of the Heathen Philosophers above all other knowledge whether Natural or Civil and that deservedly as well in respect of its usefulness as certainty since it was to that alone as most agreeable to the Natural Faculties of Mankind that Men before they were assisted by Divine Revelation owed the Discovery of their Natural Duties to God themselves and all others as Cicero hath shewn us at large in those three excellent Treatises De Officiis De Finibus and De Legibus And tho' I grant we Christians have now clearer and higher Discoveries of all Moral Duties by the Light of the Gospel yet is the Knowledge of Natural Religion or the Laws of Nature still of great use to us as well for the confirmation as illustration of all those Duties since by their Knowledge and the true Principles on which they are founded we may be convinced that God requires nothing from us in all the practical Duties of revealed Religion but our reasonable Service that is what is really our own interest and concerns our good and happiness to observe as the best and most perfect Rule of Life whether God had ever farther enforced them or not by any revealed Law And tho' I do not deny that our Saviour Jesus Christ hath highly advanced and improved these Natural Laws by more excellent and refined Precepts of Humility Charity and Self-denial than were discovered before by the wisest of the Heathen Philosophers especially as to the greater assurance we have of that grand Motive to Religion and Vertue the immortality of the Soul or a Life either eternally happy or miserable when this is ended Yet certainly it was this Law of Nature or Reason alone by which Mankind was not only to live but also to be judged before the Law given to Moses and it must be for not living up to this Natural Light that the Heathens shall be condemned who never yet heard of Christ or of a revealed Religion and so cannot as St. Paul expresly declares to the Romans believe on him of whom they have not heard Rom. 10.14 And therefore the same Apostle in the first Chapter of the same Epistle appeals to the knowledge of God from the things that are seen that is the Creation of the World as the foundation of all Natural Religion and their falling notwithstanding this knowledge into that gross Idolatry they professed as the only reason why God gave them up to their own hearts lusts because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned v 21. And so likewise in the second Chapter the Apostle farther tells them that when the Gentiles who have not the Law do by nature the things contained in the Law these having not the Law are a Law unto themselves shewing the work of the Law written in their hearts that is the Law of Nature or Reason as the main substance or effect of the Mosaical Law And that it is by this Law alone that they shall be judged mark what immediately follows Their consciences bearing witness and their own thoughts or reasonings as it is rather to be rendred in the mean while accusing or excusing each other And indeed the Apostle supposes the Knowledge of God as a Rewarder of Good Works as the foundation of all Natural as well as revealed Religion and the first Principle of saving Faith as appears in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11. v. 6. But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that comes unto God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him But I need speak no more of Natural Religion and how necessary it is to the true Knowledge of the Revealed since the Reverend and learned Dr. Wilkins Late Bishop of Chester hath so well perform'd that Noble Vndertaking in that excellent Posthumous Treatise published by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson now Lord Archbishop of Canterbury to which nothing needs to be added by so mean a Pen as mine But since the Laws of Nature as derived from God the Legislator are the foundation of all Moral Philosophy and true Politicks as being those which are appealed to in all Controversies between Civil Soveraigns and also are the main Rules of those mutual Duties between Soveraigns and their Subjects It is worth while to enquire how these Laws may be discovered to proceed from God as a Legislator Now whereas this can only be done by one of these two ways viz. Either from the certain and manifest Effects and Consequences that proceed from their observation Or 2dly From the Causes from which they are derived The former of these hath been already largely treated of by others especially by the most learned Hugo Grotius in his admirable Work De Jure Belli Pacis And by his Brother William in that small Posthumous Treatise De Principiis Juris Naturalis And by the Iudicious Monsieur Puffendorf in his learned Treatise De Jure Naturae Gentium As also by our own Countryman Dr. Sharrock Who have all undertaken to prove their certainty from their general belief and reception by the wisest and most civilized Nations in all Ages To which we may also add the learned Mr. Selden in that most elaborate Work De Jure Gentium juxta placita Hebraeorum And as I do acknowledge that those Great Men have all deserved very well in their way so I think none deserves greater commendation than that excellent Work of Grotius the Elder which as it was the first in its kind so it is worthy of enduring as long as Vertue and Iustice shall be in esteem among Mankind And tho' the Objections which are wont to be brought against this Method of proving the Laws of Nature are not of so great moment as to render it altogether fallacious or useless as some would have it to be yet I freely acknowledge they can chiefly serve to convince Men of sincere and honest minds and who are naturally disposed to Vertue and right Reason So that I conceive it were more useful as well as certain to seek for a firmer and clearer Demonstration thereof from a strict search and inquisition into the Nature of things and also of our own selves by which I doubt not but we may attain not only to a true Knowledge of the Laws of Nature but also of that true Principle on which they are founded and from whence they are all derived But it will not consist with the narrow bounds of a Preface to propose and answer all the Objections that may be made against their Method of proving the Law of Nature from the Consent of Nations neither perhaps can it be done at all to the universal satisfaction even of indifferent persons since it may be still urged by those that do not admit them that altho' some Dictates of Right Reason may be indeed approved of by our Vnderstandings and
ourselves when we are persuaded to do our Duty by a Consideration of Benefits already received as when we do it for the same things to be received hereafter yea he seems to act more generously who is moved to act for a good only in expectation than he who doth as much for the like good things which he already enjoys But this Method which we have here taken to reduce all the Laws of Nature to this single Proposition of endeavouring the common Good seems the more convenient because its proof is more easie and expedite than that of so many Rules which are wont to be proposed by Philosophers and the Memory will be less burdened by the daily Remembrance of this one Proposition than of many especially when we are directed to it from the Nature of this common Good as a Measure whereby the Iudgment of any considering Man may put Bounds to his own Actions and Passions in the doing of which all Moral Virtue consists And this Work Aristotle hath recommended to the Iudgment of every rational Man in his Definition of Vertue though he hath not indeed shewn us the Rule of making this Iudgment whereas our Proposition teacheth us that the Rule is to be taken from the Nature of the best and greatest End that is Respect being had to all the parts of the whole System of rational Beings or of that Common-wealth of which God is the Head and all the Members are his Subjects And from this Principle is also to be derived that Order or Preference among all the particular Laws of Nature according to which the former doth still retain or limit the latter which Dr. Sharrock hath prudently and solidly observed in his Book De Officiis Chap. 10. As for Example that there is a Prior Reason for abstaining from invading that which is anothers than of observing Promises and likewise there is a greater Account to be made of Faith once given than of returning Benefits c. But the true Ground of all these Rules is only to be found in our Principle because it more conduces to the common Good that a Prior Law of Nature concerning making and preserving Properties should not be violated by the Invasion of another's Right than that any one should observe a Compact or Promise when it cannot be done without such an Invasion and there is the like Reason in observing those other Laws which we have reckoned up in the following Discourse according to their due Order and Dignity so that indeed no Man ought to wonder that we have so positively asserted that no Vertue can be explained without a Respect to the State of all rational Beings or of the whole intellectual World for we see in Natural Philosophy that the Accidents of Bodies daily obvious to our Senses such as are the communication of Motion Gravitation and the Action of Light and Heat Firmness and Fluidity Rarefaction and Condensation can never be explained without a Respect to the whole System of the corporeal World and the Motion therein to be preserved Lastly from this order among the Laws of Nature whereby all the special ones are still made subordinate to this general one of the common Good and the lowest of them to the highest it may easily be shewn that God never dispenses with them unless in those Cases in which the Obligation of a lower or less Law may seem to be taken away and the nature of the Action so changed as that there may be only place left for the Observation of the higher To conclude we have here likewise shewn that the Generation of all Commonwealths is to be deduced from these two Principles tending to this great End of the common Good of Rationals viz. first from that which Commands the Constitution of a distinct Property in things and in the labours or endeavours of Persons whereby no such Property is yet instituted and where it is found to be so to preserve it inviolate as the chief and necessary Medium to this common Good 2. From that Law which Commands a peculiar Love or Benevolence of Parents towards their Children for this could never have exerted it self unless our first Parents had permitted their Children when grown up to enjoy a part of those necessaries of Life which were needful for their future Subsistance and so from many such Fathers of Families joyning together by mutual Compacts for common Defence might arise the first Governments in the World of whatsoever kind you please to suppose But in the following Discourse we have thought it best to confine our selves within the bounds of Philosophy and have wholly abstained from Theological Questions And therefore we have not said any thing concerning Good or Evil Spirits or Angels or taken in their Good or Happiness into our Hypothesis for tho' I doubt not of the Existence of such intelligent Beings yet it is certain all we can understand of them proceeds wholly from Divine Revelation or humane Tradition neither of which are true means of obtaining Philosophical or natural Knowledge As for the Second part of this Treatise in which is contained the Confutations of some of Mr. H's Principles or Arguments since the First part is entire without it and that the truth is a sufficient Proof to its self I leave it to the discretion of the Reader whether he will trouble himself to peruse it or not since all Men's tempers do not alike suit with the study of Controversies but it was necessary not only to lay a Foundation of better moral Principles but also to shew the Falshood and Vanity of those he hath laid down since otherwise it might have been thought by some that they were altogether unanswerable Yet I hope we have performed that unpleasant Task without reflecting upon the Memory of the dead and disturbing the Ashes of a Person who whilst he lived was as must be acknowledged even by his Enemies considerably famous both for Wit and Learning I have little more to add but that I doubt not but our learned Author whose work I have now abridged hath hit upon that true method of proving the Law of Nature which the Lord Bacon in his Advancement of Learning tells the Reader that he desired to see well performed and that his Design was to make enquiry into the true Fountains of Iustice and publick Vtility and so in every part of the Law to represent a kind of real Character or Idea of that which is truly just by which general Mark he that will bend his study that way and examine the Grounds or endeavour the Amendment of the Laws of particular Kingdoms or States may be truly guided in this noble Vndertaking And he there proceeds to give some general Aphorisms which he calls the Idea's of Vniversal Iustice and his Fifth Aphorism is very home to our purpose for he there tells us that the main End to which all Laws should tend and whereunto they should direct their Decrees and Sanctions is only the common Good
right understanding of Moral Philosophy nay Christianity itself But for a Conclusion to the Preface I have also made some Additions wherein I have shewn your Principle of Endeavouring the Common Good is not a new Invention but that which several Great Men had before delivered as the only firm Rule by which to try not only all our Moral Actions but all Civil Laws whether they are right and just that is agreeable to right Reason or not And I have also concluded it with a set of Principles very necessary to be understood for the proving the Truth of all Natural Religion and the Law of Nature tho' the two last alone are the Subject of your Lordship's Book as well as of my Abridgment of it But to speak more particularly of the Discourse itself since I here design no more than an Epitome I hope your Lordship will not take it ill if I have omitted most of your rare Instances and Parallels drawn from the Mathematicks many of which are above the capacity of common Readers tho' therein your Lordship hath shewn your self a Great Master and have confined my self only to such plain and easie Proofs and natural Observations as Men of all capacities may understand So also if in the Chapter of Humane Nature I have left out divers curious Anatomical Observations wherein the Structure of Mens Bodies differs from that of Beasts if I thought they were at all questionable or doubtful or such as did not directly tend to the proving that Mens Bodies are fitted and ordained by God for the Prosecution of the Common Good of others of their own Kind above all other Creatures I have also made bold to contract the Chapters in your Work into a lesser number having disposed the substance of them into other places or else quite omitted some as not so necessary to our purpose As for example I have placed most of the Matter of the third Chapter De bono naturali partly in the explanation of the word Good in our Description of the Law of Nature in the third Chapter reserving what remained of it to the second part for the Confutation of that Principle of Mr. H. That no Action is Good or Evil in the State of Nature So likewise for the fourth Chapter De Dictaminibus Practicis I have set down the Substance of it omitting the Mathematical Illustrations in our second Chapter of Humane Nature So also the sixth Chapter entituled De iis quae in Lege Naturali continentur And the seventh and eighth De Origine Dominii Virtutum Moralium I have partly disposed the substance of them into the first Chapter of the Nature of Things but chiefly into your fourth Chapter reducing all the Laws of Nature and Moral Vertues therein contained into this one Principle of Endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings But as for your last Chapter viz. that part of it which contains the Consectaria or Consequences deducible from the foregoing Chapters in relation to the Law of Moses and all Civil Laws I have made bold to omit since it is plain enough that all the Precepts of the Decalogue do tend either in the first Table to the Honour and Glory of God in his commanding himself to be the sole Object of our Worship and that without any Images of himself or else in the second Table to our Duties towards others wherein the highest Vertue and Innocence are prescribed And so likewise that all the Laws of the Supreme Civil Powers have no Authority but as they pursue this Great Rule or Law of Nature of procuring the Common Good of Rational Beings that is the Honour and Worship of God and the Peace and Happiness of their Subjects and of Mankind in general And whereas your Lordship hath here also solidly and briefly confuted many Gross Errors in Mr. H.'s Morals as well as Politicks some of those Confutations I have made use of in the second Part viz. those that relate to that Author 's Moral Principles which if they are false his Politick ones will fall of themselves To conclude I must beg your Lordships Pardon if I have made bold to alter your Method as to your Confutation of Mr. H.'s Principles For whereas you have thought fit to do it in the Body of your Work and as they occurred under the several Heads you treat of since I perceiv'd the placing your Answers after that manner did disturb the Connexion and Perspicuity of the Discourse I thought it better to cast those Answers into a distinct part digested under so many Heads or Propositions in the order in which they stand in Mr. H.'s Books de Cive and Leviathan where the Reader if he pleases may compare what I have quoted out of him And I hope your Lordship will not take it amiss in me if to render the Work more pleasant and grateful to common Readers and that it may not look like a bare Translation I have added several Notions and Observations some of my own knowledge and others out of History and the Relations of Modern Travellers concerning the Customs of those Nations commonly counted Barbarous who yet by their amicable living together without either Civil Magistrates or written Laws serve sufficiently to confute Mr. H.'s extravagant Opinion That all Men by Nature are in a State of War I have likewise presumed to add those Aphorisms of Good and Evil contained in Bishop Wilkins's Treatise of Natural Religion and Dr. Moor's Enchiridion Ethicum that the Reader may see them all at once tho' I confess they are most of them to be found tho' dispersedly in your Lordship's Work I have also inserted some things in answer to the Objections at the end of the first Part out of that noble contemplative Philosopher Mr. Lock 's Essay of Humane Vnderstanding since he proceeds upon the same Principles with your Lordship and hath divers very new and useful Notions concerning the Manner of Attaining the Knowledge of all Truths as well Natural as Divine and the Certainty we have of them But I fear I have trespass'd too much upon your Lordship's Patience by so long an Epistle and therefore shall conclude with my Prayers for your Lordship's Happiness and Health since I am confident you cannot but prove more useful for the common good of our Church and State in this high and publick Station to which Their Majesties have thought fit to call you than you could have been in a more private Condition And I hope your Lordship will look upon this Dedication as a small Tribute of Gratitude which all the World must owe you for your Learned and not Common Undertakings of which Obligation none ought to be or indeed is more sensible than My LORD Your Lordship 's most faithful and humble Servant JAMES TYRRELL THE PREFACE TO THE READER By way of INTRODUCTION I Suppose you are not ignorant that the Study of Moral Philosophy or the Laws of Nature was preferred by Plato Aristotle Socrates and Tully the wisest
are commonly received and practised by most Nations for their general usefulness and conveniency Yet it must be acknowledged that there is still required the Knowledge of God as a Legislator by whose Authority alone they can obtain the force of Laws The Proof of which tho' the most material part of the Question hath been hitherto omitted or but slightly touch'd by former Writers on this Subject But besides the Objections of some of the Ancients Mr. Selden and Mr. Hobbs have also argued against this Method tho' upon divers Principles and from different Designs the latter intending that no body should receive these Dictates of Reason as obligatory to outward Actions before a Supreme Civil Power be instituted who shall ordain them to be observed as Laws And tho' he sometimes vouchsafes them that Title yet in his De Cive cap. 14. he tells us That in the state of Nature they are but improperly called so and that tho' the Laws of Nature may be found largely described in the Writings of Philosophers yet are they not for this cause to be called Laws any more than the Writings or Opinions of Lawyers are Laws till confirmed and made so by the Supreme Powers But on the other side Mr. Selden more fairly finds fault with the want of Authority in these Dictates of Reason considered only as such that he may from hence shew us a necessity of recurring to the Legislative Power of God and that he may thereby make out that those Dictates of Reason do only acquire the force of Laws because all our knowledge of them is to be derived from God alone who when he makes these Rules known to us does then and not before promulgate them to us as Laws And so far I think he is in the right and hath well enough corrected our common Moralists who are wont to consider these Dictates of Reason as Laws without any sufficient proof that they have all the Conditions required to make them so viz. That they are established and declared to us by God as a Legislator who hath annexed to them sufficient Rewards and Punishments But I think it is evident that if these Rational Dictates can by any means be proved to proceed from the Will of God the Author of Nature as Rules for all our Moral Actions they will not need any Humane Authority much less the Consent or Tradition of any one or many Nations to make them known to be so Therefore tho' I grant this learned Author hath taken a great deal of pains to prove from divers general Traditions of the Iewish Rabbins that God gave certain Commands to Adam and after to Noah contained in these seven Precepts called by his Name and that those various Quotations this learned Author hath there produced do clearly prove that the Iews believe that all Nations whatever altho' they do not receive the Laws of Moses yet are obliged to observe the same Moral Laws which they conceive to be all contained under the Precepts above mentioned and tho' this Work is indeed most learnedly and judiciously performed and may prove of great use in Christian Theology yet I must confess it still seems to me that he hath not sufficiently answered his own Objection concerning Mens Ignorance or want of Discovery of the Law-giver for altho' it should be granted that those Traditions they call the Precepts of Noah should be never so generally or firmly believed by the whole Iewish Nation yet are they not therefore made known to the rest of Mankind and one of them viz. That of not eating any Part or Member of a living Creature is justly derided and received with scorn by all other Nations So that it seems evident to me that the unwritten Traditions of the learned Men of any one Nation cannot be looked upon as a sufficient promulgation made by God as a Law-giver of those Laws or Precepts therein contained and that all Nations who perhaps have never heard of Adam or Noah should be condemned for not living according to them especially when we consider that it is but in these latter Ages of the World that the Iewish Rabbins began to commit these Traditions to Writing and that it is most probable the ancient Iews knew nothing of them since neither Josephus nor Philo Judaeus take any notice of these Precepts in their Writings Therefore that the Divine Authority of those Dictates of Right Reason or Rules of Life called the Laws of Nature may more evidently be demonstrated to all considering Men it seemed to me the best and fittest Method to inquire first into their Natural Causes as well internal as external remote as near since by this Series of Causes and Effects we may at last be more easily brought to the knowledge of the Will of God their first Cause from whose intrinsick Perfections and extrinsick Sanctions by fit Rewards and due Punishments we have endeavoured to shew that as well their Authority as Promulgation is derived I know indeed that the greatest part of former Writers have been content to suppose that these Dictates of Reason and all Acts conformable thereunto are taught us by Nature or at most do only affirm in general that they proceed from God without shewing us which way or the manner how Therefore it seemed highly necessary to us that we ought to inquire more exactly how the force of Objects from without and of our own Notions or Idea's from within us do both concur towards the imprinting and fixing these Principles in our Minds as Laws derived from the Will of God himself which Work if it be well performed we hope may prove of great use not only to our own Nation but to all Mankind because from hence it may appear both by what means Men's Vnderstandings may attain to a true and natural Knowledge of the Divine Will or Laws of God So that if they practise them not they may be left without excuse And this Principle will likewise serve for a general Rule by which the Municipal Laws of every Common-wealth may be tryed whether they are Iust and Right or not that is agreeable with the Laws of Nature and so may be corrected and amended by the supreme Powers when-ever they have deviated from this great End of the common Good And from hence may also be demonstrated that there is somewhat in the Nature of God as also in our own and all other Men's Natures which administers present Comfort and Satisfaction to our Minds from good Actions as also firm Hopes or Presages of a future Happiness as a Reward for them when this Life is ended whereas on the other side the greatest Misery and most dismal Fears do proceed from wicked or evil Actions from whence the Conscience seems furnished as it were with Whips and Scorpions to correct and punish all Vice and Improbity So that it may from hence appear that Men are not deluded in their moral Notions either by Clergy-men or Politicians I grant the Platonists undertake to dispatch
all these Difficulties a much easier way only by supposing certain innate Idea's of moral Good and Evil imprest by God upon the Souls of Men. But I must indeed confess my self not yet so happy as to be able thus easily to attain to so great a Perfection as the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature by this natural Instinct or Impression And it doth not seem to me either safe or convenient to lay the whole Stress of Natural Religion and Morality upon an Hypothesis which hath been exploded by all Philosophers except themselves and which can never alone serve to convince those of Epicurean Principles for whom we chiefly design this Work But whosoever will take the Pains to peruse what hath been written against these innate Idea's by the inquisitive and sagacious Author of the late Essay of humane Understanding will find them very hard if not impossible to be proved to have ever been innate in the Souls of Men before they came into the World Therefore as I shall not take upon me absolutely to deny the Being or Impossibility of such Idea's so I shall not make use of any Arguments drawn from thence in this Discourse Though I heartily wish that any Reasons or Motives which may serve to promote true Vertue and Piety may prevail as far as they deserve with all sincere and honest Men. And the same Reasons which deterred me from supposing any natural Laws innate in our Minds have also made me not presently suppose as many do without any due proof That such Idea's have existed in the Divine Intellect from all Eternity And therefore I looked upon it as more proper and necessary to begin from those things which are most known and familiar to us by our Senses and from thence to prove that certain Propositions of immutable Truth prescribing our Care of the Happiness or common Good of all rational Agents considered together are necessarily imprinted upon our Minds from the Nature of things and which the first Cause perpetually determines so to act upon them And that in the Terms of these Propositions are intrinsecally included an evident Declaration of their Truth and certainty as proceeding from God the first Cause in the very intrinsick Constitution of things From whence it will be also manifest that such practical Propositions are truly and properly Laws as being declared and established by due Rewards and Punishments annexed to them by him as the supreme Legislator But after it shall appear that the Knowledge of these Laws and a Practice conformable to them are the highest Perfection or most happy State of our Rational Natures It will likewise follow that a Perfection Analogous to this Knowledge and a Practice conformable to these Laws must necessarily be in the first Cause from whence proceeds not only our own Natural Perfections but also the most wise Ordination of all Effects without us for the common Conservation and Perfection of the whole Natural System or Vniverse which our Eyes daily behold For that is look'd upon by me among the things most certainly prov'd That it must be first known what Iustice is and what those Laws enjoyn in whose Observation all Iustice consists before we can distinctly know that Iustice is to be attributed to God and that his Iustice is to be considered by us as a Pattern or Example for us to imitate Since we do not know God by an immediate Intuition of his Essence or Perfections but only from the outward Effects of his Providence first known by our Senses and Experience Neither is it safe to affix Attributes to him which we cannot sufficiently understand or make out from things without us Having now shewn you in general the difference between our Method and that which others have hitherto followed it is fit we here declare in as few words as we can the chief Heads of those things which we have delivered in this Treatise Supposing therefore those natural Principles concerning the Laws of Motion and Rest sufficiently demonstrated by Naturalists especially such as depend upon Mathematical Principles since we have only here undertaken to demonstrate the true Grounds of Moral Philosophy and to deduce them from some supposed Knowledge of Nature and as they refer to our Moral Practice I have here therefore supposed all the Effects of corporeal Motions which are natural and necessary and performed without any Intervention of humane Liberty to be derived from the Will of the first Cause And 2dly which Mr. H. himself likewise in his Leviathan admits that from the Consideration and Inquisition into these Causes and from the Powers and Operations of natural Bodies may be discovered the Existence of one Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Being which we call God So that every Motion impress'd upon the Organs of our Senses whereby the Mind is carried on to apprehend things without us and to give a right Iudgment upon them is a natural Effect which by the Mediation of other inferiour Causes owes its Original to the first Cause From whence it follows that God by these natural Motions of Causes and Effects delineates the Idea's or Images of all natural and moral Actions on our Minds And that the same God after he hath thus made us draw various Notions from the same Objects does then excite us to compare them with each other and then joyn them together and so determines us to form true Propositions of the things thus singly received and understood So that sometimes a thing is exposed whole and all at once to our View and sometimes it is more naturally considered successively or according to its several parts And the Mind thereby perceives that the Notion of awhole signifies the same with that of all the several Idea's of the particular parts put together and so is thence carried on to make a Proposition of the Identity of the whole with all its parts And can truly affirm that the same Causes which preserve the whole must also conserve all its constituent parts and then from a diligent Contemplation of all these Propositions which may justly challenge the Title of the more general Laws of Nature we may observe that they are all reduceable to one Proposition from whose fit and just Explication all the Limits or Exceptions under which the particular Propositions are proposed may be sought for and discovered as from the Evidence of that one Proposition which may be reduced into this or the like Sence viz. The endeavour as far as we are able of the common good of the whole System of Rational Beings conduces as far as lies in our Power to the good of all its several Parts or Members in which our own Felicity is also contained as part thereof Whereas the Acts opposite to this Endeavour do bring along with them Effects quite opposite thereunto and will certainly procure our own Ruine or Misery at last Therefore the whole Summ of this Proposition may be reduced to these three Things 1. That which concerns the Matter of it
not but you will find in the Body of this Discourse that it hath all things necessary to render it so viz. God considered as a Legislator and his Will or Commands sufficiently declared to us as a Law from the very constitution of our Natures as also of other things without us and likewise established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this life and the next neither do we suppose it can be more evidently proved that God is the Author of all things than that he is also the Author of this Proposition concerning the common good of rational Beings or concerning his own Honour and Worship conjoyned with the common Good of mankind And tho' I confess we have been more exact and have dwelt longer upon the Rewards that we may expect from the observation of this Law than upon the Punishments which are appointed for the breach of it and tho' I know the Civilians have rather placed the Sanction of Civil Laws in Punishments than Rewards yet I hope we have not offended tho' we a little deviate from their Sense and make it part of the Sanction of this Law that it is established by Rewards as well as Punishments since it seems more agreeable to the Nature of things whose foot-steps are strictly to be followed to consider the positive Idea's of Causes and Effects in our minds and which do not receive either Negations or Privations by our outward Senses and our Affections ought rather to be moved by the Love or Hopes of a present or future Good than by the Fear or hatred of the contrary Evil For as no man is said to Love Life Health and those grateful motions of the Nerves or Spirits which are called corporeal Pleasures because he may avoid Death Sickness or Pain but rather from their own intrinsick Goodness or Agreeableness with our humane Natures so likewise no rational Man desires the Perfections of the mind to wit the more ample and distinct knowledge of the most noble Objects the most happy State of rational Beings can only give him and all this not only that he may avoid the mischiefs of Ignorance Envy and Malevolence but because of that great Happiness which he finds by experience to spring from such vertuous Actions and Habits and which render it most ungrateful to us to be deprived of them and so the Causes also of such Privations are judg'd highly grievous and troublesome From whence it also appears that even Civil Laws themselves when they are established by Punishments e. g. by the fear of Death or loss of Goods if we consider the thing truly do indeed force men to yield obedience to them from the love of Life or Riches which they find can only be preserved by their observation So that the avoiding of Death and Poverty is but in other words love of Life and Riches as he who by two Negatives would say he would not want Life means no more but that he desires to enjoy it To which we may likewise add that Civil Laws themselves ought to be considered from the end which the Law-makers regard in making them as also which all good Subjects design in observing them to wit the publick Good of the Commonwealth part of which is communicated to all of them in particular and so brings with it a natural Reward of their obedience rather than from the Punishments they threaten by whose fear some only are deterred from violating them and those of the worst and most wicked sort of Men. But tho' we have shewn that the Sum of all the Precepts or Laws of Nature as also of the Sanctions annexed to them are briefly contained in this Proposition yet it s Subject is still but an endeavour to the utmost of our Power of the common Good of the whole System of rational Beings this limitation of the utmost of our Power implies that we do not think our selves capable of adding any thing to the Divine Perfections which we willingly acknowledge to be beyond our Power So that here is at once exprest both our Love towards God and Good will to mankind who are the constituent parts of this System But the Predicate of this Proposition is that which conduces to the good of all its singular Parts or Members and in which our own Happiness is contained as one part thereof Since all those good things which we can do for others are but the Effects of this endeavour so that the Sum of all those Goods of which also our own Felicity consists can never be mist of either in this Life or a better as the Reward of our obedience thereunto So to the contrary Actions Misery in this Life or in that to come are the Punishments naturally due But the Connexion of the Predicate with the Subject is both the Foundation of the truth of this Proposition and also a Demonstration of the natural Connexion between this obedience and the Rewards as also between the Transgression and the Punishments From whence the Readers will easily observe the true Reason for which this practical Proposition and all others which may be drawn from thence do oblige all rational Creatures to know and understand it whilst other Propositions suppose Geometrical ones tho' found out by right Reason and so are Truths proceeding from God himself yet do not oblige men to any Act or Practice pursuant to them but may be safely neglected by most Men to whom the Science of Geometry may not be necessary whereas the Effects of the endeavour of the common Good do intimately concern the Happiness of all mankind upon whose joynt or concurrent Wills and Endeavours every single mans Happiness doth after some sort depend so that this Endeavour can by no means be neglected without endangering the losing all those hopes of Happiness which God hath made known to us from our own Nature and the Nature of things and so hath sufficiently declared the Connexion of Rewards and Punishments with all our Moral Actions from whose Authority as well this general Proposition as all others which are contained in it must be understood to become Laws So that from the terms of this Proposition it is apparent that the adequate and immediate effect of our thus acting and concerning which this Law is established is whatever is grateful to God and beneficial to Men that is the natural Good of all the parts of the whole System of rational Beings Nay further is the greatest of all Goods which we can imagine or perform for them since it is greater than the like good of any particular part or Member of the same System And farther it is thereby sufficiently declared that the Felicity of particular Persons is derived from this happy State of the whole System as the Nutrition of any one Member of an Animal is produced by a due Distribution of the whole Mass of Blood diffused through all the parts of the Body From whence it appears that this Effect must needs be the best since it
Gratitude as well as by Interest to return those again whenever they are lawfully required of us though I grant for the Honour of the Gospel that the firmest Encouragements and greatest Reward we Men can have for exposing nay losing our Lives for the Benefit or Service of the Common-wealth is that Happiness we may justly expect in another Life after this These things seem evident to us as resembling that Method whereby we are naturally taught that the Health and Strength of our whole Body is preserved by the good Estate of its particular Members in its receiving Food and Breath Although sometimes Diseases may breed within the Body or divers outward Accidents as Wounds Bruises and the like do happen to it from without which may hinder the particular Members from receiving that Nourishment which is necessary for them And we are taught after the same Manner by the Acts immediately promoting the common good that the Happiness of particular Men which are the Members of this natural System may no less certainly be expected nor are less naturally derived from thence than the Strength of our Hands doth proceed from the due State of the whole Mass of Bloud and nervous Iuice Though we confess that many things may happen which may cause this general Care of the whole Body of Mankind not always to meet with the good Effect we desire so that particular Persons may certainly infallibly enjoy all the Felicity they can hope for or expect Yet this is no Argument against it any more than that the taking in of Air and Aliments however necessary for the whole Body should prevent all those Accidents and Distempers it is subject to since it may happen as well by the violent and unjust Actions of our fellow Subjects like the diseased Constitution of some inward part or by the Invasion of a foreign Enemy like a Blow or other outward Violence that good Men may be deprived in this Life of some Rewards of their good Deeds and may also suffer divers outward Evils Yet since these are more often repelled by the Force of Concord and Civil Government or are often shook off after some short Disturbances either by our own private Power or else by that of the Civil Sword as Diseases are thrown off by a healthfull Crisis or Effort of Nature So that notwithstanding all these Evils Men are more often recompenced with greater Goods partly from the Assistance of others but chiefly from that of Civil Government or else of Leagues made with Neighbouring States From whence it is that Mankind hath never been yet destroyed notwithstanding all the Tyranny and Wars that Men's unreasonable Passions have exercised and raised in the World and that Civil Governments or Empires have been more lasting than the most long lived Animals From all which it is apparent that the deprived Appetites of divers Men or those Passions which do often produce Motions so opposite to the common Good ought no more to hinder us from acknowledging the Natural Propensions of all the rest of Mankind considered together to be more powerfully carried towards that which we every Day see may be procured thereby viz. The Conservation and farther Perfection of the whole Body of Mankind than that divers Diseases breeding in the parts of Animals or any outward Violence should hinder us from acknowledging that the Frame of their Bodies and the Natural Function of their parts are fitted and intended by God for the Conservation of Life and the Propagation of their Species But that we may carry on this Similitude between a living Body and its particular Members with the whole Body of Mankind and all the Individuals contained under it a little farther I will here give you Monsieur Pascal's Excellent Notion concerning this common Good as it is published in those Fragments Entituled Les Pensees de Monsieur Pascal since it both explains and confirms our Method He there supposes That God having made the Heavens and the Earth and divers other Creatures not at all sensible of their common Happiness would also make some rational Beings which might know him and might make up one Body consisting of rational Members and that all Men are Members of this Body so that it is necessary to their happiness that all particular Men as Members of this Body conform their particular Wills to the Vniversal Will of God that governs the whole Body as the Head or Soul thereof And though it often happens that one Man falsly supposes himself an independent Being and so will make himself the only Centre of all his Actions yet he will at last find himself whilst in this State separated from the Body of rational Beings and who not having any true Principle of Life or Motion doth nothing but wander about distracted in the uncertainty of his own Being but if ever he comes to a true knowledge of himself he will find that he is not that whole Body but only a small Member of it and hath no proper Life and Motion but as he is a part thereof So that to regulate our Self-love every Man ought to imagine himself but one small part of this Body of Mankind composed of so many intelligent Members and to know what Proportion of Love every Man oweth himself let him consider what Degree of Love the Body bears to any one small single part and so much Love that part if it had sense ought to bestow upon it self and no more All Self-love that exceeds this is unjust So far this sagacious contemplative Gentleman thought long since though I confess he doth not proceed to shew in what manner the Good of every individual Person depends upon the Happiness of the whole Body of Mankind as our Author hath here done though no doubt he was excellently well fitted to do it if he had lived to reduce those excellent Thoughts into a set Discourse We have delivered in this Epitome the Summ of that Method by which we have enquired into the Sanction of the Laws of Nature in which we have considered all the Felicity naturally flowing from good Actions as a Reward annexed to them by God the Author of Nature and their Loss or contrary Evils that follow them as a Punishment naturally flowing from their Transgression And indeed our Method seems very much confirmed from the common Consent of Mankind since all Men of however different Opinions concerning moral Principles do yet agree in this that good Actions ought still to be encouraged by Rewards and evil ones to be restrained by Punishments in this all Sects of Philosophers however quarrelling among themselves do agree As also the Founders of all Religions and the Makers of all Civil Laws have made this their main Foundation Nay those who would seem most to neglect all Rewards and would deduce all Vertues from Gratitude alone yet find it necessary to acknowledge this Gratitude to proceed from the Memory of Benefits receiv'd But sure it still argues as much Love towards
or Felicity of the People And sure this could have no Foundation but as the Felicity of any particular People or Nation is contained in general or the common Good and Happiness of rational Beings And tho' I grant that our Faculties are not fitted to pierce into the internal Fabrick and real Essences of Bodies as the above-mentioned Author of the Essay of humane Understanding hath very well observed Yet in the same place he also grants That the Knowledge we have of them is sufficient to discover to us the Being of a God and of a Divine Providence and that the Knowledge of our selves and the Nature of other things are sufficient to lead us into a full and clear Discovery of our Duty towards him as being the great Concernment of our Lives and that it becomes us as rational Creatures to employ our Faculties about what they are most adapted to and follow the direction of Nature where it seems to point us out the way So that it is highly reasonable to conclude that our proper Employment lies in moral rather than natural Truths And therefore the same Author hath in his Fourth Book and Third Chapter pag. 274. this Passage The Idea of a supream Being infinite in Power and Wisdom whose Workmanship we are and on whom we depend and the Idea of our selves as understanding rational Creatures being such as are clear to us these would I suppose if duly considered and pursued afford such Foundations of our Duty and rules of Action as might place Morality amongst the Sciences capable of Demonstration wherein I doubt not but from Principles as incontestable as those of the Mathematicks by necessary Consequences the measures of Right and Wrong might be made out to any one that will apply himself with the same indifferency and attention to the one as he doth to the other of these Sciences And in the Twelfth Chapter of the same Book he saith p. 325. This gave me the Confidence to advance that Conjecture which I suggested Chap. 3. viz. That Morality is capable of Demonstration as well as Mathematicks For the Idea's that Ethicks are conversant about being all real Essences and such as I imagine have a discoverable Connexion and Agreement one with another So far as we can find their Habitudes and Relations so far we shall be possessed of certain real and general Truths And I doubt not but if a right method were taken a great part of Morality might be made out with that clearness that could leave to a considering Man no more reason to doubt than he could have to doubt of the Truth of any Propositions in Mathematicks which have been demonstrated to him And I am confident our Author hath found out this only right method and made use of the fittest Demonstrations for the Proof of this Principle of the common Good of rational Beings as the Sum of all natural Laws so that I hope you will have no cause to doubt but that he hath as fully demonstrated it to be so as if he had given us so many Mathematical Demonstrations of it But since as in the Mathematicks there are required certain Principles or Postulatums which must be taken for granted before its professors are able to demonstrate any thing from them so we shall reduce all we have to say on this Subject into Six plain Postulata the Three first of which having been already made out by others both in Latin and English I shall wave the Proof of them and shall confine my self wholly to the Three last The Propositions are these 1. That there is one Infinite most powerful intelligent Being which we call God who is the Author and Creator of the Vniverse or World 2. That God as he hath created so he likewise governs and preserves this World consisting of Bodies and Spirits by certain corporeal Motions and Dictates of Reason by which Spirits act as the chief Instruments of his Providence 3. That God thereby maintains and preserves all his Creatures and farther designs the Happiness and Preservation of such of them as are sensible as far as their frail and mortal Natures will admit and that Power which God hath given to mankind over them 4. That of all Animate or sensible Creatures God hath made Man alone to be conscious of his own Existence and also that it is more particularly his Duty to act as his subservient Instrument not only for his own private Good and Happiness but also for the common Good of all rational Beings 5. That this knowledge of God's Will as our Duty is plainly discovered to us from the Being and Nature of God as also of our selves and of those things without us which he hath made necessary for our use and Preservation 6. That these Dictates or Conclusions of right reason all tending to one great End viz. the common Good of rational Beings in which our own is contained being given us by God as a Legislator for the well governing or right ordering of our Actions to this End constitute the Law of Nature as being established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this Life and in that to come TO THE BOOKSELLER THE Learned Authour of this Treatise sent it to me then being in a Private Station above a year ago but then concealed his Name from me either through his great Modesty or because in his Prudence he thought that if I knew him I might be biassed in my judgment by the Honour which I am obliged to have to his Family and especially to his Grandfather by his Mother's side the most Learned Primate of Ireland Wherefore I read the Book without any respect to the unknown Writer and considered only the Merits of the Performance Thus I found that he had not only well translated and epitomized in some places what I had written in Latin but had fully digested the chief things of my Design in a well chosen Method of his own with great Perspicuity and had added some Illustrations of his own or from other Learned Authours with a Philosophical Liberty which I must needs allow For this Reason I judged that the then unknown Authour had give too low a Title to his Book and that I was to esteem him a good Hyperaspistes or able Second in this Combat for Truth and Justice rather than a Translater or Epitomizer of what I had written This obliged me to enquire diligently after the Authour's Name and Quality and then I soon obtained the Favour and Honour of a more intimate Conversation with him Hereby I soon found that I might safely leave the Maintenance of that good Cause in which I was engaged to his great Abilities and Diligence And I hope that since this Learned Gentleman hath conquer'd the Difficulties of the Search into the Rise of the Laws of Nature now many of our younger Gentry will be encouraged to follow him in the way which this his Treatise makes plain before them For from thence they may receive assistance not
their natures § 11. All Creatures express a delight in the society of others of the same kind some cases or intervals wherein Nature seems to act otherwise no contradiction to this general Rule § 12. All Animals impelled by the natural Constitution of their parts to a Love of those of a different Sex and to a natural Affection to their Offspring § 13. All Animals take delight in the sweeter Passions of Love Ioy Desire c. as helpfull to their natural Constitution whereas the contrary Passions when inordinate are highly destructive to it § 14. Mr. H. cannot deny these natural Propensions and therefore is forced to suppose somewhat in Man's nature that renders him more unsociable than Brutes § 15. Other peculiar Observations relating to Man whereby he is made more capable of promoting the common good as first from the greater quantity of Brains in Men than in Brutes § 16. 2. From the natural Constitution of their Bloud and Spermatick Vessels from whence arises a Necessity of Marriage and of a more constant and lasting Love to their Offspring § 17. 3. From the wonderfull structure of Men's hands it is proved that this Instrument was given us for some more noble use than bare self-preservation § 18. Lastly From the upright posture of Men's bodies and way of motion § 19. The next Set of Observations tending to prove Men more fitted for the promoting of this common good is taken from the natural and peculiar faculties of Men's Souls above those of Brutes And 1. from that of deducing effects from their Causes and vice versa especially in that of distinguishing of real or natural from apparent Goods § 20. What is understood by us by a natural or moral Good or Evil. Certain Axioms for the plainer understanding their Nature and Degrees § 21. How we arrive to an Idea of a species or kind of Creatures and also to a notion of the general or common good of Mankind § 22. Speech and the Invention of Letters peculiar faculties of Man's nature § 23. And the great Benefits arising from thence in order to the common good § 24. Men do infinitely exceed Beasts in their discursive Faculties as also in the knowledge and use of Numbers § 25. As also in the Power of Vnderstanding the different Quantities and Proportions between Bodies which we call Geometry § 26. The two great remaining Prerogatives of humane Souls Freedom of Will as to moral Actions and the Knowledge of a God § 27 28. What knowledge we can have of his Attributes which can never be truly understood but with respect to their great End the Prosecution of the common good of the Vniverse § 29. The Contents of the Third Chapter A Brief recapitulation of the former Chapters and a summing up all those Observations into a general Proposition of God's Willing and Commanding the Common Good of rational Beings as the main End of all our Actions § 1. A brief Explanation of the Terms of our Description of the Law of Nature and that words are not always essential to Laws § 2. That all moral Truths or Duties as declared by God are contained in this one Proposition of Endeavouring the common good certain Principles laid down for the proving it § 3 4 5 6. That this being once discovered to us we lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this Proposition as a natural Law with the Explanation of the Term Obligation and who hath Authority to oblige us § 7 8 9. Yet that this Obligation may well consist with the freedom of our wills the difference between a mere animal and a rational or natural Good the neglect of which distinction is the Cause of Epicurus and Mr. H's Errors § 10. The last part of the Obligation to this Law viz. its Sanction by Rewards and Punishments certain Axioms necessary to be known in order to the right understanding the true nature of a moral Good or Evil and of Man's true happiness and perfection with its difference from that of other Beings § 11. That though all moral Obligation does not consist in Rewards or Punishments Yet that by reason of the weakness of humane Nature it is insignificant without them with a Scale of Nature shewing the difference between Vegetables and inanimate Bodies and between Men and Brutes § 12. The strictest Sanction and consequently Obligation to all Laws consists in Rewards and Punishments duly distributed God's right of Dominion not to be resolved into his irresistible Power § 13. The internal Rewards ordained by God in Nature are first the inward satisfaction of the Soul and also the pleasure all men take in the exercise of the sweeter passions of Love c. § 14 15. The external Rewards are all the like returns of this Benevolence from others with the praise or commendation of all good men together with the peace and protection of the civil Government § 16 17. Lastly from God Soundness of mind and body with all those outward blessings he usually bestows on the peaceable and vertuous with a Solution to the difficulty why God often afflicts Good men § 18. The internal Punishments ordained by God for the transgression of this Law are the absence or privation of the former good things which is an Evil and a Punishment § 19. Errour and being governed by the Passions a real Evil and an internal Punishment § 20. 3. That such evil Actions cannot but be often displeasing to the Person that doth them § 21. 4. That Vices and Crimes seldom come alone but let in a train of others of the same kind or worse along with them § 22. 5. That such an Offender cannot get out of this state when he will at least not without the trouble of Repentance § 23. 6. The fear of Punishment both from God and Man § 24. The external Punishments are 1. The Evils thot happen to the body from violent and unsociable Passions § 25. The 2d Those returns of hatred or contempt which all such men must expect from others § 26. The 3d. Returns of revenge from those they have injured § 27. Lastly Those Punishments which are often inflicted by the civil Powers all which natural Punishments Mr. H. himself acknowledges to be ordained by God § 28. That where these Punishments fail in this Life they will be supplied by others infinitely more grievous and durable in that to come § 29. A brief recapitulation of this Chapter that this Proposition of our Endeavouring the common good c. is truly a Law as containing all the Conditions requisite thereunto § 30. The Contents of the Fourth Chapter A Brief repetition of what hath been said in the first Chapter That no man can have a right to preserve his own Life but as it conduces to the common good c. That in all Societies the good of the lesser part must give place and be subordinate to that of the greater § 1. That a due consideration of this Law will lead us to a
