8. omit 28 p. 254. In the Preface stand r. stands In the Introduction omit Men p. 2. l. 8. omit his p. 8. l 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 13. Agreeably r. agreeable p. 14. l. 8. Author's r. Author p. 16. l. 11. Principles r. Principle p. 17. l. 8. omit to after and submitted r. subscribed p. 16. l. 20 21. or r. and l. 5. omit more l. 13. His Obedience r. Disobedience l. 16. p. 19. Omit all after we p. 22. l. 9. Or r. on p. 24. l. 10. They r. Men p. 27. l. 9. Sic r. Cic p. 36. l. 25. Weight r. height p. 38. l. 4. Omit the after of p. 44. l. 20. THE Grounds and Foundation OF Natural Religion ASSERTED CHAP. I. A Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation AND first for the Divine Authority of a Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation I shall appeal to the Voice of Scripture as an Argument to those that own the Truth and Divinity of it For when the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the Things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves which shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts their Conscience also bearing Witness and their Thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another Rom. 2.15 16. It 's manifest when our Apostle tells us of a Gentile Law engraven on the Heart here is a Law distinguished from a Law of Revelation For the Gentiles having not the Law no doubt the revealed Law of God and particularly the Jewish Law are a Law unto themselves It was not a Law that rested on Patriarchal Revelations or a Law given by Inspiration but a Law engraven on the Heart peculiar to Heathens or Men in a pure State of Nature and consequently no revealed Law For by virtue of it they did by Nature not Grace the things contained in the Law that is upon the Evidence and Convictions of Natural Reason not on the Authority of any external Revelations For whilst the Gentiles did by Nature the things contained in the Law they shew the Work of the Law written in their Hearts that is they had a Rule of Action implanted in the very Frame and Constitution of their Natures which answered to all the Designs and Intentions of a Law or rather carried in it all the Properties as well as Force and Efficacy of a Law For the Work and Business of a Law is to prescribe between Good and Evil Just and Unjust to direct us in the precise Line of Duty and enforce the Observance of it by suitable Rewards and Punishments and if the Gentiles have this by Nature they are in a strict and proper Sense a Law unto themselves even without the concurrence of Revelation Indeed the Apostle elegantly represents the Force and Authority as well as Sanction of the Law when he tells us that Conscience gives testimony to this Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as it were confirms and ratifies it as a Law or Rule of Action which answers to the first Office of Conscience by the Learned called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Sanction follows from the second Office of Conscience call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which consists in the Application of our Actions to the Rule and passing Sentence upon ourselves for it and their Thoughts mean while accusing or excusing one another From the words it's manifest there is a Law of Nature or a Rule of Action given by God by which he at least originally design'd to govern Mankind antecedent to all positive Laws whether Divine or Humane Nay it 's not only a Law designed for Man in his original Frame but a Law that maintains its Force and Authority even in the lapsed State of Mankind For it 's manifest the Apostle speaks of the Gentiles as they then lay and all the World too in a depraved corrupted State They were undoubtedly under a Law tho' without any revealed Law and that too under the highest force and efficacy of it For the Apostle expresly determines the case For as many of the Gentile World as have sinned without Law shall also perish without Law v. 12. However thus far it is indisputably evident that the Heathen World was under a Law or an Indispensable Rule of Action or Duty and we are abundantly assur'd that it was distinct from any revealed Law since Scripture in other places expresly fixes the Duties of Natural Religion in an evidence that results from the Works of Providence the Dictates of Natural Reason not in any revealed Traditions Thus St. Paul and his Associate speaking of the Gentile State Nevertheless he left not himself without Witness no doubt sufficient to instruct them in their Duty in that he did good and gave us Rain from Heaven and fruitful Seasons filling our Hearts with Food and Gladness Acts 14. v. 17. And again The Wrath of Heaven is revealed against all ungodliness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Rom. 1.18 19 20. I know the learned Dr. Hammond appropriates this latter Passage to the Gnosticks but against the whole current of Commentators And indeed the Context both before and after carries such peculiar Characters in it as renders it absurd to fix it upon any but the Heathen World If so it 's evident they are the things that are made and Rain and fruitful Seasons that are Witnesses and shew forth to us that which may be known of God or the lines of Natural Religion So that the Works of Nature and Providence are our Instructors not the Voice of Revelation Here 's not the least Hint of any Traditional Conveyances the Works of Nature carry an Evidence in them but they are the Reflections of Natural Reason upon them that draw the Conclusion and form a Duty from them so that whatever Difficulties or Impossibilities some Men may suggest from the Imperfections and Weaknesses of Natural Reason in decyphering a Law of Nature it 's evident the Sacred Oracles have given it no other Foundation or Original And this is Conviction sufficient to silence all other Arguments in those that subscribe to the Truth and Divinity of them And for those that reject it I shall pursuant
of Good and Evil. The Mistake I think is obvious from a very few Considerations tho' God has implanted Faculties of Reason which if rightly exercised and applied will discern Things as they really are and pronounce certain Matters or Things indispensable Rules of Action Yet since there 's a fatal Bias on our Natures and these Faculties do not Act necessarily nor are Things always duly presented to their View nor do they yield a due Attention to 'em Notions may be impressed that may almost overturn the very Frame of Nature or destroy the natural Appearances of Good and Evil Vice and Vertue and therefore Men may by the Bias of Education Custom and irregular Appetites come to espouse the most horrid Impieties for Heroick Vertues may practise the grossest Enormities not only with Approbation but an Opinion of Merit I 'm sure Christianity supposes little less when we are assured of Seared Consciences when the Mind or Vnderstandings as well as Consciences may be defiled Tit. 1.3 when the Understanding may be darkned to that degree as to be past Feeling and to give us up to work all Vncleanness with greediness And in a word when we are instructed that Men may be abandoned by God and consequently may be given up to walk in the Vanity of their Minds to vile Affections and to work all Vncleanness This may be the Case of private Persons and of publick Societies too and no doubt it is the Case of the miserable Indians at this Day as it was once of the Seven Nations And when such invincible Ignorance and Impiety has over-spread a Land and is become an established Rule of Life to Parents Governours and Tutors it must without some distinguishing Overtures of Grace be entailed and transmitted to Posterity But yet for all this the Argument of Universal Consent as to Laws of Nature and established Rules of Morality cannot justly be Arrained we may as well question Man to be a Reasonable Creature at least on the Authority of Universal Consent because there are some Fools and Ideots or a Creature of Symetry and Proportion because there are some Monsters in the World as argue against an Universal Consent because the Barbarity of some Nations contradict it It 's true Mr. Lock endeavours to take off the force of the Argument since he seems to call the Judgment of other Nations that have preserved the great Lines of Laws of Nature the private Perswasions of a Party whilst we esteem 'em the only Dictates of Right Reason B. 1. Cap. 3. § 20. But I hope those vile Practices he has transcribed from those that only retain the Figure of Men are not to pass for the Dictates of Right Reason nor they the Men of Right Reason And consequently their Votes or Opinions are not to be received against that Universal Consent we contend for for certainly when we appeal to Universal Consent we cannot be supposed to appeal to Monsters Apostates Reprobates or Devils and yet there may be whole Nations that will fall under one of these Characters Again It 's possible that natural Powers and Faculties may be so far abused as to lose their native Vigour and Activity so that Men may live in a State of Inconsideration and Thoughtlessness and become as Ignorant and Careless of every Thing but what the Example and Custom of their Country suggests as the unthinking Brute that perisheth And this may be the case of Tribes of Men as well as private Persons and no doubt is the case of the uncultivated Negro's and therefore it would be highly absurd to take in their Judgments and Opinions to make up that Universal Consent we contend for § 2. Upon the whole then when we have recourse to Universal Consent for the Proof of a Law of Nature it only implies an Appeal to those Nations or People that in the Judgment of improved Reason have passed under the Character of Polished or Civilized or that have been justly supposed in some measure to have exerted those Powers and Faculties in Thought and Observation which God has implanted in the original Frame and Constitution of Mankind And certainly we have always had the joynt Consent of such Nations for most of those Rules and Precepts which in the strictest Sense are esteemed Laws of Nature I 'm sure they have signified or declared it in the most unquestionable Way or Manner Inasmuch as they have been selected for the general Subject of civil Laws and the Practice of 'em enforced by certain civil Penalties or Sanctions And certainly this is the strongest Argument or Presumption for Laws of Nature that may be since we cannot imagine why distinct Nations and Societies of Men established upon different Maxims and Rules of Policy as well as Models of Government should conspire in the Subject-matter of so many Laws unless they were by the Light of Reason discoverable to Mankind as indispensable Rules of Action And thus I hope I have satisfied the Demands of all reasonable Enquirers in proving a Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation or positive Humane Laws CHAP. IV. Reflections on some Passages in the Conference with a Theist Part 2. § 1. HAving in some measure drawn the Line and laid the Foundation of natural Religion or Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation I cannot but discover my Dissatisfactions with the Opinion of a late Author that places the Whole of natural Religion in the Authority of Revelation that will allow it no other Original but Revelation and no other Means of Conveyance and Preservation but Oral Tradition See Conference with a Theist Part 2. Page 32. 36. Indeed this seems to be a Notion advanced without well considering the Nature Probability or Consequences of it For first the manner of its Conveyance by Oral Tradition which this Author was forced to admit of seems to expose it as a groundless Conjecture I know he endeavours to remove the Force of this Argument by telling us That the Duties that pass under the Characters of Laws of Nature are so natural to the Vnderstanding so easie to be embraced by it and upon Proposal seem so to be extreamly Vseful to Mankind that they must be assented to and can never be mistaken or forgot p. 36. And consequently there was not the least necessity of any written Records But certainly this is a Confession which if well considered should have directed him to the very Notion he labours to expose For if Laws of Nature are so natural and obvious to the Understanding that they must be assented to he might very well have allowed that their extream Usefulness to Mankind would have prompted and enabled Reason to have made the Discovery without borrowing the whole from Revelation Certainly if Reason by its own intrinsic Light and Activity could not go thus far he must suppose the Souls of Men tho' God's express Image and Representative to be the most imperfect impotent Parts of the Creation But then that Laws of Nature are not so easily assented
