Mind with the first Lineaments of its Being And therefore there seems to be no visible Necessity for having Recourse to Innate Ideas or Inscriptions And certainly if Innate Ideas are serviceable to Mankind they must be so in order to supply the Defects of Reason and consequently they seem to be exempt from the Disquisitions of Reason For if Innate Ideas are to be examined and judged on by the Workings of Reason Reason itself I mean the Decrees and Deductions of it will answer all the Ends and Designs of a reasonable Being as effectually as if a Digest of Laws were originally recorded on the Mind If this be true as I think it 's in some measure demonstrated to be the Doctrine of Innate Principles must be laid aside since we cannot conceive that a wise Creator should establish any Ordinance without some special Ends and Uses annexed to it I mean such as are not served any other way If it be said that Reason exercises no Jurisdiction in this Affair then I 'm afraid Innate Inscriptions will rather endamage than advance Religion and Morality For then every one will be apt to obtrude his own Fancies and wild Suggestions for native Inscriptions and consequently Mankind must be exposed to all the Extravagancies of Enthusiasm in the Oeconomy of Nature as well as that of Grace so that whatsoever any one has the boldness to affirm or fancy to be written on the Heart must immediately pass an Obligation on all Mens Actions and the Finger of God shall be pleaded to the Subversion of the common Principles of Morality as the Spirit of God has been to the Subversion of the Peace and Unity of the Church When all things then are thus fairly laid together we may with greater appearance of Reason conclude That our Ideas and Principles are acquired as well as the more remote Deductions of Science and that 't is their intimate Agreement with the Ends and Interests or common Frame and Necessity of our Nature that gives 'em the appearance of native Impressions In a word then tho' the sacred Language seems to favour the Notion yet it may be justly resolved into Metaphor or Figure and import no more than an Allusion to the general Custom of promulging Laws in Tables or Writing Inasmuch as God has originally endued us with Powers and Faculties to discover a Rule of Action and Law to Govern ourselves by in the common Exigences of Human Nature as clearly as if he had Engraven it on Tables of Stone CHAP. VII Of the different Degrees of the Evidence of Laws of Nature IT will easily be granted that Laws of Nature carry a different Evidence in proportion to the Subject-matter of 'em and the several Workings of Reason in the Disquisition of ' em Some Laws discover ' emselves by a single Consequence or a short train of Consequences whilst others rest upon an Evidence that is wrought by several Gradations or a large Series of Consequences or Deductions The primary Laws of Nature are those which represent the principal Duties we owe to God or those which concern our own Persons or the Persons of our Neighbours For those that arise from our own or our Neighbours Property are certainly more elaborate and remote I shall illustrate these Observations by a single Instance in each of ' em And first To Reverence and Worship the Supreme Being which we call God is certainly a Fundamental Law of Nature because it necessarily arises from that Relation we bear to God For the most obvious Notion of a God and a bare Assent to this single Proposition that God is our Creator and we his Creatures from whom all that we have or belongs to us is immediately derived must by a direct and immediate Consequence demonstrate that we are obliged to empty our Souls before him in the most solemn Acts of Homage and Reverence Indeed as for the manner of Divine Worship tho' Natural Reason by a train of Arguments might determine it so as to be some way acceptable to God yet to establish it in Perfection is certainly the business of Revealed Religion But that God is to be Worshipped is a Duty lodged in the most simple Workings of Reason Again That God has enjoyned Temperance as a Duty arises not only from the prime and most obvious Ends of our Being but from the Doctrine of Self-preservation and the necessary Methods of Subsistence so that allowing the clear Dictates of Reason in the Mind of our great Creator to be a Rule of Duty a single Inference will demonstrate Temperance to be a Duty Again as to those Laws which concern the Person of our Neighbours such I mean as prohibit Murder or other Violations of their Persons it 's visible the Consideration of the Methods of our Subsistence whereby we are necessitated to rely on the Succours of our Fellow-creatures will instruct us that God did not allow us to assassinate and destroy 'em the very Suggestions of Self-preservation will oblige us to make the Conclusion Again the Consideration of being Fellow-creatures and a peculiar of a Sovereign Creator and as such under his immediate Conduct and Disposal will instruct us that we have no right to their Lives without a special Commission from him Lastly The early Discoveries which we find in ourselves of Love Tenderness and Compassion and the Earnings which are implanted towards our own Flesh and Blood will direct us that God intended we should place a certain Measure of these native Passions and Propensions on those that are descended from us or are compounded of the same Ingredients and formed in the same Mould and consequently he could never authorize us to commit Violence or Cruelties on their Persons so absurd is the Hypothesis of the Leviathan that projects a State of Nature to be an absolute State of War But to proceed to the last Instance that of outward Goods and Possessions which engages the principal Laws and Measures of Justice Thus to Steal is no doubt a Violation of natural Justice and consequently a Violation of a Law of Nature but yet this rests on the Force and Authority of a Law antecedent to it I mean that of Property and consequently it implies several Conclusions or Deductions before we discover the Authority or Obligation of it Thus to detain or invade a Neighbour's Property contrary to Compact is certainly an Act of Violence done to a Law of Nature but yet it demands a Proof of the Obligations of Compact or voluntary Promises as well as of the Authority of Property before the Law can be decyphered It cannot be denyed but these are Laws of Nature because natural Reason by close Researches and regular Conclusions may discover their Obligations I 'm sure it can be no Objection that they result from voluntary Intercourses and Transactions among Mankind I mean Compacts or Bargains for the Necessities of Nature dictating such Transactions is a sufficient Indication of their Divine Authority and Obligation and consequently whatever
