are commonly received and practised by most Nations for their general usefulness and conveniency Yet it must be acknowledged that there is still required the Knowledge of God as a Legislator by whose Authority alone they can obtain the force of Laws The Proof of which tho' the most material part of the Question hath been hitherto omitted or but slightly touch'd by former Writers on this Subject But besides the Objections of some of the Ancients Mr. Selden and Mr. Hobbs have also argued against this Method tho' upon divers Principles and from different Designs the latter intending that no body should receive these Dictates of Reason as obligatory to outward Actions before a Supreme Civil Power be instituted who shall ordain them to be observed as Laws And tho' he sometimes vouchsafes them that Title yet in his De Cive cap. 14. he tells us That in the state of Nature they are but improperly called so and that tho' the Laws of Nature may be found largely described in the Writings of Philosophers yet are they not for this cause to be called Laws any more than the Writings or Opinions of Lawyers are Laws till confirmed and made so by the Supreme Powers But on the other side Mr. Selden more fairly finds fault with the want of Authority in these Dictates of Reason considered only as such that he may from hence shew us a necessity of recurring to the Legislative Power of God and that he may thereby make out that those Dictates of Reason do only acquire the force of Laws because all our knowledge of them is to be derived from God alone who when he makes these Rules known to us does then and not before promulgate them to us as Laws And so far I think he is in the right and hath well enough corrected our common Moralists who are wont to consider these Dictates of Reason as Laws without any sufficient proof that they have all the Conditions required to make them so viz. That they are established and declared to us by God as a Legislator who hath annexed to them sufficient Rewards and Punishments But I think it is evident that if these Rational Dictates can by any means be proved to proceed from the Will of God the Author of Nature as Rules for all our Moral Actions they will not need any Humane Authority much less the Consent or Tradition of any one or many Nations to make them known to be so Therefore tho' I grant this learned Author hath taken a great deal of pains to prove from divers general Traditions of the Iewish Rabbins that God gave certain Commands to Adam and after to Noah contained in these seven Precepts called by his Name and that those various Quotations this learned Author hath there produced do clearly prove that the Iews believe that all Nations whatever altho' they do not receive the Laws of Moses yet are obliged to observe the same Moral Laws which they conceive to be all contained under the Precepts above mentioned and tho' this Work is indeed most learnedly and judiciously performed and may prove of great use in Christian Theology yet I must confess it still seems to me that he hath not sufficiently answered his own Objection concerning Mens Ignorance or want of Discovery of the Law-giver for altho' it should be granted that those Traditions they call the Precepts of Noah should be never so generally or firmly believed by the whole Iewish Nation yet are they not therefore made known to the rest of Mankind and one of them viz. That of not eating any Part or Member of a living Creature is justly derided and received with scorn by all other Nations So that it seems evident to me that the unwritten Traditions of the learned Men of any one Nation cannot be looked upon as a sufficient promulgation made by God as a Law-giver of those Laws or Precepts therein contained and that all Nations who perhaps have never heard of Adam or Noah should be condemned for not living according to them especially when we consider that it is but in these latter Ages of the World that the Iewish Rabbins began to commit these Traditions to Writing and that it is most probable the ancient Iews knew nothing of them since neither Josephus nor Philo Judaeus take any notice of these Precepts in their Writings Therefore that the Divine Authority of those Dictates of Right Reason or Rules of Life called the Laws of Nature may more evidently be demonstrated to all considering Men it seemed to me the best and fittest Method to inquire first into their Natural Causes as well internal as external remote as near since by this Series of Causes and Effects we may at last be more easily brought to the knowledge of the Will of God their first Cause from whose intrinsick Perfections and extrinsick Sanctions by fit Rewards and due Punishments we have endeavoured to shew that as well their Authority as Promulgation is derived I know indeed that the greatest part of former Writers have been content to suppose that these Dictates of Reason and all Acts conformable thereunto are taught us by Nature or at most do only affirm in general that they proceed from God without shewing us which way or the manner how Therefore it seemed highly necessary to us that we ought to inquire more exactly how the force of Objects from without and of our own Notions or Idea's from within us do both concur towards the imprinting and fixing these Principles in our Minds as Laws derived from the Will of God himself which Work if it be well performed we hope may prove of great use not only to our own Nation but to all Mankind because from hence it may appear both by what means Men's Vnderstandings may attain to a true and natural Knowledge of the Divine Will or Laws of God So that if they practise them not they may be left without excuse And this Principle will likewise serve for a general Rule by which the Municipal Laws of every Common-wealth may be tryed whether they are Iust and Right or not that is agreeable with the Laws of Nature and so may be corrected and amended by the supreme Powers when-ever they have deviated from this great End of the common Good And from hence may also be demonstrated that there is somewhat in the Nature of God as also in our own and all other Men's Natures which administers present Comfort and Satisfaction to our Minds from good Actions as also firm Hopes or Presages of a future Happiness as a Reward for them when this Life is ended whereas on the other side the greatest Misery and most dismal Fears do proceed from wicked or evil Actions from whence the Conscience seems furnished as it were with Whips and Scorpions to correct and punish all Vice and Improbity So that it may from hence appear that Men are not deluded in their moral Notions either by Clergy-men or Politicians I grant the Platonists undertake to dispatch
the like Good-will from them than by doing them the same good Offices as often as it lies in our Power which we desire they should do for us and that this constitutes the happiest state Men are capable of in this Life viz. Peace and Concord not only among particular Men but also between all Common-wealths and Nations of which the whole body of Mankind consists so that it evidently appears that the true and Natural state of Mankind is That of Peace Love or mutual Benevolence and which indeed would require no other Rewards than what proceeds from it self were Man a Creature always governed by right reason and his own true Good Rewards and Punishments being Ordained for Men as too often govern'd by their Passions and Sensual Appetites and not according to the perfection of their Rational Nature Yet since it pleased God to Create Man a mixt Creature consisting of a Body and a Soul and being too often drawn aside by Passions not directed by right reason and to stand in need of Punishments as well as Rewards to keep him to his duty thence arises a necessity of His dealing with Man as a Legislator and of giving him certain natural Laws or Rules whereby to govern his Actions with certain Penalties and Rewards annext to them which Laws may be very well contracted into one single Proposition or practical Conclusion drawn from the Nature of God our own Nature and that of things without us by the Observations already laid down viz. That God wills or commands that all reasonable Persons should endeavour the Common Good of Rational Beings as the great End for which they were Created and in pursuance of which consists their own true Good or Happiness as in its neglect or violation their greatest Misery § 2. Having given you this summary description of the Laws of Nature as coming from its first Cause God I shall now explain the terms therein contain'd to avoid all Ambiguity and Exception 1 By Wills and Commands I do not mean any Commands by Words that being the method of God's Revealed and not Natural Will and so is not the Subject of this Discourse and therefore I do here only understand that Will or Command of God which is to be learned from the Consideration of his Divine Nature our own and that of all other things consisting not in Words but in Idea's that is true Conclusions drawn from right Reason but that words are not always Essential to a Law or that it cannot be made known to the Subjects without some set form of Speech may appear by Persons born Deaf and Dumb whom we often find to have Notions of a God and a Law of Nature though they were not convey'd in their Minds by Words or Writing for it is sufficient if the Will of the Legislator may be discovered by any other sit means or signs especially when as in this Law we now treat of there are such certain Rewards and Punishments annexed to their Observation or Transgression as may make it their Interest rather to observe than transgress them which is not only visible in Men but Brutes Since we see that by certain Signs imprinted in their Minds by the means of fit Rewards and Corrections Elephants Horses Dogs c. are made Susceptible of Humane Commands and as far as their Natures permit are governable by Laws of our Prescribing For we can shew them by such signs what Actions are to be done or omitted by them and certainly God hath not left us less plain demonstrations of his Will in reference to our Duty towards him from that Knowledge he hath given us of his Existence as also of our own Nature as I shall farther prove in this Discourse By Rational Persons I mean all those though of never so mean a Capacity who are able to make such easie and natural Observations and Conclusions as I have already laid down And therefore Children under the Years of Discretion Idiots and Mad-folks are still to be excepted from this Law who not having the actual use of right reason are not able to draw those Observations and Consequences from the Nature of things as are already laid down and which are necessary for the right understanding thereof By Endeavour I mean all such voluntary Actions which Persons of sound Minds can knowingly and deliberately perform towards the good of others without destroying or hurting their own true Happiness which endeavours though by many unforeseen accidents in the Course of Nature they may be often frustrated and so fail of their intended design yet when we have done the utmost we are able we have sufficiently perform'd our Duty since no Laws require the performance of more than is in our Power to perform By the Common Good of Rational Beings I understand the collective Happiness of the Deity as the head of them and that of all the individual Persons of Mankind existing together with us as the constituent parts or members and in which each Man 's particular Good and Happiness is included since it is impossible to endeavour the Happiness of others as voluntary Agents unless each particular Person whose duty it is so to do have first a right to preserve and make himself happy jointly with others in his Proportion to the whole Body of Mankind By true Good or Happiness I mean all those Goods whether of Body or Mind by which Men may be rendred truly Happy and contented in this Life and in that to come but in which whenever the former stand in Competition with the latter the Goods of the Soul are to be preferred that is the good of our better or Eternal part before that of our Body which is less valuable and temporal But I need add nothing here to prove That God is the Head of all Rational Beings and in what Sence we may be said to procure or endeavour his Good and Happiness since I have spoken so largely of that in the Preface to this Discourse and as for the difference between Natural and Moral good I have said so much concerning it in the Second Part in the Confutation of Mr. H's Sixth Principle that by Nature nothing is Good or Evil that it would be impertinent to repeat it here I shall now prove that this Proposition containing this Description of the Law of Nature is true that is agreeable to the Will of God as far as it is declared to us by what we are able to know of His Divine Nature or can collect from our own and the Natures of all things without us and that all the Moral Duties we owe either to God ourselves or others are contained in or may be reduced to this one Proposition Of our endeavouring the Common Good of Rationals in order to which I shall lay down these Propositions § 3. 1. That God in the first place Wills and Intends His own Glory and Service and in the next the Good and Preservation of all Mankind and of all particular Persons
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
as are necessary commodious living and a hope by their Industry to obtain them from whence I observe that the greatest part of these Passions which now incline men to Peace are but the same in other words which before inclined them to War For what is this Diffidence of another and this Anticipation which he makes so reasonable but a fear of Death or other mischief from those whom he thus goeth about to prevent And what is this desire of things necessary for life but a Branch of that Right which he supposes all men have to all things But granting that the same Passions may in some men produce different effects yet if these Passions that incline men to peace are more strong and powerful than those that excite them to War then certainly Peace will be their more constant and Natural State Since as Mariners relate the violent blowing of two contrary winds doth often in the Center of their Motion produce a Calm And therefore Mr. H. proceeds very rashly to lay such a great stress on those Passions which provoke men to War without also considering and putting into the contrary Scale all those that incline men to the contrary which certainly are more prevalent in most men For what can more strongly influence mens Actions than fear of Death and all those other miseries which he himself so lively describes to be the necessary Consequences of the State of War And whereas he tells us that reason suggesteth convenient Articles of peace I think I have sufficiently proved that Reason is so far from needing Articles of peace that it can never prompt considering men to believe themselves naturally in so dangerous and miserable a State as this which Mr. H. supposes much less to fall into it on purpose without any just cause given But since this Author undertakes to give us many Reasons why mens Passions will not permit them to live in peace as well as divers other Creatures whom he confesses can do so without Laws We will a little examine those Reasons he brings Why mens Nature will not naturally permit them to live in peace as well as those brute Creatures and therefore I shall put them down in his own Words as you may find them in his Lev. Chap. 17. § 10. It is true that certain living Creatures as Bees and Ants live sociably one with another which are therefore by Aristotle numbred amongst Political Creatures and yet have no other Direction than their particular Iudgments and Appetites not Speech whereby one of them can signifie to another what he thinks expedient for the Common Benefit And therefore some men may perhaps desire to know why mankind cannot do the same To which I answer First That men are continually in competition for Honour and Dignity which these Creatures are not and consequently amongst men there ariseth from that ground Envy and Hatred and finally War but amongst these not so To which I reply That these Civil Honours about which he supposes these Contentions do so often arise amongst men have no place in the State of Nature being not known amongst men before the Institution of Commonwealths and therefore they cannot in this State which he now treats of contend for them more than Brutes So that the only true Glory and Honour which can be found out of a Civil Government is as Cicero very well defines it in his Tusc. Quest. the agreeing praise of good men and the uncorrupted Suffrages of those that rightly judge of excellent Vertue But all the Vertues being contained under the study of the Common Good of Rational Beings from thence alone can spring the praise of good men And the desire of such Honour is so far from causing a War against all men that as from a contrary Principle men may by this be excited to the exercise of all those Virtues which Mr. H. himself allows Lev. Chap. 15. to be the necessary means of Common Peace and Safety § 11. His Second Reason is that amongst these Creatures the Common Good differeth not from the Private and being by nature inclined to their Private they procure thereby the Common Benefit But Man whose joy consisteth in comparing himself with other men can relish nothing but what is eminent To which we may reply that Mr. H. has done us a Courtesie in acknowledging before he is aware that even out of Civil Government there is some common and publick Good which may be indeed procured even by Brutes themselves And he has elsewhere also told us as in his Treatise De Homine Chap. 10. the very last Words But we suppose the knowledge of the Common Good to be a fit means to bring men both to Peace and Vertue because it is both amiable in its own Nature and the surest defence of each man's private Good And sure its difference in some cases from the private good of some men is no sufficient Reason why men should rather fall out and fight among themselves than Bees or Ants whose Common Good is likewise distinguished from the private But as for what he affirms concerning the Nature of men if it be universally understood of all men as his words seem to intend 't is false and spoken without all manner of proof unless we must be sent back to his general Demonstration of these things in his Introduction to his Lev. when he advises every man to this Rule Nosce teipsum and therefore would teach us from the Similitude of the thoughts any passions of one man to those of another thereby to know what are the thoughts of all other men upon the like occasion Perhaps Mr. Hobbs knew himself very well and was sensible there was nothing more pleasant to him than comparing himself with other men and so could relish nothing in himself either as his own Natural Endowments or acquired Improvements but what was more eminent and greater than other mens and from thence gathered the same thoughts to be in all others But he ought to have shewn something in the nature of man from whence it is necessary that all men should so judge for certainly all that are truly rational can know from the true use of things and from the necessity of their own Natures how to judge concerning their own things whether they are pleasant or not and to what degree they do delight them without comparing them with those of other men So that indeed none but the foolish or envious can only be pleased as far as their own things exceed those of others But if he would have this censure only to concern such men it will not then afford a sufficient cause of an Universal War of all men against all And though perhaps Strife and Contention may be begun amongst such envious foolish People yet the strength or reason of the more prudent and peaceable may easily restrain it that it shall never hurt or destroy all men by making them enter into a state of War against all § 12. His Third
