doth enfranchise him to doe what is truely best for the people though it be against their wills The question seemeth hard and therefore it is not amisse to note that truely best signifieth that it be not onely best if it had been fore-ordered or if it were in practise but that it be best to be brought into practise and that notwithstanding all dammages and dangers which are to be incurred in the setling of it Otherwise it is clear he ought to stand to his oath Another caution is that the Magistrate doe not onely think it so best but know it by certainty and science otherwise hee proceedeth not wisely to hazard a disturbance of the Common-wealth upon slight and weak appearances These two suppositions premised wee are to consider what it is that engageth the Magistrate on both sides And for his promise it is above declared that hee is engaged to it by the connaturality and beauty of Truth in Mans nature Now not Truth onely is conformable to mans nature but also that Noblenesse and Goodnesse that bindeth man to man which in its highest pitch that is as it looketh upon a Common-wealth or a little Mankinde is the beauty and vertue of a Governour Againe I see a Governour hath in himselfe as it were two Truths or degrees of truth belonging to his person One which is the publicke Honesty either considered betwixt him and his subject or some aliens and this forfeited maketh his publick credit weak and unfit for the use of Governement the other is but a splendour reflecting on his own person by which hee appeareth in the face of honour and a man of his word For this latter it is very evident the affection to the publicke ought to oversway it because being but a private good it should doe homage to those vertues which carry a man to the common interest For the former the dammage ensueing is to bee esteemed and poised against the profit or necessity of the Common-wealth For if it bee evident that the good of the change openly and vastly exceeds the dammage proceeding from the discredit cleerly hee is bound to admit of the discredit to purchase the advantage accrewing by the change But where there is none or little difference there the ballance hangs upon quietnesse side and change is not to bee ventured on This seemeth so plainly and evidently concluded that a rationall man cannot resist it But to those who are used to maintaine their credit by custome more then by reason it is a bolus of hard digestion to tell them they must break their word for the common good and seemeth to bee of the same nature with that famous definition of an Ambassadour witty in England harsh in other Nations that Hee is sent ad peregrè mentiendum pro patriâ which where the equivocation of lying abroad is not understood is in verity a scandall to Statesmen whose negotiation hangs so tenderly on their credit that it once being broken they have lost a principall instrument to penetrate the hearts on which they are to work Therefore let us see whether the high Magistrate in proceeding as wee have declared does truly force the rampart of veracity so necessary for a Governement Let us first begin with his promise and consider what it is Hee is entrusted to doe for the common good and the reason why hee is entrusted is because the entrusters conceive themselves either through their incapacity or attendance to other imployments ignorant of what is truly the common good They entrust him therefore with more then they understand and so his power is to proceed according to his understanding though it crosse theirs Hee then of necessity must bee false to his Oath if hee doe not according to his trust act for the common good what hee evidently sees in a high degree to import it Further because wee know in morall businesses the end aimed at is more principall then the means ordered to it and hath such a command over them that they are to bee or not to bee according as is fitting for the end And in the Oath or Promise of our high Magistrate if hee observe his limitations he destroyeth the end for which they were put Hee offends against both his Oath and Fidelity to his people if hee maintain such limitations when hee is obliged for the publick good that is when hee ought to break them Yes but replieth the man who thinketh himselfe wedded to an outward and seeming honesty in this cause howsoever at least hee breaketh that part of his Oath in which hee swore directly to those limitations Let us therefore see even that point and ask what was the peoples will in exacting his Oath or Promise Doeth any one will what hee understandeth and knoweth not If one should say to another I give thee what is in that trunk in which himselfe had put a suit of apparell and without his knowledge his servant had taken that out and put in bags of gold to the same bulk would any Divine or Chancery Judge or prudent person assert he were bound to bestow on that promissary all his gold which was in the trunke I thinke not and the reason is because it is the will and understanding which hath the power to give strength to a promise or contract and here the will is wanting for hee knew not what he said nor intended to give any thing but a suit of clothes How many promises doe Divines and Lawyers pronounce null though they were good and valid when they were made by reason of the change of accidents following which could not be foreseene If one promise his Daughter in marriage to his neighbour and shee dyeth is he bound to fulfill his engagement or seeke his neighbour another wife Nay if the neighbour be discovered not to be the man he was taken for not to have a competent estate and such like conditions he may justifie the disperformance of his promise nor shall he forfeit his credit if he doeth not keepe his word but rather if he do be accounted a weak man Now to come to our purpose let it bee supposed the people were made understand when they exact the promise from their Magistrate that such limitations would destroy their peace and contentment doth any one think they would binde their Governour to maintaine them If they would not t is evident howsoever their mouthes pronounced the words their hearts were ignorant and inculpable of such an exaction for they knew not what they did they understood not nor meant what they spake But suppose that truely they knew the incommodities that were to follow and yet they would have them observed For this happeneth often in this our subject that some especially great men and sometimes the populace understand the inconvenience of a Law and yet for private interest will have it maintained What then is the duty of the supreame Magistrate who is sworne to maintaine the said Lawes The question is clearely answered by