to or can never be mistaken or forgot I should have thought his own Remarks upon the Lives and Doctrines of Philosophers and in a word on the Manners and Notions of the Heathen World had been a sufficient Confutation Most of these we must suppose received something from his imaginary Line of Tradition and therefore since he has made 'em so basely to pervert the Rules of it he might have justly concluded that Providence who knew well what was in Man must have judged it necessary to have inculcated Laws of Nature either by frequent Visions or committed them to Writing as well as the other parts of his revealed Will. And therefore his own Objection seems to stand good against him on his own Principles That Tradition is not so proper a means to convey Morality by to Mankind because of its liableness to Corruption and that it would have been more sensibly vitiated than we find it is had it descended by this Method And truly the Objection carries force in it for were Humane Reason so desperately Impotent as the Picture he seems to have presented the World with represents I cannot conceive what Service a few blind Oral Traditions would have done to preserve the least Footsteps of Morality But to examine the Truth of the Conjecture under the Instance he has given that of the Indian Indeed it 's very notorious the Regions of the Indian World are reduced to the lowest Ebb of Humanity and lodged under the grossest Cloud of Ignorance there being not much left but Humane Shape to introduce a Thinking Mind to believe they are endued with Humane Souls But as for those small Remains of Morality were they to submit to a strict Examination I 'm perswaded we should hardly find them Resolving 'em into the Advice or Commands of their Fathers and Grandfathers or pretending a Succession from the great Parent of Mankind Adam This is certainly an Account as unknown and unthought of as native Inscriptions or a Rationale founded in a large train of Consequences But yet tho' 't is ridiculous to imagin that such illiterate Mortals should resolve every Term or Notion into its Simple Ideas especially such as a late Author has projected yet I do not question but they would offer at something from the Intrinsic Nature of the things themselves that would determine and engage their Choices something that would in some measure bespeak them Men and Reasonable Creatures I will grant that Opinion as well as Practice may be often established upon Custom and publick Example without accounting for the Nature or Reason of the Things themselves But then Custom conducts us to some Original that is not very remote where we may find it established on the highest Convictions and Evidences of Reason and it may be no less than what are sufficient to establish a Law of Nature But it seems highly absurd that the whole Body of Laws of Nature or the indispensable Rules of Action to Mankind should rest upon no other Foundation but a few Instructions delivered to our First Parents and these transmitted thro' all the Periods of Time and all the Revolutions of States and Kingdoms into all the Corners of the Earth upon the volutary Reports of those that lived before us As for the Case of the poor Indians I 'm abundantly satisfied they are so little sensible of any Conveyance of this Nature and such insuperable Obstructions against the Success or Preservation of it that they might on this account justly plead invincible Ignorance to every Law of Nature and consequently free ' emselves from that severe Sentence of Perishing without Law because they really Sinned without the least Apprehension or Conscience of a Law Thus far as to the Improbability of the Conveyance by Oral Tradition § 2. I shall in the second place offer something as to the Truth of the Position that Laws of Nature take their Rise from Revelation And first I think it manifestly contradicts the revealed Canon And for this I shall refer this Reverend Author to the Arguments I have advanced from Scripture and particularly to the Passage he has cited and my Explication pursuant to the whole Body of Commentators and the best Modern Divines upon it Indeed he would make the World believe he has taken off the Force of it and established his own Notion by a parallel Text of Scripture And these Words which I command thee this Day shall be in thine Heart and thou shalt Teach them diligently to thy Children c. Deut. 6. v. 6 7. Whereas it 's manifest the holy Spirit speaks of Laws Revealed and Recorded and the writing in the Heart implies nothing but a treasuring 'em up in the Mind a Commitment of them to the Memory and in a Word nothing but what the blessed Mother of our Lord did on another Occasion when she laid up his heavenly Sayings in her Heart It expresses a Duty incumbent upon us to commit the Laws of God to our Minds and Consciences to rivet 'em in our Hearts and Affections so to Meditate upon them that we may perform and keep them and instruct others in them But the Epistle to the Romans expresses a quite different thing It expresses a Law distinct from a Revealed Law and fixes the Distinction in the different manner of Promulgation on the Tables of the Heart so that if 't is not done by native Inscriptions it must by natural Powers and Faculties But further the Canon of Scripture does not only pronounce this Notion false and groundless but I presume it has been in some measure demonstrated to be so For if Man is originally endued with such Faculties as by a native Activity can exert ' emselves in the Discovery of Laws of Nature there can be no Foundation for erecting an uncertain Scheme of Oral Tradition § 3. But to proceed to the Consequences of this Position And first It 's very well known the Patrons of this Notion directly overturn the received Distinctions of Natural from Revealed Religion and Natural from Positive Laws The Distinction was always founded in the different Origin of these Laws The latter being given by special Revelation but the former discovered by the Workings of Natural Reason But now both must derive from Revelation and consequently there can be no other Distinction but what may be among written Revealed Laws in as much as one Revealed Law or Precept in its Intrinsic Nature may be better adapted to the View and Perception of Humane Understanding than others or at least no other Distinction but what lies between Oral and Written Traditions But to conclude this Argument This Notion seems to shake or overturn the eternal Distinctions of Moral Good and Evil founded in the very Frame and Nature of Things together with the OEconomy of Natural Conscience For it 's manifest it weakens the Authority of Natural Religion by placing such important Laws and Precepts upon the slender Credit of Oral Traditions Indeed there are so many Difficulties and
Improbabilities in transmitting a Body of Laws through all Parts of the Habitable World by Oral Traditions as are sufficient to ruine the Credit of the Hypothesis and when this is done the Latudinarian has the greatest Advantage given him to resolve the Whole of Natural Religion into Custom and Education These are Considerations so obvious and clear as might have given an early Check to the Notion unless more cogent Arguments and Authorities had discovered themselves than have been hitherto produced However now I presume they may obtain their due Effect and though they have been offered with a great deal of Freedom yet I hope this will not obstruct their Admission where they carry an Evidence sufficient to make way for it CHAP. V. Of the Distinction of Laws of Nature from Positive or Written Laws and whether they are Innate § 1. I Proceed in the next place to fix the Distinction of Laws of Nature from Positive or Written Laws and consider whether they are Innate or no. And first The Distinction of Laws of Nature from Laws which in the strictest Sense pass under the Name of Revealed is clearly visible For in Laws of Nature as well the Subject matter as the Authority of the Law or the Mind and Intention of the Law-giver upon it are discoverable by the Powers and Faculties of Natural Reason Whereas in Revealed Laws I mean such as in the highest Sense are stiled Revealed both the Subject-matter and Intention of the Law-giver entirely depend on the express Will and Pleasure of God If there 's any Difficulty then it will consist in fixing the precise Distinction between them and Human Laws For its certain both are to be esteemed the Deductions and Decrees of Right Reason But I think they are chiefly to be distinguished from the Subject-matter of them It 's indeed the Work of Natural Reason to discover and fix the Subject-matter of these Laws but the Subject-matter of Laws of Nature is often vastly different from that of Civil Laws For the Subject-matter of Laws of Nature arising from the original Frame and Condition of our Natures and for the most part immediately conducing to our very Beings or Subsistence rather than Well-being or civil Happiness it seems to carry a natural and intrinsic Goodness and consequently an irresistible Force and Efficacy in it abstracting from the Authority or Injunctions of a Law-giver But now the Subject-matter of Civil Laws being chiefly the Circumstantials or Instruments of the improved Happiness of particular Societies and calculated for the particular Genius and Tempers of Men under different Climates as well as the particular Turns and Periods of Kingdoms and Governments it often carries no Intrinsick Goodness in it but is justly to be rank'd among Things indifferent till the Pleasure and Authority of the Law-giver passes upon it Again the Subject-matter of Civil Laws is extreamly variable whereas that of Laws of Nature seems to be perpetual and unalterable For since the Subject-matter of Laws of Nature results from the primitive Frame and Order of created Nature or indeed from the original Frame of Humane Nature as it stands encompassed with common Wants and Necessities it must necessarily be adapted to the whole Off-spring of Mankind and consequently be as perpetual as universal But now the Subject-matter of Humane Laws being only the Circumstantials of civil Happiness advanced as a fit and proper Instrument to attain it in particular Communities and Societies of Men it must needs be precarious and changeable it 's often calculated for particular Events and Emergencies and consequently is as various as the different Aspects or Revolutions of Kingdoms It 's an Instrument often advanced for a particular and temporary End and Design and it 's well known there may be Twenty Instruments of equal force to attain it and consequently the Subject-matter of Humane Laws is often no otherwise fix'd and determin'd than by the arbitrary Decree or Sentence of the Law-giver But further in order to establish a true Distinction of Laws of Nature from positive Humane Laws let us consider what it is that seems to give 'em the Denomination of Laws of Nature and represents 'em as Innate Rules or Principles And First since it is concluded that they result or take their rise from the very Frame and Constitution of created Nature insomuch that God having established the Frame and Order of Things these Laws without any positive Command must follow upon it and consequently in one Act seems to have established both they may be justly esteemed Laws of Nature And this may be one principal Reason why they carry the appearance of Innate Principles and in the sacred Canon are represented to us as such In this Sense I 'm sure they are sufficiently distinguish'd from Humane Laws since they are so far from taking their rise in the Frame and Constitution of Nature that they are at best but remote Deductions from Laws of Nature or rather certain temporary Rules and Provisions of Reason advanced upon particular Emergencies in conformity to Laws of Nature or at least an arbitrary enforcement of Laws of Nature by positive Rewards and Punishments But further that which in reality gives them the appearance of Innate Principles and the denomination of Laws of Nature is the evidence and perspicuity of ' em For since it is concluded that Laws of Nature result from the very Frame and Order of Nature from that state and condition of Things wherein we were born and whereby we subsist they must undoubtedly discover ' emselves to the Minds of Men even tho' they were lodged in the most simple and unimproved State of Nature For as long as we allow Mankind to be Thinking Reasoning Beings the desire of Self-preservation will direct 'em to those Laws without the observance of which they can hardly pretend to subsist much less be happy In a word they are Laws of Nature because they are Impressions that are stamped on the Mind from the most importunate cravings and exigencies of Nature and they carry the appearance of Innate Principles because they are certainly some of the first Suggestions that accompany a Mind after its arrived to a State of Thinking and left to consult the Safety and Preservation of the whole Man I say they are certainly some of the first Suggestions that would naturally offer ' emselves to the Minds of Men. For tho' Mankind is brought forth in Impotence and their Mind cultivated by Education as their Bodies are cherished by Food and Raiment till they arrive to a competent Strength and Vigor and consequently Names and Words and Ideas of the most trite Objects of Sense are instilled by the Instructions of Nurses and Parents yet could we suppose Men turned out into the World in a State of Maturity without the Bias of Education upon 'em I do not question but the very Frame and Condition of their Beings together with the Desire of Self-preservation would give 'em a speedy View of those Laws which for this
