time without Law for they came not into the World till God had fix'd the Principles of Reason and the Roots of Love in their Natures and obliged them by bringing them into Being to observe the Laws which he had written upon their Hearts Their Liberty was not unlimited for these Laws bounded it neither could their condition be a state of War unless they should fight against themselves for by an universal Law well known to them all they were oblig'd to love their Neighbours as themselves They have deserv'd all Commendations who writing upon this Subject have not only reduc'd the Civil state of men to right Principles but represented a better to mens consideration then was yet ever seen but in Books that so the World might meliorate it self by the just imitation of a noble Example But Antitheus hath so far encourag'd the World to Degenerate that he hath made the Nature of Men worse in his picture then ever it was in it self For he hath presented the first state of Rational Beings as a War of all men against all men that is a Commonwealth wherein every man is his Neighbour's Enemy and in which every one may justly doe what he will where the use of Force and Fraud is lawful where every man having a Right to every thing may get Possession of it as he can by enslaving or destroying not only what doth hurt him but also that which he imagines able to annoy him every man's Appetite being the Rule of what he may desire and his own Apprehension the sole Judge of the best Means to attain his Ends. He affirms sometimes and it is correspondent to the foremention'd Principles that Cain did no wrong to Abel since he only took out of the way one that was offensive to him and as it was no Injustice to kill his Brother so it was but Wisdom to tempt him into the Field that he might have an opportunity fit for his purpose Antitheus thinks it was no just Reason to move him not to doe it to his Brother because he would not have had his Brother done it to him and that Cain was punish'd by God unjustly since he had done nothing but what he could justifie by the Law of his Nature being to give no accompt of his Brother no not to God since he was not his Keeper He slights the Foundation of Happiness which God had laid in Civil Society pretending that Reason and Love will not hinder men from doing harm to others But then he should have put some better Principles then what we have yet seen for Fear and Hatred will not doe it and if he thinks that they are the only means of Self-preservation it is a weak thought For though Reason and Love did require men to doe only good to others yet they did not forbid them to defend themselves against such as should transgress the just bounds of Common Good But his own Reasons are good enough for him who supposeth neither Abel to have been Cain's Brother nor Adam to have been their Common Father and so excuseth Cain from any Obligation to Fraternal Love and makes him unaccomptable to Adam though he depriv'd him of a Son without his leave By this you may perceive that his Doctrine is not agreeable with the first state of Nature but only a false Imagination of his own and useful nowhere except the barbarous Regions of Cyclopia Antitheus having bountifully allow'd this strange Liberty to Men in the state of Nature hath taken what care he can to assure it to them in all states and let them know that it is incapable of receiving prejudice from any thing not excluding those limitations which they themselves shall set to it by voluntary Promises declaring to them that they are not bound to keep any Covenants made in the state of Nature and hath added that no Promises are at any time to be thought inviolable for any Reasons taken from the nature of Honesty which make them sacred Bonds since Words are but Wind but that men ought to perform what they have said for fear of Evil Consequences which may happen upon the breach of their Promises Men in his Opinion either not being under the force of a Divine Law or that continuing no longer in force to oblige men to their Duty then till they have opportunity to neglect it without Danger from their Neighbours These are his Sentiments concerning those mutual Duties which Men owe to one another in general what his Opinions are concerning them as they are under Government you shall soon know whilst I tell you what Power he assignes to the Magistrate how he determines the People's Right and how he takes from them both what he had formerly allow'd to them by cross Grants He hath gratified the Supreme Magistrate with a Power of Creating Good and Evil and pronounc'd that his Absolute Will is Divine and Humane Law and would have his People to believe every thing to be Just which he Commands and that whatsoever he forbids is for that Reason Evil and that no Laws made by him can be unjust That Subjects have no Propriety in whatsoever they possesse and hold their Lives merely at the Will of their Prince who without doing any injustice may take away the Life or confiscate the Estate of his most innocent