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Show 't ')8 Moral J( el11tion.r. Book II. ro that Rule. It would be in vain for one intelligent Being, to fet a Rule to the A £lions of another, if he had it not in his Power, to reward and punifh the compliance with , or deviation from his Rule , by fome Good and Evil, that is not the natural produCl: and confequence of the Action it felf. For that being a natural Convenience, or lnconveniellce, would operate of it felfwithout a Law. This, iflmifiake not, is the true nature of all LaiV, properly fo called. §. 7· The Lau•s that Men generally refer their Atbons to, to judge of their Rectitude, or Obliquity, feem to me to be thefe three. 1. The Divi.e Law. 2.. The Civil Law. 3· The pbilofopbical Law, if I may fo call it. By the Relation they·bear to the firft of thefe, we judge whether eur Actions are Sins, or Duties; by the fecond, whether they be Criminal, or Innocent; and by the third, whether they by Virtues or Vices. §. 8. Firff, That GOD hai given a Law to Mankind, I think, there is no body fo brutifh as to deny. He has a Right to do it, we are Ius Creatures: He has Goodnefs and Wifdom to direct our Actions to that which is bell : and he has Power to enforce by Reward and Punifhments, of infinite weight and duration, in another Life : for no body can take us out of his hands. By comparing them to this Law, it.is, that Men judge of the moll confiderable /rloral Good or Evil of their Actions ; that is, whether as Dutie~, or Sins, they are like to procure them ha ppinefs, or nti· fery, from the hands of the ALMIGHTY. §. 9· The Civil Law, the Rule fet by the Commonwealth, to the Actions ofthofe who belong to it, is another Rule, to which Men refer their ~ions, to judge whether they be criminal, or no. This Law no body over-looks: the Rewards and Punifhmcnts that enforce it, being read'· at hand, and fuitable to the Power that makes it, which is the forceo(th~ Commonwealth, which is eagaged to prated the Lives, Liberties, and Polfeflions, of thofe who live according to its Laws, and has power to take away Life, Liberty, or Goods, from him who difobeys ; which is the punifhment of Offences committed againft this Law. ?·to. Thirdly, The third, which I call the pbilofopbical Lmv,not becaufe Plulofophers make tt, but becaufe they have moll bufied themtelves to en· <JUire after it,and talk aboutit,is the Law of Vatue,and Vice;which though 1t be more talked of, poffibly, than either of the other, yet how it comes to be dlabhfhed Wtth fuch Authority as it has, to diftinguifh and denominate the Actwns of Men; ~nd whatare the true meafuresof it, perhaps, is not fo generally taken nottce of. To comprehend this aright we mufl confider, that Men~nitingimo Politick Societies, though they have refigned up to. the Pubhck the dtfpofi~~ of all thelf force; fo that they cannot em· ploy 1t agamft any fellow-C1ttzen,any farther than the Law of their Coun· try direCl:s : yet ~hey retain frill the Power of Thinking well or ill; approvmg or dtfapprovmg the A £lions ofthofe they live amongft and converfe Wtth. . If therefore we examine it right, we fhall find, that the meafurc of what ts every-where ~lied and eftee~ed Yert11e and Vice, is this approhatton or dtthke, pratfe or blame, whtch, by a fecret and tacit Confent, eflabhfl1es lt fdfin the feveral Societies, Tribes, and'Ciubs ot Men in the World : whereby fev~ral Actions come to find Credit or Difgrace a· mongtl them, accordmg to the Judgment, Maxims, or Fathions of that Place. · §. t I. That this is the common mea fore of Yert•e a11d Vice,:will appear to any one, who confiders, that though that paffes for Vice in one Coun· try,. which is counted a Venue in another, yet every-where Venue and Pratfe, Vtce and Blame, go together. Venue is every-where that which • i$ Chap. XXVII. Moral