures as well intellectuall as sociable is God who is the prime efficient and necessary cause of peace and happinesse among sociable Creatures and Religion and Justice are the necessary meanes which he hath ordained therefore But though Religion and Justice be necessary for the peace and happinesse of any Nation yet is it not alwaies necessary on Gods part men should be Religious and Just but men may chuse whether they will do religious and just acts or not God therefore is the first and necessary cause of peace and happinesse among men and Religion and Justice the necessary meanes which he hath ordained thereunto and this to be performed by man and let no man thinke that God will save any man in this world or blesse him in the world to come against his Will when men will not endeavor these things by such meanes as hee hath ordained Man therefore by Religion and Justice ought to endeavour through God's blessing to attaine to Peace and Happinesse as well in this World as in the next without which hee cannot reasonably hope for eyther Having thus far treated of the causes of all society and vindicated the Government and Lawes of my native Country and mother-Church of England It will not be amisse before I conclude to add a word or two in vindication of Sir Edward Coke my most honored Ancestor since by words and writing he is so traduced as indeed Quis ille a tergo quem nulla aconia pinsit by men so maliciously or ignorantly or both Among the rest one a late writer of a Pamphlet I will not call it because of the subject being the life of our late Soveraigne yet it is without name although I thinke few men but are sufficiently assured of the Author upon a seditious and reproachfull speech he sayes tending to the dishonour of his Majesties Government made by Mr. Coke after the wonted rate of his lavish pen without any more adoe makes him a Chip of the old Block But of all men I am content he next after one of our Mercuries should say it since if he be not traduced unjustly hee can asperse the Nobility upon the faith of a Mercury and so many others upon none at all and his Quotations upon his Geography So fals that upon search made by a Reader and scarce any to be found to be true upon the reprinting he blotted out the pages and only quoted the Authors and left the Reader to finde them where he could If these be true then certainly his ipse dixit is of small account if false then let him deny them But I can tell our Historian newes of his Soldier whom he page 156. made openly to be shot to death in Saint Pauls Church yard for as is confidently reported and beleeved he was apprehended about Whitehall June 17. and is at this time in faire election of being hanged And being no lesse a more famous Geographer then Historian though his second Edition suffers much for want of his expunged pages to finde out his quotations hee page 123. makes the Town and Castle of Conway a place of principall command on that narrow channell which runs between the County of Carnarvan and the Isle of Anglesey whereas the Town and Castle of Conway stand upon the River Conway which parts Denbighshire from Carnarvanshire a little below the mouth of the River Gessen nay let any man see whether the River Conway falls not into the Irish or Virgivium Sea but whether it fals into the Irish or Virgivium Sea or not yet certainly it cannot fall into the narrow Channell which parts Carnarvanshire from Anglesey which begins at Abermenay ferry and ends at Porthathir ferry whereas the mouth of Conway is little lesse distant from Porthathir ferry then that is from Abermenay Porthathir ferry being upon the matter equidistant from either What heed then is to be taken to the ipse dixit of such a Geographer and Historian let any man Judge Sure he had more need mend his own Errors then be so rash and lavish a Censurer of other mens Although I take not this mans tongue to be any slander so not worth an answering or at most a bare denyall of what he sayes were sufficient which I doe since it is but gratis dictum yet since other men have assumed to themselves such licence of aspersing him it will not ill become mee to shew how unjustly he is aspersed in those things whereof they traduce him as first this man makes him a seditious man certainly it is very strange that in the living of 83 yeeres the many of his writings and his many imployments doth not produce so much as any suspicion thereof that I ever heard of One thing yet pleases me that in all these seditious commotions Judge Jenkins and almost all the assertors of the Kings Cause have next after Divine Laws maintained it principally out of his writings nor doe I remember that any of the adverse part I am sure
from the company of Tamar whenas he hated her because he had abused her but it was in Joseph that he refused to accompany his Mistress whenas he might have securely enjoyed her Nor is it any virtue for any man to do or forbear any thing for feare of punishment for so horses dogs and other irrational creatures will do or not do many things for feare of stripes which are commanded or forbidden by their Masters Nor is it any virtue in a Judg to pronounce true judgment if he be hired thereunto by any reward or bribe Where therefore neither worldly pleasure profit love feare hate nor any sublunary thing but it may be loss to all these do not move a man to the doing or not doing of what in conscience he ought to do or forbear there nothing less then Gods grace and power in such a man can be the true and efficient cause of such an action 6. It is a most admirable thing to consider how notwithstanding all Why only Man can do virtuous Actions the various natures dispositions and events of things this one Providence foresees and provides for all created things in the whole universe until she brings them all to their designed end Nor does this providence foresee and provide for all things from an eternal and fatal decree impelling all actions of all creatures For then there could be no such thing as good or bad men but God were the efficient cause of vice as well as virtue in men but by a mean foresight or knowledg does often determin necessary effects from contingent causes Which does not only plainly appear from very many places of Scripture as that the men of Keilah would have delivered David if he 1 Sam. 23. 12. had not escaped thence that God would have destroyed Niniveh within forty daies if the men had not repented that God would have gathered the children of Jerusalem together as a Hen gathereth her Chickens but Matth. 23. 27. they would not that if the mighty works had been done in Tire and Sidon which were done in Chorazin they had repented in dust and ashes c. Matth. 11. 21. but also all Gods promises and cursings upon men do depend upon their obedience or disobedience to what he commands And however this rigid opinion of Fate and the eternal determination of all things be asserted by the Stoicks yet do not I think that the most wicked man that ever was did ever attribute any wicked action to any such cause but pretended conscience pleasure profit or his own will never Gods It is true indeed that God hath made man in flesh and blood and so prone to desire many things which he ought not But though diverse men do naturally affect and desire things they ought not yet God hath so made every man a free Lord of all his actions that there is no man but may chuse whether he will do or not any thing to the attaining of his appetitions and affections And mans excellency above other creatures consists in this that his actions are not determined by his objects as other creatures are but he may freely do this action as it is moved in him from the appetition of pleasure profit pride c. or abstain from it as he apprehends it forbidden by him who may forbid And so may any man freely do or endeavor to do any thing which he ought to do though to his temporal disadvantage but this having no Temporal motive must proceed from Gods grace which no creature upon earth can do but only man only man therefore can do virtuous actions CHAP. III. Of Judgment 1. JUdgment is the definitive of him who by right commands permits What is Judgment or forbids a thing either by himself or instrument whether any thing be done conformable to a Law commanding permitting or forbidding it 2. Herein judgment differs from a Law A Law is the declared will of How it differs from a Law him who by right commands permits or forbids a thing together with a penalty annext for not observance after some reasonable time fixt whereby the obliged may take notice of such declaration Judgment is the sencence of him who so commands forbids or permits whether such an act were an omission or transgression of any Law so declared 3. Justice is the upright doing of any just or legal action conformable to the Law of him who by right commands Judgment is the discerning of How Judgment differs from Justice a good or bad action 4. All judgment must necessarily be the act of three persons at least What persons are necessary in Judgment viz. the Judge the accuser and the party accused or as we say the Judge the Plaintiff and Defendant 5. The end or ratio finalis of Judgment is either to determine differences The end of Judgment or punish offenders CHAP. IV. Of Equity 1. EQuity is twofold either a remission or moderation of the Laws How manifold is Equity when the execution of Laws will rather kill then cure a distemper in the Subject as when many Subjects either upon passion or being seduced have so far transgressed Laws that they have forfeited by Law their lives and estates yet in such case are not supream powers