Nature unless the Government has actually required an Oath of Fidelity If this be true as the case now stands in the English Government where Oaths of Allegiance are only required but upon Special Occasions and where pursuant to our Law in some cases he has fixed the term of Nonage at Twenty One he must necessarily bring a Majority of Effective Men within a State of Nature and therefore tho upon his Principles a Right doth not accrue to the Possessions of an Established Government yet in case an Established Government does not think fit to treat them as Men in a State of Nature or happens to exercise the least shadow of Rigour or Severity upon them they are according to rule his own I mean the proper Executioners of Laws of Nature and consequently they have Right of War not only against their Common but Natural Parents And truely I do not see but a Project of this nature might prove extreamly successful for pursuant to this Learned Hypothesis a Body of Rich Male-Contents that have not entred into an express Allegiance have power to sell their real Possessions and when this is done they are to all intents and purposes in a State of Nature and consequently are prepared upon the first Alarm to become Generals to worthy Mobile and invade their Neighbours Possessions with Thousands and ten Thousands Oh! Blessed Politicks to be the spawn of One that is called into the Counsels of a Government Eats its Bread and enjoys places of Trust as well as Profit I am certain I have represented the Notion with all imaginable fairness and tho the Absurdities that are lodged in it may pass for a sufficient Confutation yet I shall offer something further upon it And first it is on all Hands agreed that Persons as well as Things may become a Property and Property in the Judgment of the Learned establisheth a Right of Dominion Consent at least renders Persons or free Agents as much a Property as necessary Agents Now the dispute is whether free Agents may not become a Property any other way than by Consent It 's observable he resolves the Foundation of Property into Labour so that whatever is the effect of Labour and Industry or has Labour mixed with it becomes a Property See Chap. 5. Sect. 27 45. II. Part. Now it 's manifest not only the Education and Subsistence of Miners but of thousands of Persons that have not expresly Subscribed to any Government is carried on by the Labour Care and Conduct of the Government as well as that of their natural Parents and therefore Reason does not suggest any thing to me why they are not from their very Infancy to be esteemed a Property of the Government and consequently a kind of Allegiance as it were grows up with them to the Government as well as to their Natural Parents It 's true it is a Property highly distinct from that in Brutes for the one seems to be absolute whereas the other must be limited that is to Rational Ends and Purposes In this Sense a free Agent may be a Property of the Supreme Power as well as that of Terra firma in another But now since the Civil Power challengeth a Property it cannot be otherwise than by vertue of the Character it self I mean that of a Governing Power and consequently the Property that accrews from it must Establish a Right of Obedience pursuant to it In a word the Governing Power challenges a Right of Labour and Assistance in order to maintain the Strength and Grandeur of the Community and consequently the Supreme Power must be invested with Authority to impose Laws for the regulation and exacting of this Labour and Industry This is a truth so unquestionable that all Established Governments constantly challenge such Services as every Home-born Subject is capable of yielding and exercise Jurisdiction over them with as full Power as if they had actually Subscribed to its Authority This they esteem an undoubted Prerogative notwithstanding any Pretences to a State of Freedom after Nonage From all this it appears how unjust this Author's Position is in Authorizing all those that have not entered into an express Allegiance to desert a Government at pleasure for if the Laws and Measures of Property advanced by this Author give the Supreme Power a Right of Dominion over every Home-born Subject antecedent to all Subscriptions as I think has been abundantly evinced the Subject cannot rightfully withdraw himself from his Native Country without Special License from the Government I know this is a Question controverted by Grotius Pufendorf and others and they generally agree that they cannot rightfully withdraw Gregatim because it must destroy the Foundations of Government but Pufendorf argues well that if one particular Person has a right to withdraw a Second and Third must have so too and consequently a multitude or Body of Men either jointly or separately But however it is universally allowed that Governments may prescribe Laws in this Affair and certainly if a Government can without the express consent of these pretended Free-Born Persons rightfully bind them by Laws I think the Government has a Right of Allegiance Antecedent to Law for no Government can pretend a Power of binding by Law especially contrary to a Fundamental Natural Right where an Antecedent Right of Dominion is wanting without Compact or Consent This is current Doctrine at least with our Author the Man for Original contract In a word the Sum of what has been hitherto offered by the Learned is taken from the practices of particular Governments rather than from the Nature or Reason of the thing Indeed it cannot be denied but that particular Persons have withdrawn from their Native Country but it is to be interpreted by Permission or Connivance not by a Right of Natural Freedom for there can no just Reason be assigned why Persons as well as Things may not become a property of the Government or why a Property is not acquired in both pursuant to their proper Ends and Uses by the same Laws and Measures so that the Labour and Conduct of the Government in preserving and supporting our Persons may render us a Property of it to all the true ends and purposes of Government in a rational way or manner as much as the Occupation or quiet Enjoyment of any tract of Land render it a branch of its Dominions Thus far I question not but the Government has a Right or Property in the Labour and Service of every adult Native as truly as in the product of the Ground or the Riches and Treasures of a Country and therefore it 's absurd to imagine that any one can rightfully withdraw his Person much less his Effects or Treasure and commit himself and them to another Government whether new or old As for this Author he 's so highly sensible how much the number of Subjects contributes to the Trade Riches Strength and Glory of a Nation that were the question formally put and argued in
〈◊〉 whereby an invincible Propension to the Things of this World is contracted He confirms the Notion by the Doctrine of Plato and Empedocles The whole Discourse is excellent from Page 252 to p. 272. The Substance of it is collected by the Learned Bishop of Worcester and applied to the present Argument with exquisite Force and Accuracy and therefore supersedes the necessity of another Citation See Orig. Sac. Lib. 3. Cap. 3. From all this it 's indisputably evident the Learned Heathen World were highly sensible of a State of Degeneracy and tho' the greatest part were in the Dark as to its Rise or Original yet some of the most Curious had preserved something of the Footsteps of it However they were all highly sensible of its dismal Effects and Mischiefs But now Revealed Religion has abundantly unfolded this Mystery by assuring us that a Native Depravity was contracted thro' the Transgression of of our First Parents I know the Deist Socinian and the Author of the Reasonableness of Christianity look upon this Doctrine to be a piece of Cant or Jargon formed by the Priests those wary Guardians of their own Creeds and profitable Inventions as this Author has it But as for the Deist the general Sense of Mankind and the Doctrines of Philosophers are considerable Arguments to render the reveal'd Accounts of it highly probable And therefore unless he were able to disprove the Truth and Authority of Revelation on the same Foot that we overturn any other forged History I 'm perswaded unbiassed Reason will pronounce his Notions impudent Calumnies or Detractions As for the Author 's of the Reasonableness of Christianity endeavouring to undermine the Corruption of Human Nature upon Adam's Transgression See p. 6. he might have consider'd that it was always the prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church That it is made an Article of the Establish'd Church of England of which he would perswade the World he 's a sound and Orthodox Member and to which Article he has actually submitted And tho' the Word of God has no where in express Terms told us that this natural Depravity is the Seeds of Adam's Transgression yet there are sufficient Authorities of Scripture whence we may infer it by a clear and convincing Consequence We can prove that the Descendents of Adam were undoubtedly affected in the same manner with that of their Parent and both by a Spiritual as well as a Temporal Death I mean such a Death at least as in the Language of Scripture implies a disabling of the Faculties of the Mind as well as a Dissolution of the Animal and Spiritual Principles In a word it may fairly be inferred that that carnal Principles that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that prevails in the whole Off-spring of Adam whereby we are as it were sold under Sin or that reigning Law in our Members that brings us into Captivity to the Law of Sin so that when we would do Good Evil is present with us is the Effect of Adam's Transgression The Body of this Death was undoubtedly derived thorough his Loins on all his Descendents and the Seeds and Principles of a higher Death were certainly transmitted even tho' eternal Death were not formally imputed by making him the Representative of Mankind since these Seeds and Principles in the Language of the Apostle would at least work in our Members to bring forth Fruit unto Death Rom 7. v. 5. I know the great Artifice to which our Adversaries have recourse to blast the Credit of this Doctrine is either to oppose it to the Justice of God or Harangue upon the Impossibilities of it Because God has not clearly revealed and we cannot fully comprehend how such a Depravity is contracted much less propagated But certainly it was never the Business or Design of Revelation to communicate the Manner of the Divine Transactions no more than to Authorize us to reject 'em because we cannot comprehend the manner of ' em It was never a Rule of Revelation to make our own Faculties of Perception in comprehending the Nature of Things or in reconciling 'em to the scanty Notions we have conceived of another Revealed Truth the Standard Test or Measure of Faith And therefore to reject the clearest Evidence of Original Corruption because we cannot comprehend how 't is contracted or because the Notions of Infinite Justice tho' formed by our selves as we think must suffer by it is Base and Unwarrantable But however that our Adversaries may want the Advantage of this Pretence I mean that Original Corruption can no way be accounted for I shall attempt something to demonstrate how it may be Contracted and Transmitted And first This will easily be accounted for from the Nature of Original Corruption It 's already concluded That Original Corruption consists in the Exorbitance of the Animal Part or acts as a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Minds contending for an opposite Interest to the Laws of right Reason or the true Interests of Human Nature Now that this Irregularity may be the Effect of Adam's Transgression there are two or three Circumstances that render it more highly probable For first Tho' the Violation of a positive Law contains but a simple Act of his Obedience yet it certainly implies a horrid Violence committed upon all the Powers of Human Nature When the Tempter displayed his Wiles and formed his deluding Perswasives it certainly threw the unwary Offender into the greatest Agonies and Convulsions It must rase those convincing Apprehensions of the Majesty and Authority of God it must suppress the Dread of Divine Punishments it must break thro' all the Guards and Powers of Conscience and Fences of Duty it must alienate the whole Frame of the Soul take off those Desires and Propensions that engaged us in the Observance of God's Commands and those Satisfactions that result from the Observance of ' em In a word it must extinguish all the Powers of Divine Love suppress those Flights of Zeal in exercising the Mind and Thoughts in Divine Contemplations the Glories and Perfections of our Maker and in pursuing such Things as will render us remarkably like him So that this Grand Act of Disobedience must contain a Complication of impious Debates and Resolutions before it was committed For certainly the Powers of Nature being so exquisitely fitted for an Obediential Temper and the Soul so deeply possessed with a Sense of the uninterrupted Favours and Bounties of God flowing from his frequent Intercourses and Communications the Devil must play his Temptations a considerable time before he could promise himself success The Passions and Propensions of Human Nature must not only be taken off from serving their great Creator but turned a quite contrary way they must be strongly disposed in gratifying the Lust of the Eye the Lust of the Flesh and Pride of Life And now who cannot discern the Growth or Production of carnal Exorbitances and consequently the Establishment of Original Corruption It 's concluded that this single
into Bogs and a thousand Miscarriages and therefore we cannot think it unnecessary to be secured from such fatal Hazards and Difficulties by having a Digest of Laws laid before us that remain as an unquestionable Standard of Duty What tho' the common Exigencies and Necessities of Nature the Frame and Condition of our Beings by the Light of natural Reason will direct us to the Ground-work of Morality and natural Religion it can be no Argument that the Light of natural Reason can enable us to raise the Superstructure that is either to accommodate those Laws we can discover to the Cases and Instances of humane Life so as to reduce 'em to Practice at least so as to answer the true Ends and Intentions of Living or to discover other Laws that are the Consequences of prime Laws of Nature and indispensably necessary to the Conduct of Humane Life to the disposing us for that State of Happiness for which God has originally design'd us much less to render our Services truly acceptable to God Certainly if we reflect on those inextricable Clogs Obstructions and Encumbrances wherewith corrupted Nature appears to be encompassed we must pronounce it impossible that the Powers of natural Reason should carry us thus far It 's certain tho' natural Reason may present most of the Fundamental Laws of Nature in a rough Draught yet nothing but Revelation is able to give 'em their finishing Strokes and their proper Graces and Perfections and display 'em in their Consequences Appendages and Deductions I mean such as are absolutely necessary to the Ends and Purposes of living well and attaining to a State of Happiness And therefore if natural Reason cannot pretend to furnish us in these Cases she must subscribe to the Necessity of Revelation Indeed I am perswaded natural Reason by a constant Habit of Thinking and a solemn Attention and Application of Mind may make very lucky Conjectures very ample Discoveries at least upon probable Evidences and Convictions in very important Truths But God knows as the Frame of Man now stands we must attribute such mighty Performances to a Work of Time to the Labours and Observations of Ages they can only be the Product of a few working Brains that by a peculiar Genius have sequestred themselves from secular Affairs and consecrated their Thoughts to the Observations of Humane Nature and yet the Whole at last amounts no higher than a few general Maxims or Positions formed from a happy Conjunction of their own Thoughts and the Observations of