are commonly received and practised by most Nations for their general usefulness and conveniency Yet it must be acknowledged that there is still required the Knowledge of God as a Legislator by whose Authority alone they can obtain the force of Laws The Proof of which tho' the most material part of the Question hath been hitherto omitted or but slightly touch'd by former Writers on this Subject But besides the Objections of some of the Ancients Mr. Selden and Mr. Hobbs have also argued against this Method tho' upon divers Principles and from different Designs the latter intending that no body should receive these Dictates of Reason as obligatory to outward Actions before a Supreme Civil Power be instituted who shall ordain them to be observed as Laws And tho' he sometimes vouchsafes them that Title yet in his De Cive cap. 14. he tells us That in the state of Nature they are but improperly called so and that tho' the Laws of Nature may be found largely described in the Writings of Philosophers yet are they not for this cause to be called Laws any more than the Writings or Opinions of Lawyers are Laws till confirmed and made so by the Supreme Powers But on the other side Mr. Selden more fairly finds fault with the want of Authority in these Dictates of Reason considered only as such that he may from hence shew us a necessity of recurring to the Legislative Power of God and that he may thereby make out that those Dictates of Reason do only acquire the force of Laws because all our knowledge of them is to be derived from God alone who when he makes these Rules known to us does then and not before promulgate them to us as Laws And so far I think he is in the right and hath well enough corrected our common Moralists who are wont to consider these Dictates of Reason as Laws without any sufficient proof that they have all the Conditions required to make them so viz. That they are established and declared to us by God as a Legislator who hath annexed to them sufficient Rewards and Punishments But I think it is evident that if these Rational Dictates can by any means be proved to proceed from the Will of God the Author of Nature as Rules for all our Moral Actions they will not need any Humane Authority much less the Consent or Tradition of any one or many Nations to make them known to be so Therefore tho' I grant this learned Author hath taken a great deal of pains to prove from divers general Traditions of the Iewish Rabbins that God gave certain Commands to Adam and after to Noah contained in these seven Precepts called by his Name and that those various Quotations this learned Author hath there produced do clearly prove that the Iews believe that all Nations whatever altho' they do not receive the Laws of Moses yet are obliged to observe the same Moral Laws which they conceive to be all contained under the Precepts above mentioned and tho' this Work is indeed most learnedly and judiciously performed and may prove of great use in Christian Theology yet I must confess it still seems to me that he hath not sufficiently answered his own Objection concerning Mens Ignorance or want of Discovery of the Law-giver for altho' it should be granted that those Traditions they call the Precepts of Noah should be never so generally or firmly believed by the whole Iewish Nation yet are they not therefore made known to the rest of Mankind and one of them viz. That of not eating any Part or Member of a living Creature is justly derided and received with scorn by all other Nations So that it seems evident to me that the unwritten Traditions of the learned Men of any one Nation cannot be looked upon as a sufficient promulgation made by God as a Law-giver of those Laws or Precepts therein contained and that all Nations who perhaps have never heard of Adam or Noah should be condemned for not living according to them especially when we consider that it is but in these latter Ages of the World that the Iewish Rabbins began to commit these Traditions to Writing and that it is most probable the ancient Iews knew nothing of them since neither Josephus nor Philo Judaeus take any notice of these Precepts in their Writings Therefore that the Divine Authority of those Dictates of Right Reason or Rules of Life called the Laws of Nature may more evidently be demonstrated to all considering Men it seemed to me the best and fittest Method to inquire first into their Natural Causes as well internal as external remote as near since by this Series of Causes and Effects we may at last be more easily brought to the knowledge of the Will of God their first Cause from whose intrinsick Perfections and extrinsick Sanctions by fit Rewards and due Punishments we have endeavoured to shew that as well their Authority as Promulgation is derived I know indeed that the greatest part of former Writers have been content to suppose that these Dictates of Reason and all Acts conformable thereunto are taught us by Nature or at most do only affirm in general that they proceed from God without shewing us which way or the manner how Therefore it seemed highly necessary to us that we ought to inquire more exactly how the force of Objects from without and of our own Notions or Idea's from within us do both concur towards the imprinting and fixing these Principles in our Minds as Laws derived from the Will of God himself which Work if it be well performed we hope may prove of great use not only to our own Nation but to all Mankind because from hence it may appear both by what means Men's Vnderstandings may attain to a true and natural Knowledge of the Divine Will or Laws of God So that if they practise them not they may be left without excuse And this Principle will likewise serve for a general Rule by which the Municipal Laws of every Common-wealth may be tryed whether they are Iust and Right or not that is agreeable with the Laws of Nature and so may be corrected and amended by the supreme Powers when-ever they have deviated from this great End of the common Good And from hence may also be demonstrated that there is somewhat in the Nature of God as also in our own and all other Men's Natures which administers present Comfort and Satisfaction to our Minds from good Actions as also firm Hopes or Presages of a future Happiness as a Reward for them when this Life is ended whereas on the other side the greatest Misery and most dismal Fears do proceed from wicked or evil Actions from whence the Conscience seems furnished as it were with Whips and Scorpions to correct and punish all Vice and Improbity So that it may from hence appear that Men are not deluded in their moral Notions either by Clergy-men or Politicians I grant the Platonists undertake to dispatch
all these Difficulties a much easier way only by supposing certain innate Idea's of moral Good and Evil imprest by God upon the Souls of Men. But I must indeed confess my self not yet so happy as to be able thus easily to attain to so great a Perfection as the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature by this natural Instinct or Impression And it doth not seem to me either safe or convenient to lay the whole Stress of Natural Religion and Morality upon an Hypothesis which hath been exploded by all Philosophers except themselves and which can never alone serve to convince those of Epicurean Principles for whom we chiefly design this Work But whosoever will take the Pains to peruse what hath been written against these innate Idea's by the inquisitive and sagacious Author of the late Essay of humane Understanding will find them very hard if not impossible to be proved to have ever been innate in the Souls of Men before they came into the World Therefore as I shall not take upon me absolutely to deny the Being or Impossibility of such Idea's so I shall not make use of any Arguments drawn from thence in this Discourse Though I heartily wish that any Reasons or Motives which may serve to promote true Vertue and Piety may prevail as far as they deserve with all sincere and honest Men. And the same Reasons which deterred me from supposing any natural Laws innate in our Minds have also made me not presently suppose as many do without any due proof That such Idea's have existed in the Divine Intellect from all Eternity And therefore I looked upon it as more proper and necessary to begin from those things which are most known and familiar to us by our Senses and from thence to prove that certain Propositions of immutable Truth prescribing our Care of the Happiness or common Good of all rational Agents considered together are necessarily imprinted upon our Minds from the Nature of things and which the first Cause perpetually determines so to act upon them And that in the Terms of these Propositions are intrinsecally included an evident Declaration of their Truth and certainty as proceeding from God the first Cause in the very intrinsick Constitution of things From whence it will be also manifest that such practical Propositions are truly and properly Laws as being declared and established by due Rewards and Punishments annexed to them by him as the supreme Legislator But after it shall appear that the Knowledge of these Laws and a Practice conformable to them are the highest Perfection or most happy State of our Rational Natures It will likewise follow that a Perfection Analogous to this Knowledge and a Practice conformable to these Laws must necessarily be in the first Cause from whence proceeds not only our own Natural Perfections but also the most wise Ordination of all Effects without us for the common Conservation and Perfection of the whole Natural System or Vniverse which our Eyes daily behold For that is look'd upon by me among the things most certainly prov'd That it must be first known what Iustice is and what those Laws enjoyn in whose Observation all Iustice consists before we can distinctly know that Iustice is to be attributed to God and that his Iustice is to be considered by us as a Pattern or Example for us to imitate Since we do not know God by an immediate Intuition of his Essence or Perfections but only from the outward Effects of his Providence first known by our Senses and Experience Neither is it safe to affix Attributes to him which we cannot sufficiently understand or make out from things without us Having now shewn you in general the difference between our Method and that which others have hitherto followed it is fit we here declare in as few words as we can the chief Heads of those things which we have delivered in this Treatise Supposing therefore those natural Principles concerning the Laws of Motion and Rest sufficiently demonstrated by Naturalists especially such as depend upon Mathematical Principles since we have only here undertaken to demonstrate the true Grounds of Moral Philosophy and to deduce them from some supposed Knowledge of Nature and as they refer to our Moral Practice I have here therefore supposed all the Effects of corporeal Motions which are natural and necessary and performed without any Intervention of humane Liberty to be derived from the Will of the first Cause And 2dly which Mr. H. himself likewise in his Leviathan admits that from the Consideration and Inquisition into these Causes and from the Powers and Operations of natural Bodies may be discovered the Existence of one Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Being which we call God So that every Motion impress'd upon the Organs of our Senses whereby the Mind is carried on to apprehend things without us and to give a right Iudgment upon them is a natural Effect which by the Mediation of other inferiour Causes owes its Original to the first Cause From whence it follows that God by these natural Motions of Causes and Effects delineates the Idea's or Images of all natural and moral Actions on our Minds And that the same God after he hath thus made us draw various Notions from the same Objects does then excite us to compare them with each other and then joyn them together and so determines us to form true Propositions of the things thus singly received and understood So that sometimes a thing is exposed whole and all at once to our View and sometimes it is more naturally considered successively or according to its several parts And the Mind thereby perceives that the Notion of awhole signifies the same with that of all the several Idea's of the particular parts put together and so is thence carried on to make a Proposition of the Identity of the whole with all its parts And can truly affirm that the same Causes which preserve the whole must also conserve all its constituent parts and then from a diligent Contemplation of all these Propositions which may justly challenge the Title of the more general Laws of Nature we may observe that they are all reduceable to one Proposition from whose fit and just Explication all the Limits or Exceptions under which the particular Propositions are proposed may be sought for and discovered as from the Evidence of that one Proposition which may be reduced into this or the like Sence viz. The endeavour as far as we are able of the common good of the whole System of Rational Beings conduces as far as lies in our Power to the good of all its several Parts or Members in which our own Felicity is also contained as part thereof Whereas the Acts opposite to this Endeavour do bring along with them Effects quite opposite thereunto and will certainly procure our own Ruine or Misery at last Therefore the whole Summ of this Proposition may be reduced to these three Things 1. That which concerns the Matter of it
shews us that not the private Felicity of any single Man is the principal end of God the Legislator or ought to be so of any one who will truly obey his Will and by a Parity of reason it also appears that those humane Actions which from their own natural force and Efficacy are apt to promote the common Good are certainly better than those which do only serve the private Good of any one Man and that by the same proportion as a common Good is greater than a private So likewise those Actions which take the nearest way to attain this effect as an End are called Right because of their natural Similitude with a right or straight line which is always the shortest between the two Terms But the same Actions when compared with a Natural or positive Law as a rule of Life or Manners and are found conformable to it are called morally good and also right that is agreeable to the Rule but the Rule it self is called right or straight as it shews the nearest way to the End But I shall referr you for the clearer Explication of these things to what we have farther said concerning them in the Discourse its self especially in the Second part wherein we prove against Mr. H's Principle that there is a true Natural and Moral Good antecedent to Civil Laws But however it may not be amiss to give you in short the method which we take to prove that this Law of endeavouring the common Good is really and indeed and not Metaphorically a Law 1. This general Supposition being premised That all particular Persons who can either promote or oppose this common Good are parts of that whole Body of mankind which is either preserved or prejudiced by their endeavours We shall not now descend to the particular Proofs as they are drawn from the Causes of such Actions of which we have partly treated in the Chapter of humane Nature and partly from their natural Effects and Consequences of which we have largely discoursed in the Chapter of the Obligation of the Law of Nature as also in the Second part in our Observation on Mr. H's Principles all which may nevertheless be reduced to these plain Propositions 1. As I have observed it is manifest that our Felicity or highest Reward is essentially connected by God the Legislator with the most full and constant exercise of our natural Powers employed about the noblest Objects and greatest Effects they can be capable of as proportioned to them from whence it may be gathered that all men endued with these Faculties are naturally obliged under the penalty of losing or missing of this their Happiness to exercise those Powers about the worthiest Objects viz. God and Mankind Nor can it be long doubted whether our Faculties may be more happily exercised in maintaining Friendship or Enmity with them for I think it is certain there can be no Neutral State in which God and Men can neither be beloved nor hated or in which we can stand so far Neuters as neither to do things gratefull nor ungratefull to them But if it be granted that there is a manifest Necessity if we will be truly happy of preserving Amity both with God and Men here is thereby presently declared the Sanction of this general Law of Nature which we are now enquiring into for this alone establishes all Natural Religion and also all those things which are necessary to the Happiness and preservation of Mankind which are besides Piety towards God 1. A peaceable Commerce and Agreement of divers Nations which are treated of by the Law of Nations which is but a Branch or subordinate Member of this great Law of Nature 2. The Constitution and Conservation of a Civil Society or Common-wealth which is the Scope of all Civil Laws And 3. The Continuance of Domestick Relations and private Friendships concerning which the general Rules of Ethicks as also the more particular ones of Oeconomies do prescribe And therefore we have put together many things in the Chapter of humane Nature by which all particular Persons of sound Minds are some way rendred capable of so large a Society and are either more nearly or remotely disposed to it And we do here intreat the Reader that he will not consider those things each of them singly or apart but all together since from all of them conjoyned he may raise a sufficient Argument to prove the Existence and evince the Sanction of this most general Law of Nature and that Men will necessarily fail of their Happiness which chiefly consists in the Adequate or proper Exercise of their rational Faculties unless they will exercise them in cultivating this Amity or Love both with God and Men to which Ends they are before all other Animals particularly adapted But from the Effects of such Actions conducing to the Common good of Rational Beings we have also further shewn in the Chapter of the Obligation of the Laws of Nature that this Sanction by sufficient Rewards and Punishments is most commonly connected with such Actions And it is manifest that in the first place God as the best and wisest of Rational Beings is to be loved and honoured by such Actions or Endeavours as that the Goods and Fortunes of all innocent Persons of what Nation soever are thereby secured as far as lies in our Power and all things profitable for particular Persons procured according to the Proportion they bear to the good of the whole Body of Mankind so that this Law will not permit any thing to be done which the Care of the whole doth not allow Nor can any thing be supposed more worthy a rational Creature and from whence greater Effects can proceed than a Will always propeuse towards the good of this whole Body governed by the Conduct of a Right Vnderstanding Therefore since it can certainly be foreknown that such Effects will follow from this Endeavour no Man can be ignorant that all the Ioys and present Comforts of true Piety are therein contained together with the hopes of a blessed Immortality besides those many Conveniencies of Peace and commerce with those of other Nations and all those Emoluments both of Civil and Domestick Government and private Friendships which are connected with this Endeavour as the common Rewards thereof and which cannot by any Means within our Power be otherwise obtained So that he who neglects the Care of the Common good doth also reject the true Causes of his own Felicity and embraces those of his Misery as a Punishment due to his Folly In short since it is manifest from the Nature of things that the highest Happiness which we can procure for our selves proceeds from our Care both of Piety to God and Love and Peace with Men. And that the Endeavour of these can only be found in his Soul who truly studieth the common Good of all Rational Beings it is also evident that the greatest Rewards that any one can acquire are necessarily connected with this Endeavour
