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Show No innate praelical Principles. Book I. fo far from finding.any fuch innate Moral Principles in themfelves, that b denying freedom to Mankind; and thereby makmg Men no other than i/ M·chin5 they take away not only innate, but all Moral Rules what/ re " d Ie'avc nota poff1bility to believe any fuch, to thofc who can- lOcver, an · 1 · 1· not conceive, how any thing can be capable of a L1w, :tat 1s not a rcc A ent: And upon that ground, they mufl necefT.mly ,reJe~ all Pnnctples ofVcrtue, who cannot pur Morality and M<chanifin together; wluch arc not very eafie to be reconciled, or made confiflcnt. § 15 When I bad writ this, being informed, that my Lord Herbert had in !;is 13.ooks de Veri tate, afligned thefc innate Principles, I prefently confulted him, hoping to find, in a Man of fo_ grea~ Parts, fomethmg that might fatisfie me in this point, and put an end to myEnqUJry. In Ius Chapter de [njlinflu naturalt,p .. 76: edtt. 1656. I met With rhefef1x Marks of bis notitite Communes, 1. Pnorztas. 2. lnc(epe?'dentt~. 3· Vntve:J.r.~~Jtas. 4, Certitudo. 5· Neceffitas, i.e. as he explams 1t, factunt ad homuus conJer ·vationem. 6. Modus conformationis , 1. e. :4[Jenju.r nu/!11 mterpofir,J mora. And at the latter end of h1s little Treaufe, De Reltgpne Lam~ he fay this of tbefe innate Principles : Ad eo ut non umufcuJufviS Re!tgto»<> conftnio arflentur qutE ulnque 1J_rg_en: verttates. _Su~t e111m rn tpflJ_m~nte ca;litus defcriptdJ nullifque tradwontbus,jiw fcrrpttS, ji'Ue non fcrtptts? olmoxidJ, p. l· And 'Ueritates noflrdJ Catho!tc£, q~dJ tanquam mdubm Du eff•ta in foro intuiori defcripta . . Th;t> havmg g1ven tb~ marks ?f the mnate Principles or common Nottons, and afferted then bemg 1mprmted on the Minds of Men by the Hand of God, he proteeds at lafl to fet tl;em down; and they are thefe: r. Ej[e aliquod [upremum numen. 2. Mtme~ illud coli debere. 3· Pirtutem cum pietate, COnJunrfam opttmam e!fe rattonemcult~ s diflini. 4· Refcipifcendum e./[e a peccatl!. 5. Dan pra:mtum 7Jel pa:nam pofl bane 'Uilam tranfaEiam. Thefe, though I allow them to be clear Truths, and fuch as, if rightly explained, a rational Creature can hardly avoid givin~ his affent. to: .Yet I dunk he 1s far from provmg them innate Imprefi1ons m Foro rntenon defcnptdJ, Fori mull take leave toobfervc, -~.1 6. Firl\, That tbefe Five Propolitionsare either all, or more than all, thofe common Notions wnt on our Mmds by the linger of God , 1f 1"were reafonable to believe any at all to be fo written.Since there are other Propolitions, which even by his own Rules, have ~s jufl a pretence to fuch an Original, and may be as well adm1tted for mnate Pnnc1ples, as, at leal\, fame of thefe Five he enumerates, 'Uiz. Do as thou wouldfl be done unto: And, perhaps, fome hundreds of otbers,.when wellconlidered. . ~. 17. Secondly, That all his Marks are n~t to be found in each oflm Five Propofitions,7Jiz.hls F1rll:,Second,and Tlurd Marks, agree _perfealy to neither of them · and the Firl\, Second, Third, F oarth, and S1xth Marks, agree but ill to his Third,Fourth, and Fifth Propolitions. For belides that, we are affured from Hillo'ry,of many Men, nay, whole Nations who doubt or disbelieve fome or all of them , I cannot fee how the Third, 7Jh. /bot Yertue joined with Piety, is the be f. Worjhip of God, can be an innate Principle, v.ben the·name,or found Vertue, is fo hard to be underflood; hable to fo much uncertainty in its fignifi.cation; and the thing it l\ands for, fo much contended about, and difficuft to be known. And therefore tillS can be but • very uncertain Rule of Humane Praaice, mid ferve but very little to the conduct of our Lives, and is therefore very unfit to be afligned as an innate practical principle. .chap. III. No .innate praelical Principles. .2; ----~--------~- §. r8 .. For let us conliderthis Propolition as to l~> !IJeaning, (for it is the fence, and not found, that 1s and mull be the Prjn,ciple or cpf11.mou Notwn) viz. Vrrtue is the befl W.rjl;ip of God; i. c. i.s IT)Oil •ciX'ptab~ to hun; wlucb.1f Vertuebetaken, a< molh:ommonJiy jt, i$, fQrthol':!lcti~n.e, wh1ch accordmg to the different OptniOHS of fevqral Countri~s, 11re· a c. counted•laudablc, w~ll be'" Propolit1on fo far froml,e,ing c~ltai]l, !)lilt it wdl not be true. If f/urne be take~> for Actions C<i>nformable tOt <;l<!