Catalogue of Laws of Nature Several Attempts of this kind have been made by eminent and learned Hands some with great Success and to all imaginable Satisfaction It 's sufficient if I have in some Measure prepared a Key that will unlock the Cabinet and so far let us into the Book of Nature that we may by the Workings of natural Reason discover the great Lines of Laws of Nature and judge which are to be ranked into the number and which esteemed positive But since the whole Hypothesis is advanced without any regard to relative Characters and consequently the Original and Obligation of relative Duties are not so directly measured by it I shall take the Liberty of enquiring into those which God in his Providence has made so important in the Affairs of Men I mean those between Parents and Children And first of a parental Love and Affection Indeed this is a Passion so deeply impressed on the Frame of the Soul that it powerfully discovers itself thro' all the Parts of the Animal World To love our own Off-spring seems to be the Effects of a natural Instinct or Propension that as violently exerts itself as the Spark that flies upwards The Moral Vertuoso's of the present Age are here shamefully foiled in projecting their Scheme For tho' they may labour to stifle the Evidences of other Laws that bespeak them to be the pure Workings of Nature the Testimony which the sensitive Order of Creatures bears to this of natural Affection renders their Attempts wholly unsuccessful It might have been replied That a parental Affection expressed in the Care of their own Off-spring is only a fashionable Imployment set on foot to perpetuate their own Names and Memories but when the lower Order of Creatures that want Faculties to form any such foresighted Projections discover an equal Share of Concern Industry and Compassion they as well as we must conclude that it 's the Effect of some peculiar Propensions wove in with the Frame and Constitution of our Beings Indeed the Fondness Vigilance Labour and Industry that unthinking Brutes exercise towards there own Off-spring cannot be resolved into any thing but a powerful Sympathy and Earning which God hath implanted in them as they bear their own Image and Representations or rather as they are the Effects of their own most intimate Powers and Faculties and carry their own Principles of Life Blood and Spirits in 'em or in a word as they imply the most sensible Expansion and Propagation of their own Natures And here I cannot well forbear a short Digression If it be enquired how these inward Motions are excited I think it may be safely replied Not by Reason or a formal Inference for no Inference can be made even from particular Objects but by the help of abstract Ideas or general Notions or Maxims and a Power of comparing and distinguishing two or more things together Thus Suppose a Lioness by Reason were to conclude that this and not another to wit a second third or fourth Whelp is her own Off-spring she must compare the Off-spring in certain Lineaments and Features or other sensible Qualities with the Idea she had before conceived she must compare this with the Idea she has of those she rejects and after a strict Agreement with the former and a palpable Disagreement with the latter she cannot come to a rational Assent without some abstracted Ideas of Identity and Diversity or without the help of two general Maxims that where the present Object exactly agrees with the Idea before conceived it is the same and where the present Object differs from the Idea which another particular Object yields it cannot be the same but another This is the Analysis of the most simple Reasoning and of a narrower compass too than some of Mr. Lock 's Complex Ideas and therefore I cannot but wonder how he upon his Definition of Reason can assign Reason to Brutes especially when he denies them a Power of abstracting or compounding or forming Complex Ideas and allows them a Power of comparing only in a very inferior Degree See Essay B. 2. Cap. 11. and B. 4. Cap. 17. But to return It 's visible these inward Motions of Tenderness and Compassion are excited by the Emanation of certain Particles peculiar to the Off-spring of each respective Kind or Order of Brutes chiefly affecting the Sense of Smelling And hence the silly Brute exercises the same Fondness towards her Sister's Off-spring nay even towards one of another Order in case the difference in Form Smell Shape or Proportion is not too notorious Hence we may presume the Affection dwindles and wears off as these Particles that accompanied the Off-spring from the Womb decay in Power and Efficacy and consequently that by a Law of Providence they retain 'em till they are capable of providing for their own Subsistence From all this it 's indisputably evident that a parental Affection is implanted in the very Frame and Constitution of Unthinking Brutes And therefore since Providence has instituted the same Laws and Methods for bringing Mankind into the World with those he has assign'd to Brutes we must conclude that he has created 'em with the same original Propensions and as he has given 'em nobler Powers and Faculties as Springs and Movements to every Action so we must conclude that these Propensions in Men are set on Work after a different manner from those in Brutes They are not acted by pure Sensations but by the Powers of Reason added to 'em for when a Child is represented to the Mind to be the most lively Exertion of our vital Powers and Faculties to be Bone of our Bone and Flesh of our Flesh the first Assent to such an Idea must actuate these native Propensions into all the Offices of Love Care and Tenderness These are but the natural Sallies of that Affection which we were created with towards ourselves for no one as yet ever hated his own Flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it So that a parental Affection is so much a Law of Nature that the first Suggestions of Reason excite to the exercise of it A single Conclusion commands an Assent to the Duty and at the same time kindles or actuates the Affections into a Practice suitable to it Indeed it 's a Law that so apparently results from the Frame of Humane Nature that it carries the Appearance of being Innate and in one word for Man to love and cherish his Off-spring is certainly the Result of an innate Propension but the exercise of it from the consideration of the close Affinity it bears to his own Flesh and Blood is a Work of Reason This seems to be a Law truly written in our Hearts for if we ever think or reason upon the Subject Nature will command a practical Assent to it Indeed Reason does not more carefully dictate the Law than Nature both within and without conspire to enforce the Practice of it for if the first Workings of Reason powerfully excite a paternal
despicable for want of Honesty as Sense This is the Work of Heaven God is able as well as faithful to accomplish it in his own good time If the following Papers fall into the Hands of Men of these Sentiments I can assure them they 'll find nothing of the Imaginary Arts or Mystery of Priestcraft nothing of any designing Leader nothing peculiar to the wary Guardians of Creeds and Profitable Inventions so often hinted by the late Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity But if any thing offers itself that cannot well be digested I shall freely embrace a fair and pertinent Answer and endeavour to make such Returns as I hope may at last beget full Convicton on both sides THE CONTENTS OF The Introduction OF the State of Man before the Fall § 1. Of Original Corruption the Nature Rise and Propagation of it § 2. The Necessity of Revelation asserted with respect to our Attainments in Knowledge § 3 4. From the Defects of Natural Religion § 5. In reference to Practice § 6. From the Necessity of a Mediator § 7. The Deists Objection answered § 8. THE CONTENTS of the BOOK A Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation Chap. 1. Proved from Scripture § 1. That Man naturaly Thinks and Reasons § 2. That Man Thinks and Reasons in a fixed determinate Way § 3. The Subject-matter of Laws of Nature discoverable by Natural Reason § 4. The Divine Authority of Laws of Nature discoverable by Natural Reason § 5. Proved from the Divine Attributes and Perfections § 5. From the Ends and Designs of Created Beings § 6. From those natural Rewards and Punishments that flow from 'em § 7. From Scripture § 8. Objections answered Chap. 2. Of the true Origin of Error § 1 2. Of the Argument of Vniversal Consent the Nature Validity and Extent of it Chap. 3. Reflections on what Mr. Lock has offered against it § 1. Reflections on some Passages in the Conference with a Theist Chap. 4. Of the Distinction of Laws of Nature from Positive or Written Laws Chap. 5. Where the Nature of 'em is more fully represented § 1. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Arguments against Innate Ideas or Practical Principles and the Controversie determined Chap. 6. Of the different Degrees of the Evidence of Laws of Nature Chap. 7. Of the Foundation of God's Right of Dominion and our Duty of Allegiance as a Law-giver Chap. 8. A Right of Obliging distinguished from a Power of Obliging § 1. A Right of Obliging does not consist in a Power of Contributing to our Happiness or Misery § 2. All Right of Dominion derives from God § 3. God's Right of Dominion primarily founded in his creative and preserving Power § 4. Objections answered § 5. The Certainty of Rewards and Punishments Chap. 9. That God has a Right to Reward and Punish § 1. The Certainty proved from the general End and Intention of all Law-givers § 2. From the Nature of God's Laws and Man to whom they are given § 3. And the Nature of God that gave them § 4. Of the Original of a Parental Duty Love and Affection and Filial Reverence and Duty Chap. 10. The Affection of Brutes towards their own Off-spring not the Work of Reason but of certain Animal Sensations § 1. The Springs of Paternal Affection ib. Filial Reverence and Duty founded in the Act of Generation as well as Preserving Power § 2. Founded in the same Principles with Paternal Affection § 3. A Paternal Power originally includes a Kingly Power § 4. Reflections on some Passages in Mr. Lock 's Essay of Humane Vnderstanding and a Treatise of Government in 2 Parts Chap. 11. The Power of a Mother no Objection against the Civil Jurisdiction of the Paternal Power § 2. The Commanding Power of the Parent not Temporary § 3. Maturity did not place the Sons of Adam in an unlimited State of Freedom § 4. Natural Freedom not inconsistent with Civil Government ib. The Absurdities against this Author's Hypothesis represented § 5 6. Natural Allegiance asserted § 6. No Body of Men since the Creation regularly and de jure in a State of Nature such as this Author supposes Of the Nature of Moral Good and Evil Chap. 12. The Subject-matter and formal Reasons of Moral Good § 1 2. Of the true Measures of Moral Goodness Chap. 13. Pleasure whether of Body or Mind not the Measure of Moral Goodness § 1. The Conformity of Actions to the Ends of Society not the Measure of moral Goodness § 3. Conformity of Actions to a Law abstracting from the Intrinsick Rectitude of it not the Measure of Moral Goodness § 3. The original Frame Ends and Interests of our Beings the true Measure of Moral Goodness § 4. Of the eternal and unalterable Distinctions of Moral Goodness Chap. 14. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Law of Fashion Chap. 15. His Design not barely to enumerate Moral Ideas § 1. No Necessity for assigning a Law of Fashion § 2. The true Notion of Vertue and Vice by him Mis-represented § 3. Of the Nature of Conscience in general Chap. 16. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Description of Conscience Chap. 17. Of the Foundation and Authority of Conscience in the Original O Economy of it Chap. 18. The Truth and Certainty of Natural Conscience demonstrated against the Latitudinarian and Vnbeliever Chap. 19. The Vneasiness of Mind under Sickness or the Approaches of Death resolved into the Gripes and Convulsions of Conscience Chap. 20. Of the Evidence of future Rewards and Punishments from the Presages of Natural Conscience Chap. 21. How far Conscience shall be a Measure of the Divine Justice in the Distribution of Future Punishments Chap. 22. Some further Remarks on Mr. Lock 's Notions on this Argument § 2. The Conclusion THE INTRODUCTION Concerning the Necessity of REVELATION IT may perhaps seem a very improper Entertainment to the Christian World to establish a Line of Duty from the Records of the Book of Nature when we enjoy a more sure Word of Prophecy or Form of sound Doctrine which is able to make us wise unto Salvation or to delineate the Features of Moral Good and Evil when Life and Immortality are brought to light through the Gospel or in a word to dwell on the Infant-principles of Religion when we may go on unto Perfection But certainly the Spirit and Temper peculiar to the Age we live in is abundantly sufficient to suggest an Apology Are we not professedly Attack'd as to the Truth and Authority of Revelation and the Whole of Religion resolved into a Set of Moral Rules and Maxims And tho' others as yet cannot Discard all Revealed Truths yet they act as if they were Advocates for the Cause whilst they allow no other Rise or Original to Moral Rules and Maxims than Custom Education and a few unaccountable Traditions These are Mens Proceedings which seem to be embarked in the same Design viz. The Subversion of all Religion Our holy Religion is by this means stript of its most convincing Arguments for
〈◊〉 whereby an invincible Propension to the Things of this World is contracted He confirms the Notion by the Doctrine of Plato and Empedocles The whole Discourse is excellent from Page 252 to p. 272. The Substance of it is collected by the Learned Bishop of Worcester and applied to the present Argument with exquisite Force and Accuracy and therefore supersedes the necessity of another Citation See Orig. Sac. Lib. 3. Cap. 3. From all this it 's indisputably evident the Learned Heathen World were highly sensible of a State of Degeneracy and tho' the greatest part were in the Dark as to its Rise or Original yet some of the most Curious had preserved something of the Footsteps of it However they were all highly sensible of its dismal Effects and Mischiefs But now Revealed Religion has abundantly unfolded this Mystery by assuring us that a Native Depravity was contracted thro' the Transgression of of our First Parents I know the Deist Socinian and the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity look upon this Doctrine to be a piece of Cant or Jargon formed by the Priests those wary Guardians of their own Creeds and profitable Inventions as this Author has it But as for the Deist the general Sense of Mankind and the Doctrines of Philosophers are considerable Arguments to render the reveal'd Accounts of it highly probable And therefore unless he were able to disprove the Truth and Authority of Revelation on the same Foot that we overturn any other forged History I 'm perswaded unbiassed Reason will pronounce his Notions impudent Calumnies or Detractions As for the Author 's of the Reasonableness of Christianity endeavouring to undermine the Corruption of Human Nature upon Adam's Transgression See p. 6. he might have consider'd that it was always the prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church That it is made an Article of the Establish'd Church of England of which he would perswade the World he 's a sound and Orthodox Member and to which Article he has actually submitted And tho' the Word of God has no where in express Terms told us that this natural Depravity is the Seeds of Adam's Transgression yet there are sufficient Authorities of Scripture whence we may infer it by a clear and convincing Consequence We can prove that the Descendents of Adam were undoubtedly affected in the same manner with that of their Parent and both by a Spiritual as well as a Temporal Death I mean such a Death at least as in the Language of Scripture implies a disabling of the Faculties of the Mind as well as a Dissolution of the Animal and Spiritual Principles In a word it may fairly be inferred that that carnal Principles that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that prevails in the whole Off-spring of Adam whereby we are as it were sold under Sin or that reigning Law in our Members that brings us into Captivity to the Law of Sin so that when we would do Good Evil is present with us is the Effect of Adam's Transgression The Body of this Death was undoubtedly derived thorough his Loins on all his Descendents and the Seeds and Principles of a higher Death were certainly transmitted even tho' eternal Death were not formally imputed by making him the Representative of Mankind since these Seeds and Principles in the Language of the Apostle would at least work in our Members to bring forth Fruit unto Death Rom 7. v. 5. I know the great Artifice to which our Adversaries have recourse to blast the Credit of this Doctrine is either to oppose it to the Justice of God or Harangue upon the Impossibilities of it Because God has not clearly revealed and we cannot fully comprehend how such a Depravity is contracted much less propagated But certainly it was never the Business or Design of Revelation to communicate the Manner of the Divine Transactions no more than to Authorize us to reject 'em because we cannot comprehend the manner of ' em It was never a Rule of Revelation to make our own Faculties of Perception in comprehending the Nature of Things or in reconciling 'em to the scanty Notions we have conceived of another Revealed Truth the Standard Test or Measure of Faith And therefore to reject the clearest Evidence of Original Corruption because we cannot comprehend how 't is contracted or because the Notions of Infinite Justice tho' formed by our selves as we think must suffer by it is Base and Unwarrantable But however that our Adversaries may want the Advantage of this Pretence I mean that Original Corruption can no way be accounted for I shall attempt something to demonstrate how it may be Contracted and Transmitted And first This will easily be accounted for from the Nature of Original Corruption It 's already concluded That Original Corruption consists in the Exorbitance of the Animal Part or acts as a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Minds contending for an opposite Interest to the Laws of right Reason or the true Interests of Human Nature Now that this Irregularity may be the Effect of Adam's Transgression there are two or three Circumstances that render it more highly probable For first Tho' the Violation of a positive Law contains but a simple Act of his Obedience yet it certainly implies a horrid Violence committed upon all the Powers of Human Nature When the Tempter displayed his Wiles and formed his deluding Perswasives it certainly threw the unwary Offender into the greatest Agonies and Convulsions It must rase those convincing Apprehensions of the Majesty and Authority of God it must suppress the Dread of Divine Punishments it must break thro' all the Guards and Powers of Conscience and Fences of Duty it must alienate the whole Frame of the Soul take off those Desires and Propensions that engaged us in the Observance of God's Commands and those Satisfactions that result from the Observance of ' em In a word it must extinguish all the Powers of Divine Love suppress those Flights of Zeal in exercising the Mind and Thoughts in Divine Contemplations the Glories and Perfections of our Maker and in pursuing such Things as will render us remarkably like him So that this Grand Act of Disobedience must contain a Complication of impious Debates and Resolutions before it was committed For certainly the Powers of Nature being so exquisitely fitted for an Obediential Temper and the Soul so deeply possessed with a Sense of the uninterrupted Favours and Bounties of God flowing from his frequent Intercourses and Communications the Devil must play his Temptations a considerable time before he could promise himself success The Passions and Propensions of Human Nature must not only be taken off from serving their great Creator but turned a quite contrary way they must be strongly disposed in gratifying the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life And now who cannot discern the Growth or Production of carnal Exorbitances and consequently the Establishment of Original Corruption It 's concluded that this single
into Bogs and a thousand Miscarriages and therefore we cannot think it unnecessary to be secured from such fatal Hazards and Difficulties by having a Digest of Laws laid before us that remain as an unquestionable Standard of Duty What tho' the common Exigencies and Necessities of Nature the Frame and Condition of our Beings by the Light of natural Reason will direct us to the Ground-work of Morality and natural Religion it can be no Argument that the Light of natural Reason can enable us to raise the Superstructure that is either to accommodate those Laws we can discover to the Cases and Instances of humane Life so as to reduce 'em to Practice at least so as to answer the true Ends and Intentions of Living or to discover other Laws that are the Consequences of prime Laws of Nature and indispensably necessary to the Conduct of Humane Life to the disposing us for that State of Happiness for which God has originally design'd us much less to render our Services truly acceptable to God Certainly if we reflect on those inextricable Clogs Obstructions and Encumbrances wherewith corrupted Nature appears to be encompassed we must pronounce it impossible that the Powers of natural Reason should carry us thus far It 's certain tho' natural Reason may present most of the Fundamental Laws of Nature in a rough Draught yet nothing but Revelation is able to give 'em their finishing Strokes and their proper Graces and Perfections and display 'em in their Consequences Appendages and Deductions I mean such as are absolutely necessary to the Ends and Purposes of living well and attaining to a State of Happiness And therefore if natural Reason cannot pretend to furnish us in these Cases she must subscribe to the Necessity of Revelation Indeed I am perswaded natural Reason by a constant Habit of Thinking and a solemn Attention and Application of Mind may make very lucky Conjectures very ample Discoveries at least upon probable Evidences and Convictions in very important Truths But God knows as the Frame of Man now stands we must attribute such mighty Performances to a Work of Time to the Labours and Observations of Ages they can only be the Product of a few working Brains that by a peculiar Genius have sequestred themselves from secular Affairs and consecrated their Thoughts to the Observations of Humane Nature and yet the Whole at last amounts no higher than a few general Maxims or Positions formed from a happy Conjunction of their own Thoughts and the Observations of their Ancestors and these often clash and interfere with those of their Brethren and consequently can carry no higher Authority or Character than Learned Conjectures And now since Reason and Experience demonstrate as well as dictate the Truth of these things a revealed Canon seems to be absolutely necessary for the Conduct of Mankind or the Attainment of that Happiness which the Light of natural Reason in a State of Innocency would have otherwise secured A Revealed Canon was necessary to silence the immortal Disputes of the Learned as well as inform the Illiterate at an easie Expence of Time and Thought A Revealed Canon was necessary to give the most elaborate Discoveries of Reason the Authority of Laws in as much as it was necessary they should be ushered into the World with the highest Credentials of Divinity and established upon competent and express Rewards and Punishments But to conclude this Argument Notwithstanding the utmost Attainments of Human Reason I can see nothing to supersede the Necessity of Revelation but what will as