Their Wills are as liable to Levity as Ours but their Power and the Effect of what they will is incomparably greater But still Nature is the same in the Fly as in the Elephant and both are actuated by the same Appetites and Passions Nay let me take leave to add that besides those Passions and Defects and Natural Qualifications and Abatements which they share in common with the least and meanest of their Servants and Adorers there are some Vices and Inconveniences in a manner peculiar to Them alone such as the Eminence of their Condition and the vast Extent of their Power inspires them with a more than ordinary Tendency with vehement and almost unavoidable propensions to The Manners and Temper of Great Persons have been commonly observed by the Wisest and most Discerning Persons to be Invincible Pride The Manners and Dispositions of Great Persons and Self-conceit * Duâ—â—â—s veri insolens Ad recta flecti regius non vult tumor An abounding in their own Sense which is Stiff and Inflexible incapable of Truth and disdaining better advice Licentiousness and Violence †Id esse regni maximum pignus putant si quicquid aliis non licet solis licet which looks upon a Liberty of doing what no body else may do as the particular Distinction and most Glorious Privilege of their Character So that their Favourite Motto is * Quicquid libet licet My Will is a Law Suspicion and Jealousie for they are †Suapte Naturâ Potentiae anxii Naturally tender and fearful of their Power nay fearful sometimes even of their own Children and nearest Relations ‖ Suspectus semper invisusque dominantibus quisquis proximus destinatur adeo ut displiceant etiam civilia Filiorum ingenia The next in Succession is always look'd upon with an Evil and Jealous Eye by the Person in present Possession of the Throne so that any the least Genius of Government or interesting themselves in Publick Affairs is very unacceptable in the Sons of Princes And hence it is that they are so often in Fears and mighty Consternations for * Ingenia Regum prona ad formidinem it is usual and natural to Kings to live under continual Apprehensions The Advantages which Kings and Sovereign Princes have above Those of meaner Condition seem indeed to be Marvellous Great and Glorious but when nicely consider'd they are in Truth but very Thin and Slight and little more than mere Imagination But were they much above what really they are it is certain they are dearly bought at the Expence of the many Weighty Solid and Substantial Troubles and Inconveniences that constantly attend them The Name and the Title of Sovereign the Splendor and Formalities of a Court and all the Pomp and Parade that draws our Eyes and Observation carry a Beautiful and Desirable Appearance such as raises our Wonder and kindles our Wishes and Desires but the Burden and the Inside of all this Shining Pageantry is Hard and Knotty Laborious and Painful There is Honour in Abundance but very little Joy or Ease It is a Publick and an Honourable Servitude an Illustrious Misery a Wealthy Captivity The Chains are of Gold but still they are Chains And it is worth our While to observe the Behaviour and the Reflections of Augustus Marcus Aurelius Pertinax Dioclesian upon this Occasion and the wretched End of most of the Twelve Caesars and many Others of their Successors in the Empire But now in Regard these seem Words of Course only such as very few will give any Credit to because they suffer Themselves to be imposed upon by a gay and deceitful Face of Power I shall think it worth while to clear this Matter by giving a distinct and particular Account of some Inconveniences and Miseries with which the Condition of Sovereign Princes is constantly incumbred First The mighty Dissiculty of acting their Part well In the Discharge of their Office and acquitting Themselves of so weighty a Charge For if it be so very Hard a Thing as we find by sad Experience it is to govern ones self well what infinite Hardship must we in reason suppose there is in governing a Multitude of People It is certainly much more Easie and Pleasant to follow than to lead to have no more to do than only to keep a plain beaten Road than to beat out a Path for Others to obey than to direct and command to answer for one's single self than to be responsible for one's Self and a great many More besides * Ut satius multo jam sit parere quietum Quam regere imperio res velle Lucret. lib. V. And thus 't is better than proud Scepters sway To live a quiet Subject and obey Creech To all This we may add that it is highly Necessary for the Person whose Duty it is to Command to be more excellent and exemplary than Them who are commanded by him as that Great Commander Cyrus very truly observed And this Difficulty we cannot be better made sensible of by any Argument than Matter of Fact which proves to us Experimentally how very few Persons History makes mention of in this Character who have in all Points been what they ought to be Tacitus says that of all the Roman Emperours till that Time Vespasian was the only true good Man and another antient Author hath taken the Confidence to affirm that the Names of all the good Princes that ever were might be engraven within the Compass of a Ring The Second Difficulty may be fixed very Reasonably upon their Pleasures and Delights In their Pleasures and Actions of their Lise of which Men usually think but they think very much amiss that They have a greater Share and more perfect Enjoyment than the rest of Mankind For in truth their Condition in this Respect is insinitely Worse than that of Private Men. The Lustre and Eminence of great Persons gives them great Inconvenience in the Fruition of what it furnishes them with Power and Opportunities for They are too much exposed to Publick View move openly and in check and are perpetually watch'd controul'd and censur'd even to their very Thoughts which the World will always take a Liberty of guessing at and censuring tho' they are no competent Judges nor can possibly have any Knowledge of the Matter Besides this Restraint there is likewise some Disadvantage in the very Easiness they feel of doing whatever their Inclination leads them to and every Thing bending and yielding to their Pleasure for This takes away all that Relish and pleasing Sharpness which is necessary to render a Thing Delightful and Nothing is or can be so to us which hath no Mixture or Dissiculty to recommend and heighten it A Man that never gives himself time to be Dry will never be sensible what Pleasure there is in quenching one's Thirst and all Drinking will be flat and insipid to him Fulness and Plenty is one of the most troublesome
wre there not so there could be no scruple That which is altogether unjust and manifestly so all Men agree 〈◊〉 condemning even the vilest Wretches alive have not yet put off all Distinctions of Right and Wrong all Sense of Guilt and Shame But what they allow themselves in the practice of even that they disallow in Profession and Pretence But the Case is otherwise in mixt Actions there are Arguments and Appearances of Reason at least Examples and Authorities on both sides and a Man that enters into the Disquisition does not find it easie what Resolutions to take At least he finds somewhat to give Countenance to what his Convenience persuades and that which hath divided Men's Judgments and made it a moot Point he thinks will be sufficient for his Vindication Abundance of Cases of this nature might be specify'd but at present I shall content my self with a few that now occur to me and leave it to the Reader to put others like or parallel to these as he sees fit What shall we say first to the ridding ones Hands of a troublesome pestilent Fellow that propagates Faction and Disorder and is eternally breaking the publick Peace by getting him taken off secretly without any legal Process This Man take notice is supposed to deserve Death but the Circumstances of the Offender and of the Prince are such that without manifest Danger to the State he cannot be brought to Justice nor made an Example in the common way Here is they tell you no material Injustice in all This the Offender hath but his Due and as Matters stand the Publick is better served by his having it in this way than it could be by punishing him after the manner of other Offenders of the like Nature So that the most you can make of this is a Breach of the Forms and Methods prescribed by Law and surely they tell you the Sovereign Prince is above Forms The next is Clipping the Wings and giving a Check to the Wealth and Power of some Great Man who is growing Popular and strengthening his Interest and both from his Ability and Inclination to do Mischief becomes formidable to his Prince The Question here is whether a Prince may not lower and cut such a potent Subject short in time without staying so long for a fair Provocation that he stall be grown too big to be dealt with and if any Attempts be made either against the publick Peace in general or the Life of the Prince in particular it will not then be possible to prevent or to punish them though we would never so fain Another is In an extreme Exigence and when no other Supplies are to be had seizing upon private Stocks and so compelling soe of the wealthiest Subjects to furnish the Publick Necessities when the Nation is not able by all its Publick Funds to support it self A Fourth is Infringing and Vacating some of the Rights and Privileges which some of the Subjects enjoy when the Authority of the Prince is prejudiced and diminished and his Grandeur eclipsed by the Continuance of them The Last is a Point of Prevention when a Fort or a Town or a Province very commodious to the Government is seiz'd and got into a Prince's Hands by interposing first and to keep it out of the Possession of some other powerful and very formidable Neighbour who by making himself Master of this Pass would have been in a Condition of doing great Injury and giving perpetual Disturbance to this Prince and his Country who are now the first Occupiers All these things I know sound harsh and are hardly if at all to be reconciled with the common Notions of Justice Matters of State are neither fit nor safe for me to give a Judgment in thus much only I think may not misbecome this place to say That as on the one hand the indulging and having frequent recourse to such Actions is very dangerous gives just matter of Jealousie to the Subject and will be apt to degenerate into Tyranny and Exorbitant use of Power so on the other it is plain Subjects ought to be modest and very spring in censuring the Actions of their Prince and the Steps he makes for the publick Safety however bold they may seem and beyond the Lengths which are commonly gone And this suspending at least of our Judgments in matters of another and very distant Sphere will appear the more reasonable when I have shewed you that very eminent Men Persons of acknowledged Virtue as well as vast Learning and Wisdom have approved all those Practises already mention'd and think them not amiss provided the Success be good and answer their Intentions And to this purpose I will quote you here some of those Sentences and Remarks which they have left us upon such Occasions In order to preserve Justice in greater and more important Matters there is sometimes a necessity says Plutarch of deviating from it in those of less Moment And in order to doing Right to the generality and in the gross it is allowable to put some Hardships and be guilty of some Wrong to particular Persons * Omne magnum Exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod adversus singulos utilitate publicâ rependitur Commonly speaking says Tacitus the bravest Exploits and most celebrated Examples carry somewhat of Injustice in them But in this Case what Private Men suffer is abundantly compensated by the Benefit which the Publick receives from it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in fine Flamin A Prudent Prince says Plutarch again must not only know how to govern according to Law But if a necessary occasion require it he must learn to govern even the Laws themselves When they fall short of their End and cannot do what they would he must stretch and correct and give a new Power to the Laws where they happen to be defective that is if they are not willing he should do what is fitting in that Juncture he must make them willing ₠Non speciosa dictu sed usu necessaria in rebus adversis sequenda esse Q. Curt. Lib. 5. When the State is in Confusion and things brought to a Plunge the Prince says Curtius must not think himself obliged to follow that which will look or sound best to the World but that which the present Extremity calls for And again * Necessitas magnum imbecillitatis humanae patrocinium omnem Legem frangit non est nocens quicunque non sponte est nocens Senec. Necessity says Seneca That great Refuge and Excuse for Humane Frailty breaks thro' all Laws and he is not to be accounted in fault whose Crime is not the Effect of Choice but Force Aristotle's Rule is If a Prince cannot be good in every part of his Government 't is enough that he be so in the greater or at least an equal part but let him be sure not to be bad in every part And Democritus That it is impossible for the best Princes
Obsequio emnia constant For were it not for Government and Obedience all this goodly Fabrick would fall to pieces This Distinction I shall first endeavour to represent to you in the gross by the following Table The First and general Division All Power and Subjection is either 1 Private which extends to 1. Families and Houshold Government and here the mutual Relations are contracted Four Ways and the Authority is of Four Sorts 1. Conjugal between the Husband and Wife This Relation is the Source and Root of all Humane Society 2. Paternal between Parents and Children This is truly and properly Natural 3. Herile and that of two Sorts 1. Of Lords and their Slaves 2. Of Masters over their Servants 4. That of Patrons and their Dependants which is now out of Date and searce any where in use 2. Corporations and Colleges and Civil Communities such as are call'd the Lesser Communities which relates to the several Members of that particular Body 2. Publick and this again is either 1. Supreme which is of Three Sorts according to the Three known Constitutions 1. Monarchy or a Government vested in One single Person 2. Aristoâ—â—â—cy or that which is administred by a few of the best Quality 3. Democracy where the whole Body of theâ— cople have some Share in it 2. Subordinate which lieshetween Persons that are both Suporiours and Inferiours when considered in Different Respects and as Places and Persons may alter the Case and this is a Power of 1. Particular Lords in their â—â—â—eral Jurisdictions and admitting of many Degrees 2. Oâ—â—cers and Magistrates depâ—ted by the Supreme Power of which there is likewise great Variety This Publick Power whether the Supreme or the Subordinate Supreme Power Subdivided admits of several Subdivisions very necessary to be attended to The Supreme which as I observ'd is of Three Sorts according to the different Constitutions and Methods of Government executes and exerts it self in as many different ways and each of These according to the different Temper and Management hath been distinguish'd by the Titles of Kingly Arbitrary and Tyrannical Kingly is when the Supreme Power be it lodged in one or in more Hands is it self strictly Obedient to the Laws of Nature and preserves and protects its Subjects in their Natural Liberties and Civil Rights All Power in general belongs to Kings particular Properties to private Men. The King is Universal Lord and hath a Right Paramoum Others have the Right of Lordship and Possession Arbitrary Government is when the Sovereign is Lord of Mens Persons and Estates by Right of Conquest and the Subjects are Governed without any Regard to Claims or Laws or Rights but in an absolate Way as Lords use their Slaves This is rather Bondage and Captivity Subjection is too gentle a Name for it where Lives are cut off and Estates seized and rack'd and taken away at Pleasure Tyrannical Government is where the Sovereign despises and disregards all the Laws of Nature and Original Rights of Mankind and so does not only make use of but abuses the Persons and Possessions of the Subjects and this differs from the former Arbitrary way much after the same manner that a Robber differs from a Fair Enemy in the Field Now of these Three Different Constitutions the Monarchical but of the Three Tempers or Ways of Governing the Arbitrary hath been observed to be the most Antient and best Calenlated of any for Grandeur Continuance and Splendor Thus it was with the Assyrian Persian Aegyptian and at present that of Aethiopia the most Antient of any Moscovy Tartary Turkey and Pern But the Best and most Natural Estate is that manner of Government which we call Kingly according to our late Distinction of it The Famous Aristocracies were That of the Locademonians heretofore and That of the Venetians and States of Holland at this Day The Democracies were Rome Athens Carthage but the Government of all These as to its Temper and Method of Administration was what we call Kingly The Publick Power which is Subaltern Of particular Lards or Subordinate is lodg'd in particular Lords and These are of several Sorts and Degrees according to their respective Tenures and Capacities But the most Considerable are Five 1. Lords Tributary who only owe Tribute and nothing else 2. Feudatary Lords who hold their Lands in Fee 3. Simple Vaslals who owe Fealty and Homage for their Fee These Three may be Sovereign Themselves too 4. Liege Vassals that besides Fealty and Homage owe Personal Suit and Service and so cannot be truly Sovereign 5. Natural Subjects whether Vassals in Fee or in Cens or in any other Tenure and Capacity These owe Subjection and Obedience and cannot be exempted from the Power of their Sovereign Lord and yet are Lords Themselves The Publick Subordinate Power which consists in Offices under and Proper Officers employ'd by Oâ—fâ—â—ers the Supreme Power is of several Sorts but may be reduc'd to Five Degrees with regard to the Distinctions of Honour and Power which belong to or may direct us in the Consideration of them 1. The First and lowest Sort is that of Publick Executioners such as give the last Stroke and finish upon Criminals what the Courts of Justice have awarded and begun These however necessary have yet somewhat so shocking in their Employment that it hath been generally look'd upon as Odious and Scandalous and the Persons in that Office not suffered in many Places to dwell within the City 2. The Second are Men that are neither Honourable nor Dishonourable upon the Account of their Post such as Sergeants Trumpeters and the like 3. The Third Sort have Honour and Respect indeed by Virtue of their Office but no Authority by way of Cognisance or Power such are Notaries Receivers Secretaries and the like 4. The Fourth have not an empty Honour only but Power and Cognisance and yet not any Jurisdiction properly so call'd such are The King's Counsel for Example who may examine Publickly but can determine or give sinal Issue to nothing 5. The Last have Jurisdiction properly so call'd and by Virtue of This they have all the Rest And These only in Strictness of Speech are Magistrates which may be dislinguish'd several Ways particularly into these live Sorts each of which is Two-fold 1. Mayors Senators Judges Colonels c. Generals Judges 2. In Politicks or Civil Government In Military Matters 3. In Cuestions and Cases of Property and Right In Criminal Cases or Tryals of Offenders 4. Offices Titular fixt and Hereditary Offices in Particular Commission 5. Officers Perpetual of which Nature it is sit that there should be fewest and Those only of the least Consequence Officers Temporal or Removeable such as all of the Highest Importance ought to be Of the Conditions and Degrees of Men particularly according to the foregoing Table ADVERTISEMENT IT is Necessary to observe upon this Occasion that the several Divisions of this Table and the Distinction of those Powers and their respective Dependencies