knowledge of the reason and grounds of all the particular Laws of nature § 2. And also that all moral Vertues are contained under this one Law of endeavouring the common good That Prudence is nothing but the knowledge of our duty in order to the graet End the Common Good as Constancy in the prosecution of it is therefore true fortitude § 3. That Temperance or Moderation in all corporeal Pleasures is no otherwise a Vertue than as it conduces to the happiness and preservation of Mankind That under Love and Benevolence are contained the Vertues of Innocence Meekness c. § 4 5. Equity a Vertue as it promotes the common good of mankind § 6. The same proved likewise of Iustice since nothing can be called ours either by natural or civil Laws but as it conduces to this great End and a natural and civil Property necessary thereunto the one in a natural state the other in a civil society § 7. From Property arises the necessity of Contracts Promises Gifts c. all which are still to be governed by this great Law § 8. From this natural Property arises the Vertue of Moderation setting bounds to inordinate self-love in order to the common good Frugality no otherwise a Vertue than as it renders us not burthensome not injurious to others § 9. The natural Love of Parents to their Children to be exercised and limitted with respect to the common good § 10. All the rest of the moral Vertues such as Temperance Frugality c. more particularly explained to proceed from the same original and not to be understood without it § 11. The same more particularly applyed and made out in every particular Vertue which constitutes Iustice § 12. All the homolitical Vertues i. e. such as respect conversation or the due use of speech explained after the same manner with a like respect to the common good § 13 14 15. Self-love and Self-preservation only lawfull in order to this End § 16. Some farther Explanations of the nature of Temperance and wherein it consists § 17. That part of it called Chastity a Vertue only as it tends to the good and propagation of mankind § 18. Another part of it viz. Modesty in seeking of riches honour c. Vertues only as they limit our self-love from pretending to more than we have need of or deserve in order to the common good § 19. That a regard to this great Rule runs through all the moral Vertues which are all of them contained under the most diffusive Benevolence towards rational Beings § 20. Right Reason explained to be only a due consideration of this End in all moral actions towards God or Men and that the knowledge of these moral rules is as certain as that of the knowledge of any other natural causes and effects concerning the preservation of Animals § 21. And that from their true understanding proceeds all the certainty we can have of natural Laws notwithstanding there may be a sufficient latitude left us for indifferent actions § 22. The Common Good as it is a collection of all other goods so it is a true standard or measure of them as shewing what goods are to be sought for or desired before others § 23. It is only to be learnt from hence what degrees of passions or affections are lawfull that is consistent with the Common Good and consequently thereby to judge of the several degrees and proportions of goodness and happiness § 24. Piety towards God a Vertue as it conduces to the common good and happiness of rational Beings § 25. Nothing a Good but as it contributes to this great End § 26. The reason of this disquisition into the true grounds of Good and Evil as being that which makes all moral Philosophy a practical Science and not merely speculative like that of the Stoicks § 27. A brief Conclusion out of Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Laws of Nature § 28. The Contents of the Fifth Chapter THE Objections of two sorts of Men Platonists and Epicureans against this Notion of the Common Good the Objections of the former to be first considered their first Objection That it is more suitable to God's goodness to imprint certain Innate Idea's of good and evil on our minds § 1. Answer thereunto out of Mr. Lock 's Essay c. § 2. A farther Answer from St. Paul That the visible things of the Creation are a sufficient proof of the Being of a God and of the Laws of Nature § 3. The laboriousness of our Method no material Objection § 4. An explicit Idea of this Common Good not always necessary to its observation § 5. Another Objection against our Method That it makes every man's obligation to endeavour this Common Good to arise from its being chiefly good to himself Answer That this if it be considered will prove a mistake though I grant our Obligation to it as a Law cannot extend farther than as it concerns our happiness or misery § 6 7. A Reply to the Objections of the Epicureans The first Objection That it seems not suitable to God's goodness c. to permit this great End of the Common Good to depend upon the unreasonable Passions and Lusts of mankind Answ. That God intended Man for a voluntary Creature to be moved by moral Evil as well as Good and that God notwithstanding all this restrains his Actions by his infinite Power and Providence § 8 9. Second Objection If this Law of Nature is so easie to be known how comes it to pass that so many Nations seem wholly ignorant of it many living without any knowledge of a God or of a moral Good or Evil § 10. Answer This Objection is of no more weight against the Certainty of this Law than it is against that of Arithmetick and Geometry but that if they are guilty of this ignorance it proceeds either from the Loss of the Tradition of the Creation or else from want of time or opportunities to consider these things § 11. Men's not making a due use of their faculties in discovering these Truths no objection against their certainty § 12. The last Objection That this Notion of the Common Good is a mere Platonick Idea without any reality in Nature § 13. This Objection in vain if it be considered That this Notion of the Common Good is made up of particulars and that from thence arises an Idea of a common or general Good which though a complex one is as true and real as any other and as agreeable to the Nature of things farther proved from Lock 's Essay and that Mr. H. himself cannot deny the Truth of this Notion § 14. Mr. H's great Rule of doing as you would be done by signifies nothing without respect to the Common Good of Mankind § 15. So neither that of preserving a Man's self or any other innocent person unless as it conduces to the Common Good of Mankind § 16. Not only the whole Law of Nature but the revealed Law of Moses and
the Gospel of Jesus Christ reducible to this one Proposition of Endeavouring the Common Good and that this was the great design of Christ's coming into the World § 17 18. A Conclusion of the whole § 19. TO THE BOOKSELLER THE Learned Authour of this Treatise sent it to me then being in a Private Station above a year ago but then concealed his Name from me either through his great Modesty or because in his Prudence he thought that if I knew him I might be biassed in my judgment by the Honour which I am obliged to have to his Family and especially to his Grandfather by his Mother's side the most Learned Primate of Ireland Wherefore I read the Book without any respect to the unknown Writer and considered only the Merits of the Performance Thus I found that he had not only well translated and epitomized in some places what I had written in Latin but had fully digested the chief things of my Design in a well-chosen Method of his own with great Perspicuity and had added some Illustrations of his own or from other Learned Authours with a Philosophical Liberty which I must needs allow For this Reason I judged that the then unknown Authour had given too low a Title to his Book and that I was to esteem him a good Hyperaspistes or able Second in this Combat for Truth and Justice rather than a Translater or Epitomizer of what I had written This obliged me to enquire diligently after the Authour's Name and Quality and then I soon obtained the Favour and Honour of a more intimate Conversation with him Hereby I soon found that I might safely leave the Maintenance of that good Cause in which I was engaged to his great Abilities and Diligence And I hope that since this Learned Gentleman hath conquer'd the Difficulties of the Search into the Rise of the Laws of Nature now many of our younger Gentry will be encouraged to follow him in the way which this his Treatise makes plain before them For from thence they may receive assistance not only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough OF THE Law of NATURE And its OBLIGATION CHAP. I. Of the first Means of discovering the Law of Nature viz. the Nature of Things § 1. HAving in the Introduction to this Discourse shewn you those several Methods by which divers Authors have endeavoured to prove a Law of Nature and having also given my Reasons tho' in short why I cannot acquiesce in any of them as laying too weak Foundations whereon to raise so great and weighty a Building and having likewise given you the only true Grounds by which it can as I suppose be made out viz. from the Existence of a GOD declaring his Will to us from the Frame of the World or by the Nature of all Things without us as also from our own Natures or that of Mankind in general we by the Power of our natural Faculties or Reasons drawing true Conclusions from all these This being premised I shall now proceed particularly to declare in the first place what I understand by the Frame of the World or Nature of Things in order to the proving the Existence and Obligation of the Law of Nature and that it is really and truly a Law obliging all Persons of Years of Discretion and sound Minds to its Observation Which being performed I shall then proceed to our own Nature as included in that of all Mankind § 2. But though the ancient as well as modern Scepticks and Epicureans have of old and do still at this day deny the Existence of any Law of Nature properly so called yet I suppose that we are both sufficiently agreed what we understand by this Term since we both thereby mean certain Principles of immutable Truth and Certainty which direct our voluntary Actions concerning the election of good and the avoiding of evil Things and so lay an Obligation as to our external Actions even in the state of Nature and out of a Civil Society or Common-weal That such eternal Truths are necessarily and unavoidably presented to and perceived by Men's Minds and retained in their Memories for the due ordering or governing of their Actions is what is here by us affirmed and by them as confidently denied And I farther conceive That the Actions so directed and chosen are first known to be naturally good as productive of the greatest publick Benefits and afterwards are called morally Good because they agree with those Dictates of Reason which are here proved to be the Laws or Rules of our Manners or voluntary Actions So also the Evil to be avoided is first the greatest natural Evil which afterwards for the like Reason is called Moral § 3. Therefore that the Existence of such Propositions may more plainly appear and be demonstrated to the Understandings of all indifferent Readers it is necessary that we first carefully consider the Nature of divers Things without us as also that of Mankind and what we mean by Good and Evil whether Natural or Moral Lastly we shall shew what those general Propositions are which we affirm carry with them the Force or Obligation of Natural Laws as declaring their Exercise or Performance necessary to the compassing of an End that ought to be endeavoured or sought after in order to our true and greatest Happiness § 4. Nor let it seem strange that I suppose the Nature of divers Things about which we are daily conversant ought first to be looked into and considered For I will here suppose the Soul or Mind of Man to be at first rasa Tabula like fair Paper that hath no connate Character or Idea's imprinted upon it as that noble Theorist Mr. Lock hath I suppose fully proved and that it is not sensible of any thing at its coming into the World but it s own Existence and Action but receives all its Idea's afterwards from such Objects as it hath received in by the Senses So that our Understandings being naturally destitute of all Notions or Idea's we cannot comprehend how they can operate unless they be first excited by outward Objects And indeed how can we understand what may be helpful and agreeable or else hurtful and destructive to Men's Minds and Bodies unless we first consider as far as we are able all the Causes as well near as remote which have made constitute and still preserve Mankind or else may tend to its destruction either for the time present or to come Nor indeed can it be understood what is the fittest and best Thing or Action any Person can perform in a
Case proposed unless first all those Effects which may proceed from it in all its various Circumstances be duly considered and compared together So that the Contemplation both of the Causes on which Men's Safety and Happiness depends as also of the Effects which may be produced by their joint or concurring Forces and Endeavours must necessarily lead our Minds first to the Consideration of all other Men and next of our selves as a very small part of Mankind And in the next place that we proceed to contemplate this System of Things called the Visible World but more especially GOD as its Creator and Governour according to the Method laid down in the Introduction to this Discourse the Idea's of which being duly considered and digested in our Minds we may draw from thence certain Conclusions by which we may judge or determine what Humane Things and Actions are certainly and necessarily conducing to the Common Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings and in which every particular Person 's Felicity or Well-being is contained as a part thereof and in which Rational Dictates or Conclusions I shall hereafter prove this Law of Nature to consist § 5. No body I suppose will think it necessary to the matter in hand that I should here make Physical Disquisitions into the Natures of all Things that are the Objects of our Senses that being the Business of profess'd Naturalists It is sufficient for us to shew That all the Rules of Moral Philosophy and the Laws of Nature may be at last resolved into certain natural and easie Observations gathered from common Experience or else into certain Conclusions established upon the known Principles of Mathematicks and Physicks by which I do not only mean all those natural Laws of Matter and Motion in Bodies but also the Operations of our own Souls as far as we are able to know or enquire into them From all which by the Order of Natural Causes we may be led to the Knowledge of GOD their Creator and Ordainer and so may acknowledge Him as the only Cause of all these excellent Effects since this Nature of Things doth as well suggest to our Minds the Idea of a Creator as of the Things created and so supplies us with sufficient matter from which we may deduce all the Laws of Nature as so many true Practical Propositions though it is only the Knowledge of the First Cause or Creator that can stamp any Authority or Obligation upon them Now although there may be many Things collected from our Knowledge of several Beings in the World that may serve for our Moral Instruction and the cultivating of our Manners yet I shall for Brevity's sake only select some of the most material of them and such as may serve to explain our short account of the Law of Nature which notwithstanding several Authors have so much enlarged upon it I think may very well be reduced to this single Proposition viz. The most universal Love or most diffusive Benevolence of all Rational Beings towards each other constitutes the happiest State they can be capable of So that their Endeavour of the Common Good by this Benevolence is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and in which they are all contained Note That by this Love or Benevolence I do not mean only a fruitless Desire or Well-wishing but an active Affection exerting it self in all the Acts of Piety towards God Duty towards Parents Kindness and Gratitude towards our Country Friends and Relations and of Charity and Humanity towards all the rest of Mankind as often as any opportunity offers it self § 6. In the making out of which Description of the Law of Nature it is here needless to inquire into the Nature of our Souls and the manner of our Knowledge and Understanding since the former hath been so Learnedly perform'd by the Reverend Dr. Ward late Bishop of Salisbury and the latter so exactly done already in English by the above mentioned Author of the Essay of Humane Vnderstanding I shall only briefly suppose upon his Principles that our Souls do 1. From the very birth by degrees receive Idea's drawn from outward Objects by our Senses 2. That it is their faculty from divers single Notions or Idea's put together to come to make complex ones that is to make divers Propositions or Conclusions not only concerning their own inward Actings but also about all those outward Objects with which they are daily conversant and which may tend to the finding out the readiest means of attaining to and preserving themselves in the happiest State and Condition they are able to acquire These things being suppos'd it were needless to trouble you with any farther descriptions of this Love or Benevolence since every Person cannot but be sufficiently sensible of its Nature Degrees and various Operations that will but make any Self-reflection upon his own Inward Affections § 7. But as for the due Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition in which its Truth does chiefly consist it seems to me plain enough It being no more than to affirm That our endeavour of procuring all the good things in our Power and which are most conducing to our own preservation and Happiness and of all other Rational Beings is the best or chiefest thing that all Persons can do to render both themselves and all others as happy as their Natures will permit or can require and that there is no surer or more powerful means to be discovered by us whereby we may obtain a full enjoyment of all the good things of this Life and the hopes of that to come than by endeavouring our own Felicity in Conjunction with that of others So that from what I have already advanced the Reader may Collect these two Propositions 1. That the Foundation of all our Natural Happiness consists in an habitual determination of the Will to the utmost of its Ability and Perfection whereby we may be always ready and prepared to endeavour this Common good of Rationals 2. That the true Happiness of each Individual Person cannot be separated from that of other Rationals since the whole doth not differ from all its parts taken together so that this Proposition concerning this general or diffusive Benevolence is thus to be understood viz. Not to mean or only intend what any single or a few Persons may perform towards the procuring of their own private Happiness or that of their own Party or Faction distinct from that of the rest of Mankind but what all particular Persons may jointly contribute to render themselves and others happy that is what each of them may rationally perform towards the obtaining this Common Felicity For it ought first to be known in general what all Men are able to do or not to do towards any common end such as is the common happiness of Rationals and then what it is possible for any particular Person in this or that Case to perform for example towards his own private happiness as separate from
and obvious Observations from the Nature of those things without us which we daily stand in need and make use of as may serve to prove after what manner we ought to make use of them and whence that Right arises we have to them I come now to make the like Observations from the Nature of Mankind in order to the proving that we are designed by God for the Good and Preservation of others besides our selves and that in the doing of this we procure as far as lies in our Power the Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings in which our own is likewise included To perform this task I shall first take notice of those Qualities or Properties that belong to man 1 as a meer Natural Body 2 such as belong to him as an Animal 3 such as are peculiar to him as a Rational Creature endued with a higher and nobler Principle than Brutes viz. an Immortal Soul § 2. To begin with the first of these it is evident that as a Natural Body he is endued with these Properties common to all other Natural Bodies First that all his motions in which his Life Strength and Health consist do all proceed from God the first and Original or Cause of them and are necessarily complicated with and depend upon the motions of innumerable other Bodies among which the Corporeal motions of others which do often limit and restrain our own are first and chiefly to be considered 2 That from them as from other Bodies motion may be propagated Indefinitely and which does not perish but concur with other motions to perpetuate the Succession of things that is contribute to the conservation of the Universe and as the former teaches us that a particular end viz. our own Preservation depends upon our Common or joynt Forces or Natural Powers so this latter instructs us that such Powers and motions of particular Persons are often most Beneficial and conducing to the Common Good of all men The first of these Conclusions forbids us to hope for or endeavour our own private Good or Happiness as separate and distinct from that of all others and so excites us to seek the Common Good of Rationals as the Original of our own particular Happiness The other Conclusion shews that this endeavour of the Common Good can never prove in vain or to no purpose since it concurrs with the Will of God and conduces to the Preservation of the Universe and of all Humane Creatures therein contain'd and farther that in each complicated motion as well in that towards which divers Causes concurr for the Preservation of any Body for a certain time as also in that whereby each particular Body concurrs to the Conservation of the whole System There is a certain order still observed whereby some motions are necessarily determined by others in a continual Series or Succession all which are yet governed or over-ruled by the motion of the whole System of Natural Bodies And although this sort of Contemplation may seem remote from common use yet is it not to be contemned as altogether unprofitable in Humane Affairs for it makes us more distinctly perceive from some certain general Principles how necessary a constant and certain order is amongst those Causes that Act from Corporeal forces so that many of them may each in their order Successively concurr to an effect foreseen or designed by us and farther shews us a rule how we may certainly judge what Cause does more or less contribute to the Effect sought for or desired so that from the Natural Power of these Causes their Order Dignity or Power in respect to each Effect are to be determined and judged of and we are taught from the Nature of things as well what Causes are to be most esteemed for those good Effects they have or may produce as also which are most diligently to be sought for the obtaining those ends which we desire and by which means it may be also known that those Causes which Philosophers call Universal viz. God the first Cause and the motion of the Celestial Bodies as proceeding from Him are the Original Causes of the Common Good or Happiness of Mankind a part of which we either always do actually or can hope to enjoy § 3. But omitting those Motions which are not in our Power to influence or alter it is certain that among the things which are in either our Power to do or forbear those voluntary Humane motions proceeding from an Universal Benevolence of all Men towards all others are the principal Causes of their Common Happiness and in which every one's private Good is included Since from this source proceed all those Actions by which Men's Innocence and Fidelity towards each other are preserved as also by which Humanity Gratitude and almost all the other Vertues are exerted and performed after as certain a manner as the Natural motions of the Spirits Bowels Nerves and Joynts in an Animal do wholly proceed from the motion of the Heart and Circulation of the Blood which judgment or determination being taken from the Nature of things duly considered should without doubt cause us to yield Obedience to all the Laws of Nature as contributing to this Common Good of Rational Agents and may make us also diligently to take care that the same be observed by others so that there may be nothing wanting that can be done by us whereby we may not be rendered as happy as our frail Natures in this will allow since right reason can propose no higher or nobler End than this of all our moral Actions § 4. Yet whilst we compare the Aggregate Body of mankind as far as we can Act by Corporeal force with the Natural Systems of other Bodies I am not unmindful of the manifest difference there is between them viz. That all the Effects of meer Corporeal Systems are produced by the Contiguity and immediate Operation of Bodies moving upon others that are to be moved by them without any Sense Deliberation or Liberty which are only to be found in Humane Actions in whose Motions and Operations on each other though a great difference often intervenes yet for all that it is evident that the Corporeal Powers of Men when exerted are subject to the same Laws of motion with other Bodies and that divers Men may often cooperate to one certain Effect relating to the Good or Hurt of others so that there is the same necessity of a Subordination between Humane motions as there is between those of other Bodies And I must here farther take notice that Men have frequent opportunities of meeting together and also many other means by which they may hurt or help each other by Words Writing or other Actions So that if we consider the Nature of Mankind in the whole course of their Lives it ought to be considered as one entire System of Bodies consisting of several particular parts So that nothing almost can be done in Relation to any Man's Life Family or Fortune which doth
Ethicum so that I have collected these Axioms and put them together in this method as they are represented by those excellent Authors above-mentioned that you may see them all at one view though I grant there are many other natural Truths which are also useful to prove what Actions are productive of the Common Good divers of which we have given you dispersedly in these two Chapters Principle I. THe lessening or escaping of an Evil is to be reckoned under the Notion of Good Principle II. The lessening or loss of Good is to be reckoned under the Notion of Evil. Principle III. That which is Good is to be chosen that which is Evil to be avoided Principle IV. The greater Good is to be preferred before the less and a less Evil to be endured rather than a greater Principle V. Such Things or Events whether Good or Evil as will certainly come to pass may fall under Computation and be estimated according to their several Degrees as well as Things present And the same likewise is for such Things as may probably come to pass though this Probability may be somewhat remote as it is counted a valuable Thing and may be estimated at a certain rate for a Man to be one amongst four or five equal Competitors for an Office or to be the fourth or fifth Expectant of an Inheritance and though in such Cases there may be the odds of three or four to one yet the Price that is set upon this may be so proportioned as either to reduce the Purchase to an equality or make it at least a very advantageous Bargain Principle VI. A present Good may reasonably be parted with upon a probable Expectation of a future Good which is much greater and more excellent Principle VII A present Evil is to be endured for the avoiding of a probable future Evil which is far greater Principle VIII The greater the Evil the more reason there is to venture the loss of a greater Good or the suffering of a less Evil for the escaping it Principle IX It is better to be without any Good than by the enjoyment of it to endure an Evil as great or greater than that Good comes to And these last Principles respecting our selves may serve to produce Prudence Temperance and Fortitude in our Minds the rest that follow respect our Duty towards others and are the Foundation of all Right and Wrong among Men. Principle X. We ought to pursue the Chiefest or Common Good with the highest and all less or subordinate Goods with a less Affection or Desire Neither ought we to make the Highest or Common Good subordinate to the Meaner or middle Goods or the middle Goods to the least Principle XI Whatsoever Good you would have done to your self in such and such Circumstances you ought to do the same to another in the same or like Circumstances as far as may be without prejudicing the Community Principle XII Whatsoever Evil you would not have done to your self you ought to abstain from doing that to another Principle XIII Good is to be recompenced with Good and not with Evil. Principle XIV It is good for a Man to enjoy all the Means wherewith he may live happily Principle XV. It is better for the Publick or Common Good that one Man should not live voluptuously than that another should thereby live miserable Principle XVI If it is a Publick as well as a Private Good for any one to have enough wherewith to live happy it follows from the same Rule That it is doubly better when there is sufficient for two Men and by the same Rule of Proportion a thousand times better if there be sufficient for a thousand to live happy So that at last from the same Principle it must be confessed That if all the Men in the World or all Mankind could live happily it were the greatest Good we could suppose them capable of Principle XVII It is necessary to the Publick Good That every Man's Right and Property be allowed him and its free Vse or Possession be likewise permitted him without any Injury or Molestation from others though it must be granted that a Man may so behave himself as whatsoever is his whether by Possession Gift or Purchase may lawfully cease to be so as a Punishment for his Crimes in transgressing this great Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good Principle XVIII It is better to Obey God declaring His Will to us by the true Principles of Natural Reason than our own unreasonable Lusts and Passions or the wicked desires or Commands of Men. These and the like Principles may fitly be called Natural as well as Moral Axioms as being the true results of Natural Reason and are so clear and manifest of themselves that if any one will consider them without prejudice or being byass'd by Passion or too much Self-love they will not need a long train of Arguments to prove them since they appear true and evident at the first Proposal So also these Moral Principles considered as Propositions declaring the Connexion of all Humane Actions with the Natural effects that depend upon them as for example when they shew us any Action which will most certainly conduce to our own and all others happiness and that it appears to be not only our Duty but Interest to perform them These Principles thus considered with relation to our future Actions may be called Practical Dictates since they do not only shew us the highest End we can propose to our selves in order to our present and future happiness but do also direct us to the choice of the fittest means to attain it But I think it doth sufficiently appear that we are not only able to form a complex Idea of this Common Good of Rational Beings but also from the faculty of comparing the likeness of our own Nature with that of all other Men can also frame an universal or complex Idea of a Species or kind of Creatures agreeing in the same natural Properties and requiring the same things for their Happiness and Subsistence as himself Note that I do not mean by this any adequate Idea of the true Physical Nature of Mankind since of this as of all other substances we have no other knowledge but by their sensible qualities therefore I mean only here an Idea fori or such a common and inadequate Idea of the Nature of Man as serves us for all the moral Rules of Life which Idea he can give a name to and call mankind and so comes to consider and understand all the Causes and means not only of his own Preservation and Happiness but that of all other men's considered as an aggregate Body And from thence is able to draw divers Conclusions concerning the proportion and degrees of men's natural Good or Happiness according to the Principles before laid down till he at last arrive at this Universal Idea of the Common Good of Rational Beings as the highest and noblest that he can attain
the like Good-will from them than by doing them the same good Offices as often as it lies in our Power which we desire they should do for us and that this constitutes the happiest state Men are capable of in this Life viz. Peace and Concord not only among particular Men but also between all Common-wealths and Nations of which the whole body of Mankind consists so that it evidently appears that the true and Natural state of Mankind is That of Peace Love or mutual Benevolence and which indeed would require no other Rewards than what proceeds from it self were Man a Creature always governed by right reason and his own true Good Rewards and Punishments being Ordained for Men as too often govern'd by their Passions and Sensual Appetites and not according to the perfection of their Rational Nature Yet since it pleased God to Create Man a mixt Creature consisting of a Body and a Soul and being too often drawn aside by Passions not directed by right reason and to stand in need of Punishments as well as Rewards to keep him to his duty thence arises a necessity of His dealing with Man as a Legislator and of giving him certain natural Laws or Rules whereby to govern his Actions with certain Penalties and Rewards annext to them which Laws may be very well contracted into one single Proposition or practical Conclusion drawn from the Nature of God our own Nature and that of things without us by the Observations already laid down viz. That God wills or commands that all reasonable Persons should endeavour the Common Good of Rational Beings as the great End for which they were Created and in pursuance of which consists their own true Good or Happiness as in its neglect or violation their greatest Misery § 2. Having given you this summary description of the Laws of Nature as coming from its first Cause God I shall now explain the terms therein contain'd to avoid all Ambiguity and Exception 1 By Wills and Commands I do not mean any Commands by Words that being the method of God's Revealed and not Natural Will and so is not the Subject of this Discourse and therefore I do here only understand that Will or Command of God which is to be learned from the Consideration of his Divine Nature our own and that of all other things consisting not in Words but in Idea's that is true Conclusions drawn from right Reason but that words are not always Essential to a Law or that it cannot be made known to the Subjects without some set form of Speech may appear by Persons born Deaf and Dumb whom we often find to have Notions of a God and a Law of Nature though they were not convey'd in their Minds by Words or Writing for it is sufficient if the Will of the Legislator may be discovered by any other sit means or signs especially when as in this Law we now treat of there are such certain Rewards and Punishments annexed to their Observation or Transgression as may make it their Interest rather to observe than transgress them which is not only visible in Men but Brutes Since we see that by certain Signs imprinted in their Minds by the means of fit Rewards and Corrections Elephants Horses Dogs c. are made Susceptible of Humane Commands and as far as their Natures permit are governable by Laws of our Prescribing For we can shew them by such signs what Actions are to be done or omitted by them and certainly God hath not left us less plain demonstrations of his Will in reference to our Duty towards him from that Knowledge he hath given us of his Existence as also of our own Nature as I shall farther prove in this Discourse By Rational Persons I mean all those though of never so mean a Capacity who are able to make such easie and natural Observations and Conclusions as I have already laid down And therefore Children under the Years of Discretion Idiots and Mad-folks are still to be excepted from this Law who not having the actual use of right reason are not able to draw those Observations and Consequences from the Nature of things as are already laid down and which are necessary for the right understanding thereof By Endeavour I mean all such voluntary Actions which Persons of sound Minds can knowingly and deliberately perform towards the good of others without destroying or hurting their own true Happiness which endeavours though by many unforeseen accidents in the Course of Nature they may be often frustrated and so fail of their intended design yet when we have done the utmost we are able we have sufficiently perform'd our Duty since no Laws require the performance of more than is in our Power to perform By the Common Good of Rational Beings I understand the collective Happiness of the Deity as the head of them and that of all the individual Persons of Mankind existing together with us as the constituent parts or members and in which each Man 's particular Good and Happiness is included since it is impossible to endeavour the Happiness of others as voluntary Agents unless each particular Person whose duty it is so to do have first a right to preserve and make himself happy jointly with others in his Proportion to the whole Body of Mankind By true Good or Happiness I mean all those Goods whether of Body or Mind by which Men may be rendred truly Happy and contented in this Life and in that to come but in which whenever the former stand in Competition with the latter the Goods of the Soul are to be preferred that is the good of our better or Eternal part before that of our Body which is less valuable and temporal But I need add nothing here to prove That God is the Head of all Rational Beings and in what Sence we may be said to procure or endeavour his Good and Happiness since I have spoken so largely of that in the Preface to this Discourse and as for the difference between Natural and Moral good I have said so much concerning it in the Second Part in the Confutation of Mr. H's Sixth Principle that by Nature nothing is Good or Evil that it would be impertinent to repeat it here I shall now prove that this Proposition containing this Description of the Law of Nature is true that is agreeable to the Will of God as far as it is declared to us by what we are able to know of His Divine Nature or can collect from our own and the Natures of all things without us and that all the Moral Duties we owe either to God ourselves or others are contained in or may be reduced to this one Proposition Of our endeavouring the Common Good of Rationals in order to which I shall lay down these Propositions § 3. 1. That God in the first place Wills and Intends His own Glory and Service and in the next the Good and Preservation of all Mankind and of all particular Persons
within that Law But in Humane Laws because they may enjoyn something amiss there a Right is often left to us to chuse rather to bear the Penalty than to obey them because we are obliged rather to obey GOD than Man in case they command any Action contrary to the Divine Law whether Natural or Revealed § 8. For the further clearing of this I shall premise somewhat to explain this Word Obligation which the Civilians thus define Obligatio est vinculum Iuris quo quis astringitur debitum persolvere That is an Obligation is that Bond of Law whereby every one is obliged to pay his Debt or Due Which Definition doth well include all sorts of Obligations if by the Word Ius or Law we understand that Law whose Obligation we propose to define So that by vinculum Iuris in this Definition we understand that Bond or Tye of the Law of Nature by which every one is obliged to pay this natural Debt i. e. to perform that Duty which he owes to GOD his Creator by reason of his own Rational Nature or else to undergo those Punishments which are ordained for his Disobedience or Neglect So that there is a twofold Tye or Obligation in all Laws the one active in the Debt or Duty the other passive in a patient submission to the Punishment in case of any wilful neglect or omission thereof Of both which we shall speak in their order § 9. But you are first to take notice That none can oblige us to do or forbear any Action but such who have a right to Command us So that this Obligation proceeds from that just Right of Dominion which a superiour Power hath over us and our Actions and as far as we are subject to others we are so far under an Obligation to their lawful Commands which obliges us to a discharge of that Debt or Duty we owe them that is when we are obliged to do or forbear any Action from the Will or Command of a Supreme Power or Legislator to whom when sufficiently made known to us we are bound to yield Obedience to the utmost of our Power And herein consists the Obligation or Duty viz. in the Conformity of our Actions to a Rule such as is declared by the Will of the Legislator So that all our Obligation to the Laws of Nature is at last resolved into that absolute Dominion which GOD as he is the Great Creator and Preserver of Mankind hath over us For I cannot understand a Right especially of Dominion to be invested or seated in any Supreme Power but by virtue of something which may be called at least analogically a Law 2. That every Dictate of the Divine Wisdom concerning Matter fit to be established by a Law is such a Law And so Cicero the best Master of Language speaks towards the end of his First Book de Legibus 3. That the Eternal Wisdom of GOD contains eminently or analogically in it all that we can know to be Natural Law 4. But to know that it is Natural Law or the Dictate of true Reason concerning the fittest means to the best End or greatest Good it is necessary to this purpose That the Supreme Government of all Things and especially of Rational Creatures should be in him who is most able and willing to pursue and attain that greatest End that is it must be setled in GOD. 5. So that by this Dictate of Eternal Wisdom or of performing all Things for the best End the Soveraignty becomes his Right and our Knowledge that this Dictate of Eternal Wisdom is in him assures us That this Right is immutably fix'd and vested in him 6. Although in the method of investigating the Laws of Nature as they subsist in our Minds the first Law respects the End and this concerning the Means comes in the second place Yet in our Thoughts concerning GOD we know that infinite Wisdom comprehends all these Dictates together and therefore that the Dictate or Law setling Universal Dominion in GOD is co-eternal with him and so is as early in his Nature as the first Natural Law the Obligation of which we are establishing in this Chapter And here arises the difference between a Moral Obligation which is that we now treat of and a Civil one or that by which we are obliged to Laws in Civil Governments the former being in respect to GOD's immediate Will as the Supreme Legislator whereas all the Duty we owe to our Civil Magistrates Parents and Masters c. is only in subordination to GGD's Will so declared unto us and who hath ordained this Obedience for his own Worship and Glory and in order to the Common Good of all Humane Societies and Commonwealths that is of Mankind in general § 10. Yet I think notwithstanding all we have said of the Force and Nature of this Obligation it may well enough consist with the natural Freedom of Man's Will since all these Considerations do still but excite not necessitate Him to act one way or other For it is still left in his Power either to chuse that which is absolutely the best in obeying this Will of God or else to preferr a less present Good before it in the satisfaction of his Appetites or Passions And herein likewise consists the difference between an Animal Good or Evil and a Moral one the former being those natural Means conducing to each Man's preservation or destruction considered as a mere Animal without any respect to God as their Author or the Common Good of Rationals as their Rule The latter that is of all Humane Moral Actions or Habits considered as agreeable or disagreeable unto the Laws of Nature ordained by God as a Legislator and made known to Man in order to the Common Good of Rational Beings so that they are thus morally Good or Evil only in respect of their Conformity or Disagreement with the Will of God and as their Observance or Neglect brings either Good or Evil that is Happiness or Misery upon us in this Life or in that to come From whence you may observe the necessity of putting God in all our descriptions or definitions of the Law of Nature as the Author thereof For were it not for his existence in whose divine Intellect the Idea's of Moral Good and Evil are eternally established and into whose will so ordaining them they are ultimately to be resolved Mr. H.'s or rather Epicurus's Assertion would certainly be true That there is nothing morally Good or Evil in its own Nature And it may here be also observed That the great omission of divers Writers on this Subject in not placing God as the Cause or Author of the Law of Nature in their definitions hath been perhaps the main if not only Reason of that false Assertion That the Laws of Nature are not properly so 'till they are established by the Authority of the Supreme Civil Power so on the other side if it be made evident That God Wills or Commands all Men should
endeavour the Common Good of Rationals as the greatest they are capable of it must necessarily follow That we lie under a sufficient Obligation by all the Tyes of Duty and Gratitude to concurr with God's Will and Design in pursuing and endeavouring this great End § 11. But since God hath thought fit to make Man a Creature consisting of two different and distinct Parts or Principles a Soul and a Body both capable of Good and Evil i. e. of Rewards and Punishments I come now to the other part of this Duty or Obligation by which we are bound by all the Rational Motives or Rewards that Man's Nature is capable of to observe this great Law and deterred by all the contrary Evils or Punishments from neglecting or transgressing it In order to which I shall lay down these plain Axioms drawn from the Nature of Moral Good and Evil which you may find in the Learned Bishop Wilkin's excellent Discourse of Natural Religion Axiom 1. That which is morally good i.e. agreeable to the Will of God is to be desired and prosecuted and that which is evil i. e. contrary to his Will is to be avoided Ax. 2. The greater congruity there is in any thing to the Reason of Mankind and the greater tendency it hath to promote or hinder the Perfection of Man's Nature in the endeavour of the Common Good so much greater degrees it hath of moral Good or Evil and according to which we ought to proportion our Inclinations or Aversions thereunto Ax. 3. So that it is suitable both to the Reason and Interest of Mankind that all Persons should submit themselves to God's Will upon whom they depend for their Happiness and Well-being by doing such Things as may render them acceptable to Him and avoiding those contrary Actions which may provoke his Displeasure that is in short in prosecuting the Common Good of Rational Beings Ax. 4. Hence the Rational Nature and the Perfections belonging to it being more Noble than the Sensitive a moral Good is to be preferred before an animal Pleasure and that which is morally evil is more to be avoided than that which is merely animal Ax. 5. A present animal Good may be parted with upon a probable Expectation of a greater future moral Good Ax. 6. A present Evil is to be endured for the probable avoiding of a greater though future Evil. But since all the Rewards which God can bestow upon us for our observing this fundamental Law of endeavouring the Common Good of Rationals does only amount to the truest and highest Happiness that Man's Nature is capable of it is fit that we sufficiently state that Happiness and wherein it consists For the clearing of which I shall lay down these two plain Propositions § 12. Prop. 1. That which gives or constitutes the Essence of any thing and distinguisheth it from all other things is called the essential form of that thing Prop. 2. That State or Condition by which the Nature of any thing is advanced to the utmost perfection which it is capable of according to its kind is called the Chief End Good or Happiness of such a Being Thus for Example to give you a Scale drawn from the Nature of those Beings we know to be endued with Life or Motion 1. The Nature of Plants consists in having a vegetative Life by which they receive Nourishment and Growth and are enabled to multiply their kind The utmost Perfection which this kind of Being is capable of is to grow up to a state of Maturity to continue unto its natural Period and to propagate its kind 2. The Nature of Brutes besides what is common to them with Plants consists in their being endued with Faculties whereby they are capable of apprehending external Objects and of receiving Pain or Pleasure from them in order to their own Preservation and the propagation of their Species The utmost Perfection of these consists in mere sensitive Pleasures i. e. of doing and enjoying such Things as are grateful to their Appetites and Senses But the Nature of Man besides what is common to him with Plants and Brutes both in the vegetative and sensitive Life consists in the Faculty of Right Reason whereby he is made capable of understanding the Law of Nature and of its Rewards and Punishments either in this Life or that to come to induce him to their Observation and deterr him from the transgression of them Which Sentiments as no Creature in this visible World except Man does partake of so his Chief Good or Happiness consists in the improvement and perfection of this Faculty that is in such Actions as are most agreeable to Right Reason and as may best entitle him to the Divine Favour and afford him the greatest Assurance of a lasting Happiness both in this Life and after it is ended So that all the Actions of Man considered as voluntary and subject to the Law of Nature and thereby capable of Rewards and Punishments are called Moral as being directed by God the Supreme Legislator to the greatest and most excellent End viz. the Common Good of Rational Beings § 13. Having laid down these Principles of moral Good and Evil in order to the setling and clearing the Nature of this Obligation and wherein it consists I shall in the next place particularly declare the Sanction of this Law viz. those Rewards which God hath ordained for the Observation of this Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good and those Punishments he hath appointed for its Breach or Transgression But I have already laid down That all Obligation upon the Soul of Man arises properly from the Commands of some rightful Superior Power that is such a one who hath not only force sufficient to inflict what Evils he pleases upon the Disobedient but who hath also given us just Grounds or Reasons wherefore he requires us to determine the natural Liberties of our Wills according to his Pleasure both which whenever they meet in any Supreme Power and that he hath once signified his Will to us ought to produce in our Minds not only fear to offend but also a love of and obedience to his Commands The former from the Consideration of his irresistible Power The latter from their own intrinseck Goodness as also from all those Motives which ought to persuade us to perform his Will For as one who hath no other Reason than down-right force why he will have me perform and submit to his Commands whether I will or no may indeed so far terrifie me that to avoid a greater Evil I may think it best to obey him yet that fear once removed there will then remain nothing that can hinder me from acting according to my own rather than his Will or Humour So on the other side he who can give me never so good Reasons why I ought to obey him yet if destitute of Power to inflict any Punishment upon me for my Disobedience such his Commands may without any outward inconvenience be neglected by
Health of the whole Body So from the knowledge of this Order of divers subordinate Goods and the proportion which any one of them bears to the Common or Greatest Good may easily be deduced how much the Well-being or Happiness of every single Person may contribute to that of the whole Family the Felicity of a Family to that of a Commonwealth that of a Common-weal to the Happiness of all Nations and of all these considered together what proportion they may bear to the Common Felicity of Mankind So that hence you may be easily satisfied how much the knowledge of this one Truth conduces to our right prosecution of this great End and indeed Sum of all the Laws of Nature § 25. Lastly which yet ought rather to have been put in the first place of all let us consider the chief and principal of all the moral Vertues Love or Piety towards God expressed in all the Acts of Divine Worship as Prayer Praise Thanksgiving c. This must needs be a Vertue since it does that which is highly grateful and pleasing to God the Head of all Rational Beings and speaking after the manner of us Men performing somewhat Good and agreeable to his Divine Nature and which also in respect of our selves makes us most happy not only by rendring the Deity propitious to us but also by a nearer spiritual approach and conversation with it in those holy Exercises it puts us in the happiest state we can be capable of in this mortal Life and so makes us more able to perform the great End of our Creation viz. Our contributing to the Common Good of Rational Beings § 26. I have been the larger in laying down and explaining this Law as a Measure or Standard of all good Actions to the end that we should esteem all Good or Evil not as it more or less profits or hurts our own particular Bodies alone but as it may more or less add to or detract from this Common Good So that in comparing of all Goods together whether Natural or Moral we ought still to look upon that as the greatest Good which conferrs most and that to be the least which contributes least to this great End which is therefore to be desired or prosecuted by us with proportionable Affections and Endeavours From whence also may be drawn a general and powerful Remedy against all those inordinate Passions proceeding from excessive Self-Love by which Men are most commonly drawn to hurt or injure others For a Man who thus governs himself will not extravagantly desire any of these outward Things nor suffer his Soul to be disturbed by the consciousness of any Crime who judges nothing truly Good but what really conduces to the common Good of Rationals § 27. Thus I hope I have demonstrated the true Reasons and Grounds of Moral Good and Evil or of Vertue and Vice and have endeavoured to render Moral Philosophy or the true Knowledge of the Laws of Nature a practical Science and not merely Speculative or Notional like that of the Stoicks who whilst they allowed nothing to be really good but Vertue or Evil except Vice and kept such a pother to extol the real Good of the former and declaim against the certain Evil of the latter yet by not giving us the true Reasons or Grounds why Vertue should be embraced and Vice avoided they rendred their Philosophy merely speculative and only fit for those idle Porches in which they declaimed scarce having any farther influence upon the Actions of Life when either their own Affections or any powerful outward Temptation did at any time prompt them to act contrary thereunto For Vertue is only to be esteemed as the highest or most perfect Good not as it is a well-sounding Word or that fills our Minds with some vain empty Notions but as it determines our Actions to their utmost influeence upon the Common Good of Rational Beings which is the only true Piety as consisting in the Performance of the Commands and Will of God by the imitation of his Divine Goodness and Beneficence § 28. So that I shall conclude this Chapter with Dr. Parker's excellent Consideration on this Subject and which being better than any thing that I can now think of I shall make bold to give it you almost in his own Words with a little alteration So that it is now demonstratively certain by induction of Particulars according to the method we have now taken that every Vertue hath some natural Efficacy to promote the Common Good of Rationals and is no otherwise a Vertue but as it contributes to this great End and that each Man 's true private Interest and Happiness is therein contained and inseparably connected with it by the necessary order of Nature i. e by the Contrivance and Wisdom of Divine Providence So that nothing can be more evident than that its Author commands all his Rational Creatures that are capable of any knowledge of his Will and sence of their Duty to act suitably to that Order of Things which he hath established in the World and to that Declaration of his Will which he hath made by that Establishment in order to the bringing about this great End of the Common Good of Rational Beings CHAP. V. Containing an Answer to such Objections as may be made against the Law of Nature thus explained and reduc'd into this Proposition Of Endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings with a Conclusion proving this to be the sum of all Laws whether Natural or Revealed § 1. SInce there are two sorts of men who according to their several Principles and Inclinations may make different Objections against this our Method of proving and deducing the Law of Nature and contracting it into this sing'e easie Proposition of our endeavouring the common good of Rational Beings I shall therefore divide them into Platonists or Epicureans Those who put the whole stress of their belief of the Laws of Nature upon innate Ideas or Principles of Moral Good and Evil imprest by God upon mens Souls and who I doubt not may have a true zeal though without knowledge for this Common Good which is more than I can promise for those who falâ—ing into the other extream will not acknowledge that we can have any true or certain notion or idea of this Common Good so as to make it the main end of all our Actions I shall therefore in the first place consider those Objections that may be made by the former sort of Men whose first Objection may be this That it is most suitable to the goodness of God to imprint upon the minds of men certain Characters and Notions of himself and also of those Moral Duties which he requires of them and not to leave them in the dark and in doubt about things of so great a Concernment to them since by that means he would not only have secured himself of that Worship and Veneration which is due from so Intelligent a Creature as Man
