Affection I 'm sure the primitive Impotence in which Providence has decreed Mankind to be brought forth loudly instructs us we should exert it in the most affectionate Methods of Preservation In a word A parental Care and Affection is so clearly pointed out as a Duty even by the Dictates of Natural Reason that the perpetual Reproaches which the Care and Conduct of senseless Brutes throw upon the Neglect of it are one would think Punishment or Motive sufficient to enforce the Observance of it And therefore where such natural Bowels of Compassion are wanting it 's an infallible Indication that the Mind is desperately sunk in Barbarity And now let the Latitudinarian endeavour to overturn this Branch of a Law of Nature by trumping up some unnatural Cruelties among the Greeks yet I think it rests upon an unshaken Foundation and therefore before he Rejects it upon such a slender Suggestion let him consider that there are some few Monsters among Brutes that instead of Preserving destroy their own Off-spring And as there are some among this Order so God may to make known the Power of his Name suffer some Monsters among Men without injuring a Law that is established with so much Evidence and Solemnity § 2. I proceed in the second place to consider the Foundation and Original of filial Reverence and Duty And first I think a parental Care and Tenderness in fencing us from Cold and Nakedness and giving us a liberal Education when without the first we must have perished in our own Impotence is sufficient if once applied to the Mind and attended to to dictate the highest Tokens of Reverence if not Duty A sense of such inestimable Benefits upon the first Convictions of Reason are sufficient to induce an Obligation to make suitable Returns to 'em and I think nothing less than that Honour and Reverence that expresses itself in a conscientious Submission to all just and equitable Commands I mean such as pass for the Consequences of Laws of Nature or are fairly consistent with ' em But this seems to carry us no further than the Kindness of a signal Benefactor indispensably obliges us to whereas a Parent implies something more considerable than the Notion of a Benefactor can suggest and therefore Reason seems to dictate that God hath raised a more strict and absolute Foundation of Obedience and certainly the Obedience which is paid towards a Parent is naturally acted with such a reverential Awe and Deference as argues a kind of Authority and Dominion and consequently contains something more in it than a Sense of Benefits And truly our great Creator hath sufficiently discovered the thing since he seems to have raised an Obedience from the same Title upon which his Right of Obedience is established a creating as well as preserving Power For since he has decreed to make Parents the great Instruments of our Production and Existence as well as Preservation we must conclude that he intended to establish an Obedience upon it It 's abundantly concluded that as God is by the Powers of Natural Reason represented to us to be the great Fountain of our Being and Preservation a Sense of Duty and Obedience as well as a Right of Obedience as powerfully results from it as Light from the Sun And since Parents by a Divine Decree are honoured with the same Characters in as eminent a manner as is consistent with the Nature of a Creature or Substitute and are Created with strong and invincible Propensions as well as Laws and Obligations to answer the Intentions of them Reason will oblige us to conclude that God has thereby induced Obligations of a subordinate Obedience that is in all those Cases wherein he has not expresly interposed by a Law of Nature or Revelation Indeed this seems to be an Expedient to establish and confirm that supreme Right of Obedience which his creative preserving Power challenges over us and in a word his appointing our Production in a strict Imitation of his Methods of Creation is an Argument of his Intentions to establish an unquestionable Right of Dominion in both Cases Since the same Motives instruct us to acknowledge a supereminent Right of Dominion in our Common Parent and a subordinate one in our Natural § 3. But further it 's already concluded That the Offices of Parental Duty are enforced upon the strongest Propensions as well as Obligations even an invincible Concern for our own Flesh and Blood and where the Concern is reciprocal we cannot imagine but it serves to establish a Right of Duty and Obedience as well as enforce it But now as the great Creator of the World thought it necessary to represent and enforce the Duty of Parents by certain indeleble Propensions so Reason will instruct us that he has constituted Propensions as powerful in Children upon which he intended to establish a Sense of Duty as well as enforce an Obedience Indeed where the Duties are equally binding of the same moment and importance and an equal Intention to maintain and enforce 'em we cannot imagine but our wise Law-giver would make the same Provisions to see his Designs and Intentions answered And truly the Duties of both turn upon the same Foundation a passionate Affection to our own Flesh and Blood For the Concern we entertain for it in ourselves will naturally convey itself to those that are but one remove from us This is so apparent that it 's justly to be esteemed a main Foundation of the common Bowels of Humanity and those Social Offices we exercise as Men towards one another But to return It 's visible the Alliance is equal on both hands and consequently we may justly presume that the Propensions of Duty and Reverence are as strong on the Child's part that receives a Being and Subsistence as the Propensions of Care and Compassion on the Parents that ministers both The Maxim holds this way no one as yet ever hated his own Flesh From all this it 's evident since God has implanted such deep and powerful Propensions we must conclude that the bare Proposal of a Parent to the Mind so as to apprehend the true force and purport of the Term will naturally command these Propensions into the highest Instances of Duty and Obedience as well as Awe and Reverence This is a Duty so legible in the Frame and Constitution of our Beings that Nature by the help of a single Conclusion at the same time dictates and enforces it And I 'm perswaded were not the Frame of the Soul in this as well as other Cases miserably perverted by vitious Habits or Dispositions contracted thro' Education or Example it 's impossible but she must rest under a perpetual Sense and Apprehension of it And now let some Men Harangue upon the Act of Generation as liberally and contemptibly as they please we have all the Reason in the World to believe that God has made it one Ground of an eternal and indispensable Duty I 'm sure he that subscribes to the