their natures § 11. All Creatures express a delight in the society of others of the same kind some cases or intervals wherein Nature seems to act otherwise no contradiction to this general Rule § 12. All Animals impelled by the natural Constitution of their parts to a Love of those of a different Sex and to a natural Affection to their Offspring § 13. All Animals take delight in the sweeter Passions of Love Ioy Desire c. as helpfull to their natural Constitution whereas the contrary Passions when inordinate are highly destructive to it § 14. Mr. H. cannot deny these natural Propensions and therefore is forced to suppose somewhat in Man's nature that renders him more unsociable than Brutes § 15. Other peculiar Observations relating to Man whereby he is made more capable of promoting the common good as first from the greater quantity of Brains in Men than in Brutes § 16. 2. From the natural Constitution of their Bloud and Spermatick Vessels from whence arises a Necessity of Marriage and of a more constant and lasting Love to their Offspring § 17. 3. From the wonderfull structure of Men's hands it is proved that this Instrument was given us for some more noble use than bare self-preservation § 18. Lastly From the upright posture of Men's bodies and way of motion § 19. The next Set of Observations tending to prove Men more fitted for the promoting of this common good is taken from the natural and peculiar faculties of Men's Souls above those of Brutes And 1. from that of deducing effects from their Causes and vice versa especially in that of distinguishing of real or natural from apparent Goods § 20. What is understood by us by a natural or moral Good or Evil. Certain Axioms for the plainer understanding their Nature and Degrees § 21. How we arrive to an Idea of a species or kind of Creatures and also to a notion of the general or common good of Mankind § 22. Speech and the Invention of Letters peculiar faculties of Man's nature § 23. And the great Benefits arising from thence in order to the common good § 24. Men do infinitely exceed Beasts in their discursive Faculties as also in the knowledge and use of Numbers § 25. As also in the Power of Vnderstanding the different Quantities and Proportions between Bodies which we call Geometry § 26. The two great remaining Prerogatives of humane Souls Freedom of Will as to moral Actions and the Knowledge of a God § 27 28. What knowledge we can have of his Attributes which can never be truly understood but with respect to their great End the Prosecution of the common good of the Vniverse § 29. The Contents of the Third Chapter A Brief recapitulation of the former Chapters and a summing up all those Observations into a general Proposition of God's Willing and Commanding the Common Good of rational Beings as the main End of all our Actions § 1. A brief Explanation of the Terms of our Description of the Law of Nature and that words are not always essential to Laws § 2. That all moral Truths or Duties as declared by God are contained in this one Proposition of Endeavouring the common good certain Principles laid down for the proving it § 3 4 5 6. That this being once discovered to us we lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this Proposition as a natural Law with the Explanation of the Term Obligation and who hath Authority to oblige us § 7 8 9. Yet that this Obligation may well consist with the freedom of our wills the difference between a mere animal and a rational or natural Good the neglect of which distinction is the Cause of Epicurus and Mr. H's Errors § 10. The last part of the Obligation to this Law viz. its Sanction by Rewards and Punishments certain Axioms necessary to be known in order to the right understanding the true nature of a moral Good or Evil and of Man's true happiness and perfection with its difference from that of other Beings § 11. That though all moral Obligation does not consist in Rewards or Punishments Yet that by reason of the weakness of humane Nature it is insignificant without them with a Scale of Nature shewing the difference between Vegetables and inanimate Bodies and between Men and Brutes § 12. The strictest Sanction and consequently Obligation to all Laws consists in Rewards and Punishments duly distributed God's right of Dominion not to be resolved into his irresistible Power § 13. The internal Rewards ordained by God in Nature are first the inward satisfaction of the Soul and also the pleasure all men take in the exercise of the sweeter passions of Love c. § 14 15. The external Rewards are all the like returns of this Benevolence from others with the praise or commendation of all good men together with the peace and protection of the civil Government § 16 17. Lastly from God Soundness of mind and body with all those outward blessings he usually bestows on the peaceable and vertuous with a Solution to the difficulty why God often afflicts Good men § 18. The internal Punishments ordained by God for the transgression of this Law are the absence or privation of the former good things which is an Evil and a Punishment § 19. Errour and being governed by the Passions a real Evil and an internal Punishment § 20. 3. That such evil Actions cannot but be often displeasing to the Person that doth them § 21. 4. That Vices and Crimes seldom come alone but let in a train of others of the same kind or worse along with them § 22. 5. That such an Offender cannot get out of this state when he will at least not without the trouble of Repentance § 23. 6. The fear of Punishment both from God and Man § 24. The external Punishments are 1. The Evils thot happen to the body from violent and unsociable Passions § 25. The 2d Those returns of hatred or contempt which all such men must expect from others § 26. The 3d. Returns of revenge from those they have injured § 27. Lastly Those Punishments which are often inflicted by the civil Powers all which natural Punishments Mr. H. himself acknowledges to be ordained by God § 28. That where these Punishments fail in this Life they will be supplied by others infinitely more grievous and durable in that to come § 29. A brief recapitulation of this Chapter that this Proposition of our Endeavouring the common good c. is truly a Law as containing all the Conditions requisite thereunto § 30. The Contents of the Fourth Chapter A Brief repetition of what hath been said in the first Chapter That no man can have a right to preserve his own Life but as it conduces to the common good c. That in all Societies the good of the lesser part must give place and be subordinate to that of the greater § 1. That a due consideration of this Law will lead us to a
glad if any of Mr. H's Disciples could shew us any sufficient Reason for that Opinion § 17. So that these things which I have now laid down concerning the Natural means of Men's happiness do appear so evident from our common Reason and daily Experience that they are of like certainty with the Principles of Arithmetick and Geometry in all whose Operations there are still supposed certain Acts depending upon our free humane Faculties and yet neither of these Sciences are rendred the more uncertain from the supposition of Men's Free-will whether they will draw Lines or cast up Sums or not since it suffices for their truth and certainty that there is an inseparable Connexion between such Acts which are supposed to be in our Power to exert and all the effects sought for To the finding of which both the pleasure annexed to their Contemplation and the various uses of Humane Life do at once invite us And in the like manner the truth of all Moral Knowledge is founded in the Immutable Coherence between the highest Felicity which Humane Power can attain to with those Acts of universal Benevolence that is of Love towards God and Men and which exerts it self in all the particular moral Vertues yet in the mean time these two things are still supposed That Men desire and seek the highest Felicity they are capable of and also That they are able to exercise this Benevolence not only towards themselves but God and Men as partakers with them of the same Rational or Intelligent Nature This I have thought fit to add to prevent all those Cavils which Mr. H's Disciples are used to make against Morality from the necessity of our Wills § 18. But before I proceed farther to inquire into the Nature of things I desire you to remember what I have already hinted in the Introduction to this Discourse That this truth concerning the efficacy of Universal Benevolence for the Preservation and Happiness of Rational Beings as also all other Propositions alike evident and contained under it do all proceed from God as the first Cause and Ordainer of all things and consequently of our Humane Understanding and of all truths therein contained And since these Rules drawn from the Natures of things tend to the procuring God's End and Design viz. The Preservation and Happiness of Mankind and also that it hath pleased Him to annex certain natural Rewards to the Observation of these Dictates of Reason and Punishments to their Transgression so that they thereby becoming apt and sufficient for the due ordering of our Thoughts and governing our Actions towards God our selves and all others as I shall farther make out in this Discourse I see nothing wanting to give it the Essence and Vigour of a Law And I shall farther shew before I have done that under this general Rule of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings or Universal Benevolence is contained Piety towards God and the highest Good-will or Charity towards Men and is the Summ both of the Moral Law of Moses and of the Gospel of our Saviour Iesus Christ. § 19. These Things being thus proposed in general I come now more particularly to shew that a due Observation and Knowledge of these natural Things without us will truly and clearly teach us what Operations or Motions of them are good or evil for all other Men as well as our selves and also shew us how necessarily and unalterably all these Things are produced for Natural Knowledge searches into the true Causes of that Generation and Corruption which daily happens to all Natural Bodies and especially to Men and so can demonstrate the necessary coherence of these Effects with their Causes and therefore those Causes that help to generate or preserve Men and that make them live happily in this Life are Natural Goods as the Causes of their Misery and Dissolution are Natural Evils And it then as plainly follows That by this Knowledge we can as certainly demonstrate and foretell what Things are naturally Good or Evil for all Mankind as for any single Person § 20. Therefore we may truly conclude That the Knowledge of all these Effects which either Nature or Humane Industry can produce for Men's Food Clothing Habitation and Medicine is part of this Natural Knowledge To which we may also add the understanding of all other Humane Operations and of the Effects proceeding from thence for the Uses of Humane Life For although the voluntary Actions of Men as they exert themselves towards Things without them do not work exactly after the same manner as meer Mechanick Motions viz. from the Pulsion or Motion of other Bodies but either from their Reasons or Wills yet since all the outward Motions we exert receive their Measure and Force from the Natural Powers of Humane Bodies which are of the same Nature with others and so must perform their Natural Functions as they are regulated by the necessary Laws of Matter and Motion much after the same manner as other Natural Motions it is evident that these voluntary Actions whenever they are thus exerted are regulated by the same Natural Laws And it is commonly known how much Men's Industry by the various Motions of their Bodies which a Philosopher can easily resolve into mechanick ones does contribute to their own and other Men's Preservation by providing and administring Victuals Cloths Physick Houses c. In performing which Effects Men's Strength and Skill in Husbandry Building Navigation and other manual Trades are chiefly employ'd Nor are the Liberal Arts absolutely free from these Laws of Motion since by the help of certain sensible Signs and articulate Notes or Marks as Words Letters or Cyphers the Minds of Men come to be endued with Knowledge and directed in most of their Civil and Moral Duties I have only thought fit to hint thus much concerning Humane Actions considered as meer Natural Things existing without us but I shall treat more fully of them in the next Chapter when I come to treat of the Nature of Man considered as a voluntary Agent § 21. Hence it plainly appears That all these Natural Things and the mutual Helps by which they are procured may be certainly known and foreseen by us to be naturally and unalterably Good that is tending to the Preservation and Happiness of Mankind And for the same Reason all those contrary Causes or Motions by which Men's Bodies are weakened or destroyed by lessening or taking away the Necessaries and Conveniences of Life such as Food Rayment Liberty Quiet c. And also those Actions by which Vertue and Knowledge may be rooted out of Men's Minds and Errours and unbridled Passions destructive to the Common Good of Mankind introduced into their Rooms are necessarily and in their own Nature Evil. Therefore when we determine of Natural Goods or Evils according to the Law of Nature we are not only to consider the Preservation of a few particular Persons since the Punishment nay Death of these may often conduce to the Common Good
Occupancy or Possession since it is evident That this more exact Property or Dominion consisting in a stricter and more limitted use of these Things hath a greater efficacy in order to the Happiness and Preservation of that Nation or part of Mankind which have thus agreed to it than the bare Occupancy or Possession of these Things had before such a Division made or agreed upon nor can it now be altered however perhaps hard and unequal it may prove to some particular Persons since it will always conduce to the Happiness and Tranquility of each particular Civil Society or Commonweal that it should continue as it doth than it should be still altered according to every Man 's particular Fancy or Interest since such a Change can never be made without inconceivable Discontents and Civil Dissentions which would quickly end in open Violence and Hostility § 30. So that from these Principles here laid down there is no Right conferred upon any Man of doing whatever his own wild Fancy or unbounded Appetite may prompt him to but only what he shall according to right Reason truly judge necessary to his own or Family's Happiness and Preservation in order to the Common Good of Mankind Therefore I here desire you to take notice that whatever Right we enjoy even to the things most necessary for our Preservation it is founded if not in the Precept yet at least permission of this great Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings when we truly judge according to the Nature of things concerning the means necessary and conducing to this great End so that it can never be proved that any one hath a right of Preserving himself unless it be first made out how this Right of Self-preservation conduces to or at least consists with this Common Good Since no Rational Man can ever believe that God intended the Preservation much less the Sensual Pleasures of any one Man as the Sole End of His Creation Which Principle being once established as the Foundation and Original of all the Natural or Civil Rights we enjoy our own natural Powers and Rights will appear so limitted thereby that we cannot without injury and injustice violate or invade the Rights of others much less break out into open War against them without just Cause nay all those Arguments by which any one Man can assume a Right to Preserve himself by the Law of Nature will likewise be of the same force to prove that he ought to Preserve others also and that it can never become lawful for us in any State to rob Innocent Persons of what is necessary for their Well-being and Preservation but rather on the contrary that all Men's natural Rights should be secured from the mischiefs of unreasonable Violence and War and Contention which natural Security in a Civil State or Commonweal is highly improved and encreased by the Assistance of Humane Skill and Industry according to the established Laws of Property or Dominion § 31. I have spoken thus much concerning the necessary Connexion between the particular Actions above mentioned and the Common Good of Mankind that by considering their relation to this Great End the Nature of all Humane Actions may more certainly be known and predetermined Since the Dependance of natural Effects on their Causes are absolutely necessary and immutable for as well in the state of Nature or Community as of Civil Society or separate Property those Humane Actions which cause or procure that the minds of all other Persons should not be prejudiced by Errors Lyes or Perfidiousness nor their Bodies hurt nor their Lives Goods Fames and Chastities violated or taken away and also by which a grateful return is rendred to those that have done us good or in short all those Actions by which the true happiness of any one Man or more is procured without injury to others as they always were so they ever will be the certain Causes of the Common Good and Happiness of Mankind and are therefore distinguished by the Titles of moral Vertues as I shall more at large demonstrate in this Discourse when I come to shew how all moral Vertues are derived from and at last resolved into this Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings But least the variousness of the Observations treated of in this Chapter and their Independance upon each other should render them perplext and consequently unconvincing to Common Readers who may not be able to carry so long a train of consequences in their minds I shall contract what hath been now said into these few plain Propositions 1. That though all particular men are mortal and but of a short duration yet that God hath still preserved mankind without any sensible failure or decay 2. That in Order to this God hath made man to be propagated by Generation and also to be preserved by divers outward means which we call necessaries of Life 3. That these Natural means can no way answer this End but as they are allowed or appropriated to the uses and occasions of particular Persons during the time they stand in need of them and so cannot at the same time answer the different or contrary desires and necessities of divers men endeavouring to use these things after contrary or different manner 4. That the taking away those necessaries of Life which another is rightly possessed of doth not only cause the ruine and destruction of that Person and his Family who were thus possessed of them but by causing a perpetual strife among Mankind will render these things uncapable of being made use of at all for their Common Good and Preservation 5. That such a Strife if prosecuted to the utmost will certainly end in the destruction not only of particular Persons and Nations but of all mankind contrary to God's design 6. From all which we may Rationally collect that God designs the Preservation and Happiness of Mankind as also of all Individual Persons as parts of it as far as their frail and mortal Natures will permit and in subordination to the good of the whole body thereof 7. That therefore there are no surer means to procure this great End of the Common Good of Mankind than an Universal Benevolence towards Rational Beings consisting First in Divine Love or Piety towards God and in Respect of Men not only in permitting each other quietly to enjoy all the necessaries of Life but also in making a settled division of them to others so as to be appropriated to several mens uses or occasions which dictates being given us by God as a rule of all our moral Actions in the exercise of which is contained our truest Happiness as in its violation our greatest Misery is therefore truly and properly a Law and indeed the Summ of all the Laws of Nature CHAP. II. Observations and Conclusions drawn from the consideration of Humane Nature and Right Reason as also from the Nature of God § 1. HAving in the former Chapter drawn such easie
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
Example than Nature I desire them to shew me any Nation in the World so barbarous that doth not go upon two Legs as well as we And though Children 't is true before they can go must crawl yet it is not upon their Hands and Feet but Knees For a Man's Legs as is notorious to Anatomists are so much longer than his Arms and are likewise so set on that they cannot be brought to move in Right-Angles with the Arms or Fore-legs as in Brutes And though I grant that some Beasts as Apes Monkeys and Bears can sometimes go upon their Hind-feet yet is not this constant but as soon as the present Necessity is over they soon return to their natural posture To conclude I think I may leave it to any indifferent Reader to judge whether from all these natural Observations from the Frame of Humane Bodies and the Nature of their Passions it doth not evidently appear That Man's Happiness and Subsistence in this Life was not designed by GOD to depend upon his own particular sensual Pleasure or the meer satisfaction of his present Appetites and Passions restrained to himself without any Consideration of others of his own Kind but was rather intended for the Common Good and Preservation of the whole Species of Mankind § 20. Having now dispatched those natural Observations that may be drawn from the Constitution or Frame of Man's Body in order to the rendring him capable of serving the Common Good in the propagation of his Species I shall proceed to the next Head before laid down viz. those Excellencies or Prerogatives of the Humane Soul or Mind and in which he excels all other Creatures And in the first place Mr. H. very well observes That it is peculiar to the Nature of Man to be inquisitive into the Causes of the Events they see and that upon the sight of any thing that hath a beginning to judge also that it had a Cause which determined the same to begin when it did And also whereas there is no other Felicity amongst Beasts but the enjoying their daily Food Ease and Lust as having little or no foresight of the time to come for want of Observation and Memory of the Order Consequence and Dependance of the Things they see Man alone observes how one Event hath been produced by another and therein remembers the Antecedence and Consequence Whence he certainly must be endued with a larger Capacity for observing the natures of Things without himself and is also able to make more curious and exact Searches into their Causes and Effects than the most sagacious Brutes who though they are endued with some few Appetites or Inclinations towards those Things that are necessary for their Preservation and an Aversion for others that are hurtful to them yet this seems to proceed from some natural instinct or impression stampt by GOD on their very Natures and not from Reason or Deliberation As young Wild-Ducks they say will run away from a Man as soon as they are hatch'd and Chickens know the Kite though they never saw her before and this not from any Experience or Rational Deduction But as for Man it is his Faculty alone to proceed from some known Principles to draw Rational Deductions or Conclusions which were not known before The exercise of which Faculty we call Right Reason or Ratiocination which though I grant is not born with him and so is not a Property belonging to him as a meer Animal since we see Children 'till they come to some Years and Fools and mad Folks act without it so long as they live yet is it not therefore Artificial as some would have it since all Persons of Years of Discretion and who will give themselves leisure to think may attain to a sufficient degree of it for the well-Government of their Actions in order to their own Preservation and the discovering that Duty they owe to GOD and the rest of Mankind Which Notions being peculiar to Man and also common to the greater part of Mankind either from Men's own particular Observations or Rational Deductions or else from the Instructions of others who themselves first found out such Rational Conclusions and taught them to their Children or Scholars with their first Elements of Speech come in process of time having forgot when those early Notions were first instill'd into them to be taken for connate Idea's So that I doubt they have been by too many who have not well considered their Original mistaken for Idea's or Notions impressed by GOD upon their Souls But leaving this of which others have said enough it cannot be denied but that from this Faculty of deducing Effects from their Causes Man hath been always able to find out sufficient Remedies for his own natural Weakness by the Invention of several Arts such as Physick and Chyrurgery for his Preservation and Cure when sick or hurt And also those of a more publick Nature such are the Knowledge of Policies or the well-Government of Common-weals of Navigation Warfare or the Art Military for his Happiness and defence as a Sociable Creature So that though Man is born naked and without those natural defences and Weapons with which divers Brutes are furnished by Nature yet by the power of this Faculty he is able not only much better to secure himself from the violence and injury of the Weather by providing himself with Cloths Houses and Victuals before-hand since Nature hath not made him to live like Beasts upon those Fruits of the Earth which it spontaneously produces but can also tame subdue and kill the strongest fiercest and cunningest Brutes and make them subservient to those Ends and Designs for which he pleases to employ them So likewise from this Faculty of Judging of Consequences from their Antecedents and foreseeing the Probability or Improbability of future Events he thereby distinguishes between real and apparent Goods that is between such Things that may please for the present and do afterwards hurt him and those which though they may seem displeasing for a time yet may after do him a greater Benefit which Principles since they contain Foundations of all Morality and the Laws of Nature which we now treat of it will not be amiss here particularly to set down as the Grounds of what I have to say on this Subject § 21. First It hath been already proved That every Animal is endued with a Natural Principle whereby it is necessarily inclined to promote his own Preservation and Well-being yet not excluding that of others of their own Kind that therefore which most conduces to this end is called a natural Good and on the contrary that which is apt to obstruct and hinder it is evil Among which Goods and Evils there are several kinds or degrees according as Things are endued with more or less fitness or power to promote or hinder this End All which may be reduced to these plain Maxims or Propositions as I have taken them out of Dr. Moor's Enchiridion