if two actions be proposed whereof the one is better for him then the other the lesse good action deprives him of some good which the more good had brought him his inclination leads him to do the better and by consequence to know and dispute which is the better which is as much as to chuse betwixt them and this we call being free or having naturall Liberty to do one and not the other So that the Nature of Man is to be free and to act what ever he does because it seems to him the best Whence it is evidently concluded that the perfectest way and most connaturall for governing men is by making them determine themselves to their actions and to proceed freely and act as it were by their owne inclinations This if the Governour can effect hee shall finde both his intent generally performed because the Subject proceedeth with much affection and courage and seldome or never will his Commands be resisted or their obedience repented For men are not wont to repine often at what themselves chuse and judge best for themselves especially if even after the action performed and peradventure the attempt failed yet the Subject remaines satisfied that it was best for him in those circumstances to do what he did Now if the reasons were solid when the Governour proposed them such must of necessity be for the most part the sequell Experience maketh this same as manifest as Reason concludeth it What Mother or Nurse doth not seeke to perswade and win the yet sucking childe with gay things with Flattery and such demonstrations of Love that is of the childs good as the child is capable of What Master or Father draweth not his Boyes to schoole and sitting exercises by promises and proposalls of good as play goodcheere fine cloathes and any other toyes suitable to their tempers The stronger ages have stronger Motives as of Honour Lands Offices and the like by which we see the most part of men led not onely to Labour but even to hazard their lives and those very goods which are proposed them for motives of their actions On the contrary side how ill do those enterprises thrive where the Actors conceive themselvs either not concern'd or wrong'd How diligently are excuses sought out and easily found and every cause of delay judged sufficient How readily if the Actours be in great multitudes as Soldiers or Schollars do seditions and mutinies spring up and all disorders grow bold and spread themselves the Commander of the action hated and esteemed an oppressour and a Tyrant his Officers scorned and disobeyed This then is of all hands concluded that the proper and naturall way of Governement is by making the obeyer understand that it is his owne profit which the action aimes at so to make him work out of the inclination of his owne will and the dictamen of his owne understanding The Second GROUND That the Nature of Man reacheth not to the perfection of Governement NOtwithstanding this inclination be so naturall to us yet Nature is not able to make it perfect in most both persons and actions Children are not come to the ability of judgeing some others are so grosse of capacity they cannot bee brought to understand their owne good at least in that time and circumstances which Nature hath provided them Most spend so much of their day in some one Businesse which they have chosen either for their Livelyhood or pastime that they have not sufficient Leasure to attaine the Knowledge necessary for other occurrences of their life Even the greatest Wits are not capable to understand the nature of all things necessary to their owne private conditions The Prince himself must trust the Physician the Lawyer the Mariner the Soldier the Merchant the Cook the Brewer the Baker and divers other Trades and Knowledges which he hath no possibility to understand so perfectly as to be a Master in them Neverthelesse Nature doth not recede wholly from her Principle in thus subjecting one mans understanding to anothers and the greater most times to the lesser For it doth not this otherwise then by making the party subjected see it is his owne good to trust another's skill Wherefore it is true that he followes his owne inclination and is ruled by his owne understanding and so governes himselfe onely hee is a degree higher not busying his thoughts about the particular worke but onely about chusing the master of the worke or about his own submission that is his owne action as he is a man and his action as that of a man and not of a Physician or Pilot or such other particular discipline or Quality It remaines therefore still that hee is free and Master of his owne action and the commanding part of it The Third GROUND That a Rationall beliefe is necessary to Humane Action OF those things to whose knowledge wee cannot our selves arrive but must rely on the credit of others there are two kinds some purely to be believed others to be also acted As when we informe our selves of what passed in some forreigne Country or of the nature of Trees or Beasts wee never have use of wee are barely to assent to what is delivered But when a Physician telleth us wee must take a Purge or keepe such a Dyet wee doe not onely believe him but act according to our beliefe Now though in truth this second sort belongeth properly to our discourse apart because the nature of pure beliefe is intrinsecally included in it as a part in the whole yet wee must first note the Errours to bee avoided in a meere speculative assent And these are two one of defect and one of excesse The vice by defect warnes you to believe no thing but what your selfe understand that is indeed to believe nothing at all But were these men bound to their own Law that they should take no Physick till they knew it would doe them good at least as well as the Physician doth nor trust their cause to a Lawyer till they understood the subtleties as perfectly as hee and so in other vocations I doubt they would have neither health nor wealth for Physician or Lawyer to worke upon But because those who advance this proposition are persons of wit I must not think they stumble at so notorious a block Therefore their meaning is onely that wee ought not to beleeve but what we are able to understand if wee had will and leisure to study But even so explicated it is a most wilfull proposition reason being quite on the opposite side For let the Authority which denounceth me a Truth be sufficient to make it credible and overvalue the mysteriousnesse of the object and the higher it is above my knowledge the more necessity there is of believing it What is but a little above me I may easily come to know and so need not believe but take paines and see it Beliefe is ordained for Truths whose direct and immediate evidence wee cannot compasse and therefore is