rigidly to exact all which the Law gives them but it is equity so to punish the principal Authors and other Subjects that others may be deterred from the like and the generality offending preserved So where the Law commands upon penalty and it becomes impossible for the Subject to perform as it ever was and will be there it is equity to remit the penalty Where therefore the Law obliges a Tenant to pay his Landlord such a Rent yet if by inundation of waters sterility of the season c. it comes to pass that the Tenant by no fault of his either cannot or it will be the ruine of himself and family to pay it there it is equity in the Landlord to remit or moderate what by Law he might justly exact Or secondly a supplement of the Law in cases wherein things in conscience ought to be done yet for want of some formalities or niceties they cannot in strictness of Law be exacted 2. Equity is when with a sincere intention men although it be to How Equity differs from Judgment their prejudice endeavor to please God Judgment a giving sentence according to Laws 3. In Courts of Judicature the Judges proceed according to the declared The necessity of Courts of Equity Laws and ought not in judgment to vary or swerve from them but proceed as they are impowred by Law and their Commission and Laws are made usually ad terrorem rather to affright men then to punish all offenders which Laws were they not moderated it were impossible for all men to subsist under the burden of them nor is there any man but has need of Gods mercy and the Kings Courts of Equity therefore are as necessary
rationaliter but naturaliter Mr. Hobbs makes Appetitus rationalis to be the Will too 19. Aristotle l. 3. c. 3. Eth. makes the Will the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be that principle What is the Will the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the authority of Aristotle in creatures void of reason or beginning in him who does not ignorantly those singular things in which any action consists And that therefore Children and other creatures void of reason and understanding have will and do things spontaneously 20. Counsel in cap. 4. 6. lib. 3. Eth. he makes to be neither Cupiditas Ira Voluntas or any Opinion Voluntas he makes to be of the last or end of Counsel and Counsel to be of those things which may be done by us What is the Voluntas Will or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the authority of Aristotle as a man wills to be well he takes counsel how to attain to health And he is a fool that takes counsel of those things he cannot do Yet a man may will things which cannot be as to be immortal or those things which he cannot do as if a man would have a Player or Wrastler stronger then himself to depart But this Definition if it be any is so perplext and confused as it is not possible a man should definitely understand any thing by it For if the Will be the end or termination of Counsel then all those actions which do not proceed from Counsel are not voluntary But he makes the Will to be of those things of which we cannot take Counsel So that he does not only confound Appetitus Cupiditas Voluntas but makes Voluntas to be contrary to its self 21. The Will is that Faculty Empire or Dominion of the Soul What is the Will which does not ignorantly imperate or forbid any action or motion which is not natural I say not ignorantly for those actions which oppress men by disordered dreams or by the Incubus or as we say the Night-mare are not acts of the will Nor must they be natural as is the Systole and Diastole of the Heart and Blood or of the Brain which is natural and not in our power to alter But though the Will cannot forbid the Brain or Phantasie from working yet can it imperate the Phantasie what things it shall phancie or meditate 22. In every action three things are to be considered viz. the internum Another definition of the will movens the externum agens and the end or ratio finalis of the action The internum movens is the will the prime and efficient cause the externum movens the mean or instrumental cause the ratio finalis or end for which such an action is done is that which discerns the action to be good or bad just or unjust If the end of the action be to attain any thing which the understanding or reason dictates then is such an action the act of the mind which is proper only to intellectual and reasonable Creatures If it be to attain something desired or feared and for which no reason can be given then is it common to all living Creatures as well as Man 23. Or thirdly the Will is that faculty of the soule which does elect Another definition of the will or reject the doing of things appearing just or unjust desired or not desired prudent or imprudent So that voluntas is one thing and appetitus or cupiditas is another thing and so velle is one thing and intelligere another For By Appetitus I mean all sensual desires of self-love lust revenge c. appetitus or cupiditas are natural and not in the power of the will but the doing or not doing of any thing to the attaining of things coveted or desired is in the power of the will and so many Men do understand many things to be good for them who do nothing to the attaining of them viz. many Men are sapient not prudent Thus we see that all Men do understand and desire happiness but all Men do not will viz. do things in order to the attaining of happiness 24. Or lastly I am content with Aristotles definition of the will Eth. 3. A fourth definition cap. 4. 6. That it is the ultimate resolution end or determination of counsel but it is not only so but the ultimate resolution of those acts ends or determinations of passions irascible concupiscible or fearful of Creatures not mad but knowingly doing them The natural passions therefore of concupiscence appetite anger or fear are no sins because it is not in the power of Man to avoid them but the assenting to them either by complacency of cogitation or by determining or resolving to do any thing in order thereunto is a sin and this the Poet by the help of humane nature only saw Nam scelus intra se tacitum qui cogitat ullum Juv. Sat. 14. Facti crimen habet 25. The Council of a Prince are divided and propound several things The will in reasonable Creatures illustrated by an example to him the Prince who is the will assents to or elects the advice of one part and rejects the other the passions or affections to propound such a thing to the will to be done or not done because desired or feared the understanding and reason judges the doing or not doing such a thing to be unreasonable or unjust Here a Man may see the understanding the appetite and fear but not the will until something be assented to as understood to be good or bad or desired as pleasant or profitable or feared So that the reason and understanding is one thing and the affections and fears other things and the will different from them all 26. The internum movens being the will in all actions not natural nor Creatures irrational have a will ignorant all those outward actions of all Creatures must necessarily proceed from the will or internum movens in them 27. Not onely appetitus but sensus are patient and natural in all Creatures Appetitus sensualis is not the Will in Creatures irrational if therefore appetitus sensualis be the will in irrational Creatures then could not these Creatures do any thing but first moved thereunto by their sensual appetite but the contrary hereof every man sees Trajan had a Horse given him in Persia who at first sight of the Emperor fell upon his knees It is almost incredible those things which Banks his Horse did and yet none of them from any sensual appetite Thus we see all irrational Creatures may be taught and habituated to those things which naturally they have no appetite unto nor moved by any outward object As Horses are ridden and learned to amble whereas naturally all four-footed Creatures trot yet have they naturally no appetite thereunto nor moved by any outward object but on the contrary are averse from them 28. Creatures void of Understanding and Reason have these two Irrational Creatures
have Election in their Actions Passions to inform their Will viz. appetitus timor and that they take information from both these is evident to any man for there is no Creature that pursues any Appetition but apprehending danger forbears it It is observed of the Fox that whensoever hunted to ground he never comes out but at the mouth of the Burrow he lies and vents a while and afterwards for some space runs directly into the wind and if he vents any thing which causes fear returns to ground again Having been much addicted to hunt the Fox I have observed that many times when the Fox hath been hunted to ground and watched to be taken he hath not come out further then the mouth of the Burrow if he vented the watcher who therefore lies down the wind and hath continued sometime five or six nights in the ground until he hath been almost starved whereas at no time if he were not watched but he came out that night And after they were taken they would not of a long time eat in sight of any man how hungry soever until they became so habituated to men that they apprehended no danger from them So Deer do naturally desire to eat Apples but if approaching they vent them to have been handled by man they forsake them and flee away affrighted And so all other Creatures upon apprehension of danger cease to pursue their appetite Thus we see in Creatures irrational among themselves when they rage most in their lust and appetite yet give way to them by whom they are overcome And from hence it is