Cowardice and base Degeneracy of Spirit for Lords made Men Slaves because when they had them in their Power and Possession there was more Profit to be got by keeping than there could be by killing them And it is observable that heretofore one of the most valuable sorts of Wealth and that which the Owners took greatest Pride in consisted in the Multitude and the Quality of Slaves In this respect it was that Crassus grew rich above all other Romans for besides Those that continually waited upon him he had Five Hundred Slaves kept constantly at hard Work and all the Gain of their several Arts and Labours was daily brought and converted to his Advantage And this tho' very great was not all the Profit neither for after that they had made a vast Account of their Drudgery and kept them a great while thus in Work and Service their very Persons were a Marketable Commodity and some farther Gain was made in the Sale of Them to other Masters It would really amaze one to read and consider well the Cruelties that have been exercis'd upon Slaves The Cruel Usage of Slaves and Those not only such as the Tyranny of an inhumane Lord might put him upon but such as even the Publick Laws have permitted and approv'd They us'd to Chain and Yoke them together and so make them Till the Ground like Oxen and they do so to this Day in Barbary lodge them in Ditches or Bogs or Pits and deep Caves and when they were worn and wasted with Age and Toil and so could bring in no more Gain by their Service the poor impotent Wretches were either sold at a low Price or drown'd and thrown into Ponds to feed their Lord's Fish They killed them not only for the slightest and most insignificant Offence as the Breaking of a Glass or the like but upon the least Suspicions and most unaccountable Jealousies Nay sometimes merely to give Themselves Diversion as Flaminius did who yet was a Person of more than ordinary Character and reputed a very Good Man in his Time It is notorious that they were forc'd to enter the Lists and combat and kill one another upon the Publick Theatres for the Entertainment of the People If the Master of the House were Murdered under his own Roof let who would be the Doer of it yet all the Slaves tho' perfectly innocent of the Thing were sure to go to Pot. And accordingly we find that when Pedanius a Roman was killed notwithstanding they had certain Intelligence of the Murderer yet by express Decree of the Senate Four Hundred poor Wretches that were his Slaves were put to Death for no other reason but their being so Nor is it much less surprizing on the other hand to take notice of the Rebellions Insurrections and Barbarities of Slaves when they have made Head against their Lords and gotten them into their Power And That not only in Cases of Treachery and Surprize as we read of one Tragical Night in the City of Tyre but sometimes in open Field in regular Forces and form'd Battles by Sea and Land all which gave Occasion for the use of that Proverb That a Man hath as many Enemies as he hath Slaves Now in proportion as the Christian Religion first How they came to lesson and afterwards the Mahometan got ground and increas'd the Number of Slaves decreas'd and the Terms of Servitude grew more easie and gentle For the Christians first and afterwards the Mahometans who affected to follow the Christians Examples made it a constant Practice and Rule to give all those Persons their Freedom who became Proselytes to their Religion And this prov'd a very great Invitation and powerful Inducement to convert and win Men over Insomuch that about the Year Twelve Hundred there was scarce any such thing as a Slave left in the World except in such places only where neither of these Two Persuasions had gain'd any Footing or Credit But then it is very remarkable withal that in the same Proportions And the Poor to increase as the Number of Slaves fell away and abated that of Poor People and Beggars and Vagabonds multiply'd upon us And the Reason is very obvious for Those Persons who during the State of Slavery wrought for their Patrons and were maintain'd at Their Expence when they were dismist Their Families lost their Table at the same time they receiv'd their Liberty and when they were thus turn'd loose into the World to shift for Themselves it was not easie for them to find Means of supporting their Families which by reason of the great Fruitfulness of People in low Condition generally were very numerous in Children and thus they grew overstockt themselves and filled the World with Poor Want and extreme Necessity presently began to pinch these kind of People Return to Servitude and compelled them to return back again to Servitude in their own Defence Thus they were content to enslave Themselves to truck and barter away their Liberty to set their Labours to Sale and let out their Persons for Hire meerly that they might secure to Themselves convenient Sustenance and a quiet Retreat and lighten the Burden which the Increase of Children brought upon them Besides this pressing Occasion and the Servitude chosen upon it the World hath pretty much relapsed into the Using of Slaves again by means of those continual Wars which both Christians and Mahometans are eternally engag'd in both against each other and against the Pagans in the East and Western Countries particularly And though the Example of the Jews be so far allow'd as a good Precedent that they have no Slaves of their own Brethren and Countrymen yet of Strangers and Foreigners they have and These are still kept in Slavery and under Constraint notwithstanding they do come over to the Profession of their Master's Religion The Power and Authority of common Masters over their Servants is not at all domineering or extravagant nor such as can in any degree be prejudicial to the Natural Liberty of Them who live under it The utmost they can pretend to is the chastizing and correcting them when they do amiss and in This they are oblig'd to proceed with Discretion and not suffer their Severities to be unreasonable and out of all Measure But over those who are hired in as Workmen and Days-men this Authority is still less There is only a Covenant for Labour and Wages in Exchange but no Power nor any Right of Correction or Corporal Punishment lies against These from their Masters The Duty of Masters and Servants is treated of Book III. Chap. 15. CHAP. XLIX Of Publick Government Sovereign Power and Princes AFter the Account already given of Private Power The Nature and Necessity of Pub-blick Government the next thing that falls under our Consideration is the Publick or that of the State Now the State that is to say Government or a Determinate Order and Establishment for Commanding and Obeying is the very Pillar
and Support of Humane Affairs the Cement that knits and keeps them Fast and Strong the Soul that gives them Life and Motion the Band of all Society which can never subsist without it the vital Spirit of this Body Politick that enables Men so many Thousands of Men to breath as One and compacts all Nature together Now notwithstanding the absolute Necessity and unspeakable Convenience This is of for sustaining the Universe yet is it really a very slippery and unsafe thing extremely difficult to manage and liable to infinite Changes and Dangers * Arduum subjectum fortunae cuncta regendi onus The Governing of Men and their Affairs is a very hard Undertaking a heavy Burden and exposed to great variety of Chances It often declines and languishes nay sometimes falls to the Ground by secret Misfortunes and unseen Causes And though its rising to a just Height is Gradual and Slow a Work of much Time and great Pains and Prudence yet the Ruins and Decays of it are frequently sudden and surprizing and the Constitutions which took up Ages to finish and build up are broken and thrown down in a Moment It is likewise exposed to the Hatred and Envy of all Degrees and Conditions The High and the Low watch it curiously and are Jealous of all its Proceedings and set Themselves at Work perpetually to endanger and undermine it This Uneasiness and Suspicion and general Enmity proceeds partly from the Corrupt Manners and Dispositions of the Persons in whom the Supreme Power is vested and partly from the Nature of the Power it self of which you may take this following Description Sovereignty is properly a Perpetual and Absolute Power What Sovereign Power is Subject to no Limitation either of Time or of Terms and Conditions It consists in a Right of constituting and giving Laws to all in General and to each Person under its Dominion in Particular and that without consulting or asking the Consent of such as are to be govern'd by them and likewise in being above all Restraints or having Laws imposed upon it self from any other Person whatsoever For to Impose and Command a Duty argues Superiority and That which is Sovereign can have no Superiour And as another expresses it It infers a Right Paramount of making Reservations and Exceptions from the usual Forms as the King in Courts of Equity corrects the Common Law For Sovereignty in its highest and strictest Importance implies the Contrary to Subjection or the being bound by Humane Laws either of others or its own Appointment so as not to repeal or alter them as there shall be Occasion For it is contrary to Nature for all Men to give Law to Themselves and to be absolutely commnded by Themselves in Things that depend upon their own Will * Nulla Obligatio consistere potest quae à voluntate promittentis statum capit No Obligation can continue firm none can lie there where the Person that engages hath nothing but his own Will to bind him And therefore Sovereign Power Properly so call'd cannot have its Hands ty'd up by any other whether Living or Dead neither its Own nor its Predecessor's Decrees nor the Received Laws of the Country can be Unalterable or Irreversible This Power hath been compared by some to Fire to the Sea to a Wild Beast which it is very hard to tame or make treatable it will not endure Contradiction it will not be molested or if it be it is a Dangerous Enemy a just and severe Avenger of them that have the Hardiness to provoke it †Potestas res est quae moneri doecrique non vult cistrigationem aegrè fert Power says one is a Thing that seldom bears to be admonish'd or instructed and is generally very impatient of Contradiction or Reproof The Marks and Characters which are proper to it Its Properties and by which it is distinguish'd from other Sorts of Power are the Giving Judgment and pronouncing Definitive Sentences whereby all contending Parties shall be concluded and from whence there lies no Appeal A full Authority to make Peace and War Creating and Depriving Magistrates and Officers granting Indulgences and dispensing with the Rigour of the Laws upon particular Hardships and extraordinary Emergencies levying of Taxes coining and adjusting the Value of Money ordering what shall be current in its Dominions and at what Prices Receiving of Homage and Acknowledgments from its Subjects and Embassies from Foreigners Requiring Oaths of Fidelity from the Persons under its Protection and administring them in Controversies and Tryals of Right and Wrong But all is reduc'd at last and comprehended under the Legislative Power the enacting such Laws as it shall think fit and by Them binding the Consciences of Those who live within its Dominions Some indeed have added Others which are so small and trivial in Comparison that they are scarce worth naming after the Former such as the Admiralty Rights of the Sea Title to Wracks upon the Coast Confiscation of Goods in Cases of Treason Power to change the Language the Ensigns of Government and Title of Majesty Greatness and Sovereignty is infinitely coveted by almost All. But wherefore is it Surely for no other Reason so much as that the Outside is Gay and Glorious Beautiful and Glittering but the Inside is hid from common Observation Every body sees the Plenty the Pomp and the Advantages of a Crown but few or none at a distance are acquainted with the Weight the Cares the Troubles and the Dangers of it It is True indeed To Command is a Noble and a Divine Post but it is as True that it is an Anxious a Cumbersome and a Difficult One. Upon the same Account it is that the Persons in that Dignity and Elevation are esteem'd and reverenc'd much above the Rate of Common Men. And very Just it is they should be so for this Opinion is of great Use to extort that Respect and Obedience from the People upon the due Payment whereof all the Peace and Quiet of Societies depend But if we take these great Persons apart from their Publick Character and consider them as Men we shall find them just of the same Size and cast in the same Mould with other common Men nay too often of worse Dispositions and not so liberally dealt with by Nature as many of their Inferiours We are apt to think that every Thing a Prince does must needs proceed upon great and weighty Reasons because all they do is in the Event of great and general Importance to Mankind but in truth the Matter is much otherwise and They think and resolve and act just like One of Us For Nature hath given Them the same Faculties and moves them by the same Springs The Provocation which would set Two private Neighbours to Scolding and Quarrelling makes a Publick War between Two States and what One of Us would whip his Child or his Page for incenses a Monarch to chastise a Province that hath offended him
vis abdita quaedam Obterit pulchros fasces saevasque secures Proculcare ac ludibrio sibi haberi videtur Lucret. Lib. 5. And hence we fancy unseen Powers in Things Whose Force and Will such strange Confusion brings And spurns and overthrows our greatest Kings Creech To summ up all in a Word The Condition of Sovereign Princes is above all Others incumbred with Difficulties and exposed to Dangers Their Life provided it be Innocent and Virtuous is infinitely laborious and full of Cares If it be Wicked it is then the Plague and Scourge of the World hated and cursed by all Mankind and whether it be the One or the Other it is beset with inexpressible Hazards For the greater any Governour is the less he can be secure the less he can trust to Himself and yet the more need he hath to be secure and not to trust Others but Himself And this may satisfie us how it comes to pass that the being betray'd and abus'd is a thing very natural and easie to happen a common and almost inseparable Consequence of Government and Sovereign Power Of the Duty of Princes see Book III. Chap. 16. CHAP. L. Of Magistrates THere are great Differences and several Degrees of Magistrates with regard both to the Honour and the Power that belongs to them For These are the two considerable Points to be observ'd in distinguishing them and they are entirely independent upon one another They may be and often are each of them single and alone Sometimes Those Persons who are in the most honourable Posts have yet no great Matter of Authority or Power lodg'd in their Hands as the King's Council Privy-Counsellors in some Governments and Secretaries of State Some have but One of these two Qualifications others have Both and all have them in different Degrees but those are properly and in strict speaking Magistrates in whom both Honour and Power meet together Magistrates are in a middle Station and stand between the Prince and Private Men subordinate to the One but superiour to the Other They carry Justice home and hand it down from above but of this they being only the Ministers and Instruments can have no manner of Power inherent in Themselves when the Prince Himself who is the Fountain of Law and Justice is present As Rivers lose their Name and their Force when they have emptied and incorporated their Waters into the Sea and as Stars disappear at the Approach of the Sun so all the Authority of Magistrates in the Presence of the Sovereign whose Deputies and Vicegerents They are is either totally suspended or upon sufferance only And the Case is the same if we descend a little lower and compare the Commissions of Subalterns and inferiour Officers with Those in a higher and more general Jurisdiction Those that are in the same Commission are all upon the Level there is no Power or Superiority There over one another all that they can do is to consult together and be assisting to each other by concurrence or else to obstruct and restrain each other by opposing what is doing and preventing its being done All Magistrates judge condemn and command either according to the Form and express Letter of the Law and then the Decisions they give and the Sentences they pronounce are nothing else but a putting the Law in execution or else they proceed upon Rules of Equity and reasonable Consideration and then this is call'd the Duty of the Magistrate Magistrates cannot alter their own Decrees nor correct the Judgment they have given without express Permission of the Sovereign upon Penalty of being adjudged Falsifiers of the Publick Records They may indeed revoke their own Orders or they may suspend the Execution of them for some time as they shall see Occasion But when once a Cause is brought to an Issue and Sentence given upon a full and fair Hearing they have no Power to retract that Judgment nor to mend or try it over again without fresh Matter require it Of the Duty of Magistrates See Book III. Chap. 17. CHAP. LI. Lawgivers and Teachers IT is a Practice very usual with some Philosophers and Teachers to prescribe such Laws and Rules as are above the Proportions of Virtue and what the Condition of Humane Nature will suffer very few if any at all to come up to They draw the Images much bigger and more beautiful than the Life or else set us such Patterns of Difficult and Austere Virtue as are impossible for us to equal and so discourage many and render the Attempt it self Dangeous and of ill Consequence to some These are merely the Painter's Fancy like Plato's Republick Sir Thomas More 's Utopia Cicero's Orator or Horace his Poet. Noble Characters indeed and a Collection of acknowledged Excellencies in Speculation but such as the World wants living Instances of The Best and most perfect Law-giver who in marvelous Condescension was pleased himself to be sensible of our Infirmities hath shewed great Tenderness and Compassion for them and wisely consider'd what Humane Nature would bear He hath suited all Things so well to the Capacities of Mankind that those Words of His are True even in this Respect also My Yoke is easie and my Burden is light Now where these Powers are not duly consulted the Laws are first of all Unjust for some Proportion ought to be observ'd between the Command and the Obedience the Duty imposed and the Ability to discharge it I do not say These Commands should not exceed what is usually done but what is possible to be done for what Vanity and Folly is it to oblige People to be always in a Fault and to cut out more Work than can ever be finished Accordingly we may frequently observe that these rigid Stretchers of Laws are the First that expose them to publick Scorn by their own Neglect and like the Pharisees of old lay heavy Burdens upon others which they themselves will not so much as touch with one of their Fingers These Examples are but too obvious in all Professions This is the Way of the World Men direct one Thing and practise another and That not always through Defect or Corruption of Manners but sometimes even out of Judgment and Principle too Another Fault too frequent is That many Persons are exceeding Scrupulous and Nice in Matters which are merely Circumstantial or free and indifferent in their own Nature even above what they express themselves in some of the most necessary and substantial Branches of their Duty such as the Laws of God or the Light of Nature have bound upon them This is much such another Extravagance as lending to other People while we neglect to pay our own Debts A Pharisaical Ostentation which our Heavenly Master so severely exposes the Jewish Elders for and is at the Bottom no better than Hypocrise a mocking of God and Miserable deluding of their own Souls Seneca indeed hath said something concerning the Impracticableness of some Duties which if rightly observ'd is of