their Ancestors and these often clash and interfere with those of their Brethren and consequently can carry no higher Authority or Character than Learned Conjectures And now since Reason and Experience demonstrate as well as dictate the Truth of these things a revealed Canon seems to be absolutely necessary for the Conduct of Mankind or the Attainment of that Happiness which the Light of natural Reason in a State of Innocency would have otherwise secured A Revealed Canon was necessary to silence the immortal Disputes of the Learned as well as inform the Illiterate at an easie Expence of Time and Thought A Revealed Canon was necessary to give the most elaborate Discoveries of Reason the Authority of Laws in as much as it was necessary they should be ushered into the World with the highest Credentials of Divinity and established upon competent and express Rewards and Punishments But to conclude this Argument Notwithstanding the utmost Attainments of Human Reason I can see nothing to supersede the Necessity of Revelation but what will as effectually set aside the Necessity of Human Laws and Civil Government It 's certain That Laws of Nature discoverable by natural Reason answer the general Ends and Intentions of Civil Government and describe the great Lines of Right and Wrong Justice and Equity they assert the Rights of Property as well as the Obligations of private Compacts If therefore these general Notices be not sufficient for the Conduct of Human Life even in secular Affairs we cannot imagine that the Discoveries of Natural Reason should reach the whole Line of Duty with respect to God Ourselves and Neighbour In a word since after the highest Pretences to a natural Light it was necessary to constitute Civil Governments and entrust Men of Thought and Parts to work off a Body of Laws for the Conduct of Mankind in temporary Concerns by the nicest Consults Debates and Observations how much more necessary is it to receive a Digest of Laws from an Infalible and Unerring Hand to secure an Eternal as well as Temporal Happiness § 4. Thus far we have advanc'd the Necessity of Revelation in order to the Discovery of the Line of Duty but there is something more behind to improve the Argument For it 's certain we have hitherto represented the fairest Part of the Landskip of Human Nature I mean as it lies in a degenerate State It 's certain it is not only clog'd with those native Encrumbrances and Propensions derived from the Loins of our Ancestors that weigh down the Activity of the Mind but we are all unfortunately brought forth in Impotence and consequently are forced to suck in the Superstition and Absurdities as well as Impieties of our Parents of the present as well as past Ages These must unavoidably grow up together with our Reason and improve with the Strength and Vigour of our Bodies so that when we arrive to the Use of Reason we have not only native powerful Propensions but as violent Prejudices to grapple with In the first Age of the World where Men enjoyed the Instructions of our first Parent the Laws of Good and Evil Virtue and Vice were clear and legible the Stream was pure and untainted when it just issued forth from the Fountain but by length of Tract it gathered Filth and Mud for every Age was a Common-shore to transmit all its Vices and Irregularities This was the case of the old World as it is of a great part of this at this day of miserable Indians as well as hardned Antediluvians the Imaginations of whose Hearts by this means were to do evil continually and their Vnderstandings being past feeling were incurably darkned Now certainly when Men happen to be born under such an unfortunate Climate where instead of living they seem to be buried in an invincible State of Ignorance how is it possible they can ever be reduced to a Sense of Duty or act like Men or Reasoning Beings till they are enlightned by the convincing Beams of Revelation Whilst their Minds are enclosed in this State of Egyptian Darkness no Wonder if in the Sacred Language they should grope or seek after the Lord if happily they might feel him ought and find him tho' he be not far from every one of us and certainly if the Case of some poor Wretches in the World was so desperate that they might easily miss the Discovery of a Law-giver it 's impossible they should form a Body of Laws as an indispensable Rule of
Immoralities or to speak in other Terms the Seeds of this kind of Corruption are certainly lodged in the Propensions and Habits of the Animal Part. For that which has such an Ascendent over us to command us to Act in favour of it will infallibly influence our Judgments This is so obvious that in wilful Enormities I mean such as were first committed against the Convictions of the Mind the Power of Animal Propensions Assiduity of Practice and a kind of Natural Intimacy or Familiarity resulting from it has at last engaged Reason itself to appear as an Advocate for it and very often it makes such elaborate Researches for Arguments to support the Cause that at last it declares for the Justice and Innocence of it and asserts it upon Principle and inward Conviction I am perswaded and can without breach of Charity or Justice affirm That the Growth of the foulest Heresies in the Christian World is to be placed in this Original Men have so long given the full Reins to Pride Ambition Covetousness or other vitious Lusts and Propensions that they have called in their whole Stock of Parts and Learning and made Converts to their Judgments to support them or revenge their Disappointments And now upon this Bottom we may silence all Objections brought from the absurd and Heterodox Opinions of certain Moralists and Philosophers For it 's highly probable they were at first but exquisite Apologies to Patronize importunate Passions and confirm'd Practices and consequently can be no real Prejudices to a Law of Nature Indeed the impure Doctrine of the Gnosticks may be as well admitted a just Plea against the Truth and Purity of Christianity and the Evidences for both as some few lewd Doctrines of Philosophers against the Certainty of a Law of Nature upon the Evidences of Natural Reason § 2. But to enlarge a little on this part of the Objection it 's well known that the foulest and most absurd Opinions charged on particular Philosophers are by others recorded as an eternal Mark of Infamy and Reproach due to 'em and consequently they are by no means a just Balance to the substantial Reasonings of others in deciphering Laws of Nature We might add to all this how unjust a Measure the Practices of Mankind is of their real Notices of Moral Good an Argument too fatally demonstrated under a Christian Dispensation and consequently tho' the Generality of Philosophers liv'd in Opposition to Laws of Nature and some few taught contrary to 'em yet it 's no just Consequence to place Laws of Nature above the Researches of Natural Reason I am perswaded some of the Instances presented in a late Conference * See Conference with a Theist Part 2. p. 56 to p. 64. do not fall under the Character of prime Laws of Nature and consequently do not reach the Author's Design It 's very well known Plato's Model for Peopling his Common-wealth was not by a Community of Women without Limitations from the Civil Power But for the precise Limitations in this matter as well as the manner of Worshiping God whether by Sacrifices and corporeal Representations I presume it 's the business of Revealed Religion to fix and determine As for his Instance of Masculine Venery Zeno and his Followers pronounced it indifferent I presume it was a previous Practice that had made it appear so And yet St. Paul speaks of some of these unnatural