besides himself and that he doth truly observe the Laws of Nature towards himself by a temperate and a rational Life As also towards his Neighbour by observing that great Rule of doing as he would be done by in all cases towards others I say such a man tho' never so simple and ignorant in other things doth really contribute his share of endeavour towards procuring the common good And tho' he may not distinctly know all the true reasons and grounds of his own Actions yet if he thus lead his Life and observe all these Rules tending to this End I doubt not but that he will meet with all those Rewards intended by God for Vertuous Actions provided he have never heard of or at least wilfully refused the more perfect Law of the Gospel delivered by our Saviour Jesus Christ when duly proposed to him Thus a Countrey Carpenter may deserve sufficient Wages and Commendation if he can build a House and honestly perform his Work according to those few practical Rules he hath learnt tho' he doth not understand all the Principles of Geometry or Architecture according to which all that he hath wrought may easily be demonstrated to him if he will but take the pains to understand them § 6. There is another Objection which this sort of men may make against our Method of finding out and demonstrating this great Law of Nature in that I make every man's obligation to endeavour it to arise from its being good or evil to himself alone whereby it may seem as if we supposed the honour of God and the common good of mankind were to be postponed and made subservient to the happiness of any particular person To satisfie which Scruple I do in the first place affirm that we do not intend any such thing since we have all along endeavoured to establish the quite contrary Doctrine For I assert that no man hath any Right properly so called to his own Life or Being but in order and as it conduces to the honour and service of God and the common good of mankind I shall therefore now more distinctly declare how these tho' some may think them contrary to each other do very well consist In the first place therefore I desire you to take notice that our Natural Obligation to this Law is not discovered by us in the same order and method as it is constituted by God in the nature of Things for our weak finite Understandings when acting without the assistance of Divine Revelation do slowly enough at first attain to the knowledge of Individual or Single Things and thence taking rise from such common effects as are most obvious to our Senses proceed to their more obstruse Causes until at length discovering one Infinite Being called God to be the first Cause and Creator of all things We from thence collect not only what is his Nature but also what is his Will whereby we do not only find that he is the best and most perfect Being But that as such he willeth and procures the good and preservation not of some few Singulars alone but of the whole Species of Mankind And lastly that he would have us men cooperate as subordinate tho free Agents to this End as the greatest and worthiest we can undertake Which tho' it be the last thing we come to the knowledge of yet is that which is first and chiefly intended by God as the principal object of our Knowledge and the main End of all our Moral Actions So that it seems evident this knowledge of our selves and of things thus learnt from experience and observation was intended by God only to serve as steps to raise us to that larger knowledge and nobler desire of pursuing the common good of Rationals as the sum of all our Moral Duties And that our Wills and Affections towards this end are not to be regulated or directed in the same order by which this common good comes to be discovered i. e. with a respect to our selves alone but from a true judgment concerning the measures of that natural good and perfection therein contained So that tho' we are at first indeed excited to the procuring our own happiness as the prime and most natural motive of all our Actions yet we come at last upon better consideration to discover that this happiness of ours is contained in our endeavours of the Common good of Rational Beings and is inseparable from it as the conservation of any of our particular Members is contained in the health and preservation of the whole Body § 7. And this Proposition that every single man's good is contained in the common-good proves indeed that the sanction of this general Law is by rewards and punishments to Every single man But that Every is not to be restrained to my self or any one man alone but extends alike to each other man or all men Since it is evident that these words Every man collectively taken amount to all men as every part collectively taken signifies the whole And tho' the main end intended by God the Legislator from such Rewards and Punishments are obedience to his Laws and the preservation of Mankind as his Subjects which are indeed of much greater value to him than the happiness of any one single person Yet will it not detract from the perfection or sincerity of this obedience if from the consideration of a man 's own particular happiness or misery he thereby comes to consider and understand that God hath commanded him to pursue an higher and nobler end than that alone yet to which his own happiness or misery are inseparably connected § 8. I come in the last place to these objections that may be made by men of quite contrary Principles and who will not acknowledge that we either can or ought to propose this common good as the Sum of all the Laws of Nature and the main end of all our Moral Actions Their first objection may be this That it seems not suitable to God's Infinite Goodness and Power and Wisdom in the Government of Mankind if he did really intend its good and happiness as we here suppose to permit so great a Design to be so often disturbed if not quite frustrated in divers parts of the World by the various Passions and unreasonable Appetites of so many violent wicked and unjust men which if Mankind is well considered do make up the greatest part of this Aggregate Body In answer to this objection I might tell those that make it that the true original of that depraved State of Mankind and from which all that Disorder which we now find in Humane Nature is derived was the Fall of Adam the first Father of Mankind who thereby conveyed a weakness of Reason and that prevailing Power which we feel in our sensual Appetites and Passions to all his Posterity whereby man is become very prone to Evil and too apt to transgress the Laws of Nature But I shall not insist upon this because the
Gentlemen with whom I have to do may laugh at all Divine Revelation not accept of any Proofs as sufficient but what can be brought from meer Natural Reason I shall therefore answer them in their own way and shall first of all grant That God might if he had thought fit have created Man without any possibility of sinning and have determined him only to that which is morally good But then God hath not created a Man but quite another Creature For he having made Man to consist of two different Principles a Body and a Soul the one to be driven on by Sensual Appetites and Passions the other to be governed by Reason It was necessary that he should be carried towards Good or Evil as one or other of these should prevail So that considering what sort of Creature God hath made us he hath done all he needed to do towards the good and happiness of Mankind Supposing that he hath created us and deals with us as free voluntary Agents endued with a freedom of choice either to deliberate upon the consequence and nature of all our Moral Actions before we do them and either to act according to the Rules of Right Reason or else clean contrary thereunto that is wholly at random or by chance which is unworthy our Rational Nature § 9. So that God having thus left the greatest part of man's happiness in his own power either to be obtained by endeavouring this common good or else missed of or lost by his own neglect of it It is not to be wondered if mens unreasonable Appetites and Passions looking no farther than their present Pleasures or outward Advantages do often carry them away without any consideration of those future but as certain and greater evils which may follow them in the whole course of their lives By which abuse of mens natural Freedom I grant the good and happiness of Mankind is very much disturbed and diminished Therefore it is no wonder that tho' God's will be sufficiently declared against such Actions it is not more often observed and followed nor could God have ordered things better or otherwise than they are unless he should have made man with out all freedom of choice and have determined his Will only to one sort of Actions which had rendered him quite another Creature and incapable of those rewards and punishments which are absolutely necessary for the government of man as he is made by God a free voluntary Agent Secondly Tho' God hath thus made us free Agents but that by the ill use of our Faculties we become more prone to evil Actions than good ones Yet it must still be acknowledged God's Infinite Power and Providence hath set such limits to the unruly Appetites and Passions of wicked men that tho' it must be confessed that by private Violence Wars and Persecutions for Religion they do more mischief to Mankind than all the Savage Beasts Earthquakes or Plagues in the World ever did Yet this is but in some few particular Places or Countries at a time and God hath so restrained these Passions and Lusts not only by Natural Divine and Civil Laws but also by necessary ill consequences that follow such Actions that it is not often that such men can accomplish their wicked designs with that success and pleasure they propose to themselves And in those Countries where these Violences are acted the Scene often alters And in those Countries where Civil-Wars and Persecution for Religion have not only very much disturbed the Common Peace and Happiness but also diminished the number of the Inhabitants God doth often think fit either through mens weariness of Wars or by the sudden death of a Cruel and Ambitious Prince who was the chief cause of it again to restore peace and happiness to these Kingdoms or Countries where Civil-Wars and Persecutions had before so cruelly raged and so long prevailed So that notwithstanding all that can be objected against God's intending the good and happiness of Mankind it is certain that from the beginning of the World to this day he hath preserved it in the same State as he hath also done all other Species of Creatures So that we may boldly affirm the number of men in the world rather increases than diminishes tho' it may please God for the correction or extirpation of some extremely wicked and incorrigible Nations to permit them to be oppressed diminished or quite destoyed by Forreign Force Civil Wars or Domestick Tyranny § 10. A Second Objection that may be brought by those of Epicurean Principles is That if the Being of a God and the certainty of the Laws of Nature be so easy to be found out and discovered by mens Natural Reasons and Observations how it comes to pass that there are some whole Nations in the World who have as we know of no Notions at all of a God or a Moral Good or Evil as Travellers report of those Negroes who inhabit near the Bay of Soldania not far from the Cape of Good-Hope who also fell their Children for Slaves to those that will give most for them As also others in the West and East-Indies that make War upon and devour all Strangers they can take Prisoners Others as in the Isle of Formosa rendring abortive all Children that the Mothers conceive before they are thirty years old Others in the West-Indies and in Africa stealing from Strangers whatsoever they can lay their hands on It were tedious to relate all the particular Instances of this kind Whosoever desires to see more of them may consult the Learned Author of the above-mentioned Essay of Human Understanding Book the I. Chap. III. § 9. besides what he may himself collect from his own reading or observation So that it may be urged that if these People are part of Mankind and therefore Rational Creatures how it comes to pass that they should not be able as well as we to come to the knowledge of a God and of those Natural Laws which we suppose to be given to Mankind § 11. To all which I shall reply not by denying as some do the matters of Fact themselves which is an easy but too positive a way of confutation but shall take them at present for granted since they are delivered to us by many Authors of sufficient credit And therefore first of all I think I may safely affirm That tho' these Instances may be of considerable weight against those who found all our Knowledge of the Laws of Nature upon certain Innate Principles or the common consent of Mankind Yet they will prove nothing against us who have I hope made out the certainty and obligation of this Law from more evident Principles So that the contrary belief or practice of divers Nations in the World is no more an Argument against the Being of a God or of the Laws of Nature than their ignorance in Arithmetick and Geometry is against the certainty or usefulness of those Sciences these people being most of them not able
to reckon beyond their ten Fingers Now setting aside Innate Ideas and Consent of Nations as proofs of the Laws of Nature what other means do there remain but the uncertain Tradition of a God and these Moral Laws from their Parents or Ancestors or else to discover them by Reason and taking observation from the Nature of things according to the method here laid down The former of these if they had ever any such thing it is certain that they have now quite lost so that no Footsteps of it now remains among them And as for the latter these ignorant and barbarous Nations being wholly taken up through the whole course of their lives either in procuring for themselves the common necessaries for life or else in brutish and sensual Lusts and Pleasures it is no wonder that they give themselves no time or opportunity to think of these things nor yet employ their thoughts in considering the cause of their Being or for what end they came into the World So that it is not strange that they should be so little sensible of the Being of a God and what Worship or Duties he requires of them Nor can I give a better account of this ignorance than what you may find in the Author last mentioned who thus concludes his Paragraph against the necessity of Innate Principles already cited in the beginning of this Chapter Had you or I been born says he at the Bay of Soldania possibly our Thoughts and Notions had not exceeded these brutish ones of the Hoteutots that inhabit there And had the Virginian King Apochancana been educated in England he had perhaps been as knowing a Divine and as good a Mathematician as any in it The difference between him and a more improved English-man lying barely in this That the exercise of his Faculties was bounded within the Ways Modes and Notions of his own Countrey and was never directed to any other or farther Enquiries And if he had not any Idea of a God as we have it was only because he pursued not those Thoughts that would certainly have led him to it § 12. Which account tho' it were sufficient alone to take off this difficulty yet I shall farther add That altho it is true the Existence of a God and the Laws of Nature are to be discovered by Natural Reason yet this must be exerted and made use of according to a right Method and is like the Talent in the Gospel either to be infinitely increased or else may be buried without ever being made use of as it ought So that mens not making use of their Reason and those Faculties which God hath given them is no more an Argument against God 's not having given men sufficient Means and Faculties to attain to the knowledge of these things than if a man who by perpetual sitting still should have lost the use of his Legs had reason to find fault with God for not giving him sufficient means of going and helping himself So that it seems evident to me that it is left in most mens power whether they will by a due use of their Reason raise themselves to the highest perfection and happiness that thei human nature is capable of or else by employing their minds about meer sensual objects and carnal enjoyments debase themselves into the state of Brutes For I am satisfied that it is not reasoning about common and outward things that constitutes the only difference between us and them since they reason right about those things that are the objects of their Senses but that it rather consists in the more excellent Faculties of framing Universal Ideas and by a due enquiry into the causes and nature of things of coming to the knowledge of God and of his Will either naturally declared according to the method here laid down or else supernaturally revealed in the Holy Scripture And indeed I think a Dog or a Horse to be a much better Creature than a Man who hath never had or else hath totally extinguished the belief of a God and of his Duty towards him for the one lives according to its nature and those Faculties God hath given it But a Man who wants the knowledge of God and of his duty towards him by neglecting the chief end of his Creation and by giving himself wholly up to the government of his Passions and unreasonable Appetites debases his nature and so becomes by his own fault like a Brute § 13. The last Objection that I can think of and which may be also made by Mr. Hobs's Disciples is That they look upon this endeavour of the Common Good of Mankind as a meer Platonick Idea or Term of Art without any reality in nature to support it Of which opinion Mr. Hobs seems to be when he tells us in his Leviath Book I. chap. 4. That of Names some are proper and singular to ore only thing as Peter John This Man this Tree and some are common to many things as Man Horse Tree every of which though but one name is nevertheless the name of divers particular things in respect of all which together it is called an universal there being nothing in the World universal but Names For the things named are every one of them individual and singular So that on these Principles we can have no knowledge of any common good out of a Commonwealth where it arises merely from Compacts every man being naturally determined to seek his own particular preservation and satisfaction without the least consideration of any thing else § 14. In answer to which Objection I desire you to take notice That if in our Description of the Law of Nature or Explication of it we had any where supposed that in this endeavour of the common Good a Man either could or ought to neglect his own preservation and true happiness there might have been some reason for this Objection But since I have proved that the true good and happiness of every particular person is included in the Common Good of Rationals and depends inseparably upon it though I grant every man 's own happiness and misery is a main motive of his acting to this end and also consists in a right endeavour of it which if it be so this part of the Objection falls of it self unless they will affirm That a Man's self-preservation and happiness only consists in the present satisfaction of his own sensual Appetites and Passions let what will be the consequence which how false and unreasonable a thing it is any rational Man may judge 2dly We have also sufficiently made out that there is an unalterable Common Good and Evil established by God in the nature of things necessary for the preservation or tending to the destruction not only of this or that particular man but for all the men in the World conceived under the collective Idea of Mankind and that in the state of Nature and out of a Civil State or Common-wealth Since by comparing our own particular Natures
by the due observation of Justice and Charity or the most diffusive Benevolence towards others of our own Kind according to the Order we have already laid down in the former Chapter All which is but our endeavouring to procure as far as we are able this Common Good of Rational Agents 'T is true Mr. H. in his Lev. Chap. 13. contracts all the Laws of Nature into this short and easy Rule which he says is intelligible even by the meanest capacities viz. Do not that to another thou wouldest not have done to thy self Which Rule tho' very true and the same in effect which was given by our Blessed Saviour himself yet without the consideration of the Common Good of Mankind would too often fail For if this Rule were strictly and literally to be understood no Prince Judge or other Magistrate could condemn a Malefactor to death for in so doing he did that to another which he would not have done to himself in the like State Since he himself as well as the Criminal he condemns would then desire to be pardoned if he could But indeed the reason why all Judges and other inferior Officers of Justice are excused from the observation of this Rule in their publick Capacities is Because they do not then act as private persons but as publick Representatives or Trustees with whom the Common Good and Peace of the whole Kingdom or Commonwealth is intrusted which as I have already shewn makes but a small part of the Common Good of all Rational Agents § 16. There are likewise others who reduce the Laws of Nature into this single Rule or Precept Preserve or do good to thy self and any other innocent persons as to thy self Which tho' I grant to be a true Rule as containing our Saviour's Epitome of the Commandments of the Second Table Love thy Neighbour as thy self Yet doth it not express the Reason or Principle on which it is founded for we have no reason to love our Neighbour but as they partake of the same Common Rational Nature with our selves and that our doing them good doth conduce to the preservation and happiness of the whole Body of Mankind of which that person as well as our selves are but small parts or Members Nor have we any particular obligation to endeavour our own particular Good but as it conduces to and is part of the Common Good of Mankind § 17. And as the whole Law of Nature so likewise the Revealed Law given from God by Moses to the Iews and intended in due time to be made known to all Mankind tends to no other end than this great Law of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Agents For all the Precepts of the First Table of the Decalogue which prescribe our Duty towards God and which our Saviour hath so excellently well contracted into this single Precept Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy strength c. contain nothing more than this great Rule For as God before he thought fit to create the World and whilst there was yet no Creature to worship or serve him was not then less happy or perfect so neither now he hath created them is he the happier if we worship him or the more unhappy if we omit it For man being created as an Object for the Divine Goodness to exert it self upon it must necessarily follow that all the Precepts of the First Table as well as of the Second are in some sort intended for Man's Good and Happiness as well as God's Honour and Service So that even that Great Commandment of keeping holy the Seventh day which most chiefly respects God's own Glory and Service did also promote the Good and Happiness not only of the Iews God's particular Subjects but also of all Mankind whensoever this Law should be discovered to them So that tho' it commands the dedicating of that day to the Worship and Service of God and is observed in obedience to his Commands Yet even in this he does not design his own Glory and Honour alone nay according to Saint Austin Our Good only but also our Good and Happiness which is then most perfect and compleat when we bestow our time in the contemplation of his Infinite Perfections and Goodness towards us and in rendring him thanks for his unspeakable Benefits So that though I grant he hath made and ordained us for his Service yet he hath so constituted our Nature as to make our highest happiness inseparably connected with all the particular Acts of his Worship And therefore our Saviour reproves the Iews when they found fault with him for suffering his Disciples to pluck the Ears of Corn on the Sabbath day expresly telling them That if they hâ—d known what this means I will have mercy and not sacrifice they would not have condemned the guiltless for the Son of Man i. e. not Christ alone but every Christian is Lord even of the Sabbath-day And in St. Mark That the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath Thereby teaching us that the Sabbath it self was also instituted for Man's sake and that in cases of necessity he is Master of it And so likewise our Saviour himself by chusing to do his greatest Miracles of healing on the Sabbath-day hath taught us that the performance of acts of Charity and Mercy on that Day is a great and necessary part of God's Service § 18. But as for the Precepts of the Second Table I need not insist upon them because our Saviour himself hath contracted them all even that of honouring our Parents into this short Precept Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Which is no more than to bid us endeavour the common good of Mankind to the utmost of our power So that as this Law of the most diffusive Benevolence of Rational Agents contains the Sum of all the Laws of Nature as also of the Moral Law contained in the Ten Commandments so likewise is it the Sum of the whole Gospel delivered by our Saviour Christ and his Apostles For as one great design of our Saviour's coming into the World was by his most excellent Precepts and Examples to exalt the Law of Nature to a higher perfection than what Men by the common use of Reason could generally attain to so likewise was it one of the main designs of his coming to restore the Law of Moses to its Primitive Purity and Perfection and to free it from those false Interpretations and Traditions with which the Pharisees had corrupted it For whereas they had confined the observation of that Command of loving our Neighbours only to outward Acts or at least restrained it only to those of their own Nation or Religion our Saviour Christ commands a greater perfection and forbids even so much as the thoughts or desires of Murder Adultery c. And whereas the Iews did suppose that they were not obliged to shew Acts of Charity or
their Persons and Goods against them This proved also from the great Contention arising among men from strife of wit And lastly from many desiring the same thing at once Sect. 1. Answer None but Fools and wicked Men can have a desire to hurt those that have done them no injury so that this does not reach all men nor yet that even these have a will to hurt all men alike but only those that stand in their way or whose Goods they desire Self-defence argues no desire of hurting others Sect. 2. Answer to his 2d Argument from mens contention of wit difference of Opinion no real ground of mens destroying each other Sect. 3. Answer to his Argument from mens desire to think well of themselves and to contemn others viz. That this Observation doth not reach all men but only those foolish and unreasonable men he describes Sect. 4. Answer to his Argument from many men desiring the same thing at once This tho true among Brutes and wicked and unreasonable Men yet doth not reach all Mankind since Reason dictates the contrary God hath bestowed enough of the necessaries of life among Mankind in the state of Nature so that they need not fight for them Sect. 5. Heads of the Fourth Principle That Nature hath given to all men a right to all things Mr. H's Argument proposed That all men having a Right to preserve themselves have also a Right to judge of the means of their own preservation therefore whatever they think conduces thereunto they have a Right to let it be what it will Profit being here the only measure of Right Sect. 1. Answer Mr. H's Argument reduced into a Syllogisme shews That all men have not a right to all things but only so many of them as they shall think necessary for their own preservation Yet even here that mens false Judgment concerning the means cannot give them a right to all things whatever tho judging never so unreasonably Sect. 2. Farther proved from Mr. H's own Definition of right Reason Right never used properly but with respect to some Law acknowledged by Mr. H. himself in his Treatise De Cive Mr. H's Errors and Contradictions of himself about the use of the word Right Reason Sect. 3. Not true that in a Commonwealth the publick Reason or Law thereof is always to be taken for Right or that no man can distinguish true Reason from false but by comparing it with his own Mr. H's Argument reduced into a Syllogism whereby it appears That the major is false Mens false Judgments or Reasons cannot alter the nature of things nor can give them a right to all things Sect. 4. Mr. H's Error in this matter whence it proceeds Sect. 5. No Rule of deciding any doubt or difference in the state of Nature but the nature of things or consent of the Parties concerned Sect. 6. Humane Nature will ever acknowledge a difference between Right and False Reason and that according to Mr. H's own definition of it Sect. 7. But to evade this Difficulty M. H. supposes all men to be necessarily evil or to be so by Nature The Argument of the Author of Tractatus Theologico politicus to the same effect That whatever Action though never so wicked or unreasonable any man doth he hath a right to do it because he could act no otherwise at that time Sect. 8. Those Arguments refuted Necessity never called a Right that word being never used but with respect to Men capable of Reason and Deliberation Men of sound Minds and mature Age can never plead Ignorance nor be excused if they voluntarily give themselves up to be governed wholly by their own Appetites and Passions Sect. 9 10. Mr. H's Excuse That in the state of Nature and where there is no Legislator Mens Passions are no sins Answered Since there is no State either Natural or Civil wherein God ceases to be a Legislator or that the Laws of Nature are not properly Laws Sect. 10. Mr. H's Artifice in taking away all Freedom from Mankind and making all Actions necessary whereby he destroys all the grounds of Moral Good and Evil his contradicting himself when he acknowledges this Right of all men to all things to be unprofitable since himself before makes Utility to be the measure of all Right The Heads of the Fifth Principle That in the state of Nature whatsoever any one doth to another is no injury Mr. H's Arguments for this That in the state of Nature there are no Laws where there is no Law there is no Injustice where there is no Injustice there is no Injury Iustice and Injustice no Faculties either of the Body or Mind for Injustice supposes some Propriety or Dominion which cannot be supposed in this State The same Opinion held by Epicurus long ago Sect. 1. Answer The Dictates of Right Reason or the Laws of Nature are the Laws of God and therefore give every man a right to his Life and all means necessary thereunto So that whatever a man enjoys by the Right of Nature it must be Injury and Injustice to take it away And Mr. H. himself agrees that to be injurious which is repugnant to Right Reason that is to any known Truth that may be collected from thence He likewise acknowledges the Dictates of Right Reason to be the Laws of Nature and therefore must confer a right to every man to their Lives and all the Necessaries thereof Sect. 2. Yet Mr. H. when he is hard prest cannot deny but that there may be injury done to another in the state of Nature as when a Son kills his Father but hath this Subterfuge that a Son cannot be understood in the State of Nature to his Father This Opinion confuted That every man owes the like gratitude to any other who should maintain and educate him as to his Father and it would be as much injury to hurt the one as the other Sect. 3. This Argument in his Lev. false and precacarious For if God in the State of Nature is truly a Legislator then the Laws of Nature are truly Laws but this is already proved Sect. 4. The Heads of the Sixth Principle That nothing is Good or Evil in the State of Nature Mr. H's Reason for it That every Man in the State of Nature makes his own Iudgment or Appetite the Rule of Good and Evil which are ever understood with respect to the Party that uses them and that in the State of Nature is either every man 's own self or in a Civil of the Persons that represent the Commonwealth Sect. 1. This he explains Physically in his Human Nature from the different Motions which those Objects produce in the Brain proceeding from mens different Temperaments Sect. 2. Answer Mr. H's uncertainty and looseness in his Notions of Good or Evil observed Sect. 3. That notwithstanding the variety of Tempers or Humours or the different Genius of particular Nations in some Customs c. yet they for the most part agree in certain Notions
necessary for the Common Good and Preservation and consequently that of all Mankind Sect. 4. A more certain Account of Good and Evil as well Natural as Moral than what Mr. H. hath given us Sect. 5. Mr. H. notwithstanding all he hath said to the contrary acknowledges a Common Good in the state of Nature Sect. 6. The difference between a Natural and a Moral Good and wherein it consists The confounding of these the great cause of Mr. H's Errours in this Matter Sect. 7. Mr. H. sometimes blames this narrow Humour in some men that desire nothing but their own private advantage and likewise confesses that that is a greater good which benefits more persons than what doth good but to a few Sect. 8. That notwithstanding all what Mr. H. hath said to the contrary all rational and good men must acknowledge that to be good which tends to the happiness and preservation of Mankind and which likewise may any ways contribute to effect it That if we do not make the Common Good of Rational Agents the End of all our Actions all our Notions about Moral as well as Natural Good will be various and uncertain Sect. 9. The Heads of the Seventh Principle That the State of Nature is a State of War That all Mr. H's precedent Principles tend only to prove this darling one If therefore those are well answered this Principle must fall His New Reasons in his Leviathan proposed He deduces this state of War from Three Causes in the Nature of Man 1st Competition 2dly Diffidence 3ly Glory Each of which do in their turns make men fall together by the ears A state of War not only that of actual fighting but all that time wherein mens Inclination to it may be certainly known illustrated by a Simile of rainy Weather Sect. 1. Answer to this Argument 'T is first observed that Mr. H. differs in his manner of proving the necessity of this state of War differs in his Leviathan from that in his De Cive Since he here only supposes such a War to be lawful without any other proof Sect. 2. 2 d. Observation That this Author in his Argument here proposed doth still take the Natural state of Man only from his Passions without any consideration of Reason or Experience which is contrary to what he had before laid down when he made Experience any of the Faculties of the Mind Yet that none of these Passions do necessarily and uninevitably hurry men into a State of War Sect. 3. That none of these Persons if governed by Reason ought to incite men to War and that Reason can never perswade men to fall together by the ears out of Competition Sect. 4. That Diffidence of others can never if duly considered be any Motive to make War with all men since such a War is not only destructive in its own nature but also impracticable Sect. 5. Mr. H. appeals to experience of what men do for their own security answered as also his Simile from the Weather Sect. 6 He himself grants that there was never actually throughout the World such a state of War as he describes His instances from the Savage People of America make rather against than for him proved by Authorities of Travellers Sect. 7. His Instance from the practice of Sovereign Powers proved to be of no force Sect. 8. Answer to his Argument from the Passion of Glory which doth not inevitably hurry men to War since it is more often mastered by other greater Passions as Fear of Death Desire of things necessary c. Observation That the same Passions which excite men to War do also with him at other times perswade them to Peace and that those Passions are really the more strong that do so Sect 9. Mr. H's Argument from certain Peculiarities in Humane Nature why men cannot live as sociably with each other as Brutes The 1st Competition for Honours c. Answer No Argument to be drawn from this in the state of Nature Sect. 10. His 2d Reason answered That the Common Good among Brutes differs not from the Private as it does among Men. Sect 11. Answer to his 3d. Instance That Creatures not having the use of Reason do not find fault with the Administration of the Commonwealth That this can be no Argument in the state of Nature before Common-wealths are instituted c. Sect. 12. Answer to his 4th Reason That Brutes have not the use of Speech and so cannót make Good seem Evil and Evil Good Men not in a worse condition than Brutes by reason of Speech but rather in a better Sect. 13. Answer to his 5th Reason That Brutes do not distinguish between Injury and Damage whereas it is otherwise in men Sect. 14. Answer to his last Reason That the agreement of Brutes is natural but in Men artificial Sect. 15. So much granted Mr. H. That men are tormented with divers Passions which Beasts are not And so on the other side men are endued with other Passions which move them more strongly to Concord Sect. 16. A farther Consideration of the absurdity and Inconsistency of this Hypothesis of a Natural state of War Sect. 17. The Heads of the Eighth Principle That mutual Compacts of Fidelity are void in the state of Nature but not so in a Common-wealth His Reason for it Because where Covenants are made upon a mutual trust of future Performances either Party may chuse whether he will perform or not because he is not sure that the other will perform his Part also And of this he is the sole judge But that it is otherwise in a Civil State where there is a Common Power to compel either of them that refuse Sect. 1. The reason apparent why he supposes Civil Sovereigns always in a state of War Sect. 2. Upon these Principles it is altogether in vain for Princes or States to make any Leagues or Treaties of Peace with each other This Notion gives them also a Right of putting to death or making Slaves of Embassadors and all others that come into their Dominions Sect. 3. That upon this Principle of Mr. H's if Compacts do not bind in the state of Nature neither will they be of any force in a Civil State if either all or the major part of the Contractors should have all at once a mind to break them upon pretence that either others do not perform their Parts or that they fear they will not do it Sect. 4. Mr. H. far exceeds his Master Epicurus in this Evil Principle Sect. 5. The Heads of the Ninth Principle The Law of Nature is not truly a Law unless as it is delivered in the Holy Scripture His Reasons for it That though they are Dictates of Reason yet that for want of a Legislator and of sufficient security for those that shall observe them they are not Laws but as delivered in Scripture Sect. 1. That it hath been already proved that this Law of endeavouring the Common Good is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and
it is thus naturally determined Nor will he allow any difference by Nature between men and other Creatures neither between men endued with Reason and those that have not yet attained the use of it neither between Fools and Madmen and others that are of sound Vnderstanding and his Reason is this For whatever any Creature doth by the force of its Nature it doth it by the highest Right viz. because it acts as it is by Nature determined neither is it able to act otherwise Therefore among men whilst considered as living under the meer Empire of Nature as well he that doth not yet understand Reason or hath not acquired a habit of Virtue lives by the highest Right according to the Laws of his own Appetite as well as he that directs his Life according to the Rules of Reason So that as a Wise-man hath a Right to all things that Reason dictates or of living according to its Rules So likewise the ignorant and foolish hath a like right to all things which their Appetites desire So that every man's Natural Right is not determined by Right Reason but by Power and Appetite For all men are not naturally ordained to operate according to the Laws of Reason but on the contrary are born ignorant of all things and before they come to know the true Rules of life or acquire a habit of Vertue a great part of their life slips away tho' they are never so well educated And therefore he concludes that whatever any one does in order as he thinks to his own preservation or the satisfaction of Sensual Appetites whilst he is in this meer state of Nature it is lawful because the only Rule he hath to act by § 9. Having given you all that can be said for this wicked as well as foolish Opinion in their own words I shall now endeavour to confute it In the first place therefore I observe that this which they call the right of Nature and which Mr. H. defines to be a state of perfect Liberty is in their sense no other than that of absolute necessity And therefore I shall leave it to the Reader to judge how properly this word Right belongs to Brutes Infants and Fools For the Word Right is used by those that treat of Ethicks only in respect of reasonable men as capable of deliberation and judgment and endued with freedom of Action and so subject to Laws For to call that necessity by which Fishes devour each other and Mad-men beat their Keepers a Right were as proper to talk of a Right of Stones to fall downwards no Philosophers but these ever using the word Right for necessity but a liberty left by the Law of Nature of acting according to Reason 2ly The last Author confounds the nature of Beasts Fools and Mad-men who have no knowledge of a God or sense of a Moral Good and Evil with that of rational Creatures who are ordained for greater ends and to be governed by a higher Law than that of meer Appetite or Passion And I desire these Gentlemen to shew us that such unreasonable Appetites and Passions do necessarily and unevitably carry men to act constantly according to them so that the men had then no power left to oppose resist or restrain them and tho' we grant that Children are not yet sensible and Fools and Mad-men are never perhaps capable of the Laws of Reason or Nature and so cannot be subject to them nor are to be esteemed amongst voluntary Agents Yet doth it not follow that those that are of Mature Age and sound Minds and so cannot plead invincible ignorance of the Laws of Nature but out of their own wilful humour or unreasonable Appetites neglect to know or learn or through wilful ignorance transgress it should claim the like exemption For though we are not angry with Children or natural Fools if they cry for or take away any thing they see and pity mad people even while they are outragious with those that tend them Yet have we not the same forbearance and pity for men of sound Minds and mature Age if they do the like unreasonable things and govern themselves by no other Law but their own unreasonable Appetites and Passions Since it was in their power both to have known and acted otherwise and to have deliberated and judged whether it were not better for them to forbear such evil Acts than to do them § 10. Neither can invincible ignorance be any excuse as to them for though perhaps they may not have Brains fit for the Mathematicks or are not able to deduce all the Laws of Nature from their true Principles yet by the Precepts of others as well as their own Reason and the observation of their own Natures as well as other mens they might easily have learnt all the Duties of an honest man that is their Duty towards their Neighbour by that Golden Rule of doing as they would be done by And their Duty towards themselves by endeavouring their own true happiness and preservation by the only means tending thereunto viz. Without injuring others and doing their Duty towards God in reverencing him and obeying his Will when discovered to them also in endeavouring to the utmost of their power the Common Good of Mankind and all which Principles have been ever so natural to men that they have in all Ages acknowledged them to have still remained the same Therefore Mr. H. as also the Author of the Treatise last mentioned are very much mistaken so directly to oppose our knowledge of the Laws of Nature to the Rational Nature of Man as if he were so much beholden to Art for them that he could never have acquired them himself without teaching which were all one as to say That because most men learn Arithmetick therefore it is so absolutely besides or above Nature that no man ever attained it of himself which is contrary both to Reason and Experience since both Arithmetick and Geometry as also Ethicks must have been natural to those that first taught them But I have already sufficiently proved by Mr. H's own Concession That Reason and Experience are as natural to Humane Nature as Hunting is to Dog 's tho in both of them there is required both Exercise and Experience to learn it § 11. Nor doth Mr. H's Excuse which he gives us in the 13th Chapter of his Leviathan signify any thing viz. That mens Passions in the state of Nature are no Sins nor the Actions which proceed from them as long as they see no Power which can prohibit them For neither can a Law be known before it be made neither can it be made till they have agreed upon a Legislator To which may be easily answered that Mr. H. all along proceeds upon this False Supposition That God is not a Legislator without Divine Revelation nor that the Laws of Nature are properly his Laws both which Assertions if they have been proved false in the preceding Discourse it will certainly follow that
the Laws of Nature or Reason proceeding from God himself are truly Laws and the Actions prohibited by them are Sins although men will not through wilful Ignorance discover this Legislator nor will consent to his Laws And Mr. H. himself acknowledges in his Chapter of Laws that the Subjects lie under an obligation to obey them if it can be made appear to them that the Legislator is endued with a Supream Power over them and hath both sufficiently established and promulgated his Laws both which may be truly affirmed of the Laws of Nature § 12. But indeed Mr. H. and his Followers have done very cunningly in taking away all freedom from Mankind and to suppose an absolute necessity of all moral Actions since they could not otherwise destroy the Laws of Nature and equal Men with Brutes but by pulling up all the Foundations of moral Good and Evil. But I need say no more on this Subject to shew the folly and unreasonableness of this Opinion than to put down Mr. H's words on this Subject in Art 11. of this Chapter Where he confesses that this Right of all men to all things is absolutely unprofitable for Mankind because the effect of this Right is all one as if there were no such Right at all For although any man might say of every thing This is mine yet could he not use it because of his Neighbour who might by an equal Right pretend that it was his Which is as good as to own that this right is none at all For he himself in the Article before-going makes Utility to be the measure of all Right but here is a Right without any Utility at all therefore these words Right and Vnprofitable are contradictory for Right refers in this definition to some use or profit that a man may make of his natural Liberty but to be unprofitable owns that there is no use or need of this natural Liberty in that matter PRINCIPLE V. That in the state of Nature whatsoever any one doth to another cannot be injurious to any Person § 1. BEcause says he Injustice towards men supposes Humane Laws none of which are yet in being in the meer state of Nature De Cive Cap. 1. Annot. ad § 10. which he thus likewise endeavours to prove in his Leviathan Chap. 13. Where there is no common Power there is no Law where there is no Law no Injustice Force and Fraud are in War the two Cardinal Vertues Iustice and Injustice are none of the Faculties either of the Body or Mind If they were they might be in a man that were alone in the World as well as his Senses and Passions They are all Qualities that relate to men in Society not in Solitude It is consequent also to the same condition that there be no Propriety no Dominion no Mine and Thine distinct but only that to be every man 's that he can get and for so long as he can keep it All which is no more than what Epicurus long ago asserted as Diogenes Laertius hath told us in the Account he gives of his Life and Opinions To this effect That between those Animals which cannot be joined by any Compact or Bargain that they should not hurt each other there is no Right or Injury So it is likewise amongst Nations which either will not or cannot enter into Compact that they do neither hurt nor are hurt For Injustice is nothing in it self although in some places such a Bargain is made by mutual Compacts that they should not hurt each other So that Injury is no evil in it self but only consists in a fear or suspicion lest it should not be concealed from those who are appointed Revengers of such Injuries § 2. In answer to all which I doubt not to prove that these Principles of Epicurus as well as of Mr. H. and his Disciples are taken up without any just or solid grounds for by the dictates of right Reason considered as they are the natural Laws of God a perfect Right is given to every man to his Life and all those necessary means thereunto without which he cannot subsist For whatever a man enjoys by the right of Nature it must needs be injury and injustice to take it away for every invasion or violation of another's Right or Property is Injury by whatever Law he enjoys it And much more if that Right be conferred upon him by the Law of Nature given by God as a Legislator than if it proceeded from meer Humane Compacts And though Mr. H. here asserts That no injury can be done to any man with whom we have made no Compact yet Chap. 2. Art 1. of his De Cive he says That since all men will grant that to be done by Right which is not contrary to right Reason we ought to believe that to be done by Injury which is repugnant to right Reason that is which contradicts any Truth collected by right Reason from true Principles But what is done by Injury we acknowledge to be done contrary to some Law So that here he grants that an Injury may be done contrary to the Laws of Nature before any Compact or translation of our Right to another and since he there acknowledges those Dictates of Reason to be Laws I would fain see how those can give any man such a right to invade or violate the Rights of another For Right as he himself well defines it being a Liberty granted by right Reason requires that men who pretend to act or speak according to its Dictates cannot act contradictorily to its other Principles or Conclusions And 't were to no purpose for him to say that the Injury is done to God alone when his Laws are broken unless he can shew that those Laws of God do not confer a right on men to their Lives and all the necessaries thereof and do not likewise prohibit others from violating this Right so granted § 3. But yet this Author when he is prest hard does acknowledge that there may be injury done to another out of Civil Government For it being objected whether if a Son should kill his Father in the state of Nature he should not do him an injury he answers That a Son cannot be understood to be in a natural State in respect of his Parents he being as soon as ever he is born under their power and command to whom he owes his being and preservation Yet sure a man's Parents by begetting and breeding him up do not thereby acquire a property or dominion over him as long as he lives though I grant Children when they either marry or otherwise become lawfully discharged from the government of their Parents still owe a filial piety and gratitude to them and that it is a great impiety and injury in Children towards them to hurt or destroy them though they are no longer under their power and command So likewise the same Law of Nature which prescribes gratitude to these our natural Benefactors doth make it injurious
for any man to hurt or kill any other Person who had educated or maintained him or otherwise highly obliged him since the same Laws of Gratitude that make it injurious to hurt or murther his Father in the state of Nature do also command the like duty towards any other Benefactor § 4. But his Argument in his Leviathan is much more false and precarious when he argues That where there is no common Power there is no Law and where there is no Law there is no Injustice All which he brings to prove the necessity of his natural state of War For first though I grant where there is no Common Power that is no Legislator there is no Law yet that is not true of the Laws of Nature since if they proceed from God as a Legislator as I hope we have proved in the precedent Discourse they are truly Laws before any Civil Power was instituted to make Laws or to see them observed and consequently that it is the highest injury and injustice to take away any thing from others being innocent and doing us no hurt that is necessary for their Life or preservation which they are already possest of and though it is true that Justice and Injustice are no natural Faculties of the Mind yet right Reason is from whence all Justice is deduced and which a man is always bound to exercise as soon as he becomes capable of being a Member of Humane Society I do not mean a Civil one and if there be a natural Equity as this Author acknowledges De Cive cap. 14. § 14. there is likewise a natural Justice and Injustice too but I shall say more of this in the next Principle PRINCIPLE VI. That in the state of Nature there is nothing Good or Evil. § 1. I Shall here give you Mr. H's Opinion and his Reasons for it in his own words as they are in his Leviathan cap. 6. Whatsoever is the object of any man's Appetite or Desire that is it which he for his part calls Good and the object of his Hate and Aversion Evil and of his Contempt Vile and Inconsiderable For these words of Good Evil and Contemptible are ever used with relation to the Person that useth them there being nothing simply and absolutely so Nor any common Rule of Good and Evil to be taken from the nature of the Objects themselves but from the person of the Man where there is no Commonwealth or in a Commonwealth from the Person that represents it or from an Arbitrator or Iudge whom men by disagreeing shall by consent set up and make his Sentence the Rule thereof He speaks to the same effect in all his other Works as in De Cive cap. 4. § 17. in his De Homine cap. 11. which it were tedious here to repeat and therefore I refer you to the places I have here cited § 2. But this he endeavours Physically to explain in his little Treatise of Humane Nature cap. 7. § 1. compared with Chap. 3. where he supposes That the motion in which consists the conception of things without any intervention of the Iudgment passes from the Brain to the Heart and as it there hinders or helps its vital motion it is said to please or displease But that which so pleases any one he calls Good And that which displeases him Evil and hence from the diversity of Constitutions or Temperaments there are divers Opinions of Good that is naturally and necessarily so And in the state of Nature unblameably from his Opinion that judges it § 3. There is nothing that Mr. H. hath written more loosely and unlike a Philosopher than these unstable Opinions both of natural and moral Good and Evil. And therefore it is a matter of great moment to have a fixed and constant notion of Good because as long as this is fluctuating and uncertain all knowledge of our true Felicity which is the greatest Good of every man as also of the Laws of Nature and of all particular Vertues which are nothing but the means and causes of obtaining this Good will be likewise various wandring and uncertain § 4. Therefore although it must be confest that because of some peculiarity in the divers Temperaments of men it sometimes happens that one sort of Diet or Medicines may be hurtful to one which may not prove so to another yea which Experience hath approved not only to be innocent but wholsome for others Something like which may be observed in the Genius and Manners of Nations quite different from others in some particular Customs and Constitutions yet this doth not any more take away the common Consent of Mankind concerning the nature of Good and its constituent parts and degrees than the small difference of mens Faces takes away the agreement between them in their common Natures as Men or that general likeness that is between them in the conformation and use of their principal Parts For sure there is no Nation so barbauros which will not own that there are greater hopes and satisfaction in loving and obeying God than in blaspheming and disobeying of him There is scarce any Nation that is not sensible that filial duty towards Parents gratitude to their Benefactors love and kindness to their Friends and Neighbours fidelity in their Promises and Agreements are good and necessary for their own welfare and preservation and consequently of Mankind No difference of Temper makes any man in his Senses not perceive it to be good for all men that the Lives Liberties Estates and Members of all innocent Persons should be preserved And therefore that the killing or robbing of them should be every-where prohibited under the most severe Penalties Or lastly What peculiar humour in men can make them not think it good and beneficial for particular Families and Nations that the Conjugal Fidelity of the Marriage-bed the Chastity should be preserved inviolated The same may be said concerning the right of using and enjoying all those outward things that are necessary for life or conduce to our health fame honour the education of our Children and the preservation of Friendship since in their Judgment concerning the goodness of these things about which the whole business of the Laws of Nature and of most Civil Laws is taken up all rational men do as equally agree in their Opinions as concerning the whiteness of Snow or the brightness of the Sun Though I do not lay the main stress of their obligation to these Actions on this general Agreement since I have laid down contrary Principles in the foregoing Discourse § 5. But I shall now proceed to give you a more true and setled Notion of Good and Evil both natural and moral I therefore define Good in general to be that which preserves encreases or perfects the Faculties and Powers of one or more things for by these effects that peculiar agreeableness of one thing with another declares it self to us and which is requisite to make any thing to be truly called good for
