^^X&^aXS^ISSX.
 
 V0 
 
 ORIGIN 
 
 DUTY A.D RIGHT. 
 
 9 08 2
 
 THE 
 
 ORIGIN 
 
 OP 
 
 DUTY -. RIGHT 
 
 IN 
 
 MAN, 
 
 CONSIDERED, 
 
 HMflN' TO nOAITETMA EN OYPAKOIS THAPXEr. 
 
 PHIL. III. V. l9t 
 
 LONDON 
 
 9RINTIB UV J. BATESON, DENMARK-STREIT, FOR 
 
 RICHARD WHITE, 
 
 nCCADILLY. 
 1796.
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 OF 
 
 \ 
 > 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 ^^ THE following work was written and pub - 
 \^IiJhed zvhen the King was on the eve of meet- 
 >.ing the Parliame?itfor the fir jl time^ after the 
 K attack made upon his perfon, in the clofe of the 
 -'year lygs ^^^ '^ '^^^ addrejjed by the Au- 
 thor to the Inhabitants of Lojidon and Wefi- 
 viinfier, as being a part of the community 
 whofe ftuation more particularly impofcd on 
 them the duty, as well as furnijlied them with 
 the opportunity , of afferting and maintaining 
 '^ the independency of Parliament. 
 en The natural tendency of that outrage in re- 
 "^ fped of the whole legifiative body (confequent- 
 ly of the Confiitution) of the country, by 'the 
 intended ruin of one of its integral parts ; the 
 daring defiance given to the laws, in the per- 
 fan of their Chief Magifirate ; and the infult 
 thus offered to the individual honour, freedom, 
 and fidelity, of every Britifii fubjcB', induced 
 the Author to blend the c off derations arftng 
 
 301084 
 
 C3
 
 PREFATORY KOTE. 
 
 immediately fro7n that events with others on 
 the Origin and Proportions of Duty and Right 
 in the Nature of Man, and on the unexampled 
 aptnefsofthe BritiJJi Confiitution for advancing 
 human fociety to its extreme degree of profperity, 
 liberty, and happinefs : And it was his dejign, 
 in cafe this hajly effort jhould have the good 
 fortune to experience any encouragement, to re- 
 confder at a future time the permanent part of 
 his fubjedi ; and, feparatifig it from what was 
 purely incidental, to give it fuch an arrange- 
 ment as might pojjibly render it not an unufeful 
 manual for affaying the value of thofe novel 
 dodrines, which go to fubvert all ejiablijhed 
 principles of fociety and government, under the 
 infolent and falfe plea, of penetrating deeper 
 into the nature of men and things than had be- 
 fore been done. 
 
 The candid treatment which he has experienc- 
 ed from the Reviews, and the favourable judg- 
 ment pronounced by fome refpeB able friends and 
 others, enable the Editor to fate the Author s 
 intention of profecuting his original defgn of 
 reviftng the fubftance of his argument ; the ex- 
 ecution of which, he hopes, in the courfe of a 
 jhort time, to be abje to lay before the Public. 
 
 April dih, i']()2'
 
 14^ E here lay clahn^ in limine of our AJdrefs, 
 to the candid judgment of that refpelahle Body 
 to whom we have ventured to prefcnt it ; /ejl 
 the compafs into which we have atteniptcd to 
 reduce fq extcnjive afubjel^ and the hajle with. 
 which it has been unavoidably drawn up, and 
 of "which it carries with it but too many 
 evidences^ may in parts have rendered the per- 
 formance involved. 
 
 If however, we JJiould have the good for- 
 tune to difcover^ by their fuffragc, that the 
 vieiu we have taken of the great qucjlions of 
 Duty and Right as fubftjling in Man, is 
 jujl ; and that the thread of our argument, 
 however it may be involved, is yet un- 
 broken ;
 
 u 
 
 brok^i; wc might be tempted at a future 
 day to elucidate that view, and to develope 
 that argument, detached from the peculiar, 
 accidental matter, *uchich has occafioned our 
 fubmitting it to their notice at this particular 
 time. 
 
 April ib^ !"]()().
 
 THS 
 
 ORIGIN 
 
 OF 
 
 DUTY AND RIGHT 
 
 IN MAN 
 CONSIDERED. 
 
 Addrejfed to the Inhabitants of London and 
 Wejiminjitr^ i^c. l^c. 
 
 i HE Time is nearly at hand, when the King 
 will proceed, in difchai^e of the high fundtion 
 vefted in him by the Conftitution, to meet the 
 Lords and Commons of Great Britain, affcmbled 
 in Parliament. 
 
 Whatever the occafion is capable of prefenting 
 to a contemplative mind, in the perfeft equipoife 
 it exhibits of the interefts and duties of aflbciated 
 man, yet, from long ufe, and familiar enjoyment 
 of the blcffings derived from the Conftitution, it 
 would have but little expedation to arrefl the ob- 
 fervation of Englifhmen at this particular time, 
 were it not for circumftances the mod afflidive, 
 if not the moft portentous, that have difturbed 
 the nation's internal quiet fmce the acra of the 
 B . Revo-
 
 ( ^. ) 
 
 Revolution ; that bxiUiaiit ^ra, in which the In- 
 terefts of the Britifh people were fecured, the 
 prices of liberty and good government afcertained, 
 and the balance of the ftate finally adjufted, by 
 the hmits alTigned to the powers, privileges, and 
 prerogatives of the three cpnftituent branches of 
 the Legiflatiire. 
 
 Tlie circumftapces here alluded to, are f a date 
 too recent, and of a quality too impreflive, and 
 having moreover taken place within the limits of 
 YOUR refidence, are of a notoriety too general, 
 to impofe the hateful tafk of rehearfing them. 
 Thefe, however, are the circumftances^ that 
 render the approaching progrefs of the King to 
 the Parliament an objedl of peculiar intereft to 
 the great body of the nation ; and that accafion, 
 which, until the infinuation of the political venom 
 of France had deranged the equable fyftem of 
 Britilh focicty, commanded always itS' natural 
 and becoming portion of rcfped", without exciting 
 any extraordinary emotion, now roufes the atten- 
 tion of the whole family of Britons, difperfed 
 throughout the empire : Who, reflecting with 
 horror upon the dreadful phenomenon of civil guilt 
 exhibitied at the time of the laft Royal progrefs, 
 anticipate with anxiety the return of that event ; 
 and, at the fame time, direft theiiv eyes upon 
 
 YOU,
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 YOU, t HE INHABITANTS OF LONDON 
 AND WESTMINStER, wliofn the tocal ar- 
 ranfgements neceflary to regular focietj^, and the 
 political and Commercial intcrefts of the Brifitli' 
 Empire, ha\x rendered the depofits and natural 
 guardians of the Legiflature of yotir country. 
 
 The pfofped of this event, acquires thus, from 
 aretrofpeftive view of the infults that the King then 
 fuftained, anintercft unequalled alas! in the annals 
 of the kingdom, becaufe unequalled in its caufc ; 
 and itpkces YOU in a fituation the moll critical, 
 as beiHg conjured b}^ the voice' of your countrymen, 
 to prevertt the attachment of that ftain'^hich 
 might adhefe to the Britifh name from fhe m6n- 
 ftrous enormities then committed. And becaufe the 
 laws of man*s nature, which confine his perfohal 
 exertions td fo narrow a fphei"e, render itimpoflible' 
 for each td concur with Kis individual fuccour to-' 
 wards obtaining that end ; they, therefore, look 
 for it from YOU, who fliare in the principles and 
 feelings common to Engliflimen, and who, exclu- 
 lively^ of YOUR own particular interefls concern- 
 ed,, are ju% held to owe this' to YOUR fellow- 
 countrymen diftributed in tlie kingdom, in return 
 for the diftinguifhed acfvajfitages, which YOUR 
 proximity to the Legiflature, and the other cir- 
 cumftances of YOUR fituation, neceflarily confer. 
 B 2 Upon
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 Upon thefe confiderations alone, therefore, that 
 the . nation looks back with horror on the late af- . 
 faults offered to the perfon of the Sovereign ; and 
 that being unable individually to difplay either 
 their deteftation of thofe adts, or their attachment 
 to the office, or perfon of the King ; or to concert 
 meafures for expelling from within YOUR reli* 
 dence, the infernal caufe of enormities endanger- 
 ing the fabric of our liberties, they look with. 
 paiTionate confidence to YOU, to difcharge the 
 peculiar duties refulting from YOUR local fitua* 
 tion : .upon thefe confiderations only, the prefent 
 addrefs is urged j in which, whether we fail, or 
 whether we fucceed, no found and upright mind ^ 
 no pure and unaccufmg confcience, will fufpedt 
 any other purpofe to be at heart, than that of 
 aiding to ilem the career of principles diffemi- 
 nated throughout the nation, but no where with 
 fo much a<flivity, fo mijch addrefs, fo much cal^ 
 culation, and, alas! fo much fuccefs, as in the 
 large and populous metropolis of which YOU are 
 THE INHABITANTS. Principles, ading in 
 direft oppofition to ever}^ admitted and approved 
 principle of civil fubordination, every inftruiftion 
 of focial experience, every light of reafon and re- 
 ligion ; principles, whofe immediate operation it is, 
 to eradicate every particle of attachment to the 
 cxifling Conftitution, whether we received that at^^ 
 
 tachment
 
 ( 5 ) 
 
 tachment by inheritance, or derived it from a con- 
 templative furvey of the bleinngs we have fo long, 
 and fo effeftually, continued to pofTefsj and, 
 creating a naufea or difgufl towards it, from the 
 very caufe which entitles it more than any other 
 to ourafFe(flionate efteem, namely, its long dura- 
 tion : that is to fay, not that decrepid age which 
 enfeebles and wears out the fprings of action ; but 
 that confirmed folidity, which, accumulating 
 proof upon proof of its fuperior aptnefs to anfvver 
 every end of civil government, eflablifiics on a. 
 bafis, immoveable by reafon, its conilant and in- 
 variable excellence. 
 