Reason is That these Creatures having not as man the use of Reason do not see or at least think they see any fault in the administration of their Common business Whereas amongst men there are very many that think themselves Wiser and Abler to govern the Publick better than the rest and those strive to Reform and Innovate one this way another that way and thereby bring it into Distraction and Civil War To which we may thus Reply That this Reason offers nothing whereby men may live less peaceably among themselves if they were in the state of Nature and Subjects to no Civil Government than Brutes But in this state mens Natural Propensions to universal Benevolence and to the Laws of Nature would have some place notwithstanding what he hath here alledged to the contrary as I have sufficiently proved in the precedent Discourse Nor doth he here offer any thing whereby men could less agree among themselves to institute a Common-wealth for this is the thing whose causes we are now seeking for But he only objects something which will hinder them from preserving it when it is instituted and therefore this will also shake all the foundations of Peace even in a Commonwealth when it is made never so firm according to his own model But we do well to consider whether mens Reason does not more powerfully promote Peace and Concord by detecting many errors of the Imaginations and Passions than it doth Discord by its fallibility about those things which are necessary being but few and those plain enough Besides men do not presently make War as soon as they suppose they spy out somewhat they may blame in the Administration of publick Affairs for the same reason which discovers the fault does also tell them that many things are to be born with for Peace sake and sugggests divers means whereby an emendation of that fault or miscarriage may be peaceably procured So that I dare appeal to the Judgment of the indifferent Reader whether the condition of Mankind is worse than that of Brutes because it is Rational and whether Mr. H. doth not judge very hardly of all men by making their Reason guilty of all these miseries which in other places he imputes only to the Passions and from this cause would prove that men must live less peaceably with each other than Brute Creatures In short Mr. H's Answer is nothing to the purpose for our inquiry is concerning the obligation of the precepts of Reason in the state of Nature and his Answer is That most mens Reason is so false as that it would dissolve all Commonwealths already constituted § 13. His fourth Reason is That these Creatures tho they have some use of voice in making known to one another their desires and other affections yet they want that art of words by which some men can represent to others that which is Good in the likeness of Evil and Evil in the likeness of Good and augment or diminish the apparent greatness of Good and Evil discontenting men and troubling their peace at their pleasure The force of which Answer is no more than this That because it sometimes falls out that the common People are moved to Mutiny and Sedition by a specious or sophistical Sermon or Oration that therefore men as having the use of Speech cannot maintain peace among themselves which consequence is certainly very loose for he ought to prove that all men do necessarily and constantly make such Speeches tending to Civil War and Sedition and also that such Speeches when heard do constantly prevail on their Auditors or the most part of them that they should presently take up Arms For it may be that even the Vulgar may see through such false and specious Speeches and may not suffer themselves to be deluded by them It may also happen that they may rather give credit to the peaceable Speeches of the more wise and moderate as founded upon more solid Reasons And it may be that they will rather consider the true weight of the Arguments than the empty sound of the Words and certainly mens rational Nature leads them to do this for they know they cannot be fed or defended by Words but by Actions proceeding from mutual Benevolence What then doth hinder but that the Eloquence and Reason of the Good and Peaceable may not often prevail with which both the Reason of the Speaker the true interest of the Auditors and the nature of things do all agree But I shall speak no more of this Subject now having in the precedent Discourse sufficiently proved That men receive much greater Benefits from the use of Speech though it may sometimes be the cause of Civil Discords and Wars than they do Evils and Mischiefs thereby And I suppose Mr. H. himself were he alive would confess that Mankind would not be rendered more peaceable or easie to be governed had they been all created dumb or else had all their Tongues been cut out by the irresistible power of his great Leviathan the Civil Soveraign § 14. His fifth Reason is That irrational Creatures cannot distinguish between Injury and Damage and therefore as long as they be at ease they are not offended at their Fellows Whereas man is then most troublesome when he is most at ease for then it is that he loves to shew his wisdom and controul the Actions of them that govern the Commonwealth By which Antithesis he would infer That men live together less peaceably than Brutes because they distinguish between Injury and Damage But we think much otherwise and that most men would more willingly suffer some damage even done by other men so it be not done injuriously And I acknowledge that all the distinction between these two is founded in the knowledge of Right and Law which indeed is only proper to men But that this Knowledge should make them more prone to violate the publick Peace and to trample upon the Laws and Rights of their Superiors I can by no means admit much less that Subjects that abound in peace and riches are more apt to envy their Superiors and to shew their wisdom in finding fault with their Rulers or that the Subjects of England for example who God be thanked enjoy both sufficient peace and plenty are more apt to find fault with their Governors than those in France or Turkey where they are poor and miserable by Taxes and other Severities or that they can even there forbear repining at the cruel Treatment of their Rulers though perhaps their Spirits may be so debased and their Powers so weakned by this oppression that they may not be so able to shew it by publick discourse much less by resistance and so free themselves from this Tyranny as perhaps they would do if they had sufficient Riches and Courage And that I conceive is the true reason why this Author is such an Enemy in all his Books to the happiness and wealth of the People whom he would all along make Slaves
all these Difficulties a much easier way only by supposing certain innate Idea's of moral Good and Evil imprest by God upon the Souls of Men. But I must indeed confess my self not yet so happy as to be able thus easily to attain to so great a Perfection as the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature by this natural Instinct or Impression And it doth not seem to me either safe or convenient to lay the whole Stress of Natural Religion and Morality upon an Hypothesis which hath been exploded by all Philosophers except themselves and which can never alone serve to convince those of Epicurean Principles for whom we chiefly design this Work But whosoever will take the Pains to peruse what hath been written against these innate Idea's by the inquisitive and sagacious Author of the late Essay of humane Understanding will find them very hard if not impossible to be proved to have ever been innate in the Souls of Men before they came into the World Therefore as I shall not take upon me absolutely to deny the Being or Impossibility of such Idea's so I shall not make use of any Arguments drawn from thence in this Discourse Though I heartily wish that any Reasons or Motives which may serve to promote true Vertue and Piety may prevail as far as they deserve with all sincere and honest Men. And the same Reasons which deterred me from supposing any natural Laws innate in our Minds have also made me not presently suppose as many do without any due proof That such Idea's have existed in the Divine Intellect from all Eternity And therefore I looked upon it as more proper and necessary to begin from those things which are most known and familiar to us by our Senses and from thence to prove that certain Propositions of immutable Truth prescribing our Care of the Happiness or common Good of all rational Agents considered together are necessarily imprinted upon our Minds from the Nature of things and which the first Cause perpetually determines so to act upon them And that in the Terms of these Propositions are intrinsecally included an evident Declaration of their Truth and certainty as proceeding from God the first Cause in the very intrinsick Constitution of things From whence it will be also manifest that such practical Propositions are truly and properly Laws as being declared and established by due Rewards and Punishments annexed to them by him as the supreme Legislator But after it shall appear that the Knowledge of these Laws and a Practice conformable to them are the highest Perfection or most happy State of our Rational Natures It will likewise follow that a Perfection Analogous to this Knowledge and a Practice conformable to these Laws must necessarily be in the first Cause from whence proceeds not only our own Natural Perfections but also the most wise Ordination of all Effects without us for the common Conservation and Perfection of the whole Natural System or Vniverse which our Eyes daily behold For that is look'd upon by me among the things most certainly prov'd That it must be first known what Iustice is and what those Laws enjoyn in whose Observation all Iustice consists before we can distinctly know that Iustice is to be attributed to God and that his Iustice is to be considered by us as a Pattern or Example for us to imitate Since we do not know God by an immediate Intuition of his Essence or Perfections but only from the outward Effects of his Providence first known by our Senses and Experience Neither is it safe to affix Attributes to him which we cannot sufficiently understand or make out from things without us Having now shewn you in general the difference between our Method and that which others have hitherto followed it is fit we here declare in as few words as we can the chief Heads of those things which we have delivered in this Treatise Supposing therefore those natural Principles concerning the Laws of Motion and Rest sufficiently demonstrated by Naturalists especially such as depend upon Mathematical Principles since we have only here undertaken to demonstrate the true Grounds of Moral Philosophy and to deduce them from some supposed Knowledge of Nature and as they refer to our Moral Practice I have here therefore supposed all the Effects of corporeal Motions which are natural and necessary and performed without any Intervention of humane Liberty to be derived from the Will of the first Cause And 2dly which Mr. H. himself likewise in his Leviathan admits that from the Consideration and Inquisition into these Causes and from the Powers and Operations of natural Bodies may be discovered the Existence of one Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Being which we call God So that every Motion impress'd upon the Organs of our Senses whereby the Mind is carried on to apprehend things without us and to give a right Iudgment upon them is a natural Effect which by the Mediation of other inferiour Causes owes its Original to the first Cause From whence it follows that God by these natural Motions of Causes and Effects delineates the Idea's or Images of all natural and moral Actions on our Minds And that the same God after he hath thus made us draw various Notions from the same Objects does then excite us to compare them with each other and then joyn them together and so determines us to form true Propositions of the things thus singly received and understood So that sometimes a thing is exposed whole and all at once to our View and sometimes it is more naturally considered successively or according to its several parts And the Mind thereby perceives that the Notion of awhole signifies the same with that of all the several Idea's of the particular parts put together and so is thence carried on to make a Proposition of the Identity of the whole with all its parts And can truly affirm that the same Causes which preserve the whole must also conserve all its constituent parts and then from a diligent Contemplation of all these Propositions which may justly challenge the Title of the more general Laws of Nature we may observe that they are all reduceable to one Proposition from whose fit and just Explication all the Limits or Exceptions under which the particular Propositions are proposed may be sought for and discovered as from the Evidence of that one Proposition which may be reduced into this or the like Sence viz. The endeavour as far as we are able of the common good of the whole System of Rational Beings conduces as far as lies in our Power to the good of all its several Parts or Members in which our own Felicity is also contained as part thereof Whereas the Acts opposite to this Endeavour do bring along with them Effects quite opposite thereunto and will certainly procure our own Ruine or Misery at last Therefore the whole Summ of this Proposition may be reduced to these three Things 1. That which concerns the Matter of it
not but you will find in the Body of this Discourse that it hath all things necessary to render it so viz. God considered as a Legislator and his Will or Commands sufficiently declared to us as a Law from the very constitution of our Natures as also of other things without us and likewise established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this life and the next neither do we suppose it can be more evidently proved that God is the Author of all things than that he is also the Author of this Proposition concerning the common good of rational Beings or concerning his own Honour and Worship conjoyned with the common Good of mankind And tho' I confess we have been more exact and have dwelt longer upon the Rewards that we may expect from the observation of this Law than upon the Punishments which are appointed for the breach of it and tho' I know the Civilians have rather placed the Sanction of Civil Laws in Punishments than Rewards yet I hope we have not offended tho' we a little deviate from their Sense and make it part of the Sanction of this Law that it is established by Rewards as well as Punishments since it seems more agreeable to the Nature of things whose foot-steps are strictly to be followed to consider the positive Idea's of Causes and Effects in our minds and which do not receive either Negations or Privations by our outward Senses and our Affections ought rather to be moved by the Love or Hopes of a present or future Good than by the Fear or hatred of the contrary Evil For as no man is said to Love Life Health and those grateful motions of the Nerves or Spirits which are called corporeal Pleasures because he may avoid Death Sickness or Pain but rather from their own intrinsick Goodness or Agreeableness with our humane Natures so likewise no rational Man desires the Perfections of the mind to wit the more ample and distinct knowledge of the most noble Objects the most happy State of rational Beings can only give him and all this not only that he may avoid the mischiefs of Ignorance Envy and Malevolence but because of that great Happiness which he finds by experience to spring from such vertuous Actions and Habits and which render it most ungrateful to us to be deprived of them and so the Causes also of such Privations are judg'd highly grievous and troublesome From whence it also appears that even Civil Laws themselves when they are established by Punishments e. g. by the fear of Death or loss of Goods if we consider the thing truly do indeed force men to yield obedience to them from the love of Life or Riches which they find can only be preserved by their observation So that the avoiding of Death and Poverty is but in other words love of Life and Riches as he who by two Negatives would say he would not want Life means no more but that he desires to enjoy it To which we may likewise add that Civil Laws themselves ought to be considered from the end which the Law-makers regard in making them as also which all good Subjects design in observing them to wit the publick Good of the Commonwealth part of which is communicated to all of them in particular and so brings with it a natural Reward of their obedience rather than from the Punishments they threaten by whose fear some only are deterred from violating them and those of the worst and most wicked sort of Men. But tho' we have shewn that the Sum of all the Precepts or Laws of Nature as also of the Sanctions annexed to them are briefly contained in this Proposition yet it s Subject is still but an endeavour to the utmost of our Power of the common Good of the whole System of rational Beings this limitation of the utmost of our Power implies that we do not think our selves capable of adding any thing to the Divine Perfections which we willingly acknowledge to be beyond our Power So that here is at once exprest both our Love towards God and Good will to mankind who are the constituent parts of this System But the Predicate of this Proposition is that which conduces to the good of all its singular Parts or Members and in which our own Happiness is contained as one part thereof Since all those good things which we can do for others are but the Effects of this endeavour so that the Sum of all those Goods of which also our own Felicity consists can never be mist of either in this Life or a better as the Reward of our obedience thereunto So to the contrary Actions Misery in this Life or in that to come are the Punishments naturally due But the Connexion of the Predicate with the Subject is both the Foundation of the truth of this Proposition and also a Demonstration of the natural Connexion between this obedience and the Rewards as also between the Transgression and the Punishments From whence the Readers will easily observe the true Reason for which this practical Proposition and all others which may be drawn from thence do oblige all rational Creatures to know and understand it whilst other Propositions suppose Geometrical ones tho' found out by right Reason and so are Truths proceeding from God himself yet do not oblige men to any Act or Practice pursuant to them but may be safely neglected by most Men to whom the Science of Geometry may not be necessary whereas the Effects of the endeavour of the common Good do intimately concern the Happiness of all mankind upon whose joynt or concurrent Wills and Endeavours every single mans Happiness doth after some sort depend so that this Endeavour can by no means be neglected without endangering the losing all those hopes of Happiness which God hath made known to us from our own Nature and the Nature of things and so hath sufficiently declared the Connexion of Rewards and Punishments with all our Moral Actions from whose Authority as well this general Proposition as all others which are contained in it must be understood to become Laws So that from the terms of this Proposition it is apparent that the adequate and immediate effect of our thus acting and concerning which this Law is established is whatever is grateful to God and beneficial to Men that is the natural Good of all the parts of the whole System of rational Beings Nay further is the greatest of all Goods which we can imagine or perform for them since it is greater than the like good of any particular part or Member of the same System And farther it is thereby sufficiently declared that the Felicity of particular Persons is derived from this happy State of the whole System as the Nutrition of any one Member of an Animal is produced by a due Distribution of the whole Mass of Blood diffused through all the parts of the Body From whence it appears that this Effect must needs be the best since it
only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough The Contents of the First Chapter A Brief Repetition of the Preface That the Law of Nature can only be learnt from the Knowledge of a God and from the Nature of Things and of Mankind in general § 1. A state of the Question between us and the Epicureans and Scepticks § 2. The method proposed in what manner we are to enquire into the Nature of things and of mankind in order to prove certain general Propositions that shall carry with them the Obligation of Natural Laws § 3. The Soul supposed to be rafa Tabula without any innate Idea's Our method proposed of considering God as the Cause of the World and all Things and humane Actions as subordinate causes and effects either hindring or promoting our common Happiness and Preservation § 4. All the Laws of Nature deduceable from hence as so many practical Propositions and all our observations or knowledge of it reduceable to one Proposition of the highest Benevolence of rational Beings towards each other as the summ of all the Laws of Nature and what is meant by this Benevolence § 5. What things are necessary to be known or supposed in order to the knowledge of this universal Benevolence § 6. The Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition proved and what is to be collected from thence The true happiness of single Persons inseparable from that of Mankind The general Causes of its Happiness to be considered in the first place § 7. Therefore no Man's particular Happiness can be opposed or preferred before the Happiness of all other rational Beings The contrary practice unreasonable and unjust § 8. Yet that this Proposition cannot be of sufficient efficacy till we have proposed the Common Good of Rationals for the great End of all our Actions § 9. The Effects of this Proposition not prejudiced by the ill use of Men's Free-wills § 10 11. By what steps and degrees the Knowledge of this Common Good comes to be conveyed into our minds from the nature of things § 12. First Natural Observation that in our free use and enjoyment of all the outward Necessaries of Life and in our mutual administring them to each other consists all men's happiness and preservation from whence also proceeds a Notion of the Common Good of Rationals § 13. That Men are able to contribute more to the good and happiness of those of their own kind than any other Creatures § 14. Nothing a surer help and defence to Mankind than the most sincere and diffusive Benevolence § 15. Nor any thing more destructive to it than their constant Malice and Ill-will § 16. That these Principles are as certain as any in Arithmetick and Geometry notwithstanding the supposition of Men's free-will § 17. Yet that they are only Laws as proceeding from God the first Cause and as establish'd with fit Rewards and Punishments § 18. That from these natural and general Observations we attain to a true knowledge of the Causes of all Men's happiness and that by the Laws of Matter and Motion these Causes act as certainly as any other § 19,20 Hence arises a true notion of things naturally and unalterably good or evil § 21. That Men's natural Powers and the things necessary for life can neither be exerted nor made use of contrary to the known rules of Matter and Motion § 22. Some Conclusions deduceable from hence as that we chiefly concern our selves about those things and actions that are in our Powers § 23. No man self-sufficient to procure all things necessary for his own preservation and happiness and therefore needs the good-will and assistance of others § 24. None of these necessaries for Life can produce the Ends design'd but as they are appropriated to Man's particular uses and necessities for the time they make use of them § 25. From whence arises the Right of Occupancy or Possession which may be exercised even during a natural Community of most things § 26. That as this natural Division and Propriety in things is necessary to the preservation of particular Persons so it is also of Mankind considered as an aggregate Body § 27. That these Principles destroy Mr. H's Hypothesis of the Right of all Men to all things in the state of nature § 28. The necessity of a farther Division and Appropriation of things now Mankind is multiplyed on the Earth § 29. No Man hath a Right to any thing any farther than as it conduces or at least consists with the common good of rational Beings § 30. The knowledge of these natural Causes and Effects alike certain in a natural as civil State with a brief Recapitulation of the Grounds and Arguments insisted on in this Chapter § 31. The Contents of the Second Chapter MAN to be considered as a natural Body as an Animal and also as a rational Creature Some Observations from the first of these Considerations as that humane Bodies and Actions are subject to the same Laws of Matter and Motion with other things § 1 2. No Actions or Motions more conducive to Man's happiness than what proceed from the most diffusive Benevolence § 3. Mankind considered as a System of natural Bodies doth not make any considerable difference between them when considered as voluntary Agents endued with sense but that they rather act more powerfully thereby § 4. Men's greatest security from Evils and hopes of obtaining Good depends upon the good-will and voluntary Assistance of others § 5. Several natural Conclusions drawn from these Observations § 6. The like being found true in animate as well as inanimate Bodies will make us more sollicitous towards the general good of those of our own kind § 7. That loving or benevolent Actions towards each other constitute the happiest state we can enjoy and also it is ordained by a concourse of Causes that all rational Beings should be sensible of these Indications § 8. This proved from several natural Observations as 1. That the bulk of the Bodies of Animals being but narrow the things necessary for their preservation can be but few and most of them communicable to many at once and so requires a limited self-love consistent with the safety and happiness of others § 9. 2. That Creatures of the same kind cannot but be moved to the like affections towards others as towards themselves from the sense of the similitude of their natures § 10. Animals do never deviate from this natural state but when they are seized with some preternatural Disease or Passion which as oft as it happens are absolutely destructive to