effectually set aside the Necessity of Human Laws and Civil Government It 's certain That Laws of Nature discoverable by natural Reason answer the general Ends and Intentions of Civil Government and describe the great Lines of Right and Wrong Justice and Equity they assert the Rights of Property as well as the Obligations of private Compacts If therefore these general Notices be not sufficient for the Conduct of Human Life even in secular Affairs we cannot imagine that the Discoveries of Natural Reason should reach the whole Line of Duty with respect to God Ourselves and Neighbour In a word since after the highest Pretences to a natural Light it was necessary to constitute Civil Governments and entrust Men of Thought and Parts to work off a Body of Laws for the Conduct of Mankind in temporary Concerns by the nicest Consults Debates and Observations how much more necessary is it to receive a Digest of Laws from an Infalible and Unerring Hand to secure an Eternal as well as Temporal Happiness § 4. Thus far we have advanc'd the Necessity of Revelation in order to the Discovery of the Line of Duty but there is something more behind to improve the Argument For it 's certain we have hitherto represented the fairest Part of the Landskip of Human Nature I mean as it lies in a degenerate State It 's certain it is not only clog'd with those native Encrumbrances and Propensions derived from the Loins of our Ancestors that weigh down the Activity of the Mind but we are all unfortunately brought forth in Impotence and consequently are forced to suck in the Superstition and Absurdities as well as Impieties of our Parents of the present as well as past Ages These must unavoidably grow up together with our Reason and improve with the Strength and Vigour of our Bodies so that when we arrive to the Use of Reason we have not only native powerful Propensions but as violent Prejudices to grapple with In the first Age of the World where Men enjoyed the Instructions of our first Parent the Laws of Good and Evil Virtue and Vice were clear and legible the Stream was pure and untainted when it just issued forth from the Fountain but by length of Tract it gathered Filth and Mud for every Age was a Common-shore to transmit all its Vices and Irregularities This was the case of the old World as it is of a great part of this at this day of miserable Indians as well as hardned Antediluvians the Imaginations of whose Hearts by this means were to do evil continually and their Vnderstandings being past feeling were incurably darkned Now certainly when Men happen to be born under such an unfortunate Climate where instead of living they seem to be buried in an invincible State of Ignorance how is it possible they can ever be reduced to a Sense of Duty or act like Men or Reasoning Beings till they are enlightned by the convincing Beams of Revelation Whilst their Minds are enclosed in this State of Egyptian Darkness no Wonder if in the Sacred Language they should grope or seek after the Lord if happily they might feel him ought and find him tho' he be not far from every one of us and certainly if the Case of some poor Wretches in the World was so desperate that they might easily miss the Discovery of a Law-giver it 's impossible they should form a Body of Laws as an indispensable Rule of
us actually to obey not wherein the Right or Duty of Obedience is fixed and therefore tho' Rewards and Punishments are the true and proper Motives to secure a rational Obedience yet the Right of Obedience may rest upon a distinct Foundation Now I have a President before me I may at least with leave of this Author suppose something out of the Way as well as he to prove the truth of the Assertion suppose a Man created to infinite and irreversible Happiness though God has no longer a Power of contributing or adding to his Happiness yet I hope this Author in this Case will not deny God's Right of Sovereignty and Dominion over him as his Creature In one word I have proved That the Devils in Hell are or will be in a State of irreversible and infinite Misery and though for this Reason they can be acted with no Inclinations of Obedience yet they must still believe or acknowledge the Sovereignty of their Creator and tremble I presume I have now in some Measure fixed the Foundation of God's Sovereignty and Dominion over us and tho' I have used some Liberty in rejecting the Opinions of others yet I hope I may fairly account for it For the Notions I have contended for are founded on things that fall in with the established Sentiments of Mankind such as are properly founded in a creative preserving Power and consequently they must command a Submission and Obedience upon the clearest Convictions of Reason and as long as the Arguments suggested are cogent and satisfactory it is not Prudence to leave the common Road and put things of Moment and Importance upon an Issue that it may be wants Evidence or at least contradicts some received Truths or Notions But now an Enquiry of this Nature has been made I cannot dismiss the Argument without adoring our Great and Good God Creator and Sovereign For who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on High and yet humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Psalm 113. ver 5 6. Tho' God is invested with such an absolute Sovereignty over the Sons of Men yet he has graciously condescended to consider their Infirmities Wants and Necessities It 's already concluded that the Laws he originally gave to Mankind are adapted to the great Ends and Interests of our Nature they are not only contrived to preserve its Frame from Violence and Ruin but to advance and secure that Happiness its capable of receiving They are contrived not so much to represent the Authority of an absolute Creator as to establish the Happiness of his Creatures whatever Right of Dominion God may challenge to impose those Laws he has given us it 's manifest they carry their own Arguments of Obedience along with ' em He has not bound us with the Cords of Fear but Love indeed they have the highest Overtures of Love to recommend 'em Love not only for the exceeding Recompence of Reward that is annexed to the observance of 'em but Love that is contained in the very Frame of 'em even Love as dear and valuable to us as the Love of Ourselves and our own Happiness since they are the direct and immediate Instruments of Happiness so that were God destitute of a Right of imposing Laws or even a Power of contributing further to our Happiness by fresh Rewards the Nature and Tendency of those Laws he has actually imposed if not obstructed by very debauched Propensions is sufficient to secure an Obedience to him CHAP. IX Of the Certainty of Rewards and Punishments under a State of Nature § 1. INdeed I have already touched upon this Argument in the Disquisition of a Law of Nature but in order to the establishing a Scheme of Natural Religion I think myself obliged to enlarge a little further upon it And first I shall not Appeal to the Argument of Natural Conscience warranted by Revelation itself in as much as it contains an Absolving or Condemning Faculty in it and consequently must be acted with a Sense of Rewards and Punishments the immediate Spring or Appendage of such Powers or Faculties This will be considered on another Subject To proceed then It 's already concluded That the Dictates of Natural Reason are true and proper Laws established in a rightful and competent Authority that is in one word they are the Commands of a Sovereign Power and Authority over the whole Off-spring of Mankind And 't is already concluded that Rewards and Punishments I mean such as are lodged in the Hands of the Legislator not the natural Effects of the Action arising from the Observation or Violation of the Law are at least the necessary Appendages or Concomitants of a Law I will not run into the nice and tedious Disputes of the Schools and examine whether Rewards and Punishments are so much of the Nature or Essence of a Law that it loses the denomination of a Law without them This must be allowed by those that place the Obligation of a Law purely in a Power of Rewarding or Punishing But this has been disputed already and therefore I 'm inclined to the Negative But however it cannot be denied but Rewards are an inseparable Property of a Law adding Perfection to it and a Prerogative peculiar to every Legislator For certainly no one can be a rightful Legislator without a Right to despense Rewards and Punishments They declare and signifie a binding Authority and no one can pass for a rightful Legislator without a Right to oblige or require Obedience Herein a Law distinguishes it self from Counsel or Exhortation Again they contribute to the Perfection of a Law since the Ends and Intentions of it cannot be secured without ' em This is absolutely necessary where the Persons that yield an Obedience are acted by contrary Dispositions and Propensions and consequently they may justly be esteemed inseparable Properties of a Law I will not dispute the Power or Prerogative of Heaven whether God could not rightfully enjoyn a Law without annexing suitable Rewards and Punishments but whosoever compares the Laws he has enjoyned with the Propensions of Human Nature will be apt to impeach his infinite Wisdom for not annexing suitable Rewards as well as Punishments since without 'em it 's morally impossible to enforce the Observance of such Laws Indeed Rewards and Punishments are so much a Property of a Law that God thought fit to usher the first positive Law he gave to Mankind into the World by annexing 'em to it In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 As if he intended to imprint a Sense of Rewards and Punishments in the Original Idea of a Law In a word they are so much the Property of a Law that where-ever there is the Face of Government and Laws enacted Rewards and Punishments are esteemed the unquestionable Prerogatives of the legislative Power The whole Off-spring of Mankind that were ever under the Conduct of a Law are acted with such a deep
Sense of 'em that a Right of Punishment is never disputed tho' the Penalty is not expresly annexed Thus far then at least we are advanced unless we can deny a Sovereign Creator a Right of exercising a legislative Power we must allow him a Right of executing Punishments upon the Violation of his Laws as well as a Power of rewarding the Observance of them § 2. But now the Certainty of Divine Punishments as well as Rewards pursuing all his Laws even Laws of Nature is evinced from indisputable Authorities Few will be forward to dispute the Certainty of Rewards and therefore I shall consider it purely with respect to Punishments And 1st That God will dispence certain Punishments upon the Violation of any Law of Nature follows from the general Ends and Intentions of all Law-givers especially the Supreme Divine Law-giver that gave Being to every Soul that is capable of receiving a Law as well as Laws to govern them by Now no Law-giver can ever give Laws to others without designing for some special Ends and Purposes to have them executed and observed Without this it's absurd for a Law-giver to engage in enacting Laws or trouble his Subjects with the Burden that arises from the Imposition of them In a word it 's to act in vain or to no purpose an Imputation that cannot without Horror and Blasphemy be charged upon God who is always governed by the unchangeable Dictate of infinite Wisdom Therefore since we must conclude that the Sovereign Lord of all the World is acted with the deepest concern to have his Laws executed since Punishment is the best Expedient to enforce the Execution of 'em and since Punishment is due upon the Violation of 'em it must follow that Punishment will attend the Violation of ' em § 3. But 2dly The Certainty of Punishment discovers itself from the Nature of these Laws with relation to those Beings to whom they are given Now it 's already concluded That Laws of Nature arise from the established Frame and Condition of our Beings and Concenter with the prime Ends and Interests of ' em The Observance of Laws of Nature bring natural Rewards along with 'em sufficient to recommend 'em to the Choices of reasoning Beings and the Violation of 'em implies a Renuntiation not only of the common Rules of Prudence but Self-preservation the necessary Instinct of sensitive unthinking Beings And therefore when Laws of Nature are violated there seems no Room or Foundation left to excite or work upon infinite Mercy Indeed did God act like an Egyptian Task-master and not only require Brick without Straw but continue the Tail upon the greatest Sweat and Drudgery merely to exert