all these Difficulties a much easier way only by supposing certain innate Idea's of moral Good and Evil imprest by God upon the Souls of Men. But I must indeed confess my self not yet so happy as to be able thus easily to attain to so great a Perfection as the Knowledge of the Laws of Nature by this natural Instinct or Impression And it doth not seem to me either safe or convenient to lay the whole Stress of Natural Religion and Morality upon an Hypothesis which hath been exploded by all Philosophers except themselves and which can never alone serve to convince those of Epicurean Principles for whom we chiefly design this Work But whosoever will take the Pains to peruse what hath been written against these innate Idea's by the inquisitive and sagacious Author of the late Essay of humane Understanding will find them very hard if not impossible to be proved to have ever been innate in the Souls of Men before they came into the World Therefore as I shall not take upon me absolutely to deny the Being or Impossibility of such Idea's so I shall not make use of any Arguments drawn from thence in this Discourse Though I heartily wish that any Reasons or Motives which may serve to promote true Vertue and Piety may prevail as far as they deserve with all sincere and honest Men. And the same Reasons which deterred me from supposing any natural Laws innate in our Minds have also made me not presently suppose as many do without any due proof That such Idea's have existed in the Divine Intellect from all Eternity And therefore I looked upon it as more proper and necessary to begin from those things which are most known and familiar to us by our Senses and from thence to prove that certain Propositions of immutable Truth prescribing our Care of the Happiness or common Good of all rational Agents considered together are necessarily imprinted upon our Minds from the Nature of things and which the first Cause perpetually determines so to act upon them And that in the Terms of these Propositions are intrinsecally included an evident Declaration of their Truth and certainty as proceeding from God the first Cause in the very intrinsick Constitution of things From whence it will be also manifest that such practical Propositions are truly and properly Laws as being declared and established by due Rewards and Punishments annexed to them by him as the supreme Legislator But after it shall appear that the Knowledge of these Laws and a Practice conformable to them are the highest Perfection or most happy State of our Rational Natures It will likewise follow that a Perfection Analogous to this Knowledge and a Practice conformable to these Laws must necessarily be in the first Cause from whence proceeds not only our own Natural Perfections but also the most wise Ordination of all Effects without us for the common Conservation and Perfection of the whole Natural System or Vniverse which our Eyes daily behold For that is look'd upon by me among the things most certainly prov'd That it must be first known what Iustice is and what those Laws enjoyn in whose Observation all Iustice consists before we can distinctly know that Iustice is to be attributed to God and that his Iustice is to be considered by us as a Pattern or Example for us to imitate Since we do not know God by an immediate Intuition of his Essence or Perfections but only from the outward Effects of his Providence first known by our Senses and Experience Neither is it safe to affix Attributes to him which we cannot sufficiently understand or make out from things without us Having now shewn you in general the difference between our Method and that which others have hitherto followed it is fit we here declare in as few words as we can the chief Heads of those things which we have delivered in this Treatise Supposing therefore those natural Principles concerning the Laws of Motion and Rest sufficiently demonstrated by Naturalists especially such as depend upon Mathematical Principles since we have only here undertaken to demonstrate the true Grounds of Moral Philosophy and to deduce them from some supposed Knowledge of Nature and as they refer to our Moral Practice I have here therefore supposed all the Effects of corporeal Motions which are natural and necessary and performed without any Intervention of humane Liberty to be derived from the Will of the first Cause And 2dly which Mr. H. himself likewise in his Leviathan admits that from the Consideration and Inquisition into these Causes and from the Powers and Operations of natural Bodies may be discovered the Existence of one Eternal Infinite Omnipotent Being which we call God So that every Motion impress'd upon the Organs of our Senses whereby the Mind is carried on to apprehend things without us and to give a right Iudgment upon them is a natural Effect which by the Mediation of other inferiour Causes owes its Original to the first Cause From whence it follows that God by these natural Motions of Causes and Effects delineates the Idea's or Images of all natural and moral Actions on our Minds And that the same God after he hath thus made us draw various Notions from the same Objects does then excite us to compare them with each other and then joyn them together and so determines us to form true Propositions of the things thus singly received and understood So that sometimes a thing is exposed whole and all at once to our View and sometimes it is more naturally considered successively or according to its several parts And the Mind thereby perceives that the Notion of awhole signifies the same with that of all the several Idea's of the particular parts put together and so is thence carried on to make a Proposition of the Identity of the whole with all its parts And can truly affirm that the same Causes which preserve the whole must also conserve all its constituent parts and then from a diligent Contemplation of all these Propositions which may justly challenge the Title of the more general Laws of Nature we may observe that they are all reduceable to one Proposition from whose fit and just Explication all the Limits or Exceptions under which the particular Propositions are proposed may be sought for and discovered as from the Evidence of that one Proposition which may be reduced into this or the like Sence viz. The endeavour as far as we are able of the common good of the whole System of Rational Beings conduces as far as lies in our Power to the good of all its several Parts or Members in which our own Felicity is also contained as part thereof Whereas the Acts opposite to this Endeavour do bring along with them Effects quite opposite thereunto and will certainly procure our own Ruine or Misery at last Therefore the whole Summ of this Proposition may be reduced to these three Things 1. That which concerns the Matter of it