I conceive that irrational Creatures are not onely reclaimed from their natural fierceness but are taught to do those things which they have no appetite or natural inclination to by cunningly insinuating danger to them upon their not doing them and that this must be done by insinuation and cunning and not by outward force onely is evident for the most furious and robust man is not the best horse-breaker and pacer 29. Aristotle Eth. Lib. 3. Cap. 7. makes Virtue and Vice to be sited in the power of Man and therefore that Legislators may justly punish Vices Man is a free Lord of all his Actions and reward Virtues and that all exhortation to Virtue and dehortation from Vice were vain and ridiculous if it were not in the power of Man Yet truly I am rather of Plato's opinion who makes Virtue to be from Meno a higher cause then is in Man For though I do assent to Aristotle that all punishment for disobeying or transgressing Laws and Exhortation there unto were vain and ridiculous if it were not in our power to do them yet is it not the doing or not doing of things commanded or forbidden by them who have a right to command or forbid them a Virtue but the doing or not doing them in such a formality as they are so commanded or forbidden which makes them virtues which must needs proceed from a higher cause then is in man or can be taught him As if a Prince commands another to do something which he ought to do he does it but takes a reward or bribe from another to do it I say this is not virtue in the Agent because he did it not as commanded but bribed Whereas another does his duty without reward and it may be to his much temporal detriment this is virtue and must needs be from some higher cause then is to be found ordinarily in men 30. All Creatures have Souls but not Mindes Other living Creatures What is the Minde and whether to be found in Creatures irrational as well as Men have vegetative Souls The Minde is sometime taken for the Will rightly informed from the Understanding and Reason Plato Meno Sometime for the Understanding Arist Eth. lib. 6. c. 6. Sometime for Reason or Counsel as we say oft times My minde gives me that such a thing is or is not And Virgil. Aenead Nostram nunc accipe mentem In each sense this is proper onely to intellectual and rational Creatures Aristotle Pol. lib. 1. cap. 5. makes the animus or vegetative Soul to have dominion over the body of a Man or other Creature as a Master of a Family over his Servants who is notwithstanding commanded and in the power of the King or Civitas but the Minde or the Will informed from the Understanding and Reason to have the dominion not onely over the body but also over the sensual or vegetative Soul as a King or Civitas hath over the Masters of Families 31. Man therefore being endowed not onely with a vegetative Soul Mans Actions are more free then other Creatures void of reason which is common to all Creatures as well as Man but with a minde superior to it his actions are so much more free then other Creatures by how much more liberty he hath to make election but other Creatures actions can take information onely from their appetites and fears whereas a Man in all his actions may consult and take information from his Understanding and Reason 32. Sin is an omission or transgression of some Law but unreasonable Onely Mans Actions are sinful Creatures not having any other Law then their appetite and fear and their actions being always conformable to them they never sin But man does not always conform his actions to what he understands to be just and forbears those things which he understands and his Reason tells him he ought not to do Therefore onely Mans actions are sinful 33. It is true that Aristotle says That the minde of Man hath the dominion What are Actions and not voluntary of all his actions and passions as a King or Civitas hath over his subjects Yet many times the King cannot restrain the disorders of his Subjects nor the minde always the passions of a man And there is a Knowledge in irrational Creatures as the Ox knows his owner and the Ass his Masters Crib and the whole body of them is but the organ or instrument of their vegetative Soul And there is mad Dogs and Horses as well as men where therefore madness so far seizes upon Men or other Creatures as they know not what they do such actions are not voluntary Nor is this onely in men frantick and not compotes mentium but oftentimes in men well disposed as excess of grief or joy many times transports them into sudden and violent motions or actions which is not in their power to restrain But these actions being ignorantly done by the definition are not voluntarily done and by consequence not sinful 34. Memory is that faculty of the soul in living creatures which retains What is the Memory If Aristotle had said there is nothing in the memory which was not before in the senses I should have assented to it I do much wonder Aristotle and the Doctor should affirm that experience is subsequent to memory and is from multiplied memory whereas it is impossible but
Father was wont to say his Son commanded all Greece For the Athenians commanded the other Grecians He commanded the Athenians his Wife him and his Son commanded his Wife How much greater power had our Author in this Government than Themistocles his Child had over the Grecians For in all our Authors Government you shall find two degrees of Comparison above the superlative viz. the peoples Power over their supreme and absolute Governor and our Authors supreme supremest Power who has a Power when he will to make what he list the Peoples Laws which shall oblige and tie up their absolute Governor And when the toy takes him they shall be the Governors Laws And Ground 11. latter end No supreme Magistrate can be bound to any Laws contrary to what our Author or Governor shall call good Government And now who would think so wise a fellow as our Author who in this Government had such a monstrous and most unlimited soveraignty should by shewing his power in giving his Rational multitude liberty to dissolve it lose it all in an instant sure this Icarus if he neither drowns nor otherwise kills himself in the fall will only rise up again to hang himself Well but let us see whether upon our Authors principles this Government can be dissolved or be in the power of his People or Rational multitude All Men who have written of the Cause and Nature of things have put a difference between Natural and Voluntary or Rational causes or things Natural causes or things are those which proceed immediately from God and are above the Will or Reason of Man Voluntary causes or things are those which do not immediately proceed from God but from the Will and Reason of Man But ex Hypothesi this Government Ground 7. page 48. is connatural and Ground 8. page 50. Natural and therefore this Government is superior to the Wills or Reason of the People and cannot be by them dissolved but the resisting of it is a violence upon Nature and not only Irrational but Immoral and unjust Thus have we seen our Author make a Government and thus have wee seen our Author marre his Government Let him tell us Ground 15 â—herein consists the Liberty of the Subject Ground 16. Of the dispossession of a Supreme Governor and his Right And Ground 17. Of a Governor dispossessed only because our Author Ground 17. tells us that Pope Urban the eight was an Intelligent generous Prince and well versed in publick Government and he made a decision that after five years quiet possession of an Estate the Church was not bound to take notice whether the title were lawful or no I will tell our Author that if Pope Urban might not take notice after five years who is the lawful Governor yet Pope Pius the fourth after above twice the time declared by Pope Urban might take notice of it as you may see Hist Con. Triden 423. and 443. So then Pope Pius may do that which Pope Urban is not bound to do or say what he will for me I am content if after all this pains on my part I shall not in the Judgment of wiser and more discerning Men then my Author or self have made my self like our Author in thus far answering him to his Grounds of Obedience and Government OBSERVATIONS ON Mr. HOBBS De Cive Observ HIs first Axiome or Principle he begs both in the Preface and second Article of the first Book De Cive is That the beginning of Civil Society is from Mutual Fear Yet in his Preface and second Annotation upon this Article He fears that some men may deny it yea it is true that very many men do deny it This therefore being required for a Principle and the first Principle and by consequence not to be proved but to prove all that may be inferred from it and since that he grants that very many do deny this Principle Then by very many men must the whole body of De Cive be rejected For Contra negantes principia non est disputandum But if men will not grant this Principle in the Pref. and Annot. abovesaid he will prove it so that he will make them ashamed of it and how think you It will be somewhat odd sure to prove Principles He tells you That all Cities although they be at peace with their neighbors yet keep Garrisons and Soldiers upon their Frontiers And that when men go to sleep they shut their doors and that men taking a journey do it with a sword and that men treat usually before they fight Observ All Science all Learning and all Reasoning whatsoever by the authority of Aristotle is begotten from pre-existing Principles which prove the Science and Learning but by the judgment of Aristotle and all Philosophers and men in their wits no Science Learning or Reasoning can prove the Principles