powerful Aides then humane Reason to rectifie and reclaim so licentious and irregular an Inclination as counterfeits of Moses procedure in his Divine Institution of the Jewdaick Law pretending all to have received such Prescription in a supernatural manner immediately from Heaven Such speculative Ordinances Lieurgus the Lacedemonian Legislator pretended to have receiv'd from thence by the community with his Hinde such Numa with a Nymph such Mahomet with his Dove And since they were not able to perswade endeavour'd thus to cheat the sense the corrupt Minister to the will But such Imposturies may easily be disclos'd in the resemblance of their prodigious issues which bear not the similitude of their pretended pattern The Mosaical Law exactly represented the Divine Character of such a principle consisting of two united yet distinct Tables as containing Subjects of a differing Nature in reference to one only Object Common Union which equally was expounded by the holy Word Love God above all things and thy Neighbour as thy self From which compendious stock were extracted by the inspired Minister for Illustration and Eclarcisement the issuing Branches of the Ceremonial and the Moral Law And although the result of the first Apostolical Council seems to dispence with such Ordinances as a yoke too weighty for their Fore-fathers yet is it questionless to be suppos'd in Reservation of the original in which Distinction the Cabalists generally seem also to agree affirming the Decalogue only to be the Law of God the Appendices the Institution of Man This Exposition the sence of Moses words in the Publication thereof seems implicitly to confirm The Preface to the Principle Decrees being God spake these words and said The Introduction to the Collateral God spake unto Moses and said say unto the people In consequence of which Argument in obedience to the Institutor we will positively admit of the principle as a Rule unto our Ordinances and in Reverence to his Minister not neglect the Appendices as a Light unto our Institutions how which hath been or yet may be pursued to the exact constituting an unquestionable Authority to a Law We farther will examine The Ornaments most in use to the investure of this awful Majesty of Rule are either in regard of the Act formed from Antiquity or Custom Or in respect of the Actors from their Virtue or Pow'r Between Antiquity and Custom in Relation to common Rights there is only this Distinction The latter may properly be said to be the unform'd and illegitimate Issue of the former unform'd in regard it bears not the distinguishable signature of a digested Law though it executeth the priviledge thereof extracting the Virtue of such efficacy from Toleration rather then Commission Illegitimate in respect the Original thereof alwayes is ambiguous 1. Antiquity for Reception pleads the Perfection of Her work from the stability of the materials thereof the Propriety thereof to the use from the Facility of Her burden form'd in a long digested Habit the consequence of the continuance thereof from the common danger inherent to an Innovation The essential weight of all which Arguments we farther will endeavour to discover The pretended proof of the Perfection of Her work rightly understood is but a Badge to the inherent Distinction of her own Nature What e're is Aged styl'd of necessity implyes the same must have been lasting Neither doth the perfection of our Subject fall under the predicament of Quantity but Quality Non quà m Diù sed quam Benè Not how long But how well The Propriety of her work to the use is improperly posited a consequent to the facility in execution since we may sometimes observe ev'n Nature her self translate the use of Parts which not rightly constituted did frustrate her Intention so in defect of hands some have exactly written with their feet Which Action wanting the Grace and Order of Natures Institution may rather be instyl'd a Prodigy then a perfect Ministry Practice may possibly form a Habit in imitation of Nature or of Reason which properly are consonant unto the Rules of neither In discovery whereof if we shall search into the Primitive Models of Civil Government we shall finde therein such ridiculous Absurdities notwithstanding the common Union hath been lasting and perhaps flourishing that a clear judging Spirit will admire how the reverence of this Idol should keep enlightned Ages in such servility as not to dare to handle her yet remaining Relicks probably this may be in honour of the Vertue and Felicity of the Communities of those times whereof such Institutions may be thought to have been the immediate Instruments when really they are not so much as the remotest Relatives thereto But the happy issues only of mans declining yet not totally subverted Innocence as nigher the Original of his first Purity but when this wilde distemper had attain'd to a more eminent extream exacter Rules became requisite to rectifie the disorder The third pretence whereby Antiquity may claim a right to her Establishment is the consequent danger to an Innovation 'T is true all Alterations how profitable soever bear in their Introduction an appearance of damage especially not rightly managed as when too sudden or to the preceding directly opposite Yet any Pilate though but meanly skill'd may easily avoid those shelves insinuating his Purposes by imperceptible Degrees and guiding them obliquely to their End Yet lest this notion in the ejection of Antiquity from the right of a just Authority to the Institution of a Law should altogether seem impertinent to the use of that Community to which this Treatise is peculiarly addressed To enlighten the Intention of our Argument we humbly crave permission to weigh the consequence of a proof extracted from our common usage Omitting to insert intails of Lands by private Act or Testament although the Tenors thereof terminate in the succeeding consequence because therein perhaps may be alledg'd the Laws were guided by the intention of the Donor in the disposing only of his own We will disjoyn them from all other Reference and leave them soly to their proper issue admitting for example A man by his own acquisition become possessed of a real Estate dies intestate and leaves surviving a dozen Children Males and Females The Law confers the said Possessions wholly on the eldest Son in right of His Succession with small regard or none unto the Rest who thereby are enforced to subsist on Almes or Servitude With all due reverence to our Legislative Power can the allowance be adjuged equal where the very innate form of Natures Rules so sweetly and infallibly guide every Beast by secret and instinctive Motives to the impartial preservation of their kind may seem extinguished Nor is this Law less dissonant to Moses's Moral Institutions Which to the Primogenitor only yield a double share as the advantage of his Birth-right The Civil Law above the rest affords him meerly but the priviledge of a more eminent Distinction excluding in his Right the chief Seat only to the extent
the Laws perfect in their Constitution and timely in their Issue yet to them their Ingress and Progress is inaccessable their Virtue cannot be communicable so consequently not generally useful the proper object of a perfect Ordinance This Subject hath more peculiarly for Object the Impotent and the Indigent in reference either to the remoteness of their Residence from the Courts of Judicature or their disability in substance To remove the first Difficulty from the persuit of the Law two methods only are in practice either to constitute several Courts of Judicature in several Shires Counties or Provinces or from the Capital Courts of Judicature to communicate the Virtue of the Law in vacant seasons to the remotest Places of the Commonwealth by their peculiar Ministers prescribed Circuits The former course as now in use not fully reacheth the Propriety insomuch as distinct Courts of Judicature so posited have still relation to the Capital Court and can definitively determine nothing their sentences receding by Appeals unto another Court In which proceding the Subject suffers still more prejudice then attaineth ease Our justicial Circuits more probably might meet a happier issue in the intention of their use To those that by reason of their indigence have not capacity to prosecute a Reparation to their grievances most Civil Jurisdictions do provide redress under Formâ Pauper is which questionless more fully meets the intention of the use where distinct Courts have only reference to the Institution XXVI The Nature of a Law E'Re we had qualified our Civil Ministry with those essential Attributes which might lend Ornament and use to Her Investure it would have first been requisite to the exact simitry of our Structure to have enlarged more peculiarly on the true Definition of her Nature But finding no material Mystery therein we have persu'd the Order of the Letter In favour of the Propriety of our Tongue prefiguring the shadow e're we disclose the subject and here accordingly give place to Her Distinction A Law is a prescription or a Rule impos'd by the Supream Authority of a Nation on every Member of Capacity within the Limits of the Civil Union to restrain each mans Actions from the Prejudice and guide them to the mutual Benefit of one another So that we may positively affirm as reason is seated in the natural Body for the direction of the active Members to their proper use and Ministry to the rest so the Law is constituted in the Civil Frame as a due conduct to our private Rights and common preservation neither can there be any proper distinction in their Faculties both issuing from one source and directed