Catalogue of Laws of Nature Several Attempts of this kind have been made by eminent and learned Hands some with great Success and to all imaginable Satisfaction It 's sufficient if I have in some Measure prepared a Key that will unlock the Cabinet and so far let us into the Book of Nature that we may by the Workings of natural Reason discover the great Lines of Laws of Nature and judge which are to be ranked into the number and which esteemed positive But since the whole Hypothesis is advanced without any regard to relative Characters and consequently the Original and Obligation of relative Duties are not so directly measured by it I shall take the Liberty of enquiring into those which God in his Providence has made so important in the Affairs of Men I mean those between Parents and Children And first of a parental Love and Affection Indeed this is a Passion so deeply impressed on the Frame of the Soul that it powerfully discovers itself thro' all the Parts of the Animal World To love our own Off-spring seems to be the Effects of a natural Instinct or Propension that as violently exerts itself as the Spark that flies upwards The Moral Vertuoso's of the present Age are here shamefully foiled in projecting their Scheme For tho' they may labour to stifle the Evidences of other Laws that bespeak them to be the pure Workings of Nature the Testimony which the sensitive Order of Creatures bears to this of natural Affection renders their Attempts wholly unsuccessful It might have been replied That a parental Affection expressed in the Care of their own Off-spring is only a fashionable Imployment set on foot to perpetuate their own Names and Memories but when the lower Order of Creatures that want Faculties to form any such foresighted Projections discover an equal Share of Concern Industry and Compassion they as well as we must conclude that it 's the Effect of some peculiar Propensions wove in with the Frame and Constitution of our Beings Indeed the Fondness Vigilance Labour and Industry that unthinking Brutes exercise towards there own Off-spring cannot be resolved into any thing but a powerful Sympathy and Earning which God hath implanted in them as they bear their own Image and Representations or rather as they are the Effects of their own most intimate Powers and Faculties and carry their own Principles of Life Blood and Spirits in 'em or in a word as they imply the most sensible Expansion and Propagation of their own Natures And here I cannot well forbear a short Digression If it be enquired how these inward Motions are excited I think it may be safely replied Not by Reason or a formal Inference for no Inference can be made even from particular Objects but by the help of abstract Ideas or general Notions or Maxims and a Power of comparing and distinguishing two or more things together Thus Suppose a Lioness by Reason were to conclude that this and not another to wit a second third or fourth Whelp is her own Off-spring she must compare the Off-spring in certain Lineaments and Features or other sensible Qualities with the Idea she had before conceived she must compare this with the Idea she has of those she rejects and after a strict Agreement with the former and a palpable Disagreement with the latter she cannot come to a rational Assent without some abstracted Ideas of Identity and Diversity or without the help of two general Maxims that where the present Object exactly agrees with the Idea before conceived it is the same and where the present Object differs from the Idea which another particular Object yields it cannot be the same but another This is the Analysis of the most simple Reasoning and of a narrower compass too than some of Mr. Lock 's Complex Ideas and therefore I cannot but wonder how he upon his Definition of Reason can assign Reason to Brutes especially when he denies them a Power of abstracting or compounding or forming Complex Ideas and allows them a Power of comparing only in a very inferior Degree See Essay B. 2. Cap. 11. and B. 4. Cap. 17. But to return It 's visible these inward Motions of Tenderness and Compassion are excited by the Emanation of certain Particles peculiar to the Off-spring of each respective Kind or Order of Brutes chiefly affecting the Sense of Smelling And hence the silly Brute exercises the same Fondness towards her Sister's Off-spring nay even towards one of another Order in case the difference in Form Smell Shape or Proportion is not too notorious Hence we may presume the Affection dwindles and wears off as these Particles that accompanied the Off-spring from the Womb decay in Power and Efficacy and consequently that by a Law of Providence they retain 'em till they are capable of providing for their own Subsistence From all this it 's indisputably evident that a parental Affection is implanted in the very Frame and Constitution of Unthinking Brutes And therefore since Providence has instituted the same Laws and Methods for bringing Mankind into the World with those he has assign'd to Brutes we must conclude that he has created 'em with the same original Propensions and as he has given 'em nobler Powers and Faculties as Springs and Movements to every Action so we must conclude that these Propensions in Men are set on Work after a different manner from those in Brutes They are not acted by pure Sensations but by the Powers of Reason added to 'em for when a Child is represented to the Mind to be the most lively Exertion of our vital Powers and Faculties to be Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh the first Assent to such an Idea must actuate these native Propensions into all the Offices of Love Care and Tenderness These are but the natural Sallies of that Affection which we were created with towards ourselves for no one as yet ever hated his own Flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it So that a parental Affection is so much a Law of Nature that the first Suggestions of Reason excite to the exercise of it A single Conclusion commands an Assent to the Duty and at the same time kindles or actuates the Affections into a Practice suitable to it Indeed it 's a Law that so apparently results from the Frame of Humane Nature that it carries the Appearance of being Innate and in one word for Man to love and cherish his Off-spring is certainly the Result of an innate Propension but the exercise of it from the consideration of the close Affinity it bears to his own Flesh and Blood is a Work of Reason This seems to be a Law truly written in our Hearts for if we ever think or reason upon the Subject Nature will command a practical Assent to it Indeed Reason does not more carefully dictate the Law than Nature both within and without conspire to enforce the Practice of it for if the first Workings of Reason powerfully excite a paternal