Besides it is a contradiction to say any thing is a Principle which can be proved for that which proves it is prime and a principle to it Would any man now think that these Critiques and pretended Masters of Reason had ever read one line in Logick or Aristotle who go about to prove Principles by such silly things as have scarce any verisimilitude in them Nor does he only make Fear to be the prime cause of all Humane Government and Civil Society but also chap. 16. art 1. he makes it the cause of all Religion and Worship of God Observ As if that men were not obliged to submit to higher Powers not only for wrath take it in what sense you will either fear of the wrath of the higher Powers or mutual fear of the wrath of other men but also for conscience sake And that God were not in gratitude to be worshiped and served by ingenuous men because he is good and created them intellectual and reasonable creatures but only by a servile fear of his Judgments from whence only vile and vitious men seem to but never truly serve or honor him A pretty institution of Religion and Government for the Men of Bedlam and Wives of Billingsgate He divides the whole Treatise into three titles viz. Liberty Empire and Religion Under the title of Liberty he speaks of men as they are in a state of meer Nature viz. of a state of men before they have by Pact given up their natural right to one Person or one Court or Company of men so that the will of this Man or Court shall be the will of all of them and this he calls cap. 5. art 9. Civitas or Persona civilis If Mr. Hobbs had by a state of Nature understood such a state as S. Paul Observ Rom. 2. 14. does viz. of men who have only the Law of Nature and not Gods Divine Law supernaturally revealed in the Scriptures to be their rule and guide and that men in such a state not having the Law may by Nature do the things contained in the Law for this Law is ingraven in the hearts of all men he
should have disputed without an Adversary for me But when he makes all men Jure naturali which is superior and the cause of all Laws of Nature to be equal and in a parity of condition and every man by his own natural right to have a power over every man and to kill and destroy them whensoever it seems good unto him and yet without any sin and that this State is only to be cured by the Laws of Nature of his own making although he would have them to be Divine Laws and contrary to Natural rights is such a monstrous Paradox and absurdity as I wonder any Ingenuous man should assent to it Under the title of Empire he is not less wild and extravagant in his concessions to the thing be it King or Court created by Do or Dedi and not Dabo or Faciam For he makes it not only Soveraign Judge of all Ecclesiastical as well as Civil causes but also impossible to command any thing contrary to the Law of Nature Yet he makes the Law of Nature the Law of God and this Creature of creatures to be so infallible that it is impossible to command any thing contrary to it It is not worth the examining what he would have under the title of Religion for men say the man is of none himself and complains they say he cannot walk the streets but the Boys point at him saying There goes HOBBS the Atheist It may be therefore the reason why in all his Laws of Nature he allows no place for the Worship and Service of GOD. But it is time to examine the particular Articles upon which this Body De Cive is built 1. His marginal Note upon Art 3. Cap. 1. is Homines naturâ aequales esse inter se Observ There is no one Proposition in the world more false then this nor more destructive to all faith and truth of Sacred History For whereas he says that by nature Men are equal to one another if the Scriptures be true that God made Adam an Universal Monarch as he says as well over his Cap. 10. art 3. Wife and Children as other Creatures and that since Adam God did never create any Man but the species of Mankind was continued by generation and that as he says Primogeniture is preferred by the Law of Cap. 3. art 18. Nature which Cap. 3. Art 29. is immutable then it is impossible that Cap. 4. art 15. since Adam any two Men in the world can be equal where God does not make them so Indeed if Mr. Hobbs had been an Athenian who stiled the Men of Observ 2. Attica 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men of the same Land or a Peripatetick who held that Men and the other things of the World were from Eternity as well as the World or an Egyptian who held that from the example of divers creatures generated out of the river Nile Men at first were generated from equivocal generation or that Men had sprung out of the ground fungorum more there might have been some small semblance for his opinion 2. His Argument to prove the Natural equality of all Men is Aequales sunt qui aequalia contra se invicem possunt At qui maxima possunt nimirum occidere aequalia possunt Ergo Homines natura aequales inter se His minor Proposition is no where proved and I am sure contrary Observ Gen. 9. 6. to what God says Whoso sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed for in the image of God made he man 3. Nature hath given to every Man a Right to all things Cap. 1. art 10. Observ What thing is mine naturali jure as he says or lege naturali is mine so that it is impossible it should be aliened or made anothers by any act of my will or the will of all the men in the world For natural causes do not depend upon voluntary humane actions and therefore the natural right which Nature has given to every man remains still with every man 4. Filium in statu naturali intelligi non posse Annot. art 10. Observ And therefore from Adam to our Saviour could there be no such natural state For S. Luke cap. 3. gives a Genealogie of Adams sons and sons sons to our Saviour And since I do not think Mr. Hobbs can shew that ever there was such a state in the world 5. The state of Man in Nature is hostile And cap. 8. art 10. he says Art 12. Men in the state of Nature may kill one another so often as it seems good unto them And therefore he must invent and seek to make himself in a better condition then God hath made him and that forsooth is by seeking Art 15. cap. 1. Observ Peace which he says is the first Law of Nature Is it not strange that a thing invented and made by the wit and will of Man and that contrary to the state and condition in which God hath made Man should here prove to be a Law of Nature which is the Law of God And is not more strange that God hath made Man upright and he hath Observ 2. Eccles 7. 27. sought out many inventions and yet Man should have need of Mr. Hobbs his help to invent and make him in a better state then God hath made him or else he says his conservation cannot be long expected Art 15. Neither is it possible in such a state where all men may kill one another Observ 3. and where all things are alike and common to all men that men should make any pacts or contracts one with another For besides that where men have nothing proper there men cannot make pacts or contract for any thing also where there is no precedent humane Law obliging there cannot any man be obliged or bound to any thing by his pact or contract for to be bound is in relation and must presuppose something which does bind but if nothing binds me but my Will which is a contradiction I may unbind me when I will for my Will is free I deny that any man or any company of men can will any thing to be Observ 4. a Law to themselves For Omnis potentia activa est principium transmutandi aliud And therefore the act of no mans Will can have a power or obligation upon himself and by consequence cannot any man or company of men will or make another who shall give them Laws for Nemo potest transferre id in alium quod ipse non habet 6. Legem naturalem esse dictamen rectae Rationis Cap. 2. art 1. Observ Wold any man think that these Critiques and pretended Masters of Reason did either understand Reason or Logick If Lex naturalis be dictamen rectae Rationis I ask of Mr. Hobbs what is the reason of it If it be a prime cause or principle then by the authority of Aristotle Eth. lib. 6. cap. 3. 6. does it constitute the
do and are neither pleased with the remembring of what is past nor can hope well in time to come And indeed no Man is so miserable as he who knows not how to entertain a day but by being vicious in it Vicious Men desire that all their actions should be buried in oblivion with them and will make it a cause of quarrel for any Man to mention those things they daily do as their actions whereas it is onely Virtue that does eternise Men to all Posterity for the whole Earth is a Monument for famous Men and their Virtues shall not onely be testified by inscription of Stone at home but by an unwritten Record of the Minde which more then any Monument will remain with every one for ever Sir Francis Bacon in his Life of Henry the Seventh compares Times to Ways whereof some are more uphil and downhil some are more plain and even the one is better for the Reader the other for the Liver Sometime it pleases God that Virtue should be as it were so in fashion That to be virtuous is commendable and rewarded other while Virtue is not onely persecuted by all the contrary names but virtuous Men are butchered imprisoned sequestred c. and for no other cause but onely their Virtue Tacitus accounteth it a rare felicity of the Times whenas an Historian may without danger Record the History of the Times Polybius affirmeth of truth That she ought to be Proem Hist esteemed of Men as the greatest Goddess and that the greatest Power ought to be attributed to her For though