Subject and that all things are his in such an unlimited sense that if he please he may justly give away or sell the Sovereign Power Having consider'd that the Vulgar which are almost all the World are easily taken with specious Pretences he exhorts Princes to learn the Art of Dissimulation and to esteem it a most necessary part of Royal Accomplishment to be able to Counterfeit all plausible Vertues especially Piety that is prostitute the sacred Notion of a Deity to Worldly Interest and remembring that so long as men continue Bad as they do yet to be truly Good will sometimes prove dangerous he says they ought to know also how to make a profitable Use of being not Good though they seem so at all other times and because it is accompted a Point of Honour in a Prince to verifie his Word he adviseth him when it is his Interest to break his Promises to colour the Action with pretences of Urgent Reasons that the Common people may think he was necessitated to violate his Faith At other times reflecting upon that boundless Power which he had bestow'd upon Princes and fearing that the People would think him guilty of Adulation and say that he had misinform'd Princes in point of their Right to gratifie their Ambition he hath made a Compensation for his Errour by granting unreasonable Allowances to Subjects For to make the Possession of Royal Power insecure in Princes hands he hath given the People leave when they can to take it from them and when they are put to suffer Wounds or Death though never so justly he hath authoriz'd them to resist and lest they should doubt that they are obliged
All Created things are destinated to some particular Use and have distinct Properties by which they are fitted for their several Ends and those Properties are the Excellencies of every Creature The Nature of a Man doth by many degrees transcend that of most other Beings because he hath higher Principles by which he is fitted for more noble Actions Those Innate Notions of Truth and Goodness are plac'd in his Soul as Fountains of Law from which he is to take direction concerning the Government of his Life Truth and Goodness are Eternal Things and therefore subsisted before we were born but when we come into Being we find the Notions of them imprinted upon our Minds that is our Natures are such that as soon as we come to have the use of our Faculties by the exercise of our Reason we are forc'd to acknowledge their Existence and perceive their Usefulness and so are as it were born Guides to our selves being enabled to draw such Conclusions from these Natural Sentiments as make sufficient Rules for our Actions and are encourag'd by mighty Perswasives to doe that which is Good being convinc'd of the Excellency of Vertue by the Natural Testimony of our own Souls By this you may understand that Vertue is a just Conformity to our Inbred Knowledge a Correspondence with the Dignity of our Natures and a Pursuit of those worthy Ends to which we are not only destinated but naturally oblig'd 'T is true reply'd Medenarete I have often heard such things pronounc'd concerning Vertue but I alwayes esteem'd them rather as Witty sayings of eloquent Philosophers then any convincing Assurances that Goodness is a Reality Men do usually talk of the Difference of Good and Evil and say that it is indispensably unjust to hurt an Innocent person that a sense of Gratitude is natural to all Men and some such other things But I have heard it affirm'd that these Notions are only Qualities which dispose men to keep that Peace in the World of which they have a beneficial share and that they are not obliging Laws till they be so constituted by the Civil Sanction of a Supreme Power and that men do then yield Obedience to them only for fear of Punishment and so have no other Motive to those which you call Vertuous Actions but Self-love It is manifest also that notwithstanding all that which you say of the Natural Sense of Good and Evil implanted in our Souls yet men are very different in their Opinions concerning their Definitions and notwithstanding that irreconcileable difference between Right and Wrong which you believe to be Real the greatest part of the World do confound it in their Actions I might adde also that some who are esteem'd Vertuous are so far from being of your mind that they make no scruple to say that God if he pleas'd might command that which is most Evil to be Good If these Allegations be true it follows that Obedience to Holy Rules is a thing only founded upon respect to Self-interest that Vertue is not a thing of an unchangeable Nature and that the Obligations to observe the Differences of Good and Evil in our Designs and Actions is not so indispensable as you would make us believe I know very well said Aristander that many such things use to be objected against the Nature of Vertue by those who speak against Honesty to shew their Wit and disparage Goodness because they have no mind to practise it But I can easily shew you the Falshood of these Pretences if you will have the