sufficient to secure the Ends of Government and consequently a Coercive Power to Punish any from within or without that invade the Peace of it But 3dly To support his own Hypothesis and avoid the Political Authority of the Paternal Power he affirms That tho' the Duties of Honour and Respect are Eternal yet the commanding Power is Temporary and ceases with Nonage or Minority See § 64 67 69 c. That when this Power expires Children are in as absolute a State of Freedom as the Father and that too not only in respect to the Father's Authority but of the Civil Government This is the Substance of several Sections and it 's very visible that his chiefest Arguments are raised upon Paternal Power as 't is exercis'd under the established Governments of the World which is a Fallacy already detected But to make some Returns according to Method and Order The Duty of Children I 'm persuaded in the full Extent of it is of eternal Obligation where 't is not superseeded by a higher Law that of Society upon which account alone as is already observed part of it by the Reason and Necessity of Things devolves upon the Supreme Power Indeed if what has been asserted carries Evidence and Truth in it the Duty of Children must be Eternal It has been abundantly proved That the Ground or Foundation of Filial Duty and Obedience is Eternal viz. That of Generation and an unchangeable Affection resulting from it And if the Ground of Obligation is eternal the Duty must be so too But to proceed the Word of God seems express in this Matter for we are not only enjoyned to Honour but Obey our Parents Now it 's well known Obedience supposes a decretory Power or commanding Authority and the Precept not being given under any Limitations that make it Temporary I cannot discern by what Authority this Gentleman pronounces it Temporary Indeed I cannot imagine how any one that receives the Holy Scriptures for the Word of God can safely pronounce the Duty of Filial Obedience Temporary for we there find it established and enforced upon such ample Provisions that we must believe God designed to perpetuate the Obligations of it The time would fail me to collect all the Passages that manifestly favour this Notion I shall therefore touch on a few that are very remarkable And first the Power of Blessing and Cursing exercised by the Patriarchs is a considerable Evidence of the Perpetuity of the Duty It 's well known the Patriarchs constantly exercised this Power and their Descendents as conscienciously acknowledged it It was a Sense of this Power that made Jacob Expostulate before he embraced his Mother's Expedient My Father peradvanture will feel me and I shall be to him as a Deceiver and I shall bring a Curse upon me and not a Blessing Gen. 27. v. 12. It 's certain the Patriarchs challenged an indisputable Right to exercise this Power for tho' Jacob had obtained the Blessing by an ungenerous Artifice or Stratagem yet Isaac thought himself obliged to confirm it I have blessed him yea and he shall be blessed v. 33. A most convincing Argument truly that this Right of Blessing and Cursing was founded in a Divine Original and certainly there needs nothing more to demonstrate the Divine Will and Pleasure than the inseparable Effects and Consequences of his Power since we find that the Blessings or Curses of Parents as infallibly pursued their Children as they were dispensed Thus the Blessing of Isaac attended Jacob and the Curses of Noah pursued his Son Canaan Cursed be Canaan a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his Brethren Gen. 9. v. 25. Now certainly a Provision of such special Powers can carry no less a Design in it than the perpetuating of a Filial Reverence and Duty If God had not design'd to establish an Immortal Power and Authority in the Parent why should he confer such distinguishing Marks of Sovereignty and Dominion Can we imagin that such a tremendous Power was exerted purely to secure an Obedience during Minority and a ceremonious Reverence afterwards exclusive of a commanding Authority No certainly this is a Conjecture that runs counter to all the Accounts of Time for the Obedience of Children in the first Ages of the World was as remarkable as the Parents Commands after a State of Maturity and indeed it could proceed from nothing less than a just Sense of an indeleble Character and Authority as well as Power to enforce it But further the Duty and Obedience of Children is so far from being any wise Temporary that God has given his own express Promises to perpetuate the Obligation St. Paul has long since observ'd that Children obey your Parents is the first Commandment with Promise Ephes 6.1 2. And certainly where the Sanction is peculiar or extraordinary the Obligation of the Command must bear a proportion to it and where God has discover'd himself so eminently solicitous to enforce the Duty by special Rewards as well as Punishments we may conclude he intended to perpetuate it Thus far the Suffrage of Scripture seems clear and indisputable But if all this will not convince I shall refer this Author to the Story of Jonadab the Son of Rechab out of the very Mouth of the Prophet The Command or Prohibition was against drinking of Wine as well as building of Houses which seems to be an Abridgment of the Natural Liberties of Mankind and consequently if the Commanding Power of Parents ceases with Nonage it may very well do so in Cases of this Nature But instead of this we find the Obligation asserted by a Complication of Arguments Jonadab advances the Command by virtue of a Parental Power and Authority Ye shall drink no Wine neither ye nor your Sons for ever that ye may live many Days where ye be Strangers Jer. 35. v. 6 7. The very Commandment with Promise And the Rechabites were possessed with as deep a Sense of its Obligation for when the Prophet by the Command of God tryed their Fidelity the only Argument of their Non-compliance was the Command of their Father Jonadab and the Prospect of Inheriting the Blessing annexed to the Command Thus have we obeyed the Voice of Jonadab our Father and done all that Jonadab our Father commanded us v. 8 9. But this is not all for the Obligation of the Command is not only recognised by Men even those that were immediately concerned in it but by God himself for he does not only annex the Promise of the Command to the Observance of it Because ye have obeyed the Commandment of Jonadab your Father and kept all his Precepts Therefore Jonadab the Son of Rechab shall not want a Man to stand before me for ever v. 18 19. But expresly represents that eternal Obedience that is due to his Commands by it for this was God's Design in obliging the Prophet to try the Rechabites Constancy and Perseverance by setting Cups and Pots full of Wine before them and commanding them to Drink and