all Men oppose her and sometime many kinds of verisimilitudes and appearances stand against her for a Lie yet I know not how she by her self insinuates her self into the mindes of Men And sometime on the sudden shews how potent she is and sometime after she hath been along time obscured by darkness at length of her self prevails and expugneth the Lie If a Man vary the terms of Truth and Lie into Virtue and Vice this affirmation will not less hold true Virtue was never so oppressed by Ignorance and Faction but that the virtues of good Men shall finde honorable mention afterward And Vice and Faction however cryed up at present shall hereafter be fully laid open and their deformity discovered to all Posterity Virtue is the same in all Ages and most amiable in her simple nakedness and it is Vice which hath need of false glosses and hath such specious shewes and pretences put upon it to make it seem Virtue which fucous and false paint continues no longer then the present Faction Of all Virtues next after Religion Justice is the most worthily ranged in the first place not only as including all other Virtues but as excluding it all a Mans actions are rendred as Vile and contemptible other Vices are like Moats in running waters and the smallest Moats are easilest seen in purest streams but injustice is like the poysoning the Fountain which corrupts all the stream There is no Man that is so perfect but some spots and stains may be spied in his actions which are soonest spied in the best Men but no Man Heathen or Christian can deserve the least reputation of being good or Virtuous who is an unjust Man It was not Alexanders Venery Ryot Drunkenness and Captivity to the Persian Effeminacy Vices though bad enough but his occidit etiam Callisthenem that was put in Counterpoiz Senec. de beneficiis to all his Virtues It is Justice which next after the most immortal greatest best God and Religion fabricates connects and establisheth Nations and Kingdoms in Unity and Peace It is injustice which next after Gods punishments for their sins subverts them to the ruine of the greatest part of the inhabitants so that Justice deservedly hath the pre-eminence of Virtues next after Religion and Injustice is the foulest and vilest of all Vices after Atheisme Though Justice be so high and noble a Virtue yet I think there was never any thing by learned Men as Xenophon Plato Aristotle Bodin Grotius more mistaken Not that I deny but that many Virtuous Men from their innate good nature have in their actions practised that which hath been rarely well defined like Men who by a habit speak well yet cannot give a Grammatical construction of their speech or like the Romans who though the Grecians were best at the Theory of Rhetorick and Poetry were the best Orators and Poets or like the Physitians who in blood-letting supposed the circulation of the blood yet none asserted it before the most renowned Philosopher Doctor William Harvey or like a Musitian who composes well yet understands but little in the Theory of Musick For my part as I hate Flattery as one of the basest Vices and the most inconsistent with Ingenuity or Integrity so had I much rather that these Elements should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though a present sufferer for them then by any sinister means to attain to any greatness whatsoever All things are at first appearance curiously scanned and censured by Men it may be most by them who least understand them for Nihil est facilius quam reprehendere alium I desire nothing else of any ingenuous Reader then that in censuring any thing in this following discourse he would declare what he would have instead of it Carpere vel noli nostra vel ede tua I know it is Humanum errare and I not having a beaten path to direct me to my journies end and being unfit for so great an underraking although supplied with greater helps then I have found shall very probably be subject to stumble having had so dark and feeble means to keep my self upright However in all this Apostacy of Men in general from all Faith Religion and Moral honesty I have endeavored to shew from what causes all Vitues as well Theological as Moral flow and that Men by forsaking them must necessarily fall into all those calamities and confusions which now involve us Whatsoever therefore my errors and defections are they ought rather to be forgiven then to cause anger in any candid Reader for my part I profess ingeniously I will ascribe it an Act of friendship in any Man who shall direct my going in a more plain path or shew me where I have strayed out of the way by treading in this THE APPARATUS OR The different Nature of Man from other Creatures And why only Government is necessary to Mankinde SInce there is nothing more manifest then that there is every where in the World Government for no man can say That this thing is his or that thing another mans but he must presuppose a Superior Power which gave him and the other man a Right in this or that thing And since from the evidence of all Sacred and Prophane History no time was ever recorded in which men were not in subjection to one another And since from * Viz. Grotius Hobbs White these mens Principles it is not
Fishes are animalia vivipara that is bringing forth their young ones actual living Creatures and do generate viviparorum more should in that vast body of the Ocean when as by reason of the grosseness of the Medium they cannot use their sight at any small distance to perceive when they are neer one another at the seasons of generation find one another To proceed herein were proper for Plinies natural History or Aristotles History of living Creatures All Creatures are either animalia nociva hurtful Creatures which prey upon and devoure other living Creatures or innocua which feed and eate upon such vegetives as grow and are renewed by the earth or water or sociabilia which are only Men who are better or worse then other living Creatures accidentally If they suffer themselves to be enslaved by their depraved passions and appetitions then they become worse than any hurtful Creature but if they by depressing their passions and ill affections rule their actions by reason they far transcend all other Creatures The end of Government is twofold either to preserve the governed in peace within themselves or to protect them from forraign force or power in neither of which respects is Government requisite to other Creatures besides Men For animalia nociva are solivaga and therefore no Government is required to keep them in Peace one with another whereas they do not company one with another And many other living Creatures who are not by nature hurtful do not keep in companies and therefore no Government to preserve themselves in peace is requisite to them neither It is an admirable thing to contemplate how nature has granted to these hurtful and robustious Creatures armes consentaneous to their force to protect themselves from outward force and violence of those Creatures who are enemies unto them as the Lyon his paws and tayle the Bear his paw the Fox Otter Brock c. their Teeth whereas other Creatures who are by nature denied those armes to defend themselves what a strange cunning and dexterity has nature given them in the preservation of themselves from those Creatures who are hurtful to them and prey upon them Those Creatures who live in Community one with another by desiring the same things and avoiding the same things to direct their actions to a common end that their companies are obnoxious to no seditions and therefore Government is not necessary to them neither and of them is Man usually Protector against their ravening enemies Men differ from other Creatures for they are neither Animalia solivaga not gregalia but sociabilia that is living in conversation and subordination and Man is born a living Creature apted potentially for society and alike naked and unarmed as one whom nature intended a sociable peaceful and politick Creature and to be governed rather by reason than force in all his actions and therefore has endewed him with hands and ingenuity that having by his ingenuity purchased himself necessaries he might with his hands cloathe feed and defend himself In all other Creatures the Laws of Nature that is those bounds which God by Nature has set them are securely obeyed and never transgressed by them and are only transgressed and violated by Man and therefore the Laws of Nature are not sufficient for the preservation of mankind in Peace for by reason of the discords which arise naturally in Men for Honor and preheminence Secondly the appetite of possessing all things Thirdly the desire to excell other Men in wisdome and policy and to that end are studious of novelty which causes seditions and civil warrs that they might be esteemed wiser then the men of this present Age or their predecessorsby reason of which present coersive humane Laws are necessary for preserving peace among Men that the feare of a present punishment may deter men from those things which because of their Infidelity and Atheisme they otherwise would not feare Isay this Humane Power from whence all Humane Laws are derived is from the Law of Nature and if it shall seem strange to any Man that it should be Humane and yet derived from the Law of Nature let that Man consider that only Man is a Humane Creature and does Humane and reasonable actions and yet it is from the Law of Nature that only Man is a Humane Creature and can do Humane and reasonable actions And the Fathers and Husbands power is Humane yet I think no Man before Mr. Hobbs did ever deny that they were from the Law