 On you, then, as proxies for the Britilh People 
 to proclaim thr fentiments on YOU, whofe 
 name the demon of treafon has endeavoured, by 
 an infernal artifice, to involve in her own infamy ; 
 a duty of this lofty nature is impofed. And it 
 is with a confoiing confidence that we looii for the 
 conduft YOU fliall purfuc, to difarm malevo- 
 lence of even the fliadow of a reafon for infinuat* 
 ing, that either by favour, or through cowardice, 
 an adult was fuffered to take pb.ce, aivJ more- 
 over to be repeated, upon the pcrlon of the Cliief 
 Magiilrate, in the heart of YOUR refidcnce, and, 
 therefore, in the focus of YOUR abilities. For 
 roalice will not be unwatchful of the opportunity 
 
 aftoidcd,
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 afforded,! fhould YOU feem not to have refledled 
 on thofe enormkies with that falutary horror, 
 which fliall detertnine YOU to ule the pregnant 
 experience of the paft, in regulating the events of 
 the future J and in ftriving to prevent a repetition 
 of the effefts, by endeavouring, with every means 
 oonfiftent with your civil duties, to extinguifli 
 or to incapacitate the energy of the caufe. 
 
 If we look for the moft general caufe of that in- 
 ternal difquiet, which at length broke forth into 
 the fcenes now under contemplation, we may ven- 
 ture, without odium, to exprefs it by the general 
 name of, difcontent : by which we mean an unea- 
 finefs under exifling circumftances, with a defire 
 of producing a change in them. Such a mood, 
 when confidered as exifting in any confiderabie 
 part of a large community, will vary its degree in 
 refpech to thofe circumftances, or, which is the 
 fame thing in its effect, in refpe(ft to the view that 
 the mind takes of thole circumft inces. For, as 
 the paffions of man are roufed and called out into 
 adtion in confequence of the impreffions recdivcd 
 by the mind ; and, as the human mind is ever 
 liable to admit erroneous impreihons, thfere can be 
 no doubt that erroneous impreffions once conv-^yed* 
 to the mind, will produce real paffions, and all the 
 
 confo^
 
 ( 7 ) 
 
 confequenccs of real pafllons, as efFe(5tually aJ 
 true impreflions could do. All cauies of difcon- 
 tent to exifting circumftances, if they are founded 
 in truth, will ad i^pon all who are in the fame 
 common fituation, and who poflefs a common 
 nature, and difcontent will be immediately and 
 neceflarily produced in each. When then the 
 difcontent originates only in a few, and is 
 only extended progrefTively to the numbers, 
 through the mediation and induilr}'- o the few, it 
 is clear that the numbers are not immediately im- 
 prefled by caufes exifling in nature, but mediately 
 through the inftrumentalty of the few in whom 
 diicontent has t^}cen place : and, as fuch partial 
 difcontent cannot proceed from general caufes 
 affecting each, otherwife each would be affcdted 
 by them, but is perfonal and original in the iijdin 
 viduals themfelves ; the difcontent that they com-, 
 municate to others, is only the difFufion or propa- 
 gation of their own difcontent. But as men aiQ 
 only to be a<fluated by a fenfe, or perfuafion of In- 
 tercft, and therefore take part with others, o^ly in 
 proportion as they conceive themfelves concerned 
 in their a(5ling ; fo the numbers can only be in- 
 duced to con<*ur with the few, by an apprehenfion 
 raifed in their minds that they have intercfts in- 
 volved or at flake ; and the imprcffion not being 
 received from nature, but bein;> produced by the 
 
 in-
 
 ( 8 ) 
 
 induflry of men, labouring under a difcontented 
 mind, and who can only reach the moral organ of 
 thofe in whom they endeavour to excite difcontent, 
 through the organ of the fancy, or that part of the 
 mind which receives the imprelTions by which the 
 paflions are raifed ; it is clear that fuch an impref- 
 lion derives its origin, not from the nature of the 
 cafe, but from the fubtilty and interefl of the 
 few, who are thus the fource and conduit of the dif- 
 content ; and confequently that it is n6t founded 
 in truth, but in illufion and error. 
 
 -.The nature and objeft of the difcontent, therefore, 
 varies in relation to thofe in whom it fubfifls ; who 
 may be faid to be of two defcriptions ; thofe in 
 whom it originates, and thofe to whom it is deriv- 
 ed ; or, in more popular and ordinary phrafe, the 
 kaderSy and the led. The difcontent of the former 
 differs in its original from that of the latter; as 
 the firfl: arifes from a principle of felf-will, th& 
 (econd from a principle of error. There is, how- 
 ever, a peculiar fubtilty and virulence in the nature 
 of this error, that renders the tranfition from error 
 to guilt rapid and complete. So that unlefs the 
 malady be flopped in its early ftage of error, it 
 fpeedily alters its quality, and may foon advance 
 to every degree of turj)itude and malignity. 
 
 To
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 To remove this difcontent, or to nullify its 
 adivity, requires a difference of procefs, according 
 to the principle from which it proceeds, or accord- 
 ing to the (late in which it fubfiPtS. That which 
 fubfifts as a principle of felf-will, demands the fleady 
 and inflexible coercion of juftice ; that which fub- 
 fifts as a principle of error, claims every aid and 
 fuccour that mercy and wifdom can impart. The 
 firft roufes in us a lentiment of the moft unqualified 
 indignation and difguft ; the fecoixl, while it dif- 
 fufes a melancholy upon the mind, awakens in us 
 a fcntiment of a very oppofite nature. 
 
 Of the two defcriptions of perfons here confi- 
 dered, the latter are infinitely the moft numerous ^ 
 and on this, as well as on many other confiderations, 
 they challenge our principal regard. The firft 
 may be confidered, in general, as the efficient, the 
 latter as the inftrumental, caufe of all our internal 
 difquiet. By wrefting the inftrumcnt from the 
 hand of crime, we ftiall ftrip it of the only means 
 it has for producing its effect. By removing error, 
 therefore, wc in a manner paralyfe the force of 
 crime. On the other hand, if we take the fulleft 
 vengeance of crime, and at the fame time take 
 no fteps to repair the wafte it may have occalion- 
 cd, the flood of error which it has difcharged will 
 ftagnatc over the furface of the country, and the 
 
 C fpawn
 
 ( 10 ) 
 
 fpavvn of crime with which the fluid fo plentifully 
 abounds, will fooner or later ripen into life and 
 aftivity. 
 
 To remove, therefore, the difcontent of the 
 majority, which proceeds from error, is a meafure 
 equally enjoined by wifdom and by charity : by 
 wifdom, as it is the mofl effectual method to re- 
 cover ourfelves to peace and general confidence ; 
 by charity, as it is the only means pofTible for 
 reinftating others in the capacity of obtaining hap- 
 pinefs. 
 
 The removal of error may be effected by two dif- 
 ferent operations, which are thus defcribed by a 
 wife and valuable writer : 
 
 " When error prevails, there are two ways by 
 " which the caufe of truth may be maintained; 
 " either by a direct and formal refutation of the 
 " error, or by a plain and effectual eftablilhment 
 " of the truth. 
 
 " The advocate for truth may defcend into 
 " the field of controverly, he may engage every 
 " adverfary that comes in his way, he may purfue 
 '' and expofe every fmgle error. But error pof- 
 " fefl'es a wide and dark dominion, and he who 
 ** undertakes the conqueft of the whole, under- 
 
 *' takes
 
 ( " ) 
 
 " takes a labour that is almofl infinite. It will 
 " flill find fome obfcure comer to retire to, from 
 " which it will be found hard to difpoflefs it. 
 
 " Tiiere is another way of removing error, and 
 
 *' that is, by a full and clear expofition of the 
 
 " truth. There is fomething much more plealing 
 
 '' to a liberal mind m the eftabUfhment of truth, 
 
 " than in the refutation of error ; as the labour is 
 
 *' more pleafmg to rear a fair and well-proportioned 
 
 " edifice, than to pull down one that is milhapen 
 
 " and ill-proportioned *." 
 
 The mode of com bating error, recommended by 
 this excellent writer, is that which we feel ourfelves 
 ftrongly impelled to attempt under the authority of 
 YOUR name, and in the opportunity that we have 
 fought for in this addrefs ; and perhaps it will hardly 
 be found in any cafe fo entirely dcfirable, as in the 
 great and comprchcnfive quoftion, which we fliall 
 now endeavour to confider. 
 