to one end only Nature in that form'd Her Jurisdiction in a smaller continent which Policy in this extended to a vaster Latitude And what the First composed only to one and for the benefit of one the latter constituted to many and for the advantage of many from which consequence we may conclude that as Nature proceedeth in the erecting of a light to guide her Ministry Policy must follow that visible light to the direction of Hers. Laws totally divest their Nature of their proper Use and Dignity when they but swerve from Her Prescription A proof whereof we perfectly discover in the Constitution of those Commonwealths which live only according to the first purity of Nature wherein those common Crimes against which our Laws have formed their severest vigour have not so much as Intimation in their Letters To this the Apostle yields his evidence affirming That some not knowing the Law performed those things contained in the Law and were a Law unto themselves Informed by that innate Light of Nature Reason in her uncorrupted Purity which secretly did prompt them To do unto others as they would that others should do unto them But when man fell from the Rules of Nature to live according to Art and Opinion he wrested This Light to their adulterate uses and guided That should have directed him Farthermore every perfect Ordinance extends It self to the two foresaid Objects The preservation of a distinct Right And The Advantage of a mutual Benefit as they are to be enfolded in one Rule so they must not be divided in their Ministry The just Interest of one must not so strictly proceed as to subvert the existence of another Such severity would utterly pervert the Nature of a Law rendring Summum Ius Summa Injuria The utmost Right the highest Injury In which regard perhaps the Institutors of our Law foreseeing the difficulty to unite these Heads in one Prescription have divided them in their Natures constituting distinct Courts to the peculiar Ministry of either styling the one Law the other Equity This only form'd to moderate the Rigour of That Moses Moral Institutions had in every particular an especial regard in regulating the extreams of Civil Rights One man might take anothers Coat for Pledge but was inhibit ed to retain it longer then till night Perhaps lest he not having other shelter to defend him from the Injury of that season might possibly thereby incurr the hazard of his Life In matters of private loan all usury was interdicted Prefiguring this course should only be an aid unto necessity no Minister to Lux or Avarice And he that was reduc't to the extremity of borrowing only to support his Life could probably make no such benefit thereof as to return it with advantage without impeaching farther the visible means unto his Preservation All contracts for Lands and Houses in some cases had their Period of Restitution which was the ensuing Iubile In respect that one mans unlimitted enlargement how just soever in the Acquisition should not reduce his joynt Associate into indigence XXVII The several Objects of the Law in Reference to the Security of the Natural Union THE Life of man is the union of two differing Subjects Matter and Form The improvement of whose Faculties distinctly taken may consequently have two several Objects in reference to the said Division Natural and Moral But since joyntly taken the one can seldom suffer an Impeachment without a prejudice to the other The Security of Both will meet in one Principle The common Agents of the dissolution of this union which sometime fall under the capacity of humane Remedy are Wilful Violence Sickness Want of which we will discuss in order XXVIII Wilful Violence AS this Subject hath in regard of our Order attained the preheminence of Position so in Respect of her Nature it requireth more eminence in Opposition No Act can so much blemish the Dignity of a Civil Government as this simply taken in that it seemeth to usurp the Authority of the Civil Jurisdiction in assuming an impartial satisfaction to the distempered will The first Curse Man incurr'd was for his Disobedience to his Creator which in the Issue found an advantageous Cure The second Curse befel Him was for his Violence to his Brother which Visibly ne're met an Absolution God the immaculate Essence of Justice
Advantage only of Particulars not for the mutual Benefit of the joynt Inherency which are no otherwayes therein concern'd then as remote Collaterals in future possibility not in present Act from whence ariseth Controversie Dissention and Debate Batteries rather for mutual Ruine and Destruction then Cyttadels for their common preservation whose effects are more obvious and deplorable in that they frequently are distinguisht in the Transactions of the nighest Reference to a Natural Union On whose Composure the Civil but pretends to raise her perfect Structure and Establishment So that the Reflection of the Consequence justly may beget Astonishment in a digested sence how it is possible the Civil Jurisdiction should resent the violation thereof with so much Indifferency since her Rights are to Natures but subordinate Nor yet is our Positions only fram'd on Civil or on Moral Practises our perfect'st Guide hath lent It a more eminent Distinction affirming Love to be the fulfilling of the Law And how that Law should meet a happy Constitution which pursueth not in Her Prescriptions the Object of Her Execution is questionless in Civil Rules a visible Incongruity whether it be in the Imperfection of Her Nature or Impropriety of Her Order Whether in the Coruption of Her Ministers or Error in their Practice whereby the Members of a Civil Union may either be o're-powred or ensnared in a Civil Transaction lest any Grievance or Oppression hapning under such a procedure might instigate the sufferers judging the Nature Thereof by the Consequents utterly to desert those Principles whereon the Civil Fabrick chiefly was erected and follow strange Chimero's of their own Invention so form in their Division such a Rupture in our Common Union as possibly may extend to the subversion of the Civil Frame From the Result of this our present Argument will necessarily ensue a due Perpensation of the next Collateral Impediment to the Intention Propriety and use of the Law The first Notion being the common Clause of a Civil Division the second of a Relapse In Regard that the Dammage and Disparagement attendeth on the Procedure and Issue of the Law produceth in the resentment of the Agitators new passion for Revenge on any frivolous Pretence which frequently are pursued and continued till both the Parties thereby become ruin'd with their Families To remove this unhaypy Consequence from the Proceeding of the Law whose proper Object only is Suum cuique reddere conservare It will be highly requisite to the Propriety of a Civil Institution in Reference to a Plea that neither in the Issue or Persuit thereof be left remaining either sting or scar between the Agitators which usually are therein enduced either by Personal Disparagement Indignity or Disgrace Or Dammage in Cost or Delay Or Burden of the Penalty The former and the latter inconvenients may easily be rectified in a Plausible Summons only and a feisable Reparation The second not without Difficulty in Respect the inevitable charge which attendeth the Prosecution of a Plea is not any other way distinguishable to be avoided It seeming altogether Impossible that so numerous a multitude should daily wait on the Proceeding of our Civil Agitation without any Advantage more then the Demerit of the Action In Reference to the Assertion we may affirm that there can not be a more honourable or satisfactory Imployment designed to any Person whose fortune shall afford him vacancy from the urgency of his own Affairs inherent to the necessity of his own subsistence then to lend a voluntary assistance to so important a Ministry according to the Capacity and Number of his Associates Such was the procedure of those ancient Heroes whose Vertue only lent a more splendid Lustre to the Dignity of their Countrey then all the Glory of their Victories In Reference to which pattern he conform'd his practice whose vertue justly had entitled him with the Denomination of her Essence Cato daily repairing from one Court of Judicature to Another to plead without Pretence of Gratuity the Causes of the Indigent and opprest till he was of a stranger and obscure Extraction held worthy to become admitted to the highest Ministry But admit the parallel in favour of our Infirmity more proper for our speculation then our Imitation might not Courts of Judicature be constituted in every County at the Publick Charge allowing a sufficient entertainment annually to such a Number of Officiates as might be fit to mannage the Affairs Co-incident to the Bounds of each peculiar Jurisdiction whose Number being reduced into several Divisions might alternately officiate ev'ry Moneth so that the daily Agitation of the Court yielding a speedy Issue to their Pleas they rarely could become o're-burdened in their Functions either to their own Inconvenience or anothers Prejudice especially if no Action were admitted pleadable which had not passed the Allowance of a peculiar Arbitrator who might be so impowr'd as to compose a multitude of Frivolous Debates which usually do but multiply one another to the Disturbance of the common Peace and the Dammage and Destruction of the Agitators In opposition to which Order may probably be alledg'd that the inevitable Charge attendeth on the Issue of the Law cannot possibly encounter a more just and proper Imposition then that the Burden of the Agitation should fall upon the Injurer The Objection may pass