Stones and Brands in rattling Vollies fly And all the Rustick Arms that Fury can supply If then some Grave and Pious Man appear They hush their Noise and lend a listning Ear He sooths with sober Words their angry Mood And quenches their innate Desire of Blood Mr. Dryden The greatest thing this World can shew is Authority This is the Image of the Divine Power a Messenger and Deputy from Heaven If this Deputation as to Men be Sovereign and immediately under God we call it Majesty if it be subordinate to any Human Power we then call it in a more peculiar and restrained Sense of the word Authority And this is supported upon two Bases Admiration and Fear both which must go together and jointly contribute to the keeping it up Now this Majesty and Authority is principally and properly in the Person of the Supreme Governor the Prince and Lawgiver and in him it lives and moves and acts in its utmost Vigor The next Degree of it is when lodged in his Commands Orders and Decrees that is in the Law which is a Prince's Master-piece and the Noblest Copy of that Incommunicable Majesty whereof himself is the Original And by this Law it is that Fools are reduced from Evil informed in Good governed and led to know and do what is convenient for their own and necessary for the Publick Interest Thus you see in short of what Weight and Efficacy Authority and Laws are to the World how necessary and how beneficial to the present Circumstances and the greatest part of Mankind This Authority is stated fix'd and agreed upon but there is Another Custom which comes nearest of any up to it commonly called Custom a very Powerful but withal a very Positive and Imperious Mistress This Power is all gained by Encroachment and Usurpation by Treachery and Force it get footing by Inches and steals in upon the World insensibly The Beginnings of it are small and imperceptible gentle and humble and frequently owing to Men's Tameness or Neglect their Laziness and Yielding the Influenc of Example and the Blindness of Inconsideration but when it hath once taken Root and is fix'd by Time it puts on a stern domineering Look issues out its Orders plays the Tyrant and will be observed It is to no purpose then to argue for Liberty and Right no Man is suffered to speak to move to look in contradiction to such an Establishment It stops your Mouth with Possession and Precedent which indeed are its proper and only Pleas of Title grows great and more eminent the farther it goes and like Rivers enlarges its Name and Channel by rowling insomuch that even when the Mischiefs and Inconvenience of its still prevailing are manifest yet is it not safe to reduce it to its first Infant-State and Men are oftentimes better advised in suffering under it than in attempting to disuse or reverse it If now we compare these Two together it will be found Law and Custom compared that Law and Custom establish their Authority by very different Methods Custom creeps upon us by little and little by length of Time by gentle and acceptable Means by the Favour and general Consent or at least with the Approbation of the Majority and its Beginning Growth Establishment are all from the People The Law admits none of these flow Proceedings it is Born at once and in full Perfection comes to Vigor and Maturity in a Moment it marches out with Authority and Power and receives its Efficacy from the Supreme Commander it depends not always upon the good liking of the Subjects but is frequently full sore against their Wills and yet prevails and takes place though burdensome and ungrateful to them This last Consideration is the Reason why Some have compared Law to a Tyrant and Custom to a King Again Custom though otherwise never so engaging yet never proposes Rewards or Penalties But the Law propounds both and to be sure threatens Penalties upon the Disobedient at least Yet notwithstanding these Differences the matter is so order'd that these Two are frequently capable either of strengthning and mutually assisting or of destroying and overthrowing each other For Cudestroying and overthrowing each other For Custom though in strictness it be only upon Sufferance yet when countenanc'd and publickly allowed by the Prince will be still more firm and secure and the Law likewise gets ground upon the People and stands the faster by means of Possession and long Usage On the Contrary Custom will be quashed by a Law prohibiting the Continuance of it and a Law will go down the stream and be lost to all the purposes and effects of it if a contrary Custom be connived at Thus I say they may interfere to the Prejudice of each other but usually they go hand in hand and are in reality almost the same thing considered under different respects The wiser and more discerning Men considering That as a Law which the Ignorant and Vulgar who have little Notions of a Legislative Power or its Sanctions observe purely as a thing Customary and because it hath been in use without attending how it came to be so The strange Variety of Laws and Customs which have obtained in the World Different and odd Customs and the Extravagance of some of them is really prodigious It is scarce possible to think of any Imagination so whimsical and odd but some Country or other hath received it as a Custom or established it by a Law I will give my self the trouble of instancing in several upon this occasion to convince Those who perhaps cannot easily suffer themselves to be persuaded how much Truth there is in this Observation And here not to instance in Religion which in the Idolatrous and less civiliz'd Countries especially hath had grosser Deceits more abominable Absurdities and more amazing Variety of these than any other Subject whatsoever yet because it does not fall so directly within the Compass of our present Argument I shall pas it over at present and confine my self to the Head of Civil Commerce in which alone Customs properly so called are used to take place and where the Matter being exceeding obvious to every Understanding it is so much the more astonishing that Men should be carried into such Extravagances Now Those which I think most remarkable and sit to be mentioned are such as follow The Reputing it an Instance of Affection and Duty when Parents live to a certain term of Years for their Children to Kill and to Eat them In Inns and other Publick Houses of Accommodation instead of discharging the Reckoning with Money to lend their Wives and Daughters to the Host for Payment The having Wives in common The setting up Publick Stews for Young Men The esteeming it honurable for Women to be Common and wearing Tufts of Fringe at their Garments by way of Boast and Glory to signify the Number of their Gallants The suffering Single Women to abandon themselves to all manner of Filthiness and
unbecoming their Character and if They do a thing it must needs be excellent and good And on the other hand Governours are so sensible of the Force of this Motive too that they think their Subjects indispensably obliged to those Rules which they are content to be governed by themselves and that their own doing what they would have done by others is singly a sufficient Inducement to bring it into Practice and common Vogue without the Formality of a Command to enforce it From all which it is abundantly manifest that Virtue is exceeding necessary and advantageous to a Prince both in point of Interest and in point of Honour and Reputation All Virtue is so in truth without Exception though not All equally neither for there are four Species of it Four Principal Virtues which seem to have greater and more commanding Influence than the rest and those are Piety Justice Valour and Clemency These are more properly Princely Qualities and shine brightest of all the Jewels that adorn a Crown of the Excellencies I mean that even a Prince's Mind can be possibly endued with This gave occasion to that most Illustrious of all Princes Augustus Caesar to say That Piety and Justice exalt Kings and translate them into Gods And Seneca observes that Clemency is a Virtue more suitable to the Character of a Prince than to persons of any other Quality whatsoever Now the Piety of a Prince consists and must exert it self in the Care and Application which he ought to use for the Preservation and Advancement of Religion of which every Sovereign ought to consider himself as the Guardian and Protector And thus indeed he should do for his own sake for this Zeal and pious Care will contribute very much to his own Honour and Safety For they that have any regard for God will not dare to attempt no not so much as to contrive or imagine any Mischief against that Prince who is God's Image upon Earth and who plainly approves himself to be such by his zealous and tender Concern for the Glory and the Institution of his great Original And in effect this tends no the Security of the People too and the Quiet of the Government in general For as Lactantius frequently urges Religion is the common Band that links Communities together Society could not be supported without it Take off this Restraint and the World would immediately be overrun with all manner of Wickedness Barbarity and Brutality So great an Interest hath every Government in Religion so strong so necessary a Curb is the Sense and Fear and Reverence of it to unruly Mankind Thus on the other hand even Cicero who does not appear to have been any mighty Devote makes it his Observation That the Romans owed the Rise and Growth and flourishing Condition of their Commonwealth to their Exemplary Respect for Religion more than to any other Cause whatsoever Upon this account every Sovereign is very highly concerned and strictly oblig'd to see that Religion be preserv'd entire and that no Breaches be made upon it That it be encourag'd and supported according to the establish'd Laws in all its Rights Ceremonies Usages and Local Constitutions Great Diligence should be used to prevent Quarrels Divisions and Innovations and severe Punishments inflicted upon all who go about to alter or disturb or infringe it For without all Controversie every Injury done to Religion and all rash and bold Alterations in it draw after them a very considerable damage to the Civil State weaken the Government Dion and have a general ill Influence upon Prince and People both as Moecenas very excellently argues in his Oration to Augustus Next after Piety Justice is of greatest Consequence and Necessity Justice and Fidelity without which Governments are but so many Sets of Banditi Robbers and Invaders of the Rights of their Brethren This therefore a Prince ought by all means to preserve and maintain in due Honour and Regard both in his own Person and Conversation and in the Observance of those under his Jurisdiction 1. It is necessary to be strictly observed by the Sovereign Himself For nothing but Detestation and the utmost Abhorrence is due to those Barbarous and Tyrannical Maxims which pretend to set a Prince above all Laws and to complement him with a Power of Dispensing at Pleasure with Reason and Equity and all manner of Obligation and Conscience which tell Kings that they are not bound by any Engagements and that their Will and Pleasure is the only Measure of their Duty That Laws were made for common Men and not for such as They That every thing is Good and Just which they find most practicable and convenient In short that their Equity is their Strength and whatever they can do that they may do * Principi Leges nemo scripsit Licet si libet In summâ fortunà id requius quod validius nihil injustum quod fructuosum Sanctitas â—ietas Fides privata bona sunt quà juvâ—t Reges eant No Man ever presumes to prescribe to Princes or include them within the Verge of any Laws but their own Inclinations In the highest Post Justice is always on the stronger side That which is most profitable can never be unlawful Holiness and Piety Faith and Truth and common Honesty are the Virtues of private Men Princes may take their own Course and are above these vulgar Dispensations So say Pliny and Tacitus But against this false Doctrine too apt to be liked by Persons in Power I entreat my wise Prince to oppose the really Excellent and Pious Sentences and Directions of Grave and Good Philosophers They tell you That the greater Power any Man is invested with the more regular and modest he should be in the Exercise of it That this is one of those Things which must always be used with a Reserve and the more one could do the less it will become him to do That the more absolute and unbounded any Man's Authority is the greater Check and more effectual Restraint he hath upon him That every Man's Ability should be measured by his Duty and what he may not that he cannot do †Minimum decet libere cui nimium licet Non â—as potentes posse sieri quod nefas He that can do what he will must take care to will but a very little And Great Men should never think they have a Liberty of doing what ought not to be done The Prince then ought to lead the way and be first and most eminent for Justice and Equity and particularly he must be sure to be very punctual to his Word and to keep his Faith and his Promise most inviolably because Fidelity and Truth is the Foundation of all manner of Justice whatsoever whether to all his Subjects in general or to each Person in particular How mean soever the Party or how slight soever the Occasion be still this Word must be Sacred When he hath thus provided for his own Behaviour
A Sovereign Prince is in a middle Station between God and his People and therefore a Debtor he is to each of them As such he should constantly Remember that he is the living Image and Representation the Vice-Roy and Commissioner General of the Great the Almighty God who is likewise his Prince and his Master that with regard to his People he is a Shining Light a Mirror in continual Reflection a Spectacle set up on high that draws all Eyes to it A Spring of whose Waters all his Subjects hope to drink a Spur and mighty Incitement to Virtue and one that never can do any Good but the Benefit of it is diffused far and wide and the remembrance of it faithfully treasured up and put to Account This in short is his Character and these the Conditions of his Station and from hence it is very easie to infer what must needs be required of him to answer and fill up the several Parts of this Description It is evident then first of all that he is in an especial Manner obliged to Devotion Religion Piety and the Fear of God and That not only with regard to himself considered abstractedly and for the satisfying his own Conscience as he is a Man but moreover with respect to his Government in his Politick Capacity and as a Prince Now the Piety which concerns us to observe in this Place is consequently not so much the Personal as the Publick and Princely Acts of it The Care and Regard he ought to have for the Preservation and Security of the Established Religion making seasonable Provision for its Protection and Defence by wholesome and wise Laws ordering and inflicting severe Penalties upon the Poisoners and Disturbers of it and taking all possible Care that neither the Doctrines and Mysteries of it be reviled and blasphemed nor the Rights of it violated nor the Exercise of it innovated and confounded by Fickle and Factious Men. This is a Care that will conduce mightily to his Honour and the Security of his own Person and Government For Men are naturally disposed to stand in greater Awe of and pay a more willing Obedience to a Governour who they are continued does truly fear God They are more Fearful and Cautious in forming any Attempts against such a one because the Natural Notions of a Superintending Providence represent him to Mankind as one under the more special and immediate Care of God * Una custodia Pietas Pium virum nec malus Genius nec Fatum devincit Deus enim eripit eum ab omni malo Piety says an old Author is one strong Guard All the Malice of the Evil Genius and all the Strength of Fate are not able to take any hold on the Pious Man For his God delivers him from all Evil. Nor is this a Safeguard to his Person only but to his Country and Government also for all the Philosophers and wise Men are unanimously agreed that Religion is the Strongest Tye the closest and most binding Cement of Human Society and mutual Commerce The Prince is also bound to pay a strict and inviolable Obedience to the Laws of God and to enforce the same Obedience and Religious Observance upon other People For these Laws are Indispensable and Eternal and he who endeavours the reversing or which as to the Effect is almost the same thing the bringing them into publick Neglect and Contempt is not only a Tyrant but a Monster As to the People under his Jurisdiction he is oblig'd first of all faithfully and punctually to keep his Promises and Covenants and Treaties whether these Engagements were entred into with his own Subjects as Parties or whether with any other that have an Interest in them This is a Branch of Natural and Universal Equity even God himself who is above all Law but that of his own most Holy and Divine Will declares himself bound by and always true to his Promises Hath he said it and shall be not do it and God is not a Man that he should lye or the Sun of Man that be should repent Behold I the Lord have said it I will certainly bring it to pass These are the Characters given us of Himself by the God that cannot lie in Holy Scripture And it would ill become his Image upon Earth to degenerate from that Great Pattern above and be changed into the Resemblance of Him who is the Father of Lyes But besides the Obligations to Truth in this Respect A Prince is the Security the formal Guarantee for the Laws and mutual Agreements between his Subjects and he is to see that they proceed in all their private Transactions according to Justice and Truth His Engagement therefore to keep his Word is superiour and more binding than that of any other Man can possibly be for there is not any Quality or Crime possible for a Prince to be guilty of so shameful and detestable as the violating his Word and his Oath Upon which Account it hath been observed that when ever a Prince goes counter to his Promise we are to suppose him controuled and over-powerd by some extraordinary Accident or Exigence For to imagine him false to his Engagements without invincible Necessity were to entertain a Presumption inconsistent with the Reverence due to so high a Character Nor is he bound by his own Promises and Covenants only but likewise by those of his Predecessors if he succeeded into their Right by Inheritance or any other Way that declar'd him satisfied to take the Crown as he found it or if they be such as manifestly contribute to the Publick Safety and Advantage In short by the same Reason and upon the same Accounts he may discharge himself of all the unreasonable and prejudicial Promises with Regard to his People that private Persons think sufficient to disengage Them from when They stand bound to their Prince Again Princes even the most Absolute of them All ought to consider that although the Law the Civil and Human Law I mean be their own Handy-work and proper Sanction changed and abrogated at Pleasure for this Legislative Power is the peculiar Right and distinguishing Character of Sovereignty and so in that respect they are above the Law as the Creator is above his Creature yet so long as any Law stands unrepealed and in full Force they are bound in all Equity and good Conscience to make it the Rule and Standard of their Actions and Determinations And it would be an infinite Blemish and Dishonour to themselves as well as of ill Example and pernicious Consequence to others if they should do otherwise For This were to refuse to stand to their own Act and Deed a living in perfect Contradiction and giving the Lye to themselves The Great Augustus had like to have died with Remorse for having once upon Occasion done in his own Person a thing contrary to Law Agesilaus and Seleucus have left us very memorable Examples of this kind and paid very dear for them Thirdly The
this Sense of the Word three several ways and a different sort of Behaviour is requir'd from Subjects with regard to each of them First he may be so by violating the Laws of God and Nature acting contrary to the establish'd Religion of his Country the express Commands of God or the Native Liberty of Men's Consciences In this Case we must by no means obey him according to the Maxims laid down in Holy Scripture that We ought to obey God rather than Men and to fear Him who hath power over the whole Man more than Him who hath power over one part of the Man only and that the less and more inconsiderable part of him too But then if we can have no Relief by Law or Justice we must not have Recourse to Violence which is the contrary Extreme to a sinful Compliance but keep the middle Way which is to flee or to suffer The Second Case is not quite so bad as the former because it offers no Violence to the Consciences of Men but to their Bodies and Estates only by abusing his Subjects resusing to do them Justice taking away the Liberty of their Persons and the Property of their Estates And here the three Duties mention'd before Honour and Obedience good Wishes and Prayers ought still to be paid with Patience and Submission and a Sense and Acknowledgment of the Wrath of God let loose upon them in this Scourge of an Unjust Prince For there are Three Considerations fit to be attended to upon such Occasions One is That all Power is of God and he that resisteth the Power resisteth the Ordinance of God * Principi summum Rerum judicium Dii dederunt Subditis obsequii gloria relicta est Bonos Principes voto expetere qualescunque tolerare The Gods says a very wise and judicious Heathen have committed the Supreme Judgment and last Determination of Humane Affairs to the Prince The Glory of Obedience is the Subject's Portion we must therefore wish and pray that we may have none but Good Princes but when we have them we must endure them whether they be Good or Bad. The Ground and formal Reason of our Obedience does not lie in the Consideration of their Personal Virtues or just and commendable Administration but in their Character and Superiority over us There is a vast difference between True and Good and he who is truly our Governour tho' he be not a good Governour is to be regarded as the Laws themselves are which bind us not upon the Account of their Justice or Convenience but purely upon the Account of their being Laws and having the Sanction that is requisite to give them Authority A Second Reflection upon this Occasion shou'd be That God permits Hypocrites and sets up wicked Men to bear Rule for the Sins of a People and in the Day of his fierce Anger He makes a barbarous unjust Prince the Instrument of his Vengeance and therefore This must be born with the same Temper of Mind with which we submit to other Calamities made use of by God for that Purpose †Quomodo Sterilitatem aut nimios Imbres caetera Naturae mala sic Luxum Avaritiam Dominantium tolerare Like a Blast or a Barren Year Inundations and excessive Rains or other Evils in the Course of Nature so shou'd the Avarice and Luxury of Princes be endur'd by those they oppress says Tacitus Instances of this kind we have in Saul and Nebuchadnezzar and several of the Roman Emperors before Constantine's Time and some others as wicked Tyrants as was possible for them to be and yet Good Men paid them these Three Duties notwithstanding and were commanded so to do by the Prophets and Preachers of those Times in Agreement to our Great Master the Oracle of Truth it self who directs his Disciples to obey those that sat in Moses's Chair tho' in the same Breath he charges those very Governours with Wickedness and Cruelty with binding heavy Burdens Matt. xxiii and laying upon Men's Shoulders more than cou'd be born The Third Case concerns the State in general when the very Fundamentals of Government are endeavour'd to be torn up or over-turn'd when he goes about to change or to take away the Constitution as if for Instance a Prince wou'd make that which is Elective Hereditary or from an Aristocracy or Democracy or any other such mixt Government wou'd engross all to himself and make it an Absolute Monarchy or in any other Case like or equivalent to these shall attempt to alter the State from what it was formerly and ought to continue In this Case Men may and ought to withstand him and to hinder any such Attempts from taking place upon them and That either by Methods of Legal Justice or otherwise For a Prince is not the Master and Disposer of the Constitution but the Guardian and Conservator of it But then This must be done regularly too for the setting such Matters right does not belong to all the Subjects indifferently but to those who are the Trustees of the State or have the Principal Interest in it Who these are the Constitutions of the respective Countries must determine In Elective Kingdoms the Electors in others the Princes of the Blood In Republicks and those Places which have Fundamental Laws the States-General assembled And This I conceive to be the only Case which can justifie Subjects in resisting a Tyrant in this Second Sense of the Word with regard to the Exercise of his Power and the Pretence of Male-Administration What I have hitherto deliver'd upon this last Case is meant of Subjects that is of Those who are not permitted in any Circumstances or upon any Provocation to attempt any thing against their Sovereign of Them I say who are by the Laws declar'd guilty of a Capital Crime if they shall but Counsel or compass or so much as imagine the Death of their King And if so much be allowable to Men under these Obligations and Penalties then no doubt it is lawful nay it is highly commendable and a glorious Action in a Stranger or Foreign Prince to take up Arms for the Defence and Revenge of a whole Nation labouring under unjust Oppression To redress their Wrongs and deliver them from the heavy Yoke of Tyranny as we find Hercules in his Time and afterwards Dion and Timoleon and not long since Tamerlane Prince of the Tartars who defeated Bajazet the Turkish Emperor at the Siege of Constantinople Such is the State of a Subject's Duty to his Prince during his Life-time but when Princes are dead it is but an Act of Justice to examine into their Actions It is indeed a Customary thing so to do and a very reasonable and useful Custom no doubt it is The Nations that observe it find mighty Benefit from this Practice and all good Princes will have reason to encourage and desire it because thus that common Complaint wou'd be quite taken away that all Princes are treated alike and