Case proposed unless first all those Effects which may proceed from it in all its various Circumstances be duly considered and compared together So that the Contemplation both of the Causes on which Men's Safety and Happiness depends as also of the Effects which may be produced by their joint or concurring Forces and Endeavours must necessarily lead our Minds first to the Consideration of all other Men and next of our selves as a very small part of Mankind And in the next place that we proceed to contemplate this System of Things called the Visible World but more especially GOD as its Creator and Governour according to the Method laid down in the Introduction to this Discourse the Idea's of which being duly considered and digested in our Minds we may draw from thence certain Conclusions by which we may judge or determine what Humane Things and Actions are certainly and necessarily conducing to the Common Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings and in which every particular Person 's Felicity or Well-being is contained as a part thereof and in which Rational Dictates or Conclusions I shall hereafter prove this Law of Nature to consist § 5. No body I suppose will think it necessary to the matter in hand that I should here make Physical Disquisitions into the Natures of all Things that are the Objects of our Senses that being the Business of profess'd Naturalists It is sufficient for us to shew That all the Rules of Moral Philosophy and the Laws of Nature may be at last resolved into certain natural and easie Observations gathered from common Experience or else into certain Conclusions established upon the known Principles of Mathematicks and Physicks by which I do not only mean all those natural Laws of Matter and Motion in Bodies but also the Operations of our own Souls as far as we are able to know or enquire into them From all which by the Order of Natural Causes we may be led to the Knowledge of GOD their Creator and Ordainer and so may acknowledge Him as the only Cause of all these excellent Effects since this Nature of Things doth as well suggest to our Minds the Idea of a Creator as of the Things created and so supplies us with sufficient matter from which we may deduce all the Laws of Nature as so many true Practical Propositions though it is only the Knowledge of the First Cause or Creator that can stamp any Authority or Obligation upon them Now although there may be many Things collected from our Knowledge of several Beings in the World that may serve for our Moral Instruction and the cultivating of our Manners yet I shall for Brevity's sake only select some of the most material of them and such as may serve to explain our short account of the Law of Nature which notwithstanding several Authors have so much enlarged upon it I think may very well be reduced to this single Proposition viz. The most universal Love or most diffusive Benevolence of all Rational Beings towards each other constitutes the happiest State they can be capable of So that their Endeavour of the Common Good by this Benevolence is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and in which they are all contained Note That by this Love or Benevolence I do not mean only a fruitless Desire or Well-wishing but an active Affection exerting it self in all the Acts of Piety towards God Duty towards Parents Kindness and Gratitude towards our Country Friends and Relations and of Charity and Humanity towards all the rest of Mankind as often as any opportunity offers it self § 6. In the making out of which Description of the Law of Nature it is here needless to inquire into the Nature of our Souls and the manner of our Knowledge and Understanding since the former hath been so Learnedly perform'd by the Reverend Dr. Ward late Bishop of Salisbury and the latter so exactly done already in English by the above mentioned Author of the Essay of Humane Vnderstanding I shall only briefly suppose upon his Principles that our Souls do 1. From the very birth by degrees receive Idea's drawn from outward Objects by our Senses 2. That it is their faculty from divers single Notions or Idea's put together to come to make complex ones that is to make divers Propositions or Conclusions not only concerning their own inward Actings but also about all those outward Objects with which they are daily conversant and which may tend to the finding out the readiest means of attaining to and preserving themselves in the happiest State and Condition they are able to acquire These things being suppos'd it were needless to trouble you with any farther descriptions of this Love or Benevolence since every Person cannot but be sufficiently sensible of its Nature Degrees and various Operations that will but make any Self-reflection upon his own Inward Affections § 7. But as for the due Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition in which its Truth does chiefly consist it seems to me plain enough It being no more than to affirm That our endeavour of procuring all the good things in our Power and which are most conducing to our own preservation and Happiness and of all other Rational Beings is the best or chiefest thing that all Persons can do to render both themselves and all others as happy as their Natures will permit or can require and that there is no surer or more powerful means to be discovered by us whereby we may obtain a full enjoyment of all the good things of this Life and the hopes of that to come than by endeavouring our own Felicity in Conjunction with that of others So that from what I have already advanced the Reader may Collect these two Propositions 1. That the Foundation of all our Natural Happiness consists in an habitual determination of the Will to the utmost of its Ability and Perfection whereby we may be always ready and prepared to endeavour this Common good of Rationals 2. That the true Happiness of each Individual Person cannot be separated from that of other Rationals since the whole doth not differ from all its parts taken together so that this Proposition concerning this general or diffusive Benevolence is thus to be understood viz. Not to mean or only intend what any single or a few Persons may perform towards the procuring of their own private Happiness or that of their own Party or Faction distinct from that of the rest of Mankind but what all particular Persons may jointly contribute to render themselves and others happy that is what each of them may rationally perform towards the obtaining this Common Felicity For it ought first to be known in general what all Men are able to do or not to do towards any common end such as is the common happiness of Rationals and then what it is possible for any particular Person in this or that Case to perform for example towards his own private happiness as separate from
§ 12. I come now to consider that together with the knowledge of this visible World of which our selves make but a small part there is likewise convey'd into our minds by our Senses a certain knowledge 1. Of divers natural outward goods 2. And those not only peculiar to our selves alone but common to all those of our own kind 3. Of which goods some are greater than others and that good which hath none that we know excels it we may call the greatest or highest 4. Also of those some are commonly in our Power others we understand to exceed the narrow limits of our humane forces but since the Nature of these things is by two several ways discovered to us either more confusedly by common experience and daily Observation or else more distinctly from experimental Philosophy and the Mathematicks the former of these methods being easie and obvious to every one I shall rather make use of that whereas the other would be only proper for Philosophers and Mathematicians since the Grounds or Principles of the Law of Nature ought to be alike evident to the Illiterate as well as to the Learned for all are under the like obligation to observe them and therefore I shall only put you in mind of such vulgar and easie Observations which no Rational Man can dispute or deny and such as from which I undertake to prove that the Knowledge and Coherence of the Terms of this Proposition may evidently be deduced § 13. Our first Natural Observation therefore is that by our free use and enjoyment of those products of the Earth that come under the general Titles of Food Clothing Houses c. and also by that help or assistance which one or more Persons can afford each other Men may be preserved and live as happily and contentedly for several years as their frail Nature will permit And in the next place that these effects being not only agreeable but necessary to our Natures are naturally good as tending to their Preservation or Perfection and therefore by the same reason Men's affections from whence these outward things and acts do proceed and which produce all these good effects are conceiv'd under the notion of good Will or Benevolence which must be also good since whatever goodness is contain'd in the effects must be likewise in the cause And we are also sensible that by this Benevolence we are not only able to help our selves or some few Persons but many others as well by our advice as by our strength and industry especially when we see divers others of our own kind who are able and seem also willing to requite us in the like manner So that each of us in particular may be provided with a sufficient stock of all the necessaries of Life by our mutual help and assistance all which would not only be wanting to us but we should be expos'd to innumerable mischiefs and hazards as also to a great want even of necessaries if all Persons looking only to themselves should always shew themselves ill-natur'd malevolent and enemies towards other Rational Beings whereas the contrary endeavours being thus helpful and necessary to so many others may easily and naturally produce in our minds a notion of this Common good of Rationals which from the obvious Similitude of Rational Beings to each other must equally respect all those which we have opportunity or occasion of knowing or conversing with as also those with whom we have not § 14. And I may add farther from constant experience that we are able to contribute more to the good and assistance of those of our own kind than any other Creatures because their Nature and consequently what is good or destructive to it is more evident to us from the knowledge we have of our selves than of other Creatures For as our Nature is capable of more and greater goods than they and in the attaining of which we can better assist each other so we must also confess it to be liable to greater Dangers and Calamities for the declining and removing of which God hath appointed our mutual Benevolence expressed by our endeavours and assistance of each other as the most suitable and necessary means thereunto § 15. And we may also observe that by our Advice and Counsel communicated by apt Signs or Words we are able to contribute many helps and conveniencies of Life to those of our own kind of which other Animals are altogether uncapable either of acting or receiving And farther because of the Similitude of those of our own kind with our selves we cannot but think it agreeable to our Rational Natures to do or to procure the like things for them as for our selves and can also be sensible of greater Motives to benefit Men than other Creatures since we have all the reason to hope that those we have thus done good to or obliged being moved by our benefits will make us a suitable return whenever it lies in their power and that they may one time or other in the like or some other way oblige us So that it is evident from Common Experience that there can be no larger Possession nor any surer defence for Mankind than the most sincere Piety towards God the Head of Rational beings and the most diffusive Love and sincere Benevolence of all Persons towards each other since if they prove malevolent or ill-natur'd they may easily bereave us of all things we enjoy together with our Life it self nor can the Love or Good-will of others be obtained by any more certain or powerful means than that every one should shew himself so affected in his Actions towards others as he desires they should be towards himself That is Loving and Benevolent upon all occasions though more particularly to those to whom we are obliged by Friendship or Relation § 16. Last of all the same Experience that demonstrates the mutual Benevolence of particular Persons to be the most powerful Cause of their Felicity does as necessarily teach us from a like parity of Reason that the Love or Good-will of any greater number of Men towards any the like number hath a-like proportionable effect so on the other side the constant Malice or Ill-will of all Men towards all express'd by suitable Actions would soon bring destruction to the whole Race of Mankind since it would soon destroy all the Causes requisite to their Happiness and Well-being and introduce a perpetual Enmity and War which are the certain Causes of the greatest Miseries and Calamities which can befall Mankind all which though Mr. H. himself acknowledges yet he will not own the necessity of Men's mutual Love and Concord to be also as necessary to their Preservation But why the Causes of Men's Preservation and Happiness as being Prior in Nature should not be more evident than those of their Destruction since the one is altogether as evident and necessary and may be as easily foreseen and prevented as the other I can see no reason and I should be
Occupancy or Possession since it is evident That this more exact Property or Dominion consisting in a stricter and more limitted use of these Things hath a greater efficacy in order to the Happiness and Preservation of that Nation or part of Mankind which have thus agreed to it than the bare Occupancy or Possession of these Things had before such a Division made or agreed upon nor can it now be altered however perhaps hard and unequal it may prove to some particular Persons since it will always conduce to the Happiness and Tranquility of each particular Civil Society or Commonweal that it should continue as it doth than it should be still altered according to every Man 's particular Fancy or Interest since such a Change can never be made without inconceivable Discontents and Civil Dissentions which would quickly end in open Violence and Hostility § 30. So that from these Principles here laid down there is no Right conferred upon any Man of doing whatever his own wild Fancy or unbounded Appetite may prompt him to but only what he shall according to right Reason truly judge necessary to his own or Family's Happiness and Preservation in order to the Common Good of Mankind Therefore I here desire you to take notice that whatever Right we enjoy even to the things most necessary for our Preservation it is founded if not in the Precept yet at least permission of this great Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings when we truly judge according to the Nature of things concerning the means necessary and conducing to this great End so that it can never be proved that any one hath a right of Preserving himself unless it be first made out how this Right of Self-preservation conduces to or at least consists with this Common Good Since no Rational Man can ever believe that God intended the Preservation much less the Sensual Pleasures of any one Man as the Sole End of His Creation Which Principle being once established as the Foundation and Original of all the Natural or Civil Rights we enjoy our own natural Powers and Rights will appear so limitted thereby that we cannot without injury and injustice violate or invade the Rights of others much less break out into open War against them without just Cause nay all those Arguments by which any one Man can assume a Right to Preserve himself by the Law of Nature will likewise be of the same force to prove that he ought to Preserve others also and that it can never become lawful for us in any State to rob Innocent Persons of what is necessary for their Well-being and Preservation but rather on the contrary that all Men's natural Rights should be secured from the mischiefs of unreasonable Violence and War and Contention which natural Security in a Civil State or Commonweal is highly improved and encreased by the Assistance of Humane Skill and Industry according to the established Laws of Property or Dominion § 31. I have spoken thus much concerning the necessary Connexion between the particular Actions above mentioned and the Common Good of Mankind that by considering their relation to this Great End the Nature of all Humane Actions may more certainly be known and predetermined Since the Dependance of natural Effects on their Causes are absolutely necessary and immutable for as well in the state of Nature or Community as of Civil Society or separate Property those Humane Actions which cause or procure that the minds of all other Persons should not be prejudiced by Errors Lyes or Perfidiousness nor their Bodies hurt nor their Lives Goods Fames and Chastities violated or taken away and also by which a grateful return is rendred to those that have done us good or in short all those Actions by which the true happiness of any one Man or more is procured without injury to others as they always were so they ever will be the certain Causes of the Common Good and Happiness of Mankind and are therefore distinguished by the Titles of moral Vertues as I shall more at large demonstrate in this Discourse when I come to shew how all moral Vertues are derived from and at last resolved into this Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings But least the variousness of the Observations treated of in this Chapter and their Independance upon each other should render them perplext and consequently unconvincing to Common Readers who may not be able to carry so long a train of consequences in their minds I shall contract what hath been now said into these few plain Propositions 1. That though all particular men are mortal and but of a short duration yet that God hath still preserved mankind without any sensible failure or decay 2. That in Order to this God hath made man to be propagated by Generation and also to be preserved by divers outward means which we call necessaries of Life 3. That these Natural means can no way answer this End but as they are allowed or appropriated to the uses and occasions of particular Persons during the time they stand in need of them and so cannot at the same time answer the different or contrary desires and necessities of divers men endeavouring to use these things after contrary or different manner 4. That the taking away those necessaries of Life which another is rightly possessed of doth not only cause the ruine and destruction of that Person and his Family who were thus possessed of them but by causing a perpetual strife among Mankind will render these things uncapable of being made use of at all for their Common Good and Preservation 5. That such a Strife if prosecuted to the utmost will certainly end in the destruction not only of particular Persons and Nations but of all mankind contrary to God's design 6. From all which we may Rationally collect that God designs the Preservation and Happiness of Mankind as also of all Individual Persons as parts of it as far as their frail and mortal Natures will permit and in subordination to the good of the whole body thereof 7. That therefore there are no surer means to procure this great End of the Common Good of Mankind than an Universal Benevolence towards Rational Beings consisting First in Divine Love or Piety towards God and in Respect of Men not only in permitting each other quietly to enjoy all the necessaries of Life but also in making a settled division of them to others so as to be appropriated to several mens uses or occasions which dictates being given us by God as a rule of all our moral Actions in the exercise of which is contained our truest Happiness as in its violation our greatest Misery is therefore truly and properly a Law and indeed the Summ of all the Laws of Nature CHAP. II. Observations and Conclusions drawn from the consideration of Humane Nature and Right Reason as also from the Nature of God § 1. HAving in the former Chapter drawn such easie