not but you will find in the Body of this Discourse that it hath all things necessary to render it so viz. God considered as a Legislator and his Will or Commands sufficiently declared to us as a Law from the very constitution of our Natures as also of other things without us and likewise established by sufficient Rewards and Punishments both in this life and the next neither do we suppose it can be more evidently proved that God is the Author of all things than that he is also the Author of this Proposition concerning the common good of rational Beings or concerning his own Honour and Worship conjoyned with the common Good of mankind And tho' I confess we have been more exact and have dwelt longer upon the Rewards that we may expect from the observation of this Law than upon the Punishments which are appointed for the breach of it and tho' I know the Civilians have rather placed the Sanction of Civil Laws in Punishments than Rewards yet I hope we have not offended tho' we a little deviate from their Sense and make it part of the Sanction of this Law that it is established by Rewards as well as Punishments since it seems more agreeable to the Nature of things whose foot-steps are strictly to be followed to consider the positive Idea's of Causes and Effects in our minds and which do not receive either Negations or Privations by our outward Senses and our Affections ought rather to be moved by the Love or Hopes of a present or future Good than by the Fear or hatred of the contrary Evil For as no man is said to Love Life Health and those grateful motions of the Nerves or Spirits which are called corporeal Pleasures because he may avoid Death Sickness or Pain but rather from their own intrinsick Goodness or Agreeableness with our humane Natures so likewise no rational Man desires the Perfections of the mind to wit the more ample and distinct knowledge of the most noble Objects the most happy State of rational Beings can only give him and all this not only that he may avoid the mischiefs of Ignorance Envy and Malevolence but because of that great Happiness which he finds by experience to spring from such vertuous Actions and Habits and which render it most ungrateful to us to be deprived of them and so the Causes also of such Privations are judg'd highly grievous and troublesome From whence it also appears that even Civil Laws themselves when they are established by Punishments e. g. by the fear of Death or loss of Goods if we consider the thing truly do indeed force men to yield obedience to them from the love of Life or Riches which they find can only be preserved by their observation So that the avoiding of Death and Poverty is but in other words love of Life and Riches as he who by two Negatives would say he would not want Life means no more but that he desires to enjoy it To which we may likewise add that Civil Laws themselves ought to be considered from the end which the Law-makers regard in making them as also which all good Subjects design in observing them to wit the publick Good of the Commonwealth part of which is communicated to all of them in particular and so brings with it a natural Reward of their obedience rather than from the Punishments they threaten by whose fear some only are deterred from violating them and those of the worst and most wicked sort of Men. But tho' we have shewn that the Sum of all the Precepts or Laws of Nature as also of the Sanctions annexed to them are briefly contained in this Proposition yet it s Subject is still but an endeavour to the utmost of our Power of the common Good of the whole System of rational Beings this limitation of the utmost of our Power implies that we do not think our selves capable of adding any thing to the Divine Perfections which we willingly acknowledge to be beyond our Power So that here is at once exprest both our Love towards God and Good will to mankind who are the constituent parts of this System But the Predicate of this Proposition is that which conduces to the good of all its singular Parts or Members and in which our own Happiness is contained as one part thereof Since all those good things which we can do for others are but the Effects of this endeavour so that the Sum of all those Goods of which also our own Felicity consists can never be mist of either in this Life or a better as the Reward of our obedience thereunto So to the contrary Actions Misery in this Life or in that to come are the Punishments naturally due But the Connexion of the Predicate with the Subject is both the Foundation of the truth of this Proposition and also a Demonstration of the natural Connexion between this obedience and the Rewards as also between the Transgression and the Punishments From whence the Readers will easily observe the true Reason for which this practical Proposition and all others which may be drawn from thence do oblige all rational Creatures to know and understand it whilst other Propositions suppose Geometrical ones tho' found out by right Reason and so are Truths proceeding from God himself yet do not oblige men to any Act or Practice pursuant to them but may be safely neglected by most Men to whom the Science of Geometry may not be necessary whereas the Effects of the endeavour of the common Good do intimately concern the Happiness of all mankind upon whose joynt or concurrent Wills and Endeavours every single mans Happiness doth after some sort depend so that this Endeavour can by no means be neglected without endangering the losing all those hopes of Happiness which God hath made known to us from our own Nature and the Nature of things and so hath sufficiently declared the Connexion of Rewards and Punishments with all our Moral Actions from whose Authority as well this general Proposition as all others which are contained in it must be understood to become Laws So that from the terms of this Proposition it is apparent that the adequate and immediate effect of our thus acting and concerning which this Law is established is whatever is grateful to God and beneficial to Men that is the natural Good of all the parts of the whole System of rational Beings Nay further is the greatest of all Goods which we can imagine or perform for them since it is greater than the like good of any particular part or Member of the same System And farther it is thereby sufficiently declared that the Felicity of particular Persons is derived from this happy State of the whole System as the Nutrition of any one Member of an Animal is produced by a due Distribution of the whole Mass of Blood diffused through all the parts of the Body From whence it appears that this Effect must needs be the best since it
only to discern the Reasonableness of all Vertue and Morality which is their Duty and Ornament as they are Men but also they may here see the true Foundations of Civil Government and Property which they are most obliged to understand because as Gentlemen they are born to the greatest Interest in them both I need add no more to give you Assurance that I freely consent to your Printing of this Book and am Your affectionate Friend Ric. Peterborough The Contents of the First Chapter A Brief Repetition of the Preface That the Law of Nature can only be learnt from the Knowledge of a God and from the Nature of Things and of Mankind in general § 1. A state of the Question between us and the Epicureans and Scepticks § 2. The method proposed in what manner we are to enquire into the Nature of things and of mankind in order to prove certain general Propositions that shall carry with them the Obligation of Natural Laws § 3. The Soul supposed to be rafa Tabula without any innate Idea's Our method proposed of considering God as the Cause of the World and all Things and humane Actions as subordinate causes and effects either hindring or promoting our common Happiness and Preservation § 4. All the Laws of Nature deduceable from hence as so many practical Propositions and all our observations or knowledge of it reduceable to one Proposition of the highest Benevolence of rational Beings towards each other as the summ of all the Laws of Nature and what is meant by this Benevolence § 5. What things are necessary to be known or supposed in order to the knowledge of this universal Benevolence § 