patience to entertain a little more Discourse concerning this Subject I shall be glad to be so oblig'd reply'd Medenarete and if there be truth in that which you say concerning Vertue I shall willingly profess my self an affectionate Friend to that which hitherto I have not much regarded Very well said Aristander I shall endeavour to demonstrate that the Nature of Vertue is Immutable that the Difference of Good and Evil cannot be chang'd and that the Reasons of Moral Duties are Eternal and so give you a clear notice of the Vanity of your Objections The unalterable Congruity which is between Vertue and reasonable Souls appears by the Essential Inclinations to Moral Goodness which God the Author of our Being hath implanted in our Nature and by this that many Vertuous Dispositions are fair Resemblances of the Divine Perfections that others are Appendages immutably proper to our State all highly Perfective of our Being and that a just Conformity to those Rules which correspond with these Principles is so necessary to our Happiness which consists in a quiet Repose of Mind and a serene Delight in the enjoyment of our selves and God our chief Good that it is impossible to attain it by any other means These Assertions are of such moment as to that Satisfaction which I would give concerning the nature of Vertue that I must crave leave to explain them with a larger Compass of Words and so make the truth of them all more apparent It is as natural for men to form their Actions according to the Notions of Moral Goodness which are in their Souls as it is to see with their Eyes and we ought as well to suppose that these Inward Laws were given us for the Direction of our Life as that our Tongues were bestowed upon us that we may Speak It is as easily possible for men to become Rats and Toads as to put off the Obligation which is laid upon them by God to observe Natural Righteousness Neither is the Congruity which Vertue hath with our Souls more alterable by any extrinsecal Power then the hour of the Sun 's Rising is determinable by the Word of an Emperour Laws can no more render Vice agreeable to our Constitution then they can make Seconds and Sevenths in Musical Compositions to sound as Harmoniously as Thirds or Fifths An Artist may as soon frame a Quadrangle consisting only of three Angles as make Ingratitude commendable And a Physician may as rationally pronounce that a man distress'd with a Fever is not sick as affirm that there are no Torments of an Evil Conscience Whosoever will seriously consider it may plainly see that the Nature of Vertue is unalterable and that it hath an Essential Connexion with our Souls for there is an Eternal Reason why that which is good for Men should so bealwayes These Holy Rules took not their Original from the Appointments of our Parents the Pleasure of our Tutors Traditions receiv'd from former Ages or Imitation of present Examples but are the general Dictates of common Reason which whisper unto us from within whether we will or no that they are Good in their own nature These Laws are of an Ancient Date not made in the Reign of such and such Kings or in such a Session of Parliament but as old as Humanity and of themselves obliging antecedently to all Positive Commands It is true Princes should enter these amongst their Statutes and because they are immutably Good
Musick as well as they and not believing that the Trees or Stones did ever dance after any Harper though some Poets have said so Thus as he would have the Constitution of the World understood without a God so he would have all the Phaenomena of Humane Nature explain'd without a Soul that so Men may be free if they please to live like brute Beasts to whom by his Argument they are not Superiour The best notion which he can bestow upon the Soul is but a Vivacious Habit of Body or the local Motion of some particles and the Beasts have that and Life possibly is an Harmonical Wind such as is convey'd by Bellows through the Pipes of Organs whom we may suppose to live as long as they breathe Discourse is nothing with him but Motion with Reaction of which a Lute-string is equally capable with any Man He obliterates all Connate Idea's of God by which Excellent persons think themselves inabled to converse with the Divine Nature as the Eye being replenish'd with a Crystalline Humour is made capable of seeing the Sun Thus Men are represented as no more fitted for Religion then Beasts But as his Doctrine raiseth Wood and Stones to the same pitch of Sense with Humane Nature it is but a small matter for him to depress it to the same Level with Beasts either in Excellency of Knowledge or Capacity of Religion It is consequent to this That the Soul is Mortal How should it be otherwise being but Motion when that ceaseth it dies And considering that many believe otherwise he adds that the Immortality of separate Souls is only a Window open'd into the dark Region of Eternal Torments by such as have been fool'd with the Demonology of the Greeks I perceive you are cloy'd with his