them For it is a thing that dependeth not on Nature but on the scope of the Writer and is subservient to every mans proper method In the Institutions of Justinian we find seven sorts of Civill Lawes 1. The Edicts Constitutions and Epistles of the Prince that is of the Emperour because the whole power of the people was in him Like these are the Proclamations of the Kings of England 2. The Decrees of the whole people of Rome comprehending the Senate when they were put to the Question by the Senate These were Lawes at first by the vertue of the Soveraign Power residing in the people and such of them as by the Emperours were not abrogated remained Lawes by the Authority Imperiall For all Lawes that bind are understood to be Lawes by his authority that has power to repeale them Somewhat like to these Lawes are the Acts of Parliament in England 3. The Decrees of the Common people excluding the Senate when they were put to the question by the Tribune of the people For such of them as were not abrogated by the Emperours remained Lawes by the Authority Imperiall Like to these were the Orders of the House of Commons in England 4. Senatûs consulta the Orders of the Senate because when the people of Rome grew so numerous as it was inconvenient to assemble them it was thought fit by the Emperour that men should Consult the Senate in stead of the people And these have some resemblance with the Acts of Counsell 5. The Edicts of Praetors and in some Cases of the Aediles such as are the Chiefe Justices in the Courts of England 6. Responsa Prudentum which were the Sentences and Opinions of those Lawyers to whom the Emperour gave Authority to interpret the Law and to give answer to such as in matter of Law demanded their advice which Answers the Judges in giving Judgement were obliged by the Constitutions of the Emperour to observe And should be like the Reports of Cases Judged if other Judges be by the Law of England bound to observe them For the Judges of the Common Law of England are not properly Judges but Juris Consulti of whom the Judges who are either the Lords or Twelve men of the Country are in point of Law to ask advice 7. Also Unwritten Customes which in their own nature are an imitation of Law by the tacite consent of the Emperour in case they be not contrary to the Law of Nature are very Lawes Another division of Lawes is into Naturall and Positive Naturâ—…ll are those which have been Lawes from all Eternity and are called not onely Naturall but also Morall Lawes consisting in the Morall Vertues as Justice Equity and all habits of the mind that conduce to Peace and Charity of which I have already spoken in the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapters Positive are those which have not been from Eternity but have been made Lawes by the Will of those that have had the Soveraign Power over others and are either written or made known to men by some other argument of the Will of their Legislator Again of Positive Lawes some are Humane some Divine And of Humane positive lawes some are Distributive some Penal Distributive are those that determine the Rights of the Subjects declaring to every man what it is by which he acquireth and holdeth a propriety in lands or goods and a right or liberty of action and these speak to all the Subjects Penal are those which declare what Penalty shall be inflicted on those that violate the Law and speak to the Ministers and Officers ordained for execution For though every one ought to be informed of the Punishments ordained before-hand for their transgression neverthelesse the Command is not addressed to the Delinquent who cannot be supposed will faithfully punish himselfe but to publique Ministers appointed to see the Penalty executed And these Penal Lawes are for the most part written together with the Lawes Distributive and are sometimes called Judgements For all Lawes are generall Judgements or Sentences of the Legislator as also every particular Judgement is a Law to him whose case is Judged Divine Positive Lawes for Naturall Lawes being Eternall and Universall are all Divine are those which being the Commandements of God not from all Eternity nor universally addressed to all men but onely to a certain people or to certain persons are declared for such by those whom God hath authorised to declare them But this Authority of man to declare what be these Positive Lawes of God how can it be known God may command a man by a supernaturall way to deliver Lawes to other men But because it is of the essence of Law that he who is to be obliged be assured of the Authority of him that declareth it which we cannot naturally take notice to be from God How can a man without supernaturall Revelation be assured of the Revelation received by the declarer and how can he be bound to obey them For the first question how a man can be assured of the Revelation of another without a Revelation particularly to himselfe it is evidently impossible For though a man may be induced to believe such Revelation from the Miracles they see him doe or from seeing the Extraordinary sanctity of his life or from seeing the Extraordinary wisedome or Extraordinary felicity of his Actions all which are marks of God extraordinary favour yet they are not assured evidences of speciall Revelation Miracles are Marvellous workes but that which is