is the Bar where the Council and the Attorneys are plac'd and here is a world of Clutter and Bawling and Noise but nothing done for they can bring nothing to an Issue They make no Orders nor Awards pronounce no Sentences All Their Business is only to discuss Matters to plead the Cause and to lay it before the Judge This is a lively Picture of the Imagination which is a loud a blustering and a restless Faculty never lies still not even then when the Soul seems perfectly bound up in the profoundest Sleep but is eternally buzzing about the Brain like a boyling Pot and this can never six or come to a peremptory Resolution in any thing The Third and last Degree is that of the Notaries and Registers and Clerks where there is neither Noise nor Action It is no part of their Concern which way things go they are purely Passive and all they have to do is to make Entries of what passes in Court and to take Care that the Records be faithfully kept and ready to be produc'd upon occasion This gives us no ill Idea of the Memory and its Office The Action or Employment of the Soul is Knowledge or Understanding It s Operations and this is of Universal extent For the Mind is a House open to every Guest a Subject ready to receive any Impression As the Philosophers say the Primitive Matter is disposed to be moulded into any Forms or as a Looking-Glass receives and reflects all Faces so this Soul is capable of considering all things indifferently be they Visible or Invisible Universals or Particulars Objects of Sense or not the Understanding is in at All. But if we may be allow'd to argue from the vast and almost infinite Diversity of Opinions and the still growing Doubts upon this Matter it is acquainted with it self the least of any thing This Knowledge is but dim and indirect It is attained by Reflection only and the Knowledge of other things brought home and apply'd to it self By which it feels that it does understand and thence infers a Power and Capacity of this kind This seems to be the Method by which our Minds attain to the Knowledge of Themselves Almighty God who is the Sovereign Mind knows Himself first and all things else in Himself But Man who is the last and lowest of all the Intellectual World inverts that Order quite and discerns other things before he can come to any Knowledge of Himself for His Mind is in Contemplation of Other Objects like the Eye in a Looking-Glass which cannot work upon it self without the help of a Medium and sees nothing at Home while the Vision is continu'd in a streight Line but can do it by Reflection only But the great Difficulty to be enquir'd into upon this occasion The manner of it concerns the Manner of Operation and by what Method the Soul attains to the Knowledge of Things The most receiv'd Opinion is that deriv'd from Aristotle importing That the Mind understands and is instructed by the Senses That it is naturally and of it self a perfect Blank a clean White Paper and that whatever is written in it afterwards must be dictated by the Senses and cannot be convey'd thither any other way But first of all This is far from being Universally true for as was hinted before and the Point referred hither for a farther Disquisition there have been great Authorities of Philosophers that the first Seeds of all Sciences and Vertues and necessary Knowledge are originally sown in our Minds and grafted there by Nature so that Men may if they please live very comfortably and grow Rich out of their own Stock and provided they take but a little care to cultivate and cherish the kindly Beginnings the Harvest will not fail to be plentiful and abundantly to reward their Pains Again That Opinion seems highly injurious to God and Nature and taxes them with unreasonable Partiality For upon these Terms the Rational Soul is more sparingly dealt with and left in a much worse Condition than either the Vegetative or Sensitive or any other Creature whatsoever For all These as hath already been observ'd exercise their Functions readily and are sufficiently instructed by their own Native Endowments in all things necessary for their Purpose Thus Beasts apprehend several Things without Experience and the Discipline of Sense They make Inferences so far as their Case requires and conclude Universals from Particulars From the sight of One Man they know the Humane Shape wheresoever they see it again See Adv. upon Chap. XXIV they are forewarn'd to avoid Dangers even while invisible and to follow after That which is agreeable and beneficial to Themselves and their Young And wou'd it not be a Reproach or scandalous Blunder and Absurdity in Nature if this Noble this Divine Faculty shou'd have no Provision at all of its own but sent about a begging and depend for mere Necessaries upon so mean so frail Relief as what the Senses are able to give Once more How can we perceive that the Understanding shou'd go to School to the Senses and be taught by Them who are not able to teach themselves What precious Masters are these whose utmost Knowledge goes no deeper than barely the Accidents and Outsides of Things For as to the Natures Forms and real Essences of them they know nothing at all of the Matter And if This be the Case of Individual Substances much less are they capable of penetrating into Universals the dark and profound Mysteries of Nature and all those things which do not affect the Sense at all Besides If all Knowledge were deriv'd from the Senses the Consequence of this one would think shou'd be That They whose Senses are the quickest strongest and most discerning wou'd always be the Persons most conspicuous for Ingenuity and Learning and Skill in Reasoning But we frequently see it happen just contrary that such People are the dullest most stupid and most incapable of all others Nay some Persons have thought their Bodily Senses rather an Obstruction than any Advantage to their Improvement And upon that Account have wilfully depriv'd themselves of them that so the Soul might be more expedite and free and do her Business without Distraction when the Avocations and Disturbance of Sensible Objects were taken out of the way Now if this Matter be as I have represented it you will ask perhaps Why these things are not always perform'd by the Soul and why not by every Man alike What hinders that all should not be equally Wise and Knowing but especially why it shou'd lie dormant without being reduc'd into act Or if it do act how comes it to pass that its Operations are not always equal that it goes about its Duty feebly and performs its Functions much more lamely and imperfectly at one Season than at another This is the Case even of the Wisest and most Capable Persons and some are so miserably stupid that the Intellectual Soul seems never to
still and in these Humours it leaps over and bursts through all so exceeding fierce and intractable so head-strong and self-conceited is it naturally And therefore Art must manage and make it tame for Force is to no purpose at all †Naturâ contumax est Animus humanus in contrarium atque arduum nitens sequiturque facilius quam ducitur ut generosi nobiles equi melius facili fraeno reguntur The Mind of Man says Seneca is naturally stiff and rebellious continually bending the wrong way and bearing hard upon the Bit and is easier led than driven as high-mettled Horses are better ridden with a Snassle than with a Curb It is a much safer Course to keep it under the Custody of a Guardian to sooth and gently lay this indiscreet Minor asleep than to let him have his Head and ramble abroad at his own Pleasure and go his own Pace For if the Mind be not very regular and prudent as well as very lively and strong the Conjunction of which Qualities make that happy Disposition of Souls of the first and highest Order or if it be not weak and tender and somewhat dull of Apprehension which were said to be the Characters of the last and lowest Set there is great hazard of its losing and ruining it self by the Freedom it takes of Examining and judging Things and submitting to no Prescription or Authority And therefore very expedient it is that it shou'd be put under some Consinement and if it go abroad that it be duly and conveniently equipp'd For there is greater need of a Clog than of Wings and of a streight Rein than of a Spur The Advice of Phoebus to his Son * Parce puer Stimulis fortiùs utere Loris Ovid. Son spare the Whip and strongly use the Rein They of their own accord will run too fast 'T is hard to moderate their flying haste That Advice is necessary here too otherwise This like another Phaeton and his Steeds ungovern'd wou'd set the World on Fire The Prevention of that Inconvenience is what hath been chiefly aim'd at by all those Great Men who have either modell'd Mankind into particular Societies at first or devis'd Laws for them ever since And this sort of Men are the very Persons with whom both the Founders and the Governors of States have been most of all perplex'd For the common People and those of meaner Capacities are generally more Peaceably disposed than those whom Wit and Parts make Thoughtful and Busy and consequently Factious and Troublesome The general Genius of a People is very Remarkable to this Purpose for in the single City of Florence who are a Sharp-Witted People there have been more Seditions and Civil Confusions within the Compass of Ten Years than have been known among all the honest dull Suisses and Grisons for above Five Hundred Years together And just so it is with particular Persons in the same Community They that have but a bare Competency of Understanding are generally the honestest Men the best Subjects more flexible and tractable more contented to submit to the Laws to be commanded by their Superiours to hearken to Reason and be governed by it than these brisk and discerning Sparks whose Parts and Penetration are above being controuled by Power or Persuasion and put them upon new Hazards and Projects and will not let them content themselves with their own Business and sleep in a whole Skin So very wide a Difference there is between Wit and Wisdom The Mind hath likewise its Defects Decays and Diseases as well as the Body and indeed the Number of these is greater The Defâ—ct of the Mind the Consequence of them more Dangerous and the Cure of them more Difficult and Impracticable than that of Bodily Distempers For the better understanding of these it is Necessary to distinguish them into their several Sorts Now some of these are purely Accidental and fall upon it from outward Causes Among which we may take Notice of Three more especially The First is The State and Disposition of the Body Accidental For Diseases which make any Alteration in the Temperament of the Body do manifestly carry their Influence farther and produce a mighty Alteration in the Mind and impair the Judgment at the same time Sometimes the Substance of the Brain is not of a good Composition From the Body and so the Organs of the Soul are not in a Condition to do their Duty And this again happens either from a Fault in the First Formation as in Them who have an Ill-shap'd Head too little or too round or else from some accidental Hurts afterwards as many have suffered extremely in their Reason and Memory by Falls and Blows and Wounds upon their Head For The Second Cause of these Defects Prejudicate Opinions we may assign that Universal Infection of common and popular Opinions entertained in the World With which the Mâ—nd is tinctured early and these take Possession and usually keep it obstinately Or which is yet worse sometimes wild and fantastical Delusions have been drunk in and with these the Mind is so strongly seasoned so grossely cheated that They are not only not dismiss'd but made the Rule of our Judgments and the Measure of Truth in other Cases All is brought to this Standard and receiv'd or rejected as it agrees or disagrees with it Here the Man sixes his Foot and will not be got one Step backward or forward The Instances of this kind among the Vulgar are Infinite most of whom are guided by some fantastical Notion some erroneous Conceit that hath grown up and is like to live and die with them And indeed when these Fancies or Opinions are common they are like a strong Torrent Every Body hath not Force and Vigour of Mind enough to stem it and keep himself from being carried down the Stream with his Neighbours The Third Passions and That which sticks much the closest to it of all the rest is the Sickness and Corruption of the Will and the Inordinacy and Strength of the Passions And in this Case the Soul is a World turn'd upside-down The Will is made by Nature to follow the Directions of the Understanding This is its Guide to Instruct Its Candle to give it Light but when once the Strength of Passion hath corrupted and as it were laid violent Hands upon the Will then the Will in like manner corrupts and commits a Violence upon the Understanding And from this disorderly Procedure it is that the greatest Part of our false Judgments grow Envy and Malice and Love and Hatred and Fear make us see things with other Eyes and take them for what they really are not and draw such Conclusions and Inferences from them as they minister no Just Ground for From whence it is that we so often are admonish'd and do admonish others to Judge without Passion This puts us upon all those base and black Interpretations by which we labour to eclipse the
The Power of the Husband In some Places where the Paternal Authority hath been so This hath likewise Extended to Capital Punishment and made the Husband Judge and Disposer of Life and Death Dionys Halic l. 2. Thus it was with the Romans particularly For the Laws of Romulus gave a Man Power to kill his Wife in Four Cases viz. Adultery Putting False Children upon him False Keys and Drinking of Wine Thus Polybius tells us that the Greeks and Caesar says that the old Gauls gave Husbands a Power of Life and Death In Other Parts and in these already mention'd since those Times their Power hath been brought into a narrower Compass But almost every where it is taken for granted that the Authority of the Husband and the Subjection of the Wife implies thus much A Right to direct and controul the Actions to confirm or disannul the Resolutions and Vows of the Wife to Correct her when she does amiss by Reproofs and Confinement for Blows are below a Man of Honour to give and not sit for a Woman to receive and the Wife is obliged to conform to the Condition to follow the Quality the Countrey the Family the Dwelling and the Degree of her Husband to bear him Company wheresoever he goes in Journeys and Voyages in Banishment and in Prison in Flight and Necessity and if he be reduc'd to that hard Fortune to wander about and to Beg with him Some celebrated Examples of this kind in Story are Sulpitia who attended her Husband Lontulus when he was proscribed and an Exile in Sicily Erithrea who went along with her Husband Fhalaris into Banishment Ipsicrate The Wife of Mithridates King of Pentus who kept her Husband Company when he turn'd Vagabond Tacit. after his Defeat by Pompey Some add that they are bound to follow them into the Wars and Foreign Countries when they are sent abroad upon Expeditions or go under any Publick Character The Wise cannot sue or be sued in Matters of Right and Property all Actions lie against the Husband and are to be commenced in His Name and if any thing of this Kind be any where done it must be with the Leave and Authority of her Husband or by particular Appointment of the Judge if the Husband shall decline or refuse it neither can she without express Permission from the Magistrate Appeal from or be a Party in any Cause against her Husband Marriage is not every where alike nor under the same Limitations Different 〈◊〉 aâ—â—â—â— it the Laws and Rules concerning it are very different In Some Countries there is a greater Latitude and more Liberties Indulged in Others less The Christian Religion which is by much the strictest of any hath made it very close and strait It leaves Nothing at large and in our own Choice but the first Entrance into this Engagement When once That is over a Man's Will is made over too and conveyed away for the Covenant is subject to no Dissolution and we must abide by it whether we are contented with our Terms or not Other Nations and Religions have contrived to make it more Easie and Free and Fruitful Of Polygamy and Divorce by allowing and practising Polygamy and Divorce a Liberty of taking Wives and dismissing them again and they speak hardly of Christianity for abridging Men in these Two particulars as if it did great Prejudice to Affection and Multiplication by these Restraints which are the Two great Ends of Marriage For Friendship they pretend is an Enemy to all manner of Compulsion and Necessity and cannot consist with it but is much more improved and better maintain'd by leaving Men free and at large to dispose of Themselves And Multiplication is promoted by the Female Sex as Nature shews us abundantly in that one Instance of Wolves who are so extremely Fruitful in the Production of their Whelps even to the Number of Twelve or Thirteen at a Time and in this exceed other Animals of Service and common Use very much so many of which are kill'd every Day and so few Wolves And yet there are notwithstanding fewer of the Breed Breeders because fewer She-Wolves than of any other Species For as I said the true Reason is because in all those Numerous Litters there is commonly but one Bitch-Wolf which for the most Part signifies little and bears very rarely the Generation being hindred by the vast Numbers and promiscuous Mixtures of the Males and so the much greater part of them die without ever propagating their Kind at all for want of a sufficient Proportion of Females to do it by successfully It is also manifest what Advantages of this Nature Polygamy produces by the vast Increase of those Countries where it is allowed The Jews Mahometans and other Barbarous Nations as all their Histories inform us very usually bringing Armies into the Field of Three or Four Hundred Thousand fighting Men. Now the Christian Religion on the contrary allows but One to One and obliges the Parties to continue thus together though Either nay sometimes Both of them be Barren which yet perhaps if allowed to change might leave a numerous Posterity behind them But supposing the very best of the Case all their Increase must depend upon the Production of One single Woman And lastly they reflect upon Christianity as the occasion of insinite Excesses Debaucheries and Adulteries by this too severe Constraint But the true and sufficient Answer to all these Objections is That the Christian Religion does not consider Marriage upon such Respects as are purely Humane and tend to the Gratification of Natural Appetites or promote the Temporal Good of Men It takes quite another Prospect of the Thing and hath Reasons peculiar to it self sublime and noble and insinitely greater as hath been hinted already Besides common Experience demonstrates that in much the greatest part of Marry'd Persons what they complain of as Confinement and Constraint does by no means cool and destroy but promote and heighten the Affection and render it more dear and strong by keeping it more entire and unbroken Especially in Men of honest Principles and good Dispositions which easily accommodate their Humours and make it their Care and Study to comply with the Tempers of the Person to whom they are thus inseparably united And as for the Debaucheries and Flyings out alledg'd against us the only Cause of Them is the Dissoluteness of Men's Manners which a greater Liberty though never so great will never be able to correct or put a Stop to And accordingly we find that Adulteries were every whit as rife in the midst of Polygamy and Divorce Witness the whole Nation of the Jews in general and the Example of David in particular who became guilty of this Crime notwithstanding the Multitude he had of Wives and Concubines of his own On the contrary These Vices were not known for a long while together in other Countries where neither Polygamy nor Divorce were ever permitted as in Sparta for Instance and at