>d's Wdl, or to the Rule prcfcribed by. God, which is tlie trne and only 1'0ea. fure of Vertue; then th15)'ropolitJOn, /.bat Vertue is t/Je teji ·Worfhip of G9d, w1llbc moll true aod certam, but of very little ufc in humafle l,ife: Iince It w11l amount to no more but· tlu,.., 7Jh. T!Jat God is ;;leafed zviti1the domg of wbat be CommmltU;; wlucha lX!nn may certain)y know to be rrue without knowing what it is that God-doth commnntl; and fo be J!li fa; from any Rule or Principle ofbis ACl:ions, as he was before: A1;d ( think very f~w will take a Propolition which amounts to no more than this, /Viz. That God IS pleafed With the domg of what he himf~lf commands, for an mnate Moral pnnctple wnt on the Mmds of all Men, (how~ver true <1nd certam 1tmay be) Iince 1t teaches fo lmle. Whofoever does fo, will have reafon to thmk hundreds of Propoliuons,mnat6 Principles, Iince tbere arc many who have os good a t1tle as tlus to be received lor f11rh which no body yet ever put int<J that rank of innate Principles. ' , ·· . §. 19. Nor IS the FourtltPropofluon . .(7Jh.) M.en' 1!1~ft repent oj'tb~ir Sms,. much more ml\ruchve, nil what<thofe Actions ·are, that are meant by Sms,_ be fer down: For the word Fec:ata, or Sins, being < pUt, as it ufually IS, to figmfie 10 geheral !II ActiOns, that wtll draw on punilhment upon the Doers l What great Pnnc1pk of Morality <:an1 that be to tell us we fhould beforry? and ceafe to do th~t which will bri,ng 111if~hief up· on us, Without knowmg what thofe particular Actions are, that will do fo ? Indeed, tlus 1s a very true Propoliuon, and fit to be inculcated on and ~ceived by thofe,who ar~ fuppofed,to have been taught, what A&i: ons mall kmdsarejin; but ne1ther tillS, nor the former, can be imagined to be mnate Prmc1ples; nor to be of any ufe, 1f they were inn~re, unlefs the parttcular meafures and boun~s of all Vertues and Vices, were en, graven m Mens Mmds, and were mnate Pnnc1ples allo, w,hich l thiflk is very much to be doubted. And therefore, I imagine, it will fcarce feem poflible~ that God flmuldengravePnnc1ples 10 Mens minds, in words of uncertain ligmficanon, fuchas are Pertues and Sins ; which among(\ dif· ferent Men, !land for dtfferentthmgs: Nay, it cannot be fuppofed to be Ill words at all, (wh1ch bemg 10 mofl of thefe Principles very general names) cannot be u nderflood, but by knowing the particulars compre. hended under them. And m the pra::tical infl~nces, the meafures muft be taken from the knowledge of the Actions themfclves , and the R,ules of them abflra~ed from words, and antecedent to the knowledaeofNames. which Rules a Man mufl know, what L1nguarre foever h~ chan,ce tC: learn, whether Englifl1 or Japan, or if he fl10uld learn no Language at all, or never fl10uld underftand theufe of Words, as happens in rhe cafe of Dumb and· Deaf Men. When it fl1all be made out, that Men ig· norant of Words, or untaught by the Laws and Cufloms of their Conn· try, that it is part of the Worlhip of God, Not to kill another Man . Not to kn<?w 1;1~re Women than one; Not to procure Abortion ; Not t~ expoic the If C.nldren; Not to take from another what is his, thougJ1 we want 1t our fclvcs, but on the conhary, relieve and fupply his wants: And ";;henei'Cr we have done the contrary, we ought to repent, beforry, and re.ulve to do fono more. When, l Jay, all men !ball be proved actu· ' ally |