an absolute Sovereignty and Dominion he might sometimes be melted into Compassion when a poor Vassal happens to fall short of the Line of Duty but now the Violation of them implies the highest Aggravations of Folly and resolved Iniquity and therefore we cannot imagine that any thing can induce an infinitely wise Creator to suspend any Punishments he can justly execute § 4. But 3dly Let us consider the Nature of the Command with respect to God that gave them Now certainly since it is concluded That Laws of Nature or Dictates of Nature take their Rise from the Author of Nature they are not only established according to the original Frame of created Nature but according to the infinite Purity and Holiness of God They are the express Image of his Person and the Brightness of that infinite Mind with whom there is no Shadow of Darkness or Impurity On this Account the Violation of Laws of Nature is not only an Affront committed against the Majesty and Sovereign Authority of God but a gross Aspersion upon his infinite Purity and Holiness and consequently it must engage him in the deepest Resentments So that Punishment is now no more an Act of Sovereignty but an Act of Justice to wipe off the Dirt that is by this means cast upon his infinite Purity If He 's of purer Eyes than to behold much less to cohabit with Iniquity certainly he must be armed with the highest Resentments even such as will answer the Character he has given of himself for our God is a consuming Fire And therefore though his infinite Love and Mercy might sometimes engage him to remit the Punishment that is due to the Violation of a known Law yet his infinite Justice will not suffer him till he has satisfied the Demands of his infinite Purity and Holiness In one word whosoever seriously surveys the Actions of the Almighty will plainly discover how directly all his Laws result from the whole Circle of his Divine Attributes and therefore it 's a senseless Project to set up his Mercy against his Justice Purity and Goodness and thereupon promise our selves an Exemption from Punishment It 's evident therefore that Laws of Nature as well as all other Laws are guarded with Punishments suitable to the Nature of ' em And if God is not concerned to vindicate his Authority he 'll certainly be concerned to vindicate his infinite Purity and Goodness and therefore we may conclude tho' Hand joyn in Hand the Disobedient shall not go unpunished I will not pretend to fix a Standard of Punishment for Offences committed against Laws of Nature I mean with respect to the Nature Degrees or Continuance of them for tho' there are a great many Arguments that might suggest very considerable Discoveries in these matters yet I think they were in a great measure Secrets lodged in the Hands of God till he thought fit to reveal himself in Cases of this Nature this being the proper Business of Revelation It 's sufficient to Believers and Christians that he has now done it beyond all dispute or cavil Again I will not pretend to conclude every particular Soul that acts against Laws of Nature under the Vengeance of Heaven Punishment no doubt will be proportioned according to the means of Information and there may be certain Cases in a State of Nature where invincible Ignorance may be a Plea at the Bar of Justice to particular Persons but yet the Actions of Men are intricate and Humane Knowledge shallow and of a narrow compass and therefore we must leave these as Secrets to the Discerner of Spirits and that Candle of the Lord I mean every Man 's particular Conscience It 's sufficient that the Violations of Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation render Mankind obnoxious to Punishments and that all the Reason in the World instructs us God will infallibly inflict them And therefore it 's the Concern of Mankind either to live in the Observance of 'em or to appear with a more substantial Defence than I can think of lest they bring themselves into an irreversible State of Condemnation CHAP. X. Of the Original of Parental Duty Love and Affection and filial Reverence and Duty § 1. IT was not my Design to descend to Particulars no more than to present the World with an exact List or
their incompatibility with the Line of Duty nay there will be a discovery of the Reasons and Original of all Miscarriages the Mind will plainly discern the Error and Absurdity of former Convictions she will confess that the violence and importunity of Lust or a habit of Thoughtlesness or Inconsideration was the true and genuine cause of 'em and consequently the frame and Oeconomy of Conscience will not only be altered according to the Intrinsick Nature of things and received as every Man 's own proper Conscience but it will discover Sin and Guilt in the erring Conscience and charge the mischief of it upon its proper owner where-ever the Errors appear to be contracted from the neglect of means of Information For certainly as God has endued us with Faculties to instruct us in the Line of Duty so he has made us capable of attaining it in that Course and Order which he has established and consequently of pursuing and embracing such Means as are truly conducive to the attainment of it and therefore when proper Means are instituted or proposed or as it were lie before us in the common road of Thinking the Mischiefs or iniquity of an Action by the Laws of Conscience will be imputed to us tho' it was committed with a perswasion of its Innocence because the Order of Nature and the Laws of Humane Action are as much perverted by acting without the use of established means as contrary to inward Convictions and tho' the Action in the precise nature of it is not willfully wicked yet the neglect of Means may be justly esteemed willfull and consequently the Effects and mischiefs of the Action justly imputed I will not deny but there are thousands of miserable Wretches in the World under such fatal Circumstances that they seem to be placed out of the reach of due Means of Information but to judge precisely of this seems to be a peculiar of the searcher of Hearts and Reins However I am perswaded the common Exigences and Necessities of Humane Nature will instruct Mankind in the most fundamental Rules of Natural Religion and yet God will charge nothing upon us but where he can convince our Conscience of notorious Neglects and in this case it 's consonant to the Rules of Justice that Sentence should be passed not according to former but present Convictions Indeed it can never be imagin'd that the great Judge of all the Earth in his final Awards to Mankind will erect a Tribunal that had not its Original from him I mean from the Convictions of an erroneous Conscience and therefore since it is demonstrated that new Sentiments and Convictions will break in upon the Mind even to the charging of Guilt upon those Neglects which were the immediate source of false Convictions we may justly conclude that the judicial Proceedings of the Great Day shall be established upon a regulated Conscience I mean according to the Divine Oeconomy of it and consequently it is not the Plea of former Convictions nor want of consciousness when Enormities were committed that will be sufficient to exempt any Man from the jurisdiction of it For these may be resolved into Personal Neglects and Personal Neglects are alone sufficient to derive a Guilt upon us As for the want of consciousness it 's a branch of the Objection not yet replied to and therefore I shall make some few Remarks upon it And first it 's certain as long as Enormities are committed upon personal Neglects as in the case of Drunkenness it is not necessary the Mind should be conscious of the whole process when actually committed It 's abundantly sufficient if upon a representation of Circumstances we shall at last be forced to own them or ascribe the Commission of 'em to our selves for this will bring us under the dominion of Conscience at the last day Certainly we may with as much force of Reason plead an Exemption from the guilt of Enormities which thro' tract of time were wiped off the Table of the Mind as deny to account for Enormities which when committed we were not conscious of when it was some former Enormity had disabled us from being conscious of 'em whereas it can only be required in both cases that proper and competent Methods are contrived to make us conscious at the last day so as to pronounce our selves the Authors of 'em for when this is done Conscience will determine as effectually as if our present and past Convictions were consonant to each other Upon the whole then it 's visible it is not the present state of any Man's Conscience any farther than it accords with the Divine Oeconomy of Conscience no more than any present Act of Consciousness that will be received for a final measure of the Goodness or Evil of our Actions and consequently of a final Condemnation or Deliverance but Conscience founded on the express Laws of God the sole Rule of Duty and the Agreement or Disagreement of our Actions with them I would not be mistaken as if I intended to streighten or fix Limits to the infinite Mercies of God there 's nothing but his own infinite Purity Truth or Justice can at any time divert his Mercies but yet I think it 's evident that we shall be judged for our Actions as they are in their own Nature and that too on the Awards of a rectified Conscience where-ever an erroneous Conscience can be charged with Guilt No one can dispute the Guilt of an Erroneous Conscience where the Error is propagated thro' willfull Enormities or manifest Neglects Thus far the sacred Canon is express and clear when we are told in the case of Error that the Mind and Conscience is defiled Tit. 1.15 And certainly where-ever there is Defilement there must be Guilt and where-ever there is Guilt there is at least Punishment due And I presume it 's sufficiently demonstrated that lost Ideas will be revived that every Action will appear in its proper Dress and consequently the whole Oeconomy of Conscience will be changed If what has already been offered be not conclusive the State of the Wicked after Condemnation will infer it Now certainly whoever allows the divine Oeconomy of Conscience must allow a future Judgment and if there 's a future Judgment and Men to be judged by their Consciences the most Hardened Unrelenting Sinner will be brought to a clear apprehension of the Line of Duty and by this means forced to own the Justice of his Sentence tho' his Conscience was seered and past feeling it shall now recover a double Force and retain the quickest apprehension of Things and Conscience thus enforced and armed with fresh Power and Vigour shall be the eternal Instrument of increasing the Torments of the damned Since then Conscience shall be thus regulated in Order to enhance and perpetuate their Misery we may justly conclude that it's Regulation will commence at the great Tribunal in Order to ratify the sentence of Condemnation and certainly since it must be allowed that Conscience will be