Rome for a considerable time after the Founding of that City It is therefore most foolish and unjust to asperse Religion and charge That with the Vices of Men which allows and teaches nothing but exquisite Purity and strict Continence This Liberty taken in Polygamy Polygamy differently practised which hath so great an Appearance of Nature to alledge in its behalf hath yet been very differently managed according to the several Nations and the Laws of those Communities where it was allow'd and practis'd In Some Places All that are Wives to the same Man live alike and in common Their Degree and Quality the Respect and Authority is equal and so is the Condition and Title of their Children too In Other Places there is one particular Wife who is the Principal and a sort of Mistress above the rest the Right of Inheritance is limited to the Children by Her They engross all the Honours and Possessions and Pre-eminences of the Husband after his Death As for the Others they are lodg'd and maintain'd apart treated very differently from the former In some Places they are reputed Lawful Wives in some they are only stiled Concubines and their Children have no Pretension to Titles or Estates but are provided for by such annual Pensions or other precarious ways of Subsisting as the Master of the Family thinks fit to allow them As various have the Practice and the Customs of Men been with regard to Divorce Divorce differently practised For with some as particularly the Hebrews and Greeks and Armenians they never oblige Themselves to alledge the particular Cause of Separation nor are they allow'd to take a Wife to them a Second time which they have once divorc'd So far from it that they are permitted to Marry again to others But now in the Mahometan Law Separation must be appointed by a Judge and after Legal Process except it be done by the free Consent of both Parties and the Crimes alledg'd against the Woman must be some of so high a Nature as strike directly at the Root of this Institution and are destructive and inconsistent with the State of Marriage or some of the principal Ends of it such as Adultery Barrenness Incongruity of Humours Attempts upon the Life of the other Party and after such Separation made it is lawful for them to be reconcil'd and cohabit again as oft as they think sit The Former of these Methods seems much more prudent and convenient that so there may be a closer Restraint both upon the Pride and Insolence of Wives when they lie at Mercy and may be cast off at Pleasure and also upon the Humoursome and Peevish Husbands who will be more apt to check and moderate their Resentments when there is no Return nothing to be got by repenting after once Matters have flown so high as to provoke and effect a Separation The Second which proceeds in a Method of Justice brings the Parties upon the Publick Stage exposes their Faults and Follies to the World cuts them out from Second Marriages and discovers a great many things which were much better kept conceal'd And in case the Allegation be not fully prov'd and so they continue oblig'd to cohabit still after all this mutual Complaining and Disgrace What a Temptation is here to Poysoning or Murder to get rid that way of a Partner of the Bed which in Course of Law cannot be remov'd And many of these Villanies no doubt have been committed of which the World never had the least Knowledge or Suspicion As at Rome particularly before Divorce came in use a Woman who was apprehended for Poysoning her Husband impeached other Wives whom she knew to have been guilty of the same Fact and They again others till at last Threescore and Ten were all Attainted and Executed for the same Fault of whom People had not the least Jealousie till this Discovery was made But that which seems the worst of all in the Laws relating to a Married Life is that Adultery is scarce any where punish'd with Death and all that can be done in that Case is only Divorce and ceasing to cohabit Which was an Ordinance introduc'd by Justinian One whom his Wife had in perfect Subjection And no wonder if She made use of that Dominion as she really did to get such Laws enacted as made most for the Advantage of her own Sex Now this leaves Men in perpetual danger of Adultery tempts them to malicious Desires of one another's Death the Offender that does the Injury is not made a sufficient Example and the Innocent Person that receives the Wrong hath no Reparation made for it Of the Duty of Married Persons See Book III. Chap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are several Sorts and several Degrees of Authority and Power among Men Paternal Authority Some Publick and others Private but not any of them more agreeable to Nature not Any more absolute and extensive than that of a Father over his Children I choose to instance in the Father rather than the Mother because she being herself in a State of Subjection to her Husband cannot so properly be said to have her Children under her Jurisdiction But even this Paternal Authority hath not been at all Times and in all Parts of the World equal and alike In some Ages and Places and indeed of Old almost every where it was universal Dion Halicar lib. 2. Antiq. and without restraint The Life and Death Estates and Goods the Liberty and Honour the Actions and Behaviour of Children was entirely at Their Will They sued and were sued for them They disposed of them in Marriage the Labours of the Children redounded to the Parents Profit nay They themselves were a kind of Commodity for among the Romans we sind this Article Rom. 1. in Suis ff de lib. posth in that which was call'd Romulus his Law * Parentum in Liberos omne Jus esto relegandi vendendi occidendi The Right of Parents over Children shall be entire and unlimited they shall have Power to abdicate and banish to sell and to put them to death Only it is to be observ'd That all Children under Three Years old were excepted out of this Condition because they could not be capable of offending in Word or Deed Aul. Gel. lib. 20. Aristot Ethic. lib. 8. Caesar lib. 6. de Bell. Gall. Prosper Aquit in Epist Sigism nor to give any just Provocation for such hard Usage This Law was afterwards confirm'd and renew'd by the Law of the Twelve Tables which allow'd Parents to sell their Children Three times And the Persians as Aristotle tells us the Antient Gauls as Caesar and Prosper agree the Muscovites and Tartars might do it Four times There want not some probable Reasons to persuade us that this Power had some Foundation or Countenance at least in the Law of Nature and that Instance of Abraham undertaking to slay his Son hath been made use of as an Argument to this
purpose For had This been a Thing against his Duty and such as the Authority of a Father could in no case extend to he would not they tell you ever have consented to it nor have believed that this Command had proceeded from God but rather have imputed it to some Delusion upon his own Mind if it had been no way reconcilable with Nature the Laws of which God had established in the Beginning and could not be thought so to contradict Himself as by any particular Order to appoint a thing altogether inconsistent with his own General Institution before And accordingly it is observable that Isaac never went about to make any Resistance nor pleaded his own Innocency in Bar to what his Father went about to do as knowing that he only exerted the rightful Power he had over him What Force there is in this Argument I shall not take upon me to determine It is sufficient for my present Purpose to observe That allowing all this yet it does not in any degree take off from the Commendation due to Abraham's Faith for he does not pretend to Sacrifice his Son by Vertue of any such Inherent Right over him nor upon any Provocation or Misdemeanour which Isaac had given him occasion to resent or punish but purely in obedience to the Command of Almighty God The Case does not seem to differ much under the Law of Moses allowing only for some Circumstances as to the manner of exercising this Authority which will be taken notice of by and by Of This and no less Extent the Paternal Power seems to have been formerly in the greatest part of the World and so to have continu'd till the Time of the Roman Emperours Among the Greeks indeed and the Aegyptians Diodor. it does not seem to have been altogether so absolute but even There if a Father happened to kill his Son unjustly and without Provocation the Punishment inflicted for such Barbarity was no other than being shut up with the Dead Body for Three Days together Now the Reasons The Reasons and Effects of it and the Effects of so great and unlimited a Power being allow'd to Fathers over their Children which no doubt was a great advantage for the Advancement of Virtue the Improvement of Manners and Education the restraining preventing and chastising Extravagance and Vice and of great good Consequence to the Publick too seem to have been such as These First The containing Children in their Duty begetting and preserving a due Awe and Reverence in their Minds Then a Regard to several Vices and Enormities which though very grievous in Themselves would yet pass unpunish'd to the great Prejudice of the Publick if they could be taken cognizance of and animadverted upon by no other Ways and Persons but Legal Process and the Sentence of the Magistrate For abundance of These must needs escape such Censure partly because they would be Domestick and Private and partly because there would be no body to inform and prosecute The Parents Themselves were not likely to be so Officious the Nearness of the Relation would render it odious and the Interest of their own Family would restrain them from publishing their own Shame Or if they could be suppos'd to bring all they knew of this kind upon the Open Stage yet we know there are many Vices and Insolencies and Disorders which the Laws and Justice of Nations are not provided with Punishments for To all which we may add that there are many Family-Quarrels between Fathers and Children Brothers and Sisters upon the account of dividing Estates and Goods or several other Things which tho' sit to be canvass'd and corrected within a Man 's own Walls would by no means do well to be ript up and exposed to the World and for These as the Paternal Authority is necessary so it is sufficient to compose and quiet all Parties and put an End to Differences that concern single Families only And it was reasonable for the Law to suppose that no Father would make ill use of this Power that Men might very safely be entrusted with it because of that very tender Affection which Nature inspires all Parents with such as seems altogether inconsistent with Cruelty toward their own Off-spring And this we see the effect of Daily in the frequent Intercessions made by Fathers for the Releasing or Mitigating those publick Punishments which they cannot but be sensible are most justly inflicted there being no greater Torment to any Parent than to see his Children under Pain or Disgrace And where These absolute Prerogatives were allow'd we meet with very few Instances of the exerting their Power and going to the Extremity of it without Offences very heinous indeed so that in truth if we regard the Practice and compare That with the Power it self we shall have reason to look upon it as a useful Terrour a Bugbear to keep Children in Awe and fright them into Obedience rather than any Stretch of Rigour that was actual and in good earnest Now this Paternal Authority was gradually lost and fell to the Ground as it were of it self It s Decay for the Decay of it is in truth to be attributed to Disuse more than to any Law expresly Repealing it or Enacting the contrary and it began most remarkably to decline when the Roman Emperours came to the Government For from the time of Augustus or quickly after it sunk apace and lost all its Vigour And upon this Decay Children grew so stubborn and insolent against their Parents that Seneca in his Address to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. says their Own Eyes had seen more Parricides punish'd in Five Years then last past than there had been for the space of Seven Hundred Years before that is from the first Foundation of Rome till That time Till then if a Father at any time killed his Children he was called to no Account nor had any Punishment inflicted upon him for the Fact as we may gather evidently by the Examples of Febvins the Senator Salust in Bell. Catalin Valer. Maxim who slew his Son for being engaged in Catiline's Conspiracy and several other Senators who proceeded against their Sons and condemn'd them to Death by virtue of their own Domestick Power such as Cassius Tratius or sentenced them to perpetual Banishment as Manlins Torquatus did his Son Syllanus There were indeed some Laws afterwards which appointed that the Father should bring Informations against the Children that offended L. inauditum ad leg Corn. F. I. in suis de I. posth I. 3. Cod. de pa. potest and deliver them over to publick Justice And the Judge in such Cases was oblig'd to pronounce Sentence as the Father should direct in which there are some Footsteeps of Antiquity And these Laws in abridging the Power of the Fathers proceeded very tenderly and did not take it away entirely and openly but with great Moderation and by halves only These later Ordinances have some Affinity to the
Law of Moses Deut. xxi which ordered the stubborn and Rebellious Son to be stoned upon the Complaint of the Parents without requiring any farther Proof of the Charge than their single Deposition and provided the Presence and Concurrence of the Magistrate not so much for Examination and Tryal of the Cause as to prevent the Privacy and Passion which might attend Domestick Punishments and so to render the thing more publick and the Vengeance more exemplary and full of Terrour to others And thus even according to the Mosaick Institution the Paternal Authority was more arbitrary and extensive than it came to be since the Time of the Roman Emperours But if we descend a little Lower and observe its Decrease under Constantine the Great then under Theodosius and at last under Justinian we shall find it almost totally extinct Hence it came to pass that Children took upon them to decline and peremptorily deny Obedience to their Parents to refuse them a Part in their Possessions nay not to allow them so much as convenient Maintenance and Relief in their Necessities Hence they had considence to enter Actions against them and implead them in Courts of Judicature and an indecent a most scandalous Thing in truth it is to observe how frequent such Suits have been Some have been so wicked or so mistaken as to excuse Themselves from Duty upon pretence of Religion and dedicate That to God which their Parents had a Right to as we find Our Blessed Saviour reproaches the Jews for doing Matt. xv and the manner he mentions it in shews plainly that this impious kind of Devotion was a Practice customary among them before his Time Since that some have acted after their Examples even in the Profession of Christianity and many have held it lawful to kill a Father in one's own Defence or in case he became a Publick Enemy to the State But sure if such Relations deserve Death it ought to be inflicted by some other Hand and heretofore it was receiv'd as a general Maxim and admits of scarce any Exception * Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest à patre quod parricidio sit vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet That no Wickedness could be committed by a Father the Heinousness whereof would justifie Parricide to kill a Father is wicked and no Wickedness can be reasonable Now the Generality of the World doe not seem duly sensible of how mischievous Consequence to Mankind this Abatement and Abolition of the Paternal Authority hath prov'd The Governments under which it was kept up and vigorously exerted have flourish'd and contain'd their Subjects in strict Duty If upon any Occasion it had been found by Experience too sharp and exorbitant prudent Care might have been taken to regulate and bring it under convenient Restraints But utterly to disannul and destroy it is by no means agreeable to Decency or Virtue and least of all to the Advantage of the Publick For when once the Reins are let loose and Countenance is given to Disobedience in private Families it quickly grows to a general Spirit of Faction and Disorder and Ungovernable Insolence and the casting off the Yoke of the Natural Parents is a bold and dangerous Step toward Rebellion against the Civil The Effect whereof hath been abundantly seen in the many Inconveniences which Governments have suffer'd upon the Relaxation or utter Rescinding of this Authority whereby in the Event they only clipt their own Wings and encourag'd Enemies and Insurrections against Themselves as was said just now The Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children will be treated of Book III. Chap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Of Lords and their Slaves Masters and Servants THE making use of Slaves and the Power of Lords or Masters over them The use of Slaves universal but unnatural tho' it hath been a thing receiv'd and practis'd in all Places and all Ages of the World excepting that it was considerably abated for about Four Hundred Years but now it hath since revived and obtain'd again Yet I cannot forbear looking upon it as a Monstrous Custom and highly reproachful to Humane Nature Since Brutes have nothing of this Kind among Them nor do They either compel their Fellows by Violence and Fraud or voluntarily submit themselves to Captivity This seems rather then to have been dispens'd with than approv'd by the Law of Moses But even this Indulgence accommodated to the Necessities of that People and the Hardness of their Hearts was not so rigorous as the Practice of other Places for neither was the Power so absolute nor the Slavery perpetual but the One confin'd to Rules and the Other terminated with the Seventh or Sabbatical Year Christianity finding the Usage Universal did not see fit to break in upon this Constitution but left its Proselytes at liberty in this Particular as it did in a Permission of serving and dwelling under Heathen and Idolatrous Princes and Masters For This and many other Things could not be abolish'd and set aside at once but by giving some little Discountenance to them Time hath worn them off gently and by degrees Slaves may be distinguished into Four several Kinds Several sorts of Slavery 1. Such as are Natural or born of Parents in that Condition 2. Such as are Slaves upon Force made so by Conquest and the Rights of War 3. Adjudged Slaves such as are made and awarded to be such either by way of Punishment for some Crime or for the Satisfaction of some Debt which gives the Creditors a Right to their Persons and of employing them to their own Benefit and Service This Slavery was limited among the Jews only to a certain Season Seven Years at the most the Sabbatical Year put an End to it all but in other Countries it continu'd till the Debt was discharged 4. Voluntary Slaves or such as are of their own making as Those who throw Dice for it or who sell their Liberty for a Summ of Money as it hath been the Custom to do in Germany Tacit. de mor. Ger. and is still in some Parts even of the Christian World or else such as freely surrender up Themselves to the Service of another and devote their Persons to perpetual Slavery And thus we read in the Law the Antient Jews did Exod xxi Deut. xv whose Ears were appointed to be bored with an Awl to the Door of the House in token of perpetual Servitude and that they rather chose this Condition of Life than to go free when it was in their Power This last sort of voluntary and chosen Captivity is I confess to Me the most asTonishing of all the rest and tho' all manner of Slavery seems to be an Incroachment and Violence upon Nature yet sure no Kind of it can be so unnatural as that which a Man covets and brings upon Himself That Thing which makes Men Slaves upon Constraint is Avarice The Cause of it and that which makes Men choose to be Slaves is