 If we examine the complexion of that difcontent 
 which has of late produced {o much alarm and dif- 
 quiet amongft us ; if we confider the period of its 
 Drigin, and the circumflances of its progrefs, we 
 
 Rotheram's Essay on Faiik, Pre/, 
 
 C 2 fliali
 
 ( 12 ) 
 
 fliali have no difficulty in difcovering that it has 
 relation to a queftion that has been turned and 
 fhaped into a variety of forms, adapted to every 
 tafte, prejudice, and capacity of man, but ftill 
 cxprefled by the fame phrafe the Rights of Man. 
 
 The manner in which this queftion was brought 
 forward before the public mind being new^ afcan- 
 dalous and too fuccefsful ufe was made of this 
 novelty of the mode to perfuade a novelty of the 
 Jubjett : and becaufe the queftion of the rights of 
 mankind, viewed in refped: of human govern- 
 ment to which they were confided, and of Almighty 
 God, from whom they were originally derived, 
 had been hitherto conduced in a manner totally 
 different from that which was then introduced, 
 it was bafely and wickedly pretended that they 
 had never been invefligated at all; that they were 
 objects of truth, newly expofed to the perception 
 of the intelle<fl by the blaze of French philofophy ; 
 and that, as they formed a body of important in^ 
 terefts infeparable from the nature of man, but till 
 then unknown in Britain, it was neceflar)' that 
 Engliihmen alfo fhould diredt every faculty of 
 mind, every energ)' of pafTion, towards this allur- 
 ing objcdt, and break in upon an eftab.ilhment by 
 which they were precluded from obtaining it. 
 Such was the dilhoneft and inlidious artifice 
 
 em-
 
 ( . 3 ) 
 
 employed by the authors of the difcontent, to 
 propagate the fpirit by which they were moved ; 
 and by the general difFufion of which only they 
 could hope to attain to thofe objeds, to which 
 their paflions fo refolutely tended. 
 
 It is a lamentable refle<5tion, that there fhould 
 have been found Engliflimen fo abject and dege- 
 nerate, as for a moment to yield themfelves the 
 dupes of {o grofs and fhamelefs a fallhood ! that 
 they fliould fo foon have loft fight of the eminence 
 on which their anceftors have ftood for upwards of 
 a century, and on which they tliemfeives v/ere 
 nurfed : that they, who were to France the original 
 archetype of liberty, and who firft fhowed her the 
 practical enjoyment of man's beft rights, Ihould 
 be imbecil enough to fufFer her to pluck this faireft 
 feather from the Britiih plume, and infultingly im- 
 plant it in her own red cap : that, after boafting of 
 the glorious Revolution for upwards of an hundred' 
 years, they fhould confent to be told by France 
 that the Revolution was not glorious ^ tl:at it was 
 only a modification of tyranny, founded on princi- 
 cipies now become dangerous and obfolete, and 
 which muft no longer be tolerated in Europe : and' 
 that they fhould have given France credit for a 
 calumny fo outrageous. Ivlelanchoiy, iiide;;d, is 
 the reflexion upon this truth !
 
 ( '4 ) 
 
 What, alas ! would be the feelings of our iliuftri- 
 0U5 anceflors, thole to whom many generations of 
 a juft and grateful poflerity have afcribed the blef- 
 iings of the freedom and fecurity they have en- 
 joyed, could they quit their tombs, and behold, 
 in the prefent age tiioufands of their fervile de- 
 fcendants, v}ing with each other to furrender up 
 to France the faireft honours of England, and to 
 concede tiie pr-hn, long fince adjudged to them- 
 feive?, to a Pa.ae, a St. Juft, or a Rober- 
 ipierre ! 
 
 If we look to that arrogant and favage in- 
 ftrudtrefs, we fhall perceive that fhe commenced 
 her doArines with a boiflerous clamour of the 
 rights of ixan ; rights, indeed, of the moft facred 
 and important i-arure to mankind, but which 
 were never worfe underftood, nor worfe promoted, 
 than in her fchool : and from this fchool of diftrac- 
 tion comes forth an apoftle of treafon and blaf- 
 phemy, an apoftate from this his illuftrious and 
 infulted country, and dares to bring forward the 
 quellion of tl e right? of mankind as a queftion 
 new to Engliihmen and unconfidered by the Britiih 
 Conflitution ; in v.'hich, whether contbrnmate 
 ignorance or viilany prevail, YOU are well able 
 to decide. For, if that Hbeller does not know, 
 that the hillory of the Engiifii nation is the 
 
 hifhorv
 
 ( 15 ) 
 
 liiftory of man's bcil rights gradually rifing iqto 
 fruit, but proceeding with that dehberation which 
 ever marks the progrefs of wifdom * ; if he does 
 not know, that at the glorious cera of 1688, the 
 rights of man were better conhdcred, better afcer- 
 tained, and better confirmed in relation to reaibn, 
 experience and religion, than at any other period 
 before or fince ; in that cafe, confummate igno- 
 rance prevails : but if, knowing all this, he nevcr- 
 thelefs denies it, conceals it, milreprelents it, fo as 
 to effeft the dark purpofe of betraying the confi- 
 
 * The cautious, and often in appearance the tardy procefs of 
 wifdom, is obvious to the perception of every wife ar.dobfervin^ 
 mind. " Ne souluiitons jamais de Rcvoluliu)i -y plaignoiis nos peres 
 *' de celles qu^ ils ont eprouvc'es. Le hien, dans la nature physique et 
 ** morale, ne descend du cicl sur ncits que lentemeiit, pcit-^-peu^ 
 " f ai prrjque dit gcutie a gcullc , mais tout ce qui est siiit, in- 
 " stantane, tort ce qui est revolution, est une source de maux.''- 
 *< Let us never uilh for revolution ; let us ccnipanionale our 
 " forefathers for tliofc they liave undergone. Good, both 
 " natural and moral, is only tranfniitted from heaven to us 
 ' llowly, by little and little, I Iiad alnicfl faiJ, drop by drop ; 
 " hut all that is fudden, inlhtntaneous, all that is (iri ilv revohi- 
 ' tion, is a fource of calamities.'' Thcfc nieiuurable wor<!$ 
 uie thofe of the unfortunate 13aii.I-Y, which lie exprelied in tlse 
 January cf the year 177S. How julUy ho fpuke, lie himfelt 
 illustriously witui fled, when at once an inflruuient and victim 
 of the very ciinvuliion he liad deprecated lie expired uu'ier 
 
 the guillotine at Paris in the year 1794. See Letires sur 
 
 L'Altantide de Platen, Gc. p. 21. 
 
 dencc
 
 ( i6 ) 
 
 dence of an inquiring multitude, and of perverting 
 the principles on which is ellablilhed the happi- 
 nefs of a great people, in order that he may raife 
 himfelf to eminence on the mound of ruin he (hall 
 occafion, then is he difcharged from the imputa- 
 tion of ignorance ; but it is only that he may re- 
 ceive that of the moft hardened treachery, and 
 deepefl malignity, that man in the bofom of fociety 
 is capable of conceiving. 
 
 In attempting to counteraft the fatal effeds of 
 that error which, by means of this queflion, has 
 been rendered fruitful of thofe dreadful fcenes 
 which fo lately difgraced the capital, it is not our 
 intention (as we have already faid) to defcend 
 into that intricate wild into which the inquir}^ has 
 been purpofely and craftily drawn by thofe who 
 affert its novelty, or to purfue all the various 
 croffings and by-paths, through which the failing 
 adverfary efcapes to prefent himfelf afrefli on fome 
 new ground j thus rendering the contefl, like 
 ikirmilhes with banditti in a foreft, interminable 
 and ineffediual. Such a procefs is foreign to our 
 prefent dcfign ; wduch is, to co-operate, to the beft 
 of our feeble ability, with the exertions YOU 
 fhall make in defence of truth and order, by 
 endeavouring to acquire and to communi- 
 cate
 
 ( '7 ) 
 
 Cite * a clear and diflinft impreflion ofthe truth on 
 which this great queftion refls ; fince, if what we 
 fliall Tubmit fhould be fo fortunate as to eftablifli 
 convi6tion, every contrary argument will at once, 
 by this fimple operation, (land virtually refuted. 
 
 The queftion of the rights of man, which of 
 late has engaged the genius of fo many different 
 cafts of philofophers, is not only of a nature fo 
 important, but is alfo of an appearance fo feduc- 
 tive, that every fair and upright inquirer, whofe 
 primary objed: is the attainment of truth, will 
 obferve the progrefs of the argument with more 
 than ordinary jcalouly ; left the allurements of 
 pcrfonal intereft, which this queftion appears to 
 oifer with fuch unbounded profufion, ftiould en- 
 feeble the force of truth, and his judgment receive 
 a bias contrary to that fide, which, if the argu- 
 ment prefented fewer attraftions, his reafon would 
 ,decidedly incHne him to. 
 
 Although the authoritative movers of the con- 
 troveriy have endeavoured to preclude all examina- 
 
 " Exiflimabam cnim pro vcritate non nifi veriute ccrtan- 
 dum, et quidem tali qiuim ipfc animo approbarein : frudra tnini 
 datiuum me opcrani, ut pcrfuaderem aliis, qnx non ante nii.hi 
 pcrfiiafiirem." Grotius, DcVerit. 1, i. e. i. 
 