marvellous to one may not be so to another Sanctity may be feigned and the visible felicities of this world are most often the work of God by Naturall and ordinary causes And therefore no man can infallibly know by naturall reason that another has had a supernaturall revelation of Gods will but only a beliefe every one as the signs thereof shall appear greater or lesser a firmer or a weaker belief But for the second how he can be bound to obey them it is not so hard For if the Law declared be not against the Law of Nature which is undoubtedly Gods Law and he undertake to obey it he is bound by his own act bound I say to obey it but not bound to believe it for mens beliefe and interiour cogitations are not subject to the commands but only to the operation of God ordinary or extraordinary Faith of Supernaturall Law is not a fulfilling but only an assenting to the same and not a duty that we exhibite to God but a gift which God freely giveth to whom he pleaseth as also Unbelief is not a breach of any of his Lawes but a rejection of them all except the Laws Naturall But this that I say will be made yet cleerer by the Examples and Testimonies concerning this point in holy Scripture The Covenant God made with Abraham in a Supernaturall manner was thus This is the Covenant which thou shalt observe between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee Abrahams Seed had
that word is understood Affliction for Sinne yet the Right of Afflicting is not alwayes derived from mens Sinne but from Gods Power This question Why Evill men often Prosper and Good men suffer Adversity has been much disputed by the Antient and is the same with this of ours by what Right God dispenseth the Prosperities and Adversities of this life and is of that difficulty as it hath shaken the faith not onely of the Vulgar but of Philosophers and which is more of the Saints concerning the Divine Providence How Good saith David is the God of Israel to those that are Upright in Heart and yet my feet were almost gone my treadings had well-nigh slipt for I was grieved at the Wicked when I saw the Ungodly in such Prosperity And Job how earnestly does he expostulate with God for the many Afflictions he suffered notwithstanding his Righteousnesse This question in the case of Job is decided by God himselfe not by arguments derived from Job's Sinne but his own Power For whereas the friends of Job drew their arguments from his Affliction to his Sinne and he defended himselfe by the conscience of his Innocence God himselfe taketh up the matter and having justified the Affliction by arguments drawn from his Power such as this Where wast thou when I layd the foundations of the earth and the like both approved Job's Innocence and reproved the Erroneous doctrine of his friends Conformable to this doctrine is the sentence of our Saviour concerning the man that was born Blind in these words Neither hath this man sinned nor his fathers but that the works of God might be made manifest in him And though it be said That Death entred into the world by sinne by which is meant that if Adam had never sinned he had never dyed that is never suffered any separation of his soule from his body it follows not thence that God could not justly have Afflicted him though he had not Sinned as well as he afflicteth other living creatures that cannot sinne Having spoken of the Right of Gods Soveraignty as grounded onely on Nature we are to consider next what are the Divine Lawes or Dictates of Naturall Reason which Lawes concern either the naturall Duties of one man to another or the Honour naturally due to our Divine Soveraign The first are the same Lawes of Nature of which I have spoken already in the 14. and 15. Chapters of this Treatise namely Equity Justice Mercy Humility and the rest of the Morall Vertues It remaineth therefore that we consider what Praecepts are dictated to men by their Naturall Reason onely without other word of God touching the Honour and Worship of the Divine Majesty Honour consisteth in the inward thought and opinion of the Power and Goodnesse of another and therefore to Honour God is to think as Highly of his Power and Goodnesse as is possible And of that opinion the externall signes appearing in the Words and Actions of men are called Worship which is one part of that which the Latines understand by the word Cultus For Cultus signifieth properly and constantly that labour which a man bestowes on any thing with a purpose to make benefit by it Now those things whereof we make benefit are either subject to us and the profit they yeeld followeth the labour we bestow upon them as a naturall effect or they are not subject to us but answer our labour according to their own Wills In the first sense the labour bestowed on the Earth is called Culture and the education of Children a Culture of their mindes In the second sense where mens wills are to be wrought to our purpose not by Force but by Compleasance it signifieth as much as Courting that is a winning of favour by good offices as by praises by acknowledging their Power and by whatsoever is pleasing to them from whom we look for any benefit And this is properly Worship in which sense Publicola is understood for a Worshipper of the People and Cultus Dei for the Worship of God From internall Honour consisting in the opinion of Power and