as an irrefutable Position provided the Conclusion fall under the Restriction of a clear Capacity to distinguish and a full Ability to perform But where the sence of the Law is involv'd with such Obscurity and Mystery as no cause how bad soever doth not only finde authentick Promoters to encourage the undertaking but as impudent Advocates to maintain the Prosecution under a legal formality of Right And where the inveterate Malice of Man is universally so great on every slight Advantage to pursue the Opposers of his will to such extreams as utterly might ruine and destroy them It plausibly may be allowed very pertinent to the Establishment of a Civil Welfare that the Legislators should reflect on a more happy Constitution of Judicature then what must of necessity thus cast their joynt Associates into their hands would sell them to the Inemnity and Rage of one Another in persuit only of their sordid Lucre. XXXIX The Principle Subjects fall under Regulation of the Law in Reference to the Security of our Civil Property HAving placed the Security of our Civil Property under the due prescription and Execution of the Law it will be necessary to the exact Establishment of her work that we briefly lay forth those accidents which in the infringement of a Civil Interest may lend an opposition to her Enterprise which visibly may be comprised under these Distinctions Fraud Violence Injury Oppression Fire Inundation Excess XL. Of Fraud WHen we shall with due Perpensation reflect on the extent of this Principle in Reference to a Civil Transaction It justly may produce a wonder in the shallowest Apprehension that the Constitution of most Laws
herein seems jealous of the Rights peculiar to his sacred Ministry reserving only to himself this high prerogative Vengeance is mine Nor can the Law without a blemish to this Image It represents resent the unjust encroachment on her Rights herein with lefs severity But to discover the degrees of this exorbitance inherent to Her Nature it will be requisite to visit Her effects in the Distinction either of the Subject Manner Place or Measure The first Subject considerable on whom a violence may be practised is according to the Rule of God and Nature that which each man acts upon himself The ground whereof is hardly evident to a moral sence which only measures the regularity of the exteriour Actions according to the damages sustained by another prefiguring without such Reference each man might justly claim a priviledge in the disposure only of his own in which regard perhaps the Ethnicks have assumed so much Glory from this Enterprise hereby as they conceiv'd triumphing o're the Malice of their Fate though peradventure the Temerity might more equitably according to their own Rules merit the reproach of Lachety then the applause of magnanimity since so ignominious an Evasion betrayes not only the abjectness of the minde but the infirmity of Nature as well in the Anticipation of an evil by an irrational Apprehension as in the distrust of our Faculties to undergo the encounter The exercise of Fortitude is opposition not flight But yet this Consequence if assented to will really not reach the Nature of this Crime we therefore must make use of higher speculation to the Discovery To ascend thereto if we shall make the first step on the Base of Natures Rules This Act will totally appear repugnant to her Order Chaque Chose suit ce que la destruit Every thing doth flye that which would it destroy If it infringe the Institution of Nature then consequently the first and most general Decree that ever was imposed by our Creator If we look into the Letter of his Law which may be thought more nighly to concern us We shall finde the Intimation hereof infolded in a general Inhibition Not Kill If we shall yet search into the Nature of the Fact by the Collation thereof to the preceding Actions of the Practisers we must conclude that it will seldom be found other then the issue of an irregular Life wherein the all-supporting Influence of our Creators Grace seems totally retracted as may appear in the prodigious Lives of Heliogabolus Caricola and others In opposition whereof if we shall reflect on the Actions of Brutus and Cassius we may affirm That Caesars Murther how fairly soever polisht with pretence so far eclipst the Beauty of their former Virtues they cannot win in an impartial Judgement so much credit to lend their Lives or Ends so much distinction from the rest as to give weight to an Objection From sacred Record with more Authority perhaps to these may also be annexed Saul only therein we meet with Rhâ—…sis example whose unblemish't life and high approved end though by himself advanc't may cast some scruple on our Argument yet since this falleth under the Relation of an obscure original And under the Pattern of a transported Seale we thereof not admit as a fit subject to a farther discussion only the life and end of Cato Uticensis may afford a Proof without exception where no Displeasure sprung from his proper Interest found the least motive in his Resolution but since the Actions of his Life had more refin'd Resorts then humane sence can probably disclose soaring a pitch beyound the Practice of a Parallel we will in honour of the Object of his Passion forbear to insist on the Conclusion Yet if we shall persue the inward trace of this Distemper more peculiarly and pry more narrowly into the secret source thereof we questionless shall finde it evident that from the preposterous Conjunction of repugnant Passions Fear and Anger issueth self-dislike This misprision of the work at length begetteth a contempt of the Artificer which since it can reach no higher presumptuously attempteth to destroy his Image betraying in such disobedience the trust which was imposed for her safeguard anticipating the tearm of the surrender My dayes are in thy hand not in our own To which may probably be objected that a man may sometime be reduced to that exigence which probably may figure an authentick Summons In reply whereto we may alledge that such extreams are not distinguishable to humane sence the Power and Providence of our Protector being unlimitable in the Measure and inscrutable in the Manner Snatching Daniel from the Iaws of the hungry Lion and Jonas from the entrails of the Whale Nor is such Grace dispensed rarely or in favour only of his Prophets as may be instanc't in * a Grecian Captain's Delivery by a Fox from out the Entrails of the Earth for dead by his Enemies cast in an Abiss from whence no humane Art nor Industry could have withdrawn him by a timely succour Having disclos'd the Nature of the Crime we should proceed to figure the eâ—…o a due penalty to the restraint thereof But as a moral Inspection could not attain the Mystery of her Nature so no moral Institution can reach the manner of the punishment the Delinquent being hereby become impassable to Her Prescription remaining nothing inherent to his peculiar Property whereon the Civil Jurisdiction can equitably be satisfied but his Carkass and his Memory The subject next material in reference to a violence is the Natural Parent without distinction and not without a valid consideration there being not a more legitimate inherency to Rule then that which is the immediate cause to our Production And the more reverence owe we to his Dignity in that our Creator descendeth to illustrate His Bounty to us under this relation In emulation whereof all Vertuous Princes have misptised the most glorious Titles in Competition with this high Attribute To this most just Preheminence followeth so strict an Injunction of Conformity that the penalty of an Offence shall violate this Right but in a stubborn Refractory or Indecent Opposition was by the sacred Law pronounced Death Who hath a rebellious Son that will not obey the voice of his Father or Mother nor be reform'd by their Correction their Parents shall deliver him to the Civil Magistrate who shall cause him to be stoned by the people From which consequence we may gather the Nature of that Crime by open or by secret practice shall willingly attempt to reach at their destruction In constituting Laws to the Restraint hereof most Legislators have in the primitive texture of their Civil Frame been altogether negligent either concluding that nature had in such Relation too powerful an influence in her Impressions to want the aid of artificial Ministry or else reflecting on the common frailty of our Nature which took more violence from restraint forbore to agitate on such a Crime as jealous to awake the faculty of