 D tion
 
 ( i8 ) 
 
 tlon into the nature and origin of ri^ht, by aflum* 
 ing that part of the queflion as {ettled, yet as this 
 aifumption becomes thus the firft principle on 
 which they reft what they are pleafed to call " the 
 " eternal and imprelcriptible rights of man/' they 
 leave their argument to reft ultimately on the ge- 
 neral queftion of right. To the nature and origin 
 of right, therefore, we fhall dire6t our firft atten- 
 tion ; and if it ihould prefently appear that every 
 right in man muft have an origin, and may have 
 an end, the pretenfion to eternity in thofe rights 
 (which is eflential to the eftablilhment of their 
 argument) will be at once deftroyed : and a cau- 
 tious mind will, from this fmgle circumftance, 
 prepare itfelf to view with fufpicion and doubt, 
 ever}'' other pretenfion, however plaufible, that the 
 fame argument may endeavour to eftablifh. 
 
 [n examining into the queftion of the rights of 
 man^ it is firft of all necefTarj^ to afcertain and fix 
 the fignification of thofe words, that the argument 
 may not ftray away into perplexity, merely for the 
 want of a fufficient accuracy of guidance at the 
 outfet. It is neceffarjs therefore, to obfervc, 
 that thofe words the rights of man comprehend 
 two diftind. objefts, each demanding a diftindt 
 and full inveftigation : the firft being an inquiry 
 What is a right f the fecondan inquiry, fVhat is manf^ 
 
 which
 
 ( '9 ) 
 
 which queftions being folved, we fliall then, and 
 then only, be able to arrive at the conclufion 
 aimed at, and be qualified to pronounce, what are 
 the rights of man. 
 
 The queflion that fir ft meets us, and as it were 
 barrs the progrefs to all further inquiry is, what is 
 a right ? To this a fatibiaclory anfwer muft be 
 given, before we can advance another ftep in the 
 territory of truth. But the anfwer is eafily given. 
 Every notion of a rights is a notion of a title or 
 juji claim * to the u!'e, or pofTeffion, of fomething. 
 He who alleges a rights mufl produce a title ; 
 he mufl, in the language of our courts, Jhoiv caufe 
 why that alleged right is to ftand, and why it 
 may not be invaded. A right is a title founded, 
 not upon aflcrtion, but upon a producible proof j it 
 depends entirely upon evidence ; a riglit, therefore, 
 in its mofl general and com_ rehenfive fenfe, denotes 
 that folid and fundamental reafon,f on which a claim- 
 ant can juftly alRime any benefit to himfelf, and at 
 the fame time refifl; any operation tending to de- 
 prive him of that benefit. 
 
 A title is defined by Sir Edward Coke to be, 
 " a jujlcaiffe for poffeiTrng &:c." Titulus efl/'/^'iv; 
 
 * Jacob's Law Did. Johnfon's Did. 
 + '< Non taiitiim ut vires cogauli liabeat, ltd etiain ut jujai 
 fcabeat caufas vindicandi. S:c." Leibniz. 
 
 D 2 f.^ifi
 
 ( 20 ) 
 
 caufa poffidendi id quod nojlrum ejl.'''* This is ex* 
 adtly what the mind intends when it fpeaks of a 
 right J being its univerfal nature, whether it re- 
 fpedts eivil or natural objefts. And yet we can- 
 not but obferve the equivocation to which the po- 
 pular ufe ot the word right is liable,f namely, that, 
 it is ufed all at once to fignify both the juji cauje^ 
 or ground of claim, and alfo the objeB itfelf fought 
 for by that claim. For both in their turns are called 
 a right. Thus it is popularly faid, that " man 
 has a natural right to hfe," and again, that " life 
 is a natural right of man^" and yet in the firft of 
 thefe propofitions the word right denotes a title, or 
 what Sir Ed. Coke calls, the juft caufe or ground, 
 *'^ jujla caufa poffidendi j" and in the fecond it de- 
 notes the obje5l of a title, or what the fame autho- 
 rity calls " /W j?W noftrum eft." To difcriminate 
 between thefe two confiderations, is of very mate- 
 rial confequence towards a faithful and correct ma- 
 nagement of the argument of right ; fo that in 
 which ever of thefe two fenfes the word right is at 
 any time firft employed, in that fenfe only it ought 
 to be continued throughout ; othcrwife theconfufion 
 
 See Blackftone, B. ii. c. 13. 
 + Theindiftin6triefs, and therefore the ambiguity, of the n- 
 tions affixed to the words r?^/;/, and Jr^j, is not confined nien;iy 
 to common and colloquial phrafeology ; whicli occafioned th 
 profound Leibniz to remark ; " Juris ct Juftitise notiones, etiam 
 ** port tot prxclaros fcriptores, ncfcio an fatis liquida habf antur." 
 Lcibnizii Oj). Jvrisp. T. iv. p. Z94. P. III. 
 
 of
 
 ( ^I ) 
 
 of the two fignifications, will produce a net-work 
 of perplexity and crofs-reafoning, fimilar to that 
 which the enemies of the truth have exerted fo 
 much ingenuity and induftry to weave. Confid- 
 ently with what has been faid, are the words of Dr. 
 Taylor ; who, fpeaking of right, obfcrves, that it 
 *' is z, moral quality annexed to a perfon^ enabling him 
 *' to have or to do fomething ju/ily.'' * Now, *' t/ie 
 " moral quality annexed to the^ perfon^ is the right, 
 and the ^^ fomething that he may have, or do, juft- 
 *' ly," is the obje5i of that right, but is not the right 
 itfelf. Whatever therefore may be the object of 
 the moral quality of right in any particular inftance, 
 the moral quality muft precede it ; he who aflcrts 
 a right, muft prove the exiftence of the moral qua^ 
 lity to be annexed to him ; which gives him a 
 moral pozver over that which he claims, and efta- 
 bliOies a moral necejfity^ or obligation, to fubmit to 
 that powder. -f-. This is the neceflary and uaiverf;il 
 nature of a right. 
 
 .To eftabliih riglit on general afTertion, to pro- 
 vide it no more folid foundation than tlie peremp- 
 iorj dccifion of felf-intcreil, is to withdraw from 
 it the liable bafis of rcalbn, and to leave it on the 
 
 fluctuating 
 
 * Elements of Civ, Law. 
 
 i " dicitur, ^i/a///r?j worrt/a. Ut autcni qualltas realis in or- 
 
 " dine ad ai^tioneni duplex cfl j potentia agenc'i^ax nccissitas ar^irt' 
 
 ' (li ; ita potentia moralis dicitur jus, neccssitas nioralis dicitiir 
 
 *' ohligatio."' Leibniz. Method: twv: dnc: Jun'ip. T. iv. p. ij.
 
 ( " ) 
 
 fluctuating and treacherous furface of fancy and of 
 pafiion. In the late broils concerning the rights 
 of man, the exiilence of right is aflumed ; it is 
 no where brought to proof. It is taken for granted 
 in a gratuitous propofition, on which the whole 
 fuperftrudlure is raifed ; and as the architefts who 
 compounded it proceeded rapidly in their work, in 
 order to cover in and conceal the nature of the bafe 
 on which they were building, it will follow that 
 the fyftem fo laid and fo ereded, will be a com- 
 pound of error and defed. If it be alked, what is 
 the nature or ground of man's right to life, for ex- 
 ample, it would be a flrange reply to fay that it is 
 his right ; and yet on no better foundation are the 
 infidious fyftems fpread amongft the multitude, 
 and imprefled with the character of l^e rights of 
 man, made to depend. But, praifed be God, every 
 right that man can claim, is founded on a reafon 
 comprehenfible by our underflandings, diftincl in 
 its origin, and defined in its extent ; a reafon that 
 need not fhun inquiry, nor bury itfelf under an af- 
 fertion ; a reafon that need not doubt its ability to 
 fubflantiate the evidence required, nor fcek toaug^ 
 mcnt its authority by courting the vociferation of a 
 multitude. For, right has no fort of dcpendancc 
 upon man's afTe vera t ion. Millions of men cannot 
 create a truth j they might become organs deli- 
 vering a true or afalfe propofition, but they could 
 not confer a grain of verity on a falfe propofition, 
 
 nor
 
 ( 23 ) 
 
 nor add a grain of verity to a true one. Thef 
 might exprefs a fixed determination on their j")art, 
 to acfl in uniform oppofitiontothe evidence of truth; 
 they might make a folemn and formal covenant, 
 that henceforward the word right (hould bear their 
 new conftrudtion ; and they might employ their 
 collective force to reduce, or prevent, any oppoiition 
 to their determination j but ftili the nature of 
 things would remain unaltered ; and right and 
 truth would continue to be juft what they were, 
 though there Ihould furvive no hiUman mind either 
 capable or willing to acknowledge them. 
 
 But the nature of right is founded in what fpirits 
 of that temper feduloufly avoid, namely, a diflin<5l, 
 producible proof ; and it derives no acceflion of 
 llrength whatever from tliat on which they would 
 wholly reft it, namely, politive allertion. It is the 
 genuine oif^pring of that eternal and immutable rea- 
 lon, to which all things are iubjecled, and whicli 
 has determined their qualities, and prefcribed tlieir 
 ope nif ions. 
 