Goodnesse arise three Passions Love which hath reference to Goodnesse and Hope and Fear that relate to Power And three parts of externall worship Praise Magnifying and Blessing The subject of Praise being Goodnesse the subject of Magnifying and Blessing being Power and the effect thereof Felicity Praise and Magnifying are signified both by Words and Actions By Words when we say a man is Good or Great By Actions when we thank him for his Bounty and obey his Power The opinion of the Happinesse of another can onely be expressed by words There be some signes of Honour both in Attributes and Actions that be Naturally so as amongst Attributes Good Just Liberall and the like and amongst Actions Prayers Thanks and Obedience Others are so by Institution or Custome of men and in some times and places are Honourable in others Dishonourable in others Indifferent such as are the Gestures in Salutation Prayer and Thanksgiving in different times and places differently used The former is Naturall the later Arbitrary Worship And of Arbitrary Worship there bee two differences For sometimes it is a Commanded sometimes Voluntary Worship Commanded when it is such as hee requireth who is Worshipped Free when it is such as the Worshipper thinks fit When it is Commanded not the words or gesture but the obedience is the Worship But when Free the Worship consists in the opinion of the beholders for if to them the words or actions by which we intend honour seem ridiculous and tending to contumely they are no Worship because no signes of Honour and no signes of Honour because a signe is not a signe to him that giveth it but to him to whom it is made that is to the spectator Again there is a Publique and a Private Worship Publique is the Worship that a Common-wealth performeth as one Person Private is that which a Private person exhibiteth Publique in respect of the whole Common-wealth is Free but in respect of Particular men it is not so Private is in secret Free but in the sight of the multitude it is never without some Restraint either from the Lawes or from the Opinion of men which is contrary to the nature of Liberty The End of Worship amongst men is Power For where a man seeth another worshipped he supposeth him powerfull and is the readier to obey him which makes his Power greater But God has no Ends the worship we do him proceeds from our duty and is directed according to our capacity by those rules of Honour that Reason dictateth to be done by the weak to the more potent men in hope of benefit for fear of dammage or in thankfulnesse for good already received from them That we may know what worship of God is taught us by the light of Nature I will begin with his Attributes Where First it is manifest we
alteri ne feceris To lay downe a mans Right to any thing is to devest himselfe of the Liberty of hindring another of the benefit of his own Right to the same For he that renounceth or passeth away his Right giveth not to any other man a Right which he had not before because there is nothing to which every man had not Right by Nature but onely standeth out of his way that he may enjoy his own originall Right without hindrance from him not without hindrance from another So that the efect which redoundeth to one man by another mans defect of Right is but so much diminution of impediments to the use of his own Right originall Right is layd aside either by simply Renouncing it or by Transferring it to another By Simply RENOUNCING when he cares not to whom the benefit thereof redoundeth By TRANSFERRING when he intendeth the benefit thereof to some certain person or persons And when a man hath in either manner abandoned or granted away his Right then is he said to be OBLIGED or BOUND not to hinder those to whom such Right is granted or abandoned from the benefit of it and that he Ought and it is his DUTY not to make voyd that voluntary act of his own and that such hindrance is INIUSTICE and INIURY as being Sine Jure the Right being before renounced or transferred So that Injury or Injustice in the controversies of the world is somewhat like to that which in the disputations of Scholers is called Absurdity For as it is there called an Absurdity to contradict what one maintained in the Beginning so in the world it is called Injustice and Injury voluntarily to undo that which from the beginning he had voluntarily done The way by which a man either simply Renounceth or Transferreth his Right is a Declaration or Signification by some voluntary and sufficient signe or signes that he doth so Renounce or Transferre or hath so Renounced or Transferred the same to him that accepteth it And these Signes are either Words onely or Actions onely or as it happeneth most often both Words and Actions And the same are the BONDS by which men are bound and obliged Bonds that have their strength not from their own Nature for nothing is more easily broken then a mans word but from Feare of some evill consequence upon the rupture Whensoever a man Transferreth his Right or Renounceth it it is either in consideration of some Right reciprocally transferred to himselfe or for some other good he hopeth for thereby For it is a voluntary act and of the voluntary acts of every man the object is some Good to himselfe And therefore there be some Rights which no man can be understood by any words or other