6. The Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition proved and what is to be collected from thence The true happiness of single Persons inseparable from that of Mankind The general Causes of its Happiness to be considered in the first place § 7. Therefore no Man's particular Happiness can be opposed or preferred before the Happiness of all other rational Beings The contrary practice unreasonable and unjust § 8. Yet that this Proposition cannot be of sufficient efficacy till we have proposed the Common Good of Rationals for the great End of all our Actions § 9. The Effects of this Proposition not prejudiced by the ill use of Men's Free-wills § 10 11. By what steps and degrees the Knowledge of this Common Good comes to be conveyed into our minds from the nature of things § 12. First Natural Observation that in our free use and enjoyment of all the outward Necessaries of Life and in our mutual administring them to each other consists all men's happiness and preservation from whence also proceeds a Notion of the Common Good of Rationals § 13. That Men are able to contribute more to the good and happiness of those of their own kind than any other Creatures § 14. Nothing a surer help and defence to Mankind than the most sincere and diffusive Benevolence § 15. Nor any thing more destructive to it than their constant Malice and Ill-will § 16. That these Principles are as certain as any in Arithmetick and Geometry notwithstanding the supposition of Men's free-will § 17. Yet that they are only Laws as proceeding from God the first Cause and as establish'd with fit Rewards and Punishments § 18. That from these natural and general Observations we attain to a true knowledge of the Causes of all Men's happiness and that by the Laws of Matter and Motion these Causes act as certainly as any other § 19,20 Hence arises a true notion of things naturally and unalterably good or evil § 21. That Men's natural Powers and the things necessary for life can neither be exerted nor made use of contrary to the known rules of Matter and Motion § 22. Some Conclusions deduceable from hence as that we chiefly concern our selves about those things and actions that are in our Powers § 23. No man self-sufficient to procure all things necessary for his own preservation and happiness and therefore needs the good-will and assistance of others § 24. None of these necessaries for Life can produce the Ends design'd but as they are appropriated to Man's particular uses and necessities for the time they make use of them § 25. From whence arises the Right of Occupancy or Possession which may be exercised even during a natural Community of most things § 26. That as this natural Division and Propriety in things is necessary to the preservation of particular Persons so it is also of Mankind considered as an aggregate Body § 27. That these Principles destroy Mr. H's Hypothesis of the Right of all Men to all things in the state of nature § 28. The necessity of a farther Division and Appropriation of things now Mankind is multiplyed on the Earth § 29. No Man hath a Right to any thing any farther than as it conduces or at least consists with the common good of rational Beings § 30. The knowledge of these natural Causes and Effects alike certain in a natural as civil State with a brief Recapitulation of the Grounds and Arguments insisted on in this Chapter § 31. The Contents of the Second Chapter MAN to be considered as a natural Body as an Animal and also as a rational Creature Some Observations from the first of these Considerations as that humane Bodies and Actions are subject to the same Laws of Matter and Motion with other things § 1 2. No Actions or Motions more conducive to Man's happiness than what proceed from the most diffusive Benevolence § 3. Mankind considered as a System of natural Bodies doth not make any considerable difference between them when considered as voluntary Agents endued with sense but that they rather act more powerfully thereby § 4. Men's greatest security from Evils and hopes of obtaining Good depends upon the good-will and voluntary Assistance of others § 5. Several natural Conclusions drawn from these Observations § 6. The like being found true in animate as well as inanimate Bodies will make us more sollicitous towards the general good of those of our own kind § 7. That loving or benevolent Actions towards each other constitute the happiest state we can enjoy and also it is ordained by a concourse of Causes that all rational Beings should be sensible of these Indications § 8. This proved from several natural Observations as 1. That the bulk of the Bodies of Animals being but narrow the things necessary for their preservation can be but few and most of them communicable to many at once and so requires a limited self-love consistent with the safety and happiness of others § 9. 2. That Creatures of the same kind cannot but be moved to the like affections towards others as towards themselves from the sense of the similitude of their natures § 10. Animals do never deviate from this natural state but when they are seized with some preternatural Disease or Passion which as oft as it happens are absolutely destructive to
Gratitude as well as by Interest to return those again whenever they are lawfully required of us though I grant for the Honour of the Gospel that the firmest Encouragements and greatest Reward we Men can have for exposing nay losing our Lives for the Benefit or Service of the Common-wealth is that Happiness we may justly expect in another Life after this These things seem evident to us as resembling that Method whereby we are naturally taught that the Health and Strength of our whole Body is preserved by the good Estate of its particular Members in its receiving Food and Breath Although sometimes Diseases may breed within the Body or divers outward Accidents as Wounds Bruises and the like do happen to it from without which may hinder the particular Members from receiving that Nourishment which is necessary for them And we are taught after the same Manner by the Acts immediately promoting the common good that the Happiness of particular Men which are the Members of this natural System may no less certainly be expected nor are less naturally derived from thence than the Strength of our Hands doth proceed from the due State of the whole Mass of Bloud and nervous Iuice Though we confess that many things may happen which may cause this general Care of the whole Body of Mankind not always to meet with the good Effect we desire so that particular Persons may certainly infallibly enjoy all the Felicity they can hope for or expect Yet this is no Argument against it any more than that the taking in of Air and Aliments however necessary for the whole Body should prevent all those Accidents and Distempers it is subject to since it may happen as well by the violent and unjust Actions of our fellow Subjects like the diseased Constitution of some inward part or by the Invasion of a foreign Enemy like a Blow or other outward Violence that good Men may be deprived in this Life of some Rewards of their good Deeds and may also suffer divers outward Evils Yet since these are more often repelled by the Force of Concord and Civil Government or are often shook off after some short Disturbances either by our own private Power or else by that of the Civil Sword as Diseases are thrown off by a healthfull Crisis or Effort of Nature So that notwithstanding all these Evils Men are more often recompenced with greater Goods partly from the