vain says the Psalmist And another Author that * Cogitationes mortalium timidae incertae adinventiones nostrae Providentiae The thoughts of Mortal Men are full of Fears and Misgivings their Inventions uncertain and all their Forecasts Dark and Confused And I for my own part am so fully possess'd of this Truth that I have order'd this Motto I know not Je ne scay to be engraved over the Gate of my little House which I built at Condom Now there are a sort of Persons who take it ill that Men should not submit themselves absolutely and fix on some certain Principles which ought they tell you never to be examined or controverted at all Now I allow that if These be such as manifest themselves to a Man's Reason they ought to be received but that merely upon the account of their Reasonableness and not for the pompous Name of Principles To impose any thing unconditionally is Tyranny and Usurpation and though upon due Consideration and the Approbation of my own Judgment I allow them yet if they will not admit me to try whether they be Sterling or Counterfeit before I take them for current Coin this is a Condition full of Hardship and such as I can never yield to For who I would fain know hath power to give Law to our Thoughts to enslave our Minds and set up Principles which it shall not be lawful to enquire into or admit any manner of doubt concerning them I can own no such Power in any but God and He hath it upon the account of his being Truth it self the Supreme Spirit and the only Principle and Source of all things which makes it as reasonable to believe Him upon his bare word as it is not to believe other people barely upon Theirs For this Foundation of our Belief being One of his Incommunicable Perfections it will unavoidably follow that no other thing is injured or disparaged by out refusing the same entire Resignation to it and challenging our Right of Examining before we yield our Assent If a Man requires my Belief to what are commonly stiled by the Name of Principles my Answer shall be the same with that of a late Prince to the several Sects in his Kingdom Agree among your selves first and then I will give my Consent too Now the Controversies are really as great about these Principles as they are concerning the Conclusions advanced upon them as many doubts upon the Generals as the Particulars so that in the midst of so many contending Parties there is no coming in to any One without giving offence and proclaiming War upon all the rest They tell us farther that it is a horrid uneasy state of Mind to be always thus upon the Float and never coming to any setled Resolution to live in Eternal Doubt and Perplexity of Thought nay that it is not only painful but very difficult and almost impracticable to continue long in such Uncertainty They speak this I suppose from their own Experience and tell us what they feel themselves But this is an Uneasiness peculiar to foolish and weak people To the Former because Fools are presumptuous and passionate and Violent espousers of Parties and Opinions full of Prejudices and strong Possessions fierce Condemners of all that differ from them never yielding the Cause nor giving out the Dispute though they be really convinced and supplying the want of Reason by Heat and Anger instead of ingenuous Acknowledgments of their Error If they find themselves obliged to change their Opinion you have them then as peremptory and furious in their new Choice as ever they were in their first Principles in short They know not what it is to maintain an Argument without Passion and when they dispute it is not for the sake of Truth or Improvement but purely for Contradiction and the Last Word and to assert their own Notions These Men I make no Scruple to call Fools for in truth they know nothing not so much as what it is to know so exceeding pert and confident are they and insult as if they carried Truth about in their Pockets and it was their own incommunicable Property As for Men of Weak Judgments and such as are not able to stand upon their own Legs it is very necessary they should not be left alone but seek a Support from persons of better and more discerning Abilities But These are not concerned in my present Rule it is their Misfortune to be born to Slavery and out of all Capacity to enjoy the Freedom I am treating of But as for Wise Men who are qualified for it Men of Modesty and Reserve and prudent Candor It is the most composed State of Mind that can be and puts us into a Condition of Firmness and Freedom of Stable and Uninterrupted Happiness * Hoe liberiores solutiores sumus quia integra nobis judicandi potestas manet We are so much less under Constraint than other Men by how much more our Minds enlarge themselves and the Liberty of judging is preserved entire This is a safe course to steer and keeps us off from many dangerous Rocks and Shelves which Warmth and Rashness and a Positive conceited Humour Drives Men upon It delivers us from the vain prepossessions of Fancy and Popular Mistakes from the Precipitation of thinking wrong at first and the Shame of retracting when we come to think better afterwards from Quarrels and Disputes and engaging in or becoming offensive to Parties For take which side you please you are sure to have a great many against you And a Zealous Espouser of any Cause must unavoidably live in a constant State of Wrangling and War In a Word This Suspension of the Judgment keeps us snug and under a Covert where the Inconveniences and Calamities which affect the Publick will seldom sensibly affect and scarce can ever involve us At a distance from those Vices and vehement Agitations which ruffle and discompose first Men's own Minds and then Human Society in general For this Fierceness and Peremptoriness is at once the Spawn and the Parent of Pride and Insolence Ambition and Vainglory and Immoderate Desires Presumption and Disdain Love of Novelty and Change Rebellion and Disobedience in the State Heresy and Schism in the Church Faction and Hatred and Contention in Both. These are all of the same lineage and descent These are begun fomented inflamed by your Hot and Positive and Opinionative Men not by the Modest and Doubting Men who are cautious and tender never Over-confident of themselves and content to believe that others are at least in a possibility of being in the right all which are but so many other Names for Wife and well-temper'd Men. I will advance yet one Step farther and venture to affirm that the Temper of Mind I am now recommending is so far from having any ill Influence upon Piety and Religion that it is extremely well calculated to serve and promote it whether we regard the first Propagation
Common practice too Neglect of increasing their Families and Indifference in point of Posterity the Murthering of their own Parents of their own Children nay of their own Selves Marrying with the nearest Relations Pilfering and Stealing Commerce and publick Societies of Robbers publick Bartering away one's Liberty selling and letting out their Bodies and that in Persons of both Sexes These are things in the opinion of most People very monstrous and detestable and yet there are several Nations which do not only connive at and allow but use them so as to make them the Custom of the Country What course then can we take or which way shall we turn our selves to find out Nature and its Original Institutions 'T is plain our own Species have little signs of it left and if there be any Impressions of this kind still unworn out we must expect to meet with them only in Brutes who want the Mercury we have and so have not debauched and corrupted their primitive Constitution by a troublesome and restless Spirit by the pretended Improvements of Art nor the Real Fopperies of Ceremony All which we have indulged to so extravagant a degree that there is some reason to suspect whether even Beasts are altogether so sound as they should be in this point and if the keeping so ill Company as Mankind have not in some degree drawn upon Them the Infection of our Follies The rest of the Creation however follow Nature entirely they are content to stick and abide by that First and Universal Order and Rule which the Great Author and Governor of all thought sit to establish and appoint Man is the only factious and discontented Creature he breaks in upon the Condition and good Government of the World and while he professes to mend and polish what Nature hath prescribed he confounds all with his Freedom of Will and Gallantry of Spirit ceases to be regular upon pretence of being more resined and destroys Nature while he goes about to exalt and add to it In a word then True Honesty and Integrity That which is the very Foundation and Support of Wisdom consists in following Nature that is to say acting in agreement with right Reason The Happiness the Aim the End That wherein all the Ease the Liberty the Contentment of the Mind is comprised and to be short the utmost perfection we are capable of in this World is to govern our Lives and Actions by the Rule which Nature hath set us and keeping the Order of our Creation And that Order consists in this That the meaner and more gross Appetites should be kept in due Subjection and that which is the most excellent part of our Nature should controul and bear sway That is When Reason governs Sense and Truth is preferred before false and empty Appearances And as the Needle when touch'd with the Load-stone rests at no Point but the North And by sixing there becomes a Guide to Sailors in their Course So Man is never in his due Position when his Eyes are not sixed upon this Primitive this Divine this Universal Law of Human Nature For That is the proper Compass to direct his Inclinations and Opinions by and all the other helps he enjoys are but so many fresh Lamps kindled at this Original Light Now although This be a Power from which no Man is excluded yet I cannot but acknowledge that the putting it in practice and bringing the Endeavours of this kind to good effect is not in every Man's power equally Some do it with much greater Ease and Success than others There are a sort of Persons who seem to be made for Virtue their Complexion and whole Constitution disposes and sits them for it Their Tempers are so well mixed so naturally sweet and gentle that they feel in themselves a strong Inclination and an Original Propensity to Goodness and Integrity without any pains to bend their Assections by Art or to subdue and correct them by Discipline and Study This happy Frame of Mind is what I conceive to be principally owing to the first Formation of the Parts the Proportions and Composition of the Spirits and Humours and afterwards to the proper and kindly Nourishment of a good Milk and the Care and Management of their Infancy and first Beginnings of Education And those who are thus inclined to follow and comply with Nature and Reason who bear a secret Reverence to its Dictates and find little or no difficulty in submitting are the Persons properly meant when we speak of the Happiness of good-tempered Men and such as we say Nature hath been kind or partial to This natural and spontaneous Honesty now which comes as it were into the World with us is properly called Good Disposition the Quality of a Soul and Body well put together and of Humours duly moderated It is a Sweetness Easiness and Gentleness of Temper By which I would not be so mistaken as to be thought to make no difference between this and a Softness which is indeed an effeminate sottish unconcerned and vitious Easiness of Mind which is managed and led by the Nose hath no Courage no Choice of it's own strives to carry fair and become agreeable to every body and above all things declines giving offence to any that will not do an Act of Virtue and Justice if it be likely to displease nor dares refuse the wickedest and most unbecoming Compliances when the Favour and Opinion of Men lye at stake These Persons have no regard in the Earth for Equity or Reason the Merits of the Cause or the Service of the Publick but all their Considerations are fixed upon the Consequences as to their own private Interest and they look no farther than who is like to be obliged or disobliged by what they do It is of such wretched poor-spirited Complaisant Persons that you hear People frequently give that false and most unjust Commendation Oh he is a wonderful good Man for he is kind even to the worst and wickedest Men whereas indeed This Charge is much more deserved and true of them that such a Man cannot be a Good Man because he is not severe to ill Men but encourages their Villany by his Mildness and false shew of Good nature Such a Goodness as this is should rather be called Harmlessness for it is just like that Quality of little Children and Sheep and such other Beasts as we commonly call poor innocent simple Creatures But the true Sincerity and Honesty I am speaking of hath a very different Character it is a masculine brave vigorous and active Goodness of Mind a strong constant Affection an easy ready Inclination by which the Soul embraces and stands always bent to that which is consonant to Reason and Nature and Nature in this sense is but another word for Goodness and Equity and Justice Again There are many Instances on the other hand of Persons so cross and ill contrived that one would be tempted to think them Monsters in Human Form They have
with thy Grace and take me for thy own that I who am of my self miserable and poor and naked and blind and weak may be able to do even all things through Christ who strengtheneth me These are proper Addresses upon such an occasion but the properest and most probable method to obtain them that is to incline the Compassion of God and dispose him to gratify such Desires will be strict Moral Honesty and a Conscientious Observation of the Law of Nature to the best of our power For this though it be not an absolutely Meritorious Cause is yet a Conditional one and a good Preparation for the receiving Supernatural Assistances as Matter ready disposed is cloathed with the Form and the Vegetative and Sensitive Soul derived from our Parents lead the way and put all things in readiness for the Accession of the Rational and Intellectual one which proceeds from God Thus Human Wisdom is the Introduction to Divine Philosophy the Handmaid to Religion the Natural and Moral Duties of a Man subservient and Instrumental to the Liberty of a Christian the Light and Favour of the Children of God He who does his best in the matters of Reason and Morality gives God an occasion of exercising his Bounty and bestowing larger and nobler Virtues upon him It being an equitable Method and such as our Blessed Saviour assures us God himself proceeds by to trust that Man with more and greater Talents who hath approved himself diligent and faithful in the good management of less To this purpose are all those Holy Aphorisms Thou hast been faithful in a very little be thou ruler over much God giveth the Holy Spirit to all them that ask him To Him that hath shall be given and He shall have abundance God denies no man Grace who does his utmost God is wanting to no Man in necessary Supplies and the like On the other hand To live in Contradiction and Defiance to Men's Natural Light is to put one's self out of all Capacity of God's Favour and as much as in us lies to make it impossible for Grace to be given us Since He who gives it hath expresly declared upon what Conditions Men are allowed to expect it and if He exceeds those Measures and bestows it upon persons wholly unqualified This is beside the Common Method and an excepted Case from his regular Dispensations This obstinacy and perverseness is expresly mentioned as the Reason why our Saviour refused to preach in some particular places and since the Evangelists St. Cyril St. Chry oslem St. Augustin and other of the Fathers have largely discoursed upon that matter to this purpose By all which it appears evidently that Grace and Nature are not contrary Principles for in the Sense I have all along used the Term in this Chapter Grace is so far from forcing or destroying Nature that it is a gentle and seasonable Relief to it nay it strengthens and crowns and perfects Nature We must not therefore set these two in opposition to each other but join both together and put on the One as the Ornament the Fulness and just Finishing of the Other Both proceed from God though after different manners and therefore we must neither put them at variance nor confound them for want of duly distinguishing them asunder for each hath its proper Springs and peculiar Motions They neither set out together nor operate alike though both came from the same place and lead to the same End at last Nature may be without Grace and when duly followed hath its commendation even then in regard to those Circumstances which admitted of no more Thus it was with the Philosophers and Great Men heretofore Persons whose Proficiency under this First and General Law and their Attainments in all sorts of Moral Virtue may be allowed to excite our Wonder as well as challenge our Praise Such likewise is the Case of all Infidels at this day because the Grace we speak of is a Gospel-Blessing and They who are not under the Evangelical Covenant have no Title to it But Grace cannot be without Nature because This is the Matter for it to work upon for the business of Grace is to reform and perfect and therefore This as necessarily supposes Nature as the raising of a Roof supposes a Foundation to be laid and Walls already carried up The Organist may exercise his Fingers 't is true upon the dumb Keys and make his Hand but the Harmony must come from the Breath or if it could sound yet would it be but like St. Paul's tinkling Cymbal of no worth or significancy at all But all the Air in the World will never make Musick of the Instrument without a Hand to strike the Keys In This I have been the more particular and descended to familiar Comparisons because Some I find have suffered themselves to be led into very gross Mistakes upon the matter Persons who have never conceived a right and worthy Notion of that true Probity and entirely Honest Principle we have been recommending but are blown up with strange Romantick Conceits of Grace which they doubt not to attain and practise eminently well without any regard to Morality and by a Scheme of Pharisaical Accomplishments some easy lazy sormal Performances which carry a great appearance of Sanctity to the World but as for the real Substance and inward Power of Goodness and Integrity they give themselves no trouble at all about it I see great store of these Men in the World every day but alas I can find but very few such as Aristides Phocion Cato Regulus Socrates no Epaminonda's no Scipio's no Strict and Conscientious Professors I mean of stanch and solid Virtue and Philosophical or if you please common Justice and downright Moral Honesty The Reproaches and Complaints so liberally bestowed by our Saviour upon the Pharisees and Hypocrites will never be out of season for the persons obnoxious to these always abound and even those who set up for the Great Censors of Manners the Zealous Railers at Vice and Grave Reformers of the World are not all exempt from this Charge themselves But enough of this I have spoken largely of the Virtue it self now before I close this Chapter I must take leave to add one word concerning the disposition of Mind contrary to it Now Wickedness or Evil Practices and Temper is against Nature it is deformed odious Wickedness and offensive all that can judge and discern must needs detest and loath it which gave occasion for some to say That it is a monstrous Birth the Product of Brutality and Ignorance It does not only provoke the Dislike and Aversion of others but raises the Indignation of a Man 's own Mind who is guilty of it Repentance and Self-condemnation are its certain Consequences It gnaws and corrodes and frets the Soul like an Ulcer in the Flesh makes one restless and uneasy out of Countenance and out of Conceit with himself and is ever busy in contriving and inflicting fresh Torments