 As ti.e fyftem of Atheifm, notwithftanding tlic 
 vigorous elicits made in its favour, has not yet 
 impugned the aucient belief of a one fovereign 
 Creator, caufe of e\*ery thing e-^:!ftir:g, and ofevesy 
 relation between thole things, it is evident that 
 
 the
 
 ( 24 ) 
 
 the only original and underived title, the only ab- 
 folute and underived right, is in Him * ; and that 
 every other notion of right, inafmuch as it includes 
 an idea of derivation, either immediately from 
 Him, or mediately through the principles of 
 juftice which He has implanted, depends ultimate- 
 ly on that fovereign caufe, is elTentially referrablc 
 to it, and cannot even hypothetically be confidered 
 diflinftly from it ; fince it has the whole ground or 
 reafon of its exiftence in the fupreme determining 
 reafon, by which all things were ordained, and by 
 which only they can be explained. 
 
 All right muft, therefore, be derived, or unde- 
 rived ; and no right can be derived, but from a 
 caufe capable of devolving it. Every caule de- 
 volving right, muft either have it inherently in 
 itfelf, or muft have have received it from fome 
 ultimate caufe in which it inherently refides. In 
 examining, therefore, into the nature of right, as 
 an indifpenfable preliminary to the queftion of the 
 rights of man, wc perceive that we are obliged to 
 diftinguifli between right derive^,. and right unde- 
 
 " Dens eft fubjeiStiim juris lummi in omnia, nullius vcro 
 ** obligationis.'' Leibniz, Vol. iv, p. 185. P. II. God is 
 ** the fubjeft in whom fovereign and univcrfal right refides, and 
 " who ii therefore free from 11 obligation.'* 
 
 rived ;
 
 ( ^5 ) 
 
 rived', and thus, in order to comprehend its na- 
 ture, to albend to the governing reaibn of the 
 univcrle. 
 
 Every rldit, therefore, that of the Creator alone 
 excepted, is a derived right, flowing from Him as 
 the great Proprietor of all things ; and it acquires its 
 quality of right from this only, that it is a title con- 
 ferred by him, whofe right to confer is incontef- 
 tiblc.* Such is the ori<2;inal fource, the ultimate 
 reaibn, oi all derived right ; but it is a rcafon that 
 
 " We are lierc inquiring after that inherent right, wliich is 
 fiippofed to be annexed to every man's common nature, at its 
 ciigiii, antecedently to fociety, and to all artificial forms of 
 polity received among men. Such aright is widely different from 
 that which uaslo (henuously maintained in tl;e lalt century, when 
 tlicfpirit of Jacobitifm (clofcr of kin than the world are aware, 
 to iis near namefake of the prefent day) calculating its interefls 
 on the fide of monarchical tyranny, as its fucceffor in the prefent 
 age lias done on the fide of deniocratical tyranny, endeavoured to 
 cflablifh the divine right of kings. It is amufing to obferve, what 
 different effects one and the fame general principle can produce. 
 Botli have endeavoured to fix a form of civil polity, on a ground 
 of divine or natural right ; this is the principle common to both. 
 The Jii'inc indeJ'eafibU right to monarchy, andthe natural iiu'ij'eajt- 
 ble right to democracy, being notions of the fame identica intrin- 
 fic quality ; and differing only in the application, according to 
 different taftes and interefts. For natural and divine nvc terms 
 (it they have any meaning at all) of tlie fame n/J/rw/ figni!. cation, 
 aod neither of them in any fenfe applicable to any artificial form 
 of polity. 
 
 E has
 
 ( 26 > 
 
 has been carefully fupprefled by the movers of the 
 controverfy, becaufe it would prefcribe bounds to 
 a queftion which they are deiirous of leaving open 
 and undefined, and becaufe it would be attended 
 with the inconvenience of raifing the mind to a con- 
 templation of the fource of right, an elevation that 
 would unavoidably induce a mood, unfavourable to 
 the purfuit of right, after the manner of France. 
 To avoid this, they have induftrioufly fpread a veil 
 over the origin of the notion of right ; they have 
 choked the way to the principle of right by a 
 mound of flubborn aflertion ; they have diredled 
 the mind to that aflertion as to the ne plus ultra of 
 inquiry ; and they have feduced the unwary or 
 profligate minds of their auditors to believe, that 
 that which is only a propofition capable of proof, 
 but deftitute of all authority till proved, is a felf- 
 evident propofition j in order that they might not 
 perceive the differences produced by the differ- 
 ent modes of employing the propofition, and 
 which would lead the mind to conclufions dire6tly 
 contrary. 
 
 Such alfo is the facred principle which they have 
 dared to allege, who have deluged Europe with 
 blood ; who have taken up arms againft the reli- 
 gion of Chriilendom ; who have computed the 
 comfort of any given generation of mankind as a 
 
 cypher
 
 ( 27 ) 
 
 cyplier in the fpeculations of their philofophies j 
 and fuch alfohas been the pretext of their mifera- 
 bly deluded adherents, whofe black and flagitious, 
 but by God's providence abortive, endeavours, 
 have lately brought diflionour upon the metropolis. 
 
 AVas the notion or right as induftrioully united 
 with its origin, as it has been induftrioully difunited 
 from it ; was that connexion as carefully preferv- 
 ed, as it has been fcduloufly effaced ; was the rea- 
 fon of man faithfully informed in all thofe things 
 which are only u fed to diflurb his imagination, and 
 to inflame his paflions ; the queftion of right would 
 be an inquiry as productive of good to the moral 
 and civil intcrefts of focictv, as it is now rendered 
 luxuriant in mifchief. Did an appeal to the rights 
 of man convey the mind at once into the pre fence 
 of the moral Governor of the world, the purfuit 
 of thofe rights v/ould be conducted with that re- 
 gard to his laws, and to the various duties of marr, 
 that would infure the peace and proiperity of fo- 
 ciety. It would be a procefs of caution and 
 virtuous iacrifice, not of violence and intemperate 
 avidity j a regard to the duties we might tranfgrefs, 
 would correal cur attachment to the intereils we 
 might promote ; confcitnce and reafon wouid ef- 
 fe(5tually control the operation of crime ; and craft 
 and violence, infolence and fedition, treafon and 
 E 2 anarch\'
 
 ( ^8 ) 
 
 anarchy, would no longer be found on the fide 
 where the alTertion of thofe righ.ts was profcfTed, 
 but only on that where they were refifted. 
 
 We have feen that right, in general, is a notion 
 of title, or juft claim ; that every title fhands 
 upon its documents or proofs, and that none can 
 be admitted till its validity has been examined 
 and recognized ; that every right fiive that of the 
 Creator is deducible from Him, as the only fourcc 
 of right, becaufe the only fource of being, and 
 confequently of every attribute of being, of which 
 this of right is one. As then we have afcertained 
 the nature of right whereever it fubiifts, before we 
 can pronounce what is the fpecific right annexed 
 to man's nature, or rather what are the fpecific ob* 
 jedls to which the moral power of right in man 
 has refpedt, it will be neccflary to inquire whether 
 any fuch moral quality hreally annexed to man, and 
 how it is difcovcrable ; and then we may proceed 
 to determine, what is its extent, and what arc its 
 natural objcfts. And let us banifh the fordid fear 
 that would deter us from fo noble an inveftigation, 
 or fill us with the criminal dread of thus finding 
 ourfelves reafoncd out of right. Truth can never 
 be the obje6t of alarm to any but a diftempered 
 or a diftorted mind ; but of all invcftigations, leaft. 
 have we to fear from tliis, from which we (liall re- 
 turn
 
 ( 29 ) 
 
 mm without comparilon richer, than from the kuv- 
 Icls and marauding cxcuriion, into which the 
 buccaneers of the rights of man, have inveigled 
 their incautious retainers. What the excellent 
 Blackftone lias remarked of the ordinary conducft 
 of mankind with refpccl to the notion of the right 
 of property, may be extended to their notion of 
 right in general. " There is nothing (fays he) 
 " which lo generally ftrikes the imagination, and 
 *' engages the affections of mankind, as the right 
 ** of property. And yet there are very few, that 
 " will give themfelves the trouble to confider the 
 ** orignial and foundation of this right. Pleafed as 
 " we are with the poiieffion, we are afraid to look 
 " back to the means by whicli it was acquired, as 
 " if fearful of fomc defed in our title."* Difcard- 
 ing then a terror of ib ungracious and fufpicious a 
 c]u.dity, let us boldly inquire after the evidence of 
 our right. 
 
 As God is the only fource of right that reafon 
 or common fenfe can recognife ; and as man is a 
 fubjccl to whom a right is capable ot being annexed ; 
 w'e are to inquire whether any right llowing from 
 that Source, does infa^ attach upon that fubjecl, 
 producing a right in man : which nccelfarily brings 
 
 * Biackstonc's Com. B, II. p. 2. 
 
 US
 
 ( 30 ) 
 
 US to the examination of the fubje<ft himfelf, or in 
 other words to the fecond obje<fl of our inquiry, 
 zv/iat is man ? fince it is only by the folution of 
 this quellion that we can affertain the feveral pro- 
 perties and relations of man, and by that means 
 difcover whether the relation of right conflitutes 
 any part of the circumftances of his nature. 
 