mean by a natural Good and Evil I shall now give a right notion of a moral Good and how it differs from the former A moral Good is those voluntary Actions and Habits which are conformable to the Law of Nature or Reason considered as given by God as a Law-giver for a Rule of all our Humane or voluntary Actions For there are many natural Goods that conduce to a man's happiness which are not morally good nor are commanded by any Law Such as are quickness of Wit Learning Strength of Mind and Body c. On the other side I suppose that no Action of the Will can be commanded by God and so morally good which doth not by is own nature as well as from the Will of God the Legislator conduce to the happiness of Mankind The not taking notice of which distinction between natural and moral Goods hath been the occasion of another great Error in Mr. H. when he makes that which seems good to every man 's own self to be the only object of his desires as he doth in his De Cive Cap. 1. Art 2. which he likewise more fully expresses in Cap. 3. Artic. 21. Every one is presumed to seek that which is good for himself but that which is just only by accident and for peace sake viz. That which is just he will only have to regard another's good which he supposes no man will seek unless it were for fear of those Evils which proceed from a state of War But all he says only tends to prove that men are so framed that it is repugnant to their Nature and so absolutely impossible for them to mind or desire any thing unless for their own particular worldly profit and glory as he hath laid down in those Principles we have already considered § 8. But I cannot but take notice that Mr. H. himself in his Treatise De Homine published after his De Cive Cap. 12. § 1. seems not at all to approve of this ill humour in men by these words We confess that it may so fall out through the ill use of his free will that a man of a narrow Soul may consider nothing but himself and so may desire nothing but what he judges for his own private advantage And in the same Treatise Cap. 11. § 14. where he doth purposely consider which is the greater or lesser amongst Goods he plainly confesses That it is a greater good which benefits more persons than that which doth good to fewer § 9. But giving him leave to contradict himself as much as he will yet notwithstanding all that he hath said to the contrary I doubt not but all rational and good men are of a more generous Spirit who do not only esteem that to be good which is good for themselves alone but also whatsoever tends to the conservation happiness and perfection of Mankind And whatsover they thus esteem to be good that they will also desire wish for and contribute their utmost endeavour to procure for others as well as themselves Nor do I see any reason to hinder but that whatsoever I find agreeable to any mans Nature I may do my endeavour as far as lies in my power that he may obtain it But this much I must freely confess That if men do not propose to themselves one common End or Effect viz. the common good of Rational Agents whose Causes whether efficient or perfective should be before-hand agreed on to be Good and those that hinder its production Evil the words Good and Evil will always be equivocal various and uncertain being still to be taken in as many different Senses as there are particular Men. So that whatsoever Action or thing is called good by any one man because it serves his turn that other men if it crosses their desires will be sure to call evil which is incongruous to Reason and to the Communication of knowledge among men which is the main end of Speech Whereas if the words Good and Evil are applied to those things which concern the nature of Rational Beings in general they will have a certain and determinate sense and signification which will not only be constantly true and intelligible but prove most useful and profitable to all Mankind and that we are not only capable of understanding but also of contributing our Endeavours for the procuring of this Common Good and are also under a sufficient obligation thereunto is I hope fully made out in the Fourth Chapter of the precedent Discourse where we expresly treat of the Law of Nature and its obligation PRINCIPLE VII That the State of Nature is a State of War § 1. ALL the Principles that Mr. H. hath hitherto laid down have been only in order to the establishing this Darling Principle of the natural state of War But since we have already in our Answer to his former Principles shewn their falshood and absurdity If those Foundations be ill laid the Superstructure must needs be infirm and therefore I shall omit all that he hath in his De Cive inferred from those false Principles and shall only apply my self to what he hath in his 13th Chapter of his Leviathan given us a-new for the proof of this Principle and which doth not depend upon the former For here he derives this natural State of War from Three Principal Causes in the nature of Man First Competition Secondly Diffidence Thirdly Glory The first makes man invade for Gain The second for Safety and the third for Reputation The first use Violence to make themselves Masters of other Mens persons Wives Children and Cattel The second to defend them The third for Trifles as a word a smile a different Opinion and any other sign of undervaluing either directly in their persons or by reflection on their Kindred their Friends their Nation their Profession or their Name Hereby it is manifest That during the time men live without a Common Power to keep them all in awe they are in that condition which is called War as is of every man against every man For War consists not in Battel only or the Act of Fighting but in a tract of time wherein the will to contend by Battel is sufficiently known And therefore the notion of time is to be considered in the nature of War as it is in the nature of Weather For as the nature of Foul-weather lies not in a shower or two of Rain but in an inclination thereto of many days together So the nature of War consists not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary All other is Peace § 2. In answer to which I must first take notice That Mr. H. in his Leviathan deduces this Right of War of all men against all from other Principles than he doth in his De Cive Chap. 1. § 12. where from the supposed right of all men to all things he deduces a war of all men against all and which renders it
and that mens natural propensions to a Benevolence towards others are not so strong in men as in other Animals So that I shall leave it to the impartial Reader whether upon a due consideration of his Answers and our Replies he will conclude as this Author doth in his Treatise de homine chap. 10. That men do exceed Wolves Bears and Serpents in Cruelty and Rapacity who are not rapacious beyond hunger which if he had affirmed of some men who are degenerated from all sentiments of humanity had not been much amiss but to affirm it of all mankind in general is too severe and false a censure to be let pass Whereas it must be at the worst acknowledged That no general Propositions can be made concerning the particular Passions and Humours of all men since there is not only a greater difference of Wit but also a greater variety of Passions and Inclinations amongst men than brutes and that not only among whole Nations but particular persons For all the kinds of brutes have almost the like Inclinations and are governed by the like passions and appetites so that if you know one of them you almost know them all but in mankind so many men so many Minds and so many almost several Humours and Dispositions And which is more the same man doth not only differ from others but also oftentimes from himself and that which at one time he mightily loves and approves of at another he abhors and condemns § 16. Yet so much I shall grant Mr. H. That men are tormented with many Passions unknown to Brutes such as are Coveteousness Ambition Vain-glory Envy Emulation or Strife of Wit with the Sense of which Brutes are not at all concerned all which I confess do extremely hinder mens natural Peace and Concord So on the other side he hath not only several other Passions that as strongly persuade him to seek and observe them yet God hath also endued him with reason whereby from the consideration of his own Nature and of other things he may attain a knowledge of his Deity and be thereby led to discover that all the Laws of Nature are not only bare dictates of Reason but are also Laws truly established by the Will of God the Legislator for his own Honour and the Happiness and Preservation of Mankind but so far I shall agree with Mr. H. that in any Country where men live without any knowledg of a Law either natural or reveal'd that in all those places they are in as bad or worse state than Brutes can be imagined to be § 17. To conclude I cannot but take notice that Mr. H's Hypothesis labours under these great Absurdities First He supposes that in the State of Nature a man's Reason tells him that his Self-preservation cannot be obtained without this War against all men but afterwards finding by experience the fatal Evils and Mischiefs proceeding from this kind of Life to have also by his reason found out and then proposed those Conditions of Peace called Laws of Nature in order to his own Happiness and Self-preservation as if right Reason could ever dictate contradictory or opposite means to this same end such as are a State of War and a State of Peace a neglect and violation of all the Laws of Nature as lawful and necessary for a man's safety in the State of Nature and a strict observation of them when once entered into a Civil State for the same design Secondly This Hypothesis is highly derogatory to the Goodness and Providence of God for if he were the Author and Creator of Mankind as certainly he was then whoever believes this Hypothesis must also believe that God contrived things so ill that unless his Creatures had been more cunning and provident than himself they must of necessity like the Earth-born Brethren in Ovid's Metamorphosis have perished by each others hands as soon as they were made So that the preservation and well-being of Mankind would be entirely attributed to their own Wit and Cunning and not to God's Goodness or Providence who must have sent his Creatures into the World in such an evil state as should oblige them first to seek their own mutual Ruin and Destruction as the way to their Preservation So that Mankind must owe all the happiness and comfort of their Lives not to their Creator but themselves since with him the Laws of Nature whereby they are preserved were not given or established by God their Legislator but are only so many Rules of Art or humane Wit like other Inventions of mens contriving and still suppose man to be departed from that natural state of War in which God put him into an Artificial one of Peace of his own making But certainly the Deity that made us if we suppose him Good and Wise made us not to be miserable as Mr. H. himself confesses we must have been had we continued in this state of War So that to suppose God made us and left us in that condition it is directly to deny our Creator's Goodness And then if we suppose him wise we cannot imagine that he would frame a sort of Creatures only to destroy themselves unless we can believe his only design was to sport himself in their folly and madness in beholding them by all the ways and arts of Force and Fraud contriving their own mutual Destruction And therefore if the Creation of Man were the product of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness his Natural State must have been that of Peace and not such a Condition as that which this Author supposes Lastly Mr. H. doth himself ingeniously confess that he believes there was never actually such a state of War as he supposes and describes And therefore tho I grant it is both lawful and usual for natural Philosophers who not being able through the imbecility of our humane Faculties to discover the true nature and essences of Bodies or other Substances do therefore take a liberty to seign or suppose such an Hypothesis as they think will best suit with the nature of the things themselves of which they intend to treat and from thence to frame a body of natural Philosophy or Physicks as Aristotle of old and Monsieur Des Cartes in our age have performed Yet can we not allow the same liberty in moral or practical Philosophy as in speculative And therefore such a precarious Hypothesis as this of a natural state of War is by no means to be admitted as the necessary consequence of that natural Right which every man hath to preserve himself For whether we consider Mankind to have been together with the world generated from all eternity as Aristotle and the more modern Platonists did believe or else to have sprung out of the earth like Mushrooms as Epicurus of old and Mr. H. in his De Cive suppose or else as we according to the Divine Revelation of the holy Scriptures do believe That Mankind was at first propagated from one Man and one Woman created for
likewise in his Leviathan Chap. 14. tho he grants that the Laws of Nature ought to be observed yet because they are contrary to our Natural Passions that carry us to Partiality Pride Revenge and the like and their Covenants without the Sword are but Words and have no strength to secure a man at all therefore notwithstanding the Laws of Nature if there be no Power erected or not great enough for our security every man will and may lawfully rely on his Strength and Art for caution against all other men And in his 15th Chap. of his Leviathan he farther tells us The Laws of Nature oblige in foro interno that is to say they bind to a desire that they should take place But in foro externo that is to the putting them in Act not always For he that should be modest and tractable and perform all he promises in such time and place where no man else would do so should but make himself a Prey to others and procure his own certain Ruin contrary to the ground of all the Laws of Nature which tend to Nature's Preservation § 4. I have been the larger in giving you his own words in this place because I could not well contract them without spoiling his sense and also that you may the better see whether he be clearly answered or not In the First place therefore if it be already made out in the precedent Discourse that in this Proposition of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings are contained all the Laws of Nature and that it doth likewise appear to proceed from God from the Nature of things and those Rewards and Punishments he hath annexed to its observation and transgression Then notwithstanding what Mr. H. hath here said this Law of Nature is properly a Law as having all the conditions necessary thereunto But that which might lead Mr. H. into this Error was That all Writers upon this Subject thought it sufficient to define the Law of Nature to be only a Dictate of right Reason without deducing its Authority from God as a Legislator Or if they have supposed God the Author of it as Suarez in his Book de Legibus and Grotius in his de Iure Belli pacis have done Yet they contented themselves with supposing that God had impress'd these Idea's upon mens Souls as so many innate Notions which they call the Light of Nature without shewing us by some more plain or certain means as our Author hath done in the preceding Discourse how we may attain to the knowledge of this Law The weakness or precariousness of which Hypothesis being discovered by Mr. H. gave him occasion to suppose that the Law of Nature was not properly a Law for want of a Legislator and farther they having defined this Law of Nature to be a dictate of right reason which seems only proper to revealed or Civil Laws delivered in some set form of words Mr. H. hath here also defined a Law To be the Word or Speech of him who hath a Right to Command a thing to be done or not to be done And so the Laws of Nature not being delivered in any set form of words cannot be upon these grounds properly Laws § 5. But I think we have already sufficiently proved that the Law of Nature being to be collected from our own Natures and that of other things without us does not consist in any set form of words but in those true Notions or Idea's taken from the things themselves And we have already shown that Persons born deaf or dumb are capable of understanding this Law though they have not the use of words And Mr. H. himself before he is aware doth sufficiently confess this Truth in more places than one of his de Cive For after he hath in the last Art of his Third Chap. denied the Laws of Nature to be properly Laws he begins his 4 th Chap. with these Words That which is called the Natural and Moral the same is wont to be also called the Divine Law nor undeservedly because Reason which is the very Law of Nature is immediately given by God to every man as the Rule of his Actions as also because the Precepts of Life which are thence derived are the same which are given by the Divine Majesty for the Laws of his Heavenly Kingdom by our Lord Iesus Christ and his Holy Apostles Those things therefore which may be before understood by Reason concerning the Law of Nature the same we shall endeavour to confirm from the Holy Scripture So likewise in his 15 th Chap. Article 3. he tells us That the Laws of God are declared after a Threefold manner The First of which is by the Tacit Dictates of Right Reason From both which places we may plainly collect That if the Laws of Nature are Dictates of right Reason and if the Laws of God and Nature or Reason are all one and the same and that Right Reason is the very Law of Nature and is immediately given by God to every Man as a Rule of his Actions it will likewise as necessarily follow that those Laws or Dictates of Reason are also Divine since they proceed from God as a Legislator Nor will it serve his turn to alledge as he doth in his Leviathan 15. Chap. That the same Laws viz. of Nature because they oblige only to a desire and endeavour I mean an unfeigned and constant endeavour are easy to be observed For in that he requireth nothing but endeavour he that endeavoureth their performance as far as he can fulfilleth them and he that fulfilleth the Laws is just § 6. This will prove a meer Evasion if you please to consider That unless the Laws of Nature regard the outward Actions of men they cannot partake of the nature of Laws nor do they carry any obligations along with them because it is impossible to seek Peace with others or to depart from our natural Rights by any internal Act of the Mind alone without outward Actions and most of those Actions do in their own nature necessarily regard and concern others besides our selves But if he should reply that such Actions are improperly called Laws for want of Rewards and Punishments To this we may likewise return That we have already fully proved in this Discourse that they carry with them the true force of Laws as containing all the Conditions necessary thereunto And he himself in his Leviathan chap. 21. doth expresly acknowledge and set down divers of those natural Punishments which are appointed by God as natural effects of the Transgression or breach of the Law of Nature Which Passage because I have already transcribed it in the Discourse it self Chap. 3. I shall therefore refer you thither But in short If there be no Laws of Nature properly so called in the state of Nature it will likewise necessarily follow that there is no such thing as Natural Rights properly so called And so his Right of all men to all things and to
were determined by a man 's own Iudgment therefore also were the Honours and Duties due to Fathers Lastly Where there were no publick Iudgments therefore there was no need of giving Testimony either true or false since therefore the Obligation to observe those Laws is prior to the Promulgation of them as being contained in the very constitution of the Common-wealth by vertue of this Law of Nature which prohibits the violation of Compacts the Law of Nature commands all Civil Laws to be observed For where we are under an Obligation to Obedience before we know what will be commanded we are there universally and in all things obliged to obey from whence it follows That no Civil Law which is not made in reproach to God in respect of whom all Common-wealths are not at their own Disposals nor can be said to give Laws cannot be against the Law of Nature For altho the Law of Nature prohibits Theft Adultery c. Yet if the Civil Laws should command you to take away any thing from another or to lye with any Woman that is not Theft Adultery c. For the Lacedemonians of old when by a certain Law they permitted their Boys privately to take away other people's Goods they then commanded those Goods not to be the Owners but theirs who thus stole them And therefore such a private taking was no Theft In like manner the promiscuous Copulation of Sexes amongst the Heathens according to their own Laws were lawful Marriages § 2. There is nothing that Mr. H hath written more rudely and wickedly and wherein he more contradicts himself than in this Assertion concerning the mutability of the Laws of Nature as to outward Actions since he himself tells us immediately after That the Laws of Nature are immutable and eternal and that Injustice Ingratitude Arrogance Pride Iniquity Acception of Persons and the like can never be made lawful for it can never be that War shall preserve life and Peace destroy it But how the Laws of Nature can be immutable and yet alterable as to outward Actions at the Will of the Civil Soveraign I cannot comprehend But since we have already destroyed those two main Principles introductive to this viz. That no Action is good or evil in the state of Nature till either the revealed Law of God or that of the Civil Soveraign hath made it so and also that the Laws of Nature are not properly Laws in the state of Nature Let us now examine the only reason he here gives us for this Assertion which is this That the Law of Nature which prohibits the violation of Compacts commands all Civil Laws to be observed since our Obedience to the Supream Powers is one of the first Compacts that men made at the Institution of the Commonwealth granting all which to be true yet was it not absolutely or in all things that this Obedience was promised but only in such as regard the publick good of the Commonwealth or tend to the common Good or Preservation of Mankind for if the Civil Soveraign should make a Law that every one might knock his Father in the Head when he came to such an Age and marry his Mother or rob any other man tho' his dearest Friend of all the necessaries of Life All these wicked Actions will become lawful to be done nay every man were obliged to do them if the Law of Nature commanded all Civil Laws to be observed without distinction but he here tells us That no Civil Laws can be against the Law of Nature which are not made in direct reproach to God And upon this Principle no Law can be so but what directly denies his Existence since in his Leviathan Ch. he makes even Idolatry lawful if it be once commanded by his infallible Leviathan the Supream Power But if Mr. H. had but read and considered any ordinary System of Ethicks he would have found that it was one of the first Principles in that Science that the Laws of Nature like the moral Vertues are so nearly linked and have such an inseparable dependance upon each other that the first and prior Laws of Nature can never be contradicted by the latter or secondary And therefore tho' it is true that Compacts are to be observed by the Law of Nature and that Obedience to the Commands of the Civil Soveraign is one of those Compacts which men make when they institute and enter into a Commonwealth or Civil State yet were those Promises of Obedience only made concerning such things which the Laws of Nature have commanded or permitted to be done in order to the common good of rational Beings I grant therefore That the Civil Laws of every Commonwealth as they may appoint what outward Rewards or Punishments they please for the Observation or Transgression of the Law of Nature and also in order to this end may ordain what outward Acts shall be called Murder Adultery Theft c. yet doth it not therefore follow That they have a Power to alter the Nature of all moral Actions and so make a new Law of Nature tho' I own they may enlarge or restrain their exercise in some particular Actions or Instances But since this is best cleared by examples I shall here give you some of each sort First Therefore tho' our Laws give leave to men to converse alone with married Women without any Crime yet in divers Countries it is not so But whoever is found alone in the Company of another man's Wife without his leave it is lawful for the Husband to kill them both because such private Congresses being esteem'd as bad as downright Adultery the Punishment of it is left as it was in the state of Nature to the discretion of the Husband But doth it therefore follow That the Supream Power might make a Law whereby it may be lawful for a Husband to kill every man that should but happen to look upon his Wife because he may at the same time commit Adultery with her in his heart So likewise by our Law the Husband is to be esteemed the Father of all Children which his Wife shall bring forth if he were within the English Dominions at the time when the Child was Begot though he were at that same time an Hundred Miles off and though the Mother should assure the Child that not her Husband but another man were really his Father Yet is not such a Child obliged to believe her or to pay any Duty or respect to that Person though he be really his Father But will it therefore follow that the King and Parliament may make a Law That no Child whatsoever should Honour and Obey his Parents But to come to the Author's last instance of the Lacedemonian Boys I will not deny but it might be lawful for the Spartans as the Egyptians likewise did to make a Law That private Thefts committed without discovery or violence to mens Persons should not only alter the Property in the things stolen bu also pass
Imprimatur Guil. Lancaster R. P. D. Henrico Episc. Lond. Ã Sacris Domest Mar. 14. 1691 2. A BRIEF DISQUISITION OF THE Law of Nature According to the Principles and Method laid down in the Reverend Dr. Cumberland's now Lord Bishop of Peterborough s Latin Treatise on that Subject AS ALSO His Confutations of Mr. Hobbs's Principles put into another Method WITH THE Right Reverend Author's Approbation LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane 1692. TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD RICHARD Lord Bishop of PETERBOROUGH My LORD HAving many Years agon when your Learned and Judicious Treatise of the Laws of Nature was first published carefully perused it to my great satisfaction I also thought it necessary to make an Epitome or Abridgment of it as well for my own better Remembrance as that I believed it might be also useful as an Introduction to Ethicks for some near Relations of mine for whom I then designed it These Papers after they had lain by me several Years I happened to shew to some Friends of mine and in particular to the Honourable Mr. Boyle who so well approved of the Undertaking that they encouraged me to make it publick as that which might give great satisfaction to those of the Nobility and Gentry of our own Nation as well as others of a lower rank who either do not understand Latin or else had rather read Epitomes of greater Works than take the Pains to peruse the Originals Which Task tho' not very grateful to me yet I was prevailed with to undertake and to look over those Papers again and add several considerable Passages out of the Treatise itself and this not for Fame's sake or the honour of being thought an Author since I was satisfied that nothing of that nature could be due to one who does not pretend to more than to Translate or Abridge another Man's Labours Yet I am willing in pursuance of your Lordship's Principle to sacrifice all these little private Considerations to the Publick Good as being sensible that in the Trade of Learning as in other Trades divers who cannot be Inventors or chief Merchants may yet do the Publick good service by venting other Mens Notions in a new dress especially since I have also observed that things of this kind if well done and with due acknowledgment to the Authors from whence they are borrowed as they have proved beneficial to those whose Education or constant Employments in their own Professions will not give them leave to peruse many Volumes written perhaps in a Language they are no great Masters of so also they have not failed of some Commendation from all Candid Readers Thus Monsieur Rohault's Abridgment of Des Cartes's Philosophy and Monsieur Bernier's of Gassendus's to mention no more have been received with general Applause not only by all Ingenious Men of the French but also of our own Nation who understand that Language And the Learned and Inquisitive Dr. Burnet hath thought an Undertaking of this kind so useful for our Nobility and Gentry as to give us his own elegant Translations or rather Abridgments in English of his two ingenious Treatises of the Theory of the Earth And I doubt not but your Lordship would have done somewhat in this kind with this admirable Work of yours had not the constant Employments of your Sacred Function as well as your other severe and useful Studies hindred you from it But perhaps it may be thought by some that this Task hath been very well performed already by Dr. Parker late Bishop of Oxford in his Treatise entituled A Demonstration of the Laws of Nature and therefore needs not be done over again But to this I shall only say that as he hath borrowed all that is new in that Work from your Lordship's Book so it is with so slight an acknowledgment of that Obligation that since he owns himself beholding to you for no more than the first Hint or main Notion no wonder if he hath fallen very short of the Original from whence he borrowed it both in the clearness as well as choice of the Arguments or Demonstrations and in the particular setting forth of those Rewards and Punishments derived by God's appointment from the Nature of Men and the Frame of Things which can only be done according to that exact Method your Lordship hath there laid down Tho' I confess there is one thing that is particular in that Authors Undertaking viz. That excellent Account he there gives us of the great Differences and Uncertainties among the most famous of the Heathen Philosophers concerning Mans Soveraign Good or Happiness chiefly for want of the certain belief of a future state and that clear conviction we now have that Mens chiefest Good or Happiness consists in God's Love and Favour towards them As also his observation That notwithstanding all that can be said of the Natural Rewards of Vertue and Punishments of Vice nothing but the reasonable hope and expectation of Happiness in a Life to come can in all Cases bear us up under all the Miseries Sorrows and Calamities of this And herein I must own I agree with him and therefore hope your Lordship will pardon me if I have in the ensuing Discourse insisted somewhat more particularly upon these future Rewards and Punishments which I doubt not may very well be proved from Reason and the necessity of supposing them in order to the asserting and vindicating God's Justice and Providence Tho' I grant that the Gospel or Divine Revelation hath given us more firm grounds for this our Belief than we had before by the mere light of Nature But supposing this Work of Bishop Parker never so well performed as I do not deny but it hath all the advantages of a Popular and Gentile Stile and that neat Turn he gives to all his Writings and therefore I have not scrupled to transcribe out of his Discourse one or two Passages where I thought either his way of urging your Lordship's Arguments or the close summing them up was not to be mended by any other Pen Yet since as I have already observed the whole is not done from your Lordship's Work and is also too concise and full of Digressions and besides wants your solid Confutations of Mr. H.'s Principles it seems necessary that another Treatise more exact in the kind should be published as more agreeable to your Lordship's Original Whether this which I now present you with be such I must submit to your Lordship's and the Reader 's judgment But since I have undertaken this difficult Province with your Lordships approbation it is fit that I give you as well as the Reader some account of the Method I have followed in this Treatise and wherein it differs from yours First then to begin with the Preface The substance of it is wholly yours except the Introduction concerning the usefulness of the Knowledge of the true Grounds of the Law of Nature in order to a
to wit the Knowledge of its Terms drawn from the Nature of Things 2. It s form viz. the Connexion of those Terms contained in this practical Proposition and particularly such which because of the Rewards and Punishments annexed to them may make it deserve to be called a Divine Natural Law as proceeding from God the Authour of Nature Or 3. The Deduction of all other natural Laws from this as their Foundation and Original from that Respect or Proportion they bear to the common Good or happiest State of the whole aggregate Body of Rational Beings But as to the Explication of the Terms of this Proposition I hope the Reader will not be scandaliz'd that we attribute Reason to God and have reckoned him as the Head of Rational Beings since we do not thereby mean that Sort of Reason which consists in deducing Conclusions from prior Propositions but rather that absolute Omniscience and perfect Wisdom which we understand to be in God which Cicero himself could not better describe than by the Name of Adulta Ratio or the most perfect Reason And if we Mortals can know or apprehend any aright thing of him it is as we do partake of some part though in an infinitely lower Degree of that only true Knowledge and Vnderstanding So that if we can once rightly judge that the common Good of Rational Beings is the greatest of all others it is no doubt true and no otherwise true than as it is so apprehended by the Divine Intellect As when it is demonstrated to us that the three Angles of a Triangle are equal to two right ones no doubt but the Deity it self had before the same Idea of it So likewise if we have affirmed that we can contribute any thing to the good and happiness of rational Beings by our Benevolence towards them and so may seem to suppose that there is a certain good common to us and the Deity and which we may some way serve to promote We desire to be understood not as if we imagin'd that by our testifying our Love and Honour towards God in any internal or external Acts of Worship we could add or contribute any thing to his infinite Happiness and Perfections but only as judging it more gratefull and agreeable to his Nature if by our Deeds we express our Gratitude and Obedience to him by imitating him in our Care of the common good of Mankind than if we deny his Being or blaspheme his Attributes and violate or contemn his Laws So likewise if in our Thoughts Words and Actions we express our Worship and Love towards him we doubt not but it is more pleasing and agreeable to his Divine Nature than if by the contrary Actions we should signifie our neglect or hatred of him For if we abstractively compare any two rational Natures together we must acknowledge a greater Similitude when one of them agrees and co-operates with the other than if we should suppose a Disagreement or Discord between them or that the End or Design intended by the one should be crossed or opposed by the other Neither do I see what can hinder but that the same may be affirmed if one of these rational Natures be supposed to be God and the other only Man Therefore as it is known by our common Sense that it is more gratefull to any Man to be beloved and honoured than to be hated and contemned So it may be found by a manifest Analogy of reason that it is more gratefull to God the Head of rational Beings to be belov'd and honour'd by the Service and Worship of us Men than to be hated and contemned For as the Desire of being beloved argueth no Imperfection in us so likewise in God it is so far from giving the least Suspicion thereof that on the contrary it rather argues his Goodness since our Natures are perfected to the highest Degree they are capable of by our Love to him and Obedience to his Commands So that when we speak of any Good common to us with the Divine Nature it is only to be understood Analogically for those things which we perceive to conserve or perfect our own Nature we call gratefull to us that is as they render the Mind pleased and full of Ioy Pleasure and Satisfaction And though we confess we cannot contribute any thing to the infinite Perfection of the Deity Yet since this Ioy or Complacency proceeding from our Love and Service towards him may be conceived without any Imperfection they I think may be safely attributed to his Divine Nature and look'd upon as a sort of good endeavoured by us for him since God esteems our Love and Service as the only Tribute we can pay him and therefore he hath inseparably annexed the highest Rewards to this Love of himself as shall be proved in this following Discourse which certainly he would never have done unless it had been his Will that we should thus love and worship him So that though I grant that the Divine Good or Happiness is not at all advanced by our Worship of him yet will not this at all derogate from our definition of endeavouring the Common good of Rational Beings which may be made out by these following Considerations 1. That all Rational Beings or Agents are and must be considered together as naturally and necessarily constituting one intellectual System or Society because they agree together to prosecute one chief End Viz. The good of the Vniverse or World especially of that intellectual System by the fittest Means applicable to that End since whilst they are truly rational they cannot differ in judging what is that best End nor avoid chusing the same necessary Means leading thereunto 2. That although God the Head of this intellectual System be indeed uncapable of any Addition to his infinite Happiness and Perfection yet the whole System in as much as it includes all finite rational Beings is capable of Improvement in these its finite parts which Improvement God cannot only desire but ever did and will promote both by his own Power as also by that of all subordinate voluntary Agents whereby God's Essential Goodness becomes manifest to us And the good of the whole System may reasonably be judged as grateful or pleasing to God the head thereof although it can add nothing to himself thus in Embryons all the other Members daily grow and improve after the Head or Brain is supposed to have attained its full bigness These voluntary or free Actions of the subordinate Agents when they concur with God's wisdom and goodness are naturally and evidently known to be more pleasing as being rewarded by him than malevolent Actions opposite to this chief end which fight both against God and Men nor does the consideration of God's rewarding such good Actions imply any addition to his Divine Perfections So that our Benevolence towards God and consequently our worship of him is but our free acknowledgment that he naturally and essentially is what he ever was and will
be the same infinite good and wise Disposer and Governour of the whole System of rational Beings and this our benevolence by giving him Glory Love Reverence and Obedience fulfils all the Duties of humanity towards those of our own kind which answers both the Tables of the moral or natural Law and in this consent of our minds with the divine Intellect consists that compleat harmony of the Vniverse of intellectual Beings The great influence of these Principles upon all the parts of natural Religion may be more fully express'd and made out by these following considerations 1. The voluntary acknowledgment and consent of our minds to the Perfections of the divine Nature and Actions include the agreement and concurrence of our chief Faculties viz. The understanding and will therewith and moreover naturally excite all our Affections to comply with them and so strongly dispose us in our future Life and Actions to compose our selves to the imitation thereof to the utmost of our Abilities particularly these Principles naturally produce in us First Praises and Thanksgivings to God private and publick for goods already done to our selves or others wherein the Essence of Prayer is contained 2. Hence also arise Hope Affiance or Trust in God which I willingly acknowledge is fullest of assurance when founded not only on observations or past experience of Providence but hath also revealed promises annex'd relating to future Good 3. To conclude when our Acknowledgment and high esteem of the divine Attributes move us to the imitation thereof we must needs thereby arise to those high degrees of Charity or the endeavour of the greatest publick good which we observe in God to prosecute and such Charity imports not only exact Iustice to all but that overflowing bounty tenderness and sympathy with others beyond which humane Nature cannot arrive because these not only harmoniously consent with the like Perfections in God but also co-operate with him to the improvement of the finite parts of the rational System whereof he is the infinite yet Sympathizing head who declares he takes all that is done to the Members of this intellectual Society as done to himself Nevertheless I profess my self to understand this Sympathy or compassion in God in such a Sence only as it is understood in Holy Writ for that infinite concern for the good of his best Creatures which is contained in his infinite goodness and is a real perfection of his Nature not implying any mistake of others for himself nor any capacity of being lessened or hurt by the power of any mans malice but yet fully answers nay infinitely exceeds that solicitous care and concern for the good of others which Charity and Compassion work in the best of men In short if the Reader will take the pains to peruse the Three first Chapters of this Discourse he will find that we have in explaining the terms of this Proposition not only given a bare interpretation of Words but also have proposed the true Notions and Natures of those things from whence they are taken as far as is necessary for our purpose and may observe that by one and the same labour we have directly and immediately explained the Power and necessity of those humane Actions which are required to the common Happiness of all men and also to the private good and necessity of particular Persons Altho' it seemed most convenient to use such general words which may in some Sence be attributed to the Divine Majesty and to have done it with that Design that by the help of this Analogy thus supposed not only our obligation to Piety and Vertue but also the Nature of Divine Iustice and Dominion may be from hence better understood But as for what concerns the form of this Proposition it is evident that it is wholly practical as that which determines concerning the certain effects of humane Actions But it is also to be noted that altho' the words conduces or renders in either of these Propositions are put in the present Tense Yet it is not limited to any time present but abstracts from it And because its truth doth chiefly depend upon the Identity of the whole with the parts it is as plainly true of all future time and is as often used by us in this Discourse with respect to future as well as present Actions And therefore this Proposition is more fit for our purpose because built upon no particular Hypothesis for it doth not suppose men born in a Civil State nor yet out of it neither see any Kindred or Relation to be among men as derived from the same common Parents as we are taught by the Holy Scriptures since the obligation of the Laws of Nature is to be demonstrated to those who do not yet acknowledge them Neither on the other side doth it suppose as Mr. H. doth in his de Cive a great many men already grown and sprung up out of the Earth like Mushrooms But our Proposition and all those things which we have deduced from it might have been understood and acknowledged by the first Parents of mankind if they had only considered themselves together with God and their Posterity which was to come into the world Neither may it less easily be understood and admitted by those Nations which have not yet heard of Adam and Eve Neither may it be amiss to observe concerning the Sence of this Proposition that in the same words in which the Cause of the greatest and best effect is laid down there is also delivered in short the means to the chiefest end because the effect of a rational Agent after it is conceived in its mind and that it hath determined to bestow its endeavours in producing it is called the End and the Acts or Causes by which it endeavours to effect it are called the means and from this observation may be shown a true method of reducing all those things which Moral Philosophers have spoken about the means to the best end into natural Theorems concerning the Power of humane Actions in producing such Effects and in this form they may more easily be examined whether they are true or not and may be more evidently demonstrated so to be and also we may hence learn by the like Reason how easily all true knowledge of the force of those natural Causes which we may any way apply to our use does suggest fit Mediums for the attaining of the end intended and so may be applyed to Practice according to occasion Lastly from thence it appears that either of these Propositions which we have now laid down do so far approach to the nature of a Law as they respect an end truly worthy of it viz. The common good of all rational Beings or else if you please to word it otherwise the Honour or Worship of God conjoyned with the common Good and Happiness of mankind And tho' it doth not yet appear that this Proposition is a Law because the Lawgiver is not yet mentioned nevertheless I doubt
shews us that not the private Felicity of any single Man is the principal end of God the Legislator or ought to be so of any one who will truly obey his Will and by a Parity of reason it also appears that those humane Actions which from their own natural force and Efficacy are apt to promote the common Good are certainly better than those which do only serve the private Good of any one Man and that by the same proportion as a common Good is greater than a private So likewise those Actions which take the nearest way to attain this effect as an End are called Right because of their natural Similitude with a right or straight line which is always the shortest between the two Terms But the same Actions when compared with a Natural or positive Law as a rule of Life or Manners and are found conformable to it are called morally good and also right that is agreeable to the Rule but the Rule it self is called right or straight as it shews the nearest way to the End But I shall referr you for the clearer Explication of these things to what we have farther said concerning them in the Discourse its self especially in the Second part wherein we prove against Mr. H's Principle that there is a true Natural and Moral Good antecedent to Civil Laws But however it may not be amiss to give you in short the method which we take to prove that this Law of endeavouring the common Good is really and indeed and not Metaphorically a Law 1. This general Supposition being premised That all particular Persons who can either promote or oppose this common Good are parts of that whole Body of mankind which is either preserved or prejudiced by their endeavours We shall not now descend to the particular Proofs as they are drawn from the Causes of such Actions of which we have partly treated in the Chapter of humane Nature and partly from their natural Effects and Consequences of which we have largely discoursed in the Chapter of the Obligation of the Law of Nature as also in the Second part in our Observation on Mr. H's Principles all which may nevertheless be reduced to these plain Propositions 1. As I have observed it is manifest that our Felicity or highest Reward is essentially connected by God the Legislator with the most full and constant exercise of our natural Powers employed about the noblest Objects and greatest Effects they can be capable of as proportioned to them from whence it may be gathered that all men endued with these Faculties are naturally obliged under the penalty of losing or missing of this their Happiness to exercise those Powers about the worthiest Objects viz. God and Mankind Nor can it be long doubted whether our Faculties may be more happily exercised in maintaining Friendship or Enmity with them for I think it is certain there can be no Neutral State in which God and Men can neither be beloved nor hated or in which we can stand so far Neuters as neither to do things gratefull nor ungratefull to them But if it be granted that there is a manifest Necessity if we will be truly happy of preserving Amity both with God and Men here is thereby presently declared the Sanction of this general Law of Nature which we are now enquiring into for this alone establishes all Natural Religion and also all those things which are necessary to the Happiness and preservation of Mankind which are besides Piety towards God 1. A peaceable Commerce and Agreement of divers Nations which are treated of by the Law of Nations which is but a Branch or subordinate Member of this great Law of Nature 2. The Constitution and Conservation of a Civil Society or Common-wealth which is the Scope of all Civil Laws And 3. The Continuance of Domestick Relations and private Friendships concerning which the general Rules of Ethicks as also the more particular ones of Oeconomies do prescribe And therefore we have put together many things in the Chapter of humane Nature by which all particular Persons of sound Minds are some way rendred capable of so large a Society and are either more nearly or remotely disposed to it And we do here intreat the Reader that he will not consider those things each of them singly or apart but all together since from all of them conjoyned he may raise a sufficient Argument to prove the Existence and evince the Sanction of this most general Law of Nature and that Men will necessarily fail of their Happiness which chiefly consists in the Adequate or proper Exercise of their rational Faculties unless they will exercise them in cultivating this Amity or Love both with God and Men to which Ends they are before all other Animals particularly adapted But from the Effects of such Actions conducing to the Common good of Rational Beings we have also further shewn in the Chapter of the Obligation of the Laws of Nature that this Sanction by sufficient Rewards and Punishments is most commonly connected with such Actions And it is manifest that in the first place God as the best and wisest of Rational Beings is to be loved and honoured by such Actions or Endeavours as that the Goods and Fortunes of all innocent Persons of what Nation soever are thereby secured as far as lies in our Power and all things profitable for particular Persons procured according to the Proportion they bear to the good of the whole Body of Mankind so that this Law will not permit any thing to be done which the Care of the whole doth not allow Nor can any thing be supposed more worthy a rational Creature and from whence greater Effects can proceed than a Will always propeuse towards the good of this whole Body governed by the Conduct of a Right Vnderstanding Therefore since it can certainly be foreknown that such Effects will follow from this Endeavour no Man can be ignorant that all the Ioys and present Comforts of true Piety are therein contained together with the hopes of a blessed Immortality besides those many Conveniencies of Peace and commerce with those of other Nations and all those Emoluments both of Civil and Domestick Government and private Friendships which are connected with this Endeavour as the common Rewards thereof and which cannot by any Means within our Power be otherwise obtained So that he who neglects the Care of the Common good doth also reject the true Causes of his own Felicity and embraces those of his Misery as a Punishment due to his Folly In short since it is manifest from the Nature of things that the highest Happiness which we can procure for our selves proceeds from our Care both of Piety to God and Love and Peace with Men. And that the Endeavour of these can only be found in his Soul who truly studieth the common Good of all Rational Beings it is also evident that the greatest Rewards that any one can acquire are necessarily connected with this Endeavour
and that the Loss or Deprivation of this Felicity doth necessarily adhere as a Punishment to the opposite Actions The former of these which declares the true Causes of all that Felicity which particular Persons can thereby obtain we have proved from Natural Effects found by Experience The latter viz. that Piety to God and Charity or Benevolence towards all Men are contained in the Endeavour of the common Good and we have also proved in the fourth Chapter that all Vertues both private and publick are contained in this Endeavour But because the Connexion of Rewards and Punishments which follow those Acts which are for the common Good or opposite to it is something obscured by those Evils which often befall good Men and those good Things which too frequently happen to Evil ones it is enough to our Purpose to shew that notwithstanding all these the Connexion between them is so sufficiently constant and manifest in the Nature of things that from thence may be certainly gathered the Sanction of the Law of Nature commanding the former and prohibiting the latter Actions And we may suppose those Punishments to suffice for its Sanction which all things rightly weighed much exceed the Gain that may arise from any Act done contrary to this Law But in comparing of the Effects which do follow good Actions on one hand and Evil ones on the other those good or evil Things ought not to be reckoned in to the Account which either cannot be acquired or avoided by any humane Prudence or Industry such as are those which proceeding from the Natural Necessity of External Causes may happen to any one by mere Chance which are wont to fall out alike both to good and bad Therefore we shall only take those into our Account which may be foreseen and prevented by humane Foresight as some way depending upon our own Wills or Acts. But I must also acknowledge that these Effects do not all depend upon our own particular Powers but many of them do also proceed from the good Will and Endeavours of other Rationals yet since it may be known from their Natures as they are is agreeable to our own that the common Good is the best and greatest End which they can propose to themselves and that their Natural Reason requires that they should act for an End and rather for this than any other less good or less perfect And that it is moreover known by Experience that such Effects of Vniversal Benevolence may be for the most part obtained from others by our own benevolent Actions it is just that those Effects should be numbred or esteemed among those Consequences which do for the most part so fall out because every Man is esteemed able to do whatever he can perform or obtain by the Assistance of others So that the whole Reward which is connected to good Actions by the natural Constitution of Things is somewhat like those Tributes of which the publick Revenues consist which do not only arise out of constant Rents but also out of divers contingent Payments such as Custom or Excise upon Commodities whose value although it be very great yet is not always certain though they are often farmed out at a certain Rate Therefore in the reckoning up of these Rewards not only those parts thereof ought to come into Account which immutably adhere to good Actions such as are that Happiness which consists in the Knowledge and Love of God and good Men the absolute Government of our Passions the sweet Harmony and Agreement betwixt the true Principles of our Actions and all the parts of our Lives the Favour of the Deity and the Hopes of a blessed Immortality proceeding from all these But there ought also to be taken into the Account all those Goods which do though contingently adhere to them and which may either happen to us from the good Will of others or flow from that Concord and Society which is either maintained between divers Nations or those of the same Common-wealth and which we do as far as we are able procure for our selves by such benevolent Actions And by the like Reason we may also understand of what particulars all that Misery or those Punishments may consist which is connected with those Acts that are hurtfull to the common Good So that all of us may learn from the Necessity of the Condition in which we are born and live to esteem contingent Goods and to be drawn to act by the Hopes of them for the Air it self which is so necessary for our subsistence and Preservation doth not always benefit our Bloud or Spirits but is sometimes infected with deadly Steams and Vapours Nor can our Meat Drink or Exercise always preserve our Lives but do often generate Diseases And Agriculture it self doth not always pay the Husband-man's Toyl with the expected Gain but sometimes he even loses by it And sure we are not less naturally drawn to the Endeavour of the common Good than we are to such natural Actions from the Hope of a Good that may but probably proceed from them But how justly we may hope for a considerable Return from all others joyntly considered for all our Labours bestowed upon the common Good we shall be able to make the best Account of when we consider what our own Experience and the History of all Nations for the time past may teach us to have befallen those who have either regarded or despised this great End But because the whole Endeavour of this common Good contains no more but the Worship of the Deity the Care of Fidelity Peace and Commerce betwixt Nations and the instituting and maintaining Government both Civil and Domestick as also particular Friendships as the parts thereof taken together it is manifest that the Endeavour thereof exprest by a mutual Love and Assistance must in some Degree be found among all Nations as necessary to their own Happiness and Preservation Nay it seems farther manifest to me that those who attain but to the Age of Manhood do owe all those past Years much more to the Endeavour of others bestowed upon the common Good than to their own Care which in their tender Age was almost none at all For we then do altogether depend upon and owe our Preservation to that Obedience which others yield as well to Oeconomical Precepts as to all Laws both Civil and Religious which do wholly proceed from this Care of the common Good Whereas it is certain that if afterwards we expose our Lives to danger Yea if we lose them for the publick Good we should lose far less for its sake than we did before receive from it for we do then only lose the uncertain Hopes of future Enjoyments whereas it is certain that scarce so much as the Hope of them can remain to particular Persons where the common Good is destroyed for we have thence received the real Possession of all those Contentments of Life with which we are blest And therefore we are bound in