besides himself and that he doth truly observe the Laws of Nature towards himself by a temperate and a rational Life As also towards his Neighbour by observing that great Rule of doing as he would be done by in all cases towards others I say such a man tho' never so simple and ignorant in other things doth really contribute his share of endeavour towards procuring the common good And tho' he may not distinctly know all the true reasons and grounds of his own Actions yet if he thus lead his Life and observe all these Rules tending to this End I doubt not but that he will meet with all those Rewards intended by God for Vertuous Actions provided he have never heard of or at least wilfully refused the more perfect Law of the Gospel delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ when duly proposed to him Thus a Countrey Carpenter may deserve sufficient Wages and Commendation if he can build a House and honestly perform his Work according to those few practical Rules he hath learnt tho' he doth not understand all the Principles of Geometry or Architecture according to which all that he hath wrought may easily be demonstrated to him if he will but take the pains to understand them § 6. There is another Objection which this sort of men may make against our Method of finding out and demonstrating this great Law of Nature in that I make every man's obligation to endeavour it to arise from its being good or evil to himself alone whereby it may seem as if we supposed the honour of God and the common good of mankind were to be postponed and made subservient to the happiness of any particular person To satisfie which Scruple I do in the first place affirm that we do not intend any such thing since we have all along endeavoured to establish the quite contrary Doctrine For I assert that no man hath any Right properly so called to his own Life or Being but in order and as it conduces to the honour and service of God and the common good of mankind I shall therefore now more distinctly declare how these tho' some may think them contrary to each other do very well consist In the first place therefore I desire you to take notice that our Natural Obligation to this Law is not discovered by us in the same order and method as it is constituted by God in the nature of Things for our weak finite Understandings when acting without the assistance of Divine Revelation do slowly enough at first attain to the knowledge of Individual or Single Things and thence taking rise from such common effects as are most obvious to our Senses proceed to their more obstruse Causes until at length discovering one Infinite Being called God to be the first Cause and Creator of all things We from thence collect not only what is his Nature but also what is his Will whereby we do not only find that he is the best and most perfect Being But that as such he willeth and procures the good and preservation not of some few Singulars alone but of the whole Species of Mankind And lastly that he would have us men cooperate as subordinate tho free Agents to this End as the greatest and worthiest we can undertake Which tho' it be the last thing we come to the knowledge of yet is that which is first and chiefly intended by God as the principal object of our Knowledge and the main End of all our Moral Actions So that it seems evident this knowledge of our selves and of things thus learnt from experience and observation was intended by God only to serve as steps to raise us to that larger knowledge and nobler desire of pursuing the common good of Rationals as the sum of all our Moral Duties And that our Wills and Affections towards this end are not to be regulated or directed in the same order by which this common good comes to be discovered i. e. with a respect to our selves alone but from a true judgment concerning the measures of that natural good and perfection therein contained So that tho' we are at first indeed excited to the procuring our own happiness as the prime and most natural motive of all our Actions yet we come at last upon better consideration to discover that this happiness of ours is contained in our endeavours of the Common good of Rational Beings and is inseparable from it as the conservation of any of our particular Members is contained in the health and preservation of the whole Body § 7. And this Proposition that every single man's good is contained in the common-good proves indeed that the sanction of this general Law is by rewards and punishments to Every single man But that Every is not to be restrained to my self or any one man alone but extends alike to each other man or all men Since it is evident that these words Every man collectively taken amount to all men as every part collectively taken signifies the whole And tho' the main end intended by God the Legislator from such Rewards and Punishments are obedience to his Laws and the preservation of Mankind as his Subjects which are indeed of much greater value to him than the happiness of any one single person Yet will it not detract from the perfection or sincerity of this obedience if from the consideration of a man 's own particular happiness or misery he thereby comes to consider and understand that God hath commanded him to pursue an higher and nobler end than that alone yet to which his own happiness or misery are inseparably connected § 8. I come in the last place to these objections that may be made by men of quite contrary Principles and who will not acknowledge that we either can or ought to propose this common good as the Sum of all the Laws of Nature and the main end of all our Moral Actions Their first objection may be this That it seems not suitable to God's Infinite Goodness and Power and Wisdom in the Government of Mankind if he did really intend its good and happiness as we here suppose to permit so great a Design to be so often disturbed if not quite frustrated in divers parts of the World by the various Passions and unreasonable Appetites of so many violent wicked and unjust men which if Mankind is well considered do make up the greatest part of this Aggregate Body In answer to this objection I might tell those that make it that the true original of that depraved State of Mankind and from which all that Disorder which we now find in Humane Nature is derived was the Fall of Adam the first Father of Mankind who thereby conveyed a weakness of Reason and that prevailing Power which we feel in our sensual Appetites and Passions to all his Posterity whereby man is become very prone to Evil and too apt to transgress the Laws of Nature But I shall not insist upon this because the
that proceeding from God and established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments it hath all the Conditions required to a Law That the defect of other Writers in not taking the like Method hath been the cause of Mr. H's and others falling into this Error This Law not being given in any Sâ—t form of Words no Objection against its certainty or plainness Sect. 2. This Law of Nature being to be collected from our own Natures and that of things is capable of being known even by persons born deaf and dumb Mr. H. acknowledges these Laws to be properly so as proceeding from God His allowing that those Laws oblige only to a desire or endeavour of the Mind that they should be observed a meer Evasion Answer to his Objection of the want of Rewards and Punishments he himself having obviated this by confessing in his Lev. that they are established by natural Rewards and Punishments If the Law of Nature is not properly a Law then there are no natural Rights properly so call'd Sect. 3. Answer to his main Reason That we are not obliged to external Acts for want of sufficient security That if this were a sufficient Objection then neither Civil Laws would oblige Divine Punishments as certain as Humane Sect. 4. That mens greatest Security consists in a strict observation of all the Laws of Nature Mr. H. in some places acknowledges That if we do not observe the Laws of Nature we shall fall into other Evils besides those that proceed from the violence of Men. Sect. 5. Two Reasons proposed shewing the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The one the Declaration of all Civil Sovereigns concerning mens Innocency till accused The other from Mr. H's own Concession of a much greater Insecurity that will follow from their non-observation viz. a War of all men against all which is the most miserable State of all others Sect. 6 7. The Heads of the Tenth Principle That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the will of the Civil Sovereign That this is but a consequence of his former Principle That nothing is good or evil in the state of Nature his Arguments for this Principle Because it proceeds from Civil Laws that every man should have distinct Rights to himself as also should not invade those of others it follows that these Precepts Thou shalt honour thy Parents Thou shalt not kill c. are Civil Laws and that the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things yet implicitely for the same Law commands all Compacts to be observed and that to yield obedience when obedience is due was covenanted at the Institution of the Commonwealth and therefore whatever Civil Sovereigns command concerning these things must be obeyed since they alone can appoint what shall be yours or anothers or what shall be Murther Theft c. Sect. 1. Nothing written by Mr. H. more wickedly or loosely nor wherein he more contradicts himself than in this Principle The main foundations of which are already destroyed No Compacts made at the Institution of any Commonwealth which can be of greater force than the Law of Nature The dreadful Consequences that will follow from the contrary Principle Mr. H. allowing even Idolatry it self to be lawful if commanded by the Supream Powers That the Secondary Laws of Nature can never contradict or alter those that are prior to them as more conducing to the Common Good though Civil Laws may restrain or enlarge several particular Instances His Example of the Lacedemonian Boys answered Sect. 2. A Concluding Instance in answer to this from that Law of ours against relieving wandring Beggars Sect. 3. Uncertain whether Mr. H. broached this dangerous Doctrine out of ignorance or design of flattering Civil Sovereigns yet that by this he endeavours to destroy all Vertue and Goodness in Princes and all obligation of Obedience in Subjects whenever they are strong enough to rebel Sect. 4. The Conclusion containing an Apology for the length of these Confutations Sect. 5. The Second Part Wherein the Moral Principles of Mr. Hobbs's De Cive Leviathan are fully Considered and Confuted INTRODUCTION § 1 THough perhaps it may not seem unnecessary after so much as hath been said to prove the certainty and constant obligation of the Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of all Rational Beiâ—gs more particularly to confute the Principles of Epicurus and his Follower Mr. H. it being a true Maxim in other Sciences as well as Geometry Rectum est Index sui obliqui Yet since those Authors have not only poisoned the World with their pernicious Tenets but have also endeavoured to support them with the specious appearances of Reason and Argument it may be expected that we should say somewhat in answer to these Reasons and Arguments Mr. H. the Reviver of those Principles in this Age hath brought in his Book De Cive Leviathan to maintain and support them And therefore I have thought fit to add some Considerations and Confutations of them as far as they contradict the Principles we have here laid down and rather to put them here all together at the end than in the Body of our Treatise of the Law of Nature since there they would not only have interrupted the Coherence of the Discourse it self but would have also disturbed and taken off the minds of the ordinary Readers for whom I chiefly intend it from a due consideration of the truth and connexion of the things therein contained And therefore I have thought fit rather to cast them all together into a distinct part by themselves since if you are Master of that former Part of this Discourse you will easily perceive not only the Falshood and Absurdity of Mr. H's Principles but that it was from his Ignorance or Inconsideration of this great Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings that he first fell into those Errors and made private Self-preservation not only the first motive which had been true enough but also the sole end of all Moral Actions which is altogether false and below the dignity not only of a Philosopher but a Man I have therefore gone through all his Moral Principles in order and as for his Politick ones if these are false they will need no other Confutation and I have reduced them into certain Heads or Propositions and have truly given you this Sum of Arguments that no man may find fault with me for misrepresenting his Opinions PRINCIPLE I. Man is not a Creature born apt for Society § 1. MR. H. in his Philosophical Elements or Treatise De Cive Chap. 1. § 2. lays down and maintains this Principle and gives certain specious Reasons for it which because they are somewhat tedious and divers of them very trivial I shall rather chuse to contract them than be at the trouble of transcribing all that he hath loosely enough laid down for the maintenance of this Assertion referring you if you doubt whether I rightly represent his meaning to the Author himself in the place
above-cited He there in the first place supposes that Man is not a Sociable Creature because it could not be otherwise in Nature but only by accident for if Man loved Man naturally there could be no reason given why every one should not love every one alike as being alike Man or why he should rather frequent those in whose Society Honour and Profit is conferred rather on himself than others Therefore we do not by nature seek Companions but to be either honoured or profited by them These in the first place but those in the second And this he thinks he hath sufficiently proved by shewing us for what end men herd together and what they do when they are met for if they come together for Commerce-sake every one minds not his Companion 's but his own Interest If for Publick Affairs there arises a certain Court-friendship having more of mutual fear than love from whence often Faction but never Good-will is produced If for the sake of Mirth and Pleasure every one is wont to please himself in those things which raise laughter from whence he may as it is the nature of what is ridiculous by the comparison of another's weakness or infirmity become more acceptable to himself And he there proceeds to shew from several Observations he had made in the Companies he had kept That all men that converse together either for the sake or the instruction of others do only seek Company for their own profit or glory and not the good of others that is for the love of himself not of his Companions And therefore since Man can never seek Civil Society only out of a desire of glory and although the Profits and Conveniences of life may be encreased by mens mutual assistance yet since that may be much better procured by a dominion over others than by their Society no body can doubt but that men are more vehemently carried by their Nature when fear is removed to dominion than Society therefore it is to be laid down for a Principle That the original of all great and lasting Societies did not proceed from the mutual Benevolence of Men but their mutual Fear And by Fear as he tells us in the Annotation to this Paragraph he doth not mean only to be frightned but under that word Fear he comprehends any prospect of a future Evil as to distrust suspect beware and to provide that they may not fear to be also the part of those who are afraid § 2. Having given you the Author's Sense and in great part his own words I shall now proceed to make some Observations upon them and in the first place must observe That the main strength of his Arguments consists in the ill or false use of these words unapt for Society For if he only understands by them that Men are born actually unapt for Civil Society because they are Infants or else unexperienced of the Evils proceeding from the Wants thereof this is indeed a great discovery and worthy a Philosopher that Children or People without experience are not able to understand the meaning or force of Compacts or are unable immediately to enter into a Civil State Nor is his Reason any better That though Infants and persons of full Age though unexperienced partake of Human Nature yet being thus unapt for Society Man is not made fit for it by Nature but Discipline § 3. From whence I observe That he only takes the measure of Humane Nature from those Passions which precede the use of Reason Experience and Discipline And as they first and chiefly shew themselves in Children and Fools or persons unexperienced Whereas according to the Opinion of the best Philosophers we suppose the truer nature of Man ought rather to be taken from his utmost Perfection viz. his Reason or the power of deducing Effects from their Causes by which alone he is distinguished from Brutes And so the Will may incline us to those things which Reason shall judge most fit and convenient for our Natures And therefore Mr. H. doth very absurdly to oppose Experience and Discipline to Nature since whatever men learn by either of these they must still attain to it by the force of their Rational Natures and those Faculties of Reason and Speech which Brutes are not capable of And therefore the nature of a Creature is best judged of from the utmost Perfection it attains to As the Nature of a Plant is not to be taken from its first appearance or as soon as ever it peeps out of the Earth but from its utmost state of perfection when it comes to bear Flowers Seed or Fruit. And even that Experience to which Mr. H. attributes all our Reason he himself grants to be a natural and not acquired Power See his Leviathan Chap. 8. where treating of Intellectual Vertues he hath these Words The Intellectual Vertues are of two sorts Natural and acquired By Natural I mean not that which a man hath from his Birth for that is nothing else but sense wherein men differ so little from one another and from brute Beasts as it is not to be reckoned amongst the Virtues But I mean that Wit which is gotten by use only and experience without method culture or Instruction § 4. To conclude this Head I desire those Gentlemen of his Opinion to take notice That all Philosophers and Writers of Politicks as well as Mr. H. were not ignorant how unfit Infants and Grown Persons without experience or labouring under any unruly Passion were to enter into Leagues or Compacts or to perform any of the Duties of a Civil Society But yet for all that they supposed man to be born for those ends which by the force of his Rational Nature he may at last attain to unless something preternatural such as are those disorderly Passions or Diseases of the Mind intervene And Iuvenal's Saying is as old as true Non aliud Natura aliud Sapientia dictat And sure it is a childish Inference and favours more of Sophistry than true Philosophy to say Men are born Infants and therefore unapt for Civil Society Since any Country Fellow could have taught him better who thinks his Son born apt to be a Plough-man or a Grasier though he knows he will not be able to hold the Plough until he is twelve or thirteen years of age Nor yet to understand Grazing until he is able to ride and go to Market § 5. But let us now more particularly examine the Reasons this Author there gives us why Man is a Creature naturally unapt for Society which he will have to be only by accident Because if one man loved another naturally as man there could be no reason why every man should not love every man alike or wherefore he should rather frequent those in whose company he is most likely to get Honour and Profit Therefore we do not naturally seek Companions i. e. for their own sakes but either to gain Honour or Prosit by them These in the first place
else that they followed him and obeyed his Commands as their Father or Grandfather out of reverence to his Wisdom or Gratitude for his Benefits § 9. To conclude He himself there objects that men cannot grow up or live contentedly without the society and assistance of others And therefore cannot deny but men desire the society of each other their Nature compelling them thereunto But to come off from this Objection he will have nothing called Society but Commonwealths which says he are not meer Meetings but Leagues for making of which Compacts are necessary And therefore still argues that Infants and those that are unexperienced are uncapable of them c. Upon which I shall only observe That Mr. H. imposes upon himself and others by confounding that first and most natural amity and sociableness of Persons of one and the same Family as of Husband and Wife Parents and Children c. towards each other with that artificial Society which proceeding wholly from Compacts we call a Commonwealth So likewise he imposes on his Readers in the use of the words Nature and Natural as I have partly shewn already for by these words is commonly understood either something that is by Nature inseparably proper to its subject as to a Fish to swim and other things are natural and proper to a Creature not as a meer Animal but as of such a Species and at such an Age as for a Man to go upon two Legs and speak Lastly It sometimes signifies an aptness in a Subject to receive some farther perfection by culture and discipline with which Nature intended it should be endued So the Earth is intended by Nature for the production of Vegetables yet it doth not naturally bring forth all Plants in all places alike without Plowing or Setting yet are not these Plants so sown or set less natural for all that So likewise I have already proved that whatever perfection we attain to by the power of our Reason or Experience it is not less natural notwithstanding PRINCIPLE II. All Men by Nature are equal § 1. WHich he thus undertakes to make out in the Chapter last cited § 3. The cause of mutual Fear consists partly in mens natural equality partly in their mutual Will of hurting from whence it happens that we are neither able to expect security from others nor yet afford it to our selves For if we consider Men grown up and take notice how frail the Frame of a Man's Body is which failing all his force strength and wisdom fails together with it and how easie it is for any the most weak to kill the strongest Man there is no reason that any man trusting in his own strength should suppose himself superior by Nature to others For those are equal who are able to do the like things against each other but those who can do the greatest thing that is take away life are able to do like or equal things to each other therefore all men are by nature equal that unequality which now is being introduced by Civil Laws § 2. Before I answer which I shall first make these Concessions and Limitations First I grant That all Civil unequality of â—â—rsons is introduced by Civil Laws 2 dly â—â—at there is also such a natural equality among Men that there is nothing which one man can arrogate to himself as a Man but by the same reason which he judges it fit or necessary for himself he must also judge it alike fit and necessary for another man who stands in like need of it Thus if Victuals Cloaths and Liberty are things necessary for his own being and preservation they are likewise equally necessary for the well-being and preservation of all other men and consequently that they have a like right to them from which natural equality proceeds that great Rule of the Law of Nature To do to others as we would have others do to us And in this sense I agree with him that all men are equal so that in this sense it is so far from being a cause of war or dissention among men that it rather perswades to amity and concord Yet doth not this equality hinder but that there is notwithstanding a natural unequality of strength or power amongst men both in body and mind since any man that doth but observe the great difference there is in both the strength and understanding of some persons above others but will grant that there is as great or greater difference between some men and others than there is between some Brutes supposing Apes or Elephants and men in understanding Yet does there not any natural equality follow from the Reason Mr. H. here gives us That those are equal that are able to do the like things to each other to wit take away their lives For besides that there are some born maimed and cripled or else so void of understanding as not to have either the will or ability to hurt or kill others and if a Coward and a stout man are to fight or a very weak man and a strong will any man say that they are an equal match And this Mr. H. tells us That it is easie for the weakest to kill the strongest man he grants it must either be by chance cunning or surprize I grant indeed it may happen by chance and yet this will not make the match to be equal any more than it is in Cockfighting where the Gamesters will lay five to one on such a Cock's side against another set down to fight with him and though perhaps the weaker Cock may happen to kill the stronger by a chance stroke yet no man will therefore affirm that both these Cocks were equal by nature the same may be said of Men. But it may be replied That there is a great difference between Men and Beasts since though Brutes cannot yet a Man weaker in body or mind than another he would be revenged of may join or combine with one as wise and strong as his Adversary and then they will be an equal Match in point of strength If this were a good Argument it would prove more or rather contrary to that for which it is designed for this weaker man may combine with one as strong and wise as the other and then the odds will be apparently on the weaker man's side But if I should grant the utmost that can be asked that both these mens wit and strength taken together are still but an equal match to the other may not this wiser and stronger man as well also combine with others as wise and strong as himself and then will not the unequality be much greater than it was before And as for cunning or surprize it signifies as little since the stronger man may be as cunning as the other and may have also as good luck in surprising him at unawares but it is indeed a very trivial Argument to prove this natural equality because those are equal that are able to do the like things to