Assistance of others but chiefly from that of Civil Government or else of Leagues made with Neighbouring States From whence it is that Mankind hath never been yet destroyed notwithstanding all the Tyranny and Wars that Men's unreasonable Passions have exercised and raised in the World and that Civil Governments or Empires have been more lasting than the most long lived Animals From all which it is apparent that the deprived Appetites of divers Men or those Passions which do often produce Motions so opposite to the common Good ought no more to hinder us from acknowledging the Natural Propensions of all the rest of Mankind considered together to be more powerfully carried towards that which we every Day see may be procured thereby viz. The Conservation and farther Perfection of the whole Body of Mankind than that divers Diseases breeding in the parts of Animals or any outward Violence should hinder us from acknowledging that the Frame of their Bodies and the Natural Function of their parts are fitted and intended by God for the Conservation of Life and the Propagation of their Species But that we may carry on this Similitude between a living Body and its particular Members with the whole Body of Mankind and all the Individuals contained under it a little farther I will here give you Monsieur Pascal's Excellent Notion concerning this common Good as it is published in those Fragments Entituled Les Pensees de Monsieur Pascal since it both explains and confirms our Method He there supposes That God having made the Heavens and the Earth and divers other Creatures not at all sensible of their common Happiness would also make some rational Beings which might know him and might make up one Body consisting of rational Members and that all Men are Members of this Body so that it is necessary to their happiness that all particular Men as Members of this Body conform their particular Wills to the Vniversal Will of God that governs the whole Body as the Head or Soul thereof And though it often happens that one Man falsly supposes himself an independent Being and so will make himself the only Centre of all his Actions yet he will at last find himself whilst in this State separated from the Body of rational Beings and who not having any true Principle of Life or Motion doth nothing but wander about distracted in the uncertainty of his own Being but if ever he comes to a true knowledge of himself he will find that he is not that whole Body but only a small Member of it and hath no proper Life and Motion but as he is a part thereof So that to regulate our Self-love every Man ought to imagine himself but one small part of this Body of Mankind composed of so many intelligent Members and to know what Proportion of Love every Man oweth himself let him consider what Degree of Love the Body bears to any one small single part and so much Love that part if it had sense ought to bestow upon it self and no more All Self-love that exceeds this is unjust So far this sagacious contemplative Gentleman thought long since though I confess he doth not proceed to shew in what manner the Good of every individual Person depends upon the Happiness of the whole Body of Mankind as our Author hath here done though no doubt he was excellently well fitted to do it if he had lived to reduce those excellent Thoughts into a set Discourse We have delivered in this Epitome the Summ of that Method by which we have enquired into the Sanction of the Laws of Nature in which we have considered all the Felicity naturally flowing from good Actions as a Reward annexed to them by God the Author of Nature and their Loss or contrary Evils that follow them as a Punishment naturally flowing from their Transgression And indeed our Method seems very much confirmed from the common Consent of Mankind since all Men of however different Opinions concerning moral Principles do yet agree in this that good Actions ought still to be encouraged by Rewards and evil ones to be restrained by Punishments in this all Sects of Philosophers however quarrelling among themselves do agree As also the Founders of all Religions and the Makers of all Civil Laws have made this their main Foundation Nay those who would seem most to neglect all Rewards and would deduce all Vertues from Gratitude alone yet find it necessary to acknowledge this Gratitude to proceed from the Memory of Benefits receiv'd But sure it still argues as much Love towards
ourselves when we are persuaded to do our Duty by a Consideration of Benefits already received as when we do it for the same things to be received hereafter yea he seems to act more generously who is moved to act for a good only in expectation than he who doth as much for the like good things which he already enjoys But this Method which we have here taken to reduce all the Laws of Nature to this single Proposition of endeavouring the common Good seems the more convenient because its proof is more easie and expedite than that of so many Rules which are wont to be proposed by Philosophers and the Memory will be less burdened by the daily Remembrance of this one Proposition than of many especially when we are directed to it from the Nature of this common Good as a Measure whereby the Iudgment of any considering Man may put Bounds to his own Actions and Passions in the doing of which all Moral Virtue consists And this Work Aristotle hath recommended to the Iudgment of every rational Man in his Definition of Vertue though he hath not indeed shewn us the Rule of making this Iudgment whereas our Proposition teacheth us that the Rule is to be taken from the Nature of the best and greatest End that is Respect being had to all the parts of the whole System of rational Beings or of that Common-wealth of which God is the Head and all the Members are his Subjects And from this Principle is also to be derived that Order or Preference among all the particular Laws of Nature according to which the former doth still retain or limit the latter which Dr. Sharrock hath prudently and solidly observed in his Book De Officiis Chap. 10. As for Example that there is a Prior Reason for abstaining from invading that which is anothers than of observing Promises and likewise there is a greater Account to be made of Faith once given than of returning Benefits c. But the true Ground of all these Rules is only to be found in our Principle because it more conduces to the common Good that a Prior Law of Nature concerning making and preserving Properties should not be violated by the Invasion of another's Right than that any one should observe a Compact or Promise when it cannot be done without such an Invasion and there is the like Reason in observing those other Laws which we have reckoned up in the following Discourse according to their due Order and Dignity so that indeed no Man ought to wonder that we have so positively asserted that no Vertue can be explained without a Respect to the State of all rational Beings or of the whole intellectual World for we see in Natural Philosophy that the Accidents of Bodies daily obvious to our Senses such as are the communication of Motion Gravitation and the Action of Light and Heat Firmness and Fluidity Rarefaction and Condensation can never be explained without a Respect to the whole System of the corporeal World and the Motion therein to be preserved Lastly from this order among the Laws of Nature whereby all the special ones are still made subordinate to this general one of the common Good and the lowest of them to the highest it may easily be shewn