multitude first it is fit to understand why men desire to live in flocks or multitudes Neither can any who hath never so little skill in nature doubt but as pleasure masters and heads all our actions so likewise doth it this of living in society The first community is of Man and Wife Who seeth not the power of pleasure in their mutuall society Aristotle out of experience teacheth us that we take pleasure in conversing with handsome persons And if wee consider pleasure to be nothing but the knowledge or sence of our being well or receiving some good and that the immediate cause of pleasure is the impression which some naturall or apprehended good maketh of its owne presence and that good signifieth connaturall or fitting for us wee shall perceive that Handsomenesse in our owne kinde must of necessity cause pleasure in us the impression it makes by our eyes being of the features and colour due to the perfection of our Nature a gracefulnesse not onely of gesture and voice but even of wit and discourse being regularly the ground of the outward beauty So that if Nature hath not miscarried all the parts and actions of a beautifull body are gracefull to nature and breed pleasure in others who injoy them by conversation and as it were communication This then is the first origine of meeting and living together as whosoever lookes into experience will easily discover For he will finde most men burthensome to themselves when they are alone and to seeke company to divert themselves so to elude the length of time I remember to have heard a Country fellow complaine of the losse of a Dog which was stollen from him and gave for his reason that he was to travell a whole night alone and the Dog would have beene an excellent companion to him Bees also wee know love company Horses not onely labour but even eate better amongst their fellowes and we often heare sickly stomachs thank those that visit them for the good meale they have made as if the company helped downe their meat Pleasure therefore and Love is the first combiner of men into Society The next is that God and Nature have so managed mankind that no one hath of himself as much as he desireth but regularly aboundeth in one kinde of goods and wants some other which his neighbour hath Hence they mutually affect Society to bee accommodated with such necessaries as they cannot have but by communication one with another In the third place comes Feare for hee that findeth himselfe stored with those things which hee and others love is subject to feare those whom hee suspecteth able to bereave him of them and so seeketh company of friends for protection Nor doth any one feare to lose but what he affecteth to have so that first love marcheth in the van and feare followeth in the reare Besides it is against all generosity and embases Nature it selfe to set the Throne of Feare above that of Love and agreeth neither with Philosophy nor Morality To make a step farther Granting once men to be desirous to live together and taking notice of the passions they are subject to and how self-love corrupteth the judgement of almost all in their own case it is evident they can never live in quiet and content unlesse there bee some way contrived of agreement when passion stirreth contention They must therefore necessarily give consent to end their controversies by some means And since reason is our nature and every ones reason freer to see the truth in anothers case then in his owne and a wise and good man fitter then a fool or knave the most naturall way for a multitude to live in peace is to have some man or men accounted wise and good chosen to whose arbitrement all the rest ought to stand the stronger part combining to force the weaker in case of resistance that is the disinteressed part which is the multitude to force the interessed which generally are but particulars if compared to the body of the people Here you see the nature of Governement begin to appeare But to make it perfect wee must farther consider That many commodities are necessary to a multitude which are to be furnished by common consent That likewise there are many forraigne enviers to a multitude which liveth handsomely and happily And in conclusion that to provide for goods and prevent evils in common is a matter of so great weight and difficulty that it takethup the whole life of one or more men and by consequence these businesses cannot be carried on by the whole body of the community whose worke and aime is to enjoy themselves to their proportion in getting by their labour those accommodations of humane life which they esteem necessary or conducing to their happinesse It solloweth therefore they must entrust some more or fewer to take care of the common concernements Such Trustees are called Governours and the commnnity is said to obey them and according to the principles forelaid you see the people are supposed ignorant of what ought to bee done for the publike this being a businesse requiring a mans whole time which they neither can spare nor doe desire to employ in this way You see they entrust others in whose prudence and goodnesse they confide and themselves execute what their Trustees think fitting either by practising when they are commanded or giving a sufficient force to their Governours to master such restif parties as will not obey In conclusion you see Governement is naturally a power or right of directing the common affaires of a multitude by a voluntary submission of the communities wills to the will of the Governours whom they trust upon opinion