 In defining man, it is unneceflar}" to be very 
 minute j we are all fufficiently inftrucfled in his 
 origin and nature. We Ihall therefore only ftate, 
 that man is a rational and intellectual being, whole 
 prefent form of exiilencc upon earth is of a limited 
 and fhort duration ; that he is a free agent, having 
 thepower of controlling the activity, and determin- 
 ing the tendency of the pafiions, by which his nature 
 is moved towards the objedls neceffary for its well- 
 being. That he is forir^ed v/ith a capacity for feel- 
 ing pain and pleafure ; with a powerful averiion 
 from the objects producing the one, and an equally 
 ftrong propenfity towards thofe producing the other. 
 That as he is an agent free to act or to abllain from 
 ading, fo is he refponfibie for the ufe he fhall 
 make of that freedom. That the power of con- 
 fcience within him, aided by the energ}' of reafon, 
 can obtain him a fufficient rule by which to guide 
 his freedom of acting ; and at the fame time con- 
 vinces him that his relponfibihty is juft. And 
 
 laftlv
 
 ( 3' ) 
 
 laftly, that the concurrence of this reafon and this 
 conlcience, added to the univerfai evidence of 
 nature and the convidion of mankind, eflabUfli 
 this awful and eventful truth, that he is the pro- 
 duction of a funrcnie ahiiighty Power, who pof- 
 fefies an unHmited rig/a over him, and to whom 
 lie is correfpondently bound by the moft unlimi- 
 ted obligation ; from whom he derives, together 
 with his being, every attribute eifential to his well- 
 being ; to whom his rcfponfibility is due ; and to 
 whom it mud inevitably be difcharged, as foon 
 as the fhort and temporary mode of his prefent 
 being fiiall be altered. 
 
 In applying now the notion of right, which has 
 been already defined, to the nature of man, which 
 is here defcrlbed, the queftion of the rights of 
 man alfumes an af[)e6t widely different from 
 that which it wears in the tribunes of fedition. 
 We difcover It to be an inquiry of the moft folemn 
 and facred nature ; and we find, that far from 
 having any tendency to excite the bad and malig- 
 nant paflions of the heart, or to call into adlion 
 the dilhonell artifices of the underftanding, our 
 minds antl hearts become awed in the prefctice of 
 t^ie Supreme Cauie to which we find we have 
 alcended. And that which we let out in quefl of 
 as an objccl of ]")erfonal interefl only, or of pofitivc 
 
 claim,
 
 ( 32 ) 
 
 claim, proves upon difcovery to be a queftion of 
 the defigns of Providence and of religious reierve. 
 
 If now it be afked, whether any right appears 
 to be annexed to man ? we can only Iky, that no 
 fuch relation immediately appears on the character 
 of man ; that the moft prominent and governing 
 feature In that character is, his moral obligation, 
 flowing from the abfolute and fovereign right of his 
 creator ; and that it is only by profecuting the in- 
 quiry, that we can afcertain whether, or not, the 
 relation of right really appertains to him. 
 
 We have fecn that right fignifies title j that 
 cveiy right or title is ultimately derived from God. 
 We have alfo feen, tliat man is a refponfible agent, 
 created by, and ref{)onlible to, God. If then we 
 will allow ourlelves to conlider \.hat right in man 
 wouM fignify, it will appear that it muft fignify, 
 a title devolved by God on a being, zvho is at the 
 fame time refponftble to Him for all his conduct. 
 
 The firft thing that this prefents to our notice 
 is, that man pc.lTcffing fuch a title, would fland 
 in refpcd to God under t 70 relations ; as the obje6t 
 of his bounty, and as the fabjeft of his will; 
 as deriving a privilege from God, and as being 
 bound under a certain obligation to God. But 
 
 it
 
 ( 33 ) 
 it requires no great powers of difcernment to per- 
 ceive, that of thefe two relations, of being bound 
 by certain conditions, or enriched by certain dona 
 tions, there is a difference in order and priority. 
 The plans of God are the occafion of the former ; 
 the fatisfaftion of man would be the end of the 
 latter. As much as the purpofes of God are of 
 more importance in the fyflem of the univerfe than 
 the purpofes of man ; as much as the difcharge of 
 duty in man is of more confequence to the fcheme 
 of the creation than his enjoyment of a privilege ; 
 fo much the obligation of man muft tranfcend ' 
 every other relation in him. We can indeed, in 
 fpeculation, confider man as exifting without the 
 relation of right at all ; but it is abfolutely im- 
 poffible to fuppofe him exifting without moral 
 refponfibility, which is the very eiTence of his be- 
 ing, and without which he would belong to ano- 
 ther order of beings, and no longer to the fphere 
 of man. To employ a rational agent, to give him 
 being, and to prefcribe for him a fphere of adting 
 to which refponfibility Ihould be annexed, was a 
 determination of the divine will; it was neceffary 
 to the execution of the divine plan ; but to accom- 
 pany that being with circumftances of pleafure and 
 enjoyment, which only can induce him to allege a 
 ri^hty muft be an ad of the divine goodnefs. 
 F Thus,
 
 ( 34 ) 
 Thus, the purpofe of the divine will leads the way, 
 and is the origin of our duty ; the purpofe of the 
 divine benignity is confecutivc, and can be the only 
 poflible foundation of our right. Refponfibility 
 in man, therefore, mufb be antecedent to every 
 poflible title in man, becaufe refponfibility is the 
 evidence of the title of fovereignty in God. " We 
 ** obey the laws of God becaufe they are His 
 ** will, whofe right to obedience is prior to any 
 " other confideration."* Whofe right is univerfal, 
 producing correfpondently an univerfal obligation 
 to obedience. Now, if God's " right is prior to 
 any other confideration," and if our obligation to 
 obedience is the firfk and immediate refultof that 
 right in regard of man, being in a manner com- 
 menfurate with it, or at leaft infeparable from it,^ 
 it will follow that our obligation precedes our right, 
 as rnuch as God's right precedes it, with which 
 our obligation or duty is in a manner commen- 
 furate. Our obhgation therefore is alfo " prior to 
 any other confideration ;" prior of courfe, to any 
 confideration of privilege or enjoyment, of which 
 the fole purpofe and end is, the gratification of our 
 beings. All right in man, muft therefore be fubor- 
 dinate to duty j for duty being the matter of re- 
 
 * Ellis's KmnvUdge of Div, Things from Revel, not from 
 Jieoi, or Nature. /. 227. 
 
 fponfibility,
 
 ( 35 ) 
 fponfiblllty, and relponfibility being antecedent 
 to every right, all right in man neccffarily re- 
 mains i'ubordinate to duty. 
 
 Again, the fubordination of right to duty ap 
 pears in this ; that if it be afked, whether A. B. 
 poflefTes any right, e.g. to life? it is impoflible to 
 anfwer that general queftion otherwife than con- 
 ditionally, by cxpreffing that he has a right to 
 life, provided he has done nothing to forfeit the 
 right. But if it be aiked generally, whether A. B. 
 is obliged to the performance of duty, or bound 
 to obedience, the queftion is anfwered abfolutely 
 and without hefitation in the affirmative ; it being 
 impoflible for man to do any thing tl|at can libe- 
 rate him from the obligation to duty with which 
 he is born. As then the duty that binds man can 
 never be removed, but the right that accommo- 
 dates man may at any time be forfeited ; it is 
 evident, that duty in man is of a much more 
 abfolute and adhefive nature than right. 
 
 In thus purfuing the argument of right in ge- 
 neral, to the queflion of right in man, which can 
 only be determineqiby jthe nature of man, we find 
 the ground of argument in the pofTefTion of the 
 queflion of his duty, by which it is pre-occupied j 
 
 F 2 and
 
 ( 36 ) 
 and which muft be difpofed of, before we can pof- 
 fibly proceed farther in the inquiry after his right. 
 
 And here we may obfer\^e, that in defining the 
 nature of right, we have only fpoken of a true po- 
 Jitive right j becaufe that only can be intended by 
 thofe who affert an abfolute, eternal, and inherent 
 right J and have taken no notice of the relative 
 notion of negative rights to which the imperfec- 
 tions of human fociety have given rife, and which 
 annexes no real right, but only denies. a right in 
 others to annoy the poflefllon of any one, who 
 occupies a property to which no pofitive right is 
 produced. But this negative right is in itfelf no 
 right, but a fimplepofleflion, fecured for a time by 
 the negation of any right in another to difturb it. 
 Such a right refembles that of a difleifor in the 
 opinion of the law ; " that the difleifor has only 
 " the naked pofleflion, becaufe the difleifee may 
 " enter and eveft him ; but againft all other per- 
 " fons the difleifor has right ; and in this refped 
 '* only can be faid to have the right of poflfef- 
 *' fion J for in refpeft to the difleifee he has no 
 " right at all."* Now, to fpe^of a negative right 
 in man in refped to God, ^& Would reprcfent the 
 
 Jacob's Law Dift. Right. 
 
 difleifee
 
 ( 37 ) 
 difTcifee in this comparifon ; whom man has m a 
 manner diflcifed of his right of obedience ; who 
 may at any time " enter and eve^ft him," and who 
 will ultimately do-fo without fail ; is what no one 
 wearing a f jund head and a found heart, can pof- 
 libly think neceffary ; wherefore in determining 
 the nature of right, we have only confidered a true 
 and pojitive right ; which, whether it be in any de- 
 gree annexed to man, we fliall endeavour to af- 
 ccrtain, when we have difcharged the '* prior 
 *' confideration" of his moral obligation. 
 