for any man to hurt or kill any other Person who had educated or maintained him or otherwise highly obliged him since the same Laws of Gratitude that make it injurious to hurt or murther his Father in the state of Nature do also command the like duty towards any other Benefactor § 4. But his Argument in his Leviathan is much more false and precarious when he argues That where there is no common Power there is no Law and where there is no Law there is no Injustice All which he brings to prove the necessity of his natural state of War For first though I grant where there is no Common Power that is no Legislator there is no Law yet that is not true of the Laws of Nature since if they proceed from God as a Legislator as I hope we have proved in the precedent Discourse they are truly Laws before any Civil Power was instituted to make Laws or to see them observed and consequently that it is the highest injury and injustice to take away any thing from others being innocent and doing us no hurt that is necessary for their Life or preservation which they are already possest of and though it is true that Justice and Injustice are no natural Faculties of the Mind yet right Reason is from whence all Justice is deduced and which a man is always bound to exercise as soon as he becomes capable of being a Member of Humane Society I do not mean a Civil one and if there be a natural Equity as this Author acknowledges De Cive cap. 14. § 14. there is likewise a natural Justice and Injustice too but I shall say more of this in the next Principle PRINCIPLE VI. That in the state of Nature there is nothing Good or Evil. § 1. I Shall here give you Mr. H's Opinion and his Reasons for it in his own words as they are in his Leviathan cap. 6. Whatsoever is the object of any man's Appetite or Desire that is it which he for his part calls Good and the object of his Hate and Aversion Evil and of his Contempt Vile and Inconsiderable For these words of Good Evil and Contemptible are ever used with relation to the Person that useth them there being nothing simply and absolutely so Nor any common Rule of Good and Evil to be taken from the nature of the Objects themselves but from the person of the Man where there is no Commonwealth or in a Commonwealth from the Person that represents it or from an Arbitrator or Iudge whom men by disagreeing shall by consent set up and make his Sentence the Rule thereof He speaks to the same effect in all his other Works as in De Cive cap. 4. § 17. in his De Homine cap. 11. which it were tedious here to repeat and therefore I refer you to the places I have here cited § 2. But this he endeavours Physically to explain in his little Treatise of Humane Nature cap. 7. § 1. compared with Chap. 3. where he supposes That the motion in which consists the conception of things without any intervention of the Iudgment passes from the Brain to the Heart and as it there hinders or helps its vital motion it is said to please or displease But that which so pleases any one he calls Good And that which displeases him Evil and hence from the diversity of Constitutions or Temperaments there are divers Opinions of Good that is naturally and necessarily so And in the state of Nature unblameably from his Opinion that judges it § 3. There is nothing that Mr. H. hath written more loosely and unlike a Philosopher than these unstable Opinions both of natural and moral Good and Evil. And therefore it is a matter of great moment to have a fixed and constant notion of Good because as long as this is fluctuating and uncertain all knowledge of our true Felicity which is the greatest Good of every man as also of the Laws of Nature and of all particular Vertues which are nothing but the means and causes of obtaining this Good will be likewise various wandring and uncertain § 4. Therefore although it must be confest that because of some peculiarity in the divers Temperaments of men it sometimes happens that one sort of Diet or Medicines may be hurtful to one which may not prove so to another yea which Experience hath approved not only to be innocent but wholsome for others Something like which may be observed in the Genius and Manners of Nations quite different from others in some particular Customs and Constitutions yet this doth not any more take away the common Consent of Mankind concerning the nature of Good and its constituent parts and degrees than the small difference of mens Faces takes away the agreement between them in their common Natures as Men or that general likeness that is between them in the conformation and use of their principal Parts For sure there is no Nation so barbauros which will not own that there are greater hopes and satisfaction in loving and obeying God than in blaspheming and disobeying of him There is scarce any Nation that is not sensible that filial duty towards Parents gratitude to their Benefactors love and kindness to their Friends and Neighbours fidelity in their Promises and Agreements are good and necessary for their own welfare and preservation and consequently of Mankind No difference of Temper makes any man in his Senses not perceive it to be good for all men that the Lives Liberties Estates and Members of all innocent Persons should be preserved And therefore that the killing or robbing of them should be every-where prohibited under the most severe Penalties Or lastly What peculiar humour in men can make them not think it good and beneficial for particular Families and Nations that the Conjugal Fidelity of the Marriage-bed the Chastity should be preserved inviolated The same may be said concerning the right of using and enjoying all those outward things that are necessary for life or conduce to our health fame honour the education of our Children and the preservation of Friendship since in their Judgment concerning the goodness of these things about which the whole business of the Laws of Nature and of most Civil Laws is taken up all rational men do as equally agree in their Opinions as concerning the whiteness of Snow or the brightness of the Sun Though I do not lay the main stress of their obligation to these Actions on this general Agreement since I have laid down contrary Principles in the foregoing Discourse § 5. But I shall now proceed to give you a more true and setled Notion of Good and Evil both natural and moral I therefore define Good in general to be that which preserves encreases or perfects the Faculties and Powers of one or more things for by these effects that peculiar agreeableness of one thing with another declares it self to us and which is requisite to make any thing to be truly called good for
both lawful and necessary But in his Leviathan in the Chapter here cited he first asserts the state of Nature to be a state of War and from thence argues all things therein to be lawful as you may see in the Conclusion of that Chapter where he tells us That by the same right that one man invades the other resists from whence arises a War on both sides just So that being not at all sollicitous about the Right of making War he only supposes this War must needs arise from the nature of mens Passions and Desires and this War being once supposed he positively asserts That it must follow though without any proof that there is in this State nothing just or unjust Indeed his way of arguing in his Leviathan is more plausible but less close than the former in his De Cive For all Persons of sense must agree that a War ought first to be proved just before it can be thence deduced what things are lawful therein even towards Enemies Neither doth himself suppose that all things are lawful even in the justest War for in his De Cive Annot. ad Art 37. cap. 3. he grants that Drunkenness and Cruelty are not to be practised even in War and therefore it is necessary that some natural Principles or Laws be first acknowledged by whose command or permission we may be able to judge of any War whether it be just or not or before we can thence infer those things to be lawful which are acted therein for otherwise even contradictory Propositions may be alike true and Titius for example might have a right to the Life and Goods of Sempronius if he thought them necessary for his own Preservation and so likewise Sempronius would have the same Right against Titius which would be contrary to all the Rules of right Reason and Equity and this is so evident that Mr. H. himself although in the latter part of this first Chapter De Cive he affirms That in the state of Nature there is no difference between just and unjust yet in the former part he endeavours to prove that this power of making War ought to be allowed to every man in that state as necessary to his own preservation which is all one as if he had affirmed this War to be just and lawful on both sides which is contrary to Reason But whatsoever proves any thing to be just and lawful in any State must likewise suppose that there is a difference between lawful and unlawful in the same State and must suppose some Law in force by whose command or permission at least that Act becomes lawful which as we endeavour to establish so doth Mr. H. as plainly destroy it whilst he asserts no difference between just and unjust but with what reason I shall leave it to the indifferent Reader to judge § 3. But since I have already answered those Preliminary Principles which he hath laid down in his De Cive to prove the necessity of this state of War there remains nothing else for us to do but to examine those new Reasons Mr. H. hath here given us in this Chapter of his Leviathan to prove this state of War to be both natural and necessary which he here deduces from three Affections in the nature of man 1. Competition for the same thing 2. Diffidence of each other 3. Glory to himself The first is manifest That during the time men live without out a Common Power to keep them in awe they are in that Condition which is called War Whence I cannot but again observe That this Author takes the natural state of Mankind only from their Passions without any consideration of Reason or Experience although he hath already supposed both of these to be natural Faculties of the Mind and the true nature of a thing is to be taken not from its imperfections or weaknesses but from the utmost perfection that it is by its nature capable of and therefore this Author hath dealt very preposterously to treat of the natural State of Man as of a meer Animal only governed by the force of his Passions whereas the principal part of Man and which ought to have the government over all the other Faculties is Reason or that Faculty of the rational Soul whose due use and exercise ought not to be excluded but rather conjoined with the operations of all the other natural Faculties by any Writer who will truly describe the Nature of Man nor yet are men necessarily impelled by these Passions as meer Machines are driven or moved by the Wind or Weights but that they may be governed and restrained by Reason or fear of future evil so that they do not hurry men into War by any natural or inevitable necessity Indeed those Ideas of the Mind which are necessarily generated therein from the impulse of outward Objects are not prohibited by the Law of Nature because we are design'd by God to govern those Actions only which are in our powers Whereas these Passions and Ideas from whence Mr. H. collects this state of War to be necessary are of this sort since being concerning things future and at a distance and depending upon mens reason and foresight they may be also governed thereby and Mr. H. himself acknowledges in his De Cive Chap. 3. § 31. That though men because of their different Appetites cannot agree of the present yet they may of the future and from thence acknowledges that Peace is to be sought as the foundation of all natural Law § 4. And therefore I think I shall be able easily to shew that every one of these three Master-Passions which he hath here described as the Causes of War ought if governed by Reason to persuade the contrary And in the first place for his Passion of Competition That when two men desire the same thing which they cannot both enjoy they become Enemies and in the way to their end endeavour to destroy or subdue one another Now certainly Reason in this Case will never incite a rational man to enter into a state of War with another for the obtaining of that which he hath a mind to as well as he For if it be a thing the other is already possessed of he ought by the Rules of Reason and Equity to let him enjoy it by right of Occupancy or Possession it being then necessary for his preservation or happiness and he himself if possessed of the like thing would think it reasonable that he should be likewise permitted quietly to enjoy it So that if he act by one Rule in relation to himself and by another in respect of all other men in the same Case or Circumstances this must be altogether unreasonable And Mr. H. himself doth sufficiently shew the grievous mischeifs of such an unreasonable way of proceeding when he tells us That from hence it comes to pass That where an Invader hath no more to fear than another man's single Power If one plant sow build or possess a convenient Seat
there hath been some signs or tokens of hostility expressed § 7. Yet he grants there was never such a condition of War as this that he describes generally all over the World But that there are many places where men live so now and Instances in many savage People of America where except the Government of small Families the concord whereof depends on Natural Lust they have no Government at all and live at this day in that brutish manner he hath before described But were it so as he affirms that brutish way of living which is in too many Particulars practised by these Savage People both in Affrica and America where they have almost lost all knowledge of a God or of a Moral Good and Evil Ought the Practice of such Barbarous People to be of sufficient Authority to prove that they live according to the true state of Human Nature or that they have a right to live and act thus in all things they thus unreasonably practice But had this Author read any true or exact relations of those Places in America he mentions he might have found that in many of those Nations even where there is no Civil Power to keep them in awe and tho' they have no other Government in time of Peace but that of the Fathers or Heads of Families Yet doth not their concord wholly depend upon Natural Lust For besides the Government of Husbands over their Wives and those conjugal Duties and Services which their Wives yield them in these Places Parents are more fond of their Children and Children again are more dutiful and kind to their Parents and take more care of them when they are sick or old than they commonly do with us And though there be no Common Power to keep them in awe yet having no Riches but the meer necessary Utensils of Living nor any Honours except Military to contend for and which are not obtained without great hardships and sufferings and having also few Words of contempt or disgrace among them whole Towns nay Nations have lived together for many Ages in sufficient Amity and Concord without ever falling together by the ears And if there be any Murthers and Adulteries committed among them every particular person injured or else the Relations of the Party slain are their own Judges and Executioners the mutual fear of which joyned with the Natural Peaceable Temper of the People causes fewer of those Crimes to be committed among them than with us where there are Laws and Publick Officers appointed to punish all such Injuries And for the Truth of this I refer you to two Authors of undoubted Credit viz. Lerius in his History of his Navigation to Brazil Chap. 18. and the French Author of the Natural History of the Caribbè Islands Part. 2d Chap. 11. and § 19. besides other Authors on this Subject whom you may consult in Purchas's Pilgrimes in his Volume of America And though these People have often Wars with their Neighbours yet is it not with all but only some particular Nations with whom they have constant Wars and eat them when they can take them Prisoners Yet do they at the same time maintain Peace with all others So remote is it from Truth that any Nation in the World can live and subsist by maintaining a constant War against all others Nor did I ever hear of any more than one People or Nation in the West-Indies near Carolina called the Westoes that made this Fatal Experiment by making war upon all their Neighbours one after another till they were in a short time reduced from 7000 Fighting Men to 700 and were afterwards quite extirpated by those Nations they had injured Which Relation I receiv'd from a Gentleman of Quality who hath a considerable Interest in those parts So impossible a thing it is for Mankind to subsist or be preserved a year together in Mr. H's imaginary State of War §. 8 Nor is his other Instance from the Actions of Kings and Persons of a Soveraign Authority any better whom he makes like Gladiators Having their Weapons pointing and their eyes fixed on each other That is their Forts Garrisons and Guns upon the Frontieres of their Kingdoms and continual Spies upon their Neighbours which is a posture of War Where I may first observe that he doth not directly affirm That all Princes are in a State but only in a Posture of War which I grant is both lawful and necessary Since no Prince or Common-wealth can be secure that his Neighbours will constantly observe the Laws of Nature and not invade his Territories without any just cause given Yet I think no Prince or other Supreme Power whom he makes the only Judges of Good and Evil will be so wicked or unreasonable to affirm that they have a natural right to invade the Territories Lives and Estates of all Neighbouring Princes and their Subjects much less when they have made Leagues or Compacts of Peace with each other that they are not obliged to observe them only for prevention that they may not do the like to them and break their Compacts first For that he himself confesses to be absolutely contrary to the Laws of Nature and of Right Reason But that upon Mr. H's Principles such Compacts being made in the meer State of Nature and without any Common Power to see them observed do not at all oblige I shall shew you more particularly by and by § 9. I come now to his last Passion viz. Glory for which he would have all men to be naturally in a State of War But admitting that divers men look that their Companions should value them at the same rate as they do themselves and upon the least signs of Contempt or undervaluing naturally endeavour as far as they dare to extort a greater value from their Contemners which amongst them that have no Common Power to keep them quiet may be enough to make them destroy each other Yet doth not this hold true in every man for even among those that labour under this Passion of Vain-glory there are many in whom fear of others is a much more predominate passion and such will rather take an affront than venture to beat or kill another to revenge it Since the hazard is certain but the Victory supposing the person every way his equal uncertain And if this Vain-glory may be so far mastered by another stronger Passion why may it not also be overpowered by Reason For a rational man will consider that he cannot force men to have a better esteem of his Words or Actions by fighting every one that shall declare their dislike of them or else knows that he is not at all the worse for the foolish censures of unreasonable men or that he is obliged to take for an affront whatsoever every scurrilous impertinent Fellow shall intend so And he himself doth here likewise suppose that there are other as strong Passions that incline men to Peace as fear of Death desire of such things