of Nature I know in usual speech the supream power of Nations is called Politick power which is a mistaking of the cause for the effect for it is not the power which is politick in the cause but in the effect and exercise as take an instance of my meaning A Father hath divers Children of several dispositions one disposed to learning another endewed with bodily strength and averse from learning another hath not bodily strength yet a desire to learning but by reason of his gross Minerva is not probably qualified to attain to any great progress in it c. The Father breeds up his Studious Son in literature his Active Son which hath no disposition to learning he makes a Soldier or Seaman his Duller Child he binds an Apprentice to some Trade c. Though the Fathers power be Natural yet this exercise of it is Politick so though Regal Power be from the Law of Nature yet must the exercise of it be Politick And therefore Humane Laws and the exercise or Politick use of Humane Power cannot though the Power of all Kings be alike and from the Law of Nature be the same in several Nations but different according to the nature manners and dispositions of the Inhabitants And we see the same King governing in divers places by divers Laws accordingly as his Subjects are different in manners and dispositions Humane Laws therefore and the Politick use of Regal Power cannot be as the Laws of Nature are immutable and the same in all parts of the world but ought to take their origination from the nature and disposition of the Governed and are alterable as Mens vices and manners do alter The Method observed in the subsequent TREATISE and the Reason of it ALl Science all Learning and all Reasoning by the Judgment of Aristotle is begotten from pre-existing Principles which being indemonstrable in themselves do demonstrate them And since that all Society or Power and Subjection whatsoever is created by Divine or Humane Laws and since it is impossible there should be Lex Lata where there was not Jus Legislativum Superior and the cause of it In the First Book we treat of Rights Laws Virtues the Obligation of Laws and of Pacts Promises Vows Leagues and Gifts and from whom Men become obliged to them These things thus premised the Second Book treats of the Causes of all Humane Christian and Legal Society of Regal and Magistrates Power of the Three Species of Government viz. Monarchy Aristocracy and
was I conceive that Athaliah desired to cut off all the Royal seed of the house of Judah 2 Chron. 23. And that all Usurpers do not think themselves fafe in their usurpations unless they secure themselves by attempting greater viz. in destroying all the Progeny of those men who can make a better and more superior claim then they have Where therefore Democracies and Aristocracies if such many-headed beasts by the Law of God or Nature be sufficiently qualified to be capable of this power and Elective Monarchies have been of that continuance that no superior claim can be made justly by another let them continue their possessions still for all me Yet would I not for any good in the world venture my life in any of them or judge any man to death in any of them unless it could be made appear that God or the Law of Nature did ever institute any such things or that any where in the world they were not usurped or introduced by them who had no right to do it But however it is a most unreasonable thing that their actions of Adoption and Election should be taken for precedents in rightful Hereditary Monarchies which cannot admit them without a total dissolution and do justly attribute their Governments to a higher then humane cause 21. Where in Hereditary Monarchies the whole Line is extinguished Wherein the decision is to be by Lot there the decision is to be by Lot for The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposition of it is of the Lord Pro. 16. 33. But if any one gets the possession before such disposition his Title by the antecedent proposition is good enough besides we have demonstrated by para cap. 1. lib. 1. that Jus primi occupantis is good by the Law of Nature 22. If it be Misera servitus ubi Jus est vagum aut incognitum a miserable How blessed and happy men are where Supreme powers and Laws are certain servitude where the Law our Lawyers by Jus. understand Law is wandring or unknown Then by the Rule of contraries it is a happy Freedom where the Law is certain and known to which a man may safely and securely direct his actions If it be a miserable slavery where the Law is wandring and unknown how much more miserable a slavery is it where the Supreme Power is wandring and unknown What confusions murders rapine and spoil of all things sacred and civil must men necessarily fall under The woful and miserable condition of this Nation since our late Distractions hath sufficiently manifested the consequence of it If then such a condition be so miserable how happy then is that Nation where by Gods mercy men are certain who is their Prince and to whom they may securely pay their obedience and assuredly expect protection in their lives and estates If there be nothing more servile and base then to be insulted and tyrannized over by them who by no right command over us how ingenuous and virtuous is it to be subject where by all Divine and Humane laws we owe our obedience For out of the offices of commanding and obeying did never any man live and where men will not be subject to them who may by right command over them they shall be slaves either to their own ambition or to others who by no right command over them And if it be most woful and horrible by resisting Higher Powers to incur damnation Note the Apostle does not say You must Rom. 13. needs be subject to Governments and whoso resists Government shall receive to himself damnation for the Empire of Thieves Robbers and Usurpers is Government but to Higher Powers who have a right of command from God to what a condition then have men brought themselves where either they are uncertain of the Supreme Power and so are either uncertain whether in their actions they incur this dreadful sentence or else where they are certain where the Supreme Power is and yet dare not for fear of their lives actively submit to it Who is the rightful English Soveraign and to whom all Englishmen by all Laws of God and Man owe their obedience is so evident that I never heard any man deny or dispute it 23. The ratio finalis or the end for which God hath ordained Kings The end for which Regality was ordained by God is for the protection of them whom God hath committed to their charge and government not only by all just and due means to protect them from the outward violence and oppression of their outward Enemies but also in peace inwardly and by all means to suppress all faction and sedition of ambitious men who would disturb it He chose David his servant and took him Psal 78. 71 72 73. from the sheepfolds as he was following the ewes great with young he took him that he might feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance So he fed them with a faithful and true heart and ruled them with all his power And that Kings may be nursing fathers and Queens nursing mothers to Gods Church Isa 49. 23. And consonant to these revelations of God by these noble Prophets is the declaration of the Saintly King Edward Confessor Rex auiem qui est summi Leg. S. Edw. cap. 19. Regis Vicarius ad hoc constitutus est ut regnum populum Domini super omnia sanctam ecclesiam regat defendat ab injuriosis maleficos autem distruat 24. By this which hath been said it is evident that the power of all No power arises from Conquest Kings is alike and equal viz. Supreme and Gods Ordinance and from the Law of Nature The difference between Kings is only in the exercise of their power some being contracted into narrower terms and others of a more vast extent and dilatation Where therefore one King extends the exercise of his power into the dominion of another by conquest or otherwise no new power ariseth from hence but only an extension of the exercise of the old And so by consequence the invasion usurpation or conquest of Subjects or others who before had no Regal power cannot create any after 25. Naturalia determinantur ad maxima minima There is nothing How far and when Conquest is to be obeyed and submitted to in Nature but bath its beginning termination and ending And so Regal power hath its beginning termination and ending from the Laws of Nature and all men are to be subject to those powers wheresoever they are For no man when he comes into the power of any Prince whether he be his natural Soveraign or nor but is obliged and subject to the power of that Prince wherein he is therefore if a Frenchman goes into Spain or a Spaniard comes into England they are subject to the powers of Spain and England so long as they continue there And since it is impossible that two Supreme powers can be in one place where any one