besides himself and that he doth truly observe the Laws of Nature towards himself by a temperate and a rational Life As also towards his Neighbour by observing that great Rule of doing as he would be done by in all cases towards others I say such a man tho' never so simple and ignorant in other things doth really contribute his share of endeavour towards procuring the common good And tho' he may not distinctly know all the true reasons and grounds of his own Actions yet if he thus lead his Life and observe all these Rules tending to this End I doubt not but that he will meet with all those Rewards intended by God for Vertuous Actions provided he have never heard of or at least wilfully refused the more perfect Law of the Gospel delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ when duly proposed to him Thus a Countrey Carpenter may deserve sufficient Wages and Commendation if he can build a House and honestly perform his Work according to those few practical Rules he hath learnt tho' he doth not understand all the Principles of Geometry or Architecture according to which all that he hath wrought may easily be demonstrated to him if he will but take the pains to understand them § 6. There is another Objection which this sort of men may make against our Method of finding out and demonstrating this great Law of Nature in that I make every man's obligation to endeavour it to arise from its being good or evil to himself alone whereby it may seem as if we supposed the honour of God and the common good of mankind were to be postponed and made subservient to the happiness of any particular person To satisfie which Scruple I do in the first place affirm that we do not intend any such thing since we have all along endeavoured to establish the quite contrary Doctrine For I assert that no man hath any Right properly so called to his own Life or Being but in order and as it conduces to the honour and service of God and the common good of mankind I shall therefore now more distinctly declare how these tho' some may think them contrary to each other do very well consist In the first place therefore I desire you to take notice that our Natural Obligation to this Law is not discovered by us in the same order and method as it is constituted by God in the nature of Things for our weak finite Understandings when acting without the assistance of Divine Revelation do slowly enough at first attain to the knowledge of Individual or Single Things and thence taking rise from such common effects as are most obvious to our Senses proceed to their more obstruse Causes until at length discovering one Infinite Being called God to be the first Cause and Creator of all things We from thence collect not only what is his Nature but also what is his Will whereby we do not only find that he is the best and most perfect Being But that as such he willeth and procures the good and preservation not of some few Singulars alone but of the whole Species of Mankind And lastly that he would have us men cooperate as subordinate tho free Agents to this End as the greatest and worthiest we can undertake Which tho' it be the last thing we come to the knowledge of yet is that which is first and chiefly intended by God as the principal object of our Knowledge and the main End of all our Moral Actions So that it seems evident this knowledge of our selves and of things thus learnt from experience and observation was intended by God only to serve as steps to raise us to that larger knowledge and nobler desire of pursuing the common good of Rationals as the sum of all our Moral Duties And that our Wills and Affections towards this end are not to be regulated or directed in the same order by which this common good comes to be discovered i. e. with a respect to our selves alone but from a true judgment concerning the measures of that natural good and perfection therein contained So that tho' we are at first indeed excited to the procuring our own happiness as the prime and most natural motive of all our Actions yet we come at last upon better consideration to discover that this happiness of ours is contained in our endeavours of the Common good of Rational Beings and is inseparable from it as the conservation of any of our particular Members is contained in the health and preservation of the whole Body § 7. And this Proposition that every single man's good is contained in the common-good proves indeed that the sanction of this general Law is by rewards and punishments to Every single man But that Every is not to be restrained to my self or any one man alone but extends alike to each other man or all men Since it is evident that these words Every man collectively taken amount to all men as every part collectively taken signifies the whole And tho' the main end intended by God the Legislator from such Rewards and Punishments are obedience to his Laws and the preservation of Mankind as his Subjects which are indeed of much greater value to him than the happiness of any one single person Yet will it not detract from the perfection or sincerity of this obedience if from the consideration of a man 's own particular happiness or misery he thereby comes to consider and understand that God hath commanded him to pursue an higher and nobler end than that alone yet to which his own happiness or misery are inseparably connected § 8. I come in the last place to these objections that may be made by men of quite contrary Principles and who will not acknowledge that we either can or ought to propose this common good as the Sum of all the Laws of Nature and the main end of all our Moral Actions Their first objection may be this That it seems not suitable to God's Infinite Goodness and Power and Wisdom in the Government of Mankind if he did really intend its good and happiness as we here suppose to permit so great a Design to be so often disturbed if not quite frustrated in divers parts of the World by the various Passions and unreasonable Appetites of so many violent wicked and unjust men which if Mankind is well considered do make up the greatest part of this Aggregate Body In answer to this objection I might tell those that make it that the true original of that depraved State of Mankind and from which all that Disorder which we now find in Humane Nature is derived was the Fall of Adam the first Father of Mankind who thereby conveyed a weakness of Reason and that prevailing Power which we feel in our sensual Appetites and Passions to all his Posterity whereby man is become very prone to Evil and too apt to transgress the Laws of Nature But I shall not insist upon this because the
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
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
§ 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
aforegoing be observed So that we are taught from the real Natures of things as well as that of Inanimate Bodies after what manner and to what Degree we ought to pursue our own particular Happiness that is only as it conduces to and is included in that of the Common Good of Rational Agents So we are hence also instructed what Actions are prescribed or forbid by the Laws of Nature since such Actions only are thereby commended as promote this great End and the contrary Actions forbidden which disturb or hinder it which is also supposed by all Princes and States in their Deliberations and Treaties of Peace it being that in which they all agree as contributing to their Common Safety and Preservation viz. That the Powers of all the several states concerned should be so justly moderated and equally balanced that none may destroy or oppress each other Thus between neighbouring Nations not Subject to the same Common Power it is chiefly provided in all their Leagues and Treaties that the Forces of each particular Common-wealth should be so equally balanced by the Assistance and Support of their Consederates and Allies that it should be impossible for any one of them to swallow up or destroy another but that there should be still left to each of them Power and means sufficient to preserve themselves and their Subjects in Peace and Safety as being the main ends for which they were at first ordained by God and Instituted by Men. § 7. And as it is proper to all Natural Bodies that whilst they persevere in their own motion there is likewise a necessity they should also contribute and be subservient to the motions of innumerable other Bodies from the general Laws of motion for the Conservation of the Universe and which Rule being also found true in Animals it seems to admonish us not only as meer Animals but rational Agents that we contribute our particular endeavours towards the general Good or Preservation of all those of their own Kind since it is not only a possible effect but also such a one as depending upon Causes so perfect and certain we may with reason believe that it will endure to the end of the World But if we farther add to these Observations those things that distinguish Animate from Inanimate Bodies they will yet more strongly convince us and make us see more sufficient reasons wherefore not so much concerning our selves with other Corporeal Beings we should be chiefly sollicitous in giving our assistance to those of our own Kind First then the Nature of Animate is distinguished from that of Inanimate Bodies by such a fit disposition of parts and an apt conformation of their Natural Organs as suffices for their Generation Sensation Imagination Affections Nourishment and also all spontaneous motions And it is by these Actions that all sorts of Animals endeavour their Conservation and Happiness for the time that is appointed them and thereby procure the Preservation of the whole Species § 8. But I shall not dwell too long upon these common obvious things which are so evident in themselves but shall from hence deduce something more material to our purpose viz. that from the same intrinseck Constitution of all Animals whereby they are determined to this Endeavour of Preserving themselves there are besides given manifest Declarations that Loving and Benevolent Actions towards those of their own Kind are also necessary for their own defence and constitute the happiest State of Life they can enjoy And likewise that it is farther ordained from the same concourse of External and Internal Causes that all Rational Agents cannot but be sensible or mindful of these Indications The first of these Conclusions contains the Sense and Sanction of the Law of Nature as the latter regards its Promulgation or the manner whereby it comes to be made known to us I shall explain each of them in their order § 9. It is therefore first to be observed That the corporeal Bulk even of the largest Animals is contained within a small and narrow compass as also that the space of Time wherein they can live or be preserved is not long From whence it follows That but a few Things and a small quantity of them are really necessary for their Nourishment and Preservation or where there is need of a Concurrence of more of them they are only such as may be freely communicated to many at once whence they are naturally led to desire but a few particular Things but daily stand in need of divers others in common whose use may yet be well communicated to many at once without exhausting their store such as are the free Enjoyment of Air Light Fire Water c. And farther if we consider the Structure of their Bodies we may observe That the same superficies of the Skin which hinders the effusion governs also the Circulation of the Blood and does at the same time fix bounds to those Appetites and Necessities by which they are urged to seek their own Preservation So that those few Things that suffice to repair the vital Flame which daily consumes are likewise sufficient not only for the Conservation of their life and natural strength but also for inabling them to contribute their Help and Assistance to others of the same kind And lastly the Structure and Capacity of the Vessels in which their Aliment is digested and of those that convey the Chyle as also of the Veins and Arteries that receive it being but narrow require but a small quantity to fill them So that I think no Brute can be guilty of Mr. H's Errour of judging or desiring all Things whatever as necessary for its own Preservation since from the intrinseck and constituent Parts of all Animals it plainly appears That but a few Things suffice to allay their Hunger and Thirst and to prevent the Injuries of the Weather And if so few Things are necessary for their Happiness and Preservation they may very well leave the rest of those Products which the Earth so plentifully brings forth to be enjoyed by others of their own kind since the finite quantity of their Bodies limitting their Appetites to the desiring and their Powers only to the using a few necessary Things From this Use and Necessity there arises a natural Division or Appropriation of Things amongst divers Animals of the same kind as I shewed before in the last Chapter The allowance or permission of which Distribution is the Foundation of all that mutual Concord and Benevolence amongst them and which their Nature requires for their Preservation So that if this innate Love or Desire of Self-preservation in Animals be limited after the manner we have now described this once satisfied there can be no Reason why they should withstand or obstruct the Conservation of others of the same kind either by hindring their Enjoyment of those Things which they themselves do not need or in refusing to lend them their Help and Assistance when there is occasion and that it
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
Mercy to those of a different Religion from themselves our Saviour teacheth them by that excellent Parable of the Traveller that fell amongst Thieves and was taken up and cured by the merciful Samaritan when the ill-natured Priest and Levite had passed him by saying to the Lawyer who had ask'd Who is my Neighbour Go thy ways and do thou likewise By which he plainly intimates That we ought to do all Acts of Charity and Benevolence to all persons that stand in need of them let their Nation or Religion be never so different from our own So that whosoever will but seriously consider the great end of our Saviour Christ's coming into the World and also the whole scope and design of his Doctrine will find that it was only to procure as well by his Example as Precepts the good and happiness of all Mankind For to what end else did he take upon him the Form of a Servant and endured a poor and miserable life with an ignominious Death but to procure everlasting happiness for all those that should truly believe in him Or to what other end were all those excellent Precepts so often given by Christ and his Apostles of loving one another And therefore St. Paul tells the Romans Chap. 13. v. 8. that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law And more fully in the last Chapter to the Galatians v. 14. For the Law is fulfilled in this one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self And in his First Epistle to the Corinthians Cap. 13. he is very large and particular in setting forth the necessity and exalting the excellency of Charity above all the other Spiritual Graces without which he tells them If he had Faith so as to remove Mountains yet if he had not Charity he were nothing Now what is this Charity but an unfeigned love and good-will to all Mankind Ch. 2.17 And St. Iames tells us That Faith without Works is dead being alone And St. Iohn in his First Epistle makes the love of our Brethren that is of all men the great sign and demonstration of our love to God when he tells them that if a man says I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment we have from him That he who loveth God love his Brother also So that whoever will but consider what hath here been said cannot but acknowledge that this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the most intense love towards God and the most diffusive Charity towards Men doth not only far exceed all the Precepts of Philosophers but also the Revealed Law of Moses it self Now what can be the design of all these excellent Precepts but by all the Commands and Perswasions imaginable and by all the Promises of the most glorious Rewards and Threatnings of the most terrible and lasting Punishments to advance the Glory of God and to procure the Welfare and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind § 19. To conclude Though I suppose the Law of Nature if duly observed where it hath pleased God to give men no other knowledge or discovery of his Will may yet give them a rational share of happiness not only in this Life but in that to come yet I hope no indifferent or rational Man but upon due consideration of the lapsed and depraved state of Humane Nature and how prone it is to be carried away by exorbitant Lusts and Passions contrary to the Dictates of right Reason and his own Conscience but must also acknowledge that it was a great demonstration of God's Goodness and Mercy to give us the most Glorious Light of his Gospel and to send his Blessed Son not only to instruct us but also to die for us Which great Mystery that in God's due time and according to his Promise may be speedily revealed to all Mankind we ought daily to make it our hearty Prayers to his Divine Majesty That every Heart may know and every Tongue confess That Iesus is both Lord and Christ who hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel The End of the First Part. THE HEADS OF THE SECOND PART BEING A Confutation of Mr. H's Principles THE Introduction Containing the Reasons why we have put these Answers to Mr. H's Principles into this Method Sect. 1. The Heads of the First Principle That Man is not a Creature born apt for Society His Reasons for it That a Man is not a Sociable Creature by Nature but Accident for otherwise we should love all men alike All Society proceeds from Self-interest this resolved into mutual Fear or else desire of Glory and Dominion over others Sect. 2. 1. Answer That these words born unapt for Society are equivocal since who doth not know how unapt Children and Fools are to understand the force of Compacts Mr. H. takes his whole measure of Humane Nature from those Passions that precede the use of Reason and Experience which are also natural as he himself confesses in another place Sect. 3. That is natural which every man when of years of Discretion either doth or may attain to Sect. 4. Answer to his 2d Argument concerning Interest Society though desired for a man 's own good or Interest doth not make it for all that less natural Sect. 5. Answer to his Argument from Fear not the cause of Natural but of Civil Society which we are not now treating of Sect. 6. Answer to his Instances from the Company he had kept which being some witty ill-natured men no standard can be taken from thence of the nature of all men Sect. 7. Answer to his Argument concerning Dominion No Man able by his own single Power to force all the rest of Mankind to submit to his Will Sect. 8. Mr. H. himself doth not deny but that men cannot subsist or live without Society though to evade this he consounds Natural with Civil Society the absurdity of which is exposed by shewing it to be besides the Question Sect. 9. The Heads of the Second Principle That all men are by nature equal His Argument proved from Mens mutual will and power of hurting each other and chiefly from the power which all men even the most weak have of taking away each others lives Sect. 1. Answer This equality though granted doth not prove that all men are by nature equal as to all things Sect. 2. The Heads of the Third Principle That there is a mutual will or desire in all men of hurting each other His Argument proposed That tho some men according to a natural Equality will allow to other men the same things as to themselves yet that the major part of men are not so modest but will arrogate to themselves honour above others or else will assault other mens Goods or Persons out of a false esteem of their own Power from thence arises a necessity of others defending