therefore the Inference is Recorded Go and tell the Men of Judah and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Will ye not receive Instruction to hearken to my Words The Words of Jonadab the Son of Rechab that he commanded his Sons are performed for unto this Day they drink no Wine but obey their Father's Commandment Notwithstanding I have spoken unto you rising up early and speaking but ye hearkned not unto me v. 13 14. And now how can any Man dispute the Perpetuity of a Commanding Paternal Power Has not God himself drawn the Parallel If his Commanding Power is not Temporary neither is that of the Parent The Nature of the Command might have engaged a powerful Advocate against it the Freedoms and Immunities of a reasonable Being but yet the Conscience of so just a Superior bearing so awful a Character as that of a Father commands an immediate Submission Indeed this single Instance represents it as a Doctrine universally received and in those Ages undisputed and therefore I presume it will be a Task of some difficulty for this Author to produce a Dispensation much more a Repeal under the Gospel OEconomy But I proceed to consider the Arguments already advanced to support the Notion and I find the main and principal Argument is formed from the Nature and Reason of Paternal Authority for the Author expresly resolves the commanding Power into a help to the weakness and imperfections of their Nonage a Discipline necessary to their Education but when they are once arrived to the Enfranchisement of the Years of Discretion the Father's Empire then ceases Sect. 65. But let us consider this in the Instance already given that of our first Parent I would demand of this Gentleman whether after Years of Discretion a Discipline of Civil Commands and Laws were not absolutely necessary for the Conduct of our Lives and Actions yet as necessary as a commanding Discipline to a Child's Education If therefore Civil Government from the beginning was necessary even for Adult Persons this Discipline must be so too and then let Reason determine whether this commanding Authoritative Power or this Discipline of giving Laws and Commands was not Appropriate to Adam in whom God had invested all deligated Power and Authority and that too under the higest marks of Sovereignty and Dominion I 'm perswaded an unbiassed Person would pronounce such a Title unquestionable when there is no express Law that declares the contrary Again he tells us The Power which Parents have over their Children arises from that Duty which is incumbent on them to take care of their Off-spring during the imperfect State of Childhood See Sect. 58. But I am perswaded I have with good Evidence fixed it on a distinct Foundation Parental Duty indeed is a substantial Reason that God should Establish a Right of Dominion but it is no Argument that he has Established it on this Foundation no I have proved the contrary But admit we that a Parental Right of Dominion was founded in the Duties of a Parent yet if Parental Duty be perpetual a Parental Right of Dominion must be so too Indeed to give colour to this uncouth Notion he Suggests that that part of Parental Duty which consists in Education ceases when the business of Education is over he means when Nonage ceases Sect. 69. But certainly if Instruction or Commands are at any time necessary and not superseded by a higher Power it 's the Indispensible Duty of the Father to enjoyn them and the Duty of Children to embrace them I presume Christianity will instruct every believing Father that a Child's Age or Abilities can never exempt him from giving such Counsels and Precepts if he stands in need of them as may induce him to live in the Nurture and Admonition of the Lord. Upon the whole then the Commands of private Parents after Nonage are for the most part superseded by the ample provisions of the Civil Power in all Regular Governments and in like manner the power of Punishments is justly taken away upon that Interest or Property which the Government challenges in all its Members but yet if any thing is omitted in the Civil Power necessary to the Conduct of the Child's Life I am perswaded the Parent is not only to administer Counsel but lay his Commands and the Child is indispensibly obliged to yield a Consciencious Obedience upon a just Deference to the Parents's Character and Authority This is to obey as unto God and Christ and not unto Men. This Author freely confesses that the Duty of Piety expressed not only in Acts of Reverence and Respect but in supporting and defending the Persons of our Parents is perpetual and I am perswaded there can be no Just Reason assigned why a Reverential Obedience to just and reasonable Commands is not perpetual too it is indeed replyed that the former Results from the Laws of Gratitude founded in Benefit so inexpressible that the one can never be Cancelled nor the other Compensated but I hope it is proved they are founded in something besides that serves to perpetuate an Obligation and since a commanding Power has the same Authority and Foundation I cannot conceive why an Obedience to the Commands of Parents should not be perpetual where God seems to have made such Commands necessary to the Conduct of Humane Life Thus far here 's no Foundation given for the Suggestion this Author has made in extending the Gospel Precept to a commanding Power as if by virtue of it a Parent should pretend to treat an Adult Son still as a Boy Sect. 68. For the necessity of such commands is superseded by the circumstances of Age and Personal Abilities and tho it is reasonable to conclude that a Commanding Power remains yet it ought at all times to be exercised according to the necessity and reason of things In a word the principal Duties of Parents and Children appear from the nature of the things to be in their Original Institution perpetual and therefore before this Author had pronounced them Temporary he should have considered whether it was not to make the Commandments of God of none effect to support his vain and groundless Traditions such as a State of Freedom Equality and original Contract § 4. To consider the State of Freedom which is affirmed to be as absolute as that of the Father The only Reason and Argument assigned for this Freedom is in his own Language this The Freedom then of Man and liberty of Acting according to his own Will is grounded on his having Reason which is able to instruct him in that Law he is to govern himself by and make him know how far he is left to the freedom of his own Will Sect. 63. Now I am content to put the Notion on this issue with a small matter added to it If Man at a certain period is endued with a sufficiency of Reason to instruct him in that Law he is to govern himself by and make him know how far he is left to