Whoredoms as things scarce named among the Gentiles 1 Cor. 5.1 But it were highly to be wished that some Nations in the Confines of Christendom had wholly escaped the Contagion so that if such vile Practices in a State of Nature may be an Argument against Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation it will be of Force against written Revelations Since Laws of Nature founded in the Dictates of natural Reason may be as easily violated as any written Law Certainly such avowed Practices may with greater force of Reason be allowed against a Law that pretends to no higher Authority than Revelation or supported by Tradition Lastly As for the Grecian Piece of Cruelty in exposing Children to the Mercy of Beasts and Travellers without remorse I presume the Practice was not frequent because it must be the Concern and Interest of every Government to suppress it But it 's well known the Christian World is not wholly freed from such Monsters who I am afraid are acted by no other Dread but what the Apprehensions of a Discovery and the Penalties of the Law extort from them However this is an Instance so absolutely repugnant to the common Bowels of Humanity that it as effectually disproves those Earnings which natural Instinct discovers in the whole Order of Brutes towards their own Off-spring as that natural Reason discovers the same Earnings to be a point of Duty to Mankind In one word the Cruelties of Heathens is no more an Argument that natural Reason doth not teach the contrary than the Barbarity of some particular Christians an Argument that Christianity does not exhort to Bowels of Compassion and a Parental Care towards their own Off-spring But to return A second Cause of Error is certain Prejudices or Prepossessions imprinted on the Mind by Example and Education The Cause and Origin of Error already given presents us with the Propensions and Bias of Humane Nature and consequently how liable the World is to be overspread with Error At least Matter of Fact informs us how wide the Actions of Men deviate from the Line of Duty so that it may truly be said of the Heathen World That the Imaginations of their Hearts is to do Evil continually Certainly then where a Contagion extends itself not only to the Judgments but Practices of Mankind and not only corrupt Principles but vitious Examples prevail in Parents Guardians and Tutors the Minds of their Descendents will be deeply impregnated with pernicious Prejudices and Prepossessions They are implanted among the first and earliest Impressions even before the Powers of Reason exert themselves This I am confident is the Case of the uncultivated Regions of Mankind And certainly when Reason comes to exert it self under such a fatal Bias no wonder if she often falls into very gross Miscarriages And yet this is the inevitable Portion of Mankind that are brought forth in a State of Impotence as well in Mind as Body and can hardly arrive to any Growth in Reason before they arrive to a Maturity in Body But now these things being laid together and admitted it 's very unjust to reject the Divine Oeconomy of Laws of Nature antecedent to Revelation because the unavoidable Prepossessions of some Men have carried them besides the Mark so as to contradict the general Lines of Duty For it 's apparent were Men to enter the World in the Strength and Power of Reason without the Clog and Encumbrance of antecedent Prepossessions as in the Instance already given See Chap. 1. Sect. 2. It 's impossible but the Fundamental Line of Duty must present it self to the
first workings of Reason and the prime Laws of Nature would be as legible to the Eye of the Mind as they would be to the outward Senses when graved on Tables of Stone But now as the Case stands I mean with regard to a degenerate State the Objections before us prove no more than the Miscarriages of Reason but do not overturn that Frame or Model which God hath established So that Reason in her Enquiries after a Law of Nature appears to be placed under great Difficulties but yet Laws of Nature may for all this be the Product and Workings of natural Reason CHAP. III. Of the Argument of Vniversal Consent HAving now in some measure Answered what I proposed which was to prove a Law of Nature antecedent to Revelation and rescued the Hypothesis from the Objections that threatned it before I dismiss this Argument I shall offer something in reference to what a late Author has advanced against the Argument of Universal Consent under colour of exploding innate Ideas or practical Principles but will serve as well against a Law of Nature § 1. And first it 's very observable This Gentleman has industriously amassed together all the Filth and Off-scouring of a reprobate Mind and a defiled Conscience and of a People that seem'd to be abandoned by God and consequently nursed up in a universal Impiety He has sent us to all the Creeks and Corners of Barbarity under the Verge of Heaven to see Rapes Murders and the vilest Incests practised with universal Approbation and Allowance yea rather with an Opinion of Vertue and Merit to see whole Nations or Tribes of Men living without God in the World without any Foot-steps of Worship or so much as a Name for God Lock 's Humane Vnderstanding B. 1. Cap. 3. § 9. And upon all this concludes That there is scarce that Principle of Morality to be named or Rule of Vertue to be thought on those only excepted that are absolutely necessary to hold Society together which commonly too are neglected betwixt distinct Societies which is not somewhere or other slighted and condemned by the general Fashion of whole Societies of Men governed by practical Opinions and Rules of living quite opposite to others § 10. And the Argument drawn from all this is levelled against universal Consent and innate Principles For thus the Author § 9. Where then are those innate Principles of Justice Piety Gratitude Equity Chastity or where is that universal Consent that assures us there are such inbred Rules And certainly the Argument carries the same Force against a Law of Nature and the eternal Distinctions of Good and Evil For may not the Latitudinarian in Triumph demand Where is that universal Consent that assures us there are Laws of Nature or indispensable established Rules of Morality Nay to have recourse to his Methods of Arguing since contrary practical Principles are asserted by whole Nations as the avowed Rules of Living since Remorse in some attends the vilest Enormities whilst others think they merit by 'em may not we expostulate Where are those natural Measures of Right and Wrong those natural Distinctions of Good and Evil See § 9 10 11. Certainly these are Deductions as strong and cogent as those against innate Principles I am sure they will pass for such in the Judgment of some Men that caress Mr. Lock 's Doctrine concerning Innate Ideas since he is not content to explode all innate practical Principles but assigns no other Foundation or Original besides Custom Education the Superstition of a Nurse or the Authority of an Old Woman See § 22 23 26. This Author in a Letter to the Learned Bishop of Worcester observes That the Foundation of all Religion and genuine Morality being established in the Belief of a God no Arguments that are made use of to work the Perswasion of a God should be invalidated page 113 114. And certainly Reason should have obliged him to have used the same Caution not only in invalidating Arguments that are advanced to prove a Law of Nature the true ground of Morality but in advancing Arguments that do not more directly destroy the Doctrine of innate Ideas than a Law of Nature It 's true were the Doctrine of innate Ideas or practical