that purpose by God Now let us at present suppose which of these we please to be the true Original of Mankind we cannot from thence with any reason conclude that it was at any time such a state of War of all men against all for if according to the first Hypothesis we suppose Mankind to be Eternal they were likewise from all Eternity propagated by distinct Families and divided into several Nations and Common-wealths as they are at this day But if it be objected that those distinct Nations or Commonwealths were always such from all Eternity Then it will likewise follow that they were also from all Eternity in the same state they now are that is not of War but Peace But we shall further shew the absurdity of that Supposition before we have concluded our Considerations upon this Head So on the other side if we proceed upon the Epicurean Hypothesis of Mankind's springing out of the Earth if we do not likewise suppose them to have been made like Game-Cocks or those Earth-born men I have already mentioned who presently fell a fighting and destroying each other without any Cause it will not do the business And therefore let us now with Mr. H. suppose these men being all made of equal strength both of body and mind it is plain that they must be at first in a state of Peace before they could ever fall together by the Ears so then the state of Peace was Prior in Nature to that of War and also more agreeable to Human Nature 2 dly Supposing these Earth-born men to have been all rational Creatures and equal in strength and cunning they would never have entered into a state of War and have fallen a cutting each others Throats without some just Cause or Provocation first given For if they were all equal every man would consider each of his Fellows as of a like ability with himself and that if he struck him first without any cause he would be as well able to resist and make his party good with him as he could be to hurt him the fear of which would have rather caused Peace than War Since whoever struck first could not be sure of the Victory And if any two should have fallen to Cuffs this could be no reason for all the rest to have also fallen together by the Ears since there was no cause why they should suppose a Will or Inclination in each other to War till they had expressed it by some outward signs so that this natural Equality among men and mutual fear of each other which Mr. H. supposes to be the chief causes of War would certainly have rather inclined these men to Peace But if we follow the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures it is then certain That all Mankind being derived from one Man and one Woman their Children could never be in this state of war towards their Parents by Mr. H's own confession much less could the Parents ever be so unnatural towards their Children who were made out of their own Substance nor yet could the Brothers or Sisters who partake of the same Human Nature derived from their Common Parents and who were bred up together from their Infancy in a state of Peace and Amity be rationally supposed presently to have fallen together by the ears without any other cause or provocation given than Mr. Hs Passions of mutual distrust and desire of glory Therefore when after the Fall of Adam man's Nature was degenerated into that state we now find it wherein mens Passions I own do too often domineer over their Reason and that Cain through Malice and Envy slew his Brother as we read in Genesis Of this state of War as it is the first Example of man's Degeneracy so it is also of God's dislike and punishment of this cruel Sin of Murther which is indeed but the effect of this Author's state of War But I beg the Reader 's pardon if I have been too prolix in the confutation of this Principle this being the main foundation of all those Evil and False Opinions contained in this Author 's Moral and Political Works if therefore this is throughly destroyed all that is built upon it will fall of it self But since Mr. H. hath by his Supposition of certain Compacts or Covenants undertaken to shew a Method how men got out of this wretched state of War in which let us see whether his next Principle answers the Designs he proposes PRINCIPLE VIII § 1. That mutual Compacts of Fidelity in the State of Nature are void but not so in a Commonwealth WHich Principle he expresses and proves at large in his de Cive cap. in these words But those Covenants that are made by Contract where there is a mutual Trust neither party performing any thing presently in the state of Nature if any just Fear shall arise on either side are void For he who first performs because of the evil disposition of the greatest part of men only studying their own profit no matter whether by right or wrong betrays himself to the lust of him with whom he contracts For there is no reason that any man should perform first if it is not likely that the other will perform afterwards which whether it be likely or not he who fears must judge as it is shewn in the former Chapter Art 9. I say things are thus in the state of nature but in a Civil state where there is one who can compel them both he who by Contract is first to perform ought first to do it For since the other may be compelled the reason ceases for which he feared the other would not perform Which Principle is somewhat otherwise expressed in his Lev. chap. 14. which since it differs something from the other in the manner of expression I shall likewise give in you his own words If a Covenant be made wherein neither of the Parties perform presently but trust one another in the condition of mere nature which is a condition of War of every man against every man upon any reasonable supposition it is void but if there be a common Power set over them both with right and force sufficient to compel performance it is not void for he that performeth first hath no assurance the other will perform afterwards because the mere bonds of words are too weak to bridle mens Ambition Avarice Anger and other Passions without the fear of some coercive Power which in the condition of mere Nature where all men are equal and judges of the justness of their own fears cannot possibly be supposed and he which performs first doth but betray himself to his enemy contrary to the Right he can never abandon of defending his life and means of living § 2. You may now more plainly see the reason why he supposes in the foregoing Chapter That all Kings and persons of Soveraign Authority are always in a posture or state of War which he more plainly expresses in his de Cive chap. 10. §
make war upon all men will be very improperly called a Right for they cannot be properly so but as they are granted or permitted us by some Laws properly so called which in this state can only be those of God or Nature § 7. But we are weary of such Contradictions and therefore let us now farther examine the only Reason he brings why he denies their obligation to external Acts in the state of Nature viz. Because we cannot be secured that others will observe them in those things which are necessary to our preservation and therefore infers that every man's hopes of his own Security are placed in this That by his own Force or Wiles he may prevent his Neighbour openly or at unawares This is that invincible Argument which seems strong enough in his Judgment to destroy all outward Obligations to the whole Law of Nature Yet I think for all that it is easy enough to be answered And therefore in the first place we reply That there is no need of supposing such a perfect Security to be afforded by the Laws of Nature concerning other mens observing them as must needs be free from all Fear before we can be obliged to external Actions conformable to them for the Will of God the first Cause being known whereby he establishes these Laws there will arise a certain obligation to the performance of such external Actions though some men may be so wicked as to break or neglect them and to practice evil and violent Actions towards those that would observe them But I shall now farther prove notwithstanding this Objection that we are under a greater obligation to the Laws of Nature than we are to the Civil Laws of our Country to whose external obedience he will have all men whatsoever obliged For all Persons although they are not under the same Commonwealth yet are all Members of the same more large Empire of God himself Now it is most notorious that those that are Subjects to the same Civil Power cannot be perfectly secure either that their Fellow-subjects will observe all the Civil Laws by abstaining from Murther Robbery or Rebellion c. or that the Civil Sovereign can or will always punish all the Transgressors of his Laws especially where Factions are potent though he is never so watchful over the Publick Good So that if to these cautious Men of Mr. H's Principles it seems a sufficient Reason for their outward obligation to the Civil Laws if it appears more probable that the Civil Sovereign both will and can take care of the Authority of his Laws by protecting the Obedient and punishing the Refractory than that he will forbear or neglect so to do it will likewise follow That to all men who exercise true Piety and Obedience to God's Natural Laws their obligation to observe them will not prove the more infirm though God doth not always presently and immediately punish all the Transgressions and Violations of his Natural Laws it being a sufficient security to them of his Goodness and Justice since he will certainly inflict more severe Punishments upon their Transgressors either in this life or in that to come than any Humane Power can do upon Offenders against their Civil Laws So that if Mr. H's Argument were valid not only the outward obligation of all Natural but also of all Civil Laws would be quite destroyed since in neither State we can be perfectly secure that all others will observe them and indeed he demands that which is altogether impossible when he requires an absolute and perfect Security concerning future voluntary Actions either in a Civil or a Natural State which as such can be only contingent § 8. But if he will permit us to call that a State of security which is the most free of any from the fear of future Danger or Misery we assert That God has made it manifest to all men by all those signs which we have already shown to be sufficient to evince our Obligation that even out of a Civil Government he shall be much more safe from all sorts of Evil who shall most strictly and constantly observe all the Laws of Nature in his outward Actions as well as internal Inclinations than he who according to Mr. H's Doctrine shall seek this Security by endeavouring to prevent and assault all other men by force or fraud But it is necessary when we compare the dangers or security of the good or just men which are only those who observe the Laws of Nature in their outward Actions as also of the wicked or unjust who do otherwise to make a true Experiment which of these will give most certain security there is not only to be reckoned into this account those Evils which may happen to them from the Violence of other men but also those which such wicked men bring upon themselves by their inconstant and unreasonable way of living as also by their inordinate Passions such as Envy Anger Intemperance c. and moreover all those Evils or Punishments which may with reason be feared from God both in this Life and in that to come which also are to be compared not in any one particular case or in a few circumstances only but in all those that may happen through the whole course of their Lives for otherwise it is impossible that we should truly judge which course of Life either that of constant Justice or Injustice would be more secure But we have I hope already sufficiently made out that their condition is much more happy and secure who observe the Laws of Nature in the whole course of their Actions than those who act otherwise To which I shall only add That altho Mr. H. himself when he treats of the security requisite to the outward Observation of the Laws of Nature doth wholly insist upon a perfect security from the Invasion of other men and affirms Because it is not to be had in the State of Nature that therefore no body is obliged in that State to outward acts of Justice but hath still a right to all things and of making War upon all Men Yet in other places of his Book as if he had forgot himself he doth acknowledge altho but sparingly that he himself perceived that there was a sufficient Obligation to an external Conformity to the Laws of Nature even out of a Civil State lest we should fall into other Evils besides those which may be feared from the violence of men As for Example when he endeavours to prove in his De Cive Cap. 3. § 2 3. That Faith is to be kept with all men he fetches his reason from hence That he who violates his Covenant commits a Contradiction which he acknowledges to be an Absurdity in Humane Conversation And therefore if he can admit in this case that it is better to observe than to violate our Covenants lest we should fall into a Contradiction what reason is there why we should not also universally infer the same consequence from
the breach of every Law of Nature and consequently an Obligation to all their outward Actions So that it will be better to observe than to transgress them in the State of Nature because their Violation doth still imply a Contradiction or Absurdity in all Humane Society or Conversation for whosoever will seriously consider the Nature of rational Agents will acknowledge that all the Felicity possible for them doth depend upon the Common Good and Happiness of the whole System as its necessary and adequate Cause and therefore every man ought to seek both of them together for whensoever he transgresses any Law of Nature he then separates his own private Good or Advantage from that of the publick which being contradictory ways of acting must needs raise a Civil War or Contest in a mans own Conscience between his Reason and his Passions which must grievously disturb its Tranquility which Evil since it also takes away his Peace and Security is no contemptible Punishment naturally inflicted by God for such Offences § 9. I shall now only propose two Reasons more whereby I think we may demonstrate the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The first is That Presumption of the Civil Laws both in our own and all other Kingdoms which sufficiently declares what Judgment Civil Sovereigns whom this Author makes the only Judges of right or wrong have made of Humane Nature to wit that every one is presumed to be good until the contrary be proved by some outward Action and that made out by sufficient Proof or Testimony and therefore if their Judgment be true he must own all other men ought not to be esteemed as Enemies or so wicked as he is pleased to suppose so that they may be set upon and killed tho never so innocent for any private mans security And this Presumption is more strong against Mr. H. because he founds that Security which he acknowledges to be sufficient in Commonwealths upon those Punishments by which the Supreme Powers can restrain all Invaders of other mens Rights but it is certain that no Punishments are inflicted in Civil States unless according to the Sentence of some Judges who always give Sentence according to this Presumption This therefore is either a true Presumption and so able to direct our Actions in the State of Nature or else even in Commonwealths there is not to be found a sufficient security by the Laws made and Punishments inflicted according to this Presumption and so neither Civil Laws themselves do oblige us to outward Acts and thus every Commonwealth would soon be dissolved But since we are satisfied that publick Judgments given according to this Presumption do for the most part render mens Lives secure enough and certainly much more safe than if all who are arraigned at the Bar were presumed to be Enemies and according to Mr. H's rule of prevention should be all forthwith condemned to suffer as guilty therefore it also follows that the private Judgments of particular men concerning others made according to this Presumption do more conduce to the security of all men than this Authors rash Presumption of the Universal Pravity of all men and would thence persuade us that all others in the State of Nature are to be prevented and set upon by force and fraud § 10. A second reason to prove that the violation of the Laws of Nature as to outward acts will procure us less security than their exact observation may be drawn from hence That Mr. H. himself confesses there will thence necessarily follow a War of all men against all which War being once supposed he rightly acknowledges that all men would become miserable and must presently perish From whence it appears that all security is sought for in vain by this mad state so that there can remain no more hopes of it tho Mr. H. teaches otherwise in his de Cive cap. 5. § 1. and Lev. cap. 13. viz. That in the mutual fear of men no body hath a better way of security than by this anticipation or prevention that is every one may endeavour so long to subject all others by force or fraud as he sees any man left of whom he ought to beware that is as long as there is one man left alive and so the whole earth would soon become a desart and the common sepulchre of mankind for no man can provide any aid or assistance for himself from other men in this state because Covenants of mutual Faith by which alone others can be joined in Society with him will not oblige to external acts in this state as I have shewed he acknowledges and therefore there remains no security by this way of anticipation So that if there be any security in Nature I appeal to the reasons and consciences of men whether this is not more likely to be had by the endeavour of the common Good of Mankind by doing good and not evil to those who have done us no harm than by Mr. H.'s method of Anticipation which can yield no security at all PRINCIPLE X. That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the Will of the Civil Soveraign § 1. THis is a natural consequence from what he hath already laid down That nothing is morally good or evil in the state of Nature before the Institution of a Commonwealth Yet that you may see that I do not impose upon Mr. H. in this Assertion I will give you his own words in his de Cive cap. 14. § 9 10. But because it arises from Civil Laws that as well every one should have a proper Right to himself distinct from that of another as also that he may be forbidden to invade other mens Properties it follows that these Precepts Honour thy Parents Thou shalt not defraud any man in that which is appointed by the Laws Thou mayest not kill a man whom the Laws forbid thee to kill Thou shalt avoid all Carnal Copulation forbidden by the Laws Thou shalt not take away another mans Goods without his consent Thou shalt not frustrate Laws and Iudgments by false Witness are all Civil Laws It is true the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things but immplicity for the Law of Nature as is said before Cap. 3. § 2. commands Compacts to be observed and therefore also to yield Obedience when Obedience was covenanted and to abstain from what is anothers when it is defined by the Civil Law what it is but all the Subjects do Covenant from the Constitution oi the Commonwealth to yield Obedience to his Commands who hath the supream Power that is to the Civil Laws For the Law of Nature did oblige in the state of Nature where first of all where Nature gave all things to all men nothing was anothers and therefore impossible to invade it and in the next place where all things were common therefore also all Carnal Copulations were lawful Thirdly Where there was a state of War it was then lawful to kill any man Fourthly Where all things
of the Heathen Philosophers above all other knowledge whether Natural or Civil and that deservedly as well in respect of its usefulness as certainty since it was to that alone as most agreeable to the Natural Faculties of Mankind that Men before they were assisted by Divine Revelation owed the Discovery of their Natural Duties to God themselves and all others as Cicero hath shewn us at large in those three excellent Treatises De Officiis De Finibus and De Legibus And tho' I grant we Christians have now clearer and higher Discoveries of all Moral Duties by the Light of the Gospel yet is the Knowledge of Natural Religion or the Laws of Nature still of great use to us as well for the confirmation as illustration of all those Duties since by their Knowledge and the true Principles on which they are founded we may be convinced that God requires nothing from us in all the practical Duties of revealed Religion but our reasonable Service that is what is really our own interest and concerns our good and happiness to observe as the best and most perfect Rule of Life whether God had ever farther enforced them or not by any revealed Law And tho' I do not deny that our Saviour Jesus Christ hath highly advanced and improved these Natural Laws by more excellent and refined Precepts of Humility Charity and Self-denial than were discovered before by the wisest of the Heathen Philosophers especially as to the greater assurance we have of that grand Motive to Religion and Vertue the immortality of the Soul or a Life either eternally happy or miserable when this is ended Yet certainly it was this Law of Nature or Reason alone by which Mankind was not only to live but also to be judged before the Law given to Moses and it must be for not living up to this Natural Light that the Heathens shall be condemned who never yet heard of Christ or of a revealed Religion and so cannot as St. Paul expresly declares to the Romans believe on him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.14 And therefore the same Apostle in the first Chapter of the same Epistle appeals to the knowledge of God from the things that are seen that is the Creation of the World as the foundation of all Natural Religion and their falling notwithstanding this knowledge into that gross Idolatry they professed as the only reason why God gave them up to their own hearts lusts because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned v 21. And so likewise in the second Chapter the Apostle farther tells them that when the Gentiles who have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves shewing the work of the Law written in their hearts that is the Law of Nature or Reason as the main substance or effect of the Mosaical Law And that it is by this Law alone that they shall be judged mark what immediately follows Their consciences bearing witness and their own thoughts or reasonings as it is rather to be rendred in the mean while accusing or excusing each other And indeed the Apostle supposes the Knowledge of God as a Rewarder of Good Works as the foundation of all Natural as well as revealed Religion and the first Principle of saving Faith as appears in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11. v. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that comes unto God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him But I need speak no more of Natural Religion and how necessary it is to the true Knowledge of the Revealed since the Reverend and learned Dr. Wilkins Late Bishop of Chester hath so well perform'd that Noble Vndertaking in that excellent Posthumous Treatise published by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to which nothing needs to be added by so mean a Pen as mine But since the Laws of Nature as derived from God the Legislator are the foundation of all Moral Philosophy and true Politicks as being those which are appealed to in all Controversies between Civil Soveraigns and also are the main Rules of those mutual Duties between Soveraigns and their Subjects It is worth while to enquire how these Laws may be discovered to proceed from God as a Legislator Now whereas this can only be done by one of these two ways viz. Either from the certain and manifest Effects and Consequences that proceed from their observation Or 2dly From the Causes from which they are derived The former of these hath been already largely treated of by others especially by the most learned Hugo Grotius in his admirable Work De Jure Belli Pacis And by his Brother William in that small Posthumous Treatise De Principiis Juris Naturalis And by the Iudicious Monsieur Puffendorf in his learned Treatise De Jure Naturae Gentium As also by our own Countryman Dr. Sharrock Who have all undertaken to prove their certainty from their general belief and reception by the wisest and most civilized Nations in all Ages To which we may also add the learned Mr. Selden in that most elaborate Work De Jure Gentium juxta placita Hebraeorum And as I do acknowledge that those Great Men have all deserved very well in their way so I think none deserves greater commendation than that excellent Work of Grotius the Elder which as it was the first in its kind so it is worthy of enduring as long as Vertue and Iustice shall be in esteem among Mankind And tho' the Objections which are wont to be brought against this Method of proving the Laws of Nature are not of so great moment as to render it altogether fallacious or useless as some would have it to be yet I freely acknowledge they can chiefly serve to convince Men of sincere and honest minds and who are naturally disposed to Vertue and right Reason So that I conceive it were more useful as well as certain to seek for a firmer and clearer Demonstration thereof from a strict search and inquisition into the Nature of things and also of our own selves by which I doubt not but we may attain not only to a true Knowledge of the Laws of Nature but also of that true Principle on which they are founded and from whence they are all derived But it will not consist with the narrow bounds of a Preface to propose and answer all the Objections that may be made against their Method of proving the Law of Nature from the Consent of Nations neither perhaps can it be done at all to the universal satisfaction even of indifferent persons since it may be still urged by those that do not admit them that altho' some Dictates of Right Reason may be indeed approved of by our Vnderstandings and