that God never dispenses with them unless in those Cases in which the Obligation of a lower or less Law may seem to be taken away and the nature of the Action so changed as that there may be only place left for the Observation of the higher To conclude we have here likewise shewn that the Generation of all Commonwealths is to be deduced from these two Principles tending to this great End of the common Good of Rationals viz. first from that which Commands the Constitution of a distinct Property in things and in the labours or endeavours of Persons whereby no such Property is yet instituted and where it is found to be so to preserve it inviolate as the chief and necessary Medium to this common Good 2. From that Law which Commands a peculiar Love or Benevolence of Parents towards their Children for this could never have exerted it self unless our first Parents had permitted their Children when grown up to enjoy a part of those necessaries of Life which were needful for their future Subsistance and so from many such Fathers of Families joyning together by mutual Compacts for common Defence might arise the first Governments in the World of whatsoever kind you please to suppose But in the following Discourse we have thought it best to confine our selves within the bounds of Philosophy and have wholly abstained from Theological Questions And therefore we have not said any thing concerning Good or Evil Spirits or Angels or taken in their Good or Happiness into our Hypothesis for tho' I doubt not of the Existence of such intelligent Beings yet it is certain all we can understand of them proceeds wholly from Divine Revelation or humane Tradition neither of which are true means of obtaining Philosophical or natural Knowledge As for the Second part of this Treatise in which is contained the Confutations of some of Mr. H's Principles or Arguments since the First part is entire without it and that the truth is a sufficient Proof to its self I leave it to the discretion of the Reader whether he will trouble himself to peruse it or not since all Men's tempers do not alike suit with the study of Controversies but it was necessary not only to lay a Foundation of better moral Principles but also to shew the Falshood and Vanity of those he hath laid down since otherwise it might have been thought by some that they were altogether unanswerable Yet I hope we have performed that unpleasant Task without reflecting upon the Memory of the dead and disturbing the Ashes of a Person who whilst he lived was as must be acknowledged even by his Enemies considerably famous both for Wit and Learning I have little more to add but that I doubt not but our learned Author whose work I have now abridged hath hit upon that true method of proving the Law of Nature which the Lord Bacon in his Advancement of Learning tells the Reader that he desired to see well performed and that his Design was to make enquiry into the true Fountains of Iustice and publick Vtility and so in every part of the Law to represent a kind of real Character or Idea of that which is truly just by which general Mark he that will bend his study that way and examine the Grounds or endeavour the Amendment of the Laws of particular Kingdoms or States may be truly guided in this noble Vndertaking And he there proceeds to give some general Aphorisms which he calls the Idea's of Vniversal Iustice and his Fifth Aphorism is very home to our purpose for he there tells us that the main End to which all Laws should tend and whereunto they should direct their Decrees and Sanctions is only the common Good
Case proposed unless first all those Effects which may proceed from it in all its various Circumstances be duly considered and compared together So that the Contemplation both of the Causes on which Men's Safety and Happiness depends as also of the Effects which may be produced by their joint or concurring Forces and Endeavours must necessarily lead our Minds first to the Consideration of all other Men and next of our selves as a very small part of Mankind And in the next place that we proceed to contemplate this System of Things called the Visible World but more especially GOD as its Creator and Governour according to the Method laid down in the Introduction to this Discourse the Idea's of which being duly considered and digested in our Minds we may draw from thence certain Conclusions by which we may judge or determine what Humane Things and Actions are certainly and necessarily conducing to the Common Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings and in which every particular Person 's Felicity or Well-being is contained as a part thereof and in which Rational Dictates or Conclusions I shall hereafter prove this Law of Nature to consist § 5. No body I suppose will think it necessary to the matter in hand that I should here make Physical Disquisitions into the Natures of all Things that are the Objects of our Senses that being the Business of profess'd Naturalists It is sufficient for us to shew That all the Rules of Moral Philosophy and the Laws of Nature may be at last resolved into certain natural and easie Observations gathered from common Experience or else into certain Conclusions established upon the known Principles of Mathematicks and Physicks by which I do not only mean all those natural Laws of Matter and Motion in Bodies but also the Operations of our own Souls as far as we are able to know or enquire into them From all which by the Order of Natural Causes we may be led to the Knowledge of GOD their Creator and Ordainer and so may acknowledge Him as the only Cause of all these excellent Effects since this Nature of Things doth as well suggest to our Minds the Idea of a Creator as of the Things created and so supplies us with sufficient matter from which we may deduce all the Laws of Nature as so many true Practical Propositions though it is only the Knowledge of the First Cause or Creator that can stamp any Authority or Obligation upon them Now although there may be many Things collected from our Knowledge of several Beings in the World that may serve for our Moral Instruction and the cultivating of our Manners yet I shall for Brevity's sake only select some of the most material of them and such as may serve to explain our short account of the Law of Nature which notwithstanding several Authors have so much enlarged upon it I think may very well be reduced to this single Proposition viz. The most universal Love or most diffusive Benevolence of all Rational Beings towards each other constitutes the happiest State they can be capable of So that their Endeavour of the Common Good by this Benevolence is the sum of all the Laws of Nature and in which they are all contained Note That by this Love or Benevolence I do not mean only a fruitless Desire or Well-wishing but an active Affection exerting it self in all the Acts of Piety towards God Duty towards Parents Kindness and Gratitude towards our Country Friends and Relations and of Charity and Humanity towards all the rest of Mankind as often as any opportunity offers it self § 6. In the making out of which Description of the Law of Nature it is here needless to inquire into the Nature of our Souls and the manner of our Knowledge and Understanding since the former hath been so Learnedly perform'd by the Reverend Dr. Ward late Bishop of Salisbury and the latter so exactly done already in English by the above mentioned Author of the Essay of Humane Vnderstanding I shall only briefly suppose upon his Principles that our Souls