Principles no way to be disproved but by exposing the Conceipt of universal Consent the Method had been very pardonable but this Author confesses that were the Argument admitted it proves no Idea or Principle to be innate B. 1. Cap. 2. § 3. And therefore I am afraid he was acted by no good Design to muster up all his Forces against an Argument that does him no Disservice especially when his Methods of attacking it are more fatal against the whole Body of Morality But to make some Returns to these Harangues I shall not now consider how far practical Principles may be said to be innate this will fall in its proper place but I think we have no reason to cashier the Argument of universal Consent which if there is any such thing must be a considerable Evidence of a Law of Nature and the irreconcilable Distinctions of Good and Evil. And first I think Mr. Lock needed not to have sent us to Africa and the Indies to the most rude and uncultivated Parts of the World to explode the Doctrine of an universal Consent as to Chastity Humanity and other moral Vertues For the sacred Canon if he will allow it to be Authentick would have furnished him with national Enormities that were as much the Fashion of their Countries and the approved Rules of Living as any he has produced Did not the seven Nations practise the vilest Incests was it not a piece of Devotion to sacrifice there Off-spring to Moloch See Rev. 18. Ezek. 23. and in a word to practise a thousand Abominations As for particular Nations that had not so much as a Name of God if in reality there were any such I think they were not more remarkable than those that had not God in all their Thoughts And when the vilest Immoralities are produced with a national Esteem and Approbation I think they are not worse than those St. Paul has charged the Heathen World with in more places than one who being past Feeling have given themselves over to Lasciviousness to work all Vncleanness with greediness See Ephes 4. v. 18 19. Rom. 1. v. 20 25. and yet I think there can be no just Authority against an Universal Consent as to Laws of Nature or Practical Principles If this were so Universal Consent may be as well rejected in the Proof of Rational Faculties or at least in the Establishment of Reason and Truth upon any certain Foundation and consequently they are to be resolved into meer Chance or Fortune for the Contradictions recorded by St. Paul to the plain Rules of Morality are as absolute Contradictions to the Allowance or Supposition of Rational Faculties and the natural Frame and Foundation of Reason as they are to Laws of Nature or the natural Features
Reason are justly stiled Laws of Nature Again they are Laws of Nature because they immediately fall in with some peculiar Propensions wrought off with the original Frame and Constitution of our Natures It 's visible there are certain Instincts or Impulses in Nature which seem to exert ' emselves upon particular Actions that cannot well be resolved into the elaborate Workings of Reason for they seem to have engaged the Passions by a kind of influential Impulse before the Action can well be scanned by any deliberate Reasonings and certainly nothing strikes the Passions sooner than those Actions that are prescrib'd by Laws of Nature Thus the receipt of Benefits creates a speedy exultation the cherishing of our own Off-spring leaves a vigorous Complacency and the most grateful Applauses and Satisfactions And truly these are Things that have discovered ' emselves so early where Nature has not been new moulded by contrary Habits or Education that I do not question but they have given a Foundation to pronounce Laws of Nature natural Instincts or Innate Doctrines or Principles To conclude this Argument Another distinguishing Characteristick of Laws of Nature from Civil Laws arises from the exercise of Reason in the discovery of ' em It 's on all hands allowed that Reason is the immediate Directory in Civil Laws as well as Laws of Nature But yet Reason acts in a very different manner For the Foundation of Laws of Nature being the common exigencies necessities or condition of Mankind as Men or such an Order of Beings Reason can easily fix such Rules as will extend to the whole Species so as to carry a binding Authority over ' em But the Foundation of Civil Laws being only some particular Emergencies to be considered with regard to some particular Circumstances of Time Place Persons and the like Reason cannot determin any thing absolutely or six a general Rule or indeed declare what is fit and convenient in every Community and consequently Civil Laws can only be the Deductions of Reason in Civil Governours with regard to the State and Condition of their People or Government where they preside CHAP. VI. Reflections on Mr. Lock 's Arguments against Innate Ideas or Practical Principles and the true Controversy determined § 1. HAving thus assigned the principal Characteristicks of Laws of Nature we may in a few Words determine whether there be any practical Principles which are truly Innate But before I shall conclude any thing I shall take liberty to make some few Returns to the Arguments of a late Author on this Subject Mr. Lock 's Essay concerning Human Vnderstanding And first concerning Universal Consent It 's indisputably evident that Universal Consent does not prove any Ideas or practical Principles to be Innate Because an Universal Consent may prevail partly from that Self-evidence that naturally results from particular Things or Actions when presented to the Minds of Men and partly from the Frame and Condition of Human Nature whereby we are forcibly prompted to the disquisition of ' em But yet we are not willing wholly to discard the Argument because tho' Universal Consent may not prove the Doctrine of Innate Ideas yet it 's certainly a considerable Argument of a Law of Nature And tho' the Author of this Essay has done all he could to ruine the Credit and Authority of it yet I hope I have proved there is such a thing as Universal Consent established upon a very firm and clear Foundation But further the remaining Arguments of this Author are chiefly advanced against Innate Ideas but they appear with equal force against Innate practical Principles And therefore I shall remark a little on that which he seems to fix the greatest weight on and that is a Necessity of Perception even in a State of Infancy for to him it seems a Contradiction or hardly intelligible that Truths should be imprinted on the Soul which it perceives or understands not Sect. 5. p. 5. See pag. 13. Sect. 27. But certainly he cannot mean a Necessity of actual Perception For the Finite Nature of a Human Mind will not in the same Instant suffer many Objects to be received under an actual View and common experience informs us that a great many Impressions or Ideas are lodged in the Memory without being revived it may be for a succession of Years And truly I can see no reason why native Inscriptions may not remain without being actually attended to as well as written Laws or acquir'd Ideas It 's well known those that contend for Innate Ideas or Principles do not think they discover ' emselves without the Exercise of our natural Powers and Faculties and some of those external Means and Instruments that are necessary to acquired Knowledge In a word they always suppose a due Attention and Application of Mind even to the Exercise of Reflection And truly since acquired Impressions that are laid up in the Memory are scarce ever revived but by an accidental Occurrence of some present Object these native Inscriptions if any such may not be perceived till their respective Objects are presented to the Mind to exert its