truckle and submit not only to the Fickleness and Variety of infinite several Judgments but to the Changeable and Humoursome Sentiments of one and the same Person That which binds the Law upon Men's Consciences is the Authority of the Legislative Power and the Sanction it receives from thence the Reasonableness of the Duty contained in it is only an additional and collateral Obligation How many Laws have there been in the World so far from any appearance of Piety or Justice that they have really been exceeding trifling extravagant and sensless such as no Man's Reason knew what to make of And yet Mankind have submitted nay and enjoyed as much Peace and good Order and been as regularly governed as highly contented as if they had been the Justest and most reasonable that ever Human Wisdom and Policy enacted Now he that should have gone about to create a Dissatisfaction and Dislike to such Laws or attempted to repeal or to amend them would have deserved to be suspected as an Enemy to the Publick and not to be endured or harken'd to in a wise Government There are very few things but Human Nature may in process of Time reconcile it self to and when once the Difficulty is overcome and things sit easy upon People it is no better in effect than an Act of Hostility to offer at the dissetling them again We should always be content to let the World jog on in its own beaten Path for it is but too often seen that your Removers of Ancient Land-marks and busy Politicians under their plausible Pretences of Reforming spoil and ruin All. There is seldom or never any considerable Alteration made in established Laws received Opinions acknowledged Customs and ancient Ordinances and Discipline but it is of very pernicious Consequence The Attempt is always extremely hazardous there is commonly more Hurt than Good done by it at least this deserves to be duly weighed That the Mischief if less in it self is yet sooner felt for the Disorders every Change creates are certain and present but the Advantages it produces are distant and doubtful so that we exchange a Good in Possession for one in Expectation only and where we submit to That there ought to be very great Odds in value to justify the Prudence of our Proceeding This is certain that Men are but too fond of Novelties before they have tried them and Innovators never want some very fair and plausible Pretences to catch and feed their Fancies with but the more of this kind they pretend the more ought we to suspect and be aware of them For how indeed can we forbear detesting the vain and ambitious Presumption of Persons who undertake to see farther and be wiser than all Mankind besides What an intolerable Arrogance is it in such Turbulent and Factious Spirits to persuade Men into Compliance with their Humours at the Expence of the Publick Peace and to think it worth while that the Government should run the Risque of its own Ruin merely for the sake of establishing a fresh Scheme and passing a private Opinion into an Universal Law I have already hinted and do repeat it here again That we are not by any means obliged to obey all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever which our Superiors shall think fit to impose without any Distinction or Reserve For where we find them evidently to contradict the Laws of God and Nature in such case we must neither comply on the one hand nor disturb the Publick Peace by our refusing to do so on the other How Men ought to behave themselves in such Critical Junctures will fall more properly under Consideration when we come in the next Book to treat of our Duty to Princes And indeed this Inconvenience is much more frequent upon Subjects with regard to Their Arbitrary Commands than the Established Laws Nor is it sufficient that we submit to Laws and Governors upon the account of their Justice and particular Worth but this must not be done servilely and cowardly upon Motives of Fear and Force This is a Principle sit only for the Meanest and most Ignorant it is part of a Wise Man's Character to do nothing unwillingly and upon Compulsion but to delight in his Duty and find a sensible Pleasure in a reasonable Obedience He keeps the Laws for his own sake because he is jealous and tender of doing any thing he ought not and a rigid Master over himself He needs no Laws to constrain him in what is decent and good This distinguishes Him from the Common Populace who have no other Sense or Direction of their Duty but what Positive Laws can give In strictness according to the old Stoical Notions the Wise Man is above the Laws and a Law to himself But however he pays all outward Deference to them and a free voluntary Obedience This is due from him as a Member of Society as the inward Freedom of his Mind is owing to the Prerogative of a Philosopher In the Third Place I affirm it to be the Effect of extreme Levity a Presumption vain in it self and injurious to others nay a Mark of great Weakness and Insufficiency of Judgment to Condemn all those Laws and Customs abroad which are not conformable to those of our own Native Countrey This indeed is owing either to want of Leisure and Opportunity or to want of Ability and Largeness of Mind for the considering the Reasons and Grounds impartially upon which Foreign Establishments are founded It is a great Wrong done to our own Judgment to pronounce a Rash Sentence which when we come to a more perfect understanding of the Cause we shall in many Instances find our selves obliged to retract and be ashamed of And it is an Argument that we forget the Extent and Condition of Human Nature how many and how different things it is susceptible of It is a shutting the Eyes of our Mind and suffering them to be laid asleep and deluded with the often repeated Impressions of the same thing the daily Dream of Long Use and to submit so far to Precedent and Prescription that These should overbear the plainest Reason and give Example the Ascendent over Judgment Lastly It is the Business and the Character of a generous Mind and such a Wise Man as I am here drawing the Idea of to examine all things First To take each apart and consider it by it self Then to lay them one over against another and compare them together that so the several Laws and Customs of the whole World so far as they shall come to his Knowledge may have a full and a fair Trial and that not for the directing his Obedience but to assert his Right and execute his Office When This is done he ought to pass an honest and impartial Judgment upon them as he shall find them upon this enquiry to be agreeable or otherwise with Truth and Reason and Universal Justice For This is the Rule This the Standard which all of them are to be Tried and Measured
by To These we are Principally and Originally engaged nor may we so far falsify our Obligations as to depart from Them in favour of any Customs or to suffer our Judgments to be debauched with false Notions though our National Constitutions were Ten thousand times dearer to us than it is possible to suppose them For These can only claim a Secondary Obligation the Former was general and concerned us as Men This only binds us as Subjects or Natives of such a determinate place and so the Obligation is limited and particular and if we pay our outward Observance and submit in our Behaviour to these Municipal Injunctions this part of our Duty is discharged and all Parties have reason to be satisfied It is true Things may so fall out that in compliance with this Second this particular and Local Obligation that is in conformity to the Laws and Customs of the Place where we dwell we may do something that does not appear to Us in every point Agreeable to the Primitive and Universal one that is such as Nature and Reason do not dictate nor evince the Equity of but we still are true to this Obligation by reserving our Judgment for it acknowledging that what Nature suggests and Universal Equity dictates ought to be preferred and continuing firm in our Opinions that This is always best though it be the Unhappiness of our particular Constitution not to be regulated according to it For after all our Judgment is the only thing we can call our Own and all we have left to dispose of the World hath nothing to do with our Thoughts Our External Behaviour 't is true the Publick lays claim to This we ought to pay and must be accountable for it and therefore thus far our Laws and Usages take place We may very justly do what we cannot approve for any Justice or Goodness of its own and Obey Laws which have nothing of that intrinsick Excellence that had we been in Power or perfectly Free we should either have Enacted or made Choice of them A great deal must be foregone for the sake of Order and Quiet for in short there is no Remedy This is the Condition of the World and as matters stand Mankind could not subsist without it Next in order to the Two former Governesses Law and Custom succeeds a Third who with a great many is esteemed of equal Authority with Either of the Former and indeed Those that submit and enslave themselves to her she treats with a more tyrannical and unrelenting Severity than Either of the Former does And This is Ceremony which in plain English is for the most part no better than a set Form of Vanity But yet through Littleness of Soul and the spreading depravation of Mind and Manners so very general among Men it hath gained so undeserved Honour and Reputation and usurped such a Power and is so insolent in the Exercise of it that a great many People are possess'd with an Opinion That Wisdom consists in a nice Observance of it Under this Notion of the Thing they tamely come to the Yoke and list themselves its most willing Slaves insomuch that their Health their Convenience shall suffer and be lost Business be disappointed Liberty be sold or given up Conscience violated God and Religion neglected rather than they will suffer themselves to offend against one of the least and nicest Punctilio's This is manifestly the Case of Formal Courtiers and Others that affect the Character of Civility and good Breeding This Mint and Anise and Cummin is punctually paid when the weightier matters of the Law are passed over and the Idol Ceremony set up in the place and to the infinite prejudice of plain downright Honesty and sincere Friendship Now I am very desirous That the Wife Man of my Forming should by no means suffer himself to be thus Captivated and Imposed upon Not that I would have him Singular and Morose as if Wisdom consisted in Rudeness and acting in Desiance of Ceremony for some Allowance must be made to the way of the World and all the outward Conformity we can shew is sit to be paid to the Manners of it provided always That this Compliance do not thwart other more weighty Considerations For thus much I must needs insist upon That my Scholar never bind himself without reserve nor be so absolutely Devoted to these sorts of Respect but that when he shall sind it Necessary in point of Duty or otherwise shall see fit he may have the Courage to Dispense with and shew that he can Despise these little Niceties And This I would have done with so visible a Prudence and Gallantry of Soul that all the World may be satisfied it is not Humour and Affectation nor Ignorance or sordid Neglect which moves him to a Behaviour different from Theirs but that he is acted by a right Judgment and juster Notions of the matter which will not let him value these poor things more highly than they deserve that even where his outward Comportment is suited to the Practice his Will and Judgment are entire and uncorrupted and have not been perverted to a false Approbation and Esteem In short That however he may lend himself to the World when he sees occasion and not be Sullen and Restiff and Particular yet he will not nor can it ever become any Wise or Good Man to sell or give himself up to the World by being eternally Supple and Ceremonious and devoted entirely to the Rules and Modes of it CHAP. IX Modest and Obliging Behaviour in Conversation THIS Particular is properly reducible to the Topick of Justice a Branch of that Virtue which instructs us how to live and converse with all Mankind and to render to every Man what by any sort of Right becomes his due And the proper Place for Treating of This will be in the following Book where the different Rules and particular Directions will be laid down suitable to particular Persons and Occasions At present you must expect only general Advice That being agreeable to the Scheme at first Proposed and such as the Design and Matter of this Second Part of my Treatise is consined to Now this is a Subject which offers it self to us under a Twofold Consideration and consequently this Chapter which discourses of it must of necessity be divided into Two Parts according to the Two different sorts of Conversation which Men use and are engaged in with the World One of these is simple general at large and in common such as is made up of our ordinary Company and that Indifferency in Commerce and Acquaintance which some accidental Occasion or Business or Travelling together or Meeting in Third Places or frequent interviews at places of Publick Resort or the Civilities of Visits and Complemental Ceremonies do every day lead us into and so increase or lessen the number of our Acquaintance introduce new Familiarities or change our Old All or some of which happen not only with those we know but
of the other Again My Friend imparts a Secret to me What Distraction is here If I reveal it This is a Breach of Trust and Friendship which obliges me to be Faithful in keeping what is thus deposted with me But then if I do not communicate it to my other Friend this is Unfaithfulness too for it is another Law of true and entire Friendship to unbosom themselves freely and to have no Reserves from each other Thus you see the Confusion and Perplexity the Impracticableness and utter Impossibility indeed of more Friends than One in the highest and most genuine Acceptation of the Word And no doubt Multiplication of Parts and Division is generally speaking an Enemy to Perfection as Union is a natural and inseparable Property of it 4. The Common Friendship admits of Diminution and Increase it is subject to Exceptions Limitations different Modifications and Forms it grows warmer and colder and comes and goes by Fits like an intermitting Fever according as the Person is Absent or Present as his Merits are more or less and the Kindnesses he does more or less frequent and engaging and many other Considerations there are capable of making an Alteration in our Affections of this kind But now That Friendship which is perfect and entire is much otherwise firm and constant to it self even and steady Its Warmths are healthful its Temper regular and all its Motions vigorous and uniform 5. The Common Friendship admits and stands in need of several Rules for its Direction several Wise Cautions contriv'd by considerate Persons for the regulating and restraining it and preventing any future Inconveniences which may happen to arise from Unwariness and an unguarded Conversation One of these is To love our Friend so far as may be consistent with the Preservation of our Piety and Truth and Virtue For even that old Expression of Amicus usque ad Aras implies this Restriction Another is to love him so as if you were sure one Day to hate him and to hate a Man so as if you were hereafter to love him that is To be prudent and reserv'd in your Passions and Affections and not abandon one's self so entirely or be so violent in either Extreme that a Man should have just occasion to repent and condemn his former Behaviour if at any time hereafter there should happen to be a Breach or any Coldness grow betwixt them A Third is To come into our Friend's Assistance of our own accord and without being call'd For it puts a Friend out of Countenance to demand his Right and he buys a Kindness dear when forc'd to ask what he looks upon as his just Due and that which he conceives he ought to be prevented in Therefore these Obligations are never fully satisfy'd except we be always ready and early in our Courtesies and if that be possible beforehand with his very Wishes A Fourth is not to be troublesome to our Friends by entertaining them with dismal Stories of our own Misfortunes and being always in the complaining Strain Like Women that make it their whole Business to move Pity and are constantly magnifying their own Hardships and Sufferings Now all these are very useful and seasonable Directions fit to be observ'd in common Friendships But in That more sublime and perfect one there is no occasion at all for these This disdains all Forms and is above the Pedantick Niceties of Ceremony and Reserve This is what we shall attain to a more just and distinct Notion of Perfect Friendship what by giving the Reader a Draught and Description of Friendship in Perfection Which is no other in short than a free full and entire Mingling of Souls throughout and in every part and point To explain this now in Three Particulars I say First It must be a Mingling and if I may so express it an Incorporating and not a Conjunction of Souls only For this gives us a Resemblance of Solid Bodies which how strongly and artificially soever they may be tack'd together in one part yet do not touch in all And not only so but that very Ligament which joins them together may be dissolv'd or cut asunder and each of these Bodies may subsist and remain and feel it self entire after Separation But now in these perfect Friendships the Souls of Men are entirely absorpt in each other so confounded as never to be distinguish'd never to be parted again like Liquors well mix'd which can never be drawn off from each other And That is the perfect the universal Communion of Minds that entire Agreement of Judgments and Inclinations which I rather chose to express by mingling of Souls as a Phrase that gives us a stronger Idea of this Union than any Resemblance taken from Solids could possibly do Secondly It is free and purely the Work of Choice a generous and spontaneous Act of the Will without any Obligation or distant Inducement foreign to the Worth and Agreeableness of the Parties For nothing is more voluntary than Love and so much of Constraint as you put upon it so much you weaken the Affection and take off from the true Nature and Commendation of the Virtue Thirdly It is universal and without Exception no Reservation of any thing nothing that can be call'd ours in bar to our Friend's Title and Pretensions Estate Honours Preferments Judgments Thoughts Wills all laid open and in common nay even Life it self is what both have equal Right in From This so universal and entire Communication it is that that those Maxims have taken place of Friendship finding or making all equal of Friends having no Property and the like such can no longer lend or borrow they cannot give or receive there is no such thing as Beneficence and Obligation Acknowledgments or Returns or any such Offices of Kindness or Gratitude practicable or in force for Their Condition These indeed are the Arts and Methods by which ordinary Friendships are cherish'd and maintain'd but at the same time that they are Testimonies of Affection they are Marks of Distinction too Whereas in this Case it is as with one's own Self and as a Man cannot be oblig'd to himself for any Service done to his own Person nor owe any Gratitude upon the Account of that Kindness and Readiness to relieve his own Wants which he feels in his Breast no more can one true Friend be indebted to another upon any the like Occasions Nay even Marriage tho' it give us the best yet is even That but a distant and feeble Resemblance of the Divine Union we are now treating of The Laws allow no such thing as Distinct Properties and Donations betwixt Man and Wife And therefore in Friendship could there be any such thing as giving and receiving the Benefactor would be That Person who made use of his Friend's Kindness and so put it in his Power to do what became him For the principal Design and eagerest Wish of each Party being to snatch every occasion of mutual Assistance and Benefit He who
destroy'd or profan'd by the Receiver's Fault If another will needs be wicked and act otherwise than becomes him this can never justifie my ceasing to be good But further The generous and noble Spirit distinguishes it self by Perseverance and triumphs in the Conquest of Ingratitude and Ill-nature when invincible Beneficence hath heaped Coals of Fire upon their Heads melted them down and softned them into good Temper and a better Sense of Things So says the Moralist * Optimi ingentis animi est tamdiu ferre ingratum donec feceris gratum vincit malos pertinax Bonitas A Great Soul bears the ingrateful Man so long till at last he makes him grateful for obstinate and resolute Goodness will conquer the worst of Men. The Last Direction I shall lay down upon this Occasion is That when a thing is given we should let a Man use and enjoy it quietly and not be troublesome and unseasonable with him like some who when they have put one into any Office or Preferment will needs be thrusting in their Oar and execute it for him Or else procure a Man some considerable Advantage and then make over what proportion of the Profits they see sit to themselves Receivers in such Cases ought not to endure the being thus imposed upon and any Resentments or Refusals made upon this Account are by no means the Marks of Ingratitude but a preservation of their own Rights And whatever the Benefactor may have contributed to our Preferment he wipes out the whole Score and acquits us of all our Obligations by these imperious and busie Interpositions The Story is not amiss concerning one of the Popes who being press'd hard by one of the Cardinals to do somewhat inconvenient or perhaps unjust in his Favour and as a Motive which was thought irresistible or at least a Resentment which he look'd upon as reasonable in case of refusal the Cardinal re-minding him that His Interest had been formerly at his Service and his Popedom was owing to it His Holiness very pertinently reply'd If You made me Pope pray let me be so and do not take back again the Authority you gave me After these several Rules for the directing Men in the Exercise of Beneficence it may be seasonable to observe Several sorts of Kindnesses that there are Benefits of several sorts some of them much more acceptable than others and thus some more and others less engaging Those are most welcome that come from the Hand of a Friend and one whom we are strongly dispos'd to love without any such Inducement As on the contrary it is very grievous and grating to be oblig'd by one of whom we have no Opinion and desire of all things not to be indebted to Those are likewise so which proceed from a Person whom we have formerly oblig'd our selves because This is not so much Gratuity as Justice and Payment of Arrears and so draws very little or no new Debt upon us Such again are those done in a time of Necessity and when our Occasions were very urgent These have a mighty Influence they utterly deface all past Injuries and Misunderstandings if any such there were and leave a strong Tie upon a Man's Honour as on the other Hand the denying our Assistance in Cases of Extremity is extremely unkind and wipes out all Remembrances of any former Benefits Such once more are Those that can be easily acknowledged and admit of a suitable Return as on the contrary such as the Receiver is out of all Capacity to requite commonly breed Hatred and a secret Dislike For there is a Pride in most Men that makes them uneasie to be always behind-hand and hence he who is sensible that he can never make amends for all he hath receiv'd every time that he sees his Benefactor fancies himself dogg'd by a Creditor upbraided by a living Witness of his Insufficiency or Ingratitude and these secret Reproaches of his own Mind give great Uneasiness and Discontent for no Bankrupt can bear being twitted with his Poverty Some again there are which the more free and honourable and respectful they are the more burdensom and weighty they are provided the Receiver be a Person of Honour and Principle Such I mean as bind the Consciences and the Wills of Men for they tie a Man up faster keep him more tight and render him more cautious and fearful of failing or forgetfulness A Man is Ten times more a Prisoner when confin'd by his own Word than if he were under Lock and Key It is easier to be bound by Legal and publick Restraints and Forms of Engagements than by the Laws of Honour and Conscience and Two Notaries in this Case are better than One. When a Man says I desire nothing but your Word I depend upon your Honesty such a one indeed shews greater respect But if he be sure of his Man he puts him upon a stricter Obligation and himself upon better Security than Bonds and Judgments A Man who engages nothing but his Word is always in Fear and Constraint and upon his Guard lest he should forfeit or forget it Your Mortgagee and he that is under the power of Legal Forms is deliver'd from that Anxiety and depends upon his Creditor's Instruments which will not sail to refresh his Memory when the Bonds become due Where there is any external Force the Will is always less intent and where the Constraint is less there in proportion the Application of the Will is greater * Quod me Jus cogit vix à Voluntate impetrem What the Law compels me to is very haâ—dly my own Choice for I do not properly choose but submit to it Benefits produce Obligations Of the Obligation and from Obligations again fresh Benefits spring up So that Beneficence is reciprocally the Child and the Parent the Effect and the Cause and there is a twofold Obligation which we may distinguish by an Active and a Passive Obligation Parents and Princes and all Superiours are bound in Duty and by virtue of their Station to procure the Benefit and Advantage of Those whom either the Laws and Order of Nature or the political Constitutions of Government or any other Law relating to their Post have committed to their Inspection and Care And not only so but All in general whether their Character be Publick or not if they have Wealth and Power are by the Law of Nature oblig'd to extend their Help and Bounty towards the Necessitous and Distress'd And this is the first sort of Obligation But then from good Offices thus done whether they be in some regard owing to us as flowing from the Duty incumbent upon the Benefactor by virtue of this former Engagement Or whether they be the effect of pure Choice entirely Grace and nothing of Debt there arises the Second sort of Obligation whereby the Receivers are bound to acknowledge the Kindness and to be thankful for it All this mutual Exchange and propagation of Engagements and good