do 1. From the very birth by degrees receive Idea's drawn from outward Objects by our Senses 2. That it is their faculty from divers single Notions or Idea's put together to come to make complex ones that is to make divers Propositions or Conclusions not only concerning their own inward Actings but also about all those outward Objects with which they are daily conversant and which may tend to the finding out the readiest means of attaining to and preserving themselves in the happiest State and Condition they are able to acquire These things being suppos'd it were needless to trouble you with any farther descriptions of this Love or Benevolence since every Person cannot but be sufficiently sensible of its Nature Degrees and various Operations that will but make any Self-reflection upon his own Inward Affections § 7. But as for the due Connexion of the Terms of this Proposition in which its Truth does chiefly consist it seems to me plain enough It being no more than to affirm That our endeavour of procuring all the good things in our Power and which are most conducing to our own preservation and Happiness and of all other Rational Beings is the best or chiefest thing that all Persons can do to render both themselves and all others as happy as their Natures will permit or can require and that there is no surer or more powerful means to be discovered by us whereby we may obtain a full enjoyment of all the good things of this Life and the hopes of that to come than by endeavouring our own Felicity in Conjunction with that of others So that from what I have already advanced the Reader may Collect these two Propositions 1. That the Foundation of all our Natural Happiness consists in an habitual determination of the Will to the utmost of its Ability and Perfection whereby we may be always ready and prepared to endeavour this Common good of Rationals 2. That the true Happiness of each Individual Person cannot be separated from that of other Rationals since the whole doth not differ from all its parts taken together so that this Proposition concerning this general or diffusive Benevolence is thus to be understood viz. Not to mean or only intend what any single or a few Persons may perform towards the procuring of their own private Happiness or that of their own Party or Faction distinct from that of the rest of Mankind but what all particular Persons may jointly contribute to render themselves and others happy that is what each of them may rationally perform towards the obtaining this Common Felicity For it ought first to be known in general what all Men are able to do or not to do towards any common end such as is the common happiness of Rationals and then what it is possible for any particular Person in this or that Case to perform for example towards his own private happiness as separate from
and obvious Observations from the Nature of those things without us which we daily stand in need and make use of as may serve to prove after what manner we ought to make use of them and whence that Right arises we have to them I come now to make the like Observations from the Nature of Mankind in order to the proving that we are designed by God for the Good and Preservation of others besides our selves and that in the doing of this we procure as far as lies in our Power the Good and Happiness of all Rational Beings in which our own is likewise included To perform this task I shall first take notice of those Qualities or Properties that belong to man 1 as a meer Natural Body 2 such as belong to him as an Animal 3 such as are peculiar to him as a Rational Creature endued with a higher and nobler Principle than Brutes viz. an Immortal Soul § 2. To begin with the first of these it is evident that as a Natural Body he is endued with these Properties common to all other Natural Bodies First that all his motions in which his Life Strength and Health consist do all proceed from God the first and Original or Cause of them and are necessarily complicated with and depend upon the motions of innumerable other Bodies among which the Corporeal motions of others which do often limit and restrain our own are first and chiefly to be considered 2 That from them as from other Bodies motion may be propagated Indefinitely and which does not perish but concur with other motions to perpetuate the Succession of things that is contribute to the conservation of the Universe and as the former teaches us that a particular end viz. our own Preservation depends upon our Common or joynt Forces or Natural Powers so this latter instructs us that such Powers and motions of particular Persons are often most Beneficial and conducing to the Common Good of all men The first of these Conclusions forbids us to hope for or endeavour our own private Good or Happiness as separate and distinct from that of all others and so excites us to seek the Common Good of Rationals as the Original of our own particular Happiness The other Conclusion shews that this endeavour of the Common Good can never prove in vain or to no purpose since it concurrs with the Will of God and conduces to the Preservation of the Universe and of all Humane Creatures therein contain'd and farther that in each complicated motion as well in that towards which divers Causes concurr for the Preservation of any Body for a certain time as also in that whereby each particular Body concurrs to the Conservation of the whole System There is a certain order still observed whereby some motions are necessarily determined by others in a continual Series or Succession all which are yet governed or over-ruled by the motion of the whole System of Natural Bodies And although this sort of Contemplation may seem remote from common use yet is it not to be contemned as altogether unprofitable in Humane Affairs for it makes us more distinctly perceive from some certain general Principles how necessary a constant and certain order is amongst those Causes that Act from Corporeal forces so that many of them may each in their order Successively concurr to an effect foreseen or designed by us and farther shews us a rule how we may certainly judge what Cause does more or less contribute to the Effect sought for or desired so that from the Natural Power of these Causes their Order Dignity or Power in respect to each Effect are to be determined and judged of and we are taught from the Nature of things as well what Causes are to be most esteemed for those good Effects they have or may produce as also which are most diligently to be sought for the obtaining those ends which we desire and by which means it may be also known that those Causes which Philosophers call Universal viz. God the first Cause and the motion of the Celestial Bodies as proceeding from Him are the Original Causes of the Common Good or Happiness of Mankind a part of which we either always do actually or can hope to enjoy § 3. But omitting those Motions which are not in our Power to influence or alter it is certain that among the things which are in either our Power to do or forbear those voluntary Humane motions proceeding from an Universal Benevolence of all Men towards all others are the principal Causes of their Common Happiness and in which every one's private Good is included Since from this source proceed all those Actions by which Men's Innocence and Fidelity towards each other are preserved as also by which Humanity Gratitude and almost all the other Vertues are exerted and performed after as certain a manner as the Natural motions of the Spirits Bowels Nerves