above-cited He there in the first place supposes that Man is not a Sociable Creature because it could not be otherwise in Nature but only by accident for if Man loved Man naturally there could be no reason given why every one should not love every one alike as being alike Man or why he should rather frequent those in whose Society Honour and Profit is conferred rather on himself than others Therefore we do not by nature seek Companions but to be either honoured or profited by them These in the first place but those in the second And this he thinks he hath sufficiently proved by shewing us for what end men herd together and what they do when they are met for if they come together for Commerce-sake every one minds not his Companion 's but his own Interest If for Publick Affairs there arises a certain Court-friendship having more of mutual fear than love from whence often Faction but never Good-will is produced If for the sake of Mirth and Pleasure every one is wont to please himself in those things which raise laughter from whence he may as it is the nature of what is ridiculous by the comparison of another's weakness or infirmity become more acceptable to himself And he there proceeds to shew from several Observations he had made in the Companies he had kept That all men that converse together either for the sake or the instruction of others do only seek Company for their own profit or glory and not the good of others that is for the love of himself not of his Companions And therefore since Man can never seek Civil Society only out of a desire of glory and although the Profits and Conveniences of life may be encreased by mens mutual assistance yet since that may be much better procured by a dominion over others than by their Society no body can doubt but that men are more vehemently carried by their Nature when fear is removed to dominion than Society therefore it is to be laid down for a Principle That the original of all great and lasting Societies did not proceed from the mutual Benevolence of Men but their mutual Fear And by Fear as he tells us in the Annotation to this Paragraph he doth not mean only to be frightned but under that word Fear he comprehends any prospect of a future Evil as to distrust suspect beware and to provide that they may not fear to be also the part of those who are afraid § 2. Having given you the Author's Sense and in great part his own words I shall now proceed to make some Observations upon them and in the first place must observe That the main strength of his Arguments consists in the ill or false use of these words unapt for Society For if he only understands by them that Men are born actually unapt for Civil Society because they are Infants or else unexperienced of the Evils proceeding from the Wants thereof this is indeed a great discovery and worthy a Philosopher that Children or People without experience are not able to understand the meaning or force of Compacts or are unable immediately to enter into a Civil State Nor is his Reason any better That though Infants and persons of full Age though unexperienced partake of Human Nature yet being thus unapt for Society Man is not made fit for it by Nature but Discipline § 3. From whence I observe That he only takes the measure of Humane Nature from those Passions which precede the use of Reason Experience and Discipline And as they first and chiefly shew themselves in Children and Fools or persons unexperienced Whereas according to the Opinion of the best Philosophers we suppose the truer nature of Man ought rather to be taken from his utmost Perfection viz. his Reason or the power of deducing Effects from their Causes by which alone he is distinguished from Brutes And so the Will may incline us to those things which Reason shall judge most fit and convenient for our Natures And therefore Mr. H. doth very absurdly to oppose Experience and Discipline to Nature since whatever men learn by either of these they must still attain to it by the force of their Rational Natures and those Faculties of Reason and Speech which Brutes are not capable of And therefore the nature of a Creature is best judged of from the utmost Perfection it attains to As the Nature of a Plant is not to be taken from its first appearance or as soon as ever it peeps out of the Earth but from its utmost state of perfection when it comes to bear Flowers Seed or Fruit. And even that Experience to which Mr. H. attributes all our Reason he himself grants to be a natural and not acquired Power See his Leviathan Chap. 8. where treating of Intellectual Vertues he hath these Words The Intellectual Vertues are of two sorts Natural and acquired By Natural I mean not that which a man hath from his Birth for that is nothing else but sense wherein men differ so little from one another and from brute Beasts as it is not to be reckoned amongst the Virtues But I mean that Wit which is gotten by use only and experience without method culture or Instruction § 4. To conclude this Head I desire those Gentlemen of his Opinion to take notice That all Philosophers and Writers of Politicks as well as Mr. H. were not ignorant how unfit Infants and Grown Persons without experience or labouring under any unruly Passion were to enter into Leagues or Compacts or to perform any of the Duties of a Civil Society But yet for all that they supposed man to be born for those ends which by the force of his Rational Nature he may at last attain to unless something preternatural such as are those disorderly Passions or Diseases of the Mind intervene And Iuvenal's Saying is as old as true Non aliud Natura aliud Sapientia dictat And sure it is a childish Inference and favours more of Sophistry than true Philosophy to say Men are born Infants and therefore unapt for Civil Society Since any Country Fellow could have taught him better who thinks his Son born apt to be a Plough-man or a Grasier though he knows he will not be able to hold the Plough until he is twelve or thirteen years of age Nor yet to understand Grazing until he is able to ride and go to Market § 5. But let us now more particularly examine the Reasons this Author there gives us why Man is a Creature naturally unapt for Society which he will have to be only by accident Because if one man loved another naturally as man there could be no reason why every man should not love every man alike or wherefore he should rather frequent those in whose company he is most likely to get Honour and Profit Therefore we do not naturally seek Companions i. e. for their own sakes but either to gain Honour or Prosit by them These in the first place
of the Heathen Philosophers above all other knowledge whether Natural or Civil and that deservedly as well in respect of its usefulness as certainty since it was to that alone as most agreeable to the Natural Faculties of Mankind that Men before they were assisted by Divine Revelation owed the Discovery of their Natural Duties to God themselves and all others as Cicero hath shewn us at large in those three excellent Treatises De Officiis De Finibus and De Legibus And tho' I grant we Christians have now clearer and higher Discoveries of all Moral Duties by the Light of the Gospel yet is the Knowledge of Natural Religion or the Laws of Nature still of great use to us as well for the confirmation as illustration of all those Duties since by their Knowledge and the true Principles on which they are founded we may be convinced that God requires nothing from us in all the practical Duties of revealed Religion but our reasonable Service that is what is really our own interest and concerns our good and happiness to observe as the best and most perfect Rule of Life whether God had ever farther enforced them or not by any revealed Law And tho' I do not deny that our Saviour Jesus Christ hath highly advanced and improved these Natural Laws by more excellent and refined Precepts of Humility Charity and Self-denial than were discovered before by the wisest of the Heathen Philosophers especially as to the greater assurance we have of that grand Motive to Religion and Vertue the immortality of the Soul or a Life either eternally happy or miserable when this is ended Yet certainly it was this Law of Nature or Reason alone by which Mankind was not only to live but also to be judged before the Law given to Moses and it must be for not living up to this Natural Light that the Heathens shall be condemned who never yet heard of Christ or of a revealed Religion and so cannot as St. Paul expresly declares to the Romans believe on him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.14 And therefore the same Apostle in the first Chapter of the same Epistle appeals to the knowledge of God from the things that are seen that is the Creation of the World as the foundation of all Natural Religion and their falling notwithstanding this knowledge into that gross Idolatry they professed as the only reason why God gave them up to their own hearts lusts because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned v 21. And so likewise in the second Chapter the Apostle farther tells them that when the Gentiles who have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves shewing the work of the Law written in their hearts that is the Law of Nature or Reason as the main substance or effect of the Mosaical Law And that it is by this Law alone that they shall be judged mark what immediately follows Their consciences bearing witness and their own thoughts or reasonings as it is rather to be rendred in the mean while accusing or excusing each other And indeed the Apostle supposes the Knowledge of God as a Rewarder of Good Works as the foundation of all Natural as well as revealed Religion and the first Principle of saving Faith as appears in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11. v. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that comes unto God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him But I need speak no more of Natural Religion and how necessary it is to the true Knowledge of the Revealed since the Reverend and learned Dr. Wilkins Late Bishop of Chester hath so well perform'd that Noble Vndertaking in that excellent Posthumous Treatise published by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to which nothing needs to be added by so mean a Pen as mine But since the Laws of Nature as derived from God the Legislator are the foundation of all Moral Philosophy and true Politicks as being those which are appealed to in all Controversies between Civil Soveraigns and also are the main Rules of those mutual Duties between Soveraigns and their Subjects It is worth while to enquire how these Laws may be discovered to proceed from God as a Legislator Now whereas this can only be done by one of these two ways viz. Either from the certain and manifest Effects and Consequences that proceed from their observation Or 2dly From the Causes from which they are derived The former of these hath been already largely treated of by others especially by the most learned Hugo Grotius in his admirable Work De Jure Belli Pacis And by his Brother William in that small Posthumous Treatise De Principiis Juris Naturalis And by the Iudicious Monsieur Puffendorf in his learned Treatise De Jure Naturae Gentium As also by our own Countryman Dr. Sharrock Who have all undertaken to prove their certainty from their general belief and reception by the wisest and most civilized Nations in all Ages To which we may also add the learned Mr. Selden in that most elaborate Work De Jure Gentium juxta placita Hebraeorum And as I do acknowledge that those Great Men have all deserved very well in their way so I think none deserves greater commendation than that excellent Work of Grotius the Elder which as it was the first in its kind so it is worthy of enduring as long as Vertue and Iustice shall be in esteem among Mankind And tho' the Objections which are wont to be brought against this Method of proving the Laws of Nature are not of so great moment as to render it altogether fallacious or useless as some would have it to be yet I freely acknowledge they can chiefly serve to convince Men of sincere and honest minds and who are naturally disposed to Vertue and right Reason So that I conceive it were more useful as well as certain to seek for a firmer and clearer Demonstration thereof from a strict search and inquisition into the Nature of things and also of our own selves by which I doubt not but we may attain not only to a true Knowledge of the Laws of Nature but also of that true Principle on which they are founded and from whence they are all derived But it will not consist with the narrow bounds of a Preface to propose and answer all the Objections that may be made against their Method of proving the Law of Nature from the Consent of Nations neither perhaps can it be done at all to the universal satisfaction even of indifferent persons since it may be still urged by those that do not admit them that altho' some Dictates of Right Reason may be indeed approved of by our Vnderstandings and
or Felicity of the People And sure this could have no Foundation but as the Felicity of any particular People or Nation is contained in general or the common Good and Happiness of rational Beings And tho' I grant that our Faculties are not fitted to pierce into the internal Fabrick and real Essences of Bodies as the above-mentioned Author of the Essay of humane Understanding hath very well observed Yet in the same place he also grants That the Knowledge we have of them is sufficient to discover to us the Being of a God and of a Divine Providence and that the Knowledge of our selves and the Nature of other things are sufficient to lead us into a full and clear Discovery of our Duty towards him as being the great Concernment of our Lives and that it becomes us as rational Creatures to employ our Faculties about what they are most adapted to and follow the direction of Nature where it seems to point us out the way So that it is highly reasonable to conclude that our proper Employment lies in moral rather than natural Truths And therefore the same Author hath in his Fourth Book and Third Chapter pag. 274. this Passage The Idea of a supream Being infinite in Power and Wisdom whose Workmanship we are and on whom we depend and the Idea of our selves as understanding rational Creatures being such as are clear to us these would I suppose if duly considered and pursued afford such Foundations of our Duty and rules of Action as might place Morality amongst the Sciences capable of Demonstration wherein I doubt not but from Principles as incontestable as those of the Mathematicks by necessary Consequences the measures of Right and Wrong might be made out to any one that will apply himself with the same indifferency and attention to the one as he doth to the other of these Sciences And in the Twelfth Chapter of the same Book he saith p. 325. This gave me the Confidence to advance that Conjecture which I suggested Chap. 3. viz. That Morality is capable of Demonstration as well as Mathematicks For the Idea's that Ethicks are conversant about being all real Essences and such as I imagine have a discoverable Connexion and Agreement one with another So far as we can find their Habitudes and Relations so far we shall be possessed of certain real and general Truths And I doubt not but if a right method were taken a great part of Morality might be made out with that clearness that could leave to a considering Man no more reason to doubt than he could have to doubt of the Truth of any Propositions in Mathematicks which have been demonstrated to him And I am confident our Author hath found out this only right method and made use of the fittest Demonstrations for the Proof of this Principle of the common Good of rational Beings as the Sum of all natural Laws so that I hope you will have no cause to doubt but that he hath as fully demonstrated it to be so as if he had given us so many Mathematical Demonstrations of it But since as in the Mathematicks there are required certain Principles or Postulatums which must be taken for granted before its professors are able to demonstrate any thing from them so we shall reduce all we have to say on this Subject into Six plain Postulata the Three first of which having been already made out by others both in Latin and English I shall wave the Proof of them and shall confine my self wholly to the Three last The Propositions are these 1. That there is one Infinite most powerful intelligent Being which we call God who is the Author and Creator of the Vniverse or World 2. That God as he hath created so he likewise governs and preserves this World consisting of Bodies and Spirits by certain corporeal Motions and Dictates of Reason by which Spirits act as the chief Instruments of his Providence 3. That God thereby maintains and preserves all his Creatures and farther designs the Happiness and Preservation of such of them as are sensible as far as their frail and mortal Natures will admit and that Power which God hath given to mankind over them 4. That of all Animate or sensible Creatures God hath made Man alone to be conscious of his own Existence and also that it is more particularly his Duty to act as his subservient Instrument not only for his own private Good and Happiness but also for the common Good of all rational Beings 5. That this knowledge of God's Will as our Duty is plainly discovered to us from the Being and Nature of God as also of our selves and of those things without us which he hath made necessary for our use and Preservation 6. That these Dictates or Conclusions of right reason all tending to one great End viz. the common Good of rational Beings in which our own is contained being given us by God as a Legislator for the well governing or right ordering of our Actions to this End constitute the Law of Nature as being established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this Life and in that to come TO THE BOOKSELLER THE Learned Authour of this Treatise sent it to me then being in a Private Station above a year ago but then concealed his Name from me either through his great Modesty or because in his Prudence he thought that if I knew him I might be biassed in my judgment by the Honour which I am obliged to have to his Family and especially to his Grandfather by his Mother's side the most Learned Primate of Ireland Wherefore I read the Book without any respect to the unknown Writer and considered only the Merits of the Performance Thus I found that he had not only well translated and epitomized in some places what I had written in Latin but had fully digested the chief things of my Design in a well chosen Method of his own with great Perspicuity and had added some Illustrations of his own or from other Learned Authours with a Philosophical Liberty which I must needs allow For this Reason I judged that the then unknown Authour had give too low a Title to his Book and that I was to esteem him a good Hyperaspistes or able Second in this Combat for Truth and Justice rather than a Translater or Epitomizer of what I had written This obliged me to enquire diligently after the Authour's Name and Quality and then I soon obtained the Favour and Honour of a more intimate Conversation with him Hereby I soon found that I might safely leave the Maintenance of that good Cause in which I was engaged to his great Abilities and Diligence And I hope that since this Learned Gentleman hath conquer'd the Difficulties of the Search into the Rise of the Laws of Nature now many of our younger Gentry will be encouraged to follow him in the way which this his Treatise makes plain before them For from thence they may receive assistance not