to her former Circumstances Whether she did or did not bring a Fortune That alters not the Case one whit such Considerations are quite out of Doors and nothing now lies before him but the present Relation between them He is indeed to be governed by his own Abilities and will do well to secure the main Chance but then all the Frugality upon this Account must extend to the retrenching his own Expences too For whatever Figure he allows himself to make his Wife ought to be supported Suitably and in Proportion to it 3. The providing her with Clothes which is a Right so undoubted that all Laws concur in giving a Wife this Privilege and that in so Solemn and Incommunicable a manner that they have denied the Husband a Power of disposing any thing of this Kind away from her and have not left them liable to the Payment of his just Debts 4. The Rights of the Bed 5. The Loving Cherishing and Protecting her Those Two Extremes which the World are apt to run into are Vicious and Abominable The keeping them under and treating them like Servants and the submitting to them as if they were absolute Mistresses These I take to be the principal and constant Duties Others there are Accidental and Occasional Duties secondary to and consequent upon the former Such as Taking Care of her if she be sick Ransoming her if she be taken Captive Burying her Honourably and according to her Quality if she happen to die and Making Provision by his last Will for her decent Support in her Widowhood and the comfortable Subsistence of the Children she hath brought him The Duties of the Wife are to pay all becoming Honour and Reverence and Respect to her Husband Wive's Duty looking upon him as a kind and Affectionate Master Accordingly the Scripture takes Notice that Women eminent for their Conjugal Virtues used to call their Husbands Lord and it is observable that the same Word in the Hebrew Tongue signifies Lord and Husband both The Imagination that a Woman lessens her self by this respectful and submissive Behaviour is most Frivolous and Foolish for she that discharges this part of her Duty well consults her own more than her Husband's Honour and she that is Insolent and Imperious Humoursome and Perverse does the greatest Injury to her self A Second Duty is Obedience to all his lawful and just Command's complying with his Humours and bringing over her own Inclinations to His For a good and a prudent Wife is like a true Glass which makes an exact Reflection of the Face that looks in it She should have no Design no Passion no Thought particular to her self but to be sure none in Opposition to His. Like Dimensions and Accidents which have no Motion no separate Existence of their own but constantly move with and subsist in the Body whereunto they belong so Wives should always keep close and be from the very Heart and even Affections of their Souls entirely and inseparably united to their Husbands A Third is Service That part especially which relates to the providing him seasonable and Necessary Refreshments over-looking the Kitchin ordering the Table and not disdaining to do any Offices or give him any kind of Assistance about his Person a Duty so fit to be condescended to that the Antients were wont to reckon Washing the Feet in particular among the Instances of Service due from the Wife to her Husband Fourthly Keeping much at Home upon which Account a Wife is compar'd to a Tortoise that carries her House upon her Back and used heretofore to be painted with her Feet Naked an Emblem of her not being provided for stirring abroad This is a modest and decent Reserve requisite at all Times but more especially in the Absence of her Husband For a good Wife is the exact Reverse of the Moon she shines abroad and in full Lustre when near her Sun but disappears and is totally invisible when at a Distance from him A Fifth is Silence for she should never give her self the Liberty of talking much except with her Husband or for him Here indeed her Tongue may take a Loose and is subject to no other Restraint than the speaking no more than is convenient This I confess is a very difficult Point hard of Digestion in this lavish Age where Multitude of Words sets up for a Female Virtue and so rare in all Ages Ecclus xxvi 14. that the Wise Son of Sirach calls a silent Woman a Precious and Particular Gift of God The Sixth is applying her self to Houswifery and good Management Prov. xxxi for though Solomon's Description of a wise and good Woman may be thought too Mean and Mechanical for this refined Generation yet certain it is that the Business of a Family is the most Profitable nay the most Honourable Study they can employ themselves in This is the Reigning Accomplishment That which so far as Fortune is concerned ought to be 〈◊〉 esteemed and regarded in the Choice of a Wife To 〈◊〉 the Truth This is a Fortune singly and by it self the Observation or the Neglect of it without the Addition of any Casualties is sufficient to ruine or to preserve nay to make a Family But This hath the Fate of all other Excellencies too which is to be exceeding rare and scarce There are I confess a great many sordid and scraping Wives but very few good Managers But alas there is a vast deal of Difference between Avarice and Parsimony and provident Care and good Houswifery As to the Enjoyments indulged in a Married State Men should always remember that this is a Chast a Pure and a Religious Union Consecrated to Excellent Mysteries and Holy Purposes and therefore that all the Pleasures of it should be used with Moderation and Sobriety In such Measures only as Prudence and Conscience would direct when consulted seriously and without any Byass from gross and carnal Affections And sure it would very ill become a Society instituted for mutual Comfort and the Advancement of Religion and the preservation of Purity to throw off all Restraint and convert their Privilege of Lawful Delights into an Occasion of abandoning themselves to Sensuality and Licentiousness This is One of those Cases where no certain Bounds can be prescribed but it will highly concern all Persons engaged in this State to consider the Dignity and the Design of it and to keep themselves under such Reserves as may neither profane the one nor evacuate the other CHAP. XIII Good Management THis is a very becoming and necessary Care An Employment not hard to be attained to every Man of common Discretion is capable of it But though the Art be easily learned the constant Exercise of it is Intricate and Laborious by Reason of that Great Variety of Business in which it engages us and though many Matters about which it is managed be small and inconsiderable in themselves yet the constant Succession of them is very troublesome Domestick Cares give great Uneasiness because
Prince is a Debtor to his People for the regular Administration of Justice and ought upon all Occasions to make This the Measure of his Power and not to stretch beyond the Line This indeed is the Peculiar Excellence of a Prince a truly Royal and distinguishing Virtue Upon which Account it was both smartly and pertinently replyed by an old Woman to King Philip upon his putting her off upon Pretence that he was not at Leisure to do her Right That if he could not spare time to do the Duty of his Office he ought to lay it down and be a King no longer But Demetrius did not come off so easily upon the like Provocation For upon his throwing several of their Petitions into the River without ever returning any Answer to them or redressing the Grievances they complained of they thought themselves at Liberty to take an other Course and Dethron'd that King who had exprest such an haughty Disregard to his People and their Addresses Once more He ought to love and to cherish to take a very tender Care of his Subjects and imitate the King of Kings in watching over them for their Good His Affection and his Deportment ought to be That of a Husband to the Wife of his Bosom His Bowels and provident Concern Those of a Father to his Children His Vigilance That of a Shepherd over his Flock constantly keeping in his Eye the Advantage and Security of his People and making Their Ease and Quiet and Welfare the Aim and End of all his Undertakings The Happiness of the Country is the Satisfaction and Joy of a good King the Strength the Wealth the Honour the Virtue of his People are his chief Desire and Delight That Prince who looks no farther than himself and his own Interest abuses and imposes upon himself For he is none of his own nor is the State for Him but He for the State He is indeed the Master and the Governor of it but not to the Intent that he should domineer and Tyrannize over it but that by the Advantage of so great a Power he may be enabled to support and maintain it * Cui non Civium servitus tradita sed tutela The People are committed to him not as an absolute Possession and to make them Slaves but as a Trust to be their Guardian and to use them like so many Minors under his Direction to cherish and breed and watch over them That by virtue of his Vigilant Care his Subjects may sleep securely that in his Toil and Fatigues they may find Ease and Leisure that his Industry may preserve their Properties and Pleasures and that every Man under his Jurisdiction may know and feel experimentally that he is as much for their Advantage as he is above them in Dignity and Power Now In Order to the Being so indeed and the Effectual discharge of this important Trust it will be Necessary for him to govern himself by the Rules which have been laid down at large in the Second and Third Chapter of this Book That is To be sufficiently provided with a wise Counsel a substantial Exchequer and a convenient Strength of Forces at Home and with significant Alliances and Friends abroad To manage this Provision to the best Advantage and so to act and Rule both in Peace and War that he may reign in the Hearts of his People and be both loved and feared by them at the same time To be short and say all in a Word The Character of a truly good King is compounded of these following Qualifications He must fear and reverence his Master Almighty God above all he must be prudent and considerate in his Designs Vigorous and Bold in the Execution of them Firm in his Resolutions True to his Word Wise and Discerning in his Counsel tender of his Subjects assisting to his Friends formidable to his Enemies compassionate to those in Distress Courteous and Kind to Good Men a Terror to the Wicked and Just to all The Duty of Subjects towards their Prince consists of Three Particulars The First is Honour and Reverence And This is due to Princes in regard they are the Image and Similitude of the most High God established and ordained by him and therefore Those who disparage and detract from them that revile or speak ill of them and endeavour to sow Discords and discontented Thoughts by virulent Reproaches or wicked Scandals are very highly to be blamed These are indeed the true Descendents of Prophane and Undutiful Ham who either invent and contrive or at least expose and deride their Father's Shame The Second is Obedience which is a Word of very extensive signification and includes serving them in the Wars paying the Taxes and Tributes imposed by Their Authority and the like The Third is Heartily Desiring their Happiness and Prosperity and recommending Them and Their Undertakings to the Blessing and Protection of Almighty God in constant and servent Prayers for them But a very considerable Doubt arises upon this Occasion which is Whether all these Duties are to be paid to all Princes without any Distinction whether wicked Princes whether Tyrants have a Right to them This Controversie cannot be decided by any single positive Answer but to come to a true Resolution of the Point we must state the Case and distinguish the Circumstances cautiously For a Prince may be Tyrannical either at the very Entrance into his Power or in the Exercise of it afterwards that is He may usurp his Authority or he may abuse that Rightful one which he is fairly possest of If his Entrance upon the Government be Tyrannical that is If he invade without any just Pretension be he otherwise a Good or a Bad Governour it matters not much It hath been the general Sense of Wise Men that he ought to be withstood by Methods of Justice and legal Redress if there be any opportunity of obtaining Redress that way but if there be not then by open Force And indeed I take it that where we meet with the Word Tyrant in old Authors who use it in an ill Sense it ought constantly to be thus understood And Cicero says that among the Ancient Greeks there were particular Honours and Rewards assign'd to those who distinguish'd themselves by such Deliverances of their Country from a lawless Yoke Nor can This in any good propriety of Speech be call'd Resisting one's Prince since it supposes him never to have been so either in Right or in Fact but only One who put himself upon the People without ever being receiv'd or recogniz'd as such The Case is different if this Tyranny be charg'd upon the Exercise and Administration of his Power only That is If he be duly possess'd of his Power but use it unduly if he be Cruel or Wicked which in the modern Language is Tyrannical and Arbitrary And here again we must be beholding to another Distinction to help us to a right Understanding of the Case For a Prince may be Tyrannical in
Approbation and Applause As to the Sovereign by whose Commission the Magistrates Act his Commands must be the Rule of their Behaviour Some of his Orders they ought to Execute speedily some again they must by no means comply with or be in any degree instrumental in the Execution of them and in others the most adviseable Course will be to suspend their Obedience for some convenient time In all Commissions which leave the Cognisance of the Matter to the Magistrate such as those of Oyer and Terminer and in all others where there is this Clause so far as to you shall appear or any other Clause equivalent to This inserted or which though they do not refer the Cognisance to Him yet order such things as are either manifestly just or at least lawful and indifferent in their own Natures he ought to obey readily and without demur for here is no difficulty nor any ground at all for a just and reasonable Scruple In such Commissions and Orders as do not leave the Cognisance of the Matter to Him but only decree some point of Executive Obedience as in those particularly which we commonly call Mandates and Warrants if they be contrary to any positive Law which the Sovereign hath power to dispense with and there be Clauses of Non-Obstante for that purpose to save the Party harmless he is obliged to obey his Orders without more to do Because according to the Civil Constitution and the Laws of the Land the Sovereign hath a Liberty reserved to him of Relaxing or setting aside the Law in such particular Cases And the having such a Power over all Laws whatsoever is the very thing in which Absolute and Unlimited Sovereignty consists In Cases contrary to Law and where no such Dispensing Clause is inserted or such as manifestly make against the Publick Good though there should be an Indemnifying Clause or where the Magistrate knows his Orders to be obtained by Surprises or upon salse Suggestions or by Corrupt Methods he ought not in any of these three Cases to be hasty in the Executing his Orders but let them lie by a while and with all Humility Remonstrate against them And if Occasion be repeat those Remonstrances a second or a third time but if the Command be Peremptory and Unalterable and repeated as often then he is to comply so far as in Honour and good Conscience he may and for the rest to excuse himself as well as he can In Matters contrary to the Law of God and Nature he must lay down his Office and be content to quit all nay resolve to suffer the worst that can come rather than be instrumental in or consenting to them I cannot so much as allow him to deliberate or once to doubt in such Circumstances what he should do For natural Justice cannot be hid it â—hâ—nes clearer and brighter than the Sun and all Men must see it except those only who wilfully shut their Eyes and wink hard against it All this Advice relates to Things in agitation and intended or ordered to be done but as for those which the Sovereign hath done already let them be never so Wicked and Unreasonable a Man had better dissemble the Matter as well as he can and try to wipe out all Remembrance of it than lose all by Provoking and Expostulating with a Prince to no purpose as Papinian did For * Frustra niti nihil aliud nisi Odium qutrere extremae est dementiae it is the very extremity of Midness to strive against a Stream where no ground can be get nor any thing but Hatred and Disfavour for our pains As for their Duty when considered in their other Capacity and with regard to the private Subjects under their Government Magistrates must always remember whos 's their Authority is and from whence they derive it That this is none of their own proper Right but meerly a Trust That they hold it from and under the Prince That he hath the Fee and is the Lord and constant Proprietor but they are Tenants and Stewards at will put in to Exercise this part of his Jurisdiction for so long a Term only as their Commission purports or during his Pleasure and no longer Now from hence it is very natural and obvious to infer That a Magistrate ought to be easie of Access always ready and at leisure to hear and receive the Petitions and Complaints preserred to him That his Doors should be open to all Comers and he as seldom out of the way as is possible but especially not so wilfully and by Contrivance for he should consider himself as no longer at his own disposal but a Servant of the Publick and devoted to the Use and Benefit of other People * Magna servitus magna fortuna A great Post is a great slavery And this was the reason why Moses his Law Commanded That the Judges should keep their Sessions and decide Controversies in the Gates of their Cities that so Justice might offer it self to all that went in and out and none might find any difficulty in addressing for or in obtaining it He ought to receive the Applications of all Persons and Conditions alike and be open and kind to all the Mean as well as the Great and the Poor no less than the Rich. Upon which account it is that one of the Philosophers compared a Magistrate to an Altar to which all People have recourse in their Affliction and extream Necessity pour out their Souls there and depend upon Relief and Consolation for their Troubles from so doing But though in point of Justice he should be free and open yet in Friendships and Acquaintance he ougâ—â—â—o be exceedingly reserved Not to make himself Cheap and Common nor to admit any into his Familiariâ—â—es and intimate Conversation except some very few Choice Persons such as are known to be Men of sound Sense and stanch Virtues and these too but privately For a large and general Acquaintance debases the Authority of his Character and abates of that Firmness and Vigour which is necessary for the due Discharge of it When Cleon was chosen and admitted to the Government he called all his Friends together and solemnly renounced from that time whatever Friendship had been formerly between them as thinking the continuing under such Engagements by no means reconcileable with the Trust he had now took upon him and Cieero observes accordingly that a Man must put off the Character of the Friend and lay that quite aside before he can do Right to the part of a Judge There are two Things wherein the Office of a Magistrate chiefly consists The One is to †Gerere personam civitatis ejus dignitatem decus sustinere preserve and keep up the Honour and Dignity and just Rights of the Prince who hath employed him and of the Publick whose Representative he is with a becoming State with Gravity Authoritative Behaviour and a well-tempered Severity Next He is to Act like a true