Act of Disobedience was carried on by a Complication of evil Principles insomuch that it seems to have the same Foundation that in other Cases serves to establish a confirmed Habit and consequently it must have the same Efficacy in fixing vicious Propensions that is attributed to vicious Habits But now the Contagion of vicious Actions is too fatally confirmed by Experience and Observation to be disputed in Theory every Act prepares the way for a Repetition but a confirmed Habit lays a Bias like a Second Nature a Bias that in the Sacred Language is as uncapable of being remov'd as the most subtile Productions of Nature Can the Aethiopian change his Skin or the Leopard his Spots It 's manifest therefore that the Disobedience of our first Parent introduced an Internal Corruption by way of Natural Efficacy not by way of Divine Punishment But further this cannot be well disputed if we take in two other considerable Circumstances that attended the Fall which in reality were proper Punishments I mean a total Exclusion from Paradise and consequently from the special Intercourses of the Divine Presence and the Curse that fell on the Products of Nature we must conclude that the Defection of our first Parents introduced a perpetual and almost invincible Corruption And first If we all assert what with good Reason has been already evinced that those sensible Adumbrations of the Divine Presence as well as frequent Intercourses with our Maker were needful to preserve a Sense of Duty as well as Perseverance in it How fatally must the Exclusion from the Divine Presence expose our first Parents to the Dominion of those Lusts which their Disobedience had newly engendred But then when they are not only driven from the Presence of the Lord but condemned to eat their Bread in the Sweat of their Brows and converse with little but Thorns and Brambles and the tedious Methods of Husbandry how strangely must their Mind and Thoughts be chain'd to Earth and the insolent Demands of the Animal Appetite So that when all these things are fairly laid together I can attribute nothing less to the Disobedience of our first Parents than what the Word of God ascribes to a State of Nature to wit the Lustings of the Flesh against the Spirit and the Law of the Members warring against the Law of the Mind and bringing 'em into Captivity unto the Law of Sin and Death If the Propagation of such a fatal Contagion cannot well be accounted for in the Descendents of our first Parents I 'm abundantly convinced it must unavoidably establish itself in the Frame of their Constitutions But truly there 's no Colour of Reason offers it self why such a powerful Bias or Contagion unless suspended by an over-ruling Power should not be transmitted by the common Laws of Generation Indeed when we consider how much our Animal Appetites and Propensions that are engendred by Habit depend on the Disposition of the Blood and Animal Spirits insomuch that they often new Model the Natural Constitution I cannot conceive why a general Contagion of this Nature may not be propagated as well as particular Features Complexions or Constitutions I will readily grant that some peculiar Turns in Nature may alter the Frame of particular Constitutions and dispose a Person to some peculiar Vices more powerfully than others but I 'm perswaded a change can never be effected by any but one that has the Sovereign Disposal of the Powers of Nature that weigheth the Mountains in Scales and the Hills in a Ballance can prevent all vicious Propensions from being transmitted from the Parent or their proper Off-spring And thus I hope I have in some measure given a Rationale of an Original Corruption that represents an unavoidable necessity of sinning and provoking God in all our Actions See Reasonableness of Christianity p. 5. And yet it is consistent with the infinite Justice of God I have enlarged more fully on the Subject because it will lay a Foundation to represent the Expediency or Necessity of Revelation § 3. And first Having already concluded that Man in his present State and Condition is acted by two opposite Principles involved in two opposite Interests and each contending for Government and Dominion it may easily be discerned how our Attainments in Knowledge are affected whereby Revelation will become highly necessary Now certainly the Re-searches of Reason in such a divided State can never be elaborate and correct For first it cannot be denied but the Avenues of Reason take their Rise from the Animal Part and consequently all the Materials of Reason must make their passage this way Nay further the Animal Appetites and Passions are the immediate Springs and Movers of Reason and therefore since it is concluded that the Bias of the Animal Part is so formidably strong and powerful we cannot imagine but Matters will be so ordered as to prevent any considerable Disquisitions For by this means the Ideas of things will not only be often disguised and presented in a salse Light or Dress but the Importunities of the Carnal Part will not suffer the Mind to dwell upon any Object that does not comport with its Interest they will not suffer her to place it in the Scales and try its Worth and Value by any solid Debates and Counsels and consequently Miscarriages will arise for want of due Application and Attention of Mind Now certainly since this is the true State of Things we must place the Acquest of Knowledge under the greatest Difficulties It will not only embarrass and perplex every Thought and Working of the Mind but cut short the Scheme of all our Enquiries and therefore tho' the Fundamental Lines of Duty may discover themselves to Human View or Perception we cannot think to launch forth into the Deep and make a certain Discovery of those consequential Duties that are absolutely necessary to the Conduct of Human Life The common Necessities of Human Nature will introduce the Knowledge of the principal Lineaments and Proportions of Duty but we can never descend to a Discovery of some other considerable Parts and Circumstances that make up the Complement of Duty In a word frequent Retirements and solemn Exercitations of Thinking may engage such an application of Mind as will enable her to work off the substantial Parts of the Line of Duty but without these Arts and Methods and without Time and Leisure a Man may spin out a thoughtless Life or at least the Mind will be weighed down by Animal Propensions and employ it self in nothing but laying in Provision for the Flesh to fulfil the Lusts of it And now can any Man pronounce Revelation unnecessary What tho' Providence has not yet left the World or rather the World reduced it self to such dismal Circumstances but that with close Researches and unwearied Vigilance they may calculate the main Lines of Duty yet it cannot be deny'd but we carry a kind of Ignis fatuus within that will be apt to lead a great part of Mankind
