and that the Loss or Deprivation of this Felicity doth necessarily adhere as a Punishment to the opposite Actions The former of these which declares the true Causes of all that Felicity which particular Persons can thereby obtain we have proved from Natural Effects found by Experience The latter viz. that Piety to God and Charity or Benevolence towards all Men are contained in the Endeavour of the common Good and we have also proved in the fourth Chapter that all Vertues both private and publick are contained in this Endeavour But because the Connexion of Rewards and Punishments which follow those Acts which are for the common Good or opposite to it is something obscured by those Evils which often befall good Men and those good Things which too frequently happen to Evil ones it is enough to our Purpose to shew that notwithstanding all these the Connexion between them is so sufficiently constant and manifest in the Nature of things that from thence may be certainly gathered the Sanction of the Law of Nature commanding the former and prohibiting the latter Actions And we may suppose those Punishments to suffice for its Sanction which all things rightly weighed much exceed the Gain that may arise from any Act done contrary to this Law But in comparing of the Effects which do follow good Actions on one hand and Evil ones on the other those good or evil Things ought not to be reckoned in to the Account which either cannot be acquired or avoided by any humane Prudence or Industry such as are those which proceeding from the Natural Necessity of External Causes may happen to any one by mere Chance which are wont to fall out alike both to good and bad Therefore we shall only take those into our Account which may be foreseen and prevented by humane Foresight as some way depending upon our own Wills or Acts. But I must also acknowledge that these Effects do not all depend upon our own particular Powers but many of them do also proceed from the good Will and Endeavours of other Rationals yet since it may be known from their Natures as they are is agreeable to our own that the common Good is the best and greatest End which they can propose to themselves and that their Natural Reason requires that they should act for an End and rather for this than any other less good or less perfect And that it is moreover known by Experience that such Effects of Vniversal Benevolence may be for the most part obtained from others by our own benevolent Actions it is just that those Effects should be numbred or esteemed among those Consequences which do for the most part so fall out because every Man is esteemed able to do whatever he can perform or obtain by the Assistance of others So that the whole Reward which is connected to good Actions by the natural Constitution of Things is somewhat like those Tributes of which the publick Revenues consist which do not only arise out of constant Rents but also out of divers contingent Payments such as Custom or Excise upon Commodities whose value although it be very great yet is not always certain though they are often farmed out at a certain Rate Therefore in the reckoning up of these Rewards not only those parts thereof ought to come into Account which immutably adhere to good Actions such as are that Happiness which consists in the Knowledge and Love of God and good Men the absolute Government of our Passions the sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt the true Principles of our Actions and all the parts of our Lives the Favour of the Deity and the Hopes of a blessed Immortality proceeding from all these But there ought also to be taken into the Account all those Goods which do though contingently adhere to them and which may either happen to us from the good Will of others or flow from that Concord and Society which is either maintained between divers Nations or those of the same Common-wealth and which we do as far as we are able procure for our selves by such benevolent Actions And by the like Reason we may also understand of what particulars all that Misery or those Punishments may consist which is connected with those Acts that are hurtfull to the common Good So that all of us may learn from the Necessity of the Condition in which we are born and live to esteem contingent Goods and to be drawn to act by the Hopes of them for the Air it self which is so necessary for our subsistence and Preservation doth not always benefit our Bloud or Spirits but is sometimes infected with deadly Steams and Vapours Nor can our Meat Drink or Exercise always preserve our Lives but do often generate Diseases And Agriculture it self doth not always pay the Husband-man's Toyl with the expected Gain but sometimes he even loses by it And sure we are not less naturally drawn to the Endeavour of the common Good than we are to such natural Actions from the Hope of a Good that may but probably proceed from them But how justly we may hope for a considerable Return from all others joyntly considered for all our Labours bestowed upon the common Good we shall be able to make the best Account of when we consider what our own Experience and the History of all Nations for the time past may teach us to have befallen those who have either regarded or despised this great End But because the whole Endeavour of this common Good contains no more but the Worship of the Deity the Care of Fidelity Peace and Commerce betwixt Nations and the instituting and maintaining Government both Civil and Domestick as also particular Friendships as the parts thereof taken together it is manifest that the Endeavour thereof exprest by a mutual Love and Assistance must in some Degree be found among all Nations as necessary to their own Happiness and Preservation Nay it seems farther manifest to me that those who attain but to the Age of Manhood do owe all those past Years much more to the Endeavour of others bestowed upon the common Good than to their own Care which in their tender Age was almost none at all For we then do altogether depend upon and owe our Preservation to that Obedience which others yield as well to Oeconomical Precepts as to all Laws both Civil and Religious which do wholly proceed from this Care of the common Good Whereas it is certain that if afterwards we expose our Lives to danger Yea if we lose them for the publick Good we should lose far less for its sake than we did before receive from it for we do then only lose the uncertain Hopes of future Enjoyments whereas it is certain that scarce so much as the Hope of them can remain to particular Persons where the common Good is destroyed for we have thence received the real Possession of all those Contentments of Life with which we are blest And therefore we are bound in
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