the natural Defects of the Body but in the vicious Inclinations of the minde infused in their Generation and in such powerful Examples habitually fomented and confirmed in their Education In which Respect our Civil Minister should lend more strict and vigilant Circumspection to the suppression of such unnatural Inordinacies instituting thereto a moral supervisor in nature of the Roman Censor endued with capacity to impose just Penalties on such Disorders either by publick Infamy Civil Incapacity Fine or Personal Infliction equivolent to the Degree and Frequency of the Extravagance XXX Of Indigence NO Moral Argument can more evidently confirm the fall of Man from the first Purity of his Nature then This his acquired Misery it being a Reproach to our Creator to figure an Insufficiency in his hand-maids Ministry And although Nature suffering under the sentence of Mans Original Transgression may seem declined from the Perfection of her primitive Institution in the Retraction of his Grace had formerly lent more Influence unto the support of her Order yet did such Affluence tend rather to the enlargement of his Felicity then the necessity of his existence whose being had rather then for Object his Speculation then his Action but having in the unhappy exchange of his Function sorfeited the Excellency of his Condition the measure of Her Fertility became proportion'd only to That use not to the Ministry of his Licentiousness which wild Revolt from her Prescription in appearance might detract from Her Benignity but not exhaust her Treasury whose sources when restrained are unsluo't either in submission to the Penalty of the Trespass To live by the sweat of his Brows whence was concluded the Industrious should be filled with Plenty or in the tender of His Gratitude in a helpful Dispensation whence is asserted The means of Preservation in the Day of his Necessity And although the Latter conclusion may seem to extend beyond the Limits of a Civil Position to which we in Propriety to our Subject only should adhere yet since the Exposition of the Institutor hath also It reduced to a Civil Notion under the figure of a Prudent Steward We shall form no impertinent Digression to incline to the explicit sence thereof in Regulating our Civil Opposition to this Calamity in respect a mutual and coadjutive Ministry immediately is necessary to the due support of the Civil Faculty From the general Result of our Argument may visibly be collected three distinct Principles necessary in Practice against the Approaches of this Misery Industry Providence Charity which persue also three distinct Objects to attain the perfect use to which they were directed Industry acquireth Providence reserveth Charity dispenceth On which three columns we will erect the Fabrick of our Civil Magazine To appropriate which exactly to the use we will reflect on the extent thereof which may be limited in this Distinction Publick or Private The Publick use hath for Object common necessity the Nature whereof although perhaps extended to many particulars in Reference to our livelihood yet pertinently may be reduc't unto the Intimation of one common subject under the Distinction of Grain which soly being sufficient to the support of our natural Life all other Aliments seem therein properly included This common Calamity in the Defect thereof most frequently is induced by the stubborn persuit of our Original Corruption Which causeth the Earth to be as Iron and the Heavens as Brass Such was Iewries misery under Elisha's Prophetick Ministry such Egypts under Joseph's Delivery And though the efficient cause of this Disaster may seem to be of a far higher Nature then yet 〈◊〉 Civil Faculty could e're pretend to reach at the Removal in a timely Remedy yet since Divine Providence hath so far favour'd humane Prudence as to avoid the fury of the Issue we plausibly may follow the example of such Practises which though often grounded on a supernatural Prevoyance yet have they in their Civil Order left an useful Prescription The Method of Iosephs Ministry under Pharaoh's Trust was to erect vast Granaries in every part successively accumulated from the superfluous Affluence of the common Plenty In prosecution of the order of this Rule may probably be objected that he had happier Aids to lend success to his Intention then humane Wisdom alwayes is assured of A remote Prevoyance and a Successive Plenty In Reference to the First capacity may be reply'd we want no pre-advertisement to That which alwayes may and frequently doth happen in one Degree or other In Relation to the latter may be inferrr'd the Faculty of Nature doth rarely want such supream measure of Celestial Influence to educe a fertility where Industry hath in her form'd a perfect Disposition by a proper Culture To the useful Dispensation of the common store we only will insert this Caution That It be Seasonable Orderly Proportionable not Chargeable or Burdensome the perfect'st Attributes of a Benefit Seasonable Before the exigent hath impaired the Faculty of Nature either in defect of Aliment or in impulsive Refuge to improper sustenance Orderly Commencing the supply either in Reference to place or Person where there is greatest urgency Proportionable This Qualification of our Subject hath in the propriety of use a reciprocal Object The true Dimension of the Distribution issuing from an equal collation of the common Faculty to the common Necessity be It distinguished either in Reference to the number or Disability of the Family Not Chargeable or Burdensom else were exchang'd but not remov'd the Misery reversing totally the Nature of the Institution which had for Object soly mutual Relief of the Society no Civil Commerce for abject Lucre to enlarge a Treasury Many other remote Degrees of this publick Exigence may also be produc't by Avarice and Disorder Avarice thereto conduceth either in an untimely Restraint of private Store or in a secret and unseasonable Alienation thereof by exportive commerce or in perverting the use of the Soyl to avoid which Inconveniences the Civil Ministry might constitute an Inhibition that no private Oeconomy whatever should under Penalty presume to extend the total Issue of their annual Store beyond the Revolution of a double Crop From whence deducted an equal Proportion to their private use for such a season the Residue to be tendered at the publick Mart in such equal proportions as might extend unto the tearm so limited and such a Quantity as there remained unvended the Substitute to the Civil Ministry might take off only at a subvalid Rate wherewith the common Receipts should incessantly be replenish'd for the Publick use To which limited Prescription of Time and Portion should also be confin'd the Buyer as well as the Seller And for a Regulation to their Commerce whose Function might alone thereon depend to limit their Proportions within capacity of their Returns Exportive Commerce of this Commodity except on special Licence from the Civil Ministry might totally be interdcted The perversion of the Soyl hath almost every where found so general a
It susceptable of a perfect Form But how the Civil Ministry should equitably exercise a Faculty of Temporary Division where It hath constituted a continual Union is scarce distinguishable unless it be by Imposing Penalty on the Civil Trespass Infamy on the Natural wherein the Modesty of womanhood impeeched might possibly crown the Intention of the Institution with success 3. To interdict Licentious Luxury from the legitimate Priviledge of Natures needful Ministry may seem a Procedure repugnant to the Civil Institution of her useful Remedy Yet in Respect such wilde desires rarely do submit unto a decent or regular Prescription As also that the consequence attends on the Pretence may probably subvert the natural end of such a Civil Priviledge either in debilitating the Natural Faculty by too much effusion of the Spirits in an untimely frequency of the Act or impairing the Natural Faculty by contracted Infection from the Diversity of Objects we properly may admit of such an Inhibition not only as a Natural Caution but as a Civil Penalty since Nature in us covets to perpetuate our Existence in the successive Propagation of our kinde nor is totally improbable but that the Civil Institution of divorce assumed an Establishment from the Reflection of our equal Purposes 4. That it should be requisite to an exact Production to suspend or exclude the Infirm in Natures Faculty from officiating to her Ministry is so evident a Position as will rarely meet a Contradiction in regard Nature then soly is intentive to repair the Breaches of her proper Continent not to form her Similitude in another to which if then impulsively directed she forced is to assume her principles from an imperfect Abstract whereby those deprav'd Dispositions and Intemperatures become transferred on her purposed Pattern What kindes of Infirmity under the Capacity of Civil Union or what degrees thereof should properly fall under Inhibition Nature her self may prove the best Informer whose Motives seldom are irregular if not suborned by licentious Habits Although perhaps sometimes left soly to her proper Conduct she therein may officiate to her own Infirmity yet are the Effects thereof perceptably preceeded or accompanied by other Symptomes preternatural which falling under the Capacity of other Cure may equitably be dispenced to assume that Course might probably produce an equal Inconvenience in Anothers Being But how the Civil Ministry should be possessed with a Faculty to regulate this Inordinance where the Defects reach not a visible Incapacity not clearly is distinguishable unless it be in the suppression of Licentiousness and Lux that frequently foment the untimely and Indecent Motions of the Sense which so become subordinate to Reasons Ministry shall seldom want other Inducement to regulate the will then our own present Safety and our own Issues future welfare endangered in a sensual and untimely Liberty Having attain'd the Natural Object proper to the Improvement of our Being exactly forming the Constitution of the Body in a regular Generation it might perhaps yet appear necessary to the due Prosecution of our Order here to persue the Improvement of the Animal in Reference to our present Subject But since the Soul educed only is to perfect Action by the just Figure Contiguity and Temperature of her Organs in positing the exact Composure of the Natural Fabrick we have implicitly concluded of the potential Perfection of the Animal Faculties XXXIII Of Education NAture having never so exactly cast her Model yet in our first Education leaves the supple Matter Subject to the Alteration of every flight Impression so that the Circumspection of our Elevement is of far higher Consequence then the Regulation of our