Relation.r. is thought Praife-worthy; and nothing elfe but that, which has the allow• alice ot publick Eftcem,is Vertue. Vertue lmd Praife arc fo united,that they arecalled often by the fame Name. Sunt f•a pr1EmiaLaudi, fays Yirgil;:and 10 Cicero, nibil habet watura prrzjfantiu.s, quam Honejfatem, 1uam Laudem f"•'" Dign1tatem, ruam Decu.r, which he tells you, are all Names fo< ~~~~ fame thing, Tuft. I. •· This is the Language of the 'Heathen Philofophers, who weft underftood wherein their Notions of Yertue and· f/'ioe r:onfa.fled. And though, J?Cth.aps, by • the different Temper, Education1 falhioo, Maxims, or Jntereft·oCdiffcrent forts of Men it fell out, that 1\1!~ was thought Praife-worrhy.in one Place, efcaped not cenfure in Of!odJ!:r . and fO in different Societies, Yert11es and Vices were changed : Yet as · t~ t~e Main, they for the moft part kept the fume every where. For Iince nothing can be more natural, than to encourage wit11 Efteem and Rep~ tation 1 that wherein every one finds his Advantage; and to blame aod difcountenance the contrary: 'tis no Wonder ,• that Efleerrt and Difcredit ; V:crtue and Vice, lhould in a great meafure e\>ery>where correfpond with the unchangeable Rule. of Right and Wrong, whicll tlte Law of God hath eflablifl1cd; there being nothing, that fo diredly, arid vifibly (ecures, and advance:; the general Good of Mankind in this World, as Obedience to the Laws he has fet them, and nothing that breeds fuch Mifchiefs and Confufion, as the neglect of them. And tberefQTe Men, without renouncing al!Senfc and Reafon, and their o1vn lntereft, which they are fo conftantly true to, could not generally miftake, in placing their Commendation and Blame on that fide, that reallyldeferved it not. Nay, even thofe Men, whofe Practice was otherwife, failed not to givb their Approbation right, few being depraved to that Degree, as not to condemn, at leaf! in others, the Faults they themfelves were guilty• of: wberrby even in the Corruption of Manners, the true Boundaries of the the law of Nature, which ought to be the Rule ofVertue and Vice, were Pretty well preferved. So that even the Exhortations of infpired Teachers, have not feared to appeal to common Repute. Whatfoever is IO'TJe· !J, "'bat{or:ver is of good report, if t/gre be a>~y Yertue, if tbere h any praifo, fs!c. Phil. 4· 8. §. 1 ~. If any one fhall imagine, that I have forgot my own Notion of a Law, when I mal<e t!Je LaiV, whereby Men judge of f/ertue and Yice, to be nothingelfe, but the Confent of private Men, who have not Authoncy enough to make a Law: Efpecially wanting that, which is fo necelfary, and elfential to a Law, a Power to in force it: I think, I may fay, that he, who imagines Commendation and Difgrace, not to be ftrong Motives on Men, to accommodate themfelves to the Opinions and Rules of thofe With whom they converfe, feems little skill'd in the Nature, or Hillary of Mankind, the greateft part whereof, he fi1all find to govern themfelvcs chiefly, if not. folely, by this Law of Fafhion; and fo they do that, which keeps them in Reputation with their Company, httle regard the Laws of God, or the Magiftrate; The Penalties, that attend the breach of God's Laws, fome, nay, perhaps, moll Men feldom ferioufly reflect on: and a• mongtl thofc that do, many whilft they break the Law,entertain Thoughts of future reconciliation, and making their Peace for fuch Breaches: And as to the Punifl1ments due from the Laws of the Common-W ealth,they Ire· quenrly flatter themfelves with the hopes of Impunity. But no Man fcapes the Punifl1ment of their Cenfure and Diflike, who offends againft the Falhion and Opinion of the Company he keeps, and would recommend lum(clf to. Nor is there one of ten thoufand, who 1s tltff and mfenfible euough, to bear up under the conftant Diflike, and Condemnation of his own 159 |