or Felicity of the People And sure this could have no Foundation but as the Felicity of any particular People or Nation is contained in general or the common Good and Happiness of rational Beings And tho' I grant that our Faculties are not fitted to pierce into the internal Fabrick and real Essences of Bodies as the above-mentioned Author of the Essay of humane Understanding hath very well observed Yet in the same place he also grants That the Knowledge we have of them is sufficient to discover to us the Being of a God and of a Divine Providence and that the Knowledge of our selves and the Nature of other things are sufficient to lead us into a full and clear Discovery of our Duty towards him as being the great Concernment of our Lives and that it becomes us as rational Creatures to employ our Faculties about what they are most adapted to and follow the direction of Nature where it seems to point us out the way So that it is highly reasonable to conclude that our proper Employment lies in moral rather than natural Truths And therefore the same Author hath in his Fourth Book and Third Chapter pag. 274. this Passage The Idea of a supream Being infinite in Power and Wisdom whose Workmanship we are and on whom we depend and the Idea of our selves as understanding rational Creatures being such as are clear to us these would I suppose if duly considered and pursued afford such Foundations of our Duty and rules of Action as might place Morality amongst the Sciences capable of Demonstration wherein I doubt not but from Principles as incontestable as those of the Mathematicks by necessary Consequences the measures of Right and Wrong might be made out to any one that will apply himself with the same indifferency and attention to the one as he doth to the other of these Sciences And in the Twelfth Chapter of the same Book he saith p. 325. This gave me the Confidence to advance that Conjecture which I suggested Chap. 3. viz. That Morality is capable of Demonstration as well as Mathematicks For the Idea's that Ethicks are conversant about being all real Essences and such as I imagine have a discoverable Connexion and Agreement one with another So far as we can find their Habitudes and Relations so far we shall be possessed of certain real and general Truths And I doubt not but if a right method were taken a great part of Morality might be made out with that clearness that could leave to a considering Man no more reason to doubt than he could have to doubt of the Truth of any Propositions in Mathematicks which have been demonstrated to him And I am confident our Author hath found out this only right method and made use of the fittest Demonstrations for the Proof of this Principle of the common Good of rational Beings as the Sum of all natural Laws so that I hope you will have no cause to doubt but that he hath as fully demonstrated it to be so as if he had given us so many Mathematical Demonstrations of it But since as in the Mathematicks there are required certain Principles or Postulatums which must be taken for granted before its professors are able to demonstrate any thing from them so we shall reduce all we have to say on this Subject into Six plain Postulata the Three first of which having been already made out by others both in Latin and English I shall wave the Proof of them and shall confine my self wholly to the Three last The Propositions are these 1. That there is one Infinite most powerful intelligent Being which we call God who is the Author and Creator of the Vniverse or World 2. That God as he hath created so he likewise governs and preserves this World consisting of Bodies and Spirits by certain corporeal Motions and Dictates of Reason by which Spirits act as the chief Instruments of his Providence 3. That God thereby maintains and preserves all his Creatures and farther designs the Happiness and Preservation of such of them as are sensible as far as their frail and mortal Natures will admit and that Power which God hath given to mankind over them 4. That of all Animate or sensible Creatures God hath made Man alone to be conscious of his own Existence and also that it is more particularly his Duty to act as his subservient Instrument not only for his own private Good and Happiness but also for the common Good of all rational Beings 5. That this knowledge of God's Will as our Duty is plainly discovered to us from the Being and Nature of God as also of our selves and of those things without us which he hath made necessary for our use and Preservation 6. That these Dictates or Conclusions of right reason all tending to one great End viz. the common Good of rational Beings in which our own is contained being given us by God as a Legislator for the well governing or right ordering of our Actions to this End constitute the Law of Nature as being established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this Life and in that to come TO THE BOOKSELLER THE Learned Authour of this Treatise sent it to me then being in a Private Station above a year ago but then concealed his Name from me either through his great Modesty or because in his Prudence he thought that if I knew him I might be biassed in my judgment by the Honour which I am obliged to have to his Family and especially to his Grandfather by his Mother's side the most Learned Primate of Ireland Wherefore I read the Book without any respect to the unknown Writer and considered only the Merits of the Performance Thus I found that he had not only well translated and epitomized in some places what I had written in Latin but had fully digested the chief things of my Design in a well chosen Method of his own with great Perspicuity and had added some Illustrations of his own or from other Learned Authours with a Philosophical Liberty which I must needs allow For this Reason I judged that the then unknown Authour had give too low a Title to his Book and that I was to esteem him a good Hyperaspistes or able Second in this Combat for Truth and Justice rather than a Translater or Epitomizer of what I had written This obliged me to enquire diligently after the Authour's Name and Quality and then I soon obtained the Favour and Honour of a more intimate Conversation with him Hereby I soon found that I might safely leave the Maintenance of that good Cause in which I was engaged to his great Abilities and Diligence And I hope that since this Learned Gentleman hath conquer'd the Difficulties of the Search into the Rise of the Laws of Nature now many of our younger Gentry will be encouraged to follow him in the way which this his Treatise makes plain before them For from thence they may receive assistance not
their natures § 11. All Creatures express a delight in the society of others of the same kind some cases or intervals wherein Nature seems to act otherwise no contradiction to this general Rule § 12. All Animals impelled by the natural Constitution of their parts to a Love of those of a different Sex and to a natural Affection to their Offspring § 13. All Animals take delight in the sweeter Passions of Love Ioy Desire c. as helpfull to their natural Constitution whereas the contrary Passions when inordinate are highly destructive to it § 14. Mr. H. cannot deny these natural Propensions and therefore is forced to suppose somewhat in Man's nature that renders him more unsociable than Brutes § 15. Other peculiar Observations relating to Man whereby he is made more capable of promoting the common good as first from the greater quantity of Brains in Men than in Brutes § 16. 2. From the natural Constitution of their Bloud and Spermatick Vessels from whence arises a Necessity of Marriage and of a more constant and lasting Love to their Offspring § 17. 3. From the wonderfull structure of Men's hands it is proved that this Instrument was given us for some more noble use than bare self-preservation § 18. Lastly From the upright posture of Men's bodies and way of motion § 19. The next Set of Observations tending to prove Men more fitted for the promoting of this common good is taken from the natural and peculiar faculties of Men's Souls above those of Brutes And 1. from that of deducing effects from their Causes and vice versa especially in that of distinguishing of real or natural from apparent Goods § 20. What is understood by us by a natural or moral Good or Evil. Certain Axioms for the plainer understanding their Nature and Degrees § 21. How we arrive to an Idea of a species or kind of Creatures and also to a notion of the general or common good of Mankind § 22. Speech and the Invention of Letters peculiar faculties of Man's nature § 23. And the great Benefits arising from thence in order to the common good § 24. Men do infinitely exceed Beasts in their discursive Faculties as also in the knowledge and use of Numbers § 25. As also in the Power of Vnderstanding the different Quantities and Proportions between Bodies which we call Geometry § 26. The two great remaining Prerogatives of humane Souls Freedom of Will as to moral Actions and the Knowledge of a God § 27 28. What knowledge we can have of his Attributes which can never be truly understood but with respect to their great End the Prosecution of the common good of the Vniverse § 29. The Contents of the Third Chapter A Brief recapitulation of the former Chapters and a summing up all those Observations into a general Proposition of God's Willing and Commanding the Common Good of rational Beings as the main End of all our Actions § 1. A brief Explanation of the Terms of our Description of the Law of Nature and that words are not always essential to Laws § 2. That all moral Truths or Duties as declared by God are contained in this one Proposition of Endeavouring the common good certain Principles laid down for the proving it § 3 4 5 6. That this being once discovered to us we lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this Proposition as a natural Law with the Explanation of the Term Obligation and who hath Authority to oblige us § 7 8 9. Yet that this Obligation may well consist with the freedom of our wills the difference between a mere animal and a rational or natural Good the neglect of which distinction is the Cause of Epicurus and Mr. H's Errors § 10. The last part of the Obligation to this Law viz. its Sanction by Rewards and Punishments certain Axioms necessary to be known in order to the right understanding the true nature of a moral Good or Evil and of Man's true happiness and perfection with its difference from that of other Beings § 11. That though all moral Obligation does not consist in Rewards or Punishments Yet that by reason of the weakness of humane Nature it is insignificant without them with a Scale of Nature shewing the difference between Vegetables and inanimate Bodies and between Men and Brutes § 12. The strictest Sanction and consequently Obligation to all Laws consists in Rewards and Punishments duly distributed God's right of Dominion not to be resolved into his irresistible Power § 13. The internal Rewards ordained by God in Nature are first the inward satisfaction of the Soul and also the pleasure all men take in the exercise of the sweeter passions of Love c. § 14 15. The external Rewards are all the like returns of this Benevolence from others with the praise or commendation of all good men together with the peace and protection of the civil Government § 16 17. Lastly from God Soundness of mind and body with all those outward blessings he usually bestows on the peaceable and vertuous with a Solution to the difficulty why God often afflicts Good men § 18. The internal Punishments ordained by God for the transgression of this Law are the absence or privation of the former good things which is an Evil and a Punishment § 19. Errour and being governed by the Passions a real Evil and an internal Punishment § 20. 3. That such evil Actions cannot but be often displeasing to the Person that doth them § 21. 4. That Vices and Crimes seldom come alone but let in a train of others of the same kind or worse along with them § 22. 5. That such an Offender cannot get out of this state when he will at least not without the trouble of Repentance § 23. 6. The fear of Punishment both from God and Man § 24. The external Punishments are 1. The Evils thot happen to the body from violent and unsociable Passions § 25. The 2d Those returns of hatred or contempt which all such men must expect from others § 26. The 3d. Returns of revenge from those they have injured § 27. Lastly Those Punishments which are often inflicted by the civil Powers all which natural Punishments Mr. H. himself acknowledges to be ordained by God § 28. That where these Punishments fail in this Life they will be supplied by others infinitely more grievous and durable in that to come § 29. A brief recapitulation of this Chapter that this Proposition of our Endeavouring the common good c. is truly a Law as containing all the Conditions requisite thereunto § 30. The Contents of the Fourth Chapter A Brief repetition of what hath been said in the first Chapter That no man can have a right to preserve his own Life but as it conduces to the common good c. That in all Societies the good of the lesser part must give place and be subordinate to that of the greater § 1. That a due consideration of this Law will lead us to a
not some way or other either benefit or prejudice those things which are most dear to others also as the motion of any one Body in the System of the World Communicates it self to many others For that great Prerogative of Knowledge and Understanding with which Man is endued supplies the Contiguity required for motion in other Bodies Men being often excited to Action by certain Arbitrary signs or words by which they understand what hath been done by others in places far distant So also our Intellect apprehending a likeness of Desires and Aversions between those of the same Species with it self as to things necessary or hurtful to Life as also being able to remember other Men's Actions towards themselves or those they love are from thence excited to hope for or expect the like things from them and are also provoked to a requital when occasion is offered Such Properties being plainly Natural and constant in Humane Nature are no less efficacious to excite Men to such Actions or motions than a mutual contact between Bodies is to Communicate motion between all the parts of any Corporeal System § 5. From which Natural Observations it is plainly manifest that particular Men may hence Learn that both their greatest Security from Evil and all their hopes of obtaining any Good or Assistance from others towards making themselves Happy doth truly and necessarily depend upon voluntary Actions proceeding from the Benevolence of others who do likewise themselves stand in need of the like means for their Happiness and Safety From whence we easily perceive that these mutual Helps and Assistances of Men towards each other are highly beneficial to all of them and answer that Concourse of Natural Bodies and that Cession or giving place to each other which is so necessary for the performance of their motions So that from this necessity of these mutual helps it as necessarily follows that he who would consult his own Happiness and Preservation should procure as far as he is able the Good will and Assistance of others since he cannot but be sensible that he is able to afford and perform to others divers like Offices of kindness and so is able to conspire with the whole System of Rational Beings towards the same End viz. the Common Good of Rational Beings and that on the contrary the weak and inconsiderable forces of any one Man are not sufficient to compel so many others each of them equal if not Superiour to himself both in Wit and Power to yield him their help and assistance to their own prejudice whether they will or no which would prove as impossible as that a hundred pound weight placed in one Scale of a Balance should bear down several other hundred weights put on the opposite Scale So likewise the force and cunning of any single Person is of no sufficient Power or Force against the several Necessities Counsels and Endeavours of innumerable others towards their own and the Common Good without any consideration of his particular Happiness alone Therefore it is manifest from this natural Balance of Humane Powers that men may be more certainly induced by our Benevolence or Endeavour of the Common Good to yield us those things and assistances we stand in need of than by using force or deceit which Mr. H. supposes even the Good and Vertuous may lawfully exercise in the State of Nature as the only natural means of Self-preservation in his Imaginary State of Nature § 6. So that from these Natural Observations concerning all the means necessary to the Conservation of the Corporeal Universe and of the several sorts of Beings therein contained we may draw these conclusions 1. That all things are so disposed that not the least quantity of matter and motion can ever be lost but the same Species of Animals are still continued and are rather encreased than lessened notwithstanding all the opposition of the cruel Passions and unruly Appetites of some other Animals so that in this perpetuity of matter and motion by a continual succession of things the Natural Good or Conservation of the Corporeal Universe consists and towards which it is carried according to the immutable Laws of motion nor can there be any sufficient reason given why the Conservation of Mankind may not be looked upon as established by as certain and natural a Power of Causes as the Successive Generations of any other Creatures since they depend alike upon the lasting Nature of the Corporeal Universe and agree in all the Essentials of Animals And certainly the Addition of a Rational Soul to our Bodies does very often put us in a better Condition than that of Brutes but can never make us in a worse which will be evident to any Man that considers the benefits which accrew to our Bodies from the Government of our Reason and which do abundantly recompense some inconveniencies which may happen to them from the errours of our minds Nay it is most certain that its errours concerning Food Pleasure and other things which concern the Preservation of our Bodies proceed from the Soul 's yielding against the Admonitions of Reason to Carnal Appetites and Corporeal or Animal Passions 2. That the matter and motion of all Bodies as also of Men considered only as such do Mechanically or whether they will or no promote the motion of that of the Corporeal Universe since the motion of all particular Bodies is determined by the general motion of the whole System In short our Judgments concerning the necessary means of the Happiness of Mankind may be convinced from these Natural causes operating after the same manner and by the same Natural Laws by which the Corporeal Universe is preserved since they consist in these two Rules 1. That the endeavours of particular Persons towards their own Preservation are as plainly necessary for the Conservation of the whole Species of Mankind as the mechanick motions of particular Bodies are to the general motion of the whole Corporeal System 2. That the Powers of particular Persons by which they defend themselves against the force of others should be so equally Balanced as that like the motion of other Bodies none of them should be destroyed or lost to the Prejudice or Detriment of the whole Somewhat like which is seen in all the motions of the Corporeal System of the World which proceed from its Plenitude and the mutual Contact of Bodies and so extend themselves through the whole mass of matter but it is the proper Talent of Humane Reason and Understanding to observe that each Man 's particular Happiness does depend upon the voluntary Actions of other Rationals after a much nobler manner even when they are far distant and can therefore take care that all Humane Actions may in like manner conduce to the Common Good of Rational Agents as the motions of all Bodies do to the Conservation of the whole Corporeal System which will be truly performed if in all voluntary Actions which respect others those two Rules