signes to have abandoned or transferred As first a man cannot lay down the right of resisting them that assault him by force to take away his life because he cannot be understood to ayme thereby at any Good to himselfe The same may be sayd of Wounds and Chayns and Imprisonment both because there is no benefit consequent to such patience as there is to the patience of suffering another to be wounded or imprisoned as also because a man cannot tell when he seeth men proceed against him by violence whether they intend his death or not And lastly the motive and end for which this renouncing and transferring of Right is introduced is nothing else but the security of a mans person in his life and in the means of so preserving life as not to be weary of it And therefore if a man by words or other signes seem to despoyle himselfe of the End for which those signes were intended he is not to be understood as if he meant it or that it was his will but that he was ignorant of how such words and actions were to be interpreted The mutuall transferring of Right is that which men call CONTRACT There is difference between transferring of Right to the Thing and transferring or tradition that is delivery of the Thing it selfe For the Thing may be delivered together with the Translation of the Right as in buying and selling with ready mony or exchange of goods or lands and it may be delivered some time after Again one of the Contractors may deliver the Thing contracted for on his part and leave the other to perform his part at some determinate time after and in the mean time be trusted and then the Contract on his part is called PACT or COVENANT Or both parts may contract now to performe hereafter in which cases he that is to performe in time to come being trusted his performance is called Keeping of Promise or Faith and the fayling of performance if it be voluntary Violation of Faith When the transferring of Right is not mutuall but one of the parties transferreth in hope to gain thereby friendship or service from another or from his friends or in hope to gain the reputation of Charity or Magnanimity or to deliver his mind from the pain of compassion or in hope of reward in heaven This is not Contract but GIFT FREE-GIFT GRACE which words signifie one and the same thing Signes of Contract are either Expresse or by Inference Expresse are words spoken with understanding of what they signifie And such words are either of the time Present or Past as I Give I Grant I have Given I have Granted I will that this be yours Or of the future as I will Give I will Grant which words of the future are called PROMISE Signes by Inference are sometimes the consequence of Words sometimes the consequence of Silence sometimes the consequence of Actions somtimes the consequence of Forbearing an Action and generally a signe by Inference of any Contract is whatsoever sufficiently argues the will of the Contractor Words alone if they be of the time to come and contain a bare promise are an insufficient signe of a Free-gift and therefore not obligatory For if they be of the time to Come as To morrow I will Give they are a signe I have not given yet and consequently that my right is not transferred but remaineth till I transferre it by some other Act. But if the words be of the time Present or Past as I have given or do give to be delivered to morrow then is my to morrows Right given away to day and that by the vertue of the words though there were no other argument of my will And there is a great difference in the signification of these words Volo hoc tuum esse cras and Cras dabo that is between I will that this be thine to morrow and I will give it thee to morrow For the word I will in the former manner of speech signifies an act of the will Present but in the later it fignifies a promise of an act of the will to Come and therefore the former words being of the Present transferre
to God but one Worship which then it doth when it commandeth it to be exhibited by Private men Publiquely And this is Publique Worship the property whereof is to be Uniforme For those actions that are done differently by different men cannot be said to be a Publique Worship And therefore where many sorts of Worship be allowed proceeding from the different Religions of Private men it cannot be said there is any Publique Worship nor that the Common-wealth is of any Religion at all And because words and consequently the Attributes of God have their signification by agreement and constitution of men those Attributes are to be held significative of Honour that men intend shall so be and whatsoever may be done by the wills of particular men where there is no Law but Reason may be done by the will of the Common-wealth by Lawes Civill And because a Common-wealth hath no Will nor makes no Lawes but those that are made by the Will of him or them that have the Soveraign Power it followeth that those Attributes which the Soveraign ordaineth in the Worship of God for signes of Honour ought to be taken and used for such by private men in their publique Worship But because not all Actions are signes by Constitution but some are Naturally signes of Honour others of Contumely these later which are those that men are ashamed to do in the sight of them they reverence cannot be made by humane power a part of Divine worship nor