an Instrument of future Condemnation as well as Misery we must conclude that it will be one and the same Conscience acted by the same Measures and Principles and of the same Extent and Latitude and consequently a Conscience cleared from all Error and Mistake Partiality or Connivance and in a Word a Conscience established according to the Divine Oeconomy of it the Law of God and the eternal Measures of Moral Goodness and Duty This is that Candle of the Lord as the Wiseman expresses it that will display its Light into the deepest recesses of the Heart and Search into the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20.27 In a Word it will be the inward Voice or Word of God quick and powerful and Sharper than any two Edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the Heart Heb. 4.12 § 2. From what hath been said it may not be improper to make some further Remarks upon Mr. Lock 's Notions of Conscience It 's observable Mr. Lock makes Consciousness and Conscience the same and Conscience to consist in nothing else but our own Opinions of our own Actions and pursuant to this he affirms that in personal Identity which he makes to consist in Consciousness is founded all the Right and Justice of Favour Rewards and Punishment Book 2. c. 27. § 18. But certainly the Conscience that will prevail in the great day will not be any Opinions we have entertained of Actions when Committed tho' taken up at large No we shall then be acted by no other Opinions but those of a regulated Conscience and they shall sit as Judges even over former Opinions that were engendered by Neglect or Carelessness and nothing but invincible Ignorance or sincere Repentance can deliver us from its Dominion This is indisputably evident from the Regulations of Conscience that shall be made according to the divine Oeconomy of it whereby our Opinions of past Actions shall not be measured by former Convictions but by the conformity of our Actions to the true Line of Duty or means of Information Again that consciousness which some Men might be under when Enormities were committed cannot be the foundation of future Punishment but that Consciousness of past Actions which will arise from a regulated Conscience For it is concluded that we may become conscious of Enormities committed of which we were not conscious when committed and conscious of others by wrong Measures and Convictions but it will be that Consciousness and those Convictions we are under at the Great Tribunal and result from a regulated Conscience that will be the measure of a final Absolution or Condemnation And certainly if Mr. Lock will not suffer his Notions to be guarded by these limitations he must pardon me if I cannot comply with 'em or cannot but esteem 'em dangerous and false On this account I cannot suffer an Instance that seems to interfere with what is asserted pass off without a few Remarks Mr. Lock in order to the establishing his Notion of Personal Identity brings in Enormities committed in Dunkenness of which a Man is not conscious and places them upon a level with those committed by a Man in his sleep making him no more answerable for the one than the other He indeed makes the Drunkard in this case obnoxious to the Civil Laws for no other reason but Because in these cases they cannot distinguish what is Real from what is Counterfeit and so the Ignorance in Drunkenness or Sleep is not admitted as a Plea But in the great Day wherein the Secrets of all Hearts shall be laid open it may be reasonable to think no one shall be made to Answer for what he knows nothing of but shall receive his Doom his own Conscience accusing or excusing him See Sect. 22. Book 2. Chap. 27. Here are a great many Passages that look with a very evil Aspect and therefore I shall say something to each in their order And first I think this Author has drawn a very unjust Parallel between Crimes committed in Sleep and Dunkenness It 's well known that Sleep is a thing entailed on us as a Law even a Law established in the frame of our Beings and commences upon the necessities of corruptible Nature and therefore if Mischief accidently follows it cannot well be imputed because it is founded in a Cause or Principle that is inseparable from Humane Nature or rather is an Appendage of the most necessary Powers of it that set us on a level with Brutes and consequently the Actions that flow from it cannot be imputed But I hope this Author cannot plead a necessity of Nature for Drunkenness A quantity of generous Liquor may sometimes be required for the actuating the Spirits but never to intoxicate unman or drown the Reason In a word Drunkenness argues a willful neglect in humane Conduct and as such is an Act of a free Agent and consequently the Actions that flow from it tho' destitute of Choice or Deliberation are justly imputed For in order to the imputing or charging an Action upon us it is not necessary that it should proceed from the free exercise of Reason or previous Deliberation at the very Moment when Committed It is sufficient that it 's owing to a Cause that is to be esteemed truly Deliberate and Wilful If this were not so it 's impossible any Sin of Ignorance can be Culpable a Position so wide from the line of Christian Duty that every Heathen Moralist will teach this Author the Absurdity of it I shall for once Refer him to Aristotle because he has culled out the case of Drunkenness to confirm the Doctrine He assures us Ignorance is Punishable whenever the cause of it can be charged upon us and for this Reason pronounces Crimes committed in Drunkenness liable to double Punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethic. ad Nichom Lib. 3. Chap 7. But to proceed As for the practice of Civil Governments in punishing Crimes committed when Disguised by Drink he has shamefully Misrepresented it when he Suggests that the only Reason is because they cannot distinguish what is Real from what is Counterfeit and so the Ignorance in Drunkenness or Sleep is not admitted as a Plea It 's a known truth that Civil Judicatures take cognizance of nothing but the outward Act and when this appears they constantly ascribe the internal Principles of the Action Knowledge and Freedom where the Criminal is under no Natural Disabilities so that the Reasons that induce them to proceed to Censure in cases of this Nature can be no other but those which this excellent Moralist has assigned for every such Criminal has 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho' he was not Master of himself when the Fact was committed yet he is Acted by a Principle that made him Master of the cause of it and consequently the Government may exercise a Right of Punishment Again
Immoralities or to speak in other Terms the Seeds of this kind of Corruption are certainly lodged in the Propensions and Habits of the Animal Part. For that which has such an Ascendent over us to command us to Act in favour of it will infallibly influence our Judgments This is so obvious that in wilful Enormities I mean such as were first committed against the Convictions of the Mind the Power of Animal Propensions Assiduity of Practice and a kind of Natural Intimacy or Familiarity resulting from it has at last engaged Reason itself to appear as an Advocate for it and very often it makes such elaborate Researches for Arguments to support the Cause that at last it declares for the Justice and Innocence of it and asserts it upon Principle and inward Conviction I am perswaded and can without breach of Charity or Justice affirm That the Growth of the foulest Heresies in the Christian World is to be placed in this Original Men have so long given the full Reins to Pride Ambition Covetousness or other vitious Lusts and Propensions that they have called in their whole Stock of Parts and Learning and made Converts to their Judgments to support them or revenge their Disappointments And now upon this Bottom we may silence all Objections brought from the absurd and Heterodox Opinions of certain Moralists and Philosophers For it 's highly probable they were at first but exquisite Apologies to Patronize importunate Passions and confirm'd Practices and consequently can be no real Prejudices to a Law of Nature Indeed the impure Doctrine of the Gnosticks may be as well admitted a just Plea against the Truth and Purity of Christianity and the Evidences for both as some few lewd Doctrines of Philosophers against the Certainty of a Law of Nature upon the Evidences of Natural Reason § 2. But to enlarge a little on this part of the Objection it 's well known that the foulest and most absurd Opinions charged on particular Philosophers are by others recorded as an eternal Mark of Infamy and Reproach due to 'em and consequently they are by no means a just Balance to the substantial Reasonings of others in deciphering Laws of Nature We might add to all this how unjust a Measure the Practices of Mankind is of their real Notices of Moral Good an Argument too fatally demonstrated under a Christian Dispensation and consequently tho' the Generality of Philosophers liv'd in Opposition to Laws of Nature and some few taught contrary to 'em yet it 's no just Consequence to place Laws of Nature above the Researches of Natural Reason I am perswaded some of the Instances presented in a late Conference * See Conference with a Theist Part 2. p. 56 to p. 64. do not fall under the Character of prime Laws of Nature and consequently do not reach the Author's Design It 's very well known Plato's Model for Peopling his Common-wealth was not by a Community of Women without Limitations from the Civil Power But for the precise Limitations in this matter as well as the manner of Worshiping God whether by Sacrifices and corporeal Representations I presume it 's the business of Revealed Religion to fix and determine As for his Instance of Masculine Venery Zeno and his Followers pronounced it indifferent I presume it was a previous Practice that had made it appear so And yet St. Paul speaks of some of these unnatural Whoredoms as things scarce named among the Gentiles 1 Cor. 5.1 But it were highly to be wished that some Nations in the Confines of Christendom had wholly escaped the Contagion so that if such vile Practices in a State of Nature may be an Argument against Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation it will be of Force against written Revelations Since Laws of Nature founded in the Dictates of natural Reason may be as easily violated as any written Law Certainly such avowed Practices may with greater force of Reason be allowed against a Law that pretends to no higher Authority than Revelation or supported by Tradition Lastly As for the Grecian Piece of Cruelty in exposing Children to the Mercy of Beasts and Travellers without remorse I presume the Practice was not frequent because it must be the Concern and Interest of every Government to suppress it But it 's well known the Christian World is not wholly freed from such Monsters who I am afraid are acted by no other Dread but what the Apprehensions of a Discovery and the Penalties of the Law extort from them However this is an Instance so absolutely repugnant to the common Bowels of Humanity that it as effectually disproves those Earnings which natural Instinct discovers in the whole Order of Brutes towards their own Off-spring as that natural Reason discovers the same Earnings to be a point of Duty to Mankind In one word the Cruelties of Heathens is no more an Argument that natural Reason doth not teach the contrary than the Barbarity of some particular Christians an Argument that Christianity does not exhort to Bowels of Compassion and a Parental Care towards their own Off-spring But to return A second Cause of Error is certain Prejudices or Prepossessions imprinted on the Mind by Example and Education The Cause and Origin of Error already given presents us with the Propensions and Bias of Humane Nature and consequently how liable the World is to be overspread with Error At least Matter of Fact informs us how wide the Actions of Men deviate from the Line of Duty so that it may truly be said of the Heathen World That the Imaginations of their Hearts is to do Evil continually Certainly then where a Contagion extends itself not only to the Judgments but Practices of Mankind and not only corrupt Principles but vitious Examples prevail in Parents Guardians and Tutors the Minds of their Descendents will be deeply impregnated with pernicious Prejudices and Prepossessions They are implanted among the first and earliest Impressions even before the Powers of Reason exert themselves This I am confident is the Case of the uncultivated Regions of Mankind And certainly when Reason comes to exert it self under such a fatal Bias no wonder if she often falls into very gross Miscarriages And yet this is the inevitable Portion of Mankind that are brought forth in a State of Impotence as well in Mind as Body and can hardly arrive to any Growth in Reason before they arrive to a Maturity in Body But now these things being laid together and admitted it 's very unjust to reject the Divine Oeconomy of Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation because the unavoidable Prepossessions of some Men have carried them besides the Mark so as to contradict the general Lines of Duty For it 's apparent were Men to enter the World in the Strength and Power of Reason without the Clog and Encumbrance of antecedent Prepossessions as in the Instance already given See Chap. 1. Sect. 2. It 's impossible but the Fundamental Line of Duty must present it self to the