although no man can hope to preserve any thing which he hath but as he and what he hath is secured by that Power which gives him property which Power must be preserved by every mans life and fortune or else no man can hope to enjoy any thing he holds by that Power and the paying of Taxes is to maintain others who are to expose themselves and their lives in defence of what he and his fellow-subjects enjoy Yet are none of these things considered by the greatest part of men but as Mr. Hobbs observes The raising of Taxes makes men fire as those who are in Cap. 12. art 9. the disease called Incubus or as we say ridden with the Night-mare which rising from the stomach makes men think they are invaded oppressed and suffocated with great weight Which thing they who seem to themselves to be oppressed with all the weight of the City are prone to sedition and men declining in their fortunes will not spare though the fault be in themselves to impute their declining condition to the payment of the publick Taxes nor will avaritious rich men fail to pretend poverty and seek by innovation and sedition to prevent them 23. Honos est in honorante Honor is nothing else but the opinion of Passionate desire to punish Subjects especially where many are peccant moves to sedition anothers power joined with goodness Majesty does never appear so amiable as when arrayed in Clemencie whereas he who rigorously executes his power will be hated and servilely feared by them who otherwise would honor and willingly obey him It were the most easie and natural thing in the world to govern well if the violent and rigid execution of Laws against all offenders would cure the maladies of State nay Subjects ought to be preserved though peccant where the pardoning may appear an act of grace not remisness and the example not encourage others to the like offence Punishment ought always to look forward never backward that is Princes in punishing ought by the example to deter others from the like offence not to take pleasure in punishing any who hath offended him I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu and will cause to cease the house of Israel saith the Lord Hos 1. 4. How should God avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu whenas Jehu did nothing but what the Lord commanded him The reason is given that Jehu took pleasure in executing so dreadful a judgment upon his Masters house Weak and indisposed bodies are killed never cured by violent physick nor will Patients ever seek to Physitians who they fear will rather kill than cure them Princes who by violent and cruel ways do govern suppress yet nourish a fire which breaking out will hardly be quenched Yet it is sometime the fate I dare not think through the fault of most serene and clement Princes to suffer death and martyrdom from the sensless rage and fury of their seditious Subjects If then the insite piety of the most devout religious and best of Princes adorned with all the excelling virtues of Patience Temperance Chastity Justice Mercy love and tender care of his Subjects Magnanimity in Adversity Moderation in Prosperity could not secure Innocent Majesty from the violence of unnatural Subjects sure Peace and happiness may by other men be endeavored and prayed for in the next World but it can scarcely be hoped for in this If there were neither Heaven nor Hell no hope of bliss or fear of Annot. punishment hereafter yet sure so much Morality should be harbored in humane breasts as not causelesly to offer violence or injury to them of their own kind How much more unnatural ingrateful and inhumane then is it for Subjects against all Oaths of faith and allegiance not only not to make any restitution of those things which they hold of their Prince before they attempt any thing against him but also to imploy them all to the destruction of that Person and Power by whose grace and favor they enjoyed them And if that Monarchy be Tyranny as Libertines affirm and that all power is from the People then ought they not in reason to condemn it in the cause and allow it in the effect and rob the People of so great a part of their original right by retaining their Estates which were all mediately or immediately holden of the Crown If Regal power be unjust and usurped in the cause then cannot any act of it be just or legal and so by consequence all these famous Assertors of Liberty do unjustly and illegally hold their Estates which are nothing but Concessions originally from the Crown and do unjustly usurp them from the People from whom originally all power is derived And where these men complain so much of unjust illegal and arbitrary power of a Prince let any man shew where ever after they had usurped Regal power they made Justice Law Equity or Reason but only their Rage and Will the rule of their Actions and Laws 24. It is a vain thing to expect that Subjects will long be governed in By what degreâ—s and from what causes thâ—â— Nation became miserable peace where either they are not governed by force of Arms as the Turks English Scots Irish and Low-Dutch are or where the Subjects have not that estimation of their Prince that by his power they are protected in their lives and estates and from him do claim whatsoever may be called theirs and do not unite themselves in a Religious Unity which is the chiefest bond of Peace or Publique Form and Communion of serving God For both in Church and State there must be some one thing to which all Subjects must indifferently submit themselves or it is impossible there should be any decision of their differences in either Where men therefore will not indifferently submit themselves to the just and legal established Government in Church and State there necessarily must men whatever they pretend or hope for be forcibly governed by Arms or they will infinitely destroy one another It is true indeed that Henry the Eighth who being of all mortal men the most unfit for a Churchman ascribed to himself the Headship of the Church and having converted to his own use so great a part of the Church-lands the veneration which men retained of the Church became vile and contemptible and the Crown lost the chief support thereby The Crown thus left almost without support it descended to a Child in whose Aristocratical reign not only the Chantries and divers other Religious Houses were given by the Parliament and Bishops to the King but almost all things Sacred became a prey to the ravenous Courtiers Queen Mary endeavored to have had restored all to the Church again but the lands being incorporated into particular mens estates it was not in her power After her Queen Elizabeth by Act of Parliament so stopt the precipice of things that what was left in the Church
where the person of the buyer is not to be considered whether greater or lesser richer or poorer but an equal value or price is and to be taken by the vendor for such a commodity be the buyer rich or poor Distributative Justice consists he says in Geometrical proportion and is Distributative referred to the dignities and merits of men so that here men ought to respect the person and the quality of him to whom any thing is attributed or given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more to him who is more worthy and less to him who is less worthy 37. It is true indeed That if in Promutation a man sets such a value Corrective Justice examined upon such a thing and does not respect the person or quality of any buyer that then such vendor does equally to all sellers and in exchanging observes Arithmetical proportion But if it be true as it is that he says That he is a Eth. l. 5. c. 2 3. just man that keeps the Laws and that there be no Law which sets a price upon what thing the seller exchanges or sells to another then it cannot be a sin of Injustice for any vendor not to observe this Arithmetical Rule which Aristotle propounds in Promutation 38. Nor is it less true That if a Prince in conferring honor or otherwise Distributative Justice examined rewarding a man for any merit or great service done to him or his Countrey gives more honor or reward to such a man then to another deserving less then such a Prince does a prudent action and observes Geometrical proportion in it but what is this to Justice For if there be no Law commanding such a thing then cannot the not doing of it be a sin of Injustice nor is it properly a sin of injustice not to reward or repay benefits but of ingratitude Grotius Lib. 1. Para. 8. disputes against the opinion of Aristotle That Grotius his opinion of Justice Justice is properly distinguished into Arithmetical and Geometrical proportion but Paragraph 9. where he should declare what Justice is he onely confounds Jus Lex Justitia and instead of setting down what Justice is which he neither does here nor any where else that I know of he forsooth divides Jus into Jus naturale voluntarium which may signifie either of them or both together hum drum Community and Property the Law of God immutable by God himself and yet mutable by the will of Man In the Dedication of this Jus Belli Pacis he makes Lewis the Thirteenth to be just because he does by imitating him honor the memory of his Father yet do I think there were scarce ever two men more unlike and just because he does by his example instruct his Brother and just because he gave his Sisters great Portions just because he inflicts no great punishment upon his rebellious Subjects sure never man took Mercy for Justice before and just because he allows his Subjects Liberty of Conscience CHAP. II. Of Obedience 1. OBedience is the accepting of the Law or Command of him who Obedience what by right commands when I by no act of my will put any obsticle whereby such Law or Command may be executed or received 2. Obedience differs from Justice as a part differs from the whole Obedience How Obedience differs from Justice is implyed in Justice Patience is onely necessary to Obedience but Agency to Justice Every just man must be an obedient man but the converse do not always hold That every obedient man is a just man As a Prince commands such a man to be a Justice of Peace c. in such a Town or Division he is received by them of the Town or Division This is an act of Obedience in them of such a Town or Division not of Justice because they are Patients onely and not