only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough The Contents of the First Chapter A Brief Repetition of the Preface That the Law of Nature can only be learnt from the Knowledge of a God and from the Nature of Things and of Mankind in general § 1. A state of the Question between us and the Epicureans and Scepticks § 2. The method proposed in what manner we are to enquire into the Nature of things and of mankind in order to prove certain general Propositions that shall carry with them the Obligation of Natural Laws § 3. The Soul supposed to be rafa Tabula without any innate Idea's Our method proposed of considering God as the Cause of the World and all Things and humane Actions as subordinate causes and effects either hindring or promoting our common Happiness and Preservation § 4. All the Laws of Nature deduceable from hence as so many practical Propositions and all our observations or knowledge of it reduceable to one Proposition of the highest Benevolence of rational Beings towards each other as the summ of all the Laws of Nature and what is meant by this Benevolence § 5. What things are necessary to be known or supposed in order to the knowledge of this universal Benevolence § 6. The Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition proved and what is to be collected from thence The true happiness of single Persons inseparable from that of Mankind The general Causes of its Happiness to be considered in the first place § 7. Therefore no Man's particular Happiness can be opposed or preferred before the Happiness of all other rational Beings The contrary practice unreasonable and unjust § 8. Yet that this Proposition cannot be of sufficient efficacy till we have proposed the Common Good of Rationals for the great End of all our Actions § 9. The Effects of this Proposition not prejudiced by the ill use of Men's Free-wills § 10 11. By what steps and degrees the Knowledge of this Common Good comes to be conveyed into our minds from the nature of things § 12. First Natural Observation that in our free use and enjoyment of all the outward Necessaries of Life and in our mutual administring them to each other consists all men's happiness and preservation from whence also proceeds a Notion of the Common Good of Rationals § 13. That Men are able to contribute more to the good and happiness of those of their own kind than any other Creatures § 14. Nothing a surer help and defence to Mankind than the most sincere and diffusive Benevolence § 15. Nor any thing more destructive to it than their constant Malice and Ill-will § 16. That these Principles are as certain as any in Arithmetick and Geometry notwithstanding the supposition of Men's free-will § 17. Yet that they are only Laws as proceeding from God the first Cause and as establish'd with fit Rewards and Punishments § 18. That from these natural and general Observations we attain to a true knowledge of the Causes of all Men's happiness and that by the Laws of Matter and Motion these Causes act as certainly as any other § 19,20 Hence arises a true notion of things naturally and unalterably good or evil § 21. That Men's natural Powers and the things necessary for life can neither be exerted nor made use of contrary to the known rules of Matter and Motion § 22. Some Conclusions deduceable from hence as that we chiefly concern our selves about those things and actions that are in our Powers § 23. No man self-sufficient to procure all things necessary for his own preservation and happiness and therefore needs the good-will and assistance of others § 24. None of these necessaries for Life can produce the Ends design'd but as they are appropriated to Man's particular uses and necessities for the time they make use of them § 25. From whence arises the Right of Occupancy or Possession which may be exercised even during a natural Community of most things § 26. That as this natural Division and Propriety in things is necessary to the preservation of particular Persons so it is also of Mankind considered as an aggregate Body § 27. That these Principles destroy Mr. H's Hypothesis of the Right of all Men to all things in the state of nature § 28. The necessity of a farther Division and Appropriation of things now Mankind is multiplyed on the Earth § 29. No Man hath a Right to any thing any farther than as it conduces or at least consists with the common good of rational Beings § 30. The knowledge of these natural Causes and Effects alike certain in a natural as civil State with a brief Recapitulation of the Grounds and Arguments insisted on in this Chapter § 31. The Contents of the Second Chapter MAN to be considered as a natural Body as an Animal and also as a rational Creature Some Observations from the first of these Considerations as that humane Bodies and Actions are subject to the same Laws of Matter and Motion with other things § 1 2. No Actions or Motions more conducive to Man's happiness than what proceed from the most diffusive Benevolence § 3. Mankind considered as a System of natural Bodies doth not make any considerable difference between them when considered as voluntary Agents endued with sense but that they rather act more powerfully thereby § 4. Men's greatest security from Evils and hopes of obtaining Good depends upon the good-will and voluntary Assistance of others § 5. Several natural Conclusions drawn from these Observations § 6. The like being found true in animate as well as inanimate Bodies will make us more sollicitous towards the general good of those of our own kind § 7. That loving or benevolent Actions towards each other constitute the happiest state we can enjoy and also it is ordained by a concourse of Causes that all rational Beings should be sensible of these Indications § 8. This proved from several natural Observations as 1. That the bulk of the Bodies of Animals being but narrow the things necessary for their preservation can be but few and most of them communicable to many at once and so requires a limited self-love consistent with the safety and happiness of others § 9. 2. That Creatures of the same kind cannot but be moved to the like affections towards others as towards themselves from the sense of the similitude of their natures § 10. Animals do never deviate from this natural state but when they are seized with some preternatural Disease or Passion which as oft as it happens are absolutely destructive to
that of all others though such cases being Indefinite cannot be certainly or distinctly known § 8. But indeed the care of any particular Persons or a few Men's happiness is rendred useless for the present nor can be hoped for the future if it is sought by opposing or postponing the happiness of all other Rationals because the mind being thus affected a main and essential part of its own felicity must needs still be wanting viz. That inward Peace of Conscience proceeding from a solid Reason and true Prudence always constant and agreeable to it self For whilst such a Person resolves to act by one rule towards himself and by another towards all others who are of the same Nature and therefore need and require the same things with himself he must needs contradict his own Reason and so wants that true Joy and Satisfaction constantly springing in the mind of a Just Benevolent and Good-natur'd Person from the sense of another's good and happiness when promoted or procured by himself So that it is impossible for any Man to be truly happy who not only neglects the necessary causes thereof God and all other Men on whose Help and Assistance his true Happiness and Well-being wholly depends but also provokes them to his certain ruine and destruction so that there is no surer way which can bring any Man to the attaining his own particular Happiness but that which leads him also to endeavour the Common Good of all other men as well as his own § 9. But I here acknowledge that this Proposition concerning Universal Benevolence cannot be of sufficient efficacy for the due ordering our Actions and correcting our Manners until we have first propos'd to our selves this Common Good of Rational Beings viz. Our own Felicity in conjunction with that of others as our main end and that we are convinced that the various Acts contain'd under this general Love or Benevolence are the only true means to procure it The truth of which Proposition is in the first place to be made manifest to us in the next all those other Propositions that can be deduced from thence such as are those less general ones which determine concerning the Natural Power of Fidelity Gratitude Paternal and Filial Affection as also of all other particular Vertues necessary for the obtaining any part of this humane Felicity for as well the whole truth of this Proposition as of all those which follow from thence depend upon the Natural and Necessary Power of such Actions as real Causes producing such Effects § 10. And though perhaps it may at first sight seem to detract from their certainty that they depend upon such an uncertain Cause as Man's Will Yet however it suffices for their truth and certainty that whenever such voluntary Causes shall exert themselves such Effects will certainly be produced Thus in Arithmetick we freely Add and Subtract that is we can choose whether we will perform those Operations or not but if we reckon truly we shall always find the Total equal to all the particulars either Added or Subtracted And there is a like certain and true Connexion between all the Causes and Effects which can be known in any other Science And this I have likewise imitated in this Treatise of Moral Philosophy by reducing all the parts of which it consists to this one Head or Summ viz. Love or Benevolence which Idea I shall improve by enquiring into its several Kinds and shewing the necessary Connexion of this or that particular Action with the Common Good of Rationals which ought to be the great end sought for by us § 11. But since our voluntary Actions alone can be govern'd by Reason and those only which concern intelligent Agents are to be considered in Morals it is evident that from none of all these Actions we can frame a higher or more comprehensive Idea than this of Universal Benevolence which comprehends the willing and endeavouring of all good things and the removal or hindring of all evil ones from those Objects about which it is conversant And this Benevolence extends its self to all Moral Actions as well those of considering and comparing divers goods with each other as of inquiring into the means by which they may be produced nor is it more certainly true that the Addition of several numbers makes a Summ Total than that this Benevolence produces a general good effect to all those towards whom we exert it Thus it is as certain that Piety Fidelity Gratitude paternal and conjugal Affection together with filial Duty make up the chief and constituent parts of this Benevolence as that Addition Substraction Multiplication and Division are several parts of Arithmetick so that it is no material Objection That this Universal Benevolence may be prejudiced or lessened by the wickedness or ill-nature of Men. So that the great end or Summ of the Law of Nature cannot be thereby generally obtain'd as it ought any more than it is an Objection against the certainty or usefulness of Arithmetick or Geometry that some Men should through Lazyness and Inadvertency altogether neglect their Rules or make false Conclusions from those Sciences or should through Ignorance or prejudice deny their certainty So likewise it is in the Science of Morality as contain'd in the Law of Nature which is chiefly imploy'd in weighing and taking a true account of those humane Powers that contribute to the Common Good of Rational Beings which since they may vary somewhat in so great a variety of possible Cases he may be said and that deservedly to have well performed this task who first affirms in general that all those Powers are comprehended under the most general and diffusive Benevolence though he may be able afterwards more particularly to demonstrate that a just division of things Fidelity Gratitude and all the other vertues are contain'd under it and also shew in what Cases they become useful to this end by which means Religion and humane Society with all other things which may render Men's lives happy and safe will be certainly improved and advanced And herein consists the Solution of that most useful Problem concerning the Common good of Rationals procur'd by the most diffusive Benevolence which Moral Philosophy teaches us to search after Nor is the truth or authority of such Precepts at all prejudic'd or diminisht though very many Persons will not obey them or will set themselves to oppose them since this only can be the consequence of it That they will thereby lose their own happiness and perhaps may draw others by their false reasons into the same misery and so I doubt not on the other side but that Men would think themselves oblig'd to perform all the Acts that constitute this Benevolence if they were but once convinced that so great and noble an end as the Common Good of Rational Beings and in which their own happiness is likewise contained will be certainly procured thereby and cannot be had by any other or contrary means
§ 12. I come now to consider that together with the knowledge of this visible World of which our selves make but a small part there is likewise convey'd into our minds by our Senses a certain knowledge 1. Of divers natural outward goods 2. And those not only peculiar to our selves alone but common to all those of our own kind 3. Of which goods some are greater than others and that good which hath none that we know excels it we may call the greatest or highest 4. Also of those some are commonly in our Power others we understand to exceed the narrow limits of our humane forces but since the Nature of these things is by two several ways discovered to us either more confusedly by common experience and daily Observation or else more distinctly from experimental Philosophy and the Mathematicks the former of these methods being easie and obvious to every one I shall rather make use of that whereas the other would be only proper for Philosophers and Mathematicians since the Grounds or Principles of the Law of Nature ought to be alike evident to the Illiterate as well as to the Learned for all are under the like obligation to observe them and therefore I shall only put you in mind of such vulgar and easie Observations which no Rational Man can dispute or deny and such as from which I undertake to prove that the Knowledge and Coherence of the Terms of this Proposition may evidently be deduced § 13. Our first Natural Observation therefore is that by our free use and enjoyment of those products of the Earth that come under the general Titles of Food Clothing Houses c. and also by that help or assistance which one or more Persons can afford each other Men may be preserved and live as happily and contentedly for several years as their frail Nature will permit And in the next place that these effects being not only agreeable but necessary to our Natures are naturally good as tending to their Preservation or Perfection and therefore by the same reason Men's affections from whence these outward things and acts do proceed and which produce all these good effects are conceiv'd under the notion of good Will or Benevolence which must be also good since whatever goodness is contain'd in the effects must be likewise in the cause And we are also sensible that by this Benevolence we are not only able to help our selves or some few Persons but many others as well by our advice as by our strength and industry especially when we see divers others of our own kind who are able and seem also willing to requite us in the like manner So that each of us in particular may be provided with a sufficient stock of all the necessaries of Life by our mutual help and assistance all which would not only be wanting to us but we should be expos'd to innumerable mischiefs and hazards as also to a great want even of necessaries if all Persons looking only to themselves should always shew themselves ill-natur'd malevolent and enemies towards other Rational Beings whereas the contrary endeavours being thus helpful and necessary to so many others may easily and naturally produce in our minds a notion of this Common good of Rationals which from the obvious Similitude of Rational Beings to each other must equally respect all those which we have opportunity or occasion of knowing or conversing with as also those with whom we have not § 14. And I may add farther from constant experience that we are able to contribute more to the good and assistance of those of our own kind than any other Creatures because their Nature and consequently what is good or destructive to it is more evident to us from the knowledge we have of our selves than of other Creatures For as our Nature is capable of more and greater goods than they and in the attaining of which we can better assist each other so we must also confess it to be liable to greater Dangers and Calamities for the declining and removing of which God hath appointed our mutual Benevolence expressed by our endeavours and assistance of each other as the most suitable and necessary means thereunto § 15. And we may also observe that by our Advice and Counsel communicated by apt Signs or Words we are able to contribute many helps and conveniencies of Life to those of our own kind of which other Animals are altogether uncapable either of acting or receiving And farther because of the Similitude of those of our own kind with our selves we cannot but think it agreeable to our Rational Natures to do or to procure the like things for them as for our selves and can also be sensible of greater Motives to benefit Men than other Creatures since we have all the reason to hope that those we have thus done good to or obliged being moved by our benefits will make us a suitable return whenever it lies in their power and that they may one time or other in the like or some other way oblige us So that it is evident from Common Experience that there can be no larger Possession nor any surer defence for Mankind than the most sincere Piety towards God the Head of Rational beings and the most diffusive Love and sincere Benevolence of all Persons towards each other since if they prove malevolent or ill-natur'd they may easily bereave us of all things we enjoy together with our Life it self nor can the Love or Good-will of others be obtained by any more certain or powerful means than that every one should shew himself so affected in his Actions towards others as he desires they should be towards himself That is Loving and Benevolent upon all occasions though more particularly to those to whom we are obliged by Friendship or Relation § 16. Last of all the same Experience that demonstrates the mutual Benevolence of particular Persons to be the most powerful Cause of their Felicity does as necessarily teach us from a like parity of Reason that the Love or Good-will of any greater number of Men towards any the like number hath a-like proportionable effect so on the other side the constant Malice or Ill-will of all Men towards all express'd by suitable Actions would soon bring destruction to the whole Race of Mankind since it would soon destroy all the Causes requisite to their Happiness and Well-being and introduce a perpetual Enmity and War which are the certain Causes of the greatest Miseries and Calamities which can befall Mankind all which though Mr. H. himself acknowledges yet he will not own the necessity of Men's mutual Love and Concord to be also as necessary to their Preservation But why the Causes of Men's Preservation and Happiness as being Prior in Nature should not be more evident than those of their Destruction since the one is altogether as evident and necessary and may be as easily foreseen and prevented as the other I can see no reason and I should be
glad if any of Mr. H's Disciples could shew us any sufficient Reason for that Opinion § 17. So that these things which I have now laid down concerning the Natural means of Men's happiness do appear so evident from our common Reason and daily Experience that they are of like certainty with the Principles of Arithmetick and Geometry in all whose Operations there are still supposed certain Acts depending upon our free humane Faculties and yet neither of these Sciences are rendred the more uncertain from the supposition of Men's Free-will whether they will draw Lines or cast up Sums or not since it suffices for their truth and certainty that there is an inseparable Connexion between such Acts which are supposed to be in our Power to exert and all the effects sought for To the finding of which both the pleasure annexed to their Contemplation and the various uses of Humane Life do at once invite us And in the like manner the truth of all Moral Knowledge is founded in the Immutable Coherence between the highest Felicity which Humane Power can attain to with those Acts of universal Benevolence that is of Love towards God and Men and which exerts it self in all the particular moral Vertues yet in the mean time these two things are still supposed That Men desire and seek the highest Felicity they are capable of and also That they are able to exercise this Benevolence not only towards themselves but God and Men as partakers with them of the same Rational or Intelligent Nature This I have thought fit to add to prevent all those Cavils which Mr. H's Disciples are used to make against Morality from the necessity of our Wills § 18. But before I proceed farther to inquire into the Nature of things I desire you to remember what I have already hinted in the Introduction to this Discourse That this truth concerning the efficacy of Universal Benevolence for the Preservation and Happiness of Rational Beings as also all other Propositions alike evident and contained under it do all proceed from God as the first Cause and Ordainer of all things and consequently of our Humane Understanding and of all truths therein contained And since these Rules drawn from the Natures of things tend to the procuring God's End and Design viz. The Preservation and Happiness of Mankind and also that it hath pleased Him to annex certain natural Rewards to the Observation of these Dictates of Reason and Punishments to their Transgression so that they thereby becoming apt and sufficient for the due ordering of our Thoughts and governing our Actions towards God our selves and all others as I shall farther make out in this Discourse I see nothing wanting to give it the Essence and Vigour of a Law And I shall farther shew before I have done that under this general Rule of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings or Universal Benevolence is contained Piety towards God and the highest Good-will or Charity towards Men and is the Summ both of the Moral Law of Moses and of the Gospel of our Saviour Iesus Christ. § 19. These Things being thus proposed in general I come now more particularly to shew that a due Observation and Knowledge of these natural Things without us will truly and clearly teach us what Operations or Motions of them are good or evil for all other Men as well as our selves and also shew us how necessarily and unalterably all these Things are produced for Natural Knowledge searches into the true Causes of that Generation and Corruption which daily happens to all Natural Bodies and especially to Men and so can demonstrate the necessary coherence of these Effects with their Causes and therefore those Causes that help to generate or preserve Men and that make them live happily in this Life are Natural Goods as the Causes of their Misery and Dissolution are Natural Evils And it then as plainly follows That by this Knowledge we can as certainly demonstrate and foretell what Things are naturally Good or Evil for all Mankind as for any single Person § 20. Therefore we may truly conclude That the Knowledge of all these Effects which either Nature or Humane Industry can produce for Men's Food Clothing Habitation and Medicine is part of this Natural Knowledge To which we may also add the understanding of all other Humane Operations and of the Effects proceeding from thence for the Uses of Humane Life For although the voluntary Actions of Men as they exert themselves towards Things without them do not work exactly after the same manner as meer Mechanick Motions viz. from the Pulsion or Motion of other Bodies but either from their Reasons or Wills yet since all the outward Motions we exert receive their Measure and Force from the Natural Powers of Humane Bodies which are of the same Nature with others and so must perform their Natural Functions as they are regulated by the necessary Laws of Matter and Motion much after the same manner as other Natural Motions it is evident that these voluntary Actions whenever they are thus exerted are regulated by the same Natural Laws And it is commonly known how much Men's Industry by the various Motions of their Bodies which a Philosopher can easily resolve into mechanick ones does contribute to their own and other Men's Preservation by providing and administring Victuals Cloths Physick Houses c. In performing which Effects Men's Strength and Skill in Husbandry Building Navigation and other manual Trades are chiefly employ'd Nor are the Liberal Arts absolutely free from these Laws of Motion since by the help of certain sensible Signs and articulate Notes or Marks as Words Letters or Cyphers the Minds of Men come to be endued with Knowledge and directed in most of their Civil and Moral Duties I have only thought fit to hint thus much concerning Humane Actions considered as meer Natural Things existing without us but I shall treat more fully of them in the next Chapter when I come to treat of the Nature of Man considered as a voluntary Agent § 21. Hence it plainly appears That all these Natural Things and the mutual Helps by which they are procured may be certainly known and foreseen by us to be naturally and unalterably Good that is tending to the Preservation and Happiness of Mankind And for the same Reason all those contrary Causes or Motions by which Men's Bodies are weakened or destroyed by lessening or taking away the Necessaries and Conveniences of Life such as Food Rayment Liberty Quiet c. And also those Actions by which Vertue and Knowledge may be rooted out of Men's Minds and Errours and unbridled Passions destructive to the Common Good of Mankind introduced into their Rooms are necessarily and in their own Nature Evil. Therefore when we determine of Natural Goods or Evils according to the Law of Nature we are not only to consider the Preservation of a few particular Persons since the Punishment nay Death of these may often conduce to the Common Good
but rather that of the aggregate Body of Mankind subordinate to GOD as the Head of Rational Beings in this Natural System or Commonweal establish'd by Natural Laws For the good of an aggregate Body is nothing else but the Chiefest Good that can accrue to all its Parts or the Individual § 22. Having now found out from the Nature of Things by what means our Minds can receive the Idea's of a Common Natural Good and Evil and these no less certain and stable than those by which the Causes of Generation and Corruption are exhibited to them I come next to consider That that Matter and Motion in which the Powers of Humane Bodies as well as other Parts of this Visible World consist and exert themselves after a limitted manner and have a finite Quantity and certain Bounds beyond which they cannot act from which Principles flow those known Laws of Natural Bodies as that they cannot be at once in divers Places and therefore cannot be moved towards contrary Points at the same time or so as to be subservient to the contrary Wills of divers Persons at once but are so bounded and determined in their Natures as to be only ordered or disposed of according to the Will of one Person alone or else of divers consenting or conspiring to the same End or Design For if Men should think thus to make use of them they would be so far from conducing to their Benefit or Preservation that they would only tend to their Hurt and Destruction since if the Stronger had a Right to take from the Weaker by Strength and the Weaker from the Stronger by Cunning and Surprize any of these Necessaries of Life which he was once possessed of yet when he had them he could be no more assured that he should keep them than he was that last possessed them since one Stronger or more Cunning than himself may yet come and serve him as he had done the other before and so on 'till all Men that enjoy'd them should be destroy'd and the Things contended for perish without use So that there could remain neither any Owner nor Thing to be owned § 23. From all which that hath been now laid down I shall draw some Conclusions of great moment to our Subject as 1. From this Knowledge of the Nature of Things and especially of our own Humane Nature we may learn that somuch celebrated Distinction of the Stoicks between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. those Things which are in our own Power and Disposal such as are the voluntary Motions and Inclinations of our Bodies and Minds and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Things out of our Power such as are those Corporeal Motions so violent and irresistible which we daily observe to proceed from the Nature and Frame of the World which we weak Creatures are not able to resist and from whose irresistible Force all things here below are in a perpetual flux whence also there happens to us Men a perpetual vicisfitude of Things as well Adverse as Prosperous as also of Maturation Decay and Dissolution So that this Distinction if duly observed will be of singular use as well in forming our Manners as governing our Affections For from hence we are taught not to expect any other or greater Happiness as a Reward of all our Labours and Endeavours than what may proceed from a prudent Management of our Rational Faculties and from those External Helps which we may expect Divine Providence will afford us in its governing the World by which means we may befreed from those fruitless Labours and Endeavours to which Men's vain Fears and groundless Hopes so often transport them Nor shall we too much afflict our selves for those Evils which either do now or may hereafter without our own Faults inevitably befal us whence the greatest part of those Troubles and Molestations which are wont to proceed from Grief Anger and Discontent at our present Fortunes or Conditions may by our Prudence or Patience be prevented Neither are we hereby only directed to the avoiding of Evils but here is also chalked out to us a more short and compendious method by which we may by degrees attain to those two greatest Blessings which can be enjoyed by us in this Life the Culture of our own Minds and the Government of our Passions § 24. I need not prosecute this Subject any farther but shall proceed to take notice of those obvious Observations to our Purpose viz. That it is evident from common Experience That the natural Forces or Powers of any one Person are too weak scanty and inconsiderable towards the obtaining all that Happiness he desires and is capable of to procure which he still wants the Help and Assistance of many other Persons and Things to render his Life safe pleasant or contented And further that it is in the Power of any one of us to contribute many Things towards the use of others of our own kind which we do not need our selves and which though of no use to us yet may be of singular use to their Happiness or Preservation But since we are certain from those known Bounds of our Power that we are not able to compel all those by force whose Assistance we stand in need of to co-operate with us towards this our main End and Design viz. Happiness there can be no surer Means or safer Defence left us than that by a constant offering and affording those Necessaries of Life together with our Assistance to others as often as it lies in our Power we may thereby probably render them likewise Benevolent and Helpful to us in the like Necessities or Occasions So that this Benevolence or Charity is only a constant Will and Endeavour of acting thus sincerely and diffusively whenever any Opportunity offers it self and that even in those Cases in which it may oftentimes be probably foreseen that no return can be immediately expected from the Person to whom the Benefit is done since however it still contributes to the general Good of Mankind of which that Person we so benefit is a Member Which general Benevolence doth not yet hinder but that we may bestow and exercise a larger share and higher degrees thereof towards those from whom our own long Acquaintance and nearer Relation may persuade us to hope for larger Returns of Friendship § 25. Whence we may in the next place observe That if our Assistance and other Things in our Power certainly contribute to the Use or Benefit of others they can only perform this as they are assign'd or appropriated to the particular Persons that are to make use of them according to some certain time and place So that if Right Reason prescribe a Use of Things and Humane Helps as necessary for the Happiness and Preservation of Mankind it as necessarily prescribes that this Use of these Things should be appropriated to them that are thus to use them for the time they stand in need of them and according
to the place in which they are to be used The Consequence is evident because Right Reason can only prescribe that to be done which will consist with the nature of the Things that are to be used and the Persons that are to use them So that it is evident a Division or Appropriation of Things and Humane Assistances and Labours is absolutely necessary for the Subsistence and Happiness of all Men whence it also follows That this necessary Limitation or Appropriation of any of these Things to particular Persons for the time they stand in need of them is a natural Separation of them from the use of all others during the time they are so made use of By One Thing I mean such single Things as are uncapable of division and to make use of which it is absolutely necessary that it be possessed whole and entire such as are Food Cloths and the like for there are other Things which are likewise called One as one Island one Field and the like which may very well serve for the Use of divers Persons at once and whose Division arising from the positive Consent of Men already entred into Civil Societies or Commonweals I need not now treat of § 26. But from this natural Division or Appropriation of Things and its Necessity for the Preservation of Mankind arises that Natural and Primitive right proceeding from Occupancy which both Philosophers and Civilians grant to have place in the state of Nature supposing a Community of most Things For Right is but a certain Faculty or Power of Acting or enjoying any thing granted us by a Law but in this state there is no other Law but that of Right Reason given by GOD concerning such Actions as are necessary for the Common Good of Rational Beings Therefore since Right Reason requires a separate use of particular Things and Humane Assistances as necessary and conducing to this End there must needs follow from thence a Right to the Use and Enjoyment of any particular Thing during the time the Possessor so makes use of it for a Man hath the same Right to live tomorrow as he hath to day and consequently hath the same Right to all the Means which are necessary for his Preservation Therefore if this House Servant or any thing else that I am now possessed of be necessary for my Happiness or Preservation to day I shall have also a like Right to it for the future as long as it continues thus necessary And in this state there being no other Judge of the Means of my own Preservation but my self I shall have a Right to it as long as I live for the same Reason for which I had a Right to it at first So that unless the Use or Necessity ceasing I alter my Mind concerning it or assign my Interest in it to another I have a perpetual Right in it excluding that of any other during the time that I am thus possessed of it Not that I hereby grant every Man a Right in the state of Nature to all Things which his unreasonable Passions or Appetites shall fansie to be necessary for his own Preservation or Happiness but only to so much of the Means conducing thereunto as any Man whilst he judges according to Right Reason or Equity and the natural Necessities of himself and Family shall rightly so determine without arrogating or assuming to himself more than is really necessary for those Ends and without robbing others of what is also necessary for them which is down-right Violence and Injustice § 27. Whence it plainly appears That this natural Division or Property in Things first proceeding from Occupancy and Possession as it is necessary for the Preservation of all particular Persons so it must be likewise for that of Mankind considered as an aggregate Body consisting of divers Individuals the same Means being necessary for the preservation of the whole as are requisite to all its constituent Parts or Members though this kind of Property may very well consist with Community as at Ord'naries and Theatres every one that pays his Money hath a Right to his Dinner or Place yet none can tell which it is or where it shall be 'till he hath it on his Plate or is actually seated in it § 28. Whence it may appear That these Principles being truly drawn from the Nature of Things will without any more ado destroy Mr. H.'s wild Hypothesis concerning the Natural Right of all Men to all Things that he may thereby prove a Right in the state of Nature in all Men of doing whatsoever they please towards others necessary to their Preservation so that thence may arise a natural state of War of all Men against all And hence it likewise appears upon what grounds every Man hath a Right to his own Life Limbs and Liberty viz. because they are the natural Means by which we are enabled to serve GOD and assist Mankind in doing which we prosecute the Common Good of Rational Beings And from these Principles here laid down it clearly appears That Mr. H.'s Doctrines concerning the Law of Nature and Dominion are not only precarious but manifestly false which first suppose without any sufficient Proof an unlimitted Right of all Men to all Things to be necessary to their Preservation as the Foundation of all Natural Laws and Civil Societies For the proving of which he only makes use of some false and specious Arguments as I hope I have sufficiently made appear in the Second Part of this Treatise § 29. Having now established a Natural Property in such Things and Humane Helps or Assistances as are necessary for Men's Happiness and Preservation in order to the Common Good I shall not concern my self to prove the Convenience of Civil Property as now established in most Commonweals nor shall now trouble you with those Mischiefs which Aristotle in his Politicks hath very well proved would follow from a Community of Things from those unavoidable Strifes and Contentions which would daily arise from our using the Fruits of the Earth in common Only I think I may say thus much That since Mankind is so multiplied in well-inhabited Countries that there is not Land sufficient to be divided amongst all the Inhabitants so as to serve for each Person 's comfortable Subsistence without foreign Trade or mechanick Employments there must necessarily follow a more full and exact Division and Appropriation of the Necessaries of Life such as are Land or the Use and Products thereof as Corn Cattel and the like in order to the Preservation and Happiness of that Nation or Civil Society by whose Consent such a Division and Appropriation of these Things were at first introduced which being once setled by Civil Laws there is the like Reason for its continuance and Men have as much Right to those Things they thus enjoy by the particular Laws of the Countries where they live as they had before in the state of Nature to whatever they could possess by the Right of
Occupancy or Possession since it is evident That this more exact Property or Dominion consisting in a stricter and more limitted use of these Things hath a greater efficacy in order to the Happiness and Preservation of that Nation or part of Mankind which have thus agreed to it than the bare Occupancy or Possession of these Things had before such a Division made or agreed upon nor can it now be altered however perhaps hard and unequal it may prove to some particular Persons since it will always conduce to the Happiness and Tranquility of each particular Civil Society or Commonweal that it should continue as it doth than it should be still altered according to every Man 's particular Fancy or Interest since such a Change can never be made without inconceivable Discontents and Civil Dissentions which would quickly end in open Violence and Hostility § 30. So that from these Principles here laid down there is no Right conferred upon any Man of doing whatever his own wild Fancy or unbounded Appetite may prompt him to but only what he shall according to right Reason truly judge necessary to his own or Family's Happiness and Preservation in order to the Common Good of Mankind Therefore I here desire you to take notice that whatever Right we enjoy even to the things most necessary for our Preservation it is founded if not in the Precept yet at least permission of this great Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings when we truly judge according to the Nature of things concerning the means necessary and conducing to this great End so that it can never be proved that any one hath a right of Preserving himself unless it be first made out how this Right of Self-preservation conduces to or at least consists with this Common Good Since no Rational Man can ever believe that God intended the Preservation much less the Sensual Pleasures of any one Man as the Sole End of His Creation Which Principle being once established as the Foundation and Original of all the Natural or Civil Rights we enjoy our own natural Powers and Rights will appear so limitted thereby that we cannot without injury and injustice violate or invade the Rights of others much less break out into open War against them without just Cause nay all those Arguments by which any one Man can assume a Right to Preserve himself by the Law of Nature will likewise be of the same force to prove that he ought to Preserve others also and that it can never become lawful for us in any State to rob Innocent Persons of what is necessary for their Well-being and Preservation but rather on the contrary that all Men's natural Rights should be secured from the mischiefs of unreasonable Violence and War and Contention which natural Security in a Civil State or Commonweal is highly improved and encreased by the Assistance of Humane Skill and Industry according to the established Laws of Property or Dominion § 31. I have spoken thus much concerning the necessary Connexion between the particular Actions above mentioned and the Common Good of Mankind that by considering their relation to this Great End the Nature of all Humane Actions may more certainly be known and predetermined Since the Dependance of natural Effects on their Causes are absolutely necessary and immutable for as well in the state of Nature or Community as of Civil Society or separate Property those Humane Actions which cause or procure that the minds of all other Persons should not be prejudiced by Errors Lyes or Perfidiousness nor their Bodies hurt nor their Lives Goods Fames and Chastities violated or taken away and also by which a grateful return is rendred to those that have done us good or in short all those Actions by which the true happiness of any one Man or more is procured without injury to others as they always were so they ever will be the certain Causes of the Common Good and Happiness of Mankind and are therefore distinguished by the Titles of moral Vertues as I shall more at large demonstrate in this Discourse when I come to shew how all moral Vertues are derived from and at last resolved into this Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings But least the variousness of the Observations treated of in this Chapter and their Independance upon each other should render them perplext and consequently unconvincing to Common Readers who may not be able to carry so long a train of consequences in their minds I shall contract what hath been now said into these few plain Propositions 1. That though all particular men are mortal and but of a short duration yet that God hath still preserved mankind without any sensible failure or decay 2. That in Order to this God hath made man to be propagated by Generation and also to be preserved by divers outward means which we call necessaries of Life 3. That these Natural means can no way answer this End but as they are allowed or appropriated to the uses and occasions of particular Persons during the time they stand in need of them and so cannot at the same time answer the different or contrary desires and necessities of divers men endeavouring to use these things after contrary or different manner 4. That the taking away those necessaries of Life which another is rightly possessed of doth not only cause the ruine and destruction of that Person and his Family who were thus possessed of them but by causing a perpetual strife among Mankind will render these things uncapable of being made use of at all for their Common Good and Preservation 5. That such a Strife if prosecuted to the utmost will certainly end in the destruction not only of particular Persons and Nations but of all mankind contrary to God's design 6. From all which we may Rationally collect that God designs the Preservation and Happiness of Mankind as also of all Individual Persons as parts of it as far as their frail and mortal Natures will permit and in subordination to the good of the whole body thereof 7. That therefore there are no surer means to procure this great End of the Common Good of Mankind than an Universal Benevolence towards Rational Beings consisting First in Divine Love or Piety towards God and in Respect of Men not only in permitting each other quietly to enjoy all the necessaries of Life but also in making a settled division of them to others so as to be appropriated to several mens uses or occasions which dictates being given us by God as a rule of all our moral Actions in the exercise of which is contained our truest Happiness as in its violation our greatest Misery is therefore truly and properly a Law and indeed the Summ of all the Laws of Nature CHAP. II. Observations and Conclusions drawn from the consideration of Humane Nature and Right Reason as also from the Nature of God § 1. HAving in the former Chapter drawn such easie
not some way or other either benefit or prejudice those things which are most dear to others also as the motion of any one Body in the System of the World Communicates it self to many others For that great Prerogative of Knowledge and Understanding with which Man is endued supplies the Contiguity required for motion in other Bodies Men being often excited to Action by certain Arbitrary signs or words by which they understand what hath been done by others in places far distant So also our Intellect apprehending a likeness of Desires and Aversions between those of the same Species with it self as to things necessary or hurtful to Life as also being able to remember other Men's Actions towards themselves or those they love are from thence excited to hope for or expect the like things from them and are also provoked to a requital when occasion is offered Such Properties being plainly Natural and constant in Humane Nature are no less efficacious to excite Men to such Actions or motions than a mutual contact between Bodies is to Communicate motion between all the parts of any Corporeal System § 5. From which Natural Observations it is plainly manifest that particular Men may hence Learn that both their greatest Security from Evil and all their hopes of obtaining any Good or Assistance from others towards making themselves Happy doth truly and necessarily depend upon voluntary Actions proceeding from the Benevolence of others who do likewise themselves stand in need of the like means for their Happiness and Safety From whence we easily perceive that these mutual Helps and Assistances of Men towards each other are highly beneficial to all of them and answer that Concourse of Natural Bodies and that Cession or giving place to each other which is so necessary for the performance of their motions So that from this necessity of these mutual helps it as necessarily follows that he who would consult his own Happiness and Preservation should procure as far as he is able the Good will and Assistance of others since he cannot but be sensible that he is able to afford and perform to others divers like Offices of kindness and so is able to conspire with the whole System of Rational Beings towards the same End viz. the Common Good of Rational Beings and that on the contrary the weak and inconsiderable forces of any one Man are not sufficient to compel so many others each of them equal if not Superiour to himself both in Wit and Power to yield him their help and assistance to their own prejudice whether they will or no which would prove as impossible as that a hundred pound weight placed in one Scale of a Balance should bear down several other hundred weights put on the opposite Scale So likewise the force and cunning of any single Person is of no sufficient Power or Force against the several Necessities Counsels and Endeavours of innumerable others towards their own and the Common Good without any consideration of his particular Happiness alone Therefore it is manifest from this natural Balance of Humane Powers that men may be more certainly induced by our Benevolence or Endeavour of the Common Good to yield us those things and assistances we stand in need of than by using force or deceit which Mr. H. supposes even the Good and Vertuous may lawfully exercise in the State of Nature as the only natural means of Self-preservation in his Imaginary State of Nature § 6. So that from these Natural Observations concerning all the means necessary to the Conservation of the Corporeal Universe and of the several sorts of Beings therein contained we may draw these conclusions 1. That all things are so disposed that not the least quantity of matter and motion can ever be lost but the same Species of Animals are still continued and are rather encreased than lessened notwithstanding all the opposition of the cruel Passions and unruly Appetites of some other Animals so that in this perpetuity of matter and motion by a continual succession of things the Natural Good or Conservation of the Corporeal Universe consists and towards which it is carried according to the immutable Laws of motion nor can there be any sufficient reason given why the Conservation of Mankind may not be looked upon as established by as certain and natural a Power of Causes as the Successive Generations of any other Creatures since they depend alike upon the lasting Nature of the Corporeal Universe and agree in all the Essentials of Animals And certainly the Addition of a Rational Soul to our Bodies does very often put us in a better Condition than that of Brutes but can never make us in a worse which will be evident to any Man that considers the benefits which accrew to our Bodies from the Government of our Reason and which do abundantly recompense some inconveniencies which may happen to them from the errours of our minds Nay it is most certain that its errours concerning Food Pleasure and other things which concern the Preservation of our Bodies proceed from the Soul 's yielding against the Admonitions of Reason to Carnal Appetites and Corporeal or Animal Passions 2. That the matter and motion of all Bodies as also of Men considered only as such do Mechanically or whether they will or no promote the motion of that of the Corporeal Universe since the motion of all particular Bodies is determined by the general motion of the whole System In short our Judgments concerning the necessary means of the Happiness of Mankind may be convinced from these Natural causes operating after the same manner and by the same Natural Laws by which the Corporeal Universe is preserved since they consist in these two Rules 1. That the endeavours of particular Persons towards their own Preservation are as plainly necessary for the Conservation of the whole Species of Mankind as the mechanick motions of particular Bodies are to the general motion of the whole Corporeal System 2. That the Powers of particular Persons by which they defend themselves against the force of others should be so equally Balanced as that like the motion of other Bodies none of them should be destroyed or lost to the Prejudice or Detriment of the whole Somewhat like which is seen in all the motions of the Corporeal System of the World which proceed from its Plenitude and the mutual Contact of Bodies and so extend themselves through the whole mass of matter but it is the proper Talent of Humane Reason and Understanding to observe that each Man 's particular Happiness does depend upon the voluntary Actions of other Rationals after a much nobler manner even when they are far distant and can therefore take care that all Humane Actions may in like manner conduce to the Common Good of Rational Agents as the motions of all Bodies do to the Conservation of the whole Corporeal System which will be truly performed if in all voluntary Actions which respect others those two Rules
aforegoing be observed So that we are taught from the real Natures of things as well as that of Inanimate Bodies after what manner and to what Degree we ought to pursue our own particular Happiness that is only as it conduces to and is included in that of the Common Good of Rational Agents So we are hence also instructed what Actions are prescribed or forbid by the Laws of Nature since such Actions only are thereby commended as promote this great End and the contrary Actions forbidden which disturb or hinder it which is also supposed by all Princes and States in their Deliberations and Treaties of Peace it being that in which they all agree as contributing to their Common Safety and Preservation viz. That the Powers of all the several states concerned should be so justly moderated and equally balanced that none may destroy or oppress each other Thus between neighbouring Nations not Subject to the same Common Power it is chiefly provided in all their Leagues and Treaties that the Forces of each particular Common-wealth should be so equally balanced by the Assistance and Support of their Consederates and Allies that it should be impossible for any one of them to swallow up or destroy another but that there should be still left to each of them Power and means sufficient to preserve themselves and their Subjects in Peace and Safety as being the main ends for which they were at first ordained by God and Instituted by Men. § 7. And as it is proper to all Natural Bodies that whilst they persevere in their own motion there is likewise a necessity they should also contribute and be subservient to the motions of innumerable other Bodies from the general Laws of motion for the Conservation of the Universe and which Rule being also found true in Animals it seems to admonish us not only as meer Animals but rational Agents that we contribute our particular endeavours towards the general Good or Preservation of all those of their own Kind since it is not only a possible effect but also such a one as depending upon Causes so perfect and certain we may with reason believe that it will endure to the end of the World But if we farther add to these Observations those things that distinguish Animate from Inanimate Bodies they will yet more strongly convince us and make us see more sufficient reasons wherefore not so much concerning our selves with other Corporeal Beings we should be chiefly sollicitous in giving our assistance to those of our own Kind First then the Nature of Animate is distinguished from that of Inanimate Bodies by such a fit disposition of parts and an apt conformation of their Natural Organs as suffices for their Generation Sensation Imagination Affections Nourishment and also all spontaneous motions And it is by these Actions that all sorts of Animals endeavour their Conservation and Happiness for the time that is appointed them and thereby procure the Preservation of the whole Species § 8. But I shall not dwell too long upon these common obvious things which are so evident in themselves but shall from hence deduce something more material to our purpose viz. that from the same intrinseck Constitution of all Animals whereby they are determined to this Endeavour of Preserving themselves there are besides given manifest Declarations that Loving and Benevolent Actions towards those of their own Kind are also necessary for their own defence and constitute the happiest State of Life they can enjoy And likewise that it is farther ordained from the same concourse of External and Internal Causes that all Rational Agents cannot but be sensible or mindful of these Indications The first of these Conclusions contains the Sense and Sanction of the Law of Nature as the latter regards its Promulgation or the manner whereby it comes to be made known to us I shall explain each of them in their order § 9. It is therefore first to be observed That the corporeal Bulk even of the largest Animals is contained within a small and narrow compass as also that the space of Time wherein they can live or be preserved is not long From whence it follows That but a few Things and a small quantity of them are really necessary for their Nourishment and Preservation or where there is need of a Concurrence of more of them they are only such as may be freely communicated to many at once whence they are naturally led to desire but a few particular Things but daily stand in need of divers others in common whose use may yet be well communicated to many at once without exhausting their store such as are the free Enjoyment of Air Light Fire Water c. And farther if we consider the Structure of their Bodies we may observe That the same superficies of the Skin which hinders the effusion governs also the Circulation of the Blood and does at the same time fix bounds to those Appetites and Necessities by which they are urged to seek their own Preservation So that those few Things that suffice to repair the vital Flame which daily consumes are likewise sufficient not only for the Conservation of their life and natural strength but also for inabling them to contribute their Help and Assistance to others of the same kind And lastly the Structure and Capacity of the Vessels in which their Aliment is digested and of those that convey the Chyle as also of the Veins and Arteries that receive it being but narrow require but a small quantity to fill them So that I think no Brute can be guilty of Mr. H's Errour of judging or desiring all Things whatever as necessary for its own Preservation since from the intrinseck and constituent Parts of all Animals it plainly appears That but a few Things suffice to allay their Hunger and Thirst and to prevent the Injuries of the Weather And if so few Things are necessary for their Happiness and Preservation they may very well leave the rest of those Products which the Earth so plentifully brings forth to be enjoyed by others of their own kind since the finite quantity of their Bodies limitting their Appetites to the desiring and their Powers only to the using a few necessary Things From this Use and Necessity there arises a natural Division or Appropriation of Things amongst divers Animals of the same kind as I shewed before in the last Chapter The allowance or permission of which Distribution is the Foundation of all that mutual Concord and Benevolence amongst them and which their Nature requires for their Preservation So that if this innate Love or Desire of Self-preservation in Animals be limited after the manner we have now described this once satisfied there can be no Reason why they should withstand or obstruct the Conservation of others of the same kind either by hindring their Enjoyment of those Things which they themselves do not need or in refusing to lend them their Help and Assistance when there is occasion and that it