only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough The Contents of the First Chapter A Brief Repetition of the Preface That the Law of Nature can only be learnt from the Knowledge of a God and from the Nature of Things and of Mankind in general § 1. A state of the Question between us and the Epicureans and Scepticks § 2. The method proposed in what manner we are to enquire into the Nature of things and of mankind in order to prove certain general Propositions that shall carry with them the Obligation of Natural Laws § 3. The Soul supposed to be rafa Tabula without any innate Idea's Our method proposed of considering God as the Cause of the World and all Things and humane Actions as subordinate causes and effects either hindring or promoting our common Happiness and Preservation § 4. All the Laws of Nature deduceable from hence as so many practical Propositions and all our observations or knowledge of it reduceable to one Proposition of the highest Benevolence of rational Beings towards each other as the summ of all the Laws of Nature and what is meant by this Benevolence § 5. What things are necessary to be known or supposed in order to the knowledge of this universal Benevolence § 6. The Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition proved and what is to be collected from thence The true happiness of single Persons inseparable from that of Mankind The general Causes of its Happiness to be considered in the first place § 7. Therefore no Man's particular Happiness can be opposed or preferred before the Happiness of all other rational Beings The contrary practice unreasonable and unjust § 8. Yet that this Proposition cannot be of sufficient efficacy till we have proposed the Common Good of Rationals for the great End of all our Actions § 9. The Effects of this Proposition not prejudiced by the ill use of Men's Free-wills § 10 11. By what steps and degrees the Knowledge of this Common Good comes to be conveyed into our minds from the nature of things § 12. First Natural Observation that in our free use and enjoyment of all the outward Necessaries of Life and in our mutual administring them to each other consists all men's happiness and preservation from whence also proceeds a Notion of the Common Good of Rationals § 13. That Men are able to contribute more to the good and happiness of those of their own kind than any other Creatures § 14. Nothing a surer help and defence to Mankind than the most sincere and diffusive Benevolence § 15. Nor any thing more destructive to it than their constant Malice and Ill-will § 16. That these Principles are as certain as any in Arithmetick and Geometry notwithstanding the supposition of Men's free-will § 17. Yet that they are only Laws as proceeding from God the first Cause and as establish'd with fit Rewards and Punishments § 18. That from these natural and general Observations we attain to a true knowledge of the Causes of all Men's happiness and that by the Laws of Matter and Motion these Causes act as certainly as any other § 19,20 Hence arises a true notion of things naturally and unalterably good or evil § 21. That Men's natural Powers and the things necessary for life can neither be exerted nor made use of contrary to the known rules of Matter and Motion § 22. Some Conclusions deduceable from hence as that we chiefly concern our selves about those things and actions that are in our Powers § 23. No man self-sufficient to procure all things necessary for his own preservation and happiness and therefore needs the good-will and assistance of others § 24. None of these necessaries for Life can produce the Ends design'd but as they are appropriated to Man's particular uses and necessities for the time they make use of them § 25. From whence arises the Right of Occupancy or Possession which may be exercised even during a natural Community of most things § 26. That as this natural Division and Propriety in things is necessary to the preservation of particular Persons so it is also of Mankind considered as an aggregate Body § 27. That these Principles destroy Mr. H's Hypothesis of the Right of all Men to all things in the state of nature § 28. The necessity of a farther Division and Appropriation of things now Mankind is multiplyed on the Earth § 29. No Man hath a Right to any thing any farther than as it conduces or at least consists with the common good of rational Beings § 30. The knowledge of these natural Causes and Effects alike certain in a natural as civil State with a brief Recapitulation of the Grounds and Arguments insisted on in this Chapter § 31. The Contents of the Second Chapter MAN to be considered as a natural Body as an Animal and also as a rational Creature Some Observations from the first of these Considerations as that humane Bodies and Actions are subject to the same Laws of Matter and Motion with other things § 1 2. No Actions or Motions more conducive to Man's happiness than what proceed from the most diffusive Benevolence § 3. Mankind considered as a System of natural Bodies doth not make any considerable difference between them when considered as voluntary Agents endued with sense but that they rather act more powerfully thereby § 4. Men's greatest security from Evils and hopes of obtaining Good depends upon the good-will and voluntary Assistance of others § 5. Several natural Conclusions drawn from these Observations § 6. The like being found true in animate as well as inanimate Bodies will make us more sollicitous towards the general good of those of our own kind § 7. That loving or benevolent Actions towards each other constitute the happiest state we can enjoy and also it is ordained by a concourse of Causes that all rational Beings should be sensible of these Indications § 8. This proved from several natural Observations as 1. That the bulk of the Bodies of Animals being but narrow the things necessary for their preservation can be but few and most of them communicable to many at once and so requires a limited self-love consistent with the safety and happiness of others § 9. 2. That Creatures of the same kind cannot but be moved to the like affections towards others as towards themselves from the sense of the similitude of their natures § 10. Animals do never deviate from this natural state but when they are seized with some preternatural Disease or Passion which as oft as it happens are absolutely destructive to
the Gospel of Jesus Christ reducible to this one Proposition of Endeavouring the Common Good and that this was the great design of Christ's coming into the World § 17 18. A Conclusion of the whole § 19. TO THE BOOKSELLER THE Learned Authour of this Treatise sent it to me then being in a Private Station above a year ago but then concealed his Name from me either through his great Modesty or because in his Prudence he thought that if I knew him I might be biassed in my judgment by the Honour which I am obliged to have to his Family and especially to his Grandfather by his Mother's side the most Learned Primate of Ireland Wherefore I read the Book without any respect to the unknown Writer and considered only the Merits of the Performance Thus I found that he had not only well translated and epitomized in some places what I had written in Latin but had fully digested the chief things of my Design in a well-chosen Method of his own with great Perspicuity and had added some Illustrations of his own or from other Learned Authours with a Philosophical Liberty which I must needs allow For this Reason I judged that the then unknown Authour had given too low a Title to his Book and that I was to esteem him a good Hyperaspistes or able Second in this Combat for Truth and Justice rather than a Translater or Epitomizer of what I had written This obliged me to enquire diligently after the Authour's Name and Quality and then I soon obtained the Favour and Honour of a more intimate Conversation with him Hereby I soon found that I might safely leave the Maintenance of that good Cause in which I was engaged to his great Abilities and Diligence And I hope that since this Learned Gentleman hath conquer'd the Difficulties of the Search into the Rise of the Laws of Nature now many of our younger Gentry will be encouraged to follow him in the way which this his Treatise makes plain before them For from thence they may receive assistance not only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough OF THE Law of NATURE And its OBLIGATION CHAP. I. Of the first Means of discovering the Law of Nature viz. the Nature of Things § 1. HAving in the Introduction to this Discourse shewn you those several Methods by which divers Authors have endeavoured to prove a Law of Nature and having also given my Reasons tho' in short why I cannot acquiesce in any of them as laying too weak Foundations whereon to raise so great and weighty a Building and having likewise given you the only true Grounds by which it can as I suppose be made out viz. from the Existence of a GOD declaring his Will to us from the Frame of the World or by the Nature of all Things without us as also from our own Natures or that of Mankind in general we by the Power of our natural Faculties or Reasons drawing true Conclusions from all these This being premised I shall now proceed particularly to declare in the first place what I understand by the Frame of the World or Nature of Things in order to the proving the Existence and Obligation of the Law of Nature and that it is really and truly a Law obliging all Persons of Years of Discretion and sound Minds to its Observation Which being performed I shall then proceed to our own Nature as included in that of all Mankind § 2. But though the ancient as well as modern Scepticks and Epicureans have of old and do still at this day deny the Existence of any Law of Nature properly so called yet I suppose that we are both sufficiently agreed what we understand by this Term since we both thereby mean certain Principles of immutable Truth and Certainty which direct our voluntary Actions concerning the election of good and the avoiding of evil Things and so lay an Obligation as to our external Actions even in the state of Nature and out of a Civil Society or Common-weal That such eternal Truths are necessarily and unavoidably presented to and perceived by Men's Minds and retained in their Memories for the due ordering or governing of their Actions is what is here by us affirmed and by them as confidently denied And I farther conceive That the Actions so directed and chosen are first known to be naturally good as productive of the greatest publick Benefits and afterwards are called morally Good because they agree with those Dictates of Reason which are here proved to be the Laws or Rules of our Manners or voluntary Actions So also the Evil to be avoided is first the greatest natural Evil which afterwards for the like Reason is called Moral § 3. Therefore that the Existence of such Propositions may more plainly appear and be demonstrated to the Understandings of all indifferent Readers it is necessary that we first carefully consider the Nature of divers Things without us as also that of Mankind and what we mean by Good and Evil whether Natural or Moral Lastly we shall shew what those general Propositions are which we affirm carry with them the Force or Obligation of Natural Laws as declaring their Exercise or Performance necessary to the compassing of an End that ought to be endeavoured or sought after in order to our true and greatest Happiness § 4. Nor let it seem strange that I suppose the Nature of divers Things about which we are daily conversant ought first to be looked into and considered For I will here suppose the Soul or Mind of Man to be at first rasa Tabula like fair Paper that hath no connate Character or Idea's imprinted upon it as that noble Theorist Mr. Lock hath I suppose fully proved and that it is not sensible of any thing at its coming into the World but it s own Existence and Action but receives all its Idea's afterwards from such Objects as it hath received in by the Senses So that our Understandings being naturally destitute of all Notions or Idea's we cannot comprehend how they can operate unless they be first excited by outward Objects And indeed how can we understand what may be helpful and agreeable or else hurtful and destructive to Men's Minds and Bodies unless we first consider as far as we are able all the Causes as well near as remote which have made constitute and still preserve Mankind or else may tend to its destruction either for the time present or to come Nor indeed can it be understood what is the fittest and best Thing or Action any Person can perform in a
not some way or other either benefit or prejudice those things which are most dear to others also as the motion of any one Body in the System of the World Communicates it self to many others For that great Prerogative of Knowledge and Understanding with which Man is endued supplies the Contiguity required for motion in other Bodies Men being often excited to Action by certain Arbitrary signs or words by which they understand what hath been done by others in places far distant So also our Intellect apprehending a likeness of Desires and Aversions between those of the same Species with it self as to things necessary or hurtful to Life as also being able to remember other Men's Actions towards themselves or those they love are from thence excited to hope for or expect the like things from them and are also provoked to a requital when occasion is offered Such Properties being plainly Natural and constant in Humane Nature are no less efficacious to excite Men to such Actions or motions than a mutual contact between Bodies is to Communicate motion between all the parts of any Corporeal System § 5. From which Natural Observations it is plainly manifest that particular Men may hence Learn that both their greatest Security from Evil and all their hopes of obtaining any Good or Assistance from others towards making themselves Happy doth truly and necessarily depend upon voluntary Actions proceeding from the Benevolence of others who do likewise themselves stand in need of the like means for their Happiness and Safety From whence we easily perceive that these mutual Helps and Assistances of Men towards each other are highly beneficial to all of them and answer that Concourse of Natural Bodies and that Cession or giving place to each other which is so necessary for the performance of their motions So that from this necessity of these mutual helps it as necessarily follows that he who would consult his own Happiness and Preservation should procure as far as he is able the Good will and Assistance of others since he cannot but be sensible that he is able to afford and perform to others divers like Offices of kindness and so is able to conspire with the whole System of Rational Beings towards the same End viz. the Common Good of Rational Beings and that on the contrary the weak and inconsiderable forces of any one Man are not sufficient to compel so many others each of them equal if not Superiour to himself both in Wit and Power to yield him their help and assistance to their own prejudice whether they will or no which would prove as impossible as that a hundred pound weight placed in one Scale of a Balance should bear down several other hundred weights put on the opposite Scale So likewise the force and cunning of any single Person is of no sufficient Power or Force against the several Necessities Counsels and Endeavours of innumerable others towards their own and the Common Good without any consideration of his particular Happiness alone Therefore it is manifest from this natural Balance of Humane Powers that men may be more certainly induced by our Benevolence or Endeavour of the Common Good to yield us those things and assistances we stand in need of than by using force or deceit which Mr. H. supposes even the Good and Vertuous may lawfully exercise in the State of Nature as the only natural means of Self-preservation in his Imaginary State of Nature § 6. So that from these Natural Observations concerning all the means necessary to the Conservation of the Corporeal Universe and of the several sorts of Beings therein contained we may draw these conclusions 1. That all things are so disposed that not the least quantity of matter and motion can ever be lost but the same Species of Animals are still continued and are rather encreased than lessened notwithstanding all the opposition of the cruel Passions and unruly Appetites of some other Animals so that in this perpetuity of matter and motion by a continual succession of things the Natural Good or Conservation of the Corporeal Universe consists and towards which it is carried according to the immutable Laws of motion nor can there be any sufficient reason given why the Conservation of Mankind may not be looked upon as established by as certain and natural a Power of Causes as the Successive Generations of any other Creatures since they depend alike upon the lasting Nature of the Corporeal Universe and agree in all the Essentials of Animals And certainly the Addition of a Rational Soul to our Bodies does very often put us in a better Condition than that of Brutes but can never make us in a worse which will be evident to any Man that considers the benefits which accrew to our Bodies from the Government of our Reason and which do abundantly recompense some inconveniencies which may happen to them from the errours of our minds Nay it is most certain that its errours concerning Food Pleasure and other things which concern the Preservation of our Bodies proceed from the Soul 's yielding against the Admonitions of Reason to Carnal Appetites and Corporeal or Animal Passions 2. That the matter and motion of all Bodies as also of Men considered only as such do Mechanically or whether they will or no promote the motion of that of the Corporeal Universe since the motion of all particular Bodies is determined by the general motion of the whole System In short our Judgments concerning the necessary means of the Happiness of Mankind may be convinced from these Natural causes operating after the same manner and by the same Natural Laws by which the Corporeal Universe is preserved since they consist in these two Rules 1. That the endeavours of particular Persons towards their own Preservation are as plainly necessary for the Conservation of the whole Species of Mankind as the mechanick motions of particular Bodies are to the general motion of the whole Corporeal System 2. That the Powers of particular Persons by which they defend themselves against the force of others should be so equally Balanced as that like the motion of other Bodies none of them should be destroyed or lost to the Prejudice or Detriment of the whole Somewhat like which is seen in all the motions of the Corporeal System of the World which proceed from its Plenitude and the mutual Contact of Bodies and so extend themselves through the whole mass of matter but it is the proper Talent of Humane Reason and Understanding to observe that each Man 's particular Happiness does depend upon the voluntary Actions of other Rationals after a much nobler manner even when they are far distant and can therefore take care that all Humane Actions may in like manner conduce to the Common Good of Rational Agents as the motions of all Bodies do to the Conservation of the whole Corporeal System which will be truly performed if in all voluntary Actions which respect others those two Rules
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
within that Law But in Humane Laws because they may enjoyn something amiss there a Right is often left to us to chuse rather to bear the Penalty than to obey them because we are obliged rather to obey GOD than Man in case they command any Action contrary to the Divine Law whether Natural or Revealed § 8. For the further clearing of this I shall premise somewhat to explain this Word Obligation which the Civilians thus define Obligatio est vinculum Iuris quo quis astringitur debitum persolvere That is an Obligation is that Bond of Law whereby every one is obliged to pay his Debt or Due Which Definition doth well include all sorts of Obligations if by the Word Ius or Law we understand that Law whose Obligation we propose to define So that by vinculum Iuris in this Definition we understand that Bond or Tye of the Law of Nature by which every one is obliged to pay this natural Debt i. e. to perform that Duty which he owes to GOD his Creator by reason of his own Rational Nature or else to undergo those Punishments which are ordained for his Disobedience or Neglect So that there is a twofold Tye or Obligation in all Laws the one active in the Debt or Duty the other passive in a patient submission to the Punishment in case of any wilful neglect or omission thereof Of both which we shall speak in their order § 9. But you are first to take notice That none can oblige us to do or forbear any Action but such who have a right to Command us So that this Obligation proceeds from that just Right of Dominion which a superiour Power hath over us and our Actions and as far as we are subject to others we are so far under an Obligation to their lawful Commands which obliges us to a discharge of that Debt or Duty we owe them that is when we are obliged to do or forbear any Action from the Will or Command of a Supreme Power or Legislator to whom when sufficiently made known to us we are bound to yield Obedience to the utmost of our Power And herein consists the Obligation or Duty viz. in the Conformity of our Actions to a Rule such as is declared by the Will of the Legislator So that all our Obligation to the Laws of Nature is at last resolved into that absolute Dominion which GOD as he is the Great Creator and Preserver of Mankind hath over us For I cannot understand a Right especially of Dominion to be invested or seated in any Supreme Power but by virtue of something which may be called at least analogically a Law 2. That every Dictate of the Divine Wisdom concerning Matter fit to be established by a Law is such a Law And so Cicero the best Master of Language speaks towards the end of his First Book de Legibus 3. That the Eternal Wisdom of GOD contains eminently or analogically in it all that we can know to be Natural Law 4. But to know that it is Natural Law or the Dictate of true Reason concerning the fittest means to the best End or greatest Good it is necessary to this purpose That the Supreme Government of all Things and especially of Rational Creatures should be in him who is most able and willing to pursue and attain that greatest End that is it must be setled in GOD. 5. So that by this Dictate of Eternal Wisdom or of performing all Things for the best End the Soveraignty becomes his Right and our Knowledge that this Dictate of Eternal Wisdom is in him assures us That this Right is immutably fix'd and vested in him 6. Although in the method of investigating the Laws of Nature as they subsist in our Minds the first Law respects the End and this concerning the Means comes in the second place Yet in our Thoughts concerning GOD we know that infinite Wisdom comprehends all these Dictates together and therefore that the Dictate or Law setling Universal Dominion in GOD is co-eternal with him and so is as early in his Nature as the first Natural Law the Obligation of which we are establishing in this Chapter And here arises the difference between a Moral Obligation which is that we now treat of and a Civil one or that by which we are obliged to Laws in Civil Governments the former being in respect to GOD's immediate Will as the Supreme Legislator whereas all the Duty we owe to our Civil Magistrates Parents and Masters c. is only in subordination to GGD's Will so declared unto us and who hath ordained this Obedience for his own Worship and Glory and in order to the Common Good of all Humane Societies and Commonwealths that is of Mankind in general § 10. Yet I think notwithstanding all we have said of the Force and Nature of this Obligation it may well enough consist with the natural Freedom of Man's Will since all these Considerations do still but excite not necessitate Him to act one way or other For it is still left in his Power either to chuse that which is absolutely the best in obeying this Will of God or else to preferr a less present Good before it in the satisfaction of his Appetites or Passions And herein likewise consists the difference between an Animal Good or Evil and a Moral one the former being those natural Means conducing to each Man's preservation or destruction considered as a mere Animal without any respect to God as their Author or the Common Good of Rationals as their Rule The latter that is of all Humane Moral Actions or Habits considered as agreeable or disagreeable unto the Laws of Nature ordained by God as a Legislator and made known to Man in order to the Common Good of Rational Beings so that they are thus morally Good or Evil only in respect of their Conformity or Disagreement with the Will of God and as their Observance or Neglect brings either Good or Evil that is Happiness or Misery upon us in this Life or in that to come From whence you may observe the necessity of putting God in all our descriptions or definitions of the Law of Nature as the Author thereof For were it not for his existence in whose divine Intellect the Idea's of Moral Good and Evil are eternally established and into whose will so ordaining them they are ultimately to be resolved Mr. H.'s or rather Epicurus's Assertion would certainly be true That there is nothing morally Good or Evil in its own Nature And it may here be also observed That the great omission of divers Writers on this Subject in not placing God as the Cause or Author of the Law of Nature in their definitions hath been perhaps the main if not only Reason of that false Assertion That the Laws of Nature are not properly so 'till they are established by the Authority of the Supreme Civil Power so on the other side if it be made evident That God Wills or Commands all Men should