that they are understanding and honest and will administer the Commonalty by the rules of wisedome and goodnesse as is most convenient and advantageous for the people It seems to mee no moderate and discreet person can doubt but a Governement so ordered is both necessary and connaturall to a rationall multitude and in a word such as humane nature requires and is the best if not the onely that sutes to the disposition of free men and prudent The eighth GROUND Of the Authority given to an absolute Governour and of under-sorts of Governement BY this resignation of the Peoples will it is also evident the Magistracy receives such an activity and power as wee have explicated before did arise out of a mans promise to his neighbour and by consequence that the people as farre as they have renounced their owne will so farre they have no power left in them to contradict or resist the orders of the Magistracy I say as farre as the People have submitted their wills for since this power is in the Magistrate in vertue of their wills it cannot extend farther then the peoples promise So that if the people binde their Magistrates to certaine Lawes and Limits hee hath no right to transgresse such Lawes or extend himselfe beyond the prefixed limits by his installment
life and limbs and all that is estimable in this world is exacted as well in just and legitimate Governements as in those hideous Tyrannies But there is a recompence for it and the good of the whole reflecteth on the part and if one lose his life his children and relations at last feele the sweetnesse of it and this makes men hazard with courage and die with comfort And cleerly were there not this obligation no Common-wealth could stand What City could be defended if the Citizens would not venture their lives upon the walls What Army could bee managed if the Souldier would never be brought into the danger of death or would fly as soon as the bullets began to play about his ears all wrongs must be suffered at their hands who would expose their own lives to hurt others and no justice maintained or innocency defended Nature therefore makes it most cleer that such an obligation is unavoidable and the daily necessity of it beateth it out so flat and plaine that wee can no way escape so manifest an evidence But if it bee by the direction of nature certainly it is also rationall and hath some principles of its truth and reasonablenesse Now in Morality the reason of all action is the good obtaineable by it which if lesse or not greater then what wee hazard and peradventure lose in the attempt it is no good nor can bee a rationall motive of such an action We ought therefore to seeke out this great good Aristotle proceeds as cunningly in this businesse as became so wise a Master and according to his fashion where his skill reached not to explicate the particulars remained in common termes telling us that Bonum commune divinius est quà m particulare But in what this Divinity consists hee no where expresses Truly if there were a Platonick Idea of the particular's goods which might bee termed the common good I could understand that there were a Divinity in it but himselfe hath extinguished that flash of Plato's beyond reviving I understand also that the notion of common compared to the notion of individuall hath a kinde of excellency by its universality which rendreth it very august and lustrous and of a higher degree then the particular I know again the perpetuity a Common-wealth pretendeth to compared to the mortality of a single person vesteth it selfe with a kinde of infinity which giveth it a glorious appearance Nay when I see the same man work for a Common-wealth in a free way of doing it good and againe for a private friend I see a vast distance between his pretended ends and an eminent generosity in one over the other Whence I believe it cometh that Heroës and heroicall vertues are chiefly taken in respect of doing good to whole Countreys or Cities But when on the other side I see the same great Master teach us that Good is the same with Desireable and every ones good what is desireable to him I finde it is an intricate labyrinth of equivocation wherein wee endlessely erre while wee think that Good taken in common should bee accounted Good truly and properly As who would bee so wilde as to bend any strong labour here in England to profit the King of Persia or Siam if hee expected no good to reflect on himselfe by it Much lesse would any account it good to bee robbed or maimed because it was good to another who possessed his money or was afraid of him and yet if wee stick upon the common Notion of good without determining to whom it is good â—oth these must bee esteemed not onely goods but great ones for so they are to some body though nothing or harme to the esteemer Then to cry The Common good is a meere deceit and flattery of words unlesse wee can shew that the common good is as great to us as wee make it sound Neither can the authority of learned Nations and the many endevours of worthy men perswade us the contrary For these Nations generally were of Popular governements where plainly the common good was the good of them who were to reward the causes of it so that it was no wonder the Common good should be so highly exalted and cryed up where it was the particular good both to them to whom it was commended as also the commenders themselves were to arrive to their own private pretences through that notion of the common good The like is of all Princes and Governours who if they bee wise conceive the common good in most circumstances to bee compared to them as their own proper good It remaines therefore to see what may bee the ground on which an understanding man ought to value so highly the common good and expose his life and all that is deare to him upon the score of the Publicke Cleare it is that hee who ventures his life ventures all this world For if hee dies what reward remaines there in this world Fame is a slender recompence when the fruit of it which chiefly consists in being respected in company and having a power amongst his associates is once passed The good of his wife and children that may rejoyce a dying man but if there rest nothing after death it is a comfort which soon expires being indeed nothing but a flash It is then past dispute that for him who