is not needful for themselves § 10. The next Observation we make is from the Effects of the Senses as also the Imagination and Memory in Animals when they are taken up and employed about others of the same kind For since from the Impressions made on their Organs of Sense they cannot but perceive that such Creatures are of the same Nature with themselves such Notions must from the Constitution of their Nature move them to somewhat a like affection towards them as towards themselves But I shall here avoid all Controversies concerning the Knowledge of Brutes or which way their Affections are moved by their Imaginations and shall only suppose That their Imagination excites their Passions and that these Passions do likewise often produce the like Motions or Inclinations in their fellow Animals From whence I collect That this Similitude of Nature does highly conduce to the procuring of Benevolence or Concord amongst those of the same kind unless there be some unaccountable Antipathy or Dissimilitude of Disposition which may happen to excite Enmity or Discord between them which yet not often happens Whence it follows That Animals as long as they are in their Right Senses and are mindful of themselves cannot forget others of the same kind since under the same Idea's by which they conceive their own Nature and the Necessities thereof they cannot but have an Idea of that of others of the same Species with themselves and must also be sensible that such Animals being urged by the like Appetites of Hunger and Thirst as themselves are thereby moved to seek Food when hungry or thirsty and cannot but be also sensible that it is highly grateful to them when the use of these Necessaries is left free and undisturbed or else is administred to them by others or that they are any ways assisted by them in the obtaining them § 11. But since Idea's of this sort do constantly spring in the Minds of Animals as also produce perpetual motions to love or Good-will arising necessarily from this similitude of Nature it also follows that they never so far deviate from their natural state as when through Madness or any other violent Appetite or Passion they act contrary to these first and most natural Dictates as all Men grant it to be a preternatural Disease in a Dog when seized with Madness he bites all other Dogs he meets with or when a Sow through a depraved Appetite eats her own Pigs Nor indeed can I see any reason why all other kinds of inordinate Passions which disturb the natural Disposition of an Animal so as to make it do extravagant Actions and hurtful to its own Species without any just Cause such as Anger and vehement Envy often times produce may not be justly esteemed as preternatural Distempers of the Blood or Brain very like to that of a mad Dog for there often appears in those that are transported with these Passions all the Symptoms of those Diseases that proceed from an overflowing of Choler or a violent effervescence of the Blood such as an icterial blackness of the Face paralytick Tremblings and other Signs well enough known to Physicians Nor is an immoderate needless Fear of Animals of the same kind to be less reckoned among such Diseases since it is not only preternatural or besides their Constitution when in Health but doth likewise as well as other Diseases destroy the Body by driving them into an immoderate Sadness unseasonable Solitude and Watchings with other Symptoms of predominant Melancholy whence an untimely Death is often accelerated Neither can there be any Mean or End put to this unreasonable Fear when once the Mind is touch'd and infected with a false Imagination that all other Men design to kill and destroy them which Madness is very like that of those who being bitten by a mad Dog are afraid of Water and all Liquids though they cannot live without them of which I have met with a famous Example in the French Chronicles of King Charles VI. who being seized with a violent apprehension that all his Servants were bribed by his Son the Dauphin to poison him did quite abstain from all Food 'till at last he died as truly of Hunger as Fear § 12. And it is evident and Mr. H. himself confesses it that Men as well as other sociable Animals do more or less delight in the society of each other of the same kind as may be observed from those signs of Joy and Satisfaction which they express when they meet after any long absence But since it is as plain that the Causes of this Association and Agreement proceed from the intrinseck Nature of the Creatures and are no other than those by which the Blood Spirits and Nerves are continued and preserved in a due and healthy state it as evidently follows That the Safety and Preservation of each of them cannot be separated from a Propension at least to a friendly Association with those of their own kind so that though they sometimes quarrel about the same Meat or Female yet this does not any ways cross or contradict this great End of Nature of procuring the Common Good of the Universe but is rather in order to it viz. when the Desire of Food in order to their own Preservation or Lust to propagate their Species prompts them to fight and sometimes to destroy each other the time of which Contention is yet but small in comparison of the greater part of their Lives in which they are observed to live in peace And that all Animals are determin'd by Nature to prosecute and endeavour the Common Good of their own Species by the same Causes that preserve the Lives of each of them in particular appears from the great Love and Kindness which Creatures of the same Species but of different Sexes express towards each other and by virtue of which they perform the Act of Generation so highly grateful and pleasing to each other and thereby propagate their Off-spring which when brought forth they love and defend as part of themselves unless some unusual Distemper intervene which may sometimes disturb or change these natural Propensions as when Sows or Rabbets eat or destroy their young ones which happening but seldom is rather to be accounted among the Diseases of the Brain or Distempers of the Appetite than to be ascribed to their natural State or Constitution and does no more contradict this general Law of Nature than the ascent of Water in a Pump does oppose that general Rule of the constant descent of heavy Bodies So that we may for all that affirm That the Procreation of their young and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural Affection they have for them and desire of breeding them up 'till they are able to shift for themselves are seldom or never separated for Preservation is but as it were the Generation of the same Creature still continued So that the same natural Causes excite Animals to the one as well as the other But
it is evident That their Off-spring can neither be generated or preserved unless those of different Sexes do for some time maintain Peace and a Co-habitation with each other which in many others of them continues much longer than the bare time of Generation viz. for the whole season of Coupling and Breeding up of their young ones and in divers others as Doves Pigeons c. This Affection continues like Marriage as long as their Lives And that Creatures are excited to generate their like from the same natural Causes for which their own Preservation is procured appears from this anatomical Observation that part of the same nutritious Juice passes into the Nourishment of the Body and the rest to the Propagation of Seed and the whole Circulation of the Blood with the Causes that produce and promote it as the muscular force of the Heart and that strange and wonderful Artifice of the Valves in the Veins do by one and the same Action serve for the particular Nutrition of the Animal and also perform the more publick Duty of Propagation of the Species whilst it does at the same time send down part of that matter to the Spermatick Vessels out of which the Seed is produced § 13. But leaving the nicer Disquisition of these anatomical Observations to Naturalists and Physicians I shall only add this one Observation That it is evident that all Animals are by these means impelled to the Love of those of a different Sex and also of their own Off-spring and so are brought to impart some of that Self-love with which they are first endued to others of their own kind from an irresistible instinct of Nature And hence it is truly observed of Men That after they are married and have got Children they are more prone to and sollicitous after Peace than before but that this desire of Propagation disposes Men to a greater Affection towards those of the Female Sex is so evident that it needs no proof But since Mr. H. and others of his Opinion do grant these Observations concerning the natural Propensions of Creatures to be true but are wont to evade them by affirming That they only proceed from the sole Love of their own Pleasure and Satisfaction and that all the Actions proceeding from thence tend to no higher end than the Love and Preservation of themselves as I do not in this part of the Discourse intend to dispute so have I not omitted to answer this Objection in the last Chapter which is designed on purpose for answering all those Objections that can well be made against our Definition of the Law of Nature § 14. The last general Observation to be drawn from the Nature of Living Creatures may be taken from that Sweetness and Pleasure they take and enjoy in those Actions and Passions that tend to the Common Good of their own Kind since it is very well known to Naturalists that in those sweeter Passions of Love Desire Hope Joy especially when employed about any great Good towards others the vital Motions of the Blood and Heart are then highly helped and promoted So that the Veins and Arteries are filled with a milder and nobler Juice whilst brisker and more active Spirits are thereby generated and the Circulation of the Blood and consequently all the other animal Functions are more easily and nimbly performed So that by those very Affections by which they do good to Animals of their own Kind they themselves are also satisfied and delighted and as far as they feel this naturally rooted in their very Natures they must needs incline to these Affections so highly conducing to their own Happiness and Preservation whereas on the contrary in Hatred Envy Fear and that Sadness and Ill-humour which necessarily springs from those sour and immoderate Passions the Circulation of the Blood is obstructed and the Heart rendred more heavy and unapt to motion So that it thereby expels the Blood with greater difficulty in its Systole from whence proceeds meagerness and paleness of the Countenance with innumerable Inconveniencies to the whole Oeconomy of the Body but chiefly in the Functions of the Brain and Nerves such as are those Diseases which are attributed to the Spleen deep Melancholy and Discontent But these things being rather of a medicinal Consideration I shall but only just mention them though the Writings of Physicians may yield us divers Examples of such who have hastened their own Fate through immoderate Envy and Regret that they could not satisfie their Malice or Revenge of which I may chance to give you a taste when I come to consider the Sanction of the Law of Nature by Punishments proceeding from the undue and immoderate exercise of those Passions § 15. But as Mr. H. and his Disciples cannot deny these Natural Propensions in Brute Creatures towards mutual Concord so they have no other way to evade these Instances but by supposing some things in Man's Nature that render him worse Natur'd and more unmanageable than Bears Wolves c. That so being naturally in a perpetual state of War they can no way be kept from destroying each other but by some Common Supreme Power set over them to keep them all in awe which Arguments and the Answers to them since by their length they would too much perplex the Connexion of this Discourse I shall refer you to the Second part wherein I hope I have made it appear that there is nothing in Man's Nature considered as an Animal that ought to be governed by right Reason and in which alone he excels other Creatures that can lay any necessity upon him of being more fierce and unsociable than Brutes § 16. Having now dispatched these common and easie Observations concerning Man considered as a meer Body and also such as concern his Nature as an Animal tending to prove that the endeavour of the Common Good of his own Species was one great End and Design of God in His Creation I come in the next place to consider those particulars in which the Nature of Man excels that of Brutes and whereby he is rendred much more capable than they of promoting and performing this great End viz. the Common Good of Rational Agents which I shall divide into two Heads either those belonging to the Body or else to the Soul or Mind as to the former though there are divers Anatomical Observations made by curious Anatomists and Learned Physicians concerning the differences between the Constitution of the inward parts or vessels in Men and Brutes yet I shall take notice of no more than what are absolutely necessary to our purpose and which may serve to shew what are the natural Causes of that Excellency and Superiority that is commonly found in Humane Intellects above those of Brutes The first of which Observations may be drawn from the large quantity of brains which is found in Humane Bodies and which bears a much greater proportion in respect of their bulk than in any other Creatures for though the weight
Example than Nature I desire them to shew me any Nation in the World so barbarous that doth not go upon two Legs as well as we And though Children 't is true before they can go must crawl yet it is not upon their Hands and Feet but Knees For a Man's Legs as is notorious to Anatomists are so much longer than his Arms and are likewise so set on that they cannot be brought to move in Right-Angles with the Arms or Fore-legs as in Brutes And though I grant that some Beasts as Apes Monkeys and Bears can sometimes go upon their Hind-feet yet is not this constant but as soon as the present Necessity is over they soon return to their natural posture To conclude I think I may leave it to any indifferent Reader to judge whether from all these natural Observations from the Frame of Humane Bodies and the Nature of their Passions it doth not evidently appear That Man's Happiness and Subsistence in this Life was not designed by GOD to depend upon his own particular sensual Pleasure or the meer satisfaction of his present Appetites and Passions restrained to himself without any Consideration of others of his own Kind but was rather intended for the Common Good and Preservation of the whole Species of Mankind § 20. Having now dispatched those natural Observations that may be drawn from the Constitution or Frame of Man's Body in order to the rendring him capable of serving the Common Good in the propagation of his Species I shall proceed to the next Head before laid down viz. those Excellencies or Prerogatives of the Humane Soul or Mind and in which he excels all other Creatures And in the first place Mr. H. very well observes That it is peculiar to the Nature of Man to be inquisitive into the Causes of the Events they see and that upon the sight of any thing that hath a beginning to judge also that it had a Cause which determined the same to begin when it did And also whereas there is no other Felicity amongst Beasts but the enjoying their daily Food Ease and Lust as having little or no foresight of the time to come for want of Observation and Memory of the Order Consequence and Dependance of the Things they see Man alone observes how one Event hath been produced by another and therein remembers the Antecedence and Consequence Whence he certainly must be endued with a larger Capacity for observing the natures of Things without himself and is also able to make more curious and exact Searches into their Causes and Effects than the most sagacious Brutes who though they are endued with some few Appetites or Inclinations towards those Things that are necessary for their Preservation and an Aversion for others that are hurtful to them yet this seems to proceed from some natural instinct or impression stampt by GOD on their very Natures and not from Reason or Deliberation As young Wild-Ducks they say will run away from a Man as soon as they are hatch'd and Chickens know the Kite though they never saw her before and this not from any Experience or Rational Deduction But as for Man it is his Faculty alone to proceed from some known Principles to draw Rational Deductions or Conclusions which were not known before The exercise of which Faculty we call Right Reason or Ratiocination which though I grant is not born with him and so is not a Property belonging to him as a meer Animal since we see Children 'till they come to some Years and Fools and mad Folks act without it so long as they live yet is it not therefore Artificial as some would have it since all Persons of Years of Discretion and who will give themselves leisure to think may attain to a sufficient degree of it for the well-Government of their Actions in order to their own Preservation and the discovering that Duty they owe to GOD and the rest of Mankind Which Notions being peculiar to Man and also common to the greater part of Mankind either from Men's own particular Observations or Rational Deductions or else from the Instructions of others who themselves first found out such Rational Conclusions and taught them to their Children or Scholars with their first Elements of Speech come in process of time having forgot when those early Notions were first instill'd into them to be taken for connate Idea's So that I doubt they have been by too many who have not well considered their Original mistaken for Idea's or Notions impressed by GOD upon their Souls But leaving this of which others have said enough it cannot be denied but that from this Faculty of deducing Effects from their Causes Man hath been always able to find out sufficient Remedies for his own natural Weakness by the Invention of several Arts such as Physick and Chyrurgery for his Preservation and Cure when sick or hurt And also those of a more publick Nature such are the Knowledge of Policies or the well-Government of Common-weals of Navigation Warfare or the Art Military for his Happiness and defence as a Sociable Creature So that though Man is born naked and without those natural defences and Weapons with which divers Brutes are furnished by Nature yet by the power of this Faculty he is able not only much better to secure himself from the violence and injury of the Weather by providing himself with Cloths Houses and Victuals before-hand since Nature hath not made him to live like Beasts upon those Fruits of the Earth which it spontaneously produces but can also tame subdue and kill the strongest fiercest and cunningest Brutes and make them subservient to those Ends and Designs for which he pleases to employ them So likewise from this Faculty of Judging of Consequences from their Antecedents and foreseeing the Probability or Improbability of future Events he thereby distinguishes between real and apparent Goods that is between such Things that may please for the present and do afterwards hurt him and those which though they may seem displeasing for a time yet may after do him a greater Benefit which Principles since they contain Foundations of all Morality and the Laws of Nature which we now treat of it will not be amiss here particularly to set down as the Grounds of what I have to say on this Subject § 21. First It hath been already proved That every Animal is endued with a Natural Principle whereby it is necessarily inclined to promote his own Preservation and Well-being yet not excluding that of others of their own Kind that therefore which most conduces to this end is called a natural Good and on the contrary that which is apt to obstruct and hinder it is evil Among which Goods and Evils there are several kinds or degrees according as Things are endued with more or less fitness or power to promote or hinder this End All which may be reduced to these plain Maxims or Propositions as I have taken them out of Dr. Moor's Enchiridion
Subject of the Law of Nature The first is freedom in Actions or the power of doing or forbearing any Action which does not only consist in indifferent things as when a Man of two different Objects chuses which of them he pleases but is also able to chuse a greater Good before a less and does likewise often preferr though unjustly a present less Good grateful to his Senses before a greater Good approved of by his Reason yet however it cannot be denyed but that Man by the power of his Reason is able to move and excite his Passions of Love and Pity when he sees Objects that require his help and assistance Nay can also by deliberation command and over-rule those domineering Passions of Lust Anger and Revenge c. When they happen to prompt him to Actions that are contrary to his own true Good and that of the rest of Mankind And lastly Man being capable to comprehend all particular goods and to add them together into one Sum viz. the Common and General Good of Rationals as the best and most noble End he can imploy himself about is also able to divert his thoughts from his own private pleasure and profit alone and fix them upon the care of his Relations and Friends or the more publick Good of his Country And though I grant it is difficult exactly to explain after what manner we exert this Faculty since the Nature and Actings of the Rational Soul are very abstruse yet I appeal to every Man 's own Heart whether he does not find in himself not only a Liberty to do or forbear indifferent Actions such as going abroad or staying at home but likewise such as are certainly better by a Rational estimate if he will but give himself time to consider and weigh the Nature and Consequence of them or else to what purpose is he sorry Or why does he repent the having done any foolish wicked or rash Action Since if all Actions were absolutely necessary it were as idle and insignificant as if he should be sorry that he were not made a Prince rather than a private Person or instead of a Prince that he was not an Angel So that certainly God would not then have endued Man with these two Properties peculiar to him viz. That of Conscience or a Reflection upon the Good or Evil of his own Actions and that of Repentance or Sorrow for having done amiss altogether in vain since both were needless if all Actions were a-like necessitated § 28. But the last and highest Faculty and whereby Man's Nature is chiefly distinguished from that of Brutes is when by the force of his Reason acting by the method and means here describ'd he becomes sensible of the existence Providence and other Perfections of the Deity from whence we may inferr that it is highly improbable if not impossible that this most Wise and Powerful Being which we call God should have Ordained any Power or Faculty in Man's Soul to no purpose If therefore He hath Endued Man alone of all his Creatures with the Knowledge of his own Existence and Attributes as far as is necessary for us Finite Creatures to conceive of them since I grant we are not able to comprehend Infinite Perfections it is not likely that God should endue Man alone with this so excellent a Knowledge for so useless an End as bare Speculation which alone is of no great Use or Benefit either to himself or the rest of Mankind whose Good and Happiness God chiefly intended in their Creation So that indeed we cannot apprehend any End more worthy his Divine Wisdom and Goodness in Creating us capable of these Idea's than what is Practical that is as it some way serves to direct our Actions as free and voluntary Agents towards the obtaining our own Good and Happiness Conjoyn'd with that of other Rational Beings Nor can any Actions render us more Happy than those that testifie our high Veneration of God's Infinite Perfections and a deep Sense of his Goodness towards us and whereby we may be disposed to an entire Obedience to his Laws whether Natural or Reveal'd whenever they are made known to us so that if it can be prov'd that these Dictates of right reason called the Laws of Nature derive their Authority from God as a Law-giver and were intended by Him for the Happiness and Preservation of Mankind and as Rules whereby he would have us direct all our Actions to this great End there can be no doubt but we lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe them and to prove this will be the next and greatest part of our task § 29. But before I undertake this it will not be amiss to Treat a little concerning those Attributes of the Deity as far as we can have any Idea's of them since from the consideration of the Nature of things and also of our own Humane Nature we cannot but be carry'd on to consider the Nature of God Himself and if from the Creation of the Universe we cannot but conceive Him of Infinite Power so from His Acting and Ordaining all things for the best and Worthiest End we may likewise affirm Him to be also Infinitely Wise and Good so that His Infinite Power always Acting for the best and wisest Ends is still so limitted by His Infinite Wisdom and Goodness that it cannot Act any thing destructive to the Common Good of Rational Beings of which Himself is the chief and from hence proceeds the certainty of the Law of Nature as also our perpetual Obligation to it For as I will not affirm that God could not have made the World and the Things therein after another manner than He hath done so since He hath made it in the Order we now find it this great Law of Nature of endeavouring and procuring the Common Good of Rational Beings is of the same Duration with that of the Universe it self and so consequently of constant and perpetual Obligation in respect of Himself and all those whom He hath Ordained to be His Subordinate means or Instruments to procure it especially as Men whom He hath made Conscious of our Duty and able to Co-operate with Him for this Great and Excellent End CHAP. III. Of the Law of NATURE and that it is reducible to one single Proposition which is Truly and Properly a LAW as containing all things necessary thereunto § 1. HAving already in the Two former Chapters from the Great Book of Nature that is as well that of things without us as of our selves in particular and of Mankind in general made several Observations for the proving of this Proposition That Man was Ordain'd by God for a Sociable Creature whose Being Preservation and Happiness was to depend upon the Assistance and Good-will of God his Creator as also those of his own kind I come in the next place to shew That every one is oblig'd to a return of the like Benevolence to others for we can by no means be better assured of
therein contain'd as far as consists with that frail and Mortal state wherein He hath Created them This Proposition hath already been made out in the First Part of this Discourse wherein I have proved that the Preservation and continuance of all the Species of Creatures and consequently of Mankind as one of them does wholly depend upon God's Providence And as for the Individuals or particular Persons since God's Knowledge is Infinite and extends even to the least things and also that of these Particulars each Species of Creatures is made up and consists It is likewise as evident that God designs their Good and Preservation as well as that of the whole kind though I grant He prefers the Good of the whole Species before that of the Individuals 2. It is the Will of God that all Men of sound Minds should be made conscious of this His intention of the Good and Preservation of Mankind and that they should operate as His Subordinate means or Instruments towards this great End Which I shall prove thus 1. It is evident that all Men of sound Minds have a notion of the Good and Happiness of others as well as of themselves 2dly That this Notion or Idea when truly pursued will at last extend it self to all Mankind for it can never stop short of it as long as it may still proceed farther and find new and fit Objects to work on every Individual Member of Mankind making a part of this Universal Idea 3. That this Notion of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings is not only possible to be performed but is also highly Rational and the greatest and noblest End we can imagine or propose to our selves as comprehending the Good and Happiness of the whole System of Rational Beings and is also true i. e. agreeable with the Divine Intellect which I thus make out these grounds being supposed § 4. First It is certain that all the truths our Minds are endued with or capable of are from God since whatever perfection is found in the effect must needs have been first more eminently in its Cause Therefore if the Knowledge of Truth be a perfection as doubtless it is it must be much more so in God the Original Cause thereof so that if this Idea of the Common Good of Rational Beings as the highest Good we Men are capable of knowing it being a clear and perfect though complext Idea drawn from the Nature of God and all other things and being a Collection of the Good and Happiness of the Deity and of all other Rational Agents it must be true and consequently from God And the Divine Intellect doth as certainly agree with our Idea's concerning it as it doth when we judge that the Base of an Equilateral Triangle is equal to either of the Crura or Legs Therefore this Idea of the Common Good is true and that it is also certain that all Truth is from God as likewise that He hath made us truly to understand that he Wills the Good and Happiness of Mankind it is likewise as certain that he would have us act as Rational Agents conscious of this His great design § 5. The Second Part of this Proposition viz. That God would have us Operate as his Instruments to this End will be likewise as clear when you consider what I have already said That God who hath made nothing in vain would not have endued us with an Idea of this Common Good as the greatest End we can propose our selves for mere Speculation but rather for some practical End in order to our own Good and Happiness with that of others especially since God hath placed it so much in our Power to promote and procure this Common Good since as far as we endeavour the Good and Happiness of particular Persons we do so far contribute our share to that of Mankind considered as one aggregate Body Thus whatsoever does good to any one Member does so far benefit the whole Body and the Good and Happiness of an aggregate Body consisting of divers distinct Members consists in that of each of its parts So then if God intends the End viz. the Common Good of Mankind as I have already proved he designs likewise the means to produce it Nor can there be any better means or fitter Instruments for this End than the joint Endeavours of all Men expressed by all the Acts of Benevolence and Kindness towards each other since it is certain as I said before that Men can contribute more to the Hurt or Benefit of each other than all the rest of the Creatures put together Therefore as God hath designed the End and ordained sufficient means to produce it viz. Men's kind and benevolent Actions so it is as evident That he will make use of Men as the necessary means for this End Tho' I grant he hath ordained us to operate not only as mechanick Causes but rather as free and voluntary Agents to produce it that is as true Subjects to this Law of Nature Thus by the same steps that we arrive at the knowledge of God the Supreme Being we are likewise brought to an acknowledgment of this his great Design of the Common Good of Rational Beings And if from all the wonderful Observations and curious Contrivances observed in this last Chapter drawn from the Nature of Things and Mankind we cannot but conclude That they were so disposed by a most Wise Intelligent Being towards this great End And the very same appearances that discover these Things must likewise declare his Intention of making use of us men as necessary means thereunto § 7. The last Proposition for the proving this Description of the Law of Nature to be true is this That GOD having made this Discovery of his Will unto us we thereupon lie under a sufficient Obligation to observe this great Law of endeavouring this Common Good To prove which I first suppose that Obligation to an Action enjoyned by the natural Law is the necessary and constant effect thereof upon every Person subject to it and that this immediately results from its own Nature this Law being always just and right as the Will of GOD the Legislator is from whence it proceeds So that I understand Obligation to Active Obedience to be the immediate effect of this Law yet that it primarily flows from that Will of GOD which ordained this Law and made Man a Creature subject to it as Heat in us is the immediate Effect or Action of Fire upon us but originally both the Fire and Heat is from the first Cause Now there is no legal Liberty left us in the case of natural Laws to chuse whether we will be obliged to the Actions therein commanded or rather will submit to the Punishment attending the Violation thereof and although our natural Liberty of Will be not destroyed thereby yet we have no Right left us to determine our selves otherwise than natural Law directs because all Moral Truth or Rectitude is comprehended
me if I think fit unless he is endued with sufficient Power to vindicate the Neglect or Contempt of his Authority Therefore the strictest Sanction which any Soveraign Power can give unto its Laws is when it is not only able but hath also sufficiently declared That it will conferr a sufficient share of good Things or Rewards for so doing and of Evils or Punishments upon any breach or neglect of its Commands So though I grant the whole force of this Obligation is properly resolved into the Will of the Legislator or those to whom the Custody of these Laws are committed all which are included in this Law of Nature since we find God commanding it to whom we ought to yield absolute Obedience though not in Right of his irresistible Power alone but rather as he hath by his Eternal Wisdom and Goodness in his Creation and Preservation of us an absolute Dominion over and an undoubted Right to Command us and consequently we are obliged to yield Obedience to his Laws as they are not only highly reasonable being ordained for the Common Good of Rationals but are also established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments But since the former seem more plainly declared to Mankind and are likewise more agreeable to our Rational Nature which should rather delight to be allured by Rewards than terrified by Punishments I shall first begin with the natural Rewards annexed to the Observation of this great Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good Which may be divided into Internal or External that is either in relation to the Soul alone or to the Body and the Soul joyntly considered judice to his Health do so much indulge his Genius as to keep a Table above his Estate and thereby become unable to provide for his Family or to contribute to the publick charges of the Commonweal he is highly guilty of Intemperance though perhaps he may do it without any prejudice to his Health § 18. And as for that other sort of Temperance called Chastity or Continence I need not farther to declare how much the Common Good and Happiness of Mankind depend upon it having already shewn divers of those Evils and Inconveniencies that do necessarily follow the contrary Vices I shall only add That it is sufficient that the commission of this Offence of Incontinence makes a Man guilty of another's Sin as well as his own Therefore I define Chastity to be the abstaining from all inordinate or forbidden Lusts in order to the Common Good or for the propagation of Mankind and therefore is not only confined to the bare forbidding of Fornication but also extends it self to that moral Obligation or Contract which we call Marriage So that out of a consideration of this great End those promiscuous Copulations between Brothers and Sisters and divers other near Relations which upon the first Peopling of the World were lawful because then necessary for the propagation of Mankind are now for the same Reason become unlawful since without an abhorrence of this Copulation between Brothers and Sisters it were hard if not impossible that the Chastity of such young Persons conversing so constantly and intimately together from their youth should be otherwise preserved without an early prepossession of the horrour of such promiscuous Copulations And hence also I suppose That Natural Reason taught most Nations after Mankind began to be multiplied upon the Earth and the memory of their first original Relation they had to each other to be forgotten to prohibit Marriage between near Relations that by this means new Friendships and stricter Bonds of Amity should be contracted between Families and Persons not nearly related in Blood from whence a larger diffusion of Friendship and Kindness proceeding from this Relation might be spread amongst Persons not only of the same Commonweal but of divers Nations and also that those Factions and Enmities which would often happen between particular Men and Families were they only to marry into their own Clan or Tribe may be prevented or if begun may by fresh Alliances be reconciled and taken away So that it is evident That the Reason of this Vertue of Chastity or Continence can no way be truly explained or understood without a true knowledge of the End for which it was ordained viz. the Common Peace Happiness and Preservation of Mankind § 19. I shall only add somewhat more concerning that other sort of Temperance relating to our seeking after and acquiring those outward Goods often conducing though not absolutely necessary to our Well being viz. Riches and Honour and therefore the same general Law which limits our Love towards our selves in order to the Common Good ought also from the same Consideration to limit and regulate our Desires both in acquiring and keeping these Advantages and therefore they are to be sought for to no other End than as they may render us more capable of promoting the great End above-mentioned and to which they ought always to be subordinate The former of these Vertues relating to Riches is called Moderation which is a limitted Care in acquiring and keeping Riches of which I need speak no farther having sufficiently shewn the Measure and Reason of it when I defined Liberality and Frugality with their opposite Vices The other sort of Temperance relating to Honours is called Modesty and may be defined a Justice towards our selves in a reasonable Desire of Honours in order to the Common Good and therefore consists in a due Mediocrity as well in desiring Honours as avoiding Infamy and this Vertue as it curbs the Desire from seeking higher Things than the Person really deserves or may well pretend to in order to this great End is called Humility which is a low or true esteem of a Man's self or personal Merits But as this Desire of the Common Good often elevates the Mind to the performing of great and noble Actions whereby he may acquire the highest Honours it is then called Magnanimity and therefore the Magnanimous is still supposed to be endued with perfect Vertue and a most large Desire of the Common Good of Mankind as believing he hath reason to judge himself worthy of any Honour that he can justly pretend to And I suppose every Man is sensible That it is a part of the same Vertue not only to seek for true Honour but also to take care to preserve it when it is obtained And from the Consideration of these Vertues the contrary Vices are more easily understood for Pride is directly opposite both to Magnanimity and Humility shewing it self in a preposterous Ambition foolish Arrogance or Vain-glory and so Pusillanimity or meanness of Spirit is directly contrary to Magnanimity § 20. Thus we have run through almost all the particular Vertues and do still find in each of them a constant Respect or Tendency to the Common Good of Mankind So that whether they regard our selves or others the same great End is still intended by God the most Wife Legislator And this Law being thus
established there is therein contained the largest and most diffusive Society between divers Nations or Commonweals and the truest Love and Benevolence between all the Members of the same Commonweal as also between particular Families So that there may be hence demonstrated and determined the certain Rules and Measures of true Piety towards God as distinguish'd from Impiety and Superstition and also of all other Vertues towards Men which must be first truly known and applied to their right Objects that the Names of these Vertues when falsly imposed on Actions contrary to the Laws of God and Nature may not deceive us For it is hence evident That all the parts of universal Justice and Benevolence viz. all the particular Vertues contained under them are only commanded in order to this Common Good because it is manifest by Experience That such Just and Benevolent Actions are always endued with a natural Power of procuring and promoting the Common Peace and Happiness of divers Nations and Commonweals as also of lesser Societies and particular Persons of all which considered in their due order and subordination to each other this Common Good of Mankind is made up and consists § 21. And farther it may be hence clearly shewn what is that Right Reason by which every prudent Man ought to prescribe to himself a just Mediocrity in all his moral Actions for it only consists in practical Propositions proposing or declaring to us this great End and also shewing us all the means in our Power whereby we may attain it which are those that in the first place prescribe the Rules of Piety and Divine Worship both private and publick 2. Those that concern the Society and Commerce of divers Nations and Commonweals 3. All positive Laws whether Civil or Domestick tending to the Good of the Civil Society wherein we live 4. True and rational Conclusions drawn from Knowledge or Experience either of our selves or others concerning the natural Efficacy of Things and Actions all which are at last resolved into the natural Power of such Humane Actions as may either benefit or hurt Mankind considered apart or in an aggregate Body as in a Family or Nation since Experience doth not with less certainty teach us what kind of Actions are beneficial or hurtful to Mankind then it shews what sort of Diet will either nourish or destroy us Nor is it more difficult to understand the Truth of this Proposition That a right or equal Distribution of all Things necessary for Life is requisite to the Common Good and Happiness of Mankind than it is to know in Physick That it is necessary for the Life and Health of an Animal that a due proportion of Nourishment be equally distributed to all its Parts or Members both which Truths are grounded on the same natural Principles viz. That the same Things which preserve the whole do also preserve all its parts and vice versa the same Things which preserve all the Parts or Members do likewise serve to the Conservation of the whole which being evident from true Principles is a Science taught by Experience drawn from the Nature of Things § 22. And thâ—â— from the immutable Efficacy of Corporeal Causes of this sort for the production of their Effects on all Humane Bodies depends all the Certainty and Knowledge of Natural Philosophy and Physick So likewise from their immutable Influence or Powers on Humane Actions for the Conservation of particular Persons Families and Commonweals proceeds all the Certainty of those practical Propositions called Natural Laws which constitute Moral Philosophy shewing and determining the Nature of all Vertues and Vices Nor is that variety of Actions which may be prescribed to Persons in distinct Families or Commonweals and under various Circumstances of Life more repugnant to the constant Care of preserving all the Parts or Members which contribute to this great End than the diversity of Diety and ways of living peculiar to divers Climates Ages or Constitutions of Men's Bodies are to the constant Care that all Men have of preserving their own Lives and Healths according to the several Necessities of their Natures For as in these we cannot by doing whatever we will promote this End but Nature hath put some limits thereunto although our weak Understandings cannot attain to a nice or mathematical exactness in assigning them as we may live long and healthfully enough without weighing our Meat and Drink like Lessius so we may likewise procure the Common Good as far as lies in our Power although we do not always perform that which is absolutely or simply best in all Cases it is as much as God the Legislator requires if we truly endeavour it and contribute as far as we are able unto this great End § 23. In the last place I shall here repeat what I have before laid down That this Common Good of Rationals as it is a Collection of all natural Goods and the greatest of all others so it is the true Standard of all other Goods either natural or moral So that by our comparing them with this we may truly determine whether they are greater or less than each other and so whether they are principally to be desired and sought after or to be postponed to other greater Goods Likewise the same measure where the proportion of these Goods is taken gives us a true estimate of all the contrary Evils and so shews us what is more or less to be avoided or repented of § 24. We may also hence learn what degrees of Passions or Affections are lawful for it is certain That only such a proportion of Affections are required as are congruous to our Rational Nature and exactly answering the true Estimate of those good or evil Things by which they are excited but since the Government of our Appetites and Passions is a thing of so great moment as that on which all our Vertue and Happiness as far as it is in our Power depends which Government proceeds from our knowledge of a true measure of all Goods and Evils according to which they are to be judged therefore I shall be the larger in explaining what I have a little before laid down viz. That the Common Good ought to be the Standard of all our Affections and Passions as being so ordained by God and determined by the Nature of Things which is evident in that we have demonstrated this Common Good to be that great End to whose prosecution all Men are naturally obliged by the Will of God as a Legislator who must have given us the knowledge of any thing as Good or Evil to little purpose unless he had also given us a Rule by which we might judge of the several measures or degrees of this Goodness So that this Common Good being once established as a certain Measure or Standard for this End the Good of each particular Person will bear such a proportion to that of the whole Body of Rationals as the Soundness of any one Member does to the
but would also with great ease and certainty have taught him his duty towards himself and others without puting him to the trouble and pains of discovering his Existence and all those Moral Duties that depend upon it by so tedious a Method as I have here proposed which every man hath not time to inquire into nor perhaps Faculties strong enough to make such rational Conclusions or Deductions from the Nature of God and other things for the understanding of the Laws of Nature as we have here laid down and therefore that God who doth all things by the best and easiest means hath imprest all the Notions or Ideas of Good and Evil upon mens Souls § 2. To which Objection I need return no other Answer than what is already made by the Author of the Essay concerning Human Vnderstanding so often cited by me I shall therefore give it to you in his own words Book I. chap. 4. § 12. This Argument if it be of any force will prove much more than those who use it in this case expect from it for if we may conclude That God hath done for men all that men shall judge is best for them because it is suitable for his Goodness so to do it will prove not only that God hath imprinted on the minds of men an Idea of himself but that he hath plainly stamped there in fair Characters all that men ought to know or believe of him and all that they ought to do in obedience to his Will and that he hath given them a Will and Affections conformable to it This no doubt every one will think is better for men than that they should in the dark grope after Knowledge as St. Paul tell us all Nations did after God Acts VIII 27 or than that their Wills should clash with their Vnderstandings and their Appetites cross their Duty The Romanists say 'T is best for men and so suitable to the Goodness of God that there should be an Infallible Iudge of Controversies on Earth and therefore there is one And I by the same reason say 'T is better for men that every man himself should be infallible I leave them to consider whether by the force of this Argument they shall think that every man is so I think it a very good Argument to say the infinitely Wise God hath made it so and therefore it is best But it seems to me a little too much confidence of our Wisdom to say I think it best and therefore God hath made it so and in the matter in hand it will be in vain to argue from such a Topick that God hath done so when certain Experience shews us that he hath not But the Goodness of God hath not been wanting to men without such original impressions of Knowledge or Ideas stamped on the mind since he hath furnished man with those Faculties which will serve for the sufficient discovery of all things requisite to the end of such a Being And I doubt not but to shew that a man by the right use of his natual Abilities may without any innate Principles attain to the knowledge of a God and other things that concern him God having endued man with those faculties of Knowledge which he hath was no more obliged by his Goodness to implant these innate Notions in his Mind than that having given him Reason Hands and Materials he should also build him Bridges or Houses which some People in the World however of good natural parts do either totally want or are but ill provided of as well as others are perhaps wholly without Ideas of God and Principles of Morality or at least have but very ill ones The reason in both Cases being this That they never employed their Parts Faculties and Powers industriously that way but contented themselves with the Opinions Fashions and things of their Countrey as they found them without looking any farther So far this Learned Author § 3. And as for what is farther urged the difficulties of the coming to the knowledge of the Being of a God by the method we propose if this were not plainly to be read from the great Book of the World St. Paul had in vain accused the general corruption of the Gentiles and their loss of the knowledge of the true God as he doth in the 1st of the Romans v. 19 20. 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 even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without exaus Where you may observe the Apostle here appeals to the common Reason of Mankind guided by things without us for the proof of the Existence of a Delty that they may be left without all excuse for this their wilful ignorance and neglect § 4. And as for the other part of the Objection concerning the difficulty and laboriousness of the Method we have here proposed for the discovery of the Law of Nature and the weakness of mens Faculties for the making such rational Conclusions from the Nature of Things I think that will signifie much less than the former if those that make this Objection will please to consider how obvious such Conclusions are and how easily made out in the Third Chapter of this Discourse where I particularly treat of the Natural Power of mens Minds in making Observations from the Nature of Things and reducing them into certain practical Propositions in order to their own future happiness in conjunction with that of others So that I think I may safely affirm that those who are not of Natural Parts sufficient to discover the Being of a God and a Providence as also to understand the Laws of Nature which depend upon that Knowledge If they did but duly apply their Minds to think upon their own Original and that of the World by true Principles of Reason must be either Fools or Madmen and so not capable Subjects of the Laws of Nature as not being to be reckoned amongst rational Creatures or else which is worse are down-right Atheists who to indulge their own unreasonable Lusts and Passions do absolutely deny all those clear Demonstrations from Natural Things which are brought for the proof of a Deity and of their Duty towards it § 5. And tho I grant that all men do not ordinarily reduce all the Laws of Nature into this one single Proposition of endeavouring this common good of Rational Beings or may not have an explicite Notion of it Yet this will not hinder but that they may for all that really pursue it tho' they may not have so large and perfect a knowledge of the grounds of their Duty as they would have if they were sensible of this Idea For if a man be but throughly convinced that he is not made for himself alone but that he ought to mind the good and preservation of others
with those of all other men and finding them to agree in the same Wants general Properties and desires of like things necessary for life and an aversion to others destructive to it we can thereby certainly determine what Things or Actions will conduce not only to our own happiness and preservation but to all others of our own Kind From whence there arises a clear Idea of the Common Good of Mankind since as I have already proved one peculiar Faculty of human Nature different from that of Beasts is to abstract universal Ideas from particular things and then to give general Names to those Ideas which though they are but Creatures of our own understanding and not existing out of our own Brains yet are for all that true Ideas of the general Natures of those things from whence they are taken and as for the general Names of them if there were not real notions in our minds agreeable to the nature of those things from whence they were taken and that before any Names imposed upon them they would indeed be non-sense or meer empty Sounds without any Ideas to support them But the before-cited Author of the Essay of Humane Vnderstanding Book II. Chap. 24. grants That the Mind hath a power to make complex collective Ideas of Substances which he so calls because such Ideas are made up of many particular Substances considered together as united into one Idea and which so joined are looked on as one v. g. the Idea of such a collection of men as make an Army though consisting of a great number of distinct Substances is as much one Idea as the Idea of a Man And the great collective Idea of all Bodies whatsoever signified by the name World is as much one Idea as the Idea of any the least particle of matter in it it sufficing to the unity of any Idea that it be considered as one Representation or Picture tho made up of never so many particulars And he likewise farther grants That it is not harder to conceive how an Army of Ten thousand men should make one Idea than how a Man should make one Idea it being as easie to the mind to unite into one the Idea of a great number of men to consider it as one as it is to unite into one particular all the distinct Ideas that make up the composition of a Man and consider them altogether as one Therefore I can see no reason why any man by considering the nature of all the Men in the World may not only have a true Idea of all Mankind but also of the things or means that may produce their common good or happiness as well as a General of an Army of 100000 men can have a true Idea of that collective Body of Men and order all things necessary for their common safety and preservation And if Mr. Hobs's Assertion be true That there is nothing universal but Names his beloved Sciences of Arithmetick and Geometry would also be false and uncertain since they only considering Numbers Lines and Figures in general and collecting universal Ideas from thence do raise true Rules or Axioms in those Sciences from those universal Ideas though there be nothing really existing in Nature out of our own Brains but Units and single bodies And therefore Mr. H. is mistaken when he will have nothing to have any real Existence in nature but single things as if our abstract Idea's of Universals were Nothing because they are not Bodies But if these general Idea's are true as agreeing with the things from whence they are taken it will also follow that they have a real existence and consequently may have Names given them whereby to signifie and represent them to our own minds and those of others we converse with So that whatsoever we find to contribute to the Preservation Happiness and Perfection of all the men we know or have heard of we may as certainly conclude to be naturally good for all Mankind and so a much greater good than that of any one particular Person which Mr. H. himself acknowledges in his Treatise De homine Chap. 11. § 14. where treating of the Degrees of Good which of them are greater or less he plainly declares that to be a greater good coeteris paribus which is so to more men than that which is so to fewer So that if the Rational and free use of a man's Will consists in its consent with that true judgment the Understanding makes concerning those things that agree in one Common Nature and if we can thereby truly judge or determine what things are necessary or beneficial for the Natures of all other men as well as our own I see no reason why we may not desire that they should also enjoy the like good things with our selves and likewise endeavour as far as lies in our power to procure it for them since it is also a Duty imposed upon us by God and that we lie under sufficient obligations to do it we have already proved In short This Common Good of Rationals being thus made known to us may very well be proposed as the end of all our Moral Actions and being the greatest we can desire or imagine the Understanding judging aright cannot but determine that this Knowledge and Desire will more conduce to the Happiness and Perfection of our Human Nature than that of any lesser Good So that if this be greater than any other Good we can come to the knowledge of it will likewise prove to be the greatest and noblest end men can propose to themselves And Mr. H. himself is also sometimes sensible of this Common Good when in the 31 Chap. of his Leviathan in the last Page he hath made in his Latin Translation this Addition That he doth not despair that this Doctrine of his being become more acceptable by custom will at length be received bono publico for the Common Good So that it seems he presages his Doctrine will come one day to be beneficial not only to one particular State or Commonwealth but for the Common Good of all men who are with him yet in the State of Nature And if Mr. H. hath so perfect a Notion of the Common Good of all Nations I think there will be no great difference but in Words between that and the Common Good which we maintain § 15. But to come to a conclusion I hope notwithstanding all that hath been objected to the contrary it hath been sufficiently made out that not only all the Moral Virtues are contained in and may be reduced to this one Principle Of endeavouring the Common Good of Rational Beings But that likewise all the Laws of Nature which are but the Exercise or Practice of these particular Vertues upon their due Objects may be also reduced into this single Proposition since they all of them respect either a man's Duty towards God by a dué worship of him or else towards himself in the exercise of Temperance c. or else