Primitive Materials Insomuch as in our Generation we receive but a potential Aptitude in our Education an actual Habit And though the Natural Inclinations rarely are effaceable yet are the most irregular sometimes â—…mprovable if undertaken in the Infancy by a vigilant skill As also the most consonant Impairable committed to an Impâ—…udent Neglect a visible proof hereof Licurgus the Lacedemonian Legislator published to the people in the dissenting Inclinations of two Hounds extracted from one Litter The same Analogy in efficace as our Culture holdeth with the Soyl the same our Education with our Generation The dispositions of Nature though ne're so fertile being but extravagant Propensities if not directed to a useful Ministry nay usually the most pregnant Fâ—…culties exact the most advised Regulations as well in the Animal as the Natural Operation which Circumspection must be seasonable while yet the plyant matter is susceptable of any form and the facile Spirit not servilly possest with an insulting Custom As the Receptions are then most easie so the Impressions are then most Lasting Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem Testa diù The Vessel retaineth longest the odor of the first seasoning Neither requires this only an Oeconomical but a Civil vigilance So much was implicitly exprest in the Spartans Reply When their Adversaries demanded thirty of their Children for Hostages refusing to yield up their youth they proferr'd to engage a double Number in virility Under what general Principles our present Subject should be distinguished or how persu'd we farther will examine such Notions first preposited may form our rude and passive Nature perfectly susceptable of so exact an Institution In Reference to which order our frail Composure being constituted of differing Materials the Civil Ministry must in the Regulation thereof vise at distinct Objects to educe the individual into useful Action Chearful Vigilance and Infatigable Travel in Relation to the Body Moral Civility and National Affection in Reference to the minde Vigilance In regard such Habit endueth us with Capacity to anticipate all Occasions may conduce unto our Purposes extends the tearm of Life lost in a sluggish Stupidity and lendeth more Facility to the Prosecution of an enterprise Nor is this season of purility only material to this Regulation as most susceptable to the Induction of any Form but as most incident and propensive to yield the Indulgences of floth most frequently then accompanying the o're humid Temperature of the Brain Which exercise we have qualified with Chearfulness lest the severity of such a Caution should become to yet unactive Spirits a disagreeing Burden so render them less useful fetter'd with such Anxiety On which Consideration was perhaps grounded the Prudence of those Parents who have been so exactly regular in Education of their Children to have their Spirits with the new born day summoned softly from their flattering slumbers by the inticing notes of Harmony 2. Travel Insomuch as by assiduous Exercise the Body by degrees becomes both strengthned and inured to encounter Actively or Passively all Oppositions peculiar to our Functions or accidental to our Fortunes The constitution of our Body becomes hereby improved and our Health secur'd The Spirits hereby also will become more pure and vigorous to the Exercise of the minde To which Practice we have annexed this Coherent that our labours be
to the Nature of the Crime not totally equivolent weighing judiciously the common Damage thereon may ensue unto the Civil Texture in regard it is a reproachful exhauster of the Publick Store A certain Ruine to a private Family An apparent Introduction to every Mischief A temporary Dissection of a Member from the Civil Frame Under what Degree of Disorder this Distemper truly may be distinguished is not altogether unworthy a due Perpensation since the vulgar in favour of their sensuality have lent It so gross and ridiculous a Character as is not to be encountered but in the highest extremity But far more rationally may be affirmed That every extravagant Emotion of the Spirit and every impotent and irregular Motion of the Body by drink procur'd may figure the Distinction Under the Intimation of Luxury may be imply'd all sensual Excesses whatsoever more especially the inordinate Indulgence to the inticing Relishes of the Pallate and the lascivious and unlawful Prosecution of a Bruitish Lust How far the common Consequences Hereof may reach the Detriment of the Civil Structure we will endeavour clearly to enlighten Our Subject taken in the former Sence is not only a superfluous Consumer of the Publick Affluence to the enhancing of Provisions most useful to a common Existence but with the inevitable Incumbrance to our own private Fortunes also a visible extinguisher of That which It pretendeth but to cherish smothering or enfeebling the innate Heat the immediate Instrument to every Faculty of Nature So that not only the Body but the minde becomes hereby obscur'd effeminate and slothful and consequently unuseful to every Civil Practice Farthermore the Charms of this Indulgence to our proper Genius so endeareth the Affections to a bruitish Sensuality that it totally alienates the Thought from any sense of others suffering so far that It becomes unto the Civil Frame a Burden incommunicable This Subject taken in the Latter Sence though from the other seldom found divided the Latter being usually joynt Issue to the former meeting a Celibate Condition begetteth either a Protraction or a perpetual Renunciation of an Hymeneal Union both punishable by the Law in Civil Communities of severer Discipline encountring a Conjugal Estate It breaks that Band of Amity which is the first strictest and most natural Foundation to a Civil Union in either if any It produceth but a spurious and degenerate Issue That sence which the Former Attribute could not reach to in the common usage of our Tongue more properly may under the notion of Riot be exprest having for Object a servile Assubjection to the Adulation of the senses not formerly thereby inferr'd at how profuse a rate soever so that in Respect of the vanity This Piece of Licentiousness hath a Latitude beyond the Capacity of a Prescription whether in the Curious Sumptuous or Superfluous Ornaments inherent to a Person Place or Equipage or in the alluring Rarities or Excesses of an entertainment tending rather to exhaust the Affluence of Nature then satisfie with her Plenty Where Noise and Vapour to affect the aiery senses more o're ballance in expence the Rest. Or what other fantastick Ministry to a distemper'd Fancy tends but to form prodigious vanity or a ridiculous singularity which sometime meets so high extravagance that sundry Figures Drawn Cut or Grav'd in the Mettal Earth or Stone under the Honour only of Antiquity become the price of a considerable Revenue What measure of Disorder may hereby be procured to the Civil Frame will clearly be distinguisht in those Breaches which the most flourishing Societies have suffered under so impetuous a distemper which like a raging Fire consumeth All to satisfie It self leaving no Rights unviolated No Mischief unpractised to yield new Fuel to the corrupted sense when the Materials fail to satiate the unbridled will This Exuberance of the Wanton Blood most usually is engendred in the Greater Vessels of the Civil Body from whence It by the lesser is attracted by affected Emulation till It become a general infirmity whereby the whole Frame voluptuously effeminated becomes incapable of any generous Action so consequently a prey to the slightest Incursions of an Enemy Gaming not taken in the sence of a Divertisement but in the Nature of an ardent Persuit to a dishonourable Acquisition where the Adventurer to improve the Advantage of his Stock puts it to the Question whether his just Possessions be his own A ridiculous and bewitching Itch of Avarice where each one in sport persues Anothers Ruine in earnest In the Victor the Facility of the Acquisition begets a Profuseness in expence In the vanquisht a self-consuming Ranckour to repair the Dammage so that neither attain the end of the undertaking since both become frustrate in the Improvement of their Condition The former swelleth with vanity of success although not raised on his own sufficiency The latter shrinks away dejected as guilty of his Folly more than ashamed of his Fortune Nor yet alwayes so silently passeth the Debate Execrations and Imprecations usually fill up the Scenes which frequently are closed in a Tragick Issue the interlude too probably the Prelude to a Quarrel How materially the unrestrained Liberty hereof may conduce to the Dammage of a Civil Society we need not to infer when we shall reflect upon the Consequence of the Practice tending to a certain and sudden extirpation of a Family where the falling Pillar not only shattereth his own Branches but either becomes an useless Burden to the whole Frame in a passive Indigence or a common Incendiary in sinister Practises to supply a Recruit by desperate Attempts We have omitted to propound to every exorbitance an equal Penalty according to our former Order In Respect that divers Circumstances both in Action Place Person Age Sex c. may not only vary the Measure of the Error but the Nature also of the Penalty which can only meet a plausible Infliction in the Judicious Imposition of the Moral Censor XXXVII The General Properties inherent to our Civil Existence with their ligitimate Fruition and Possession BEfore we proceed to treat of the Security and Improvement of our Civil Property in Order immediately ensuing It will first be requisite that we should fully and clearly distinguish the Dependences thereof with their Legitimate Possession and Fruition without which our Enterprise will in the most perfect Contexture encounter but an improper Issue since Rebels Out-laws Thieves and Rovers may in their common Association possibly pursue an equal Method to preserve the Spoil Rapine and Murder had congested yet not attain the Dignity or Glory of a Civil Society In order to our Proposition The General Properties have Reference to our Civil Existence may properly be specified under these Distinctions Wife Children Servants Office House Lands Chattels or Moveables To which we become legally entitled either by a just Acquisition a free Donation or a lineal Succession How far and in what the Nature of each Title may hold a due Conformity with each Property we