Powers and Faculties upon Something like this our Exercitations on written Laws seem to resemble when we never apprehend the full Force and Purport of a Law till some special Case or Instance offers itself to induce an Application And thus the want of Perception in Infants may be fairly accounted for as well as from the infant Indispositions of the Animal part For the Organs being for ought we know at first not so well fitted to convey the Images of outward Objects and consequently fix any Impressions or establish any clear Perceptions no wonder if native Inscriptions lie dormant This Author allows there 's a time when a Human Soul begins to Think or exercise any of its natural Powers and Faculties and native Inscriptions cannot occur or be perceived before we begin to Think yea rather if they are to be revived by the Exercise of the Mind upon outward Things or Objects that are peculiar to 'em we can scarce expect 'em among our infant Thoughts or mental Exercitations as long as we are so constantly entertained by the Inventions of Nurses and Parents Thus far there seems to be no necessity for discarding innate Ideas or practical Principles and consequently if it appears that the Doctrine serves any real Purposes of Religion I see nothing advanced by this Author that demonstrates the Absurdity of it § 2. But yet for all this if it be allowed that Probabilities may determine our Judgments in this Matter the Doctrine of Innate Ideas is rather to be rejected than retain'd It 's abundantly concluded That Man is under an establisht Method of attaining the right knowledge of Good and Evil the Frame and Order of Things within and without with the exercise of his own Faculties upon 'em will present him with a Scheme of Moral Duty and a true Measure of Action and that too as clearly as if it was impressed on the
us actually to obey not wherein the Right or Duty of Obedience is fixed and therefore tho' Rewards and Punishments are the true and proper Motives to secure a rational Obedience yet the Right of Obedience may rest upon a distinct Foundation Now I have a President before me I may at least with leave of this Author suppose something out of the Way as well as he to prove the truth of the Assertion suppose a Man created to infinite and irreversible Happiness though God has no longer a Power of contributing or adding to his Happiness yet I hope this Author in this Case will not deny God's Right of Sovereignty and Dominion over him as his Creature In one word I have proved That the Devils in Hell are or will be in a State of irreversible and infinite Misery and though for this Reason they can be acted with no Inclinations of Obedience yet they must still believe or acknowledge the Sovereignty of their Creator and tremble I presume I have now in some Measure fixed the Foundation of God's Sovereignty and Dominion over us and tho' I have used some Liberty in rejecting the Opinions of others yet I hope I may fairly account for it For the Notions I have contended for are founded on things that fall in with the established Sentiments of Mankind such as are properly founded in a creative preserving Power and consequently they must command a Submission and Obedience upon the clearest Convictions of Reason and as long as the Arguments suggested are cogent and satisfactory it is not Prudence to leave the common Road and put things of Moment and Importance upon an Issue that it may be wants Evidence or at least contradicts some received Truths or Notions But now an Enquiry of this Nature has been made I cannot dismiss the Argument without adoring our Great and Good God Creator and Sovereign For who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on High and yet humbleth Himself to behold the things that are in Heaven and in the Earth Psalm 113. ver 5 6. Tho' God is invested with such an absolute Sovereignty over the Sons of Men yet he has graciously condescended to consider their Infirmities Wants and Necessities It 's already concluded that the Laws he originally gave to Mankind are adapted to the great Ends and Interests of our Nature they are not only contrived to preserve its Frame from Violence and Ruin but to advance and secure that Happiness its capable of receiving They are contrived not so much to represent the Authority of an absolute Creator as to establish the Happiness of his Creatures whatever Right of Dominion God may challenge to impose those Laws he has given us it 's manifest they carry their own Arguments of Obedience along with ' em He has not bound us with the Cords of Fear but Love indeed they have the highest Overtures of Love to recommend 'em Love not only for the exceeding Recompence of Reward that is annexed to the observance of 'em but Love that is contained in the very Frame of 'em even Love as dear and valuable to us as the Love of Ourselves and our own Happiness since they are the direct and immediate Instruments of Happiness so that were God destitute of a Right of imposing Laws or even a Power of contributing further to our Happiness by fresh Rewards the Nature and Tendency of those Laws he has actually imposed if not obstructed by very debauched Propensions is sufficient to secure an Obedience to him CHAP. IX Of the Certainty of Rewards and Punishments under a State of Nature § 1. INdeed I have already touched upon this Argument in the Disquisition of a Law of Nature but in order to the establishing a Scheme of Natural Religion I think myself obliged to enlarge a little further upon it And first I shall not Appeal to the Argument of Natural Conscience warranted by Revelation itself in as much as it contains an Absolving or Condemning Faculty in it and consequently must be acted with a Sense of Rewards and Punishments the immediate Spring or Appendage of such Powers or Faculties This will be considered on another Subject To proceed then It 's already concluded That the Dictates of Natural Reason are true and proper Laws established in a rightful and competent Authority that is in one word they are the Commands of a Sovereign Power and Authority over the whole Off-spring of Mankind And 't is already concluded that Rewards and Punishments I mean such as are lodged in the Hands of the Legislator not the natural Effects of the Action arising from the Observation or Violation of the Law are at least the necessary Appendages or Concomitants of a Law I will not run into the nice and tedious Disputes of the Schools and examine whether Rewards and Punishments are so much of the Nature or Essence of a Law that it loses the denomination of a Law without them This must be allowed by those that place the Obligation of a Law purely in a Power of Rewarding or Punishing But this has been disputed already and therefore I 'm inclined to the Negative But however it cannot be denied but Rewards are an inseparable Property of a Law adding Perfection to it and a Prerogative peculiar to every Legislator For certainly no one can be a rightful Legislator without a Right to despense Rewards and Punishments They declare and signifie a binding Authority and no one can pass for a rightful Legislator without a Right to oblige or require Obedience Herein a Law distinguishes it self from Counsel or Exhortation Again they contribute to the Perfection of a Law since the Ends and Intentions of it cannot be secured without ' em This is absolutely necessary where the Persons that yield an Obedience are acted by contrary Dispositions and Propensions and consequently they may justly be esteemed inseparable Properties of a Law I will not dispute the Power or Prerogative of Heaven whether God could not rightfully enjoyn a Law without annexing suitable Rewards and Punishments but whosoever compares the Laws he has enjoyned with the Propensions of Human Nature will be apt to impeach his infinite Wisdom for not annexing suitable Rewards as well as Punishments since without 'em it 's morally impossible to enforce the Observance of such Laws Indeed Rewards and Punishments are so much a Property of a Law that God thought fit to usher the first positive Law he gave to Mankind into the World by annexing 'em to it In the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Gen. 2.17 As if he intended to imprint a Sense of Rewards and Punishments in the Original Idea of a Law In a word they are so much the Property of a Law that where-ever there is the Face of Government and Laws enacted Rewards and Punishments are esteemed the unquestionable Prerogatives of the legislative Power The whole Off-spring of Mankind that were ever under the Conduct of a Law are acted with such a deep