expects nothing in the next world there can bee no rationall motive of voluntarily endangering his life for the common cause if himselfe bee not particularly interessed in it I know Philosophers reply that there is no harme in death nor pain after it and wee are but as if wee never had been so they dispute to take away the feare of death But first I would ask them why even in such a case the fear of death should be taken away What signifieth this to a sound Philosopher to take away the love of his Summum Bonum of the end for which hee is to doe all his actions Againe if hee must embrace death upon what motive must he make his onset shall hee propose to himselfe none or a lesse good then hee loses or entertaine frantick apprehensions of glory after hee is nothing These are not answers for Philosophers and considerate persons but for some hare-brained fool-hardy flashes or doating Oratours who with a multitude of fine words can plausibly dresse up contradictions and non-sence This therefore remaines certain that there is no good to bee expected here equivalent to the hazard of death and consequently none can bee rationally valiant who sets not his hopes upon the next world And as before wee made it apparent that hee who was not constant to his Religion could have no rooted Honour or Honesty in him so now it is likewise evident hee cannot rationally bee either valiant himselfe or trusted by others in danger farther then hee is a foole Since then on the contrary side the nature of Common-wealths makes it beyond dispute that hazarding is necessary it is both evident there is another life to
bee expected and that it imports good Government to plant deeply in the breast of the subjects a rationall apprehension of it The cause therefore and solid reason why men ought to bee valiant is the hope of reward hereafter for doeing good to our neighbour here and the Common-wealth beeing our neerest and greatest Neighbour as including our Friends Parents Acquaintance and all of Mankinde that our knowledge reacheth to to performe service to It is certainly the greatest act of charity towards our Neighbour that is the highest externe act which God hath granted to us and consequently to bee preferred before all others and as such to expect a profit and recompence in the next life I know it may bee objected that in beasts also is to bee found a kinde of valour even to the hazard of their lives for their Mates and little ones and yet no reward of the next world can be pretended for them But wee are to reflect that beasts are not governed by any reason given them to governe themselves by but like Clocks and other Engines by the wit of their Makers and therefore it ought not to bee expected they should bee addressed to that which is their individuall greatest good as Man is by his Reason but onely to what is fittest for their Creators intention which being onely to continue them for the use of Man and this passion of audacity which wee see in them being fit for that wee are not to seeke a further reason for them to hazard their lives nor to draw any consequence from them to Mankinde whose propriety is to governe himselfe by the knowledge of his owne good and not to bee forced out of that for the good of any other so the notion of good bee rightly taken By this wee in part understand wherein consists the worth and excellency of a Magistrate and his Office to wit that all others ends being purely for the good of their private persons or family the Magistrates aime is at the universall good of the whole eternall body of the Common-wealth the extent of the persons the long and farre-sighted care and the abstraction from his private good manifestly exalt this function beyond comparison above that of private men and their intentions and placeth it as it were in an orb of honour proper to its dignity The eleventh GROUND The Quality and Rationall power of a supreme Governour THus is our supreme Magistrate or Governour mounted on his Throne of Justice and Soveraignty Hee hath for his strength that right the People have bestowed on him devesting themselves by this submission from interposing in Common affaires He hath besides the strength of the People both their Wealth and Swords being delivered up to him so that if he bee wise he can make himselfe and his Lawes obeyed But chiefely he hath his owne Prudence and Goodnesse which is supposed to be the choicest that could bee found in that people and the Credit of it to be his strength and support For if we looke into it As we see that in the naturall generation of Governement the people truely intend to be governed by one whom they esteeme the Wisest and Best amongst them so afterward when they apprehend their Magistrate no Solomon yet they still conceive he is the best they can obtaine or prudently aime at That is if they should attempt to change it would bring greater inconveniences then their continuance under this weaker Magistrate So that as it were the Essence and Forme of his power to governe is Wisdome and Goodnesse at least such a degree of both as is supposed and apprehended the greatest possible according to the circumstances wherein they are His End wee finde to bee The common good and to that is he wholly and adequately bound by his owne Goodnesse by the peoples Intention by his owne Acceptance by the nature of the Charge it selfe and by the very forme of his life and Profession In so much that he faileth from his Duty from the expectation of his Subjects and his owne Goodnesse if he doth the least action for his private interest or otherwise then out of his esteeme that it is for the greatest good of the Common-wealth And truely if it bee duely considered we may plainely see that his private interest is not distinguished from the publick For how can it be First for Honour 't is plaine the welfare of his Subjects is his highest honour Their knowing they are well by him and so their love to him his strongest security Their expressing still on all occasions content with his actions and esteeme of his person his greatest pleasure and in fine the more wealth they have the greater Commander is he so that really this private interest if he be indeed a good Governour is the true felicity of his People I doe not by this intend to cut off from Supreame Magistrates that promise and magnificence