Immoralities or to speak in other Terms the Seeds of this kind of Corruption are certainly lodged in the Propensions and Habits of the Animal Part. For that which has such an Ascendent over us to command us to Act in favour of it will infallibly influence our Judgments This is so obvious that in wilful Enormities I mean such as were first committed against the Convictions of the Mind the Power of Animal Propensions Assiduity of Practice and a kind of Natural Intimacy or Familiarity resulting from it has at last engaged Reason itself to appear as an Advocate for it and very often it makes such elaborate Researches for Arguments to support the Cause that at last it declares for the Justice and Innocence of it and asserts it upon Principle and inward Conviction I am perswaded and can without breach of Charity or Justice affirm That the Growth of the foulest Heresies in the Christian World is to be placed in this Original Men have so long given the full Reins to Pride Ambition Covetousness or other vitious Lusts and Propensions that they have called in their whole Stock of Parts and Learning and made Converts to their Judgments to support them or revenge their Disappointments And now upon this Bottom we may silence all Objections brought from the absurd and Heterodox Opinions of certain Moralists and Philosophers For it 's highly probable they were at first but exquisite Apologies to Patronize importunate Passions and confirm'd Practices and consequently can be no real Prejudices to a Law of Nature Indeed the impure Doctrine of the Gnosticks may be as well admitted a just Plea against the Truth and Purity of Christianity and the Evidences for both as some few lewd Doctrines of Philosophers against the Certainty of a Law of Nature upon the Evidences of Natural Reason § 2. But to enlarge a little on this part of the Objection it 's well known that the foulest and most absurd Opinions charged on particular Philosophers are by others recorded as an eternal Mark of Infamy and Reproach due to 'em and consequently they are by no means a just Balance to the substantial Reasonings of others in deciphering Laws of Nature We might add to all this how unjust a Measure the Practices of Mankind is of their real Notices of Moral Good an Argument too fatally demonstrated under a Christian Dispensation and consequently tho' the Generality of Philosophers liv'd in Opposition to Laws of Nature and some few taught contrary to 'em yet it 's no just Consequence to place Laws of Nature above the Researches of Natural Reason I am perswaded some of the Instances presented in a late Conference * See Conference with a Theist Part 2. p. 56 to p. 64. do not fall under the Character of prime Laws of Nature and consequently do not reach the Author's Design It 's very well known Plato's Model for Peopling his Common-wealth was not by a Community of Women without Limitations from the Civil Power But for the precise Limitations in this matter as well as the manner of Worshiping God whether by Sacrifices and corporeal Representations I presume it 's the business of Revealed Religion to fix and determine As for his Instance of Masculine Venery Zeno and his Followers pronounced it indifferent I presume it was a previous Practice that had made it appear so And yet St. Paul speaks of some of these unnatural Whoredoms as things scarce named among the Gentiles 1 Cor. 5.1 But it were highly to be wished that some Nations in the Confines of Christendom had wholly escaped the Contagion so that if such vile Practices in a State of Nature may be an Argument against Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation it will be of Force against written Revelations Since Laws of Nature founded in the Dictates of natural Reason may be as easily violated as any written Law Certainly such avowed Practices may with greater force of Reason be allowed against a Law that pretends to no higher Authority than Revelation or supported by Tradition Lastly As for the Grecian Piece of Cruelty in exposing Children to the Mercy of Beasts and Travellers without remorse I presume the Practice was not frequent because it must be the Concern and Interest of every Government to suppress it But it 's well known the Christian World is not wholly freed from such Monsters who I am afraid are acted by no other Dread but what the Apprehensions of a Discovery and the Penalties of the Law extort from them However this is an Instance so absolutely repugnant to the common Bowels of Humanity that it as effectually disproves those Earnings which natural Instinct discovers in the whole Order of Brutes towards their own Off-spring as that natural Reason discovers the same Earnings to be a point of Duty to Mankind In one word the Cruelties of Heathens is no more an Argument that natural Reason doth not teach the contrary than the Barbarity of some particular Christians an Argument that Christianity does not exhort to Bowels of Compassion and a Parental Care towards their own Off-spring But to return A second Cause of Error is certain Prejudices or Prepossessions imprinted on the Mind by Example and Education The Cause and Origin of Error already given presents us with the Propensions and Bias of Humane Nature and consequently how liable the World is to be overspread with Error At least Matter of Fact informs us how wide the Actions of Men deviate from the Line of Duty so that it may truly be said of the Heathen World That the Imaginations of their Hearts is to do Evil continually Certainly then where a Contagion extends itself not only to the Judgments but Practices of Mankind and not only corrupt Principles but vitious Examples prevail in Parents Guardians and Tutors the Minds of their Descendents will be deeply impregnated with pernicious Prejudices and Prepossessions They are implanted among the first and earliest Impressions even before the Powers of Reason exert themselves This I am confident is the Case of the uncultivated Regions of Mankind And certainly when Reason comes to exert it self under such a fatal Bias no wonder if she often falls into very gross Miscarriages And yet this is the inevitable Portion of Mankind that are brought forth in a State of Impotence as well in Mind as Body and can hardly arrive to any Growth in Reason before they arrive to a Maturity in Body But now these things being laid together and admitted it 's very unjust to reject the Divine Oeconomy of Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation because the unavoidable Prepossessions of some Men have carried them besides the Mark so as to contradict the general Lines of Duty For it 's apparent were Men to enter the World in the Strength and Power of Reason without the Clog and Encumbrance of antecedent Prepossessions as in the Instance already given See Chap. 1. Sect. 2. It 's impossible but the Fundamental Line of Duty must present it self to the