Natural Philosophy and therefore I will set no more of it before you but give you a taste of his Ethicks But doth he acknowledge any such thing as Vertue said Bentivolio You may well make a Question of that replied Philalethes by what I have reported but I will tell you what he says and then you may judge He asserts that in the Natural state of Humanity all things are indifferent that nothing is absolutely Good or Evil and that no common Rule of Good and Evil can be taken from the nature of the Objects themselves but all things are to be measur'd by mens Appetites which have the only Power to make whatsoever pleaseth them Good He supposes men in the state of Nature to be a company of Licentious People stragling up and down the surface of the Earth without any Law obnoxious to no Authority incapable of Sin both because there are no Eternal Rules of Good and Evil of which the best Philosophers have believed the Law of Nature written upon our Hearts to be a Transcript and because no positive Commands were given to them for from whom should they receive them who were their own Lords He says that the World had never been troubled with those useless Notions of Vertue and Vice but that some proud Ignoramus introduc'd them upon an arrogant Supposition that men have Liberty of Will that is a free Principle of Action whenas by his words all the Freedom that they have is that they do not see that they have none mens Wills being like other things extrinsecally determin'd Hence he infers that either there is no Sin or that God is the Author of it who doth not only help us to Act but force us to Will teaching the vilest Persons to excuse their worst Actions by accusing those causes which with irresistible sorce necessitate them to operate as they do Thus Deliberation is rendred as a great Foolery and a Horse made as capable of Honesty as a Man and a Stone as either of them Conscience which the Good men of all Ages have ever rever'd as an in-dwelling God is despis'd by him as an Idol made by false Imagination Blame is reckon'd but a signification of Displeasure not the Imputation of a Fault His new Gospel hath abolisht ingenuous Shame and says that those whom we call our first Parents had no troublesome resentment of their Eating the Forbidden Fruit as a Crime but express'd a little Anger against God for not making them with their Cloths on as if they had been blind and did not see their skins before they broke their Creator's Orders or had no reason to blush when through an ingrateful Carelesness they devested themselves of the Innocence with which he indu'd them by doing what he had prohibited Thus he hath exterminated Sorrow for unworthy Actions which in sinners begins the Practice of Repentance and made humble Prayers by which all the World doth express a Dependance upon God as impertinent as if we should make an Oration to the Sun to day to perswade it to rise to morrow It 's true sometimes he makes bold with his own Doctrines and frets at cross Accidents and says that by reason of great Prudence one man is fitter to give Advice then another and admits of the Distinction which is made between Counsels and Commands with many other such like pronuntiations which being mingled with his assertion of the extrinsecal Pre-determination of all Actions and Events are Arguments against the Liberty of the Will compos'd much after the manner of those Horns which Mahomet saw upon the heads of some of his Monster-Angels which as he says were made of Snow and Fire Mens particular Natures being thus represented you will expect that he should appoint strange Rules to govern them when they are joyn'd in Society They would be excellent if they were proportionable to that great Conceit which he hath of his own Ability in this kind for before his time he saith the Doctrine of Civil Government was unknown and that his Prescriptions are far above any Comparison with what hath been deliver'd by the best Legislatours in the World in that the better sorts of Beasts have a more prudent Politie then Men and could promulgate better Laws if they would please to speak in such a language as we understand But some which have consider'd his new Modell affirm it to be only a fictitious supposal of a state of Humanity that never was or will be and that his several Dictates are useless Consequences drawn from false Principles and perversly applied to the Condition of Mankind which doth not only reject them as impertinent but abhor them as mischievous to the Nature and Happiness of Men. Some of his Orders suppose men to be Autochthones Intelligent Mushromes or else Pre-Adamites born before the Moon upon some Arcadian Hill others are fitted well enough for the Serpentine Brood of Cadmus or for a barbarous 〈◊〉 of Men degenerated into Beasts but they agree not with the nobler state of Mankind which by the prudent appointment of our great Creatour is derived from our Common Parents Adam and Eve whose state was never Anarchical for their Creator was their King neither were they at any