Agents 3. Disobedience is the refusing to accept the Law or Command of How Disobedience differs from Injustice him who by right commands Injustice is the counterfeiting Obedience to Laws and yet abusing them to the prejudice of another As he who by right commands me to do such a thing if I refuse to do it This is a Sin of Disobedience If I undertake to do it and instead of upright doing of it I abuse it to the prejudice of any man this is a Sin of Injustice 4. Obedience is not only a virtue in it self but also the first and only The Excellency of Obedience Introduction to all virtues Theological and Moral For not only in Moral virtues I must subject my will to the rule and precept of him who by right commands but also in Theological virtues my will must be the patient and admit of Gods grace as the prime and efficient cause before it be possible that I should be qualified to do any virtuous action either Theologicall or Moral and God being all good and a lover of Man and hating nothing Philanthropos that he hath made freely offers this his grace to all men and it is mans fault and stubbornness that he refuses to admit of this grace of God without which nothing can be good nothing can be just or virtuous without which no man can reasonably hope for any Temporal happiness in this world or eternal Beatitude in the world to come 5. It is not alwaies the doing or abstaining from what is commanded Gods Grace only is the true and efficient cause of virtue in men or forbidden which is virtue but only the ingenuous and upright doing or abstaining from that which is commanded or forbidden as it is commanded or forbidden by him who by right may command or forbid I say that Ingenuity integrity and abstraction from all affections of profit pleasure love hate feare c. are essential to all virtues for if the doing or forbearing any action proceeds from any of these causes then is not that action virtuous but profitable pleasant lovely hateful fearful c. Jehu did what God commanded him in executing Gods judgements upon Ahabs posterity but not doing uprightly what God commanded him in that formality as God commanded him but if ye be mine and will hearken to my voice take ye the heads of your Masters Sons and come to me to Jezreel to morrow 2 Kings 10. 6. by this time and then instead of pittying so great a calamity upon so many young Princes insulting over them he in derision saies to the people Ye be righteous behold I conspired against my Master and slew him but who slew all Vers 9. these hence it was that God said I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the Hosea 1. 4. house of Jehu say Interpreters But it was a virtue in David to forbear the killing of Saul whenas he could have done it and was promised by God to be King after him and in Jehodajah to preserve Joash although by danger of his life It was not virtue in Amnon to abstain
expected in this World and if that may then by what means it is to be attained but that I might by degrees accomplish my end I begin with man in his first Cause and being Man then in his first being is to be considered either as created or begotten as created sure no man in his wits will deny but that God was the prime and only efficient cause of his creation who without any ordinary concurrence of naturall causes did so create him and that this was not from a confluence of naturall causes is evident for otherwise it had been a Generation not a Creation and necessarily something must be Created before any thing can be Generated of it Nor is God if a man rightly considers it lesse the prime and efficient cause of man in his Generation then in his Creation for it must needs be evident to every man That male and female are not the first cause of Generation because then they would alike of themselves without the influence of a superiour cause be apted for Generation and so every Creature of it selfe in a like power of Generating one as much as another the contrary of which every one daily sees Nor are all Creatures at all times alike disposed to Generation but apted and disposed thereunto from some exterior cause as we see in Foxes about the Brumall solstice and Ravens in January other creatures generally about the Vernal Equinox and Deere about the Autumnall which without all doubt doth proceed from the influence of the Sun which in those seasons disposes them thereunto but that the Sun is not the prime and efficient cause of Generation is confessed by Aristotle where hee faith * That in omni creature divinum quid reperiri respondens Elemento stellarum Lib. 2. cap. 3. de Gen. Anim. esseque omnipotentis creatoris vicarium It is not therefore the Sun nor male and female which can be the first cause of a man or any other creature but that minde or Soul which governs the innumerable and vast bodies of the Univers and by a perpetuall motion of the Earth from West to East according to the new Hypotheses in Astronomy or of the Sun from East to West after the former Hypotheses through the divers Regions of the Earth doth apt and dispose all things therein to their production and dissolution So that God is the prime efficient cause as wel in the generation as creation of man other creatures the manner only is different God in generation from the confluence of necessary contingent causes doth Generate Man and other creatures and originally did create them without any confluence of causes Nor is God lesse the prime preserver of all Creatures then the first cause of the Creation and Generation of them for not all the sublunary meanes of eating drinking sleeping exercise physick c. can preserve any creature thus Generated or Created but some internall cause whether it be called anima or pars animae or quid animae or aliquid habens animam aut intellectus aut denique numen and this is it in every Creature which doth worke towards its end and orders all these things with unimitable and incomprehensible art and providence alwaies procures what is best as well for its being as well-being as well for defence as ornament Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem Virg Aenei And though all these outward things however necessary for the preservation of every Creature are accidentall and may be more or less acquired and communicated by every creature yet this internall cause this numen this Lar familiare or anima which disposes and orders all these outward causes is not to be acquired or communicated by any Creature So that a man must needs confesse That in all Creatures as well as Man there is some particle of divine Aire which doth order and dispose of all sublunary meanes in a wonderfull and diverse manner towards their preservation untill by a propense naturall disposition they all resolve into their first Principles But these outward meanes are acquired and communicated by severall Creatures divers and severall waies Some doe acquire these outward meanes from an innate impulse never with understanding or reason moving them others rarely without their understanding or reason and this latter only is Man Yet how fraile a mans reason and understanding is even to the acquiring of things necessary for his preservation is evidenly seen almost in all men for there is no man in this world who can by his understanding and reason so govern his actions that those things so directed by him have alwaies a like event nay often times the same thing propounded by the same man upon the same grounds and reasons hath so contrary an event that at this time it ruins him which other while was of much advantage to him And this is daily seen among all sorts of men so that it is most manifest that a mans understanding or reason cannot preserve him as he is an intellectuall rationall Creature nor Justice Religion and Piety as a sociable but somthing superior to these What then shall we say to these things Is Religion Justice and Piety and a mans understanding and reason of no account because they cannot procure peace and preservation Nothing lesse for God having first created man and other creatures without the confluence of naturall causes did ever after their first creation cease to make any other but the species of all things have ever since been renewed by Generation but in Generation God doth not renew the species of all creatures from an absolute act of his own but from the coition of male and female disposed thereunto in perfect creatures oftentimes from matter disposed many creatures are aequivocally generated without the coition of male and female which thing is evidently seene from the yeerly renuing of of frogs caterpillars c. The antient Aegyptians from the observation of the very many creatures thus generated in the River Nile did believe that all perfect creatures were originally not from creation but from aequivocal generation Yet though these spurious and imperfect creatures are thus generated yet do they all generate their like Aristotle Hist Anim. only excepts the Eele and I could never yet see either Row or Milt in any of them But though God be the prime efficient cause of the generation all creatures and therefore absolutely necessary to the production of every creature and though the conditions which he hath ordained be absolutely necessary to the generation of every creature yet are not these conditions alwaies performed from any absolute necessity of the part of God but oftentimes from contingent causes and the will of the creature For example it is necessary that the influence of the Sun from matter disposed in standing pools should produce Frogs yet are not alwaies those Pooles necessary to be but are often made and often filled up