Mercy to those of a different Religion from themselves our Saviour teacheth them by that excellent Parable of the Traveller that fell amongst Thieves and was taken up and cured by the merciful Samaritan when the ill-natured Priest and Levite had passed him by saying to the Lawyer who had ask'd Who is my Neighbour Go thy ways and do thou likewise By which he plainly intimates That we ought to do all Acts of Charity and Benevolence to all persons that stand in need of them let their Nation or Religion be never so different from our own So that whosoever will but seriously consider the great end of our Saviour Christ's coming into the World and also the whole scope and design of his Doctrine will find that it was only to procure as well by his Example as Precepts the good and happiness of all Mankind For to what end else did he take upon him the Form of a Servant and endured a poor and miserable life with an ignominious Death but to procure everlasting happiness for all those that should truly believe in him Or to what other end were all those excellent Precepts so often given by Christ and his Apostles of loving one another And therefore St. Paul tells the Romans Chap. 13. v. 8. that he that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law And more fully in the last Chapter to the Galatians v. 14. For the Law is fulfilled in this one word even in this Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self And in his First Epistle to the Corinthians Cap. 13. he is very large and particular in setting forth the necessity and exalting the excellency of Charity above all the other Spiritual Graces without which he tells them If he had Faith so as to remove Mountains yet if he had not Charity he were nothing Now what is this Charity but an unfeigned love and good-will to all Mankind Ch. 2.17 And St. Iames tells us That Faith without Works is dead being alone And St. Iohn in his First Epistle makes the love of our Brethren that is of all men the great sign and demonstration of our love to God when he tells them that if a man says I love God and hateth his Brother he is a lyar for he that loveth not his Brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen And this Commandment we have from him That he who loveth God love his Brother also So that whoever will but consider what hath here been said cannot but acknowledge that this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel concerning the most intense love towards God and the most diffusive Charity towards Men doth not only far exceed all the Precepts of Philosophers but also the Revealed Law of Moses it self Now what can be the design of all these excellent Precepts but by all the Commands and Perswasions imaginable and by all the Promises of the most glorious Rewards and Threatnings of the most terrible and lasting Punishments to advance the Glory of God and to procure the Welfare and Happiness of the whole Race of Mankind § 19. To conclude Though I suppose the Law of Nature if duly observed where it hath pleased God to give men no other knowledge or discovery of his Will may yet give them a rational share of happiness not only in this Life but in that to come yet I hope no indifferent or rational Man but upon due consideration of the lapsed and depraved state of Humane Nature and how prone it is to be carried away by exorbitant Lusts and Passions contrary to the Dictates of right Reason and his own Conscience but must also acknowledge that it was a great demonstration of God's Goodness and Mercy to give us the most Glorious Light of his Gospel and to send his Blessed Son not only to instruct us but also to die for us Which great Mystery that in God's due time and according to his Promise may be speedily revealed to all Mankind we ought daily to make it our hearty Prayers to his Divine Majesty That every Heart may know and every Tongue confess That Iesus is both Lord and Christ who hath brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel The End of the First Part. THE HEADS OF THE SECOND PART BEING A Confutation of Mr. H's Principles THE Introduction Containing the Reasons why we have put these Answers to Mr. H's Principles into this Method Sect. 1. The Heads of the First Principle That Man is not a Creature born apt for Society His Reasons for it That a Man is not a Sociable Creature by Nature but Accident for otherwise we should love all men alike All Society proceeds from Self-interest this resolved into mutual Fear or else desire of Glory and Dominion over others Sect. 2. 1. Answer That these words born unapt for Society are equivocal since who doth not know how unapt Children and Fools are to understand the force of Compacts Mr. H. takes his whole measure of Humane Nature from those Passions that precede the use of Reason and Experience which are also natural as he himself confesses in another place Sect. 3. That is natural which every man when of years of Discretion either doth or may attain to Sect. 4. Answer to his 2d Argument concerning Interest Society though desired for a man 's own good or Interest doth not make it for all that less natural Sect. 5. Answer to his Argument from Fear not the cause of Natural but of Civil Society which we are not now treating of Sect. 6. Answer to his Instances from the Company he had kept which being some witty ill-natured men no standard can be taken from thence of the nature of all men Sect. 7. Answer to his Argument concerning Dominion No Man able by his own single Power to force all the rest of Mankind to submit to his Will Sect. 8. Mr. H. himself doth not deny but that men cannot subsist or live without Society though to evade this he consounds Natural with Civil Society the absurdity of which is exposed by shewing it to be besides the Question Sect. 9. The Heads of the Second Principle That all men are by nature equal His Argument proved from Mens mutual will and power of hurting each other and chiefly from the power which all men even the most weak have of taking away each others lives Sect. 1. Answer This equality though granted doth not prove that all men are by nature equal as to all things Sect. 2. The Heads of the Third Principle That there is a mutual will or desire in all men of hurting each other His Argument proposed That tho some men according to a natural Equality will allow to other men the same things as to themselves yet that the major part of men are not so modest but will arrogate to themselves honour above others or else will assault other mens Goods or Persons out of a false esteem of their own Power from thence arises a necessity of others defending
that proceeding from God and established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments it hath all the Conditions required to a Law That the defect of other Writers in not taking the like Method hath been the cause of Mr. H's and others falling into this Error This Law not being given in any Sâ—t form of Words no Objection against its certainty or plainness Sect. 2. This Law of Nature being to be collected from our own Natures and that of things is capable of being known even by persons born deaf and dumb Mr. H. acknowledges these Laws to be properly so as proceeding from God His allowing that those Laws oblige only to a desire or endeavour of the Mind that they should be observed a meer Evasion Answer to his Objection of the want of Rewards and Punishments he himself having obviated this by confessing in his Lev. that they are established by natural Rewards and Punishments If the Law of Nature is not properly a Law then there are no natural Rights properly so call'd Sect. 3. Answer to his main Reason That we are not obliged to external Acts for want of sufficient security That if this were a sufficient Objection then neither Civil Laws would oblige Divine Punishments as certain as Humane Sect. 4. That mens greatest Security consists in a strict observation of all the Laws of Nature Mr. H. in some places acknowledges That if we do not observe the Laws of Nature we shall fall into other Evils besides those that proceed from the violence of Men. Sect. 5. Two Reasons proposed shewing the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The one the Declaration of all Civil Sovereigns concerning mens Innocency till accused The other from Mr. H's own Concession of a much greater Insecurity that will follow from their non-observation viz. a War of all men against all which is the most miserable State of all others Sect. 6 7. The Heads of the Tenth Principle That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the will of the Civil Sovereign That this is but a consequence of his former Principle That nothing is good or evil in the state of Nature his Arguments for this Principle Because it proceeds from Civil Laws that every man should have distinct Rights to himself as also should not invade those of others it follows that these Precepts Thou shalt honour thy Parents Thou shalt not kill c. are Civil Laws and that the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things yet implicitely for the same Law commands all Compacts to be observed and that to yield obedience when obedience is due was covenanted at the Institution of the Commonwealth and therefore whatever Civil Sovereigns command concerning these things must be obeyed since they alone can appoint what shall be yours or anothers or what shall be Murther Theft c. Sect. 1. Nothing written by Mr. H. more wickedly or loosely nor wherein he more contradicts himself than in this Principle The main foundations of which are already destroyed No Compacts made at the Institution of any Commonwealth which can be of greater force than the Law of Nature The dreadful Consequences that will follow from the contrary Principle Mr. H. allowing even Idolatry it self to be lawful if commanded by the Supream Powers That the Secondary Laws of Nature can never contradict or alter those that are prior to them as more conducing to the Common Good though Civil Laws may restrain or enlarge several particular Instances His Example of the Lacedemonian Boys answered Sect. 2. A Concluding Instance in answer to this from that Law of ours against relieving wandring Beggars Sect. 3. Uncertain whether Mr. H. broached this dangerous Doctrine out of ignorance or design of flattering Civil Sovereigns yet that by this he endeavours to destroy all Vertue and Goodness in Princes and all obligation of Obedience in Subjects whenever they are strong enough to rebel Sect. 4. The Conclusion containing an Apology for the length of these Confutations Sect. 5. The Second Part Wherein the Moral Principles of Mr. Hobbs's De Cive Leviathan are fully Considered and Confuted INTRODUCTION § 1 THough perhaps it may not seem unnecessary after so much as hath been said to prove the certainty and constant obligation of the Law of Nature of endeavouring the Common Good of all Rational Beiâ—gs more particularly to confute the Principles of Epicurus and his Follower Mr. H. it being a true Maxim in other Sciences as well as Geometry Rectum est Index sui obliqui Yet since those Authors have not only poisoned the World with their pernicious Tenets but have also endeavoured to support them with the specious appearances of Reason and Argument it may be expected that we should say somewhat in answer to these Reasons and Arguments Mr. H. the Reviver of those Principles in this Age hath brought in his Book De Cive Leviathan to maintain and support them And therefore I have thought fit to add some Considerations and Confutations of them as far as they contradict the Principles we have here laid down and rather to put them here all together at the end than in the Body of our Treatise of the Law of Nature since there they would not only have interrupted the Coherence of the Discourse it self but would have also disturbed and taken off the minds of the ordinary Readers for whom I chiefly intend it from a due consideration of the truth and connexion of the things therein contained And therefore I have thought fit rather to cast them all together into a distinct part by themselves since if you are Master of that former Part of this Discourse you will easily perceive not only the Falshood and Absurdity of Mr. H's Principles but that it was from his Ignorance or Inconsideration of this great Principle of the Common Good of Rational Beings that he first fell into those Errors and made private Self-preservation not only the first motive which had been true enough but also the sole end of all Moral Actions which is altogether false and below the dignity not only of a Philosopher but a Man I have therefore gone through all his Moral Principles in order and as for his Politick ones if these are false they will need no other Confutation and I have reduced them into certain Heads or Propositions and have truly given you this Sum of Arguments that no man may find fault with me for misrepresenting his Opinions PRINCIPLE I. Man is not a Creature born apt for Society § 1. MR. H. in his Philosophical Elements or Treatise De Cive Chap. 1. § 2. lays down and maintains this Principle and gives certain specious Reasons for it which because they are somewhat tedious and divers of them very trivial I shall rather chuse to contract them than be at the trouble of transcribing all that he hath loosely enough laid down for the maintenance of this Assertion referring you if you doubt whether I rightly represent his meaning to the Author himself in the place
but those in the Second c. In answer to which I grant indeed that particular persons when they joyn with others in any Society or Company do usually consider some peculiar end either of Profit or Pleasure which may thence redound to themselves Yet doth it not therefore follow that Man is not a Creature designed by God for Society or that he is not obliged by the Laws of Nature or right Reason to be friendly and sociable even to those from whom no present advantage can be expected For tho' it be granted that men either from a peculiar agreement of dispositions or that they suppose they can sooner obtain some particular end or advantage in some mens Conversation than others and do therefore prefer such mens Company before others yet does not this prove That man is not naturally a Sociable Creature Since he himself grants That men can neither live comfortably nor be so much as bred up or preserved without the help and society of others Therefore if he is determined to the end viz. happiness and self-preservation he is likewise as necessarily determined to the means viz. Society And his inclination to this or that man's company more than others is no more an Argument against our Natures requiring Society than if I should argue That because I love Mutton better than Veal therefore it is not from my nature but only by accident that I am ordained to preserve my life by eating And as for the instances which he gives to let us see with what intent men meet together from what men do when they are met It is plain that Mr. H. here confounds that natural Society which is absolutely necessary for man's preservation with these particular Clubs or Companies which men keep for their greater pleasure or advantage And though I have already granted that some mens particular profit or pleasure may be promoted or increased by frequenting some mens Companies rather than others as suppose there be a greater agreement of Dispositions or that we have been more used to this or that man's Company by Education or long acquaintance c. And though it be likewise granted that a man does more frequent their Company among whom he finds most honour and profit Since every man may lawfully pursue his own pleasures and advantages if he knows rightly how to judge of it Yet this doth not at all contradict man's sociable nature provided the Common Bonds of Society be not broken and disturbed by any mans more particular Interests or Inclinations and God has not so designed us to good for others as that we should neglect all care of our selves but that this sociableness is therefore to be observed by mankind that by a mutual communication of humane assistances and other natural goods between divers persons we may more conveniently promote our own pleasure or advantage jointly with that of others Since a mutual love and benevolence is to be observed among men though not otherwise related to each other than by the common relation of Humanity and with whom we may preserve a sufficient concord by doing them good rather than hurt whenever it lies in our power And though a man when he joyns himself with some particular Company will in the first place consider his own pleasure or profit before that of his Companions Yet ought he not so to consult his private advantage as that the good of the Civil Society or of Mankind in general be thereby prejudiced by injuring any of its particular Members And a man as well in Natural as Moral and Civil Actions may propose his own pleasure or profit in the first place though he may also intend some higher or nobler end of his thus acting Thus a man who intends to marry may lawfully propose to himself his own pleasure and satisfaction though the great end of Marriage and which he may also chiefly intend be the propagation of Mankind So likewise a Master or Tutor that instructs others may lawfully propose to himself his own profit or advantage thereby though he may also ultimately intend the instruction of his Scholars or Pupils that is the Common Good of Mankind as the great end of his taking that Profession So likewise in Civil Societies or Commonwealths a man may propose to himself his own Security Profit or Honour as a reason why he bestows his time and labour or ventures his life in the service of the Publick And yet he may farther propose to himself the love of his Countrey or the good of the Common-wealth as the great End of his Actions § 6. So that it is to little purpose which Mr. H. alledges That the original of the greatest and most lasting Societies to wit Commonwealths did not proceed from mutual Good-will but mutual Fear the Word Fear being used for any fore-sight or precaution of a future Evil. For we are not here considering the original of Civil Societies but of that natural sociableness among men which we look upon as most necessary and agreeable to the nature of man though some particular men being also sensible how obnoxious they were to the Injuries of those who sought their own pleasure or profit without any consideration of the interest or good of others did to prevent them unite themselves together in that stricter League of Amity called Civil Society So that this Common Amity or Benevolence cannot be omitted to be first supposed even in the very constitution of Common wealths Since those who founded them must have been before united either by some natural relation and a mutual confidence in or benevolence towards each other although perhaps others might afterwards out of fear of their Power or a liking of their Government be compelled or allured to joyn or associate themseves with them § 7. But as for those Instances Mr. H. gives us of those that seek Society only to censure the Lives and Actions of other men thereby to gain Glory to themselves from the Follies or Infirmities of those they converse with Such sort of Conversation consisting for the most part of some idle ill-natured men who count themselves Wits and have little else to do but to speak ill of and censure others does not concern the major part of Mankind who needing each others Society for more necessary occasions have commonly other Business to discourse of when they meet § 8. As for the rest of those things he says That the Necessaries of life may be much better procured by dominion over than by the Society of others that is altogether false and precarious since no man by his own single strength and without the voluntary help or society of others could ever yet subdue and make Slaves of all other men he met with And therefore if any man ever increased his natural power or advantage over others it was not by vertue of his own sole power or strength but by mens deference to his Valour or Vertue when they chose him for their Head or Leader or
else that they followed him and obeyed his Commands as their Father or Grandfather out of reverence to his Wisdom or Gratitude for his Benefits § 9. To conclude He himself there objects that men cannot grow up or live contentedly without the society and assistance of others And therefore cannot deny but men desire the society of each other their Nature compelling them thereunto But to come off from this Objection he will have nothing called Society but Commonwealths which says he are not meer Meetings but Leagues for making of which Compacts are necessary And therefore still argues that Infants and those that are unexperienced are uncapable of them c. Upon which I shall only observe That Mr. H. imposes upon himself and others by confounding that first and most natural amity and sociableness of Persons of one and the same Family as of Husband and Wife Parents and Children c. towards each other with that artificial Society which proceeding wholly from Compacts we call a Commonwealth So likewise he imposes on his Readers in the use of the words Nature and Natural as I have partly shewn already for by these words is commonly understood either something that is by Nature inseparably proper to its subject as to a Fish to swim and other things are natural and proper to a Creature not as a meer Animal but as of such a Species and at such an Age as for a Man to go upon two Legs and speak Lastly It sometimes signifies an aptness in a Subject to receive some farther perfection by culture and discipline with which Nature intended it should be endued So the Earth is intended by Nature for the production of Vegetables yet it doth not naturally bring forth all Plants in all places alike without Plowing or Setting yet are not these Plants so sown or set less natural for all that So likewise I have already proved that whatever perfection we attain to by the power of our Reason or Experience it is not less natural notwithstanding PRINCIPLE II. All Men by Nature are equal § 1. WHich he thus undertakes to make out in the Chapter last cited § 3. The cause of mutual Fear consists partly in mens natural equality partly in their mutual Will of hurting from whence it happens that we are neither able to expect security from others nor yet afford it to our selves For if we consider Men grown up and take notice how frail the Frame of a Man's Body is which failing all his force strength and wisdom fails together with it and how easie it is for any the most weak to kill the strongest Man there is no reason that any man trusting in his own strength should suppose himself superior by Nature to others For those are equal who are able to do the like things against each other but those who can do the greatest thing that is take away life are able to do like or equal things to each other therefore all men are by nature equal that unequality which now is being introduced by Civil Laws § 2. Before I answer which I shall first make these Concessions and Limitations First I grant That all Civil unequality of â—â—rsons is introduced by Civil Laws 2 dly â—â—at there is also such a natural equality among Men that there is nothing which one man can arrogate to himself as a Man but by the same reason which he judges it fit or necessary for himself he must also judge it alike fit and necessary for another man who stands in like need of it Thus if Victuals Cloaths and Liberty are things necessary for his own being and preservation they are likewise equally necessary for the well-being and preservation of all other men and consequently that they have a like right to them from which natural equality proceeds that great Rule of the Law of Nature To do to others as we would have others do to us And in this sense I agree with him that all men are equal so that in this sense it is so far from being a cause of war or dissention among men that it rather perswades to amity and concord Yet doth not this equality hinder but that there is notwithstanding a natural unequality of strength or power amongst men both in body and mind since any man that doth but observe the great difference there is in both the strength and understanding of some persons above others but will grant that there is as great or greater difference between some men and others than there is between some Brutes supposing Apes or Elephants and men in understanding Yet does there not any natural equality follow from the Reason Mr. H. here gives us That those are equal that are able to do the like things to each other to wit take away their lives For besides that there are some born maimed and cripled or else so void of understanding as not to have either the will or ability to hurt or kill others and if a Coward and a stout man are to fight or a very weak man and a strong will any man say that they are an equal match And this Mr. H. tells us That it is easie for the weakest to kill the strongest man he grants it must either be by chance cunning or surprize I grant indeed it may happen by chance and yet this will not make the match to be equal any more than it is in Cockfighting where the Gamesters will lay five to one on such a Cock's side against another set down to fight with him and though perhaps the weaker Cock may happen to kill the stronger by a chance stroke yet no man will therefore affirm that both these Cocks were equal by nature the same may be said of Men. But it may be replied That there is a great difference between Men and Beasts since though Brutes cannot yet a Man weaker in body or mind than another he would be revenged of may join or combine with one as wise and strong as his Adversary and then they will be an equal Match in point of strength If this were a good Argument it would prove more or rather contrary to that for which it is designed for this weaker man may combine with one as strong and wise as the other and then the odds will be apparently on the weaker man's side But if I should grant the utmost that can be asked that both these mens wit and strength taken together are still but an equal match to the other may not this wiser and stronger man as well also combine with others as wise and strong as himself and then will not the unequality be much greater than it was before And as for cunning or surprize it signifies as little since the stronger man may be as cunning as the other and may have also as good luck in surprising him at unawares but it is indeed a very trivial Argument to prove this natural equality because those are equal that are able to do the like things to
things which any silly ill-bred Fellow may happen to do Since such quarrels do not proceed either from Nature or Reason but from foolish Customs and bad Education as appears in making giving the lie an affront which was not so till about an Age agone neither is among other Nations but us Europeans any occasion of a Quarrel Nor yet is there any necessity but that men may and often do differ from each other in opinion and words too without giving one another the lie or any just occasion of offence And therefore these are no sufficient grounds to raise a general Rule of the Natural state of all Mankind from the indiscretion or ill manners of some nay many men § 5. As for his last Reason from the desire of divers men at once to the same thing which cannot be decided without fighting In answer to this I grant this may be true amongst Brutes as also amongst brutish and unreasonable men But since God hath endued men with Reason either to divide the thing if it be capable of division or else to use it by turns where it is not where divers have an equal right in it or else to leave it wholly to the first occupant since every man hath a natural right to what he thus acquires as is fully proved in the precedent discourse Therefore granting mens Lusts and Passions do often encline them to War and contention yet are not they therefore determined or necessitated thereunto seeing God hath given Man Reason to foresee as also to prevent the evils of War and has likewise endued them with as strong Passions as Mr. H. acknowledges to incline them to peace as hath been more fully made out when we speak of the Natural State of Mankind Neither in the state of Nature hath God made so niggardly a distribution of things that no man can desire or make use of any thing necessary for life but presently another must start up to be his competitor for it Since if men lived according to right Reason and the necessities of Nature and still used the Fruits of the whole Earth in Common there would be yet left a sufficient stock to supply the Necessities of them all without coveting the Goods of others or taking away that they are already possessed of PRINCIPLE IV. That Nature hath given to every one a right to all things De Cive C. 1. § 10. § 1. THAT is as he explains it in a meer natural state or before men were obliged to each other by any Compacts it was lawful for every one to do all things whatsoever and against whomsoever it pleased him so to do and to possess use and enjoy all things which he would or could but Since whatsoever things any one would have they either seemed good for himself because he desires them and do either conduce to his own preservation or at least may seem to conduce to it But whether those things do really conduce to this end he supposes he hath in the former Article proved the Person himself to be sole judge So that those must be counted as necessary means which he judges as such And by the 7th Article aforegoing those things are done and enjoyed by the right of Nature which do necessarily conduce to the preservation of his own life and members Whence it follows to have and do all things in the state of Nature is lawful for all men and this is what is commonly said That Nature hath given all things to all men From whence also it is understood that in the state of nature Profit or utility is the measure of Right Which Argument in his Annotations to this Article he thus explains and contracts This is so to be understood that that which anyone may do in a meer natural state is injurious to no man Not that in such a state it is impossible to sin against God or to violate the Laws of Nature but injustice towards men supposes Human Laws which are not in the state of Nature But the truth of the proposition so understood is demonstrated to the mindful Reader in the foregoing Paragraphs But because in some cases the hardness of the Conclusion drives out the memory of the Premises he contracts the Argument and lays it thus to be seen at once By Art the 7th it is proved that every one hath a right of preserving himself and by Art the 8th Therefore the same person hath a right to use all means necessary thereunto But by Art the 9th Those means are necessary which he shall judge to be so Therefore the same person hath a right to have and possess all things which he shall judge necessary for his own preservation Therefore in the judgment of the doer that which is done either by Right or by Injury Therefore it is done by Right because in the state of Nature nothing is injurious I have made bold to add this last Clause from what went before because otherwise the Argument is imperfect Therefore it is evidently true That in a mere natural State every man hath a right to all things § 2. For the destroying of which Principle as also for the answering the Arguments which he brings to support it I shall in the first place observe That the Author's Conclusion which he makes from his Premises in his Annotations viz. That every man hath a right to do and possess all things which himself shall judge necessary for his own preservation is not the same which he draws from the same Premises in the Text viz. That every man hath a right to have and do all things in the state of Nature For indeed from his own Principles no other Conclusion can follow than what he hath now drawn from thence in his Annotation for no man in his right Senses ever yet judged that to have and do all things whatever was absolutely necessary for his preservation only that he had a right indefinitely to as many of them as he should judge necessary for this End 2 dly Neither ought a man in the state of Nature to propose the bare preservation of his own Life and Members as the only end of living since that may be enjoyed by those who are really very miserable as may be observed in such as labour under tedious and constant Infirmities or are condemned to the Mines or Gallies or suffer themselves to be carried away by any domineering or irrational Appetite or Passion And if the preservation of a man's Life and Members were the only ends of life then if another in the state of Nature should threaten to kill or maim him unless he would deny or blaspheme God or murther his Father it were upon this Principle lawful nay necessary for him so to do it being the only means by which he could preserve his life and Limbs 3 dly Neither doth any man's rash or false judgment that such a thing is necessary for his own preservation confer on him a right to that thing for then
God had given him a right to all things they should in any passion or rash and inconsiderate humour fancy necessary for that end tho it really tended to their destruction or that of other innocent men So that if a man should think the blood of his dearest Friend would cure him of some Distemper he lay under he might lawfully upon this Principle murther him if he could do it safely And then God should have given men a right of destroying themselves and others whenever they thought though falsly that it conduced to their preservation the satisfaction of their unreasonable Appetites or Humours since such an unlimited Right or rather License can be so far from conducing to any man's preservation that if any men should ever have gone about to put it in practice it would have long since produced not only their own destruction but that of all Mankind § 3. And if Mr. H. his own definition of right Reason be true Art 7th of this Chapter That it is a liberty of using a man's Faculties according to right Reason then certainly right Reason can never judge contradictory Propositions to be true as that I should in the state of Nature have a right to all things my Neighbour was possessed of and his life into the bargain if I thought it might conduce to my self-preservation and that this should be likewise as true and rational a conclusion that he should have the like right against me since the word right is never used by any Writers of this Subject but with respect to some Law either Natural or Civil which Mr. H. acknowledges in the next Chapter Art 1st in these words But since all do grant that to be done by Right which is not done contrary to right Reason we ought to suppose that done by Injury which is repugnant to right reason or which contradicts some truth collected from true Principles by right Reason but that is done by Injury which is done against some Law therefore right Reason is a certain Law which is called natural since it is not less a part of Humane Nature than any other Faculty or Affection of the Mind as Mr. H. himself confesses in this 2d Chapter of this Treatise De Cive § 1. tho he strives to avoid the force of it in his Annotations to this Article where by right Reason in the state of Nature he tells us He does not thereby understand as many do any infallible Faculty in men but the Act of Ratiocination that is every man 's own true reason concerning his own Actions as they may redound to the profit or hurt of himself or other men and the reason why he calls it a mans own Reason is that though in a Commonwealth the reason thereof that is the Civil Law is to be taken as right by all the Subjects yet out of a Common-wealth where no man can distinguish right Reason from false but by comparing it with his own every man 's own Reason is not only to be taken for the Rule of his own Actions but also in his own Affairs for the measure of all other mens Reason But how this will agree with what follows I cannot tell When he calls right Reason that which concludes from true Principles because that in false ratiocination or in the folly of men not observing those duties towards others which are necessary to their own preservation consists all the violation of natural Laws But how false ratiocination or folly should give them a right to all they have a mind to act thus towards others I cannot apprehend but from these words of Mr. H. I shall only observe That though I do not suppose Reason to be any infallible Faculty any more than the casting up of an Account into a Sum total though false to be right Arithmetick or true Counting yet by right Reason when it is not erroneous is to be understood the true exercise of that Faculty not erroneous in its judgments and therefore doth not consist in the bare act of Ratiocination but in its true effects that is when true Propositions or Premises being laid up in the memory those Conclusions are drawn from thence which when they are practical and contain true moral Rules of life are called Laws of Nature § 4. And therefore it is not true that in a Commonwealth the publick Reason or Law thereof are to be always taken for Right for then if the Laws of the Common-wealth should enact Parricide Ingratitude and breach of Faith to be exercised as Vertues and to conduce to the good and preservation of Mankind they would presently become so which I suppose neither this Author nor any rational Man would affirm Nor is his other Proposition any truer that out of a Commonwealth no man can distinguish right Reason from false but by comparing it with his own and therefore that must be the measure of all his Actions from whence he deduces the right of all men to all things which Argument I shall reduce into the form of a Syllogism that you may the better judge of its truth It is lawful in the state of Nature for every one to possess all things and to do all things towards all men which some Iudge shall judge necessary for the preservation of his own life and Members But those things that every man himself shall judge to be necessary to his preservation those the only Iudge in this case judges to be necessary for this end for he had proved before that himself is the only Judge in the state of Nature what things are necessary for his preservation therefore to have and do all things c. is necessary for a man 's own preservation In which Syllogism the major is certainly false because though a man's self be the sole Judge in the state of Nature yet he may give a false Sentence and suppose those things to be necessary for his preservation which really are not neither is there any reason that in the state of Nature any more than in a Civil State the bare Sentence of a Judge should confer a true and equitable Right on any man to an Estate if the Judge determines contrary to all the Rules of Law and Equity So likewise in the state of Nature a man 's own judgment can confer no Right upon him when he quits the only true Rules of his Judgment which in this State can only be the Laws of Nature or right Reason and the nature of things and Mankind from whence only they are drawn Nor can there be any State supposed either Natural or Civil in which there is no Rule of Humane Judgment or that whatsoever a man's mind shall rashly suppose things to be that they must presently become such as he hath fancied them Since the utility of things necessary for the preservation of Humane Nature depend not upon mens rash judgments but upon the force of their natural Causes and a man by thus falsly judging that he had a right
to all things that he hath a mind to and that they are absolutely necessary for his preservation can no more make them become so than if he should judge that Ratsbane were Sugar-candy it would be thereby presently turned into wholsome Food So likewise those general and universal Causes which procure the preservation or mischief of Mankind do depend upon such fixt Principles in Nature as are not to be altered by the judgment of any Judge whether he be a single man in the state of Nature or the Supream Powers in a Commonwealth § 5. But this Error of Mr. H. concerning the force of his Sentence which thus falsly pronounces an absolute Dominion over all men and all things to be necessary for his preservation and thereby to confer a Right thereunto seems to proceed from hence That he having observed in a Civil State the Sentence of the Supream Magistrate or Judge had that force with the Subjects that whether his Sentence were according to the Rules of Law or natural Equity or not it was nevertheless to be obeyed and submitted to Whereas this Submission proceeds wholly from their Consents who instituted the Commonwealth in order to the publick Good and for the putting some end to Controversies since all the Subjects must submit to the Judgment of the Supream Power or Magistrate whether it be right or wrong because they are all satisfied that it conduces more to their common quiet and safety that some few should sometimes suffer through an unjust Judgment than that Controversies should be endless or at least not without Civil Wars or Disturbances So that it is evident That it is only from a greater care of the Common Good than of the Lives or Estates of any particular person that lays a foundation for this Prerogative which though I grant belongs to all Supream Powers yet if this once come to be generally and notoriously abused by constant course of wilful Violence Oppression and Injustice so that the Subjects cannot longer bear it they will quickly make their appeal somewhere else unless they are hindred by some predominant Power or Force over them § 6. But on the other side it is certain That men in the state of Nature cannot admit of any final Judgment or determination of a doubt or difference besides an evidence either from the things themselves or from that trust or credit they place in some mens either Judgment or Testimony whereby all manner of doubt or scruple is clearly removed out of the minds of the Parties concerned and that it appears evident to them that they are not imposed upon neither can there be any end of debates amongst divers Pretenders unless one Party being convinced by the strength of the other's Reasons come over to his or their Opinion or else being satisfied of the Knowledge and Integrity of some third Person as an Arbitrator do willingly submit to his Sentence § 7. For Humane Nature will ever acknowledge a difference between right Reason and false and between a just and an unjust Judgment and 't is only Truth and right Reason that have this Prerogative that they can confer a right on us of doing those things which they prescribe For even Mr. H. in his definition of Right acknowledges that it is only a liberty of using our Faculties according to right Reason whereas all Error or false Judgment whether it be concerning Necessaries for the preservation of Life or in any other practical matter can give no man a right of doing that which he then falsly judges necessary for his preservation And therefore Mr. H's Conclusion where he acknowledges at last That right Reason is that which concludes from true Principles and likewise that in the false reasoning and folly of men in not understanding their Duties towards other men consists all the violation of the Laws of Nature grants as much as I can desire but how this will agree with that loose definition of Reason where he supposes every man's reason to be alike right I desire any of his Disciples to shew me Therefore to conclude I can only allow that to be practical right Reason which gives us leave to undertake things reasonable and possible and that forbids a man to arrogate to himself alone a dominion over all men and all things which is needless and impossible indeed wholly pernicious to his preservation § 8. But to avoid this difficulty Mr. H. and his Followers fly to the Subterfuge of a natural necessity in men that so judge thus falsly and act contrary to the Laws of Nature or Reason And therefore in his Preface to this Treatise he supposes all men to be evil by Nature and makes them necessarily determined by their Appetites and Passions before they are endued with Reason and Discipline to act mischievously and unreasonably and therefore tells us that Children unless you give them every thing they desire cry and are angry and will strike their very Fathers and Mothers and it is by nature they do so and yet are blameless as well because they cannot hurt as also that wanting the use of Reason they are yet free from all its Duties But the same persons when grown up and having got strength enough to hurt if they hold on to do the same things they then begin both to be and to be called evil So that a wicked man is almost the same thing as an overgrown Child or a man of a childish disposition because there is the same defect of Reason at that age in which by Nature improved by Discipline and experience of its inconveniencies it commonly happens to be amended So likewise the Author of Tractatus Theologico Politicus who more openly than Mr. H. but upon the same Principles endeavours to destroy all Religion both Natural and Revealed argues to this purpose in the 16th Chap. of the said Treatise First By the Law of Nature He understands nothing but the Nature of every Individual according to which we conceive each of them naturally determined to exist after a certain manner Thus Fishes are ordained to swim and the great ones to devour the less Therefore Fishes live in the Water and devour each other by the highest Right For Nature considered simply hath a right to all things it can do or its right extends it self as far as its power Since the power of Nature is but the power of God who hath the highest right to all things But because the power of Vniversal Nature is nothing but the power of all the Individual Creatures together it follows that every Individual hath the highest right to all things it can do that is it extends it self as far as its power And since it is the first Law of Nature that every thing should endeavour as far as it is able to preserve it self in its Natural State and that without any consideration of other Creatures but only of it self Therefore it follows that every Individual hath the highest right to exist and operate as
both lawful and necessary But in his Leviathan in the Chapter here cited he first asserts the state of Nature to be a state of War and from thence argues all things therein to be lawful as you may see in the Conclusion of that Chapter where he tells us That by the same right that one man invades the other resists from whence arises a War on both sides just So that being not at all sollicitous about the Right of making War he only supposes this War must needs arise from the nature of mens Passions and Desires and this War being once supposed he positively asserts That it must follow though without any proof that there is in this State nothing just or unjust Indeed his way of arguing in his Leviathan is more plausible but less close than the former in his De Cive For all Persons of sense must agree that a War ought first to be proved just before it can be thence deduced what things are lawful therein even towards Enemies Neither doth himself suppose that all things are lawful even in the justest War for in his De Cive Annot. ad Art 37. cap. 3. he grants that Drunkenness and Cruelty are not to be practised even in War and therefore it is necessary that some natural Principles or Laws be first acknowledged by whose command or permission we may be able to judge of any War whether it be just or not or before we can thence infer those things to be lawful which are acted therein for otherwise even contradictory Propositions may be alike true and Titius for example might have a right to the Life and Goods of Sempronius if he thought them necessary for his own Preservation and so likewise Sempronius would have the same Right against Titius which would be contrary to all the Rules of right Reason and Equity and this is so evident that Mr. H. himself although in the latter part of this first Chapter De Cive he affirms That in the state of Nature there is no difference between just and unjust yet in the former part he endeavours to prove that this power of making War ought to be allowed to every man in that state as necessary to his own preservation which is all one as if he had affirmed this War to be just and lawful on both sides which is contrary to Reason But whatsoever proves any thing to be just and lawful in any State must likewise suppose that there is a difference between lawful and unlawful in the same State and must suppose some Law in force by whose command or permission at least that Act becomes lawful which as we endeavour to establish so doth Mr. H. as plainly destroy it whilst he asserts no difference between just and unjust but with what reason I shall leave it to the indifferent Reader to judge § 3. But since I have already answered those Preliminary Principles which he hath laid down in his De Cive to prove the necessity of this state of War there remains nothing else for us to do but to examine those new Reasons Mr. H. hath here given us in this Chapter of his Leviathan to prove this state of War to be both natural and necessary which he here deduces from three Affections in the nature of man 1. Competition for the same thing 2. Diffidence of each other 3. Glory to himself The first is manifest That during the time men live without out a Common Power to keep them in awe they are in that Condition which is called War Whence I cannot but again observe That this Author takes the natural state of Mankind only from their Passions without any consideration of Reason or Experience although he hath already supposed both of these to be natural Faculties of the Mind and the true nature of a thing is to be taken not from its imperfections or weaknesses but from the utmost perfection that it is by its nature capable of and therefore this Author hath dealt very preposterously to treat of the natural State of Man as of a meer Animal only governed by the force of his Passions whereas the principal part of Man and which ought to have the government over all the other Faculties is Reason or that Faculty of the rational Soul whose due use and exercise ought not to be excluded but rather conjoined with the operations of all the other natural Faculties by any Writer who will truly describe the Nature of Man nor yet are men necessarily impelled by these Passions as meer Machines are driven or moved by the Wind or Weights but that they may be governed and restrained by Reason or fear of future evil so that they do not hurry men into War by any natural or inevitable necessity Indeed those Ideas of the Mind which are necessarily generated therein from the impulse of outward Objects are not prohibited by the Law of Nature because we are design'd by God to govern those Actions only which are in our powers Whereas these Passions and Ideas from whence Mr. H. collects this state of War to be necessary are of this sort since being concerning things future and at a distance and depending upon mens reason and foresight they may be also governed thereby and Mr. H. himself acknowledges in his De Cive Chap. 3. § 31. That though men because of their different Appetites cannot agree of the present yet they may of the future and from thence acknowledges that Peace is to be sought as the foundation of all natural Law § 4. And therefore I think I shall be able easily to shew that every one of these three Master-Passions which he hath here described as the Causes of War ought if governed by Reason to persuade the contrary And in the first place for his Passion of Competition That when two men desire the same thing which they cannot both enjoy they become Enemies and in the way to their end endeavour to destroy or subdue one another Now certainly Reason in this Case will never incite a rational man to enter into a state of War with another for the obtaining of that which he hath a mind to as well as he For if it be a thing the other is already possessed of he ought by the Rules of Reason and Equity to let him enjoy it by right of Occupancy or Possession it being then necessary for his preservation or happiness and he himself if possessed of the like thing would think it reasonable that he should be likewise permitted quietly to enjoy it So that if he act by one Rule in relation to himself and by another in respect of all other men in the same Case or Circumstances this must be altogether unreasonable And Mr. H. himself doth sufficiently shew the grievous mischeifs of such an unreasonable way of proceeding when he tells us That from hence it comes to pass That where an Invader hath no more to fear than another man's single Power If one plant sow build or possess a convenient Seat
others may probably be expected to come prepared with Forces united to dispossess and deprive him not only of the Fruit of his Labour but also of his Life or Liberty and the Invader again is in the like danger of another To which I may also add and he again of a third till at last all the Owners of it being successively destroyed the House or Seat will become void and no man left to inhabit it which Condition Mr. H. himself confesses to be so sad and deplorable that he will have Mankind from the Dictates of Reason to do all they can to get out of it by entering into a Civil Society But I suppose that right Reason will rather hinder all rational men from ever falling into this State at all if they can by any means avoid or prevent it since Peace is to be valued from its own Conveniences without trying or comparing it with the Evils of War as Health is valuable for its own agreeableness to our Natures without trying by woful experience what sickness is § 5. And as for his next Passion Diffidence of each other That there is no way for any man to secure himself so reasonable as Anticipation that is by force or wiles to master the persons of all men he can so long till he see no other Power great enough to endanger him And that this is no more than his own conservation requires and is generally allowed Now can all this reasonably persuade a man to put himself in so hazardous a condition as by force or fraud as to go about to master and subdue all those he will be afraid of or to think he is able to do this by his own single strength till he sees no other Power great enough to endanger him Since for any man to be able to do this he must have more cunning natural Strength and Courage and Cunning than ever Homer supposed Vlisses or Achilles to have been masters of or our Modern Romance-makers can feign in their Heroes Since upon these Terms of Self-preservation a man like a Game-Cock would be forced to fight a Battel or two every day whilst he lived and how long this would last supposing other men of equal strength and as well prepared as himself I refer him to the experiment of fighting-Cocks who seldom survive the twelfth or thirteenth Battel and though it is true that there are some that taking pleasure in contemplating their own Power in Acts of Conquests which they may pursue farther than their own Security requires yet this was never known to be performed by any man's single strength but by a Combination with divers others who through the esteem they had of his Integrity or Courage chose such a man to be their Leader or Prince before another And this Account both the Ancient Historians and Poets give us of the Original of the first Monarchs and Ancient Kings in the Heroical Times and admitting the first Kingdoms to have begun by Fathers or Patriarchs of Families as some Divines suppose yet they could never have raised a sufficient Force to have conquered others without the Combination of the Heads or Fathers of other Families Nor could Nimrod himself who is supposed the first Tyrant or Conqueror ever have enlarged the Bounds of his Empire by his own single strength or that of his particular Family without such a Combination which requires Compacts between the Persons that make it and when they once do this they are then no longer in the meer state of Nature having set up and acknowledged a common Power over them to keep them in awe from whence it appears that it is ridiculous nay absolutely impossible for any single man to take pleasure in contemplating his own Power in Acts of Conquest by his own personal Valour or Cunning as Mr. H. supposes a man may do in the state of Nature § 6. And as for his appeal to Experience That when a man taking a Iourney arms himself when going to Bed he locks his Doors when even in his House he locks his Chests And asks what opinion he hath of his Fellow-subjects when he rides armed and shuts his Doors or of his Children and Servants when he locks his Chests And whether he doth not thereby accuse Mankind as much by his Actions as he doth by his Words To all which I answer No he doth not For though I grant it is no fault to distrust and secure himself as well as he can against violent and unjust Persons either upon the Road or in his own House yet doth not this Diffidence accuse all his Fellow-subjects or all his Children and Servants much less all Mankind of a design to murther or rob him or give him any Right to make War upon them by way of anticipation for when he goes armed or locks his Doors or Chests 't is true he grants there are some violent and wicked Persons whom he would secure himself against yet doth not this accuse all Mankind of this wicked Design since a man will do all this if he be satisfied that there are but two or three Thieves between his own House and London or but one thievish Person in his Family which is but a small proportion to a whole Countrey or Kingdom or even to his own particular Family much less doth he thereby pass a Censure upon all Mankind though it is true he thereby acknowledges that there is and ever will be amongst men divers who are more governed by their present Appetites and Passions than by Reason or the Laws of Nature Much less doth such a diffidence give a man a right in the state of Nature of setting upon mastering and killing all Persons whatsoever that he fancies have power sufficient to endanger him in his Life or Goods before they have given some sufficient signs that they intend so to do for then it might be lawful were it not for the Laws for a man when he is thus armed to set upon not only Thieves but every man he meets for fear he should set upon him first nay might likewise kill or knock in the Head if he were in the meer state of Nature any of his Children or Servants or even his Wife her self if he did but fancy they went about to murther or rob him which how wicked and unreasonable a thing it would be I leave to any man's Reason and Conscience to judge Nor does his comparing the state of War to the nature of Foul-weather at all help him which he saith doth not lie in a shower or two of Rain but in an inclination thereto of many days together So the nature of War consists not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto all which I easily grant but he must likewise own that it is never called a Rainy or foul Season till it hath actually rained till then we never say it is foul weather though it be never so cloudy so neither is this bare inclination to hurt an actual War till