aforegoing be observed So that we are taught from the real Natures of things as well as that of Inanimate Bodies after what manner and to what Degree we ought to pursue our own particular Happiness that is only as it conduces to and is included in that of the Common Good of Rational Agents So we are hence also instructed what Actions are prescribed or forbid by the Laws of Nature since such Actions only are thereby commended as promote this great End and the contrary Actions forbidden which disturb or hinder it which is also supposed by all Princes and States in their Deliberations and Treaties of Peace it being that in which they all agree as contributing to their Common Safety and Preservation viz. That the Powers of all the several states concerned should be so justly moderated and equally balanced that none may destroy or oppress each other Thus between neighbouring Nations not Subject to the same Common Power it is chiefly provided in all their Leagues and Treaties that the Forces of each particular Common-wealth should be so equally balanced by the Assistance and Support of their Consederates and Allies that it should be impossible for any one of them to swallow up or destroy another but that there should be still left to each of them Power and means sufficient to preserve themselves and their Subjects in Peace and Safety as being the main ends for which they were at first ordained by God and Instituted by Men. § 7. And as it is proper to all Natural Bodies that whilst they persevere in their own motion there is likewise a necessity they should also contribute and be subservient to the motions of innumerable other Bodies from the general Laws of motion for the Conservation of the Universe and which Rule being also found true in Animals it seems to admonish us not only as meer Animals but rational Agents that we contribute our particular endeavours towards the general Good or Preservation of all those of their own Kind since it is not only a possible effect but also such a one as depending upon Causes so perfect and certain we may with reason believe that it will endure to the end of the World But if we farther add to these Observations those things that distinguish Animate from Inanimate Bodies they will yet more strongly convince us and make us see more sufficient reasons wherefore not so much concerning our selves with other Corporeal Beings we should be chiefly sollicitous in giving our assistance to those of our own Kind First then the Nature of Animate is distinguished from that of Inanimate Bodies by such a fit disposition of parts and an apt conformation of their Natural Organs as suffices for their Generation Sensation Imagination Affections Nourishment and also all spontaneous motions And it is by these Actions that all sorts of Animals endeavour their Conservation and Happiness for the time that is appointed them and thereby procure the Preservation of the whole Species § 8. But I shall not dwell too long upon these common obvious things which are so evident in themselves but shall from hence deduce something more material to our purpose viz. that from the same intrinseck Constitution of all Animals whereby they are determined to this Endeavour of Preserving themselves there are besides given manifest Declarations that Loving and Benevolent Actions towards those of their own Kind are also necessary for their own defence and constitute the happiest State of Life they can enjoy And likewise that it is farther ordained from the same concourse of External and Internal Causes that all Rational Agents cannot but be sensible or mindful of these Indications The first of these Conclusions contains the Sense and Sanction of the Law of Nature as the latter regards its Promulgation or the manner whereby it comes to be made known to us I shall explain each of them in their order § 9. It is therefore first to be observed That the corporeal Bulk even of the largest Animals is contained within a small and narrow compass as also that the space of Time wherein they can live or be preserved is not long From whence it follows That but a few Things and a small quantity of them are really necessary for their Nourishment and Preservation or where there is need of a Concurrence of more of them they are only such as may be freely communicated to many at once whence they are naturally led to desire but a few particular Things but daily stand in need of divers others in common whose use may yet be well communicated to many at once without exhausting their store such as are the free Enjoyment of Air Light Fire Water c. And farther if we consider the Structure of their Bodies we may observe That the same superficies of the Skin which hinders the effusion governs also the Circulation of the Blood and does at the same time fix bounds to those Appetites and Necessities by which they are urged to seek their own Preservation So that those few Things that suffice to repair the vital Flame which daily consumes are likewise sufficient not only for the Conservation of their life and natural strength but also for inabling them to contribute their Help and Assistance to others of the same kind And lastly the Structure and Capacity of the Vessels in which their Aliment is digested and of those that convey the Chyle as also of the Veins and Arteries that receive it being but narrow require but a small quantity to fill them So that I think no Brute can be guilty of Mr. H's Errour of judging or desiring all Things whatever as necessary for its own Preservation since from the intrinseck and constituent Parts of all Animals it plainly appears That but a few Things suffice to allay their Hunger and Thirst and to prevent the Injuries of the Weather And if so few Things are necessary for their Happiness and Preservation they may very well leave the rest of those Products which the Earth so plentifully brings forth to be enjoyed by others of their own kind since the finite quantity of their Bodies limitting their Appetites to the desiring and their Powers only to the using a few necessary Things From this Use and Necessity there arises a natural Division or Appropriation of Things amongst divers Animals of the same kind as I shewed before in the last Chapter The allowance or permission of which Distribution is the Foundation of all that mutual Concord and Benevolence amongst them and which their Nature requires for their Preservation So that if this innate Love or Desire of Self-preservation in Animals be limited after the manner we have now described this once satisfied there can be no Reason why they should withstand or obstruct the Conservation of others of the same kind either by hindring their Enjoyment of those Things which they themselves do not need or in refusing to lend them their Help and Assistance when there is occasion and that it
unto and which is most inseparably conjoyned with his own particular Conservation and Happiness But whereas God hath Created other Creatures to act for their own present Satisfaction and Preservation without any consideration of that of others He hath made man alone not only able to contribute to the good and Preservation of his own kind but hath also made him sensible of this Ability and I shall farther shew in this Discourse that he hath laid a sufficient Obligation on him to exert it § 22. Another faculty of the Rational Soul and only proper to Man as a sociable Creature is That of Speech or expressing our Notions by significant Words or Sounds which though it be not born with us yet however may be reckoned amongst the Natural faculties of Mankind as well as going with two legs since we find no Brute Creatures capable of it though divers of them are endued with Tongues like ours and that divers Birds can pronounce whole Sentences yet have they no notion of what they say whereas there is no Nation though never so Barbarous but hath the use of Speech And to shew you farther how natural some sort of Speech is to Mankind I have heard of two young Gentlemen that were Brothers and I knew one of them my self who though born deaf and consequently dumb yet by often and long Conversation with each other came to frame a certain Language between themselves which though it seemed perfect Gibberish to the standers by yet by the sole motion of their Lips and other signs they perfectly understood each other which was likewise evident from this that in the dark they were not able to converse at all So that this faculty seems to have been bestowed by God on Mankind not for his Preservation as a meer Animal Since divers Brutes are able to subsist for more years without it and therefore seems to be intended to render Man a Sociable Creature and who was by this Faculty to benefit others of his own kind as well as himself for we are not only hereby able to impose certain Arbitrary names to particular things but having first framed Universal Idea's can likewise give names to them as to this general Idea applicable to all particular Men in the World we can give the name of Man and herein consists the main difference between Men and Brutes and not in Ratiocination alone Since I suppose even Brutes have right Idea's of those Objects they have received by their Senses and can likewise inferr or reason right about them As when a Dog by often seeing his Master take down his stick before he goes abroad does thence argue when ever he does so that his going abroad will follow expressing his Joy by barking and leaping yet we cannot find that Brutes have any general or complex Idea's much less names for them having no more but a few Ordinary signs whereby to express their present Appetites and Passions but the main benefit of Speech seems to respect others more than our selves since we are hereby able to instruct them in many Arts and Sciences necessary for their Happiness and Preservation and also to advise and admonish them in all Civil and Moral Duties and there is scarce any one so Brutish who is not sensible that in the exercise of this Faculty consists one of the greatest pleasures of Humane Life viz. Conversation and supposing Men in a state of War I do not see how they could ever well get out of it again were it not for Treaties and Articles of Peace but must like game Cocks and Bulls fight it out till one side were either quite destroyed or forced to run away and quit that Territory or Country where they Liv'd § 23. Nor can we omit another great benefit we receive from Speech viz. the Invention of Letters by which we are not only able to Register our present Thoughts for our own remembrance but can likewise Profit and Instruct not only the present but also all future Generations by Books or Writings as we do now make use of the Knowledge and Experience of those who dyed some Thousands of Years before we were born But since Mr. H. and others have made some Objections against the benefit of Speech and Letters as that they tend oftentimes to promote false Opinions and War amongst Mankind Granting it to be so it is no more an Objection against the benefits we receive by them than it were to say that the Air Water or Food the only means of Life are hurtful to Mankind since by the necessary course of Nature or else our own Intemperance they often become the causes of Plagues Surfeits and divers other diseases whereby Mankind is destroyed Yet since that Author hath made the use of Speech one great Reason why Men cannot live so peaceably as Brutes and therefore fansies they must be in a Natural state of War I shall therefore referr the Answering it to the Second Part since my Intention is not here to Argue but Instruct § 24. Men do also far exceed Brutes in their Rational or discoursive Faculty as appears in the Knowledge of Numbers or Collecting divers single things into one Total Summ which we call Arithmetick so necessary for all Affairs of a Civil Life and the Duties of distributive Justice And though I grant it is an Art and that divers Barbarous Nations want that exact knowledge of it which we have yet by reckoning upon their fingers they have a sufficient use of it as much as is necessary for their purpose or business and if they did but apply their Minds to it I doubt not but that they would arrive to the same perfection in Arithmetick as we do But I look upon this Faculty as peculiar to Mankind since we cannot perceive Brutes to have any knowledge of it Thus if from Bitches or Sows you take away never so many of their Young ones yet if you leave them but one or two they do not miss the rest which shews that they have no Idea's of Numbers whatever they may have of Quantity § 26. To this Observation may likewise be added as a Consequence thereof that Faculty so proper to Mankind of measuring the quantities of Bodies the distances between them and the Proportions they bear to each other which Science we call Geometry or Mathematicks which Arts were certainly invented by Man as a Creature intended for a Sociable Life since on some of these depend most Trades all Commerce Architecture Navigation and most of the Rules of distributive Justice with other Arts needless here to be set down So that whoever will but seriously reflect upon the excellency of these Sciences as well in the certainty of their Demonstrations as in the vast and Stupendious effects they produce cannot but acknowledge that our Rational Faculty exceeds that of Brutes by many degrees § 27. But there yet remain behind two of the greatest Prerogatives of Man's Soul and in respect of which alone he is made a sit
therein contain'd as far as consists with that frail and Mortal state wherein He hath Created them This Proposition hath already been made out in the First Part of this Discourse wherein I have proved that the Preservation and continuance of all the Species of Creatures and consequently of Mankind as one of them does wholly depend upon God's Providence And as for the Individuals or particular Persons since God's Knowledge is Infinite and extends even to the least things and also that of these Particulars each Species of Creatures is made up and consists It is likewise as evident that God designs their Good and Preservation as well as that of the whole kind though I grant He prefers the Good of the whole Species before that of the Individuals 2. It is the Will of God that all Men of sound Minds should be made conscious of this His intention of the Good and Preservation of Mankind and that they should operate as His Subordinate means or Instruments towards this great End Which I shall prove thus 1. It is evident that all Men of sound Minds have a notion of the Good and Happiness of others as well as of themselves 2dly That this Notion or Idea when truly pursued will at last extend it self to all Mankind for it can never stop short of it as long as it may still proceed farther and find new and fit Objects to work on every Individual Member of Mankind making a part of this Universal Idea 3. That this Notion of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings is not only possible to be performed but is also highly Rational and the greatest and noblest End we can imagine or propose to our selves as comprehending the Good and Happiness of the whole System of Rational Beings and is also true i. e. agreeable with the Divine Intellect which I thus make out these grounds being supposed § 4. First It is certain that all the truths our Minds are endued with or capable of are from God since whatever perfection is found in the effect must needs have been first more eminently in its Cause Therefore if the Knowledge of Truth be a perfection as doubtless it is it must be much more so in God the Original Cause thereof so that if this Idea of the Common Good of Rational Beings as the highest Good we Men are capable of knowing it being a clear and perfect though complext Idea drawn from the Nature of God and all other things and being a Collection of the Good and Happiness of the Deity and of all other Rational Agents it must be true and consequently from God And the Divine Intellect doth as certainly agree with our Idea's concerning it as it doth when we judge that the Base of an Equilateral Triangle is equal to either of the Crura or Legs Therefore this Idea of the Common Good is true and that it is also certain that all Truth is from God as likewise that He hath made us truly to understand that he Wills the Good and Happiness of Mankind it is likewise as certain that he would have us act as Rational Agents conscious of this His great design § 5. The Second Part of this Proposition viz. That God would have us Operate as his Instruments to this End will be likewise as clear when you consider what I have already said That God who hath made nothing in vain would not have endued us with an Idea of this Common Good as the greatest End we can propose our selves for mere Speculation but rather for some practical End in order to our own Good and Happiness with that of others especially since God hath placed it so much in our Power to promote and procure this Common Good since as far as we endeavour the Good and Happiness of particular Persons we do so far contribute our share to that of Mankind considered as one aggregate Body Thus whatsoever does good to any one Member does so far benefit the whole Body and the Good and Happiness of an aggregate Body consisting of divers distinct Members consists in that of each of its parts So then if God intends the End viz. the Common Good of Mankind as I have already proved he designs likewise the means to produce it Nor can there be any better means or fitter Instruments for this End than the joint Endeavours of all Men expressed by all the Acts of Benevolence and Kindness towards each other since it is certain as I said before that Men can contribute more to the Hurt or Benefit of each other than all the rest of the Creatures put together Therefore as God hath designed the End and ordained sufficient means to produce it viz. Men's kind and benevolent Actions so it is as evident That he will make use of Men as the necessary means for this End Tho' I grant he hath ordained us to operate not only as mechanick Causes but rather as free and voluntary Agents to produce it that is as true Subjects to this Law of Nature Thus by the same steps that we arrive at the knowledge of God the Supreme Being we are likewise brought to an acknowledgment of this his great Design of the Common Good of Rational Beings And if from all the wonderful Observations and curious Contrivances observed in this last Chapter drawn from the Nature of Things and Mankind we cannot but conclude That they were so disposed by a most Wise Intelligent Being towards this great End And the very same appearances that discover these Things must likewise declare his Intention of making use of us men as necessary means thereunto § 7. The last Proposition for the proving this Description of the Law of Nature to be true is this That GOD having made this Discovery of his Will unto us we thereupon lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this great Law of endeavouring this Common Good To prove which I first suppose that Obligation to an Action enjoyned by the natural Law is the necessary and constant effect thereof upon every Person subject to it and that this immediately results from its own Nature this Law being always just and right as the Will of GOD the Legislator is from whence it proceeds So that I understand Obligation to Active Obedience to be the immediate effect of this Law yet that it primarily flows from that Will of GOD which ordained this Law and made Man a Creature subject to it as Heat in us is the immediate Effect or Action of Fire upon us but originally both the Fire and Heat is from the first Cause Now there is no legal Liberty left us in the case of natural Laws to chuse whether we will be obliged to the Actions therein commanded or rather will submit to the Punishment attending the Violation thereof and although our natural Liberty of Will be not destroyed thereby yet we have no Right left us to determine our selves otherwise than natural Law directs because all Moral Truth or Rectitude is comprehended
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
17. in these words But what are divers Commonwealths but so many Garisons fortified against each other with Arms and Ammunition Whose State because they are kept in awe by no common Power altho an uncertain Peace or short Truces may intervene is yet to be accounted for the state of Nature that is for a state of War From all which it is easie to deduce the grievous mischiefs that would thereby happen to mankind For in the first place these Civil Sovereigns he mentions can never be obliged by any Covenants from making War upon and ruining each other nor can be accused for breach of Faith or Infidelity when they do so for being still in the state of Nature that will necessarily follow which he lays down at the end of his former Chapter as the consequences of this state To this War of every man against every man this also is consequent that nothing can be unjust The notions of Right and Wrong Iustice and Injustice have there no place where there is no common Power there is no Law where no Law no Injustice Force and Fraud are in War the two Cardinal Vertues § 3. So that you see upon these Principles it is altogether in vain for Princes to make any Articles or Covenants of Peace with each other no not if they swear to them never so solemnly for in the last words of this Chapter he tells us That the Oath adds nothing to the obligation for a Covenant if lawful binds in the sight of God without the Oath as much as with it if unlawful binds not at all tho it be confirmed with an Oath So that if the Covenant could not oblige the Oath will serve to as little purpose What Princes will thank him for this Doctrine I know not but I hope it is not an Apology for the late actions of any Princes but the Ottoman Emperor and our Christian Grand Signior on the other side the water but if the state of Princes towards each other is so bad that of the Subjects is much worse for from these Principles the safety of all Ambassadors Merchants and Travellers in the Territories of any Prince or State with whom we are at Peace is thereby utterly taken away nor can the Subjects be in a better condition than their Masters for by this Author's determination they are presently Enemies as soon as they come under a Foreign Power For such Princes being always in the state of Nature towards each other it is a part of their Natural Right or Prerogative to force all those that are weaker to give a Caution of their future Obedience and good behaviour unless they will rather suffer Death For nothing can be imagined more absurd than that he who being weak you have in your power by letting him go you may render both strong and your Enemy All which are his own words in his De Cive Cap. 1. § 14. Nor can I understand what he means by a future Caution of Obedience but the Submission of those who are thus seized upon and their coming into the same Commonwealth and subjecting themselves wholly to their Empire who thus lay hold on them For he tells us presently after That a certain and irresistible Power confers a Right of Governing and Ruling those who cannot resist it So that if this Doctrine be true in what an ill condition are Ambassadors and other Strangers in foreign Countries now at League with us any one may easily perceive Well but suppose such Strangers could or would submit themselves absolutely to these Foreign Powers they may yet chuse whether they will accept it since no Law of Nature according to Mr. H's Principles can oblige Foreigners to any outward Acts of Kindness or Mercy towards others who are not of the same Commonwealth since they may either accept of this their Submission or else refuse it and put them to Death tho otherwise never so innocent § 4. But if Compacts with those of different Commonwealths whether Princes or Subjects are of so little force let us see whether they will signify any more among those who having agreed to renounce this State of Nature are willing to transfer all their Power upon one or more Persons and so enter into his Commonwealth Where first I desire you to observe that these Pacts or Covenants by which every Man renounces his Natural Right are still made in the State of Nature in which State it is lawful for any Man to doubt of another's Fidelity but whether a Man justly fears that another will not perform his part he that fears is the only Judge and therefore Mr. H. concludes that every man hath cause to fear whenever he is afraid Which reason if it were of any force would infer that not only those Compacts are invalid in which nothing is performed on either part but also those in which any thing of any moment remains yet to be done by either Party for he who will not keep Faith any longer may when he pleases pretend to be afraid lest the other should break his Faith with him and that very justly whilst he himself is the only Judge of it and therefore his Reason which is always supposed to be right may not only tell him that he need not perform his part of the Covenant but also that it is absolutely void if he thinks fit to make it so But if any one will say that he himself hath prevented this Objection by his Annotation to this Article as also in his Lev. in this Chap. That the Cause of fear which makes such a Covenant invalid must be always something arising after the Covenant made as some new fact or other sign of the Will not to perform else it cannot make the Covenant void For that which could not hinder a Man from promising ought not to be admitted as an hindrance of performing All which tho it be very true yet if what he hath already alledged in his foregoing Section be also true it will not signify any thing because he there tells us that whether it is likely that he will perform or not he who is afraid is the only Judge right or wrong it is all one and therefore this fear of another mans failing in his trust may either arise from his calling to mind the false and evil Disposition of all men which before the Compact he had not well considered or else he may suppose any Act of the other Parties tho never so innocent to be a sufficient sign of his Will not to perform his part Nor is there any thing in the State of Nature which can make such a timerous man secure of the Fidelity of others for the performance of their Compact because as Mr. H. tells us in his De Cive Cap. 5. § 1 2. Cap. 7. § 27. All the hope of security is placed in that a man may prevent all others either openly or by surprise So that altho it appears that the Utility of observing of Compacts be