to reckon beyond their ten Fingers Now setting aside Innate Ideas and Consent of Nations as proofs of the Laws of Nature what other means do there remain but the uncertain Tradition of a God and these Moral Laws from their Parents or Ancestors or else to discover them by Reason and taking observation from the Nature of things according to the method here laid down The former of these if they had ever any such thing it is certain that they have now quite lost so that no Footsteps of it now remains among them And as for the latter these ignorant and barbarous Nations being wholly taken up through the whole course of their lives either in procuring for themselves the common necessaries for life or else in brutish and sensual Lusts and Pleasures it is no wonder that they give themselves no time or opportunity to think of these things nor yet employ their thoughts in considering the cause of their Being or for what end they came into the World So that it is not strange that they should be so little sensible of the Being of a God and what Worship or Duties he requires of them Nor can I give a better account of this ignorance than what you may find in the Author last mentioned who thus concludes his Paragraph against the necessity of Innate Principles already cited in the beginning of this Chapter Had you or I been born says he at the Bay of Soldania possibly our Thoughts and Notions had not exceeded these brutish ones of the Hoteutots that inhabit there And had the Virginian King Apochancana been educated in England he had perhaps been as knowing a Divine and as good a Mathematician as any in it The difference between him and a more improved English-man lying barely in this That the exercise of his Faculties was bounded within the Ways Modes and Notions of his own Countrey and was never directed to any other or farther Enquiries And if he had not any Idea of a God as we have it was only because he pursued not those Thoughts that would certainly have led him to it § 12. Which account tho' it were sufficient alone to take off this difficulty yet I shall farther add That altho it is true the Existence of a God and the Laws of Nature are to be discovered by Natural Reason yet this must be exerted and made use of according to a right Method and is like the Talent in the Gospel either to be infinitely increased or else may be buried without ever being made use of as it ought So that mens not making use of their Reason and those Faculties which God hath given them is no more an Argument against God 's not having given men sufficient Means and Faculties to attain to the knowledge of these things than if a man who by perpetual sitting still should have lost the use of his Legs had reason to find fault with God for not giving him sufficient means of going and helping himself So that it seems evident to me that it is left in most mens power whether they will by a due use of their Reason raise themselves to the highest perfection and happiness that thei human nature is capable of or else by employing their minds about meer sensual objects and carnal enjoyments debase themselves into the state of Brutes For I am satisfied that it is not reasoning about common and outward things that constitutes the only difference between us and them since they reason right about those things that are the objects of their Senses but that it rather consists in the more excellent Faculties of framing Universal Ideas and by a due enquiry into the causes and nature of things of coming to the knowledge of God and of his Will either naturally declared according to the method here laid down or else supernaturally revealed in the Holy Scripture And indeed I think a Dog or a Horse to be a much better Creature than a Man who hath never had or else hath totally extinguished the belief of a God and of his Duty towards him for the one lives according to its nature and those Faculties God hath given it But a Man who wants the knowledge of God and of his duty towards him by neglecting the chief end of his Creation and by giving himself wholly up to the government of his Passions and unreasonable Appetites debases his nature and so becomes by his own fault like a Brute § 13. The last Objection that I can think of and which may be also made by Mr. Hobs's Disciples is That they look upon this endeavour of the Common Good of Mankind as a meer Platonick Idea or Term of Art without any reality in nature to support it Of which opinion Mr. Hobs seems to be when he tells us in his Leviath Book I. chap. 4. That of Names some are proper and singular to ore only thing as Peter John This Man this Tree and some are common to many things as Man Horse Tree every of which though but one name is nevertheless the name of divers particular things in respect of all which together it is called an universal there being nothing in the World universal but Names For the things named are every one of them individual and singular So that on these Principles we can have no knowledge of any common good out of a Commonwealth where it arises merely from Compacts every man being naturally determined to seek his own particular preservation and satisfaction without the least consideration of any thing else § 14. In answer to which Objection I desire you to take notice That if in our Description of the Law of Nature or Explication of it we had any where supposed that in this endeavour of the common Good a Man either could or ought to neglect his own preservation and true happiness there might have been some reason for this Objection But since I have proved that the true good and happiness of every particular person is included in the Common Good of Rationals and depends inseparably upon it though I grant every man 's own happiness and misery is a main motive of his acting to this end and also consists in a right endeavour of it which if it be so this part of the Objection falls of it self unless they will affirm That a Man's self-preservation and happiness only consists in the present satisfaction of his own sensual Appetites and Passions let what will be the consequence which how false and unreasonable a thing it is any rational Man may judge 2dly We have also sufficiently made out that there is an unalterable Common Good and Evil established by God in the nature of things necessary for the preservation or tending to the destruction not only of this or that particular man but for all the men in the World conceived under the collective Idea of Mankind and that in the state of Nature and out of a Civil State or Common-wealth Since by comparing our own particular Natures
necessary for the Common Good and Preservation and consequently that of all Mankind Sect. 4. A more certain Account of Good and Evil as well Natural as Moral than what Mr. H. hath given us Sect. 5. Mr. H. notwithstanding all he hath said to the contrary acknowledges a Common Good in the state of Nature Sect. 6. The difference between a Natural and a Moral Good and wherein it consists The confounding of these the great cause of Mr. H's Errours in this Matter Sect. 7. Mr. H. sometimes blames this narrow Humour in some men that desire nothing but their own private advantage and likewise confesses that that is a greater good which benefits more persons than what doth good but to a few Sect. 8. That notwithstanding all what Mr. H. hath said to the contrary all rational and good men must acknowledge that to be good which tends to the happiness and preservation of Mankind and which likewise may any ways contribute to effect it That if we do not make the Common Good of Rational Agents the End of all our Actions all our Notions about Moral as well as Natural Good will be various and uncertain Sect. 9. The Heads of the Seventh Principle That the State of Nature is a State of War That all Mr. H's precedent Principles tend only to prove this darling one If therefore those are well answered this Principle must fall His New Reasons in his Leviathan proposed He deduces this state of War from Three Causes in the Nature of Man 1st Competition 2dly Diffidence 3ly Glory Each of which do in their turns make men fall together by the ears A state of War not only that of actual fighting but all that time wherein mens Inclination to it may be certainly known illustrated by a Simile of rainy Weather Sect. 1. Answer to this Argument 'T is first observed that Mr. H. differs in his manner of proving the necessity of this state of War differs in his Leviathan from that in his De Cive Since he here only supposes such a War to be lawful without any other proof Sect. 2. 2 d. Observation That this Author in his Argument here proposed doth still take the Natural state of Man only from his Passions without any consideration of Reason or Experience which is contrary to what he had before laid down when he made Experience any of the Faculties of the Mind Yet that none of these Passions do necessarily and uninevitably hurry men into a State of War Sect. 3. That none of these Persons if governed by Reason ought to incite men to War and that Reason can never perswade men to fall together by the ears out of Competition Sect. 4. That Diffidence of others can never if duly considered be any Motive to make War with all men since such a War is not only destructive in its own nature but also impracticable Sect. 5. Mr. H. appeals to experience of what men do for their own security answered as also his Simile from the Weather Sect. 6 He himself grants that there was never actually throughout the World such a state of War as he describes His instances from the Savage People of America make rather against than for him proved by Authorities of Travellers Sect. 7. His Instance from the practice of Sovereign Powers proved to be of no force Sect. 8. Answer to his Argument from the Passion of Glory which doth not inevitably hurry men to War since it is more often mastered by other greater Passions as Fear of Death Desire of things necessary c. Observation That the same Passions which excite men to War do also with him at other times perswade them to Peace and that those Passions are really the more strong that do so Sect 9. Mr. H's Argument from certain Peculiarities in Humane Nature why men cannot live as sociably with each other as Brutes The 1st Competition for Honours c. Answer No Argument to be drawn from this in the state of Nature Sect. 10. His 2d Reason answered That the Common Good among Brutes differs not from the Private as it does among Men. Sect 11. Answer to his 3d. Instance That Creatures not having the use of Reason do not find fault with the Administration of the Commonwealth That this can be no Argument in the state of Nature before Common-wealths are instituted c. Sect. 12. Answer to his 4th Reason That Brutes have not the use of Speech and so cannót make Good seem Evil and Evil Good Men not in a worse condition than Brutes by reason of Speech but rather in a better Sect. 13. Answer to his 5th Reason That Brutes do not distinguish between Injury and Damage whereas it is otherwise in men Sect. 14. Answer to his last Reason That the agreement of Brutes is natural but in Men artificial Sect. 15. So much granted Mr. H. That men are tormented with divers Passions which Beasts are not And so on the other side men are endued with other Passions which move them more strongly to Concord Sect. 16. A farther Consideration of the absurdity and Inconsistency of this Hypothesis of a Natural state of War Sect. 17. The Heads of the Eighth Principle That mutual Compacts of Fidelity are void in the state of Nature but not so in a Common-wealth His Reason for it Because where Covenants are made upon a mutual trust of future Performances either Party may chuse whether he will perform or not because he is not sure that the other will perform his Part also And of this he is the sole judge But that it is otherwise in a Civil State where there is a Common Power to compel either of them that refuse Sect. 1. The reason apparent why he supposes Civil Sovereigns always in a state of War Sect. 2. Upon these Principles it is altogether in vain for Princes or States to make any Leagues or Treaties of Peace with each other This Notion gives them also a Right of putting to death or making Slaves of Embassadors and all others that come into their Dominions Sect. 3. That upon this Principle of Mr. H's if Compacts do not bind in the state of Nature neither will they be of any force in a Civil State if either all or the major part of the Contractors should have all at once a mind to break them upon pretence that either others do not perform their Parts or that they fear they will not do it Sect. 4. Mr. H. far exceeds his Master Epicurus in this Evil Principle Sect. 5. The Heads of the Ninth Principle The Law of Nature is not truly a Law unless as it is delivered in the Holy Scripture His Reasons for it That though they are Dictates of Reason yet that for want of a Legislator and of sufficient security for those that shall observe them they are not Laws but as delivered in Scripture Sect. 1. That it hath been already proved that this Law of endeavouring the Common Good is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and
that proceeding from God and established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments it hath all the Conditions required to a Law That the defect of other Writers in not taking the like Method hath been the cause of Mr. H's and others falling into this Error This Law not being given in any Sâ—t form of Words no Objection against its certainty or plainness Sect. 2. This Law of Nature being to be collected from our own Natures and that of things is capable of being known even by persons born deaf and dumb Mr. H. acknowledges these Laws to be properly so as proceeding from God His allowing that those Laws oblige only to a desire or endeavour of the Mind that they should be observed a meer Evasion Answer to his Objection of the want of Rewards and Punishments he himself having obviated this by confessing in his Lev. that they are established by natural Rewards and Punishments If the Law of Nature is not properly a Law then there are no natural Rights properly so call'd Sect. 3. Answer to his main Reason That we are not obliged to external Acts for want of sufficient security That if this were a sufficient Objection then neither Civil Laws would oblige Divine Punishments as certain as Humane Sect. 4. That mens greatest Security consists in a strict observation of all the Laws of Nature Mr. H. in some places acknowledges That if we do not observe the Laws of Nature we shall fall into other Evils besides those that proceed from the violence of Men. Sect. 5. Two Reasons proposed shewing the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The one the Declaration of all Civil Sovereigns concerning mens Innocency till accused The other from Mr. H's own Concession of a much greater Insecurity that will follow from their non-observation viz. a War of all men against all which is the most miserable State of all others Sect. 6 7. The Heads of the Tenth Principle That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the will of the Civil Sovereign That this is but a consequence of his former Principle That nothing is good or evil in the state of Nature his Arguments for this Principle Because it proceeds from Civil Laws that every man should have distinct Rights to himself as also should not invade those of others it follows that these Precepts Thou shalt honour thy Parents Thou shalt not kill c. are Civil Laws and that the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things yet implicitely for the same Law commands all Compacts to be observed and that to yield obedience when obedience is due was covenanted at the Institution of the Commonwealth and therefore whatever Civil Sovereigns command concerning these things must be obeyed since they alone can appoint what shall be yours or anothers or what shall be Murther Theft c. Sect. 1. Nothing written by Mr. H. more wickedly or loosely nor wherein he more contradicts himself than in this Principle The main foundations of which are already destroyed No Compacts made at the Institution of any Commonwealth which can be of greater force than the Law of Nature The dreadful Consequences that will follow from the contrary Principle Mr. H. allowing even Idolatry it self to be lawful if commanded by the Supream Powers That the Secondary Laws of Nature can never contradict or alter those that are prior to them as more conducing to the Common Good though Civil Laws may restrain or enlarge several particular Instances His Example of the Lacedemonian Boys answered Sect. 2. A Concluding Instance in answer to this from that Law of ours against relieving wandring Beggars Sect. 3. Uncertain whether Mr. H. broached this dangerous Doctrine out of ignorance or design of flattering Civil Sovereigns yet that by this he endeavours to destroy all Vertue and Goodness in Princes and all obligation of Obedience in Subjects whenever they are strong enough to rebel Sect. 4. The Conclusion containing an Apology for the length of these Confutations Sect. 5. The Second Part Wherein the Moral Principles of Mr. Hobbs's De Cive Leviathan are fully Considered and Confuted INTRODUCTION § 1 THough perhaps it may not seem unnecessary after so much as hath been said to prove the certainty and constant obligation of the Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of all Rational Beiâ—gs more particularly to confute the Principles of Epicurus and his Follower Mr. H. it being a true Maxim in other Sciences as well as Geometry Rectum est Index sui obliqui Yet since those Authors have not only poisoned the World with their pernicious Tenets but have also endeavoured to support them with the specious appearances of Reason and Argument it may be expected that we should say somewhat in answer to these Reasons and Arguments Mr. H. the Reviver of those Principles in this Age hath brought in his Book De Cive Leviathan to maintain and support them And therefore I have thought fit to add some Considerations and Confutations of them as far as they contradict the Principles we have here laid down and rather to put them here all together at the end than in the Body of our Treatise of the Law of Nature since there they would not only have interrupted the Coherence of the Discourse it self but would have also disturbed and taken off the minds of the ordinary Readers for whom I chiefly intend it from a due consideration of the truth and connexion of the things therein contained And therefore I have thought fit rather to cast them all together into a distinct part by themselves since if you are Master of that former Part of this Discourse you will easily perceive not only the Falshood and Absurdity of Mr. H's Principles but that it was from his Ignorance or Inconsideration of this great Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings that he first fell into those Errors and made private Self-preservation not only the first motive which had been true enough but also the sole end of all Moral Actions which is altogether false and below the dignity not only of a Philosopher but a Man I have therefore gone through all his Moral Principles in order and as for his Politick ones if these are false they will need no other Confutation and I have reduced them into certain Heads or Propositions and have truly given you this Sum of Arguments that no man may find fault with me for misrepresenting his Opinions PRINCIPLE I. Man is not a Creature born apt for Society § 1. MR. H. in his Philosophical Elements or Treatise De Cive Chap. 1. § 2. lays down and maintains this Principle and gives certain specious Reasons for it which because they are somewhat tedious and divers of them very trivial I shall rather chuse to contract them than be at the trouble of transcribing all that he hath loosely enough laid down for the maintenance of this Assertion referring you if you doubt whether I rightly represent his meaning to the Author himself in the place
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
