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
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