and Joynts in an Animal do wholly proceed from the motion of the Heart and Circulation of the Blood which judgment or determination being taken from the Nature of things duly considered should without doubt cause us to yield Obedience to all the Laws of Nature as contributing to this Common Good of Rational Agents and may make us also diligently to take care that the same be observed by others so that there may be nothing wanting that can be done by us whereby we may not be rendered as happy as our frail Natures in this will allow since right reason can propose no higher or nobler End than this of all our moral Actions § 4. Yet whilst we compare the Aggregate Body of mankind as far as we can Act by Corporeal force with the Natural Systems of other Bodies I am not unmindful of the manifest difference there is between them viz. That all the Effects of meer Corporeal Systems are produced by the Contiguity and immediate Operation of Bodies moving upon others that are to be moved by them without any Sense Deliberation or Liberty which are only to be found in Humane Actions in whose Motions and Operations on each other though a great difference often intervenes yet for all that it is evident that the Corporeal Powers of Men when exerted are subject to the same Laws of motion with other Bodies and that divers Men may often cooperate to one certain Effect relating to the Good or Hurt of others so that there is the same necessity of a Subordination between Humane motions as there is between those of other Bodies And I must here farther take notice that Men have frequent opportunities of meeting together and also many other means by which they may hurt or help each other by Words Writing or other Actions So that if we consider the Nature of Mankind in the whole course of their Lives it ought to be considered as one entire System of Bodies consisting of several particular parts So that nothing almost can be done in Relation to any Man's Life Family or Fortune which doth
the like Good-will from them than by doing them the same good Offices as often as it lies in our Power which we desire they should do for us and that this constitutes the happiest state Men are capable of in this Life viz. Peace and Concord not only among particular Men but also between all Common-wealths and Nations of which the whole body of Mankind consists so that it evidently appears that the true and Natural state of Mankind is That of Peace Love or mutual Benevolence and which indeed would require no other Rewards than what proceeds from it self were Man a Creature always governed by right reason and his own true Good Rewards and Punishments being Ordained for Men as too often govern'd by their Passions and Sensual Appetites and not according to the perfection of their Rational Nature Yet since it pleased God to Create Man a mixt Creature consisting of a Body and a Soul and being too often drawn aside by Passions not directed by right reason and to stand in need of Punishments as well as Rewards to keep him to his duty thence arises a necessity of His dealing with Man as a Legislator and of giving him certain natural Laws or Rules whereby to govern his Actions with certain Penalties and Rewards annext to them which Laws may be very well contracted into one single Proposition or practical Conclusion drawn from the Nature of God our own Nature and that of things without us by the Observations already laid down viz. That God wills or commands that all reasonable Persons should endeavour the Common Good of Rational Beings as the great End for which they were Created and in pursuance of which consists their own true Good or Happiness as in its neglect or violation their greatest Misery § 2. Having given you this summary description of the Laws of Nature as coming from its first Cause God I shall now explain the terms therein contain'd to avoid all Ambiguity and Exception 1 By Wills and Commands I do not mean any Commands by Words that being the method of God's Revealed and not Natural Will and so is not the Subject of this Discourse and therefore I do here only understand that Will or Command of God which is to be learned from the Consideration of his Divine Nature our own and that of all other things consisting not in Words but in Idea's that is true Conclusions drawn from right Reason but that words are not always Essential to a Law or that it cannot be made known to the Subjects without some set form of Speech may appear by Persons born Deaf and Dumb whom we often find to have Notions of a God and a Law of Nature though they were not convey'd in their Minds by Words or Writing for it is sufficient if the Will of the Legislator may be discovered by any other sit means or signs especially when as in this Law we now treat of there are such certain Rewards and Punishments annexed to their Observation or Transgression as may make it their Interest rather to observe than transgress them which is not only visible in Men but Brutes Since we see that by certain Signs imprinted in their Minds by the means of fit Rewards and Corrections Elephants Horses Dogs c. are made Susceptible of Humane Commands and as far as their Natures permit are governable by Laws of our Prescribing For we can shew them by such signs what Actions are to be done or omitted by them and certainly God hath not left us less plain demonstrations of his Will in reference to our Duty towards him from that Knowledge he hath given us of his Existence as also of our own Nature as I shall farther prove in this Discourse By Rational Persons I mean all those though of never so mean a Capacity who are able to make such easie and natural Observations and Conclusions as I have already laid down And therefore Children under the Years of Discretion Idiots and Mad-folks are still to be excepted from this Law who not having the actual use of right reason are not able to draw those Observations and Consequences from the Nature of things as are already laid down and which are necessary for the right understanding thereof By Endeavour I mean all such voluntary Actions which Persons of sound Minds can knowingly and deliberately perform towards the good of others without destroying or hurting their own true Happiness which endeavours though by many unforeseen accidents in the Course of Nature they may be often frustrated and so fail of their intended design yet when we have done the utmost we are able we have sufficiently perform'd our Duty since no Laws require the performance of more than is in our Power to perform By the Common Good of Rational Beings I understand the collective Happiness of the Deity as the head of them and that of all the individual Persons of Mankind existing together with us as the constituent parts or members and in which each Man 's particular Good and Happiness is included since it is impossible to endeavour the Happiness of others as voluntary Agents unless each particular Person whose duty it is so to do have first a right to preserve and make himself happy jointly with others in his Proportion to the whole Body of Mankind By true Good or Happiness I mean all those Goods whether of Body or Mind by which Men may be rendred truly Happy and contented in this Life and in that to come but in which whenever the former stand in Competition with the latter the Goods of the Soul are to be preferred that is the good of our better or Eternal part before that of our Body which is less valuable and temporal But I need add nothing here to prove That God is the Head of all Rational Beings and in what Sence we may be said to procure or endeavour his Good and Happiness since I have spoken so largely of that in the Preface to this Discourse and as for the difference between Natural and Moral good I have said so much concerning it in the Second Part in the Confutation of Mr. H's Sixth Principle that by Nature nothing is Good or Evil that it would be impertinent to repeat it here I shall now prove that this Proposition containing this Description of the Law of Nature is true that is agreeable to the Will of God as far as it is declared to us by what we are able to know of His Divine Nature or can collect from our own and the Natures of all things without us and that all the Moral Duties we owe either to God ourselves or others are contained in or may be reduced to this one Proposition Of our endeavouring the Common Good of Rationals in order to which I shall lay down these Propositions § 3. 1. That God in the first place Wills and Intends His own Glory and Service and in the next the Good and Preservation of all Mankind and of all particular Persons