to all things that he hath a mind to and that they are absolutely necessary for his preservation can no more make them become so than if he should judge that Ratsbane were Sugar-candy it would be thereby presently turned into wholsome Food So likewise those general and universal Causes which procure the preservation or mischief of Mankind do depend upon such fixt Principles in Nature as are not to be altered by the judgment of any Judge whether he be a single man in the state of Nature or the Supream Powers in a Commonwealth § 5. But this Error of Mr. H. concerning the force of his Sentence which thus falsly pronounces an absolute Dominion over all men and all things to be necessary for his preservation and thereby to confer a Right thereunto seems to proceed from hence That he having observed in a Civil State the Sentence of the Supream Magistrate or Judge had that force with the Subjects that whether his Sentence were according to the Rules of Law or natural Equity or not it was nevertheless to be obeyed and submitted to Whereas this Submission proceeds wholly from their Consents who instituted the Commonwealth in order to the publick Good and for the putting some end to Controversies since all the Subjects must submit to the Judgment of the Supream Power or Magistrate whether it be right or wrong because they are all satisfied that it conduces more to their common quiet and safety that some few should sometimes suffer through an unjust Judgment than that Controversies should be endless or at least not without Civil Wars or Disturbances So that it is evident That it is only from a greater care of the Common Good than of the Lives or Estates of any particular person that lays a foundation for this Prerogative which though I grant belongs to all Supream Powers yet if this once come to be generally and notoriously abused by constant course of wilful Violence Oppression and Injustice so that the Subjects cannot longer bear it they will quickly make their appeal somewhere else unless they are hindred by some predominant Power or Force over them § 6. But on the other side it is certain That men in the state of Nature cannot admit of any final Judgment or determination of a doubt or difference besides an evidence either from the things themselves or from that trust or credit they place in some mens either Judgment or Testimony whereby all manner of doubt or scruple is clearly removed out of the minds of the Parties concerned and that it appears evident to them that they are not imposed upon neither can there be any end of debates amongst divers Pretenders unless one Party being convinced by the strength of the other's Reasons come over to his or their Opinion or else being satisfied of the Knowledge and Integrity of some third Person as an Arbitrator do willingly submit to his Sentence § 7. For Humane Nature will ever acknowledge a difference between right Reason and false and between a just and an unjust Judgment and 't is only Truth and right Reason that have this Prerogative that they can confer a right on us of doing those things which they prescribe For even Mr. H. in his definition of Right acknowledges that it is only a liberty of using our Faculties according to right Reason whereas all Error or false Judgment whether it be concerning Necessaries for the preservation of Life or in any other practical matter can give no man a right of doing that which he then falsly judges necessary for his preservation And therefore Mr. H's Conclusion where he acknowledges at last That right Reason is that which concludes from true Principles and likewise that in the false reasoning and folly of men in not understanding their Duties towards other men consists all the violation of the Laws of Nature grants as much as I can desire but how this will agree with that loose definition of Reason where he supposes every man's reason to be alike right I desire any of his Disciples to shew me Therefore to conclude I can only allow that to be practical right Reason which gives us leave to undertake things reasonable and possible and that forbids a man to arrogate to himself alone a dominion over all men and all things which is needless and impossible indeed wholly pernicious to his preservation § 8. But to avoid this difficulty Mr. H. and his Followers fly to the Subterfuge of a natural necessity in men that so judge thus falsly and act contrary to the Laws of Nature or Reason And therefore in his Preface to this Treatise he supposes all men to be evil by Nature and makes them necessarily determined by their Appetites and Passions before they are endued with Reason and Discipline to act mischievously and unreasonably and therefore tells us that Children unless you give them every thing they desire cry and are angry and will strike their very Fathers and Mothers and it is by nature they do so and yet are blameless as well because they cannot hurt as also that wanting the use of Reason they are yet free from all its Duties But the same persons when grown up and having got strength enough to hurt if they hold on to do the same things they then begin both to be and to be called evil So that a wicked man is almost the same thing as an overgrown Child or a man of a childish disposition because there is the same defect of Reason at that age in which by Nature improved by Discipline and experience of its inconveniencies it commonly happens to be amended So likewise the Author of Tractatus Theologico Politicus who more openly than Mr. H. but upon the same Principles endeavours to destroy all Religion both Natural and Revealed argues to this purpose in the 16th Chap. of the said Treatise First By the Law of Nature He understands nothing but the Nature of every Individual according to which we conceive each of them naturally determined to exist after a certain manner Thus Fishes are ordained to swim and the great ones to devour the less Therefore Fishes live in the Water and devour each other by the highest Right For Nature considered simply hath a right to all things it can do or its right extends it self as far as its power Since the power of Nature is but the power of God who hath the highest right to all things But because the power of Vniversal Nature is nothing but the power of all the Individual Creatures together it follows that every Individual hath the highest right to all things it can do that is it extends it self as far as its power And since it is the first Law of Nature that every thing should endeavour as far as it is able to preserve it self in its Natural State and that without any consideration of other Creatures but only of it self Therefore it follows that every Individual hath the highest right to exist and operate as
mean by a natural Good and Evil I shall now give a right notion of a moral Good and how it differs from the former A moral Good is those voluntary Actions and Habits which are conformable to the Law of Nature or Reason considered as given by God as a Law-giver for a Rule of all our Humane or voluntary Actions For there are many natural Goods that conduce to a man's happiness which are not morally good nor are commanded by any Law Such as are quickness of Wit Learning Strength of Mind and Body c. On the other side I suppose that no Action of the Will can be commanded by God and so morally good which doth not by is own nature as well as from the Will of God the Legislator conduce to the happiness of Mankind The not taking notice of which distinction between natural and moral Goods hath been the occasion of another great Error in Mr. H. when he makes that which seems good to every man 's own self to be the only object of his desires as he doth in his De Cive Cap. 1. Art 2. which he likewise more fully expresses in Cap. 3. Artic. 21. Every one is presumed to seek that which is good for himself but that which is just only by accident and for peace sake viz. That which is just he will only have to regard another's good which he supposes no man will seek unless it were for fear of those Evils which proceed from a state of War But all he says only tends to prove that men are so framed that it is repugnant to their Nature and so absolutely impossible for them to mind or desire any thing unless for their own particular worldly profit and glory as he hath laid down in those Principles we have already considered § 8. But I cannot but take notice that Mr. H. himself in his Treatise De Homine published after his De Cive Cap. 12. § 1. seems not at all to approve of this ill humour in men by these words We confess that it may so fall out through the ill use of his free will that a man of a narrow Soul may consider nothing but himself and so may desire nothing but what he judges for his own private advantage And in the same Treatise Cap. 11. § 14. where he doth purposely consider which is the greater or lesser amongst Goods he plainly confesses That it is a greater good which benefits more persons than that which doth good to fewer § 9. But giving him leave to contradict himself as much as he will yet notwithstanding all that he hath said to the contrary I doubt not but all rational and good men are of a more generous Spirit who do not only esteem that to be good which is good for themselves alone but also whatsoever tends to the conservation happiness and perfection of Mankind And whatsover they thus esteem to be good that they will also desire wish for and contribute their utmost endeavour to procure for others as well as themselves Nor do I see any reason to hinder but that whatsoever I find agreeable to any mans Nature I may do my endeavour as far as lies in my power that he may obtain it But this much I must freely confess That if men do not propose to themselves one common End or Effect viz. the common good of Rational Agents whose Causes whether efficient or perfective should be before-hand agreed on to be Good and those that hinder its production Evil the words Good and Evil will always be equivocal various and uncertain being still to be taken in as many different Senses as there are particular Men. So that whatsoever Action or thing is called good by any one man because it serves his turn that other men if it crosses their desires will be sure to call evil which is incongruous to Reason and to the Communication of knowledge among men which is the main end of Speech Whereas if the words Good and Evil are applied to those things which concern the nature of Rational Beings in general they will have a certain and determinate sense and signification which will not only be constantly true and intelligible but prove most useful and profitable to all Mankind and that we are not only capable of understanding but also of contributing our Endeavours for the procuring of this Common Good and are also under a sufficient obligation thereunto is I hope fully made out in the Fourth Chapter of the precedent Discourse where we expresly treat of the Law of Nature and its obligation PRINCIPLE VII That the State of Nature is a State of War § 1. ALL the Principles that Mr. H. hath hitherto laid down have been only in order to the establishing this Darling Principle of the natural state of War But since we have already in our Answer to his former Principles shewn their falshood and absurdity If those Foundations be ill laid the Superstructure must needs be infirm and therefore I shall omit all that he hath in his De Cive inferred from those false Principles and shall only apply my self to what he hath in his 13th Chapter of his Leviathan given us a-new for the proof of this Principle and which doth not depend upon the former For here he derives this natural State of War from Three Principal Causes in the nature of Man First Competition Secondly Diffidence Thirdly Glory The first makes man invade for Gain The second for Safety and the third for Reputation The first use Violence to make themselves Masters of other Mens persons Wives Children and Cattel The second to defend them The third for Trifles as a word a smile a different Opinion and any other sign of undervaluing either directly in their persons or by reflection on their Kindred their Friends their Nation their Profession or their Name Hereby it is manifest That during the time men live without a Common Power to keep them all in awe they are in that condition which is called War as is of every man against every man For War consists not in Battel only or the Act of Fighting but in a tract of time wherein the will to contend by Battel is sufficiently known And therefore the notion of time is to be considered in the nature of War as it is in the nature of Weather For as the nature of Foul-weather lies not in a shower or two of Rain but in an inclination thereto of many days together So the nature of War consists not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary All other is Peace § 2. In answer to which I must first take notice That Mr. H. in his Leviathan deduces this Right of War of all men against all from other Principles than he doth in his De Cive Chap. 1. § 12. where from the supposed right of all men to all things he deduces a war of all men against all and which renders it
as are necessary commodious living and a hope by their Industry to obtain them from whence I observe that the greatest part of these Passions which now incline men to Peace are but the same in other words which before inclined them to War For what is this Diffidence of another and this Anticipation which he makes so reasonable but a fear of Death or other mischief from those whom he thus goeth about to prevent And what is this desire of things necessary for life but a Branch of that Right which he supposes all men have to all things But granting that the same Passions may in some men produce different effects yet if these Passions that incline men to peace are more strong and powerful than those that excite them to War then certainly Peace will be their more constant and Natural State Since as Mariners relate the violent blowing of two contrary winds doth often in the Center of their Motion produce a Calm And therefore Mr. H. proceeds very rashly to lay such a great stress on those Passions which provoke men to War without also considering and putting into the contrary Scale all those that incline men to the contrary which certainly are more prevalent in most men For what can more strongly influence mens Actions than fear of Death and all those other miseries which he himself so lively describes to be the necessary Consequences of the State of War And whereas he tells us that reason suggesteth convenient Articles of peace I think I have sufficiently proved that Reason is so far from needing Articles of peace that it can never prompt considering men to believe themselves naturally in so dangerous and miserable a State as this which Mr. H. supposes much less to fall into it on purpose without any just cause given But since this Author undertakes to give us many Reasons why mens Passions will not permit them to live in peace as well as divers other Creatures whom he confesses can do so without Laws We will a little examine those Reasons he brings Why mens Nature will not naturally permit them to live in peace as well as those brute Creatures and therefore I shall put them down in his own Words as you may find them in his Lev. Chap. 17. § 10. It is true that certain living Creatures as Bees and Ants live sociably one with another which are therefore by Aristotle numbred amongst Political Creatures and yet have no other Direction than their particular Iudgments and Appetites not Speech whereby one of them can signifie to another what he thinks expedient for the Common Benefit And therefore some men may perhaps desire to know why mankind cannot do the same To which I answer First That men are continually in competition for Honour and Dignity which these Creatures are not and consequently amongst men there ariseth from that ground Envy and Hatred and finally War but amongst these not so To which I reply That these Civil Honours about which he supposes these Contentions do so often arise amongst men have no place in the State of Nature being not known amongst men before the Institution of Commonwealths and therefore they cannot in this State which he now treats of contend for them more than Brutes So that the only true Glory and Honour which can be found out of a Civil Government is as Cicero very well defines it in his Tusc. Quest. the agreeing praise of good men and the uncorrupted Suffrages of those that rightly judge of excellent Vertue But all the Vertues being contained under the study of the Common Good of Rational Beings from thence alone can spring the praise of good men And the desire of such Honour is so far from causing a War against all men that as from a contrary Principle men may by this be excited to the exercise of all those Virtues which Mr. H. himself allows Lev. Chap. 15. to be the necessary means of Common Peace and Safety § 11. His Second Reason is that amongst these Creatures the Common Good differeth not from the Private and being by nature inclined to their Private they procure thereby the Common Benefit But Man whose joy consisteth in comparing himself with other men can relish nothing but what is eminent To which we may reply that Mr. H. has done us a Courtesie in acknowledging before he is aware that even out of Civil Government there is some common and publick Good which may be indeed procured even by Brutes themselves And he has elsewhere also told us as in his Treatise De Homine Chap. 10. the very last Words But we suppose the knowledge of the Common Good to be a fit means to bring men both to Peace and Vertue because it is both amiable in its own Nature and the surest defence of each man's private Good And sure its difference in some cases from the private good of some men is no sufficient Reason why men should rather fall out and fight among themselves than Bees or Ants whose Common Good is likewise distinguished from the private But as for what he affirms concerning the Nature of men if it be universally understood of all men as his words seem to intend 't is false and spoken without all manner of proof unless we must be sent back to his general Demonstration of these things in his Introduction to his Lev. when he advises every man to this Rule Nosce teipsum and therefore would teach us from the Similitude of the thoughts any passions of one man to those of another thereby to know what are the thoughts of all other men upon the like occasion Perhaps Mr. Hobbs knew himself very well and was sensible there was nothing more pleasant to him than comparing himself with other men and so could relish nothing in himself either as his own Natural Endowments or acquired Improvements but what was more eminent and greater than other mens and from thence gathered the same thoughts to be in all others But he ought to have shewn something in the nature of man from whence it is necessary that all men should so judge for certainly all that are truly rational can know from the true use of things and from the necessity of their own Natures how to judge concerning their own things whether they are pleasant or not and to what degree they do delight them without comparing them with those of other men So that indeed none but the foolish or envious can only be pleased as far as their own things exceed those of others But if he would have this censure only to concern such men it will not then afford a sufficient cause of an Universal War of all men against all And though perhaps Strife and Contention may be begun amongst such envious foolish People yet the strength or reason of the more prudent and peaceable may easily restrain it that it shall never hurt or destroy all men by making them enter into a state of War against all § 12. His Third
Reason is That these Creatures having not as man the use of Reason do not see or at least think they see any fault in the administration of their Common business Whereas amongst men there are very many that think themselves Wiser and Abler to govern the Publick better than the rest and those strive to Reform and Innovate one this way another that way and thereby bring it into Distraction and Civil War To which we may thus Reply That this Reason offers nothing whereby men may live less peaceably among themselves if they were in the state of Nature and Subjects to no Civil Government than Brutes But in this state mens Natural Propensions to universal Benevolence and to the Laws of Nature would have some place notwithstanding what he hath here alledged to the contrary as I have sufficiently proved in the precedent Discourse Nor doth he here offer any thing whereby men could less agree among themselves to institute a Common-wealth for this is the thing whose causes we are now seeking for But he only objects something which will hinder them from preserving it when it is instituted and therefore this will also shake all the foundations of Peace even in a Commonwealth when it is made never so firm according to his own model But we do well to consider whether mens Reason does not more powerfully promote Peace and Concord by detecting many errors of the Imaginations and Passions than it doth Discord by its fallibility about those things which are necessary being but few and those plain enough Besides men do not presently make War as soon as they suppose they spy out somewhat they may blame in the Administration of publick Affairs for the same reason which discovers the fault does also tell them that many things are to be born with for Peace sake and sugggests divers means whereby an emendation of that fault or miscarriage may be peaceably procured So that I dare appeal to the Judgment of the indifferent Reader whether the condition of Mankind is worse than that of Brutes because it is Rational and whether Mr. H. doth not judge very hardly of all men by making their Reason guilty of all these miseries which in other places he imputes only to the Passions and from this cause would prove that men must live less peaceably with each other than Brute Creatures In short Mr. H's Answer is nothing to the purpose for our inquiry is concerning the obligation of the precepts of Reason in the state of Nature and his Answer is That most mens Reason is so false as that it would dissolve all Commonwealths already constituted § 13. His fourth Reason is That these Creatures tho they have some use of voice in making known to one another their desires and other affections yet they want that art of words by which some men can represent to others that which is Good in the likeness of Evil and Evil in the likeness of Good and augment or diminish the apparent greatness of Good and Evil discontenting men and troubling their peace at their pleasure The force of which Answer is no more than this That because it sometimes falls out that the common People are moved to Mutiny and Sedition by a specious or sophistical Sermon or Oration that therefore men as having the use of Speech cannot maintain peace among themselves which consequence is certainly very loose for he ought to prove that all men do necessarily and constantly make such Speeches tending to Civil War and Sedition and also that such Speeches when heard do constantly prevail on their Auditors or the most part of them that they should presently take up Arms For it may be that even the Vulgar may see through such false and specious Speeches and may not suffer themselves to be deluded by them It may also happen that they may rather give credit to the peaceable Speeches of the more wise and moderate as founded upon more solid Reasons And it may be that they will rather consider the true weight of the Arguments than the empty sound of the Words and certainly mens rational Nature leads them to do this for they know they cannot be fed or defended by Words but by Actions proceeding from mutual Benevolence What then doth hinder but that the Eloquence and Reason of the Good and Peaceable may not often prevail with which both the Reason of the Speaker the true interest of the Auditors and the nature of things do all agree But I shall speak no more of this Subject now having in the precedent Discourse sufficiently proved That men receive much greater Benefits from the use of Speech though it may sometimes be the cause of Civil Discords and Wars than they do Evils and Mischiefs thereby And I suppose Mr. H. himself were he alive would confess that Mankind would not be rendered more peaceable or easie to be governed had they been all created dumb or else had all their Tongues been cut out by the irresistible power of his great Leviathan the Civil Soveraign § 14. His fifth Reason is That irrational Creatures cannot distinguish between Injury and Damage and therefore as long as they be at ease they are not offended at their Fellows Whereas man is then most troublesome when he is most at ease for then it is that he loves to shew his wisdom and controul the Actions of them that govern the Commonwealth By which Antithesis he would infer That men live together less peaceably than Brutes because they distinguish between Injury and Damage But we think much otherwise and that most men would more willingly suffer some damage even done by other men so it be not done injuriously And I acknowledge that all the distinction between these two is founded in the knowledge of Right and Law which indeed is only proper to men But that this Knowledge should make them more prone to violate the publick Peace and to trample upon the Laws and Rights of their Superiors I can by no means admit much less that Subjects that abound in peace and riches are more apt to envy their Superiors and to shew their wisdom in finding fault with their Rulers or that the Subjects of England for example who God be thanked enjoy both sufficient peace and plenty are more apt to find fault with their Governors than those in France or Turkey where they are poor and miserable by Taxes and other Severities or that they can even there forbear repining at the cruel Treatment of their Rulers though perhaps their Spirits may be so debased and their Powers so weakned by this oppression that they may not be so able to shew it by publick discourse much less by resistance and so free themselves from this Tyranny as perhaps they would do if they had sufficient Riches and Courage And that I conceive is the true reason why this Author is such an Enemy in all his Books to the happiness and wealth of the People whom he would all along make Slaves