 The duty of man, to which the unceafmg vigi- 
 lance of confcience, and the immovable burthen 
 of refponfibility, compel his attention, is made 
 clear to him by the inftruftion of his reafon. By 
 rcafon is meant, not that multiform conceit laid 
 claim to by thofe, who are ftrenuous to maintain, 
 that every man has a right to tftink as he pleafes ; 
 a pofition groaning with abfurdity, and which 
 fufficiently difcovers how incorrect the popular 
 and colloquial notions of right are. All that can 
 be conceded to fuch a propofition is, that no man 
 has a right to control the thoughts of another. 
 But it is of very little confequence whether any 
 man has fuch a right or not, becaufe it would be 
 a control impoffible to be exercifed. The folly 
 and fallacy of thtr propofition is, therefore, expofcd 
 
 bv 
 
 ;?U!084
 
 ,( 38 ) 
 
 by a pious writer, by fliowing its impoffibility^ 
 " Liberty of thought (fays he) there muft be in 
 " all men, good or bad, becaufe it cannot be pre- 
 ** vented j but the liberty of overt actions, which 
 " is the only liberty that will pleafe libertines, 
 " there cannot be, till the laws of God lofe their 
 " force, and fociety itfelf be dilToIved." That 
 man has no control over our thoughts, and that 
 we are not refponlible to man for the ufe we make 
 of our thoughts, is undeniably true; but this 
 ellablillies no right to think as we -pleaje^ as the 
 words of the proportion exprefs. Though man 
 has no fuch control, and can challenge no fuch 
 refponfibility, yet God has that control, and will 
 certainly challenge that refponfibility. As the acfls 
 of man proceed from the thoughts of man, the 
 Power who obliges to a pro:.er production of the 
 efFedis, obliges alfo to a proper employrnent of 
 the caufe. If we are compelled to a particular 
 rule of conduct by God, we are neceifarily com- 
 pelled to a particular employment of our minds 
 in order to that condutfl. Man can indeed con- 
 trol the condud:, and by that means can {:revent 
 the ill effefts of irregular thinkirg, though lie 
 cannot control the act of thought itklf. But this 
 is not fufncient; for though " by means of hope 
 ** or fear, the bad thoughts of others may be rc- 
 ** flrained, fo as to produce no f^^fitively evil con- 
 
 " qucnces,
 
 ( 39 ) 
 
 *' fequences, yet the fame means are not adequate 
 *' to render the thoughts in themfelves good and 
 *' profitable. So that he, wliofe mind is not rightly 
 *' difpofcd will at leaft often tranfgrefs by the omif- 
 *' fionof liisduty."* With God, therefore, re- 
 f[;onfibility extends to thought as well as toadiion ; 
 bccaufe Fie has implanted in man a rule of wif- 
 dom uniform as Himfelf whom it reprefents ; and 
 He binds us as much to dired: our thoughts to- 
 wards that guide of our afting, as to adapt our 
 acting to the inftrudions of that guide. By rea- 
 fon therefore is meant, a faculty of apprehending 
 truth (according to the degree of evidence with 
 which it prcfents itfelf) which is annexed to the 
 nature cf man ; which perceives the obligation of 
 man refulting from the right of the Creator j and 
 which, when fairly and attentively direfted to the 
 evidence prefented, leads the mind finally to the 
 apprehenfion of the truth of revelation, and there- 
 by to the fulieft poflible enlargement of the pre- 
 fent fphere of man's moral and inteiledual na- 
 ture ; and to the completeil inftrudion on the 
 fubjecl of liis duty. 
 
 * " Qnanquam fieri poffit, ut aliquis fpe, metiique pra- 
 *' vas co^ita;ioncs compriniat. ne noccant (quod tam;n xgte 
 *' fit) tamcn non cfficiet ut pralnt: lf;;qiie qui iion rede ani- 
 ' matiis e{\, fa-pe pcccabit (altera officii omifllone." Leib- 
 nitz. T. iv. p, 278. 
 
 Man's
 
 { 40 ) 
 
 Man's duty is the over-ruling and determining 
 clrcumftance of all his beings it is the rule by 
 which he is bound to regulate his natural freedom 
 of a6ting ; and which diredts him fometimes to 
 obey, and fometimes to control, the propenfities 
 of his inclination. And the fum of his obligation, 
 that fcore which conflitutes the total of his refpon- 
 fibiiity is, the due obfervance, of his active and 
 paffive duties, by the guidance of reafon, during 
 the portion of time allotted him for exiftence. 
 
 Such is the abfolute and indefeafible obligation 
 under which man is born ; which is inherent in 
 his elTence, and prior to every quality his nature 
 may alTume. The difcharge of this obligation in 
 every individual, would be the fulfilment of the 
 will of God i the accomplilliment of His defign in 
 creating man. If we fuppofe this defign accom- 
 plifhed, its effect with refpecft to mankind would 
 be, to render the life of every individual, free to 
 the enjoyment of thofe various comforts and fatis- 
 fadions, which the munificence of God has pro- 
 vided, and which in that event each one might, 
 without impediment, apply to himfelf. In thsfe, 
 the faculty of enjoyment, that fo fenfibly (hrinks 
 from pain or moleftation, would meet its natural 
 and genuine obje(fts. Thefe comforts and fatis- 
 fadtions which are fo provided, and capable of 
 
 being
 
 ( 41 ) 
 
 being To applied, on the entire difcharge of duty 
 of each, reafon infers were defigned to that end 
 by their Author, who is at the fame time the ob- 
 jcdl of obligation and refponfibility. That they 
 were apportioned for the ufe of each on the event 
 of that difcharge of duty ; and as all that any one 
 can do towards obtaining them is, to difcharge 
 the fum of his own duties, he aflerts it to be un- 
 juft that others, by their breach of duty, fhould 
 prevent his enjoyment of that, to which he has 
 himfelf complied with the condition required. 
 He protefts againft the wrong, and alleges a 
 rights on the ground of the determining purpofe 
 of God, difcoverable by human reafon. 
 
 The fum of man's duty is the will of God in 
 what refpedls man ; the performance of that duty 
 is the execution of the will of God ; the confe- 
 quenceof that performance mufl neceflarily efta- 
 blifli the happinefs of all ; the happinefs of all is 
 therefore the pradical refult of the fulfilment of 
 the Divine Will. But it is alfo the refult intend- 
 ed ; inafmuch as he who wills the caufe, wills alfo 
 the effed:, and the efFeft of obedience in each, is 
 the eftablifliment of happinefs in all. They then 
 who, having on their parts, difcharged the duty 
 alTigned them, would apply to themfelves the 
 bencSts refaltingfrom that difcharge; but find 
 G them-
 
 ( 42 ) 
 
 themfelves unable to do fo, from aa obftru<5tion 
 raifed by the tranrgreffion, or neglcft, of duty in ' 
 others, and*who are therefore fruftrated of that rc- 
 fult, defigned in the f^heme of God, but counter - 
 a<5ted by the agency of man ; are fenfible, that 
 fuch an iflue is unjufh, and contrary to that rea- 
 fon, by which only we become fenfiblc of the will 
 of God. They are convinced, that it is contrary to 
 the rules by which God has conflituted the human 
 nature, and to the end for which he had defigned 
 it ; that it is the inverfion of the order propofed ; 
 that it Was propofed, that every one fhould ac- 
 complilh the purpofe for which he was created, by 
 difcharging his duty, and that every one fhould, 
 by that infallible operation, attain to thofe grati- 
 fications to which it will inevitably condud:. 
 That as it is right in refpeft of God, that each 
 fliould fulfil the will of God ; fo it is right in re- 
 fpcdt of every fubordinate being, that each fhould 
 enjoy the fatisfaftion confequent on that fulfil- 
 ment. That if any fuch being (hould become an 
 obftacle to another's enjoyment of thofe natural 
 advantages, he conceives that it is ftill right that 
 the other fliould enjoy them, becaufe it is right 
 that duty fhould be fulfilled, and it is only by the 
 tranfgreffion of duty that fuch an obftacle can be 
 raifed. Here, then, he difcovers the will of God 
 to have fo evidently defigned thofe fatisfadions to 
 
 be
 
 ( 43 ) 
 
 be obtained by man ; (being infeparable from 
 the accomplifliment of that will ;) to have con- 
 nected them fo efientially with the difcharge of 
 moral obligation in man, which is the comple- 
 ment of the fphere afligned him to fulfil ; that, 
 in refpcdl of man, he affirms it to be juft and 
 and right that he Ibould be able to acquire, by 
 the means prefcribed by God, thofi fatisfaftions 
 which the Divine Benignity has inwoven in the 
 fcheme of his creation ; he affirms that he has 
 a title to them, founded on that Benignity ; and 
 he aflerts a right to the pofleffion of them, when- 
 ever that poflefiion is either invaded or prevented 
 by the tranfgreffion of others. And thus we arrive 
 at the evidence of the moral quality of pojitive 
 right annexed to, and exilling in, man. 
 