Procedure or Formality of the Law A Legal Separation is such as by due course of Law becomes imposed on complaint and by due course of Law may with consent of Parties be repealable if irrepealable the true Distinction Thereof more properly falls under Nature of Divorce The Extralegal or Voluntary Separation form'd from Divine or Moral Prescription not reaching any Civil Ordinance we will omit here farther to discuss upon as altogether improper to our Subject The Legal or Impulsive Separation presents unto us a double Ambiguity whether and on what Ground such Separation may plausibly be constituted by a Civil Ordinance And whether any Act under such Separation passed joyntly or severally wherein both Parties are concerned may be accounted valid For solution we may conclude that such a Procedure possibly may justly fall under the Concession of a Civil Judicature But with this strict Limitation only where a visible Attempt hath been practised against the Life of either party by the joynt Associate in regard our common safety is the immediate Object of a Civil praescription And although it here may be alledged that the Civil Texture hath more forceable and general Rules form'd in it self to the due restraint of such Accidents Yet where the Fewel to the Action so nighly and continually is fomented the Civil Judicature might justly be held guilty of the barbarous Issue should It decline from the removal of such opportunity might minister to the Mischief As to the Transactions joyntly may concern the Conjugal Union under a legal Separation we either may reduce them to a Civil or a Natural Reference The Civil have their Limits under private Contract or under publique Ordinance The Natural suspended by Decree cannot without a publique Repeal either severaly or joyntly transacted attain a true Legitimacy The nature of a Divorce extendeth to a vaster Latitude having for Object a total or perpetual Separation from a conjugal Society impulsively constituted by a Civil Ordinance But under what Remonstrance such a censure may justly pass the Civil Judicature is not so fully specified Acts of Adultery are only explicit'ly expressed in the sacred Letter and so far prosecuted by the Institution of the Civil Law but under such Obscurity and Difficulty in the distinction that the intention thereof totally thereby becomes frustrate In Reference to the First obstacle where the ground of the Procedure falls under a criminel Trespass The Praescription vainly tendeth to a Civil Division in Relation to the second where the Charge requireth an occular Testimony to forme the Impeachment regular the proof rests totally o're-shadowed with a humane impossibility We may yet more properly hereto annex such incapacities as may frustrate the intention of the Conjugal Institution whether Civil Natural or Accidental Under the Notion of a Civil Incapacity may pass not only such as are excluded by a common Praescription in the Civil Order as Ideots Lunaticks c. But such Relations also of a Blood as in regard of their Proximity may decently fall under Legal Interdiction Quiloco Parentum inter se habent c. Under the distinction of a Natural Incapacity we may infer such incorrigeable Imperfections as by nature happen through the error of her work The Accidental Incapacity may be extended to Praeternatural or Artificial Affections The Praeternatural where either Naturally or Adventitiously ex morbosa aliqua constitutione partis aliquid deest vel superest by imperfect constitution of Parts some thing is either wanting or superfluous The Latter Imperfection may fall under the possibility of a Remedy to render it a capacity of Conjugal Union As Imperforatae The Former never Under an Artificial Incapacity may be inserted such an Impotence as is contracted by inward Assumption or outward Application or by Enchantment as Ligati But in respect such disabilities seldom are incorrigeable we cannot justly exclude them from capacity of Conjugal union Some difficulties inherent to our Subject may pertinently be here enlightned as whether such a legal Incapacity ought to be subsequent or preceding the Conjugal Association And whither such an Incapacity predistinguishable may justly in concealment fall under censure of a Civil Trespass The First Position seems a scruple scarce worth an Exposition Since every just pretence of a Retraction in agreement of this kind is grounded on Deffaut preceeding contract The Latter being a Subject more proper to another Principle we will remit to their peculiar Order 2. From the perfect fruition of the First Property usually proceeds the justest Acquisition of the Second Children which nevertheless without so strict a Reference materially may be considered under the Distinction of the Natural and the Civil The Natural Acquisition is either Ligitimate or Illegitimate The Civil only is Adoptive The most proper and agreeable coherence is without doubt the Natural in which our very Essence seems in the Currant of succession transferred to Eternity without which Mans successful endeavors though Crown'd with opulence and Honor yield in their fullest Affluence but an imperfect satisfaction their charming Harmony still grating the affected Heart with the good Patriarchs interjected Discord Quid mihi That the illegitimate Dependence though naturally constituted should reach so high a consequence can scarcely be affirmed Since Infamy and Infidelity associate the Production It will therefore be materially pertinent to our Order fully to appropriate unto either their Distinctions Children intitled with Adherence of Legitimacy may such be figured either properly or improperly Properly such as after due solemnity of their Nuptial Rites are in due season and maturety of time produc't Improperly such as before Terme under Terme or after Terme of Conjugal Institution untimely are produc'd The Two First Distinctions the Civil Law admitteth to a priviledge of Legitimacy and sometime the Latter when confirmed by some Accident that Nature was disturbed in her usual course Our Laws more Rationally exclude them all from such capacity Insomuch as the succession of Families in regard of their Possessions ought to be preserv'd so regularly pure as not to become subject to the blemish of a visible suggestion The Illegitimate coherence of Children may also bear the same distinction being such either Properly or Improperly Properly such as without Reference either to Preceeding or Succeeding contract at any time are produced Improperly such as with Reference either to Preceeding or Succeeding contract or unto both untimely are produced The Latter Distinction of Illegitimacy may sometime plausibly in reference to many circumstances in the Transaction by especial Grace of Prince or People be admitted to a capacity of Legitimacy The former regularly and without Opproby never To these Distinctions of Filial Inherency may properly be annexed that of our Adoption A Custome very frequent among the Romans where Vertue being esteem'd the highest Dignity became invested with adherence of the nighest Relation on the immediate extinction of a Family but to support their Name How farr the Agreement should extend to form the Institution regular may
to the Borderers To avoid the Inconvenients Damage or Disorder may arise from the irregular course of either Floud falls not within Capacity of Particulars The Aid must be more General to meet a happy Remedy which ought not only to extend to Those in present are concern'd therein but those in future also may be so And since the exigence of the work exacts more diligence then common Rights do usually encounter which always are but tooremissly prosecuted The Civil Power must lend Authority and weight thereto by her Prescription To the expulsion of the Maritine Incursions The Industry of our Neighborhood abroad may in their penible persuit lend us a happy Pattern to the undertaking As they to us at home have to their own Advantage and to our Reproach lent us a Proof to the Restriction of the Inland Floods Nor is it only Practice or Necessity have made them happy in the Mistery but their intire Conjunction of their Common Faculties to an assiduous perseverance in the work For whether the Possession be already lost or only yet in danger to become so The Common-wealth is euqally concerned with the Private Owners So that every Purse and Hand as to a common Prejudice ought to be ready to the Enterprize directed to Recover or Secure which finished the Restitution of the Charge might pass on the Account of the Proprietors Particulars are usually not able or not well intentioned to mannage with success the undertaking persueing only their Advantage not the Common good so that the work thereby becoming or Protracted or Imperfect the Charge is oftentimes redoubled e're the exact fruition is attain'd The necessity and perfection of the work is