that purpose by God Now let us at present suppose which of these we please to be the true Original of Mankind we cannot from thence with any reason conclude that it was at any time such a state of War of all men against all for if according to the first Hypothesis we suppose Mankind to be Eternal they were likewise from all Eternity propagated by distinct Families and divided into several Nations and Common-wealths as they are at this day But if it be objected that those distinct Nations or Commonwealths were always such from all Eternity Then it will likewise follow that they were also from all Eternity in the same state they now are that is not of War but Peace But we shall further shew the absurdity of that Supposition before we have concluded our Considerations upon this Head So on the other side if we proceed upon the Epicurean Hypothesis of Mankind's springing out of the Earth if we do not likewise suppose them to have been made like Game-Cocks or those Earth-born men I have already mentioned who presently fell a fighting and destroying each other without any Cause it will not do the business And therefore let us now with Mr. H. suppose these men being all made of equal strength both of body and mind it is plain that they must be at first in a state of Peace before they could ever fall together by the Ears so then the state of Peace was Prior in Nature to that of War and also more agreeable to Human Nature 2 dly Supposing these Earth-born men to have been all rational Creatures and equal in strength and cunning they would never have entered into a state of War and have fallen a cutting each others Throats without some just Cause or Provocation first given For if they were all equal every man would consider each of his Fellows as of a like ability with himself and that if he struck him first without any cause he would be as well able to resist and make his party good with him as he could be to hurt him the fear of which would have rather caused Peace than War Since whoever struck first could not be sure of the Victory And if any two should have fallen to Cuffs this could be no reason for all the rest to have also fallen together by the Ears since there was no cause why they should suppose a Will or Inclination in each other to War till they had expressed it by some outward signs so that this natural Equality among men and mutual fear of each other which Mr. H. supposes to be the chief causes of War would certainly have rather inclined these men to Peace But if we follow the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures it is then certain That all Mankind being derived from one Man and one Woman their Children could never be in this state of war towards their Parents by Mr. H's own confession much less could the Parents ever be so unnatural towards their Children who were made out of their own Substance nor yet could the Brothers or Sisters who partake of the same Human Nature derived from their Common Parents and who were bred up together from their Infancy in a state of Peace and Amity be rationally supposed presently to have fallen together by the ears without any other cause or provocation given than Mr. Hs Passions of mutual distrust and desire of glory Therefore when after the Fall of Adam man's Nature was degenerated into that state we now find it wherein mens Passions I own do too often domineer over their Reason and that Cain through Malice and Envy slew his Brother as we read in Genesis Of this state of War as it is the first Example of man's Degeneracy so it is also of God's dislike and punishment of this cruel Sin of Murther which is indeed but the effect of this Author's state of War But I beg the Reader 's pardon if I have been too prolix in the confutation of this Principle this being the main foundation of all those Evil and False Opinions contained in this Author 's Moral and Political Works if therefore this is throughly destroyed all that is built upon it will fall of it self But since Mr. H. hath by his Supposition of certain Compacts or Covenants undertaken to shew a Method how men got out of this wretched state of War in which let us see whether his next Principle answers the Designs he proposes PRINCIPLE VIII § 1. That mutual Compacts of Fidelity in the State of Nature are void but not so in a Commonwealth WHich Principle he expresses and proves at large in his de Cive cap. in these words But those Covenants that are made by Contract where there is a mutual Trust neither party performing any thing presently in the state of Nature if any just Fear shall arise on either side are void For he who first performs because of the evil disposition of the greatest part of men only studying their own profit no matter whether by right or wrong betrays himself to the lust of him with whom he contracts For there is no reason that any man should perform first if it is not likely that the other will perform afterwards which whether it be likely or not he who fears must judge as it is shewn in the former Chapter Art 9. I say things are thus in the state of nature but in a Civil state where there is one who can compel them both he who by Contract is first to perform ought first to do it For since the other may be compelled the reason ceases for which he feared the other would not perform Which Principle is somewhat otherwise expressed in his Lev. chap. 14. which since it differs something from the other in the manner of expression I shall likewise give in you his own words If a Covenant be made wherein neither of the Parties perform presently but trust one another in the condition of mere nature which is a condition of War of every man against every man upon any reasonable supposition it is void but if there be a common Power set over them both with right and force sufficient to compel performance it is not void for he that performeth first hath no assurance the other will perform afterwards because the mere bonds of words are too weak to bridle mens Ambition Avarice Anger and other Passions without the fear of some coercive Power which in the condition of mere Nature where all men are equal and judges of the justness of their own fears cannot possibly be supposed and he which performs first doth but betray himself to his enemy contrary to the Right he can never abandon of defending his life and means of living § 2. You may now more plainly see the reason why he supposes in the foregoing Chapter That all Kings and persons of Soveraign Authority are always in a posture or state of War which he more plainly expresses in his de Cive chap. 10. §
never so manifest yet cannot it by this Principle lay any firm Obligation upon mens minds but that they may depart from them whenever they will neglect or oversee this Utility or that they think they may better secure their own interest by any other means since the Will and Conscience of man can never be so obliged by their naked Compacts that they may not depart from or act contrary to them whensoever they think they may safely and for their own private advantage do it For the Obligation will not only cease if it shall please all those who have so covenanted to depart from their Covenants at once as when men discharge themselves of them by mutual consent But supposing also this consent still to continue the force of an Obligation will yet be wanting for since that dictate of Reason of keeping Compacts has not as yet attained the force of a Law as being made as I have already observed in the meer state of Nature any single Person according to his particular Humour or predominant Passion of Fear or Suspicion or Self-interest may depart from this dictate of Reason tho the rest do not agree so to do because no man according to Mr. H. in the Law of Nature can ever be tied by any Compact to quit the doing of that which he judges necessary for his own Interest or Self-defence For in the very beginning of this 14th Chapter in his Lev. he defines a Law of Nature to be a Precept or general Rule found out by Reason by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his Life or takes away the means of preserving the same and to omit that by which he thinketh it may be best preserved So that for the preservation of a man's life or whenever he thinks those Compacts may take away the means of preserving it he may without crime fail in keeping his Compacts either for Publick Peace or the observation of Justice with his Fellow-subjects or of Fidelity or of Obedience to his Civil Sovereign who upon these Principles is in no better a condition nor so good as any of his Subjects Because Mr. H. doth not allow in his Leviathan Cap. 18. of any compacts to be made between the Sovereign and the Subjects who only Covenant one with the other and not with him to give up their right of governing themselves to this man or Assembly of men and that they do thereby authorize all his Actions So that since this Compact is made in the state Nature and that this Law of keeping of Compacts is only a dictate of Reason and no Law it can lay no higher obligation upon mens Consciences in the state of Nature than any other Law of Nature which Mr. H. plainly tells us Chap. 17. In the state of Nature do not oblige nor can the Common Power set over men lay any obligation in Conscience upon them why they should not break these Compacts towards each other when ever they think it convenient For since the Civil Sovereign can only oblige them to its outward observation by those Punishments as he pleases to appoint for such offences as are destructive to the Publick Peace every man that will venture the fear of discovery or being taken or whenever he thinks he can make a Party strong enough to defend himself from those that would punish him for the breach of them may safely nay lawfully transgress them when-ever the awe or fear of the Civil Sovereign ceases So that it is evident there doth still need some higher Law or Principle than this of meer Fear of the Civil Power to make men honest or to keep their Compacts when they have made them § 5. To Conclude Mr. H. doth far exceed his Master Epicurus in this rare invention for that old Fellow one would think had sufficiently shaken the foundations of all common Peace and Justice when he laid down in his ratis sententiis or established dictates That there is no such thing as Iustice between those Nations who either could not or would not enter into mutual Covenants that they should not hurt or be hurt by each other Yet however he thought fit to leave the force of those Compacts unviolated although there was no common Power over them which might keep those Nations in awe But Mr. H. that he might indulge as much as he could to his darling passion of Fear hath also allowed men this Liberty That in the state of Nature Compacts of mutual Fidelity may by right be violated without any other cause given than the fear or suspicion of the Party afraid PRINCIPLE IX The Law of Nature is not properly a Law unless as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures § 1. WHich Principle he endeavours to prove in his De Cive Cap. 3. Art the last in these words But those that we call Laws of Nature being nothing else but certain conclusions understood by reason concerning the doing of things whereas a Law properly and accurately speaking is the word of him that commands something to be done or not done by others they are not Laws properly speaking as they proceed from Nature Yet as far as they are given by God in the Holy Scripture they are properly called by the name of Laws Which likewise he hath more briefly contracted in his Leviathan Cap. 15. in these words These dictates of Reason men use to call by the Name of Laws but improperly for they are but Conclusions or Theorems concerning what conduceth to the conservation and defence of themselves whereas Law properly is the word of him that by right hath a command over others But yet if we consider the same Theorems as delivered in the word of God that by right commands all things then are they properly called Laws § 2. The Reason for which opinion he gives us in his De Cive Cap. 5 § 1 2 3. in these words It is self-manifest that the actions of men do proceed from their Will and their Will from Hope and Fear So that as often as it seems that a greater Good or lesser Evil is like to happen to them from the violation of Laws men willingly violate them therefore every man's hope of security and preservation is placed in this that he may be able to prevent his Neighbour either by his own force or art openly or at unawares From whence it is plain that the Laws of Nature do not presently as soon as they are known give sufficient security to every one of observing them and therefore as long as no caution can be obtained from the Invasion of others that Primitive Right must still remain to every one of taking Care of himself by all the ways that he will or can which is the Right of all men to all things or the Right of War and it suffices for the fulfilling of the Law of Nature that any one should be ready or willing to have Peace when it may be had with security § 3. So
the breach of every Law of Nature and consequently an Obligation to all their outward Actions So that it will be better to observe than to transgress them in the State of Nature because their Violation doth still imply a Contradiction or Absurdity in all Humane Society or Conversation for whosoever will seriously consider the Nature of rational Agents will acknowledge that all the Felicity possible for them doth depend upon the Common Good and Happiness of the whole System as its necessary and adequate Cause and therefore every man ought to seek both of them together for whensoever he transgresses any Law of Nature he then separates his own private Good or Advantage from that of the publick which being contradictory ways of acting must needs raise a Civil War or Contest in a mans own Conscience between his Reason and his Passions which must grievously disturb its Tranquility which Evil since it also takes away his Peace and Security is no contemptible Punishment naturally inflicted by God for such Offences § 9. I shall now only propose two Reasons more whereby I think we may demonstrate the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The first is That Presumption of the Civil Laws both in our own and all other Kingdoms which sufficiently declares what Judgment Civil Sovereigns whom this Author makes the only Judges of right or wrong have made of Humane Nature to wit that every one is presumed to be good until the contrary be proved by some outward Action and that made out by sufficient Proof or Testimony and therefore if their Judgment be true he must own all other men ought not to be esteemed as Enemies or so wicked as he is pleased to suppose so that they may be set upon and killed tho never so innocent for any private mans security And this Presumption is more strong against Mr. H. because he founds that Security which he acknowledges to be sufficient in Commonwealths upon those Punishments by which the Supreme Powers can restrain all Invaders of other mens Rights but it is certain that no Punishments are inflicted in Civil States unless according to the Sentence of some Judges who always give Sentence according to this Presumption This therefore is either a true Presumption and so able to direct our Actions in the State of Nature or else even in Commonwealths there is not to be found a sufficient security by the Laws made and Punishments inflicted according to this Presumption and so neither Civil Laws themselves do oblige us to outward Acts and thus every Commonwealth would soon be dissolved But since we are satisfied that publick Judgments given according to this Presumption do for the most part render mens Lives secure enough and certainly much more safe than if all who are arraigned at the Bar were presumed to be Enemies and according to Mr. H's rule of prevention should be all forthwith condemned to suffer as guilty therefore it also follows that the private Judgments of particular men concerning others made according to this Presumption do more conduce to the security of all men than this Authors rash Presumption of the Universal Pravity of all men and would thence persuade us that all others in the State of Nature are to be prevented and set upon by force and fraud § 10. A second reason to prove that the violation of the Laws of Nature as to outward acts will procure us less security than their exact observation may be drawn from hence That Mr. H. himself confesses there will thence necessarily follow a War of all men against all which War being once supposed he rightly acknowledges that all men would become miserable and must presently perish From whence it appears that all security is sought for in vain by this mad state so that there can remain no more hopes of it tho Mr. H. teaches otherwise in his de Cive cap. 5. § 1. and Lev. cap. 13. viz. That in the mutual fear of men no body hath a better way of security than by this anticipation or prevention that is every one may endeavour so long to subject all others by force or fraud as he sees any man left of whom he ought to beware that is as long as there is one man left alive and so the whole earth would soon become a desart and the common sepulchre of mankind for no man can provide any aid or assistance for himself from other men in this state because Covenants of mutual Faith by which alone others can be joined in Society with him will not oblige to external acts in this state as I have shewed he acknowledges and therefore there remains no security by this way of anticipation So that if there be any security in Nature I appeal to the reasons and consciences of men whether this is not more likely to be had by the endeavour of the common Good of Mankind by doing good and not evil to those who have done us no harm than by Mr. H.'s method of Anticipation which can yield no security at all PRINCIPLE X. That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the Will of the Civil Soveraign § 1. THis is a natural consequence from what he hath already laid down That nothing is morally good or evil in the state of Nature before the Institution of a Commonwealth Yet that you may see that I do not impose upon Mr. H. in this Assertion I will give you his own words in his de Cive cap. 14. § 9 10. But because it arises from Civil Laws that as well every one should have a proper Right to himself distinct from that of another as also that he may be forbidden to invade other mens Properties it follows that these Precepts Honour thy Parents Thou shalt not defraud any man in that which is appointed by the Laws Thou mayest not kill a man whom the Laws forbid thee to kill Thou shalt avoid all Carnal Copulation forbidden by the Laws Thou shalt not take away another mans Goods without his consent Thou shalt not frustrate Laws and Iudgments by false Witness are all Civil Laws It is true the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things but immplicity for the Law of Nature as is said before Cap. 3. § 2. commands Compacts to be observed and therefore also to yield Obedience when Obedience was covenanted and to abstain from what is anothers when it is defined by the Civil Law what it is but all the Subjects do Covenant from the Constitution oi the Commonwealth to yield Obedience to his Commands who hath the supream Power that is to the Civil Laws For the Law of Nature did oblige in the state of Nature where first of all where Nature gave all things to all men nothing was anothers and therefore impossible to invade it and in the next place where all things were common therefore also all Carnal Copulations were lawful Thirdly Where there was a state of War it was then lawful to kill any man Fourthly Where all things