Truth and Divinity of the Sacred Oracles must own it as such since we find it expresly assigned as an Argument of the Duty Hearken unto thy Father that begat thee Prov. 23. ver 22. But then when we consider that we did not only take our Rise from the Loins of a Parent but drew all our Blessings thro' his Care and Inspection and that God by a special Decree enjoyned it upon 'em as an indispensable Duty it 's an evident Confirmation of the fundamental Title that of Generation and an unquestionable Argument that God intended to induce indispensable Obligations of Obedience upon it And truly he that considers and allows God's Right of Dominion to be founded in his creative preserving Power must allow a subordinate Right of Dominion in him whom he has made the immediate Instrument and Substitute for displaying the Glory and Wonders of it Thus far I presume it 's abundantly evident that the Obligations of Filial Duty and Obedience rest upon an unquestionable Foundation That which remains is to consider the Extent of 'em and this will best be performed by applying 'em to the first Parent of Mankind from whom the Notion will present itself as it lies in its original Model And certainly we may in the first place affirm That Filial Duty and Obedience doth not barely consist in any external Ceremonies or Instances of Respect nor even those that terminate in Obligations to succour and relieve a Parent under Want or Distress but it extends to the Regulation of our Lives and Actions by Commands and Laws in all the Parts and Instances of Human Life § 4. From what has already been offered I think it may with force of Reason be affirmed That the first Parent of Mankind is by God invested with a Sovereign Power over his Off-spring to prescribe Laws for the Conduct of their Lives and Actions in all Cases and Emergencies pursuant to the Laws of God whether natural or revealed or where God has no way interposed to the contrary And pursuant to this it 's an uncontroverted Truth that the Patriarchs rightfully exercised the Priestly Function till God interposed by a positive Institution and constituted a standing Order of Men to wait on his Altar this is so agreeable to the Divine Will that though private Persons cannot preside in the public Worship of God without an Intrusion of the Priestly Office yet every Parent by Divine Designation and Appointment is still a kind of Priest within the District of his own Family And certainly if a Paternal or Patriarchal Power originally includes a Priestly Power I can see no Reason to dispute the Authority of a Kingly Power And agreeable to this History assures us that the Kings of Egypt as well as other Governments originally exercised a Sacerdotal as well as Civil Jurisdiction But to proceed The Business or Design and Authority of the supreme Power or in a word of all those delegated Powers which God hath or ever will establish among Mankind is to prescribe Laws for the Regulation of our Lives and Actions in all Cases and Emergences And if Government and positive Human Laws by the Laws of Nature and the Frame of our Beings are absolutely necessary to the Conduct of Mankind in a State of Nature as well as Grace we have all the Reason in the World to conclude that this Power and Authority was originally lodged in the paternal Power of Adam over his own Off-spring It 's certain the Prerogatives of the Supreme Power do not extend to the wresting away real Rights and Immunities which the Laws of Nature or Revelation give us for their original Institution is to advance the Wellfare and Happiness of Mankind by securing and enforcing the observance of them and therefore since it is indisputably concluded that an authoritative Power is lodged in the Fatherhood there is no Obstruction in the Nature of the Thing but the Paternal Power of Adam might extend to the imposing such Laws as are fitted to answer these Ends and Purposes Indeed God's making Government necessary seems to advance his Paternal Power to all the Rights and Prerogatives of it unless he had established it upon another Foundation by some express Law for God having created the Off-spring of Adam with the strongest Propensions of Obedience to him as a Father God having established an Obedience upon the same Principles upon which he challenges our Obedience we must conclude that a Right of Obedience accrews to Adam as a Father in all those Cases wherein God has made it necessary for Mankind to be governed by Laws And since God has made it necessary for the Off-spring of Adam and in them the Off-spring of Mankind even by the highest Necessity that of Nature and Existence to live by Society and to be governed by Laws in order to the enforcement of the Laws of God whether Natural or Revealed and in them in order to the Security of the Wellfare and Happiness of Mankind the Paternal Power of Adam must originally extend to all the Prerogatives of delegated Power so that by vertue of his Characters which God brought him into the World under he 's to all Intents and Purposes God's immediate Vice-gerent unless some positive and express Law had signified the contrary In a word a Necessity arising from the Frame and Order of Nature is in a State of Nature the proper Evidence for Divine Designation and Appointment or indeed for any Law of Nature and therefore since Civil Government is thus far necessary Reason will dictate God's Intentions in placing it that is according to the Order of Nature or where he has placed the principal Marks of Authority or Supremacy Indeed the Notion is founded on Arguments so clear and convincing that natural Reason dictates an Allegiance as forcibly from a Paternal Power as that of Compact tho' there were nothing in the Nature of the former that interferes with the Hypothesis of the latter for an Allegiance which derives from Compact must rest upon the Authority of Compact whereby it becomes indispensably binding to all the Ends and Purposes of Civil Government And I think natural Reason upon the received Laws of the Creation as clearly fixes an Allegiance in the Paternal Power as a Law of God and Nature as it pronounces the Maintainance of such Compacts a Law of God or Nature But then if upon Matter of Fact or the revealed Methods of the Creation there is any thing repugnant to such a Compact the Authority of a Paternal Allegiance cannot be rejected Now we profess and believe that Adam was the Father of Mankind for even the Woman of whom the rest of his Progeny was to be Born by an Omnipotent Power issued forth of him and since it 's concluded That for this Reason as well as for the Offices of his Paternal Function a real Superiority as well as a Right of Allegiance is derived to him we must conclude that his Off-spring could not challenge a Right of Compact any