therefore proper only to the due Regulation of the Civil Power It will be requisite Her Substitutes of due capacity to Judge and full Authority to Execute make frequent visitations on such Parts as are already damnified or may be incident to the Casualty whose censure thereof signified to the Proprietors with Legal summons to consult with them theron The urgency of the work and the extent of the Expence is with Integrity to be duly ballanced with their Capacity to the undertaking which not extending their Ability The work proportionably impos'd may be remitted to their Industry under such Rules of Direction and Limits of time as may be held expedient to the Perfection and Advantage of the Enterprize But where the Faculty of the Owners cannot reach the due Intention of the work the Aid whither of Men Money or Materials may be exacted by a Legal Ordinance from the next Associates extending to such Bounds as may without much Inconvenience to the Adjutants timely and exactly consumate the undertaking which charge with due consideration may be reimburst from the Anual Revenue of the Secured or Recover'd Property in such Proportion as may not much incumber the Proprietors in the Restitution And though the expence of the work may sometime possibly exceed the value of the Land in question yet is the undertaking for such Cause not to be abandoned Not only in that the Common-wealth becomes thereby deprived of a useful part unto Her Common Ministry But in Respect the extent to future Damage may thereby ensue not clearly is distinguishable either in the Expansion of the Flood beyond Her vsual Bounds in the recourse of other Streams not timely find their Issue Or otherwise diverting Them unto a new Erruption on some other Place was free from any such Incursion Nor in Recovery of Possessions Lost at such excesfive charge as may extend their value ought Alienation thereof to be made from the Proprietors as an authentique Purchase to the Undertakers But such advantage may in equity be granted Them therein as Time may make a Reparation to the Accident Whereas the work left totally without Prescription to the Owners Rule though ne're so Able Numerous or Unanimous is generally so leasurely and so sparingly persu'd that both their Cost and Industry tend only in Portracting but to multiply their Damage and transfer their misery to others Designes of this Nature require Validity and Diligence to render them successful who herein gripple are of their Expence and Time do but betray their proper Interest XLVI Excess THE Expulsion of this Principle in Reference to the security of our Civil Property may on the first Inspection rather seem a Subject proper to the Regulation of a private Oeconomy then of a Civil Ministry And in the Order of position more proper to improve then to secure our Civil Interest Yet since we through the Infirmity of our Nature are become improper Guides to our affections which frequently so far transport us to the Indulgence of the Sense that no Extravagance can finde a Limit to Her Ministry that under flattery of our own esteem prompt every one unequally to assume unto themselves a higher Eminence in the Civil Order then properly to them belong Envy Vanity and Ambition fomenting still an Emulation in Excess to attract new Homagers to the exhausting of our Civil Faculty in an Impertinent Ridiculous and Profuse Expence We justly may submit to the Prescription of the Civil Rule to lend us more essential Ornaments to our Distinction then what conduce but to Reproach and Ruine in their Improprieties Nor is the Intention of our Order here infringed to reduce our Subject to one use might more effectually pretend unto Another since Both have their Reception under one Capacity Nor This but the Progression to the other How far the Nature of our Subject may extend it self in a clear and Rational Distinction to lend a Rule to this our Agitation may be extracted from the Inference we formerly have inserted in the Discussion of a Civil Existence which is not properly implyed by the bare support of Nature in a Savage manner But in the Allowance unto every Part a Regular and Decent Constitution agreeing to the proper use and true Capacity of each Particular Nor is It our Intention here to weigh the Nature of our Subject as a vitious Habit in our Practises which we have formerly remitted to the Regulation of the Moral Censor But as an Impropriety in the Civil Order destructive to our proper Interests What this Order should require in the Composure and Transaction of each Part to form a Civil Harmony may clearly be collected from the Distinction of the use to which they are design'd Those Ornaments and Investures which are proper to the Head or Hand transferred to the feet but prejudice or Incumber their peculiar Action Nor doth the Impropriety consist alone in Transposition of Dependencies but in the Regular Application of their own Inherencies proportion'd to the due Capacity of every Individual in the kinde their Function else will but encounter an Imperfect Ministry Whether so strict a Position directed to confine the usage of our Civil Faculty within the proper and peculiar Bounds of every Currant be really consistant with the common Benefit is not so clearly obvious in that our
Difficulty admit of an Affirmative The Latter not without some Intricacy Insomuch as private Benificence may sometime be conferred on a private Person imployed in a publick Use Military or Civil And in that same Degree oft honoured by the Romans who had design'd a Crown of Triumph unto him that had in publick Conflict sav'd the life but of the meanest of their Fellow Citizens whereby the Band of Unity became amongst them far more strictly vigorously and intirely secur'd to give a happy repulse to the fury of their Enemies But whether the Publick be so far interessed as to censure of the unequal Resentment of a Private Beneficence betwixt Party and Party is a Subject yet undetermined If example may bear authentick weight to an Assertion we may produce sufficient evidence from the Records of many Civil Jurisdictions wherein It by Prescription of the Law hath been allowed actionable as a Private Plea But in more severe Governments prosecuted by the Publick as a Capital Delinquence As may be instanced from the Athenian Judicature Where Callias was publickly arraign'd for his Ingratitude to Aristides suffering Him and his Children even to perish through Indigence by whose peculiar favour he had attain'd an eminent Acquisition In Objection to the procedure of the First Pattern may justly be alledged that it is against the very Nature of a perfect Benefit ev'n but to expect much more to exact a Restitution And he that formeth but a Repetition of the Circumstance of his Munificence blemisheth the Grace of his Benignity But he that reduceth It to the Reproach of the Receiver perverteth the Nature of his own Intention In Reference to the Latter Rule though This may be alledg'd no proper Subject for the Institution of the Law forasmuch as neither Publick nor Private prejudice ensueth the Mecognisance This not endammaged in regard the freeness of the Act taketh away the very shadow of a Pretence That not impaired in Respect the Consequence Thereof not immediately reacheth the Publick Interest collaterally it may in that the Impudence of the vice not checked may probably make so great a Breach in the moral Constitution of our Civil Union as to introduce a common Barbarisme As to the farther Discussion of our suspended Subject A Private Beneficence the Nature thereof under the same extent of Latitude in Devoyrâ—… as formerly exprest may seem inferior to our former General Object in Excellence considered in Gross in that Bonum quo communius eo melius but taken in the mutual Coherency of Parts of a far greater Efficacy to the Structure of a happy Union To a Publick Advantage of this Nature rarely is encountered Matter but to work upon and possibly more rarely meeteth a Capacity to entertain It. To communicate a Private Beneficence every Place Time and Person affordeth us both Subject and Ability in one kinde or other so that rightly distinguished the most advised Legislators have considerately endeavoured on This Baiz to erect the Felicity of their Societies But how the Publick should distinguish of such singular Aids totally to be divided from all peculiar References or how cleerly discerning their Nature duly to cherish and approve them in an honourable Reception is a Consequence not unworthy the Reflection For solution to the first Branch of our Proposition we may infer that he justly deserves to fall unpittied by a Common Decree under the burden of a future Misery who shall so far become restrained by the shame of his own Indigence or Impotence as to smother in his silence either to God or Man the immediate means to his security In Reference to the Latter Position may be asserted that to such Manifestation of the Act may justly follow an exemplary Encouragement from the Moral Censor with due Applause to dignifie the Action It may here probably be objected that having propounded our Subject in General we have as yet omitted clearly to handle all the Dimensions thereof insomuch as we have yet only consider'd Vertue in her Communicative Faculties whereas Vertue frequently wanting such materials may rest confin'd and only but concentrate in It self In answer Although It may seem ev'n against the Nature of Vertue to be indu'd with an incommunicable Essence since both in Example and Precept she needeth not to borrow the Endowments of Fortune to illustrate her Expansion but admit the Influence of her Graces so powerful and absolute from her own proper Nature Nevertheless to