wee see usually in persons of that quality But whereas it may be practised either for pride and vanity that is to procure an esteem of the private merit of the Magistrate or else to facilitate the governement by the awe and reverence it printeth in the Subject I expect the supreame Magistrate to be so discreet as to understand the former is meerly a shadow or faint and fading colour the other a reall profit and necessary instrument and so to be embraced for the good of the people Neither must wee leave our Magistrate here but transplant our discourse into a new consideration For if he hath gotten a Commission he hath not by that lost the quality of a rationall wise and good man but joined to that a new obligation of being new fixt upon the Common good as the effect and scope of the actions of his whole life Insomuch that to determine the quality of his action we must make one complexe of the whole person and aske What a wise and noble minde haveing such limitations upon him by word or oath engaged in his installment may or ought to do concerning the limitations And first it is undoubted on both sides that neither may he without great cause make a breach in those hedges his way is fenced with nor if he make some small and inconsiderable breaches that hee violates therefore his oath For the nature of humane action is such as not to consist in an indivisible but of it selfe to have a morall Latitude our understandings not being able to reach to such small and petty differences as nature maketh and our operations containe as far as they depend from nature But the Question cometh When some great fault discovers it selfe in the limitations and the end of Governement is prejudiced by such a defect and neverthelesse it is no doubt but 't is the intention of the people or the Trustees of the people to binde their Magistrate to such conditions Whether in such a case he be bound to his orders and oath or whether the duty of a wise and good man
discovered or no For this clearely remaineth voluntary and is ordered to make the failing rare and to acknowledge a defect and fault in the not observing and so hath not that crossing of the will and that force which one feeleth when he is discovered and by authority chastised So that in conclusion there is but one sort of Law in all these and that binding the Subject in force of his promise and oath to the proportion of his concurrence to the Common good by his act of Obedience The Fourteenth GROUND In what conditions the Subject may resist Governement NOw to returne to the former part it is evident if it be rationall to resist the Governement it will be lawfull also to break and remove it For these two actions are of the same nature and in truth pure resistance and disobedience is the annulling it For Governement consisting in the power of commanding that is of having no resistance to resist is not to acknowledge it but maintaine there is no such power at least in this case that is to take it away in this case that is to set another Judge or knower when obedience is due and when not that is not to keepe the Subject in the nature of ignorance in which is grounded his being a Subject This being the nature of this disobedience or resisting the Magistrate is bound with all his strength to crush and breake it and by consequence it draweth along the concussion of the whole state if the Subject bee able to make good his resistance Out of this it is cleare that a Subject may not use this resistance but in case when it is fitting to attempt the dissolving of the Governement It followes first that it cannot be done but when the occassâ—on is greater then the value of the publick peace and good of the Common-wealth No man therefore can justly attempt such a disobedience to save his owne life and goods or the life and goods of his owne family how great soever if contained within the bounds of a private family or but a part of the Common-wealth Now how farre this extendeth I dare not subtilize it being a kinde of morall consideration and a prudentiall esteeme to weigh it in particular the common notion reaching no farther then that it be not so notorious a part of the Common-wealth that it bee a homogeneall part of it such as is fit to make a Common-wealth of it selfe to determine whose nature is not the intent of our present embarquement The next consideration is that neither an universall harme if moderate and such as may bee supported with lesse dammage then followes out of the State is a sufficient cause of resistance to the Soveraigne Magistrates command As for example an enormous Taxe such as was thought to be that which revolted Guienne from Edward the third of England or the Low Countries from Philip the second of Spain as both their wars may well testifie in which the taking of any one Towne was of more consequence then all such a Taxe would have been How farre this also reaches is not for mee to esteeme Who should aske me if the Governour exacted for one time all the Subject had so there remained a ground to worke upon of new and within a little time to live contentedly I should be troubled to confesse it were a sufficient injury to take up armes against him because I cannot judge which were the greater mischief to the Subject Thirdly if the wrong be of that nature as to ruine the whole Common-wealth yet not suddenly but after many yeers if often repeated I cannot allow it a sufficient cause of open resistance The reason is cleere for on the one side there is no inconvenience so small but in processe of time may grow to bee the ruine of the Common-wealth if it bee often repeated and so excessively multiplied and on the other side long time breeds so great changes or at least is subject to them that the pure nature of the offence is not able to justifie a rebellion and breach of unity in a Common-wealth and so not the resistance to the Governour How much the time in which the ruine would follow should bee to make it a sufficient cause who can judge Onely this wee see that what will not ruine in a set time wil never doe it and I have seen people live happily where it was said they paid the value of their whole subsistance to their Magistrate once in seven yeers Nor doe I pretend by these instances to set any rule for enfranchising the subject more then this When evidently the