but rather that of the aggregate Body of Mankind subordinate to GOD as the Head of Rational Beings in this Natural System or Commonweal establish'd by Natural Laws For the good of an aggregate Body is nothing else but the Chiefest Good that can accrue to all its Parts or the Individual § 22. Having now found out from the Nature of Things by what means our Minds can receive the Idea's of a Common Natural Good and Evil and these no less certain and stable than those by which the Causes of Generation and Corruption are exhibited to them I come next to consider That that Matter and Motion in which the Powers of Humane Bodies as well as other Parts of this Visible World consist and exert themselves after a limitted manner and have a finite Quantity and certain Bounds beyond which they cannot act from which Principles flow those known Laws of Natural Bodies as that they cannot be at once in divers Places and therefore cannot be moved towards contrary Points at the same time or so as to be subservient to the contrary Wills of divers Persons at once but are so bounded and determined in their Natures as to be only ordered or disposed of according to the Will of one Person alone or else of divers consenting or conspiring to the same End or Design For if Men should think thus to make use of them they would be so far from conducing to their Benefit or Preservation that they would only tend to their Hurt and Destruction since if the Stronger had a Right to take from the Weaker by Strength and the Weaker from the Stronger by Cunning and Surprize any of these Necessaries of Life which he was once possessed of yet when he had them he could be no more assured that he should keep them than he was that last possessed them since one Stronger or more Cunning than himself may yet come and serve him as he had done the other before and so on 'till all Men that enjoy'd them should be destroy'd and the Things contended for perish without use So that there could remain neither any Owner nor Thing to be owned § 23. From all which that hath been now laid down I shall draw some Conclusions of great moment to our Subject as 1. From this Knowledge of the Nature of Things and especially of our own Humane Nature we may learn that somuch celebrated Distinction of the Stoicks between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. those Things which are in our own Power and Disposal such as are the voluntary Motions and Inclinations of our Bodies and Minds and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Things out of our Power such as are those Corporeal Motions so violent and irresistible which we daily observe to proceed from the Nature and Frame of the World which we weak Creatures are not able to resist and from whose irresistible Force all things here below are in a perpetual flux whence also there happens to us Men a perpetual vicisfitude of Things as well Adverse as Prosperous as also of Maturation Decay and Dissolution So that this Distinction if duly observed will be of singular use as well in forming our Manners as governing our Affections For from hence we are taught not to expect any other or greater Happiness as a Reward of all our Labours and Endeavours than what may proceed from a prudent Management of our Rational Faculties and from those External Helps which we may expect Divine Providence will afford us in its governing the World by which means we may befreed from those fruitless Labours and Endeavours to which Men's vain Fears and groundless Hopes so often transport them Nor shall we too much afflict our selves for those Evils which either do now or may hereafter without our own Faults inevitably befal us whence the greatest part of those Troubles and Molestations which are wont to proceed from Grief Anger and Discontent at our present Fortunes or Conditions may by our Prudence or Patience be prevented Neither are we hereby only directed to the avoiding of Evils but here is also chalked out to us a more short and compendious method by which we may by degrees attain to those two greatest Blessings which can be enjoyed by us in this Life the Culture of our own Minds and the Government of our Passions § 24. I need not prosecute this Subject any farther but shall proceed to take notice of those obvious Observations to our Purpose viz. That it is evident from common Experience That the natural Forces or Powers of any one Person are too weak scanty and inconsiderable towards the obtaining all that Happiness he desires and is capable of to procure which he still wants the Help and Assistance of many other Persons and Things to render his Life safe pleasant or contented And further that it is in the Power of any one of us to contribute many Things towards the use of others of our own kind which we do not need our selves and which though of no use to us yet may be of singular use to their Happiness or Preservation But since we are certain from those known Bounds of our Power that we are not able to compel all those by force whose Assistance we stand in need of to co-operate with us towards this our main End and Design viz. Happiness there can be no surer Means or safer Defence left us than that by a constant offering and affording those Necessaries of Life together with our Assistance to others as often as it lies in our Power we may thereby probably render them likewise Benevolent and Helpful to us in the like Necessities or Occasions So that this Benevolence or Charity is only a constant Will and Endeavour of acting thus sincerely and diffusively whenever any Opportunity offers it self and that even in those Cases in which it may oftentimes be probably foreseen that no return can be immediately expected from the Person to whom the Benefit is done since however it still contributes to the general Good of Mankind of which that Person we so benefit is a Member Which general Benevolence doth not yet hinder but that we may bestow and exercise a larger share and higher degrees thereof towards those from whom our own long Acquaintance and nearer Relation may persuade us to hope for larger Returns of Friendship § 25. Whence we may in the next place observe That if our Assistance and other Things in our Power certainly contribute to the Use or Benefit of others they can only perform this as they are assign'd or appropriated to the particular Persons that are to make use of them according to some certain time and place So that if Right Reason prescribe a Use of Things and Humane Helps as necessary for the Happiness and Preservation of Mankind it as necessarily prescribes that this Use of these Things should be appropriated to them that are thus to use them for the time they stand in need of them and according
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
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
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