an Instrument of future Condemnation as well as Misery we must conclude that it will be one and the same Conscience acted by the same Measures and Principles and of the same Extent and Latitude and consequently a Conscience cleared from all Error and Mistake Partiality or Connivance and in a Word a Conscience established according to the Divine Oeconomy of it the Law of God and the eternal Measures of Moral Goodness and Duty This is that Candle of the Lord as the Wiseman expresses it that will display its Light into the deepest recesses of the Heart and Search into the inward parts of the Belly Prov. 20.27 In a Word it will be the inward Voice or Word of God quick and powerful and Sharper than any two Edged Sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit and of the Joynts and Marrow and is a discerner of the Thoughts and intents of the Heart Heb. 4.12 § 2. From what hath been said it may not be improper to make some further Remarks upon Mr. Lock 's Notions of Conscience It 's observable Mr. Lock makes Consciousness and Conscience the same and Conscience to consist in nothing else but our own Opinions of our own Actions and pursuant to this he affirms that in personal Identity which he makes to consist in Consciousness is founded all the Right and Justice of Favour Rewards and Punishment Book 2. c. 27. § 18. But certainly the Conscience that will prevail in the great day will not be any Opinions we have entertained of Actions when Committed tho' taken up at large No we shall then be acted by no other Opinions but those of a regulated Conscience and they shall sit as Judges even over former Opinions that were engendered by Neglect or Carelessness and nothing but invincible Ignorance or sincere Repentance can deliver us from its Dominion This is indisputably evident from the Regulations of Conscience that shall be made according to the divine Oeconomy of it whereby our Opinions of past Actions shall not be measured by former Convictions but by the conformity of our Actions to the true Line of Duty or means of Information Again that consciousness which some Men might be under when Enormities were committed cannot be the foundation of future Punishment but that Consciousness of past Actions which will arise from a regulated Conscience For it is concluded that we may become conscious of Enormities committed of which we were not conscious when committed and conscious of others by wrong Measures and Convictions but it will be that Consciousness and those Convictions we are under at the Great Tribunal and result from a regulated Conscience that will be the measure of a final Absolution or Condemnation And certainly if Mr. Lock will not suffer his Notions to be guarded by these limitations he must pardon me if I cannot comply with 'em or cannot but esteem 'em dangerous and false On this account I cannot suffer an Instance that seems to interfere with what is asserted pass off without a few Remarks Mr. Lock in order to the establishing his Notion of Personal Identity brings in Enormities committed in Dunkenness of which a Man is not conscious and places them upon a level with those committed by a Man in his sleep making him no more answerable for the one than the other He indeed makes the Drunkard in this case obnoxious to the Civil Laws for no other reason but Because in these cases they cannot distinguish what is Real from what is Counterfeit and so the Ignorance in Drunkenness or Sleep is not admitted as a Plea But in the great Day wherein the Secrets of all Hearts shall be laid open it may be reasonable to think no one shall be made to Answer for what he knows nothing of but shall receive his Doom his own Conscience accusing or excusing him See Sect. 22. Book 2. Chap. 27. Here are a great many Passages that look with a very evil Aspect and therefore I shall say something to each in their order And first I think this Author has drawn a very unjust Parallel between Crimes committed in Sleep and Dunkenness It 's well known that Sleep is a thing entailed on us as a Law even a Law established in the frame of our Beings and commences upon the necessities of corruptible Nature and therefore if Mischief accidently follows it cannot well be imputed because it is founded in a Cause or Principle that is inseparable from Humane Nature or rather is an Appendage of the most necessary Powers of it that set us on a level with Brutes and consequently the Actions that flow from it cannot be imputed But I hope this Author cannot plead a necessity of Nature for Drunkenness A quantity of generous Liquor may sometimes be required for the actuating the Spirits but never to intoxicate unman or drown the Reason In a word Drunkenness argues a willful neglect in humane Conduct and as such is an Act of a free Agent and consequently the Actions that flow from it tho' destitute of Choice or Deliberation are justly imputed For in order to the imputing or charging an Action upon us it is not necessary that it should proceed from the free exercise of Reason or previous Deliberation at the very Moment when Committed It is sufficient that it 's owing to a Cause that is to be esteemed truly Deliberate and Wilful If this were not so it 's impossible any Sin of Ignorance can be Culpable a Position so wide from the line of Christian Duty that every Heathen Moralist will teach this Author the Absurdity of it I shall for once Refer him to Aristotle because he has culled out the case of Drunkenness to confirm the Doctrine He assures us Ignorance is Punishable whenever the cause of it can be charged upon us and for this Reason pronounces Crimes committed in Drunkenness liable to double Punishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ethic. ad Nichom Lib. 3. Chap 7. But to proceed As for the practice of Civil Governments in punishing Crimes committed when Disguised by Drink he has shamefully Misrepresented it when he Suggests that the only Reason is because they cannot distinguish what is Real from what is Counterfeit and so the Ignorance in Drunkenness or Sleep is not admitted as a Plea It 's a known truth that Civil Judicatures take cognizance of nothing but the outward Act and when this appears they constantly ascribe the internal Principles of the Action Knowledge and Freedom where the Criminal is under no Natural Disabilities so that the Reasons that induce them to proceed to Censure in cases of this Nature can be no other but those which this excellent Moralist has assigned for every such Criminal has 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tho' he was not Master of himself when the Fact was committed yet he is Acted by a Principle that made him Master of the cause of it and consequently the Government may exercise a Right of Punishment Again