tyranny of the Governour is greater then the mischiefe hazarded When ever this happeneth bee the materiall conditions what they will the subject is free And if this bee not whatsoever the circumstances bee the subject ought not to stirre For this and this onely is the finall cause measuring all attempts What is best for the People and knowne it is that if it bee not evident to bee better to stirre it is evidently better to remaine quiet for not-a-cause is sufficient for not changing but for a change and such a change it ought to bee a cleer and evident abbetterment There is further to be looked into what part of the Common-wealth it ought to bee that is sufficient to justifie such a quarrell For as there is no doubt but the whole Common-wealth that is such a portion of it as makes the Governours party inconsiderable is sufficient so there will bee lesse doubt on the other extreme if the number resisting bee a pure single part it is not sufficient to proceed to this extremity The question then is whether the party rising ought to bee the major or equall or at least inconsiderably lesse then those who side with the Magistrate But here wee must observe the greatnesse of the Common-wealth divided For if such parts bee of themselves fit to make Common-wealths nothing considered but the quantity or the number it cannot bee doubted but that will susfice now what that quantity is belongeth to another science Besides all these considerations there remaineth another that it can bee effected For who is to attempt an action ought as well to weigh the cost of compassing as the worth and recompence when it is compassed so that unlesse the hazard of missing and the labour of obtaining beeing both added into the ballance with the present quiet bee all overswayed it cannot bee prudently done to engage for a change Some will tell mee never did people expect with so much patience as I require And your Gallants who pretend to generosity will exclaime it is better to dye in the field then suffer such indignities Nay some will think or at least vaunt it fitter to lye in prison or rot in a dungeon or seeke his fortune in Barbary then to be under such a slavery My answer to these last Gallants is that they should first try what it is to rot in a Dungeon or to wander
For since it was meerely his possession and the interest of not changing or troubling the Common-wealth which oblig'd the Subject to maintaine him it being supposed his owne desert did condemne him this change and trouble of the Common-wealth being now turned on the other side and another in possession clearly neither he hath any right left nor the Subject any obligation to maintaine but rather oppose him Now if his desert be doubtfull then is it also doubtfull whether he hath right or no and certaine that the common good is not to be disturbed for it Nature teaching that wee need no reason to be quiet and remaine where we are but that to make a change we must see a strong cause and motive The next case is if he be innocent and wrongfully depos'd nay let us adde One who had governed well and deserved much of the Common-wealth yet he is totally dispossess'd and so that it is plaine in these circumstances it were better for the common good to stay as they are then to venture the restoring him because of the publicke hazard It is cleare in this case there is a comparison betweene the generall good of the Common-wealth on the one side and the particular of this man or family on the other Let us then put the case on his part and see If he be generous if he hath setled in his heart that every single man ought to preferre the common Interest before his particular safety profit or honour if hee bee fit for a Governour that is one that is to espouse the common good as his owne individuall what he will in honour and conscience resolve whether hee bee not obliged absolutely to renounce all right and claime to Governement and if he does not hee bee not worse then an Infidell For if he that hath no care of his Domesticks be reputed so with how much more reason he that is ready to plunge a whole Nation in blood for his owne Interest Let us cast the accompts on the other side and see that the Subjects aime ought to be the publicke peace and quiet enjoyment of their lives and interests It will appeare that if hee bee bound to renounce his claime they cannot be oblig'd to maintaine it and besides that they are wilfully blinde if where the whole concernements of themselves their wives and children lie at the stake they will venture all for an aereall fancy without regard to the end of Governement publicke peace meerely for the meanes this mans Governement without whom the end may be obtain'd It cannot therefore be rationall on either side for a dispossess'd Governour to be restor'd with hazard unlesse it be certaine the succeeding Governement be a pure Tyranny and so the dispossess'd person necessary for the quiet and peace of the Common-wealth and therefore that both sides pretend the good of the Common-wealth as well hee that is to be restor'd as those who seek to restore him But some cry he had right he hath not deserv'd to lose it Justice must be done whatever follows on it happy they that are unfortunate in so good a Cause they shall not lose their reward however it fares with them now Well for them if this plea will serve them in the next world nor will I dispute whether the evidence of what I deliver be so great as that ignorance may not excuse them That question belongs to the Tribunall of God onely I must say that before men who are clad with flesh and whole hearts cannot be pierced by other mens guesses the Law is that not onely the intention bee good but also the action be intelligent and prudent otherwise we are subject to believe that some vanity or secret hopes doe byass the actor and make his proceeding irrationall I must also tell them that this principle Fiat Justitia ruat coelum is seldome practised amongst the wise who all agree that Charity and Prudence ought still to moderate the rigour of Justice It is also too metaphysicall for a morall way to thinke that Justice is a Platonick Idea in the concave of the Moone no waies to be changed by circumstantiall occurrences Whereas the truth is Justice is but a partiall and commanded vertue and that which governes in man is reason