the Laws of Nature or Reason proceeding from God himself are truly Laws and the Actions prohibited by them are Sins although men will not through wilful Ignorance discover this Legislator nor will consent to his Laws And Mr. H. himself acknowledges in his Chapter of Laws that the Subjects lie under an obligation to obey them if it can be made appear to them that the Legislator is endued with a Supream Power over them and hath both sufficiently established and promulgated his Laws both which may be truly affirmed of the Laws of Nature § 12. But indeed Mr. H. and his Followers have done very cunningly in taking away all freedom from Mankind and to suppose an absolute necessity of all moral Actions since they could not otherwise destroy the Laws of Nature and equal Men with Brutes but by pulling up all the Foundations of moral Good and Evil. But I need say no more on this Subject to shew the folly and unreasonableness of this Opinion than to put down Mr. H's words on this Subject in Art 11. of this Chapter Where he confesses that this Right of all men to all things is absolutely unprofitable for Mankind because the effect of this Right is all one as if there were no such Right at all For although any man might say of every thing This is mine yet could he not use it because of his Neighbour who might by an equal Right pretend that it was his Which is as good as to own that this right is none at all For he himself in the Article before-going makes Utility to be the measure of all Right but here is a Right without any Utility at all therefore these words Right and Vnprofitable are contradictory for Right refers in this definition to some use or profit that a man may make of his natural Liberty but to be unprofitable owns that there is no use or need of this natural Liberty in that matter PRINCIPLE V. That in the state of Nature whatsoever any one doth to another cannot be injurious to any Person § 1. BEcause says he Injustice towards men supposes Humane Laws none of which are yet in being in the meer state of Nature De Cive Cap. 1. Annot. ad § 10. which he thus likewise endeavours to prove in his Leviathan Chap. 13. Where there is no common Power there is no Law where there is no Law no Injustice Force and Fraud are in War the two Cardinal Vertues Iustice and Injustice are none of the Faculties either of the Body or Mind If they were they might be in a man that were alone in the World as well as his Senses and Passions They are all Qualities that relate to men in Society not in Solitude It is consequent also to the same condition that there be no Propriety no Dominion no Mine and Thine distinct but only that to be every man 's that he can get and for so long as he can keep it All which is no more than what Epicurus long ago asserted as Diogenes Laertius hath told us in the Account he gives of his Life and Opinions To this effect That between those Animals which cannot be joined by any Compact or Bargain that they should not hurt each other there is no Right or Injury So it is likewise amongst Nations which either will not or cannot enter into Compact that they do neither hurt nor are hurt For Injustice is nothing in it self although in some places such a Bargain is made by mutual Compacts that they should not hurt each other So that Injury is no evil in it self but only consists in a fear or suspicion lest it should not be concealed from those who are appointed Revengers of such Injuries § 2. In answer to all which I doubt not to prove that these Principles of Epicurus as well as of Mr. H. and his Disciples are taken up without any just or solid grounds for by the dictates of right Reason considered as they are the natural Laws of God a perfect Right is given to every man to his Life and all those necessary means thereunto without which he cannot subsist For whatever a man enjoys by the right of Nature it must needs be injury and injustice to take it away for every invasion or violation of another's Right or Property is Injury by whatever Law he enjoys it And much more if that Right be conferred upon him by the Law of Nature given by God as a Legislator than if it proceeded from meer Humane Compacts And though Mr. H. here asserts That no injury can be done to any man with whom we have made no Compact yet Chap. 2. Art 1. of his De Cive he says That since all men will grant that to be done by Right which is not contrary to right Reason we ought to believe that to be done by Injury which is repugnant to right Reason that is which contradicts any Truth collected by right Reason from true Principles But what is done by Injury we acknowledge to be done contrary to some Law So that here he grants that an Injury may be done contrary to the Laws of Nature before any Compact or translation of our Right to another and since he there acknowledges those Dictates of Reason to be Laws I would fain see how those can give any man such a right to invade or violate the Rights of another For Right as he himself well defines it being a Liberty granted by right Reason requires that men who pretend to act or speak according to its Dictates cannot act contradictorily to its other Principles or Conclusions And 't were to no purpose for him to say that the Injury is done to God alone when his Laws are broken unless he can shew that those Laws of God do not confer a right on men to their Lives and all the necessaries thereof and do not likewise prohibit others from violating this Right so granted § 3. But yet this Author when he is prest hard does acknowledge that there may be injury done to another out of Civil Government For it being objected whether if a Son should kill his Father in the state of Nature he should not do him an injury he answers That a Son cannot be understood to be in a natural State in respect of his Parents he being as soon as ever he is born under their power and command to whom he owes his being and preservation Yet sure a man's Parents by begetting and breeding him up do not thereby acquire a property or dominion over him as long as he lives though I grant Children when they either marry or otherwise become lawfully discharged from the government of their Parents still owe a filial piety and gratitude to them and that it is a great impiety and injury in Children towards them to hurt or destroy them though they are no longer under their power and command So likewise the same Law of Nature which prescribes gratitude to these our natural Benefactors doth make it injurious