the common reproach of our Age be it attested Vertue wants more material Ornaments to plead for her Reception Who adhereth to the Counsel of the Wisest if Poverty o're shadow the Consultation and be his minde never so impenetrably compos'd against the various and continual Batteries of an impetuous Adversity if obscured in Indigence Who regardeth or distinguisheth his Fortitude So both his Iustice and his Temperance seem smothered in his Impotence But happier Ages lend us more exemplary Presidents from their Felicity where we may observe that in the most flourishing Societies Vertue so humbly seated did never want her Dignity as appeareth in the Antick Grecian Glory extracted from the Justice of Aristides The Prudence and Moderation of Phocion The Fortitude and Magnanimity of Epimenondes Nor shall we need here farther to trace a Prescription to qualifie such eminence with Honour since we already have in the Inception of our Treatise thereon rais'd the true Capacity to our Ministry XXXVI The Extralegal Punishment of Vice HAving lent a competent weight to one extream of the Beam whereon our Civil Union chiefly doth depend in dignifying Vertue beyond the due Intention of the Law we may persist to cast an equilibrate Counterpoise in the opposed Ballance In the Prosecution of Vice beyond the full Prescription of the Law that from thence an harmonious uniformity may issue from the Texture of the whole Frame Vice is the General and Principle Subject all Civil Societies by rigour of their Laws endeavour to suppress as the only promotor to Sedition But few with so exact a Circumspection as the Consequence of the Subject may require to the due modelising of a perfect Society in that Vice thereby becomes impeachable under the Prescription of anothers Prejudice not simply under Notion of Its proper Nature As though the germinating seeds of Vice or the Effects thereof could be contained long within the Limits of a peculiar Continent or the whole Body long preserved sound where the Members Thereof are already in themselves corrupted To avoid which Danger it were materially useful to take away the very Appearance Thereof ev'n in the first Eruption And lest the Indulgence or Neglect of Parents should farther yet the growth thereof in their licentious Issue e're they become of due Capacity to a Civil Correction 't were necessary such Remisness in them were either check't by Fine or Publick Infamy To attain yet a more clear Discovery of the Nature of our Subject in Reference to our Common Welfare we will reduce It with Relation only to these
Principles Divine Civil and Moral Under the Intimation of Divine we chiefly may comprise Enormities are perpetrated against God or his Sacred Institutions which being the Supream Authority from whence all humane power pretends to be deriv'd should more severely be preserv'd from violation ev'n to the due Conformity of the subordinate Ministry And although we may in this Insertion seem to digress from the Intention of our present Treatise as an improper Object to our Civil Minister extending far beyond the Latitude of his Faculty yet insomuch as the Remonstrances Menaces or Exhortations of the Divine Minister are unto Carnal and to â—…ensual Spirits but an ineffectual Procedure to the due Restraint of our common Corruption where the Civil Minister becomes not coadjutant to rectifie the Disorder we may conclude the inconsiderate Neglect Hereof must inevitably form the Civil Power less successful in her Ministry declining totally to agitate on the Infringement of Superior Orders The Fundamental Establishment of their own The first and highest Degree in such Delinquence is the denying of his Essence who of free Grace and Goodness imparted to us ours which Disclaimour most justly may deserve the Forfeiture of his Tenor. Subordinate to This is the Derogating from his Sacred Attributes which being properly and immediately inherent to his Holy Essence more opprobiously and maliciously endeavoureth in Contempt to deny that supream Power he is enforced to acknowledge Nor can such a presumptuous Repugnance against the inward Light be reputed in humane sense less hainous then the former Contingent to These is the Prophanation of his Name and Sacred Ordinance either in Licentious Discourses or Actions tending irreverently to the Misprision of his adorable Essence or his Holy Rites which extravagant insolence may justly merit to be suspended from the Priviledge of a Common Union Collateral hereto is the solemn Invocation of his Sacred Name to the Attestation of a matter false or falsified which without Reference to anothers Interest as the Signet only of our own serious Resolutions is a Crime of a most reproachful Levity which requireth before God and Man a penitent and high submission But wherein others Interests immediately are concern'd a Crime of highest Treachery In Respect such Assertions give Rules unto the Law It self which is our common safeguard But this Branch of our Subject falling under the Prescription of a Civil Penalty We shall not farther here insist to treat upon Reserving the Persuit Thereof to a more proper and peculiar order Farthermore we may yet hereto not improperly insert the Common and too frequent usage of His Name in vain which heedless Custom forming into Habit insensibly detracteth from that awful Reverence should be revived in us on every explicit Intimation of his glorious Distinction Nor can a more effectual Restraint be formed to suppress such unadvised Imprecations then a private Reproof or a publick Reproach from His peculiar Minister 2. What may ensue from the Licentiousness of Vice to the Infringement of the Civil Order we here may properly omit to treat upon insomuch as the general Inference Thereof hath herein only Reference to the Impeachment of anothers Interest directly and immediately A common Principle to the Decision of right which may more clearly be enlightned in the peculiar Order we design to the Discussion of each Branch thereof only we may here generaly Note that ev'n therein most Laws too strictly oft adhere more to the litteral formalities of a Plea then the essential Result of a Proof As to the Moral Distinction of Vice which fall not under Latitude of a Civil Penalty being the peculiar Object of our present discussion we will yet more intentively endeavour to reflect upon Unity and Concord being the chief Objects should guide us to the lasting Establishment of a happy Society it will be materially pertinent in the search thereof to visit the primitive and secret underminings of a mutual Agreement which may undoubtedly be discovered in the first subtle Practice of Mans common Adversary under the Figure of a concealed Malice whence This privy Ranchor should take Original may probably be judged from a repining Envy contracted by the sense of a Disparity in their present Conditions This seed of common Sedition from thence scattered into the Heart of man to finish in our overthrow what This Imposture had so effectually commenced by a perpetual commotion in our Civil Communities hath enforced the exactest Constitutors of a Civil Society not being able to extirpate the Roots hereof utterly to remove those Causes from amongst them which might conduce unto the Birth or nourishment thereof as Licurgus in taking away the use of money And the primitive * Romans in the equal Partition of their Territories But the Corruption of succeeding Ages falling from so happy Principles of Union require more Circumspection in the mannagers of Rule to the expulsion of such venome from the Civil Frame which better to distinguish we properly may lend to It this Signature Malice is a secret and violent Transportation of the will unjustly to procure Evil to Another nay often to our proper Detriment proceeding from the affected Advantage of Anothers Endowment Sundry branches some more or less immediately issuing from This stock become more or less prejudicial to the Common Unity as the Degrees of viâ—…ulence lend Influence to the first Contraction which may clearly be distinguished in the common Consequences of Slanders Calumnies and Detractions Others more remotely as Incivilities Affronts Disgraces in general Scoffing and Deriding All which particulars we severally will examine more truly to discover the full weight of each irregular Motion may form a Discord in our Civil Harmony At first Inspection it may appear an Impropriety in our order here to insert the Treatise of a Slaunder being a Subject propounded by the Law within the Limits of a Civil Penalty but with so strict a Reference to the Letter that few Degrees of Obloquy will under the common Rules thereof fall within the exact Distinction of a Scandal as if the nice Formalities of the Law intended but to sport with private and refined Infamy To supply this Default in a Civil Prescription we will endeavour yet more amply to define the Nature of Slaunders Calumnies and Detractions with their ensuing Damages to a Civil Union lest that their proper and implicit Sences should become confounded under the Notion of one common Distinction A Slaunder here intended is a false suggestion against another legally extending to a Criminel Matter Calumny A false Aspersion extending only to the Civil prejudice of another Detraction simply inferr'd is a false Supposition obliquely insi nuated to blemish others Honour or Applause 1. How material Breaches in a Civil Union may ensue the sufferance or the slight Restraint of Slaunder though taken in the obscurest and remotest Latitude of Sence may evidently be conceived when we shall seriously reflect on the inefficeable Impressions are secretly left behinde the Publick Discussion Thereof in the