or his owne nature and inclination to make all his actions connaturall and fit for a rationall Creature and so may consult whether Justice be in some to bee administred and pronounce that Summum jus est summa injuria But the capitall in this matter is that truely there is no justice on either the Magistrates or Peoples side to binde to the restoring him both these depending on the promise made and the force of the promise being none since the ground of it is changed For the substance of the promise made to a Magistrate is To obey him as a Magistrate that is as farre as is fitting for the Common-wealth and peace he being nothing but the instrument of the common good Now take away that fitnesse for the Common-wealth and that which gave strength to the promise is gone and the promise it selfe is no more a promise nor can any obligation arise from it Who knows not that the promise of any man depends on his intention his intention on his knowledge his knowledge reacheth no farther then his consideration and present memory when he maketh the promise So that in nature a promise reacheth onely to presupposed and thought on circumstances and who when he sweareth to a Magistrate expecteth to see him dispossessed and turned off Nature annulleth promises as when we promise to come such a day and either die or are imprisoned before Morality annulleth them as if we promise to run such a horse against another a month hence and the horse in the meane time falleth lame who will condemne the master for not venturing on such a race Is not the man better then his word If then the man himselfe bee lesse then the common good which he must violate by keeping his word can his word be greater But a promise must many times bee kept even with losse of life I deny it not But first I must bee assured it is a promise which before I have declared to bee none For our case is case of Nature not of Law we admit no presumptions nothing what he meant to doe or should have done wee onely regard what was done Secondly if it were intended to be so promised it was wicked and irrationall for to promise to regard a private mans good against the common is unnaturall and wicked therefore it never was a promise can never binde as such nor be professed with honour either to be made or if made to bee kept I need not insist upon the confirmation by oath for every one understands if the Oath be but a confirmation of a precedent promise and there were no promise there can be no oath to have the nature and force of an oath So that this is
not free now as before but because circumstances are changed and now render it fitting But I said that in the case I put they could not choose but speake My case was that Then a Governour is acknowledged when the People casting off the care and thoughts of innovation fall to their trades and manufactures Can it be deny'd that by so doing they acquiesce to the present Governement which if they doe can it be questioned whether they consent or not to the repealing of all such Lawes as cannot stand with the present Governement Such Lawes therefore are repealed not by deputies but by the Deputants and Masters of the Deputies The Lawyer therefore must either proclaime the present Governement none or not plead Law against it for it is pure folly to admit both that is faire and full contradiction In a new Governement all Lawes prejudiciall to it are annulled by the pure admission of it Other indifferent Lawes so goe on as to bee subject to its judgement whether and how farre to stand but a wise Governour will continue them as farre as hee can with prudence because innovation is contrary to the sweetnesse which is in custome as in a kinde of nature The Conclusion BEE this then so resolved That God himselfe hath no irrationall and dead title of Lordship over his Creatures but onely his all-right-setled Understanding and irresistible Omnipotency And as hee hath none in himselfe so likewise not given any to those hee hath put in Authority but that their power is either in the submission of the Subject by promise and agreement or in the rationall disposition of the Magistrate which maketh him work what is conformable to humane nature and the obedience or obligation to obey in the Subject is out of this That hee hath entrusted the Magistrate with the Governement and is by that to suppose he doth regularly what is best all things considered for the common good That by consequence the title of the Magistrate begins and dies with the good of the Common-wealth and holdeth purely so long as it is good for the people That no Lawes made by the power or agreement of men can judge betwixt Subject and Soveraigne in dispute of the common good and Governement but onely the Tribunalls of God and Nature or Divinity and the science of Politicks And therefore the maximes of Law have no force in these questions Now if Princes lose their pretences by the force of Nature it is ridiculous for private men to build hopes upon rotten titles of ages long passed upon weake maximes of Law after Nature by her revolutions hath cast all Law and mortall acts and agreements And so is finished this small Treatise to the profit of them who are able and willing to make use of it Some by the method I have used something new in morall discourses may imagine the Doctrine I deliver to bee more subtle in explication then solid in practice But let them either looke into the Causes of Governements or the Effects they will see nature and practise both conspire to give testimony to the truth The cause of all morall effects if morally carried are the end and intention for which they are sought and endeavoured after This is manifest to bee the well-being of particulars under a Governement The practises which are the Effects will shew That Governements breake when it is not well with the Subjects but they are oppressed by the Governour That wise and good Governours are forced sometimes to breake disordered rules which hinder their free administration That people as it were forced by naturall changes violate the promises made to their Governours cast them off when they think them pernicious and proceed against them per viam facti as they speake in the Schooles not by Lawes which cannot bee made for such matters These are in a manner the whole subject of the precedent Discourse FINIS