the former such as are decent modest humble Behaviour ever be separated from it But whereas there be an infinite number of Actions and Gestures of an indifferent nature such of them as the Common-wealth shall ordain to be Publiquely and Universally in use as signes of Honour and part of Gods Worship are to be taken and used for such by the Subjects And that which is said in the Scripture It is better to obey God than men hath place in the kingdome of God by Pact and not by Nature Having thus briefly spoken of the Naturall Kingdome of God and his Naturall Lawes I will adde onely to this Chapter a short declaration of his Naturall Punishments There is no action of man in this life that is not the beginning of so long a chayn of Consequences as no humane Providence is high enough to give a man a prospect to the end And in this Chayn there are linked together both pleasing and unpleasing events in such manner as he that will do any thing for his pleasure must engage himselfe to suffer all the pains annexed to it and these pains are the Naturall Punishments of those actions which are the beginning of more Harme than Good And hereby it comes to passe that Intemperance is naturally punished with Diseases Rashnesse with Mischances Injustice with the Violence of Enemies Pride with Ruine Cowardise with Oppression Negligent government of Princes with Rebellion and Rebellion with Slaughter For seeing Punishments are consequent to the breach of Lawes Naturall Punishments must be naturally consequent to the breach of the Lawes of Nature and therfore follow them as their naturall not arbitrary effects And thus farre concerning the Constitution Nature and Right of Soveraigns and concerning the Duty of Subjects derived from the Principles of Naturall Reason And now considering how different this Doctrine is from the Practise of the greatest part of the world especially of these Western parts that have received their Morall learning from Rome and Athens and how much depth of Morall Philosophy is required in them that have the Administration of the Soveraign Power I am at the point of believing this my labour as uselesse as the Common-wealth of Plato For he also is of opinion that it is impossible for the disorders of State and change of Governments by Civill Warre ever to be taken away till Soveraigns be Philosophers But when I consider again that the Science of Naturall Justice is the onely Science necessary for Soveraigns and their principall Ministers and that they need not be charged with the Sciences Mathematicall as by Plato they are further than by good Lawes to encourage men to the study of them and that neither Plato nor any other Philosopher hitherto hath put into order and sufficiently or probably proved all the Theoremes of Morall doctrine that men may learn thereby both how to govern and how to obey I recover some hope that one time or other this writing of mine may fall into the hands of a Soveraign who will consider it himselfe for it is short and I think clear without the help of any interessed or envious Interpreter and by the exercise of entire Soveraignty in protecting the Publique teaching of it convert this Truth of Speculation into the Utility of Practice OF A CHRISTIAN COMMON-WEALTH CHAP. XXXII Of the Principles of CHRISTIAN POLITIQUES I Have derived the Rights of Soveraigne Power and the duty of Subjects hitherto from the Principles of Nature onely such as Experience has found true or Consent concerning the use of words has made so that is to say from the nature of Men known to us by Experience and from Definitions of such words as are Essentiall to all Politicall reasoning universally agreed on But in that I am next to handle which is the Nature and Rights of a CHRISTIAN COMMON-VVEALTH whereof there dependeth much upon Supernaturall Revelations of the Will of God the ground of my Discourse must be not only the Naturall Word of God but also the Propheticall Neverthelesse we are not to renounce our Senses and Experience nor that which is the undoubted Word of God our naturall Reason For they are the talents which he hath put into our hands to negotiate till the coming again of our blessed Saviour and therefore not to be folded up in the Napkin of an Implicite aith but employed in the purchase of Justice Peace and true Religion For though there be many things in Gods Word above Reason that it is to say which cannot by naturall reason be either demonstrated or confuted yet there is nothing contrary to it but when it seemeth so the fault is either in our unskilfull Interpretation or erroneous Ratiocination Therefore when any thing therein written is too hard for our examination wee are bidden to captivate our understanding to the Words and not to labour in sifting out a Philosophicall truth by Logick of such mysteries as are not comprehensible nor fall under any rule of naturall science For it is with the mysteries of our Religion as with wholsome pills for the sick which swallowed whole have the vertue to cure but chewed are for the most part cast up again without effect But by the Captivity of our Understanding is not meant a Submission of the Intellectuall faculty to the Opinion of any other man but of the Will to Obedience where obedience is due For Sense Memory Understanding Reason and Opinion are not in our power to change but alwaies