'em so that they may appear as natural as the most regulated Acts of Morality yet this does by no means destroy the Foundations of moral Good for it is nothing else but a kind of Spiritual Disease and consequently we may as well say there was originally no true Foundations for Health because the Body is over-run with a Disease as deny the Foundations of Morality because our Native Capacities are habitually Vitiated and Corrupted CHAP. XV. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Law of Fashion § 9. HAving offered thus much upon the Nature and Distinction of Moral Goodness I cannot dismiss the Argument without bestowing a few Remarks on the Author of the Essay concerning Humane Understanding upon his advancing a Law of Fashion or Opinion among the Rules or Measures of Moral Goodness I shall not conceal what he has said in Vindication of himself against Mr. Lowde See his Ep. to the Reader Ed. 2. I was there not laying down Moral Rules but shewing the Original and Nature of Moral Ideas and enumerating the Rules Men make use of in Moral Relations whether those Rules were true or false Now certainly tho' the principal Design of this Chapter might be what this Author expresses yet an Impartial Reader could not have believed but there was a professed Design too to represent the true rules or measures of Moral Good had he not expresly declared the contrary And for all this I think a man must have a great deal of Charity to alter his Belief notwithstanding this extorted Declaration And to justify my Opinion I shall appeal to that very Section which he refers to for his Vindication Sect. 4. Chap. 28. B. 2. speaking of Moral Duties or Actions viz. Gratitude c. he concludes It is not enough to have clear and distinct Ideas of them and to know what Names belong to such and such Combinations of Ideas as make up the complex Idea belonging to such a Name we have a further and greater Concernment and that is to know whether such Actions so made up are morally Good or Bad. Now truly if the great concernment be to know or discover whether certain Actions are Morally Good or Bad the true Nature of Moral Good must be fixed for if it be not material whether the Rule or Measure be true or false I would fain know what Light we have given of Moral Good or how we shall judge whether any particular action is Morally Good or Bad. Thus far there 's a design to six the true measures of Moral Goodness and we are the more induced to believe it because the very next Section presents us with a professed description of Morally Good and Evil pursuant to the description he had before given of Good and Evil. Morally Good and Evil then is only the Conformity or Disagreement of our Voluntary Actions to some Law whereby Good and Evil is drawn upon us from the Will and Power of the Law-maker Here 's a standing definition of Moral Good and Evil and this Author must own that a definition of Things such as Good and Evil is a discovery of the precise Nature of 'em as they are in themselves and consequently it must imply a discovery of the true measures of Morally Good and Bad. To proceed then the Nature of Morally Good and Bad is here made to consist in the conformity of Voluntary Actions to some Law and therefore it 's requisite an Account should be given of the several Rules or Laws of Moral Goodness whereby we may view it in its several Species or kinds This Mr. Lock performs in the Section immediately following Of these Moral Rules and Laws to which Men generally Refer and by which they judge of the Rectitude or Pravity of their Actions there seems to me to be three sorts with their different Enforcements or Rewards and Punishments so that we see he industriously represents 'em in all the formalities of Laws and gives 'em their proper and peculiar Sanctions that they may obtain the Authority and Character of Laws Upon this he proceeds to establish the several Species of Moral Good and having enlarged very much upon the third Species of Moral Good that of Virtue and Vice he gives us to understand his Intentions by the very Title of his Thirteenth Section These three Laws are Rules of Moral Good and Evil and Sect 14. he expresly tells us That by taking the Rule from the Fashion of the Country the Mind hath a notion of Moral Goodness or Evil which is the conformity or not conformity of any action to that Rule Now what is all this but to describe the real Nature of Moral Goodness in its true measures as well as kinds It 's evident it was the Business of Sect. 5. and the rest Branches from it by the Laws of method and order nay it 's expressed in the very Conclusion Sect. 14. and therefore we cannot without robbing Mr. Lock of the Character he has justly merited of being a Master of Reason but conclude that all this was in pursuance to his Great Concernment Sect. 4. That is to know whether such actions so made up are morally Good or Bad. But further to take off all this Mr. Lock appeals to Sect. 15.20 Whereas the latter only affirms that we have a notion of Moral Relation whether the Rule be true or false and this I think no body can deny but yet I hope I have proved that the notion of all Moral Goodness depends on the truth of the Rule not on the conformity of an Action to a Rule whether true or false The former affirms that the Idea or Notion of Moral Goodness arises from the conformity of an Action to one of his three Rules but I hope I have proved that they only represent the Idea of a Moral Action not of Moral Goodness which indispensibly requires the truth and goodness of the Rule Lastly in vindication of himself he produces his own Authorities for the eternal and unalterable nature of Virtue by fixing it in the Will or Commands of God Book 1. Chap. 3. Sect. 6. and 18. But yet we were at a loss to know whether he designed the revealed Will and positive Commands of God or his Will discovered by the Light of Reason had he not told us in a second Edition That by the Divine Law he meant as well a Law promulged by the Light of Reason as the voice of Revelation Book 2. Chap. 28. Sect. 8. If the Commands or Will of God are only those we receive from Revelation or the positive Will of God the first Edition of this Essay suggesting nothing to the contrary then Moral Good and evil Antecedent to Revelation is not Eternal and Unalterable but may be founded on a Law of fashion as a true measure of Moral Good for as this Author observes the natural conveniences and inconveniences of things themselves may determine our choices without making 'em the inviolable Rules of Practice See Sect. 6. Book 1. Chap. 3. and Sect.
For first it must be confessed whilst Lust and exorbitant Appetites maintain their Ground a biassed Judgment at least cannot escape being chained to their Interest but these seem to depend upon the Health and Vigour of the Animal part As this is shocked or enervated whether thro' Age or sickness so these must decline and suffer Disgrace And therefore as the hear of Lust expires so the Judgment or Understanding will in proportion be discharged from her Fetters she will view things with a new aspect not thro' the Steams of Lust and as it were thro' a Glass darkly but Face to Face and in their naked Shapes and Features and consequently our Reflections on past Actions will be formed upon new Measures and Principles she 'll be able to discern the true Ends and Interests of Humane Nature and thereupon bring all her Actions to the Test of this Rule and this cannot fail to beget new Perswasions and Convictions according to the primitive Oeconomy of Conscience so that it is not a fit of Melancholy the effect of depauperated Spirits no otherwise than a an expiring Vapour is the cause of Light which before it obstructed but the returns of Natural Conscience acted upon a right Basis and exerting it self according to that frame in which it was created Thus much the Latitudinarian may discern from the Natural efficacy of Things But besides all this he may very well allow this wonderful change to be in some measure compleated by the concurrence of supernatural causes If God upon a long train of unrelenting impiety has at last consigned a Man over to irretrievable destruction I would fain know why he may not suffer the Devil or some of his Spiritual Crew to display before his Mind a Scheme of his past Actions No one can question but that Order of Spirits can converse with Spirits or make their applications to a Spiritual Being and consequently that he can if permitted excite such Motions and suggest such Ideas as will revive the most considerable minutes of our whole Lives and enable us to bring 'em to a new Test and view 'em in their proper Lineaments and proportions and consequently as they appear to clash with the Line of Duty plunge a Soul into the most direful Agonies and Convulsions This is but a kind of Anticipation of that future misery which I 'm confident he will be the Instrument to enhance upon all Reprobate Sinners But on the other hand if the patience and long-suffering of God extends to the leading a Soul to repentance who can dispute the Divine Influences of the Holy Spirit in bringing all past Actions to our remembrance He can discover such minute circumstances as will recover lost Ideas He can excite such Meditations and Thoughts as will suggest the true Rule of Action and Line of Duty and consequently such as will necessitate the Mind to pass Sentence on every Action pursuant to it It 's an Undisputed Truth that the Holy Spirit can move and excite the Powers of the Soul by a spiritual kind of Converse as effectually as the Rhetorick and perswasives of fellow Creatures that must be Transmitted by Sounds thro' material Organs and Vehicles This is an Assertion so clear and indisputable that I can see no reason why those ministring Spirits the blessed Angels by the divine Appointment may not be allowed capable of maintaining Intercourses of this nature even with this lower World since it only places their Power upon a level with accursed Spirits who have on all hands a Power attributed to 'em of influencing the Souls as well as Bodies of Men. And certainly God whose infinite Knowledge and Wisdom enables him to adapt all his divine Succours to sutable Seasons and Opportunities could not exert 'em better than when the Animal Part is disabled by Age Sickness or other humane Calamities And certainly its highly agreeable to the divine Wisdom when a Change of Mind and Conscience is wrought to give 'em a deep sense of their Folly and Error and consequently to throw 'em into the severest Agonies and Convulsions before he raises 'em up by his special Restoratives the refreshings of the Lord. And now certainly we have foundation enough to answer for the Contradictions of Conscience and at the same time assert the Divine Oeconomy of it This is an Hypothesis cannot be disputed in a state of Revelation And tho' in a state of Nature God has not covenanted to govern Mankind by spiritual Succours or the Effusions of his Holy Spirit on the hearts of Men yet I do not find he has any where bound himself to the contrary and it s highly probable his infinite Goodness and Wisdom may sometime incline him to dispense his Favours on this part of his Off-spring and consequently contribute to the Establishment of Conscience upon its true foundation I mean according to the primitive Model and Oeconomy of it CHAP. XXI Of the Evidence of future Rewards and Punishments from the Presages of Natural Conscience THat Mankind was Originally Formed and Created under the Conduct of a Law and that Rewards and Punishments are ascertained to the Observance or Violation of this Law has already been proved beyond any just colour of Dispute That which remains is to fix the Stage where this great Scene shall be displayed and a Formal Distribution Transacted Now I am perswaded it will be easily granted that Rewards and Punishments cannot well be Executed in this State of Life For first the Established Coercive Powers of this World can by no means pretend to it they can determine nothing beyond the Surface or External parts of the Action And these must be handed to them upon the evidence of Senses the Authority of Circumstances and the Veracity of Men and Sinners so that very often the Innocent is Sentenced to Act his Part in Sufferings in the room of the Guilty By this means the substantial parts of the Action lie Dormant and escape the most subtle Remarks and Censures of Mankind so that there may be a Thousand whited Sepulchres which indeed appear beautiful outward but are within full of dead Mens Bones and of all uncleanness But this is not all for must we not admit a vast Scroul of Enormities that the nicest observations can never pretend to reach or fathom some that are sheltered by Studied Retreats and Privacies others by passing no further than Thought or Intention and the inward Workings of the Mind so that it 's impossible that any thing less than an infinite Power or a Searcher of Hearts and Reins can pretend to state the Deservings of Men and adjust an Allotment of Rewards and Punishments in proportion to them Indeed an All-wise Creator that knoweth the very Thoughts long before is abundantly qualified to finish his Dispensations of this kind even in this Life But yet in Crimes that are Publick and Notorious we sometimes see the Authors pass off the Stage of the World without any visible Marks of Divine Vengeance at least