way derogatory to that Preheminence and Superiority which the Laws of God and Nature had thus placed him in In a word it 's manifest his Age his Knowledge and Experience gave him a civil Preheminence over his Off-spring and if we add this to his Paternal Rights Reason will force us to acknowledge an Authoritative Superiority Here is not a bare Priority in Time or Place or for Order or external Ceremony but a Priority or rather Superiority in Power and Authority Now all this loudly exposes the Conceit of an original State of Equality without which there can be no Colour or Foundation for an original Contract Indeed this is a Conjecture so vain and groundless that the Divine Methods in Peopling the World by Descent and not by a Multitude at once is sufficient to shake the Credit of it And certainly nothing but the wild Supposition which Mr. Hobbs has begged to advance his Hypothesis is contradicted by Matter of Fact I mean a Multitude of Men by Divine Appointment sprung up like Mushrooms or an open Renunciation of the History of the Creation can assert the Doctrine of a natural Equality But to consider the Argument of Compact a little further It 's certain Compact is no further valid than it is materially or intrinsically good and therefore no one can rightfully enter into Compact to resign up or cancel any Laws of God or Nature or in a word any further than it is consistent with the true Ends of Government and thus far the Necessity of Government without any Injury to natural Liberty seems to place its Power and Authority in the Person in whom the very Order of Nature as well some peculiar Marks of Sovereignty have apparently fixed it CHAP. XI Reflections on some Passages in Mr. Lock 's Essay of Human Vnderstanding and a Treatise of Government Part 2. § 1. ANd first Mr. Lock having fixed the Original of what the World generally calls Principles though never so remote from Reason in the Power of Education whereby they are rivetted in the Mind before the Memory begins to keep a Register of their Actions he observes Men from hence conclude That those Propositions of whose Knowledge they can find in ' emselves no Original were certainly the Impress of God and Nature upon their Minds and not taught them by any one else This he endeavours to illustrate by the Instance of Filial Reverence These says he they entertain and submit to as many do to their Parents with Veneration not because it is Natural nor do Children do it where they are not so taught but because having been always so educated and having no Remembrance of the beginning of this Respect they think it is natural Essay B. 1. Cap. 3. § 23. I will not peremptorily limit the Words to a Sense which they seem to express If Mr. Lock by the Term Natural intends so as Native Inscriptions are then I can readily grant that a Filial Veneration is not in this Sense Natural But if he affirms that it is not Natural as Laws of Nature are which he seems to do when he tells us that Children would not pay any Veneration were they not so taught then he must pardon me if I cannot joyn with him in the Notion for I hope I have sufficiently proved that Children are naturally endowed with as strong Propensions of Filial Reverence and Respect as those in Parents of Parental Tenderness and Compassion and that the bare Perception of the Idea or Term Parent would naturally Actuate these native Propensions in such a manner as to command not only Solemn Reverence and Respect but Filial Obedience had not Education or ill Example suggested something to the contrary Indeed I 'm perswaded a great deal of Filial Reverence and Duty is worn off by those Devolutions which the Reasons and Necessities of civil Government have made in the chiefest Branches of Parental Power otherwise I question not but a Sense of the highest Veneration and Duty would constantly possess the Minds of Men as no doubt it did under the first Government where the Supreme Power was both Parent and Sovereign § 2. But to consider the Positions of another Treatise I presume well known to Mr. Lock And first in order to overturn the Parental Power as it extends to Government This Gentleman as well as Mr. Hobbs tho' both in a different Way thinks he has gain'd the Field by proving that the Mother is an equal Sharer in that Power which accrews to a Father as a Parent He proves it from both Testaments particularly Exod. 20.12 and Eph. 6.1 and the Remark is Had but this one thing been well considered without looking any deeper into the Matter it might perhaps have kept Men from running into those gross Mistakes they have made about Parents Two Treatises of Government Part 2. Cap. 6. § 52 53. Now in Answer to this I will not deny but the Word of God enjoyns Duty and Obedience to both Parents but he cannot be ignorant but it must be assigned to the Mother only in a Subordinate manner for else I would fain know how with any colour of Truth or Reason he expounds these Passages Thy Desire shall be to thine Husband and he shall rule over thee Gen. 3.16 Wives submit yourselves unto your own Husbands as unto the Lord for the Husband is the Head of the Wife even as Christ is the Head of the Church Therefore as the Church is subject unto Christ so let the Wives be unto their own Husbands in every thing Eph. 5.22 c. St. Peter is as large on the same Argument to whom I shall refer him Eph. 1.3 So that it 's evident the revealed Law gives a supereminent Power to the Father even as a Father as well as a Husband since the Wife is to obey in all things and consequently to give place to his Authority in laying his just Command upon his Children But further the natural Frame of Man not only in respect of Strength and Vigour of Body but Courage and Resolution of Mind seems to give him so much Superiority and Preheminence as by the Dictates of Natural Reason is sufficient to establish a supereminent Power and Authority to that of the Woman I 'm sure the holy Spirit draws the Character not unlike this when the Woman is stil'd The weaker Vessel But now in the present Argument we are to have recourse to Matter of Fact by considering the Method God took in the Production of the Woman for the Dispute being whether de facto the Paternal Power of Adam was Supereminent to that of the Woman It 's abundantly concluded if it be made appear from the established Methods of the Creation and the Argument is the same in the Original of Government for this is to be taken from Matter of Fact especially as long as 't is recorded and transmitted upon unquestionable Authority and when once the Original of Government is fixed the Succession of Governments will easily be accounted