there hath been some signs or tokens of hostility expressed § 7. Yet he grants there was never such a condition of War as this that he describes generally all over the World But that there are many places where men live so now and Instances in many savage People of America where except the Government of small Families the concord whereof depends on Natural Lust they have no Government at all and live at this day in that brutish manner he hath before described But were it so as he affirms that brutish way of living which is in too many Particulars practised by these Savage People both in Affrica and America where they have almost lost all knowledge of a God or of a Moral Good and Evil Ought the Practice of such Barbarous People to be of sufficient Authority to prove that they live according to the true state of Human Nature or that they have a right to live and act thus in all things they thus unreasonably practice But had this Author read any true or exact relations of those Places in America he mentions he might have found that in many of those Nations even where there is no Civil Power to keep them in awe and tho' they have no other Government in time of Peace but that of the Fathers or Heads of Families Yet doth not their concord wholly depend upon Natural Lust For besides the Government of Husbands over their Wives and those conjugal Duties and Services which their Wives yield them in these Places Parents are more fond of their Children and Children again are more dutiful and kind to their Parents and take more care of them when they are sick or old than they commonly do with us And though there be no Common Power to keep them in awe yet having no Riches but the meer necessary Utensils of Living nor any Honours except Military to contend for and which are not obtained without great hardships and sufferings and having also few Words of contempt or disgrace among them whole Towns nay Nations have lived together for many Ages in sufficient Amity and Concord without ever falling together by the ears And if there be any Murthers and Adulteries committed among them every particular person injured or else the Relations of the Party slain are their own Judges and Executioners the mutual fear of which joyned with the Natural Peaceable Temper of the People causes fewer of those Crimes to be committed among them than with us where there are Laws and Publick Officers appointed to punish all such Injuries And for the Truth of this I refer you to two Authors of undoubted Credit viz. Lerius in his History of his Navigation to Brazil Chap. 18. and the French Author of the Natural History of the Caribbè Islands Part. 2d Chap. 11. and § 19. besides other Authors on this Subject whom you may consult in Purchas's Pilgrimes in his Volume of America And though these People have often Wars with their Neighbours yet is it not with all but only some particular Nations with whom they have constant Wars and eat them when they can take them Prisoners Yet do they at the same time maintain Peace with all others So remote is it from Truth that any Nation in the World can live and subsist by maintaining a constant War against all others Nor did I ever hear of any more than one People or Nation in the West-Indies near Carolina called the Westoes that made this Fatal Experiment by making war upon all their Neighbours one after another till they were in a short time reduced from 7000 Fighting Men to 700 and were afterwards quite extirpated by those Nations they had injured Which Relation I receiv'd from a Gentleman of Quality who hath a considerable Interest in those parts So impossible a thing it is for Mankind to subsist or be preserved a year together in Mr. H's imaginary State of War §. 8 Nor is his other Instance from the Actions of Kings and Persons of a Soveraign Authority any better whom he makes like Gladiators Having their Weapons pointing and their eyes fixed on each other That is their Forts Garrisons and Guns upon the Frontieres of their Kingdoms and continual Spies upon their Neighbours which is a posture of War Where I may first observe that he doth not directly affirm That all Princes are in a State but only in a Posture of War which I grant is both lawful and necessary Since no Prince or Common-wealth can be secure that his Neighbours will constantly observe the Laws of Nature and not invade his Territories without any just cause given Yet I think no Prince or other Supreme Power whom he makes the only Judges of Good and Evil will be so wicked or unreasonable to affirm that they have a natural right to invade the Territories Lives and Estates of all Neighbouring Princes and their Subjects much less when they have made Leagues or Compacts of Peace with each other that they are not obliged to observe them only for prevention that they may not do the like to them and break their Compacts first For that he himself confesses to be absolutely contrary to the Laws of Nature and of Right Reason But that upon Mr. H's Principles such Compacts being made in the meer State of Nature and without any Common Power to see them observed do not at all oblige I shall shew you more particularly by and by § 9. I come now to his last Passion viz. Glory for which he would have all men to be naturally in a State of War But admitting that divers men look that their Companions should value them at the same rate as they do themselves and upon the least signs of Contempt or undervaluing naturally endeavour as far as they dare to extort a greater value from their Contemners which amongst them that have no Common Power to keep them quiet may be enough to make them destroy each other Yet doth not this hold true in every man for even among those that labour under this Passion of Vain-glory there are many in whom fear of others is a much more predominate passion and such will rather take an affront than venture to beat or kill another to revenge it Since the hazard is certain but the Victory supposing the person every way his equal uncertain And if this Vain-glory may be so far mastered by another stronger Passion why may it not also be overpowered by Reason For a rational man will consider that he cannot force men to have a better esteem of his Words or Actions by fighting every one that shall declare their dislike of them or else knows that he is not at all the worse for the foolish censures of unreasonable men or that he is obliged to take for an affront whatsoever every scurrilous impertinent Fellow shall intend so And he himself doth here likewise suppose that there are other as strong Passions that incline men to Peace as fear of Death desire of such things
as are necessary commodious living and a hope by their Industry to obtain them from whence I observe that the greatest part of these Passions which now incline men to Peace are but the same in other words which before inclined them to War For what is this Diffidence of another and this Anticipation which he makes so reasonable but a fear of Death or other mischief from those whom he thus goeth about to prevent And what is this desire of things necessary for life but a Branch of that Right which he supposes all men have to all things But granting that the same Passions may in some men produce different effects yet if these Passions that incline men to peace are more strong and powerful than those that excite them to War then certainly Peace will be their more constant and Natural State Since as Mariners relate the violent blowing of two contrary winds doth often in the Center of their Motion produce a Calm And therefore Mr. H. proceeds very rashly to lay such a great stress on those Passions which provoke men to War without also considering and putting into the contrary Scale all those that incline men to the contrary which certainly are more prevalent in most men For what can more strongly influence mens Actions than fear of Death and all those other miseries which he himself so lively describes to be the necessary Consequences of the State of War And whereas he tells us that reason suggesteth convenient Articles of peace I think I have sufficiently proved that Reason is so far from needing Articles of peace that it can never prompt considering men to believe themselves naturally in so dangerous and miserable a State as this which Mr. H. supposes much less to fall into it on purpose without any just cause given But since this Author undertakes to give us many Reasons why mens Passions will not permit them to live in peace as well as divers other Creatures whom he confesses can do so without Laws We will a little examine those Reasons he brings Why mens Nature will not naturally permit them to live in peace as well as those brute Creatures and therefore I shall put them down in his own Words as you may find them in his Lev. Chap. 17. § 10. It is true that certain living Creatures as Bees and Ants live sociably one with another which are therefore by Aristotle numbred amongst Political Creatures and yet have no other Direction than their particular Iudgments and Appetites not Speech whereby one of them can signifie to another what he thinks expedient for the Common Benefit And therefore some men may perhaps desire to know why mankind cannot do the same To which I answer First That men are continually in competition for Honour and Dignity which these Creatures are not and consequently amongst men there ariseth from that ground Envy and Hatred and finally War but amongst these not so To which I reply That these Civil Honours about which he supposes these Contentions do so often arise amongst men have no place in the State of Nature being not known amongst men before the Institution of Commonwealths and therefore they cannot in this State which he now treats of contend for them more than Brutes So that the only true Glory and Honour which can be found out of a Civil Government is as Cicero very well defines it in his Tusc. Quest. the agreeing praise of good men and the uncorrupted Suffrages of those that rightly judge of excellent Vertue But all the Vertues being contained under the study of the Common Good of Rational Beings from thence alone can spring the praise of good men And the desire of such Honour is so far from causing a War against all men that as from a contrary Principle men may by this be excited to the exercise of all those Virtues which Mr. H. himself allows Lev. Chap. 15. to be the necessary means of Common Peace and Safety § 11. His Second Reason is that amongst these Creatures the Common Good differeth not from the Private and being by nature inclined to their Private they procure thereby the Common Benefit But Man whose joy consisteth in comparing himself with other men can relish nothing but what is eminent To which we may reply that Mr. H. has done us a Courtesie in acknowledging before he is aware that even out of Civil Government there is some common and publick Good which may be indeed procured even by Brutes themselves And he has elsewhere also told us as in his Treatise De Homine Chap. 10. the very last Words But we suppose the knowledge of the Common Good to be a fit means to bring men both to Peace and Vertue because it is both amiable in its own Nature and the surest defence of each man's private Good And sure its difference in some cases from the private good of some men is no sufficient Reason why men should rather fall out and fight among themselves than Bees or Ants whose Common Good is likewise distinguished from the private But as for what he affirms concerning the Nature of men if it be universally understood of all men as his words seem to intend 't is false and spoken without all manner of proof unless we must be sent back to his general Demonstration of these things in his Introduction to his Lev. when he advises every man to this Rule Nosce teipsum and therefore would teach us from the Similitude of the thoughts any passions of one man to those of another thereby to know what are the thoughts of all other men upon the like occasion Perhaps Mr. Hobbs knew himself very well and was sensible there was nothing more pleasant to him than comparing himself with other men and so could relish nothing in himself either as his own Natural Endowments or acquired Improvements but what was more eminent and greater than other mens and from thence gathered the same thoughts to be in all others But he ought to have shewn something in the nature of man from whence it is necessary that all men should so judge for certainly all that are truly rational can know from the true use of things and from the necessity of their own Natures how to judge concerning their own things whether they are pleasant or not and to what degree they do delight them without comparing them with those of other men So that indeed none but the foolish or envious can only be pleased as far as their own things exceed those of others But if he would have this censure only to concern such men it will not then afford a sufficient cause of an Universal War of all men against all And though perhaps Strife and Contention may be begun amongst such envious foolish People yet the strength or reason of the more prudent and peaceable may easily restrain it that it shall never hurt or destroy all men by making them enter into a state of War against all § 12. His Third
Reason is That these Creatures having not as man the use of Reason do not see or at least think they see any fault in the administration of their Common business Whereas amongst men there are very many that think themselves Wiser and Abler to govern the Publick better than the rest and those strive to Reform and Innovate one this way another that way and thereby bring it into Distraction and Civil War To which we may thus Reply That this Reason offers nothing whereby men may live less peaceably among themselves if they were in the state of Nature and Subjects to no Civil Government than Brutes But in this state mens Natural Propensions to universal Benevolence and to the Laws of Nature would have some place notwithstanding what he hath here alledged to the contrary as I have sufficiently proved in the precedent Discourse Nor doth he here offer any thing whereby men could less agree among themselves to institute a Common-wealth for this is the thing whose causes we are now seeking for But he only objects something which will hinder them from preserving it when it is instituted and therefore this will also shake all the foundations of Peace even in a Commonwealth when it is made never so firm according to his own model But we do well to consider whether mens Reason does not more powerfully promote Peace and Concord by detecting many errors of the Imaginations and Passions than it doth Discord by its fallibility about those things which are necessary being but few and those plain enough Besides men do not presently make War as soon as they suppose they spy out somewhat they may blame in the Administration of publick Affairs for the same reason which discovers the fault does also tell them that many things are to be born with for Peace sake and sugggests divers means whereby an emendation of that fault or miscarriage may be peaceably procured So that I dare appeal to the Judgment of the indifferent Reader whether the condition of Mankind is worse than that of Brutes because it is Rational and whether Mr. H. doth not judge very hardly of all men by making their Reason guilty of all these miseries which in other places he imputes only to the Passions and from this cause would prove that men must live less peaceably with each other than Brute Creatures In short Mr. H's Answer is nothing to the purpose for our inquiry is concerning the obligation of the precepts of Reason in the state of Nature and his Answer is That most mens Reason is so false as that it would dissolve all Commonwealths already constituted § 13. His fourth Reason is That these Creatures tho they have some use of voice in making known to one another their desires and other affections yet they want that art of words by which some men can represent to others that which is Good in the likeness of Evil and Evil in the likeness of Good and augment or diminish the apparent greatness of Good and Evil discontenting men and troubling their peace at their pleasure The force of which Answer is no more than this That because it sometimes falls out that the common People are moved to Mutiny and Sedition by a specious or sophistical Sermon or Oration that therefore men as having the use of Speech cannot maintain peace among themselves which consequence is certainly very loose for he ought to prove that all men do necessarily and constantly make such Speeches tending to Civil War and Sedition and also that such Speeches when heard do constantly prevail on their Auditors or the most part of them that they should presently take up Arms For it may be that even the Vulgar may see through such false and specious Speeches and may not suffer themselves to be deluded by them It may also happen that they may rather give credit to the peaceable Speeches of the more wise and moderate as founded upon more solid Reasons And it may be that they will rather consider the true weight of the Arguments than the empty sound of the Words and certainly mens rational Nature leads them to do this for they know they cannot be fed or defended by Words but by Actions proceeding from mutual Benevolence What then doth hinder but that the Eloquence and Reason of the Good and Peaceable may not often prevail with which both the Reason of the Speaker the true interest of the Auditors and the nature of things do all agree But I shall speak no more of this Subject now having in the precedent Discourse sufficiently proved That men receive much greater Benefits from the use of Speech though it may sometimes be the cause of Civil Discords and Wars than they do Evils and Mischiefs thereby And I suppose Mr. H. himself were he alive would confess that Mankind would not be rendered more peaceable or easie to be governed had they been all created dumb or else had all their Tongues been cut out by the irresistible power of his great Leviathan the Civil Soveraign § 14. His fifth Reason is That irrational Creatures cannot distinguish between Injury and Damage and therefore as long as they be at ease they are not offended at their Fellows Whereas man is then most troublesome when he is most at ease for then it is that he loves to shew his wisdom and controul the Actions of them that govern the Commonwealth By which Antithesis he would infer That men live together less peaceably than Brutes because they distinguish between Injury and Damage But we think much otherwise and that most men would more willingly suffer some damage even done by other men so it be not done injuriously And I acknowledge that all the distinction between these two is founded in the knowledge of Right and Law which indeed is only proper to men But that this Knowledge should make them more prone to violate the publick Peace and to trample upon the Laws and Rights of their Superiors I can by no means admit much less that Subjects that abound in peace and riches are more apt to envy their Superiors and to shew their wisdom in finding fault with their Rulers or that the Subjects of England for example who God be thanked enjoy both sufficient peace and plenty are more apt to find fault with their Governors than those in France or Turkey where they are poor and miserable by Taxes and other Severities or that they can even there forbear repining at the cruel Treatment of their Rulers though perhaps their Spirits may be so debased and their Powers so weakned by this oppression that they may not be so able to shew it by publick discourse much less by resistance and so free themselves from this Tyranny as perhaps they would do if they had sufficient Riches and Courage And that I conceive is the true reason why this Author is such an Enemy in all his Books to the happiness and wealth of the People whom he would all along make Slaves
instead of Subjects But suppose that the lawful Rights of Princes are sometimes violated by the unbridled Lusts of some evil men yet I do not see how this knowledge of the difference between those things which are done by right and those which are done by wrong do render them more apt to do Injuries to others But he tells us That man is then most troublesome when he is at ease But sure it is not without Injustice that he imputes the Faults of some men to all Mankind and that without any proof unless perhaps finding such Passions in himself he thence concluded that they must likewise be natural to all others according to the method he makes use of in his Introduction to this Book which I have before taken notice of when he bids us examine this similitude of Passions and so whether they do not agree with his own Thoughts But I must freely confess they do not agree with mine let me be but happy and want nothing and though others may be richer or happier I shall not envy them nor am I at all the worse for it But indeed Mr. H. does very preposterously to alledge this fault of mens love to shew their wisdom and controul the Actions of them that govern the Commonwealth against all Mankind whilst he yet supposes men in the state of Nature which sure according to his own Hypothesis precedes all Civil Government But we are now come to Mr. H's last Reason and let us see if he can thereby prove any better That Mankind is less prone to Peace than Brute Creatures § 15. Lastly The agreement of these Creatures is natural that of Men is by Covenant only which is artificial and therefore it is no wonder if there be somewhat else required besides Covenants to make their Agreement constant and lasting which is a Common Power to keep them in awe and to direct their Actions to the common benefit To which I reply That the true natural Causes intrinsical to Men as they are Animals and which can bring them to consent to the exercise of Peace and mutual Benevolence amongst themselves are alike with those that are found in other Animals even the fiercest and cruellest suppose Lions or Bears if you will as I hope I have sufficiently proved in the former part of this Treatise Nor can Mr. H. shew any thing which is wanting to man but yet is found in Brutes as a cause of their peaceable agreement for that which he urges That the Agreement of these Creatures is natural that of men is by Covenant only and therefore artificial may perhaps impose upon the Vulgar but may easily be confuted by any one that will but consider to the next Consequence For those very Compacts or Covenants he mentions are made by the power as well of mens Rational as Animal Natures And certainly if there had been no Covenants made among men and that they had not the use of Reason yet the common Nature of Animals of the same kind would have had as much force with them as with other Creatures that they should agree to maintain a mutual benevolence as well as Brutes of the same kind without destroying each other whose agreement is by him acknowledged to be natural What then hinders but after there is besides added to Mankind Reason and the use of Speech but that the same natural agreement may still remain Reason sure doth not take away the natural endeavours and propensions to Concord in Man more than other Animals neither is this agreement less natural or constant because it is expressed by words As our Appetite and taking in of Food do not cease to be natural Actions in us although we may express this Appetite by words or signs and may also appoint the time place and what sort of Meat we will eat And Mr. H. himself as well as others does sometimes acknowledge Reason to be a natural Faculty as he does in his De Cive in the place already quoted From whence it follows That this stricter Society or Agreement which Reason dictates should be established by Compacts wholly proceeds from the rational Nature of Mankind But it will farther appear That this Agreement proceeding from the use of Speech is therefore more fitly called natural if we consider our practical Reason to be altogether determined from the nature of the best End we can foresee or propose and the best means we can use thereunto And farther there is nothing more can be effected by the utmost endeavours of our Reason than that those propensions to concord with others of our own kind which are so natural to all Animals should be directed to their fit object viz. all other rational Creatures and that all our particular actions should be thence exerted according to their due place time and other circumstances So that the very taking in of Meat and Drink is most natural and proceeds from the natural constitution of an Animal Yet this in all particular cases is best governed and directed by a man's Reason taking care of his own Health without any irregularities in his Diet whilst those precepts of thus regulating his Diet whose force and certainty he observes from the Nature of things and his own particular Constitution may very well deserve in some cases the name of an Art Therefore Mr. H. hath done very ill in making that agreement among men which is expressed by Compacts to be so artificial as it must be quite opposed to what is natural I shall not indeed deny those words by which Compacts are expressed to have proceeded from the Arbitrary agreements of men Yet that consent of their minds concerning the mutual offices of Benevolence of which words are only the signs is altogether Natural For in that consent of minds concerning the mutual commutation of Duties consists the whole Nature of Compacts as all its obligation proceeds from thence But the knowledge and will of constituting some signs either by words or Actions whereby this sort of consent may be declared is so natural and easy to men without any Teaching that it may be observed in persons born Deaf and Dumb as I have given some instances in the foregoing Discourse In short this consent express'd by Compacts concerning these most general acts of Benevolence which may be considered in any disquition concerning the Laws of Nature is either not to be called Artificial or if it be so termed that Term is so to be understood as it agrees with all mens natural Consents and not as it may be opposed to them that so it may become thereby less firm and durable as Mr. H. supposes it for the signification of a natural Consent constituted by words tho with some kind of Art doth not at all diminish its firmness or duration and therefore I think it doth sufficiently appear that Mr. H. is very much mistaken when he supposes that the agreement of Brutes of the same kind is more constant and natural than that among men
17. in these words But what are divers Commonwealths but so many Garisons fortified against each other with Arms and Ammunition Whose State because they are kept in awe by no common Power altho an uncertain Peace or short Truces may intervene is yet to be accounted for the state of Nature that is for a state of War From all which it is easie to deduce the grievous mischiefs that would thereby happen to mankind For in the first place these Civil Sovereigns he mentions can never be obliged by any Covenants from making War upon and ruining each other nor can be accused for breach of Faith or Infidelity when they do so for being still in the state of Nature that will necessarily follow which he lays down at the end of his former Chapter as the consequences of this state To this War of every man against every man this also is consequent that nothing can be unjust The notions of Right and Wrong Iustice and Injustice have there no place where there is no common Power there is no Law where no Law no Injustice Force and Fraud are in War the two Cardinal Vertues § 3. So that you see upon these Principles it is altogether in vain for Princes to make any Articles or Covenants of Peace with each other no not if they swear to them never so solemnly for in the last words of this Chapter he tells us That the Oath adds nothing to the obligation for a Covenant if lawful binds in the sight of God without the Oath as much as with it if unlawful binds not at all tho it be confirmed with an Oath So that if the Covenant could not oblige the Oath will serve to as little purpose What Princes will thank him for this Doctrine I know not but I hope it is not an Apology for the late actions of any Princes but the Ottoman Emperor and our Christian Grand Signior on the other side the water but if the state of Princes towards each other is so bad that of the Subjects is much worse for from these Principles the safety of all Ambassadors Merchants and Travellers in the Territories of any Prince or State with whom we are at Peace is thereby utterly taken away nor can the Subjects be in a better condition than their Masters for by this Author's determination they are presently Enemies as soon as they come under a Foreign Power For such Princes being always in the state of Nature towards each other it is a part of their Natural Right or Prerogative to force all those that are weaker to give a Caution of their future Obedience and good behaviour unless they will rather suffer Death For nothing can be imagined more absurd than that he who being weak you have in your power by letting him go you may render both strong and your Enemy All which are his own words in his De Cive Cap. 1. § 14. Nor can I understand what he means by a future Caution of Obedience but the Submission of those who are thus seized upon and their coming into the same Commonwealth and subjecting themselves wholly to their Empire who thus lay hold on them For he tells us presently after That a certain and irresistible Power confers a Right of Governing and Ruling those who cannot resist it So that if this Doctrine be true in what an ill condition are Ambassadors and other Strangers in foreign Countries now at League with us any one may easily perceive Well but suppose such Strangers could or would submit themselves absolutely to these Foreign Powers they may yet chuse whether they will accept it since no Law of Nature according to Mr. H's Principles can oblige Foreigners to any outward Acts of Kindness or Mercy towards others who are not of the same Commonwealth since they may either accept of this their Submission or else refuse it and put them to Death tho otherwise never so innocent § 4. But if Compacts with those of different Commonwealths whether Princes or Subjects are of so little force let us see whether they will signify any more among those who having agreed to renounce this State of Nature are willing to transfer all their Power upon one or more Persons and so enter into his Commonwealth Where first I desire you to observe that these Pacts or Covenants by which every Man renounces his Natural Right are still made in the State of Nature in which State it is lawful for any Man to doubt of another's Fidelity but whether a Man justly fears that another will not perform his part he that fears is the only Judge and therefore Mr. H. concludes that every man hath cause to fear whenever he is afraid Which reason if it were of any force would infer that not only those Compacts are invalid in which nothing is performed on either part but also those in which any thing of any moment remains yet to be done by either Party for he who will not keep Faith any longer may when he pleases pretend to be afraid lest the other should break his Faith with him and that very justly whilst he himself is the only Judge of it and therefore his Reason which is always supposed to be right may not only tell him that he need not perform his part of the Covenant but also that it is absolutely void if he thinks fit to make it so But if any one will say that he himself hath prevented this Objection by his Annotation to this Article as also in his Lev. in this Chap. That the Cause of fear which makes such a Covenant invalid must be always something arising after the Covenant made as some new fact or other sign of the Will not to perform else it cannot make the Covenant void For that which could not hinder a Man from promising ought not to be admitted as an hindrance of performing All which tho it be very true yet if what he hath already alledged in his foregoing Section be also true it will not signify any thing because he there tells us that whether it is likely that he will perform or not he who is afraid is the only Judge right or wrong it is all one and therefore this fear of another mans failing in his trust may either arise from his calling to mind the false and evil Disposition of all men which before the Compact he had not well considered or else he may suppose any Act of the other Parties tho never so innocent to be a sufficient sign of his Will not to perform his part Nor is there any thing in the State of Nature which can make such a timerous man secure of the Fidelity of others for the performance of their Compact because as Mr. H. tells us in his De Cive Cap. 5. § 1 2. Cap. 7. § 27. All the hope of security is placed in that a man may prevent all others either openly or by surprise So that altho it appears that the Utility of observing of Compacts be
never so manifest yet cannot it by this Principle lay any firm Obligation upon mens minds but that they may depart from them whenever they will neglect or oversee this Utility or that they think they may better secure their own interest by any other means since the Will and Conscience of man can never be so obliged by their naked Compacts that they may not depart from or act contrary to them whensoever they think they may safely and for their own private advantage do it For the Obligation will not only cease if it shall please all those who have so covenanted to depart from their Covenants at once as when men discharge themselves of them by mutual consent But supposing also this consent still to continue the force of an Obligation will yet be wanting for since that dictate of Reason of keeping Compacts has not as yet attained the force of a Law as being made as I have already observed in the meer state of Nature any single Person according to his particular Humour or predominant Passion of Fear or Suspicion or Self-interest may depart from this dictate of Reason tho the rest do not agree so to do because no man according to Mr. H. in the Law of Nature can ever be tied by any Compact to quit the doing of that which he judges necessary for his own Interest or Self-defence For in the very beginning of this 14th Chapter in his Lev. he defines a Law of Nature to be a Precept or general Rule found out by Reason by which a man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his Life or takes away the means of preserving the same and to omit that by which he thinketh it may be best preserved So that for the preservation of a man's life or whenever he thinks those Compacts may take away the means of preserving it he may without crime fail in keeping his Compacts either for Publick Peace or the observation of Justice with his Fellow-subjects or of Fidelity or of Obedience to his Civil Sovereign who upon these Principles is in no better a condition nor so good as any of his Subjects Because Mr. H. doth not allow in his Leviathan Cap. 18. of any compacts to be made between the Sovereign and the Subjects who only Covenant one with the other and not with him to give up their right of governing themselves to this man or Assembly of men and that they do thereby authorize all his Actions So that since this Compact is made in the state Nature and that this Law of keeping of Compacts is only a dictate of Reason and no Law it can lay no higher obligation upon mens Consciences in the state of Nature than any other Law of Nature which Mr. H. plainly tells us Chap. 17. In the state of Nature do not oblige nor can the Common Power set over men lay any obligation in Conscience upon them why they should not break these Compacts towards each other when ever they think it convenient For since the Civil Sovereign can only oblige them to its outward observation by those Punishments as he pleases to appoint for such offences as are destructive to the Publick Peace every man that will venture the fear of discovery or being taken or whenever he thinks he can make a Party strong enough to defend himself from those that would punish him for the breach of them may safely nay lawfully transgress them when-ever the awe or fear of the Civil Sovereign ceases So that it is evident there doth still need some higher Law or Principle than this of meer Fear of the Civil Power to make men honest or to keep their Compacts when they have made them § 5. To Conclude Mr. H. doth far exceed his Master Epicurus in this rare invention for that old Fellow one would think had sufficiently shaken the foundations of all common Peace and Justice when he laid down in his ratis sententiis or established dictates That there is no such thing as Iustice between those Nations who either could not or would not enter into mutual Covenants that they should not hurt or be hurt by each other Yet however he thought fit to leave the force of those Compacts unviolated although there was no common Power over them which might keep those Nations in awe But Mr. H. that he might indulge as much as he could to his darling passion of Fear hath also allowed men this Liberty That in the state of Nature Compacts of mutual Fidelity may by right be violated without any other cause given than the fear or suspicion of the Party afraid PRINCIPLE IX The Law of Nature is not properly a Law unless as it is delivered in the Holy Scriptures § 1. WHich Principle he endeavours to prove in his De Cive Cap. 3. Art the last in these words But those that we call Laws of Nature being nothing else but certain conclusions understood by reason concerning the doing of things whereas a Law properly and accurately speaking is the word of him that commands something to be done or not done by others they are not Laws properly speaking as they proceed from Nature Yet as far as they are given by God in the Holy Scripture they are properly called by the name of Laws Which likewise he hath more briefly contracted in his Leviathan Cap. 15. in these words These dictates of Reason men use to call by the Name of Laws but improperly for they are but Conclusions or Theorems concerning what conduceth to the conservation and defence of themselves whereas Law properly is the word of him that by right hath a command over others But yet if we consider the same Theorems as delivered in the word of God that by right commands all things then are they properly called Laws § 2. The Reason for which opinion he gives us in his De Cive Cap. 5 § 1 2 3. in these words It is self-manifest that the actions of men do proceed from their Will and their Will from Hope and Fear So that as often as it seems that a greater Good or lesser Evil is like to happen to them from the violation of Laws men willingly violate them therefore every man's hope of security and preservation is placed in this that he may be able to prevent his Neighbour either by his own force or art openly or at unawares From whence it is plain that the Laws of Nature do not presently as soon as they are known give sufficient security to every one of observing them and therefore as long as no caution can be obtained from the Invasion of others that Primitive Right must still remain to every one of taking Care of himself by all the ways that he will or can which is the Right of all men to all things or the Right of War and it suffices for the fulfilling of the Law of Nature that any one should be ready or willing to have Peace when it may be had with security § 3. So
make war upon all men will be very improperly called a Right for they cannot be properly so but as they are granted or permitted us by some Laws properly so called which in this state can only be those of God or Nature § 7. But we are weary of such Contradictions and therefore let us now farther examine the only Reason he brings why he denies their obligation to external Acts in the state of Nature viz. Because we cannot be secured that others will observe them in those things which are necessary to our preservation and therefore infers that every man's hopes of his own Security are placed in this That by his own Force or Wiles he may prevent his Neighbour openly or at unawares This is that invincible Argument which seems strong enough in his Judgment to destroy all outward Obligations to the whole Law of Nature Yet I think for all that it is easy enough to be answered And therefore in the first place we reply That there is no need of supposing such a perfect Security to be afforded by the Laws of Nature concerning other mens observing them as must needs be free from all Fear before we can be obliged to external Actions conformable to them for the Will of God the first Cause being known whereby he establishes these Laws there will arise a certain obligation to the performance of such external Actions though some men may be so wicked as to break or neglect them and to practice evil and violent Actions towards those that would observe them But I shall now farther prove notwithstanding this Objection that we are under a greater obligation to the Laws of Nature than we are to the Civil Laws of our Country to whose external obedience he will have all men whatsoever obliged For all Persons although they are not under the same Commonwealth yet are all Members of the same more large Empire of God himself Now it is most notorious that those that are Subjects to the same Civil Power cannot be perfectly secure either that their Fellow-subjects will observe all the Civil Laws by abstaining from Murther Robbery or Rebellion c. or that the Civil Sovereign can or will always punish all the Transgressors of his Laws especially where Factions are potent though he is never so watchful over the Publick Good So that if to these cautious Men of Mr. H's Principles it seems a sufficient Reason for their outward obligation to the Civil Laws if it appears more probable that the Civil Sovereign both will and can take care of the Authority of his Laws by protecting the Obedient and punishing the Refractory than that he will forbear or neglect so to do it will likewise follow That to all men who exercise true Piety and Obedience to God's Natural Laws their obligation to observe them will not prove the more infirm though God doth not always presently and immediately punish all the Transgressions and Violations of his Natural Laws it being a sufficient security to them of his Goodness and Justice since he will certainly inflict more severe Punishments upon their Transgressors either in this life or in that to come than any Humane Power can do upon Offenders against their Civil Laws So that if Mr. H's Argument were valid not only the outward obligation of all Natural but also of all Civil Laws would be quite destroyed since in neither State we can be perfectly secure that all others will observe them and indeed he demands that which is altogether impossible when he requires an absolute and perfect Security concerning future voluntary Actions either in a Civil or a Natural State which as such can be only contingent § 8. But if he will permit us to call that a State of security which is the most free of any from the fear of future Danger or Misery we assert That God has made it manifest to all men by all those signs which we have already shown to be sufficient to evince our Obligation that even out of a Civil Government he shall be much more safe from all sorts of Evil who shall most strictly and constantly observe all the Laws of Nature in his outward Actions as well as internal Inclinations than he who according to Mr. H's Doctrine shall seek this Security by endeavouring to prevent and assault all other men by force or fraud But it is necessary when we compare the dangers or security of the good or just men which are only those who observe the Laws of Nature in their outward Actions as also of the wicked or unjust who do otherwise to make a true Experiment which of these will give most certain security there is not only to be reckoned into this account those Evils which may happen to them from the Violence of other men but also those which such wicked men bring upon themselves by their inconstant and unreasonable way of living as also by their inordinate Passions such as Envy Anger Intemperance c. and moreover all those Evils or Punishments which may with reason be feared from God both in this Life and in that to come which also are to be compared not in any one particular case or in a few circumstances only but in all those that may happen through the whole course of their Lives for otherwise it is impossible that we should truly judge which course of Life either that of constant Justice or Injustice would be more secure But we have I hope already sufficiently made out that their condition is much more happy and secure who observe the Laws of Nature in the whole course of their Actions than those who act otherwise To which I shall only add That altho Mr. H. himself when he treats of the security requisite to the outward Observation of the Laws of Nature doth wholly insist upon a perfect security from the Invasion of other men and affirms Because it is not to be had in the State of Nature that therefore no body is obliged in that State to outward acts of Justice but hath still a right to all things and of making War upon all Men Yet in other places of his Book as if he had forgot himself he doth acknowledge altho but sparingly that he himself perceived that there was a sufficient Obligation to an external Conformity to the Laws of Nature even out of a Civil State lest we should fall into other Evils besides those which may be feared from the violence of men As for Example when he endeavours to prove in his De Cive Cap. 3. § 2 3. That Faith is to be kept with all men he fetches his reason from hence That he who violates his Covenant commits a Contradiction which he acknowledges to be an Absurdity in Humane Conversation And therefore if he can admit in this case that it is better to observe than to violate our Covenants lest we should fall into a Contradiction what reason is there why we should not also universally infer the same consequence from
the breach of every Law of Nature and consequently an Obligation to all their outward Actions So that it will be better to observe than to transgress them in the State of Nature because their Violation doth still imply a Contradiction or Absurdity in all Humane Society or Conversation for whosoever will seriously consider the Nature of rational Agents will acknowledge that all the Felicity possible for them doth depend upon the Common Good and Happiness of the whole System as its necessary and adequate Cause and therefore every man ought to seek both of them together for whensoever he transgresses any Law of Nature he then separates his own private Good or Advantage from that of the publick which being contradictory ways of acting must needs raise a Civil War or Contest in a mans own Conscience between his Reason and his Passions which must grievously disturb its Tranquility which Evil since it also takes away his Peace and Security is no contemptible Punishment naturally inflicted by God for such Offences § 9. I shall now only propose two Reasons more whereby I think we may demonstrate the falseness of this Argument of Mr. H. The first is That Presumption of the Civil Laws both in our own and all other Kingdoms which sufficiently declares what Judgment Civil Sovereigns whom this Author makes the only Judges of right or wrong have made of Humane Nature to wit that every one is presumed to be good until the contrary be proved by some outward Action and that made out by sufficient Proof or Testimony and therefore if their Judgment be true he must own all other men ought not to be esteemed as Enemies or so wicked as he is pleased to suppose so that they may be set upon and killed tho never so innocent for any private mans security And this Presumption is more strong against Mr. H. because he founds that Security which he acknowledges to be sufficient in Commonwealths upon those Punishments by which the Supreme Powers can restrain all Invaders of other mens Rights but it is certain that no Punishments are inflicted in Civil States unless according to the Sentence of some Judges who always give Sentence according to this Presumption This therefore is either a true Presumption and so able to direct our Actions in the State of Nature or else even in Commonwealths there is not to be found a sufficient security by the Laws made and Punishments inflicted according to this Presumption and so neither Civil Laws themselves do oblige us to outward Acts and thus every Commonwealth would soon be dissolved But since we are satisfied that publick Judgments given according to this Presumption do for the most part render mens Lives secure enough and certainly much more safe than if all who are arraigned at the Bar were presumed to be Enemies and according to Mr. H's rule of prevention should be all forthwith condemned to suffer as guilty therefore it also follows that the private Judgments of particular men concerning others made according to this Presumption do more conduce to the security of all men than this Authors rash Presumption of the Universal Pravity of all men and would thence persuade us that all others in the State of Nature are to be prevented and set upon by force and fraud § 10. A second reason to prove that the violation of the Laws of Nature as to outward acts will procure us less security than their exact observation may be drawn from hence That Mr. H. himself confesses there will thence necessarily follow a War of all men against all which War being once supposed he rightly acknowledges that all men would become miserable and must presently perish From whence it appears that all security is sought for in vain by this mad state so that there can remain no more hopes of it tho Mr. H. teaches otherwise in his de Cive cap. 5. § 1. and Lev. cap. 13. viz. That in the mutual fear of men no body hath a better way of security than by this anticipation or prevention that is every one may endeavour so long to subject all others by force or fraud as he sees any man left of whom he ought to beware that is as long as there is one man left alive and so the whole earth would soon become a desart and the common sepulchre of mankind for no man can provide any aid or assistance for himself from other men in this state because Covenants of mutual Faith by which alone others can be joined in Society with him will not oblige to external acts in this state as I have shewed he acknowledges and therefore there remains no security by this way of anticipation So that if there be any security in Nature I appeal to the reasons and consciences of men whether this is not more likely to be had by the endeavour of the common Good of Mankind by doing good and not evil to those who have done us no harm than by Mr. H.'s method of Anticipation which can yield no security at all PRINCIPLE X. That the Laws of Nature are alterable at the Will of the Civil Soveraign § 1. THis is a natural consequence from what he hath already laid down That nothing is morally good or evil in the state of Nature before the Institution of a Commonwealth Yet that you may see that I do not impose upon Mr. H. in this Assertion I will give you his own words in his de Cive cap. 14. § 9 10. But because it arises from Civil Laws that as well every one should have a proper Right to himself distinct from that of another as also that he may be forbidden to invade other mens Properties it follows that these Precepts Honour thy Parents Thou shalt not defraud any man in that which is appointed by the Laws Thou mayest not kill a man whom the Laws forbid thee to kill Thou shalt avoid all Carnal Copulation forbidden by the Laws Thou shalt not take away another mans Goods without his consent Thou shalt not frustrate Laws and Iudgments by false Witness are all Civil Laws It is true the Laws of Nature prescribe the same things but immplicity for the Law of Nature as is said before Cap. 3. § 2. commands Compacts to be observed and therefore also to yield Obedience when Obedience was covenanted and to abstain from what is anothers when it is defined by the Civil Law what it is but all the Subjects do Covenant from the Constitution oi the Commonwealth to yield Obedience to his Commands who hath the supream Power that is to the Civil Laws For the Law of Nature did oblige in the state of Nature where first of all where Nature gave all things to all men nothing was anothers and therefore impossible to invade it and in the next place where all things were common therefore also all Carnal Copulations were lawful Thirdly Where there was a state of War it was then lawful to kill any man Fourthly Where all things
unpunished since this may very well consist with the Publick Peace and safety of the People and may also tend to the Publick good of the Commonwealth since it might not only make men more careful of their Goods but might also serve to make those Boys more crafty secret and undertaking in greater matters when they should come to be men which as Plutarch tells us was the main reason why Licurgus made this Law But does it therefore follow that either the Lacedemonians or Egyptians might have made it Lawful for Thieves and Robbers to assault all mens Persons and take away their Goods by Force or to Rob men of those things such as Food and Rayment which are absolutely necessary for Human Life or that such a Law could ever have been made practicable or have been observed without the absolute dissolution of the Civil Government Whereas if Mr. H. had but considered the distinction between that Natural and Civil Property which we have made out in the first Chap. of the preceding Discourse he had never fallen into this Error of supposing all Theft or Robbery whatsoever to become Lawful if once ordained so by the Supreme Power § 3. I shall give you but one instance more from the Laws of our own Kingdom by which it is enacted That whoever shall relieve a way going Beggar shall forfeit Ten shillings to the Poor of the Parish which Law was made for the Publick Good and to prevent Wandering Idleness and Beggary in the Poorer sort of People But doth it therefore follow that it might be Lawful for the King and Parliament to make a Law against all Charity or Relief of the Poor whatsoever So that you may see that no Civil Laws whatsoever can lay any obligation upon mens Consciences but as they either regard the publick Good of the Commonwealth or the more general good of all Rational Beings § 4. But whether Mr. H. fell into this Error for want of a due knowledge and consideration of this great Law of Nature or else out of a desire to flatter all Civil Sovereigns is hard to determine though it be very suspitious that he did it rather out of design than ignorance since he teaches us in his de Cive and Lev. That Princes being free from all Promises and Compacts to their Subjects may dispose of their Lives and Fortunes at their pleasure and therefore can do them no injury though they treat them never so cruelly because he is in respect of them still in the state of Nature by which means he at once endeavours to destroy all Virtue and Goodness in Princes and all Reverence and Respect in the minds of their Subjects and makes no difference between a Nero or Caligula and a Trajan or an Antonine And consequential to this he likewise makes the will of the Supreme Power though perhaps but one single man to be the only measure of Good and Evil Just and Unjust So that whatever he Commands or Forbids must immediately be look'd upon as Good or Evil because he hath Commanded it or Forbidden it by which means Princes would have no other Rules left them of their Moral or Politick Actions but their own Arbitrary Humours or Wills Which if it were so men would be in a much worse condition under the Power of this irresistible Leviathan than they were in the state of Nature since a man is in more danger as to his Life and Fortune who is at the Mercy of one Cruel and unreasonable man who commands an Hundred thousand men than he who was before in danger of the violence of an Hundred thousand single men in the state of Nature since it was Lawful for him to have provided for his own security by combination with others which in a Civil state it is upon his Principles unlawful to do though I confess not being true to them he leaves every man a Right of self-defence or Resistance even under a Civil Government whenever he is strong enough to Rebel or Resist the Magistrate by which means he takes away with one hand all that he had before bestowed with the other § 5. But I think I have now sufficiently exposed the Falseness as well as Wickedness of those Principles And though I will not be so uncharitable as to affirm that either Mr. H. or all his Followers either did or would always act according to them yet as Cicero long since observed in his Offices they have more reason to thank the natural goodness and generosity of their own Natures than the Doctrines they have embraced if they do not But if I have been too tedious in the performance I hope the Reader will pardon me if these pernicious Principles are sufficiently Confuted at last since it is impossible for any man to judge of their Truth or Falsehood without first considering the Author's Opinion in his own words and then strictly examining the reasons he brings for them which could not well be contracted into a less compass But having not only I hope laid foundations for a more solid building in the precedent Discourse but also cleared off that Rubbish in this second Part that might obstruct its Evidence in the minds of all Candid and indifferent Readers I shall therefore beseech God the great Ruler of mens hearts and affections That what we have said in this Treatise may have that good effect as if not to produce yet at least to increase true Piety towards God and good Will and Charity among men FINIS Books Printed for Richard Baldwin STate Tracts Being a farther Collection of Several Choice Treatises relating to the Government From the Year 1660 to 1689. Now Published in a Body to shew the Necessity and clear the Legality of the Late Revolution and our present Happy Settlement under the Auspicious Reign of Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary Mathematical Magick Or The Wonders that may be performed by Mechanical Geometry In Two Books Concerning Mechanical Powers and Motions Being one of the most Easie Pleasant Useful and yet most neglected part of Mathematicks Not before treated of in this Language By I. Wilkins late Lord Bishop of Chester The Fourth Edition Bibliotheca Politica Or a Discourse by way of Dialogue Whether Monarchy be Iure Divino Collected out of the most Approved Authors both Ancient and Modern Dialogue the First Dialogue the Second Whether there can be made out from the Natural or Revealed Law of God any Succession to Crowns by Divine Right Dialogue the Third Whether Resistance of the Supream Power by a whole Nation or People in cases of the last Extremity can be Justified by the Law of Nature or Rules of the Gospel Dialogue the Fourth Whether Absolute Non-Resistances of the Supream Powers be enjoined by the Doctrine of the Gospel and was the Ancient Practice of the Primitive Churh and the constant Doctrine of our Reformed Church of England The Speech of the Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Stamford Lord Gray of Grooby c. at the General Quarter-Sessions held for the County of Leicester at Michaelmas 1691. His Lordship being made Custos Rotulorum for the said County by the late Lord Commissioners of the Great Seal Truth brought to Light Or The History of the First 14 Years of King Iames the I. In Four Parts I. The Happy State of England at His Majesty's Entrance The Corruption of it afterwards With the Rise of particular Favourites and the Divisions between This and other States abroad II. The Divorce betwixt the Lady Francis Howard and Robert Earl of Essex before the King's Delegates authorized under the King 's Broad Seal As also the Arraignment of Sir Iervis Yelvis Lieutenant of the Tower c. about the Murther of Sir Thomas Overbury with all Proceedings thereupon and the King 's gracious Pardon and Favour to the Countess III. A Declaration of His Majesty's Revenue since he came to the Crown of England with the Annual Issues Gifts Pensions and Extraordinary Disbursements IV. The Commissions and Warrants for the burning of two Hereticks newly revived with two Pardons one for Theophilus Higgons the other for Sir Eustace Hart. The Memoirs of Monsieur Deageant Containing the most secret Transactions and Affairs of France from the Death of Henry VI. till the beginning of the Ministry of the Cardinal de Richlieu To which is added a particular Relation of the Arch-bishop of Embrun's Voyage into England and of his Negotiation for the Advancement of the Roman Catholick Religion here together with the Duke of Bukingham's Letter to the said Archbishop about the Progress of that Affair which happened the last Years of K. Iames I. his Reign Faithfully Translated out of the French Original The Present State of Christendom consider'd In Nine Dialogues between I. The present Pope Alexander the VIIIth and Lewis the XIV II. The Great Duke of Tuscany and the Duke of Savoy III. King Iames the Second and the Marescal de la Fuillade IV. The Duke of Lorrain and the Duke of Schomberg V. The Duke of Lorrain and the Elector Palatine VI. Lewis the XIVth and the Marquis de Louvois VII The Advoyer of Berne and the Chief Syndic of Geneva VIII Cardinal Ottoboni and the Duke de Chaulnes IX The Young Prince Abafti and Count Teckely A New Plain Short and Compleat French and English Grammar whereby the Learner may attain in few Months to Speak and Write French Correctly as they do now in the Court of France And wherein all that is Dark Superfluous and Deficient in other Grammars is Plain Short and Methodically supplied Also very useful to Strangers that are desirous to learn the English Tongue For whose sake is added a Short but very Exact English Grammar The Second Edition By Peter Berault * Dr. Ioh. Lock Vide Chap. des Pensees Morales Book 8. chap. 3. Vid. his Essay concerning Humane Vnderstanding Book I. Chap. 11. * Vide The Preface to De Cive Vid. Mezeray's Hist. in the Life of this Prince Leviath Part I. Chap. 12. * Vid. Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Law of Nature pag. 24. Demonstration of the Law c. pag. 23. Credendum est totum qd colitur Deus homini prodesse non Deo De Civit. Dei Lib. X. Cap. 5. Matt. 12.7 8. Mark 2.27 Luk. 10.30 V◠Jo. Lerius Hist. Brasil as also the French History of the Caribbè Islands * Vid. Dr. Parker's Ecclesiastical Policy Chap. 4. p. 126 127. Vi. Diog. Laert. in vita Epicuri Stat 7. Jacobi Cap. 7.