 But it will not follow, that becaufe man's pofi- 
 tive right flows only from his difcharge of his 
 duty, that therefore if anyone does not difcharge 
 his duty, others acquire a right to difturb him. 
 Though this is to a certain extent admitted by 
 reafon, and is the foundation of all penal laws 
 among mankind, yet it will not follow that every 
 one individually acquires a right to annoy him, 
 who does not difcharge that duty to God which is 
 the condition of his pofitive right. The moral 
 government of the world allows of no fuch out- 
 
 2 lavvry
 
 ( 44 ) 
 lawry. A man may hold a poffeffion, becaufe he 
 has a pofitive right of property in it ; he can alfo 
 hold apoflcfiion, becaufe no one may have a pofi- 
 tive right to difpoflefs him ; and this is the nega- 
 tive right of which we have already fpoken. Man 
 holds the right he received from God, abfolutely, 
 as long as he difcharges the condition of his duty : 
 he retains it in refpedb to men, after it is forfeited 
 in refpect to God, until the time afTigned by God 
 arrives for withdrawing it altogether. His riglit 
 in refpedt to God is forfeited, whenever his con- 
 dud: becomes intrinfically hoftile to the will that 
 devolved the right. Every deviation from the 
 rule of duty would, in ftridinefs, annul the right, 
 did not the mercy of God concede fomething to 
 the weaknefs and infirmity of man's nature j the 
 whole fcheme of which conceflion is fpecially and 
 perfedily revealed by the difpenfation of Chrif- 
 tianity. When then the conduct is eflentially 
 and intrinfically hoftile to the will which is to 
 prevail ^ the right conferred in order to be exer- 
 cifed conformably with that will, is virtually and 
 neceffarily forfeited, upon every principle of pro- 
 bability, analogy, and common fcnfe. But as no 
 one can annoy, or difturb, the individual whofe 
 pofitive right fliould be thus extinguiflicd, with- 
 out at the fame time departing from the courfe 
 of his own duties, and purfuing a coruluft tend-
 
 ( 45 ) 
 ing to forfeit his right alfo, (except in thofe cafes 
 which rcafon, and the interefls of fociety have, 
 by common confent, pr^fcribed;) and as God 
 has refervcd to his own final judgment the Ible 
 cognizance of thofe tranfgrefTions whofe imme- 
 diate objccl is, not the welfare of human fociety, 
 but his own abfolute and almighty will ; the prin- 
 ciples of human fociety continue in their full 
 force, notwithflanding thofe tranfgreflions, until 
 human fociety Ihall terminate ; and then comes 
 on the fettling of the fcore. Then the great 
 queftion of the forfeiture of right, of the ufe 
 and abufe of the opportunities provided by God, 
 come under final conlideration ; and the determi- 
 nation of the circumflances by which the being 
 of each fliall be accompanied during the refidue 
 of exifhence, clofcs every retrofped on life, and 
 drops the curtain on the events of time. 
 
 But of what effed: is this right ; this denial 
 of right in others to interrupt or bar our pafiage 
 to happinefs, or this allegation of right in ourfclves 
 to puriue it, if in fadt fuch an interruption niay 
 ftill fubfifl, and if they who have performed the 
 condition for obtaining it, can neverthelcfs not 
 yet obtain it ? Will it be laid, that if the right is 
 acknowledged, it is a fufficient ground to authorife 
 tlie exertion of every energy of our nature, to re- ' 
 
 move
 
 ( 46 ) 
 move the intervening obflacles, and to take poiTef- 
 fionof it ? So doubtlefs it is, provided it be by the 
 fpecific procefs prepared and authorifed by Him 
 who conferred the right. Otherwife, the right al- 
 leged, and on which we juftify the purfuit, will 
 become impaired, and even annulled, if the courfe 
 we prefcribe for the purfuit encroaches on the 
 boundary of duty ; the obfervance of which on 
 our part, is the fole ground of our claim, and the 
 tranfgrefiion of which, on the part of others, the 
 only juftifi cation of our purfuit. By what means 
 then can- we acquire thofe advantages which God 
 has provided, when an obftru^tion is raifed on the 
 part of man, without at the fame time deviating 
 from that path of condud, which alone gives us 
 a pofitive title to thofe advantages ? 
 
 The object we would purfue, is one flattering 
 to our wifhes, and attractive of our inclinations. 
 The objeEl of right, that thing to which a right is 
 alleged, muft necclTarily be fomething defirable, 
 fomething the pofTefTion, or profpe<5t, of which, 
 creates a fentiment of pleafure or fatisfaftion ; 
 otherwife, it would not be purfued ; it would be 
 fliunned, which is contrary to the notion of a 
 right, which implies, a juft and perfect reafon for 
 feeking or retaining that, which we are ftrongly 
 inclined to ferk or to retain j thus rendering the 
 
 gratification
 
 ( 47 ) 
 gratification of our nature the end of our purfuit. 
 But if we alio make it the ride of our purfuit, if 
 we call upon our wifli or inclination to condu(ft us 
 in the way, we court a guide unequal to the tafk j 
 active indeed and officious ; one that will un- 
 dertake it without hefitation , and proceed in it 
 without concern ; but one at the fame time defli- 
 tute of the certainty required, and under whofe 
 direftion we may prefently trefpafs beyond the 
 boundary of right, and thereby forfeit the claim 
 which alone fends us on our purfuit. Inclination, 
 or defirc, is not therefore a competent guide, 
 either to mark out to us the good things to which 
 we are entitled, or to point out to us the channel 
 by which thofe good things can beft be obtained. 
 It fixes its eye upon the objects that pleafe it 
 beft, and the lliorteft mathematical line to reach 
 them, is the courfe which it naturally purfues. 
 Our appeal then lies to reafon. Reafon has dif- 
 covered to us what thofe things are in general, 
 that they are the various benefits of being and 
 enjoyment, which, by God's appointment, would 
 remain for every one's ufe, if all fulfilled the com- 
 plement of their duty. It infers from this, that, 
 if it were pradiicable, the way to obtain thefe be- 
 nefits would be, to obtain the performance of 
 duty ; fo far at leaft, as theadions of men can 
 
 have
 
 ( 48 ) 
 have mateplal influence on the happinefs of each- 
 other. It perceives, that it would be in vain to 
 endeavour to produce the fruit from any other 
 flock than that on which God has appointed it 
 to grow ; but that by cultivating that flock, the 
 fruit will be produced in luxuriance. That all 
 partial fchemes for obtaining this end, fuggcfled 
 by felf-intereft, and executed by paflion, are un- 
 producflive of the fruit dcfigned, and annul the 
 right on which the fchemc is endeavoured to be 
 eftabliihcd. Reafbn decides, therefore, that the 
 mode to be purfued, in order to procure a ge- 
 neral enjoyment of life, mull be one that may 
 produce a general performance of duty. 
 
 But how is this general performance of duty to 
 be accomplifhed ? God, in rendering man a free 
 agent, withheld coercion or pofitive control from 
 influehcing him in adtion ; and although his free- 
 agency will be brought to account when his prefent 
 mode of being terminates, yet, in the interval of 
 human life, God has left him in the adlual liberty 
 to ad or to abllain from adion ; to obferve the 
 rule of adion prefcribed to him, or to tranfgrefs 
 that rule. How then, confidering that the gene- 
 ral tendency of man's will is in aberration from the 
 rule of duty, can that leading intereft of human 
 
 life.
 
 { 49 ) 
 life, which can only be promoted by preventing 
 the tranfgreiTion of" natural duty, and enforcing 
 its obiervance, be fecured ? 
 
 In a ftatc of nature, or of mankind exifting 
 in a (late of total difunion, which fome philo- 
 fophers have amufed themfelves with imagin- 
 ing it, it is evident it could not. In that ftate, 
 where the natural freedom of doing good or ill 
 would exifl without diredlion, regulation, or con- 
 trol ; where the natural diverfity and inequality 
 of charaders, would operate their full effedts ; 
 where the ftrong would opprefs the weak, the 
 cunning circumvent the fimple, the boifterous 
 overwhelm the timid, the wicked in a thoufand 
 ways afflift the good; without any power of pre- 
 vention, or mode of compenfation ; in fuch a flate, 
 a pojitive right in man to advantages, formed only 
 to be the refult of an univerfal obedience to the 
 moral rule, would be a fpeculative, nugatory 
 right. An objed to tantalize the fancy and dif- 
 trad; the mind, not one to gratify or confole the 
 heart. Such a ftate would be a chaos of obe- 
 dience and tranfgreflion, a ftatc of remediiefs 
 confufion, of the moft pofitive and radical in- 
 equality of enjoyment and fecurity. 
 
 H If
 
 ( 5 ) 
 If man in the ftate of nature, and left in the ufl- 
 reftrained freedom of doing good or ill, is unable 
 to attain to happinefs j what refource is left, 
 what means exift to help him to attain it ? 
 
 We have feen that the perfed difcharge of 
 duty throughout mankind would, without fur- 
 ther operation, eftabliih for each thofe general 
 advantages, to which our nature tends, and 
 which, from the title, or right, we claim to them 
 on behalf of the God of Nature, we are in the 
 habit of exprefTmg by the words, natural rights. 
 If a fcheme, therefore could be effected among^ 
 men, that would enforce fuch a difcharge of 
 duty, this fcheme, as far as it went, would be a 
 contrivance to fecure and perpetuate right. 
 
 Such a fcheme is civil government. Man's 
 obligation to God comprehends the total of his 
 duty ; civil government concerns itfelf exclu- 
 fively in enforcing the difcharge of that portion 
 of duty, by which the happinefs of mankind 
 car* be in any degree influenced ; in order to 
 reaiife that happinefs, and to obtain the prefence 
 of thofe circumftances, which man efleems to 
 be the objeds of his natural right. 
 
 To
 
 ( 5- ) 
 To fay what thefe are, off hand as Mr. Paine 
 has done, with fo much facility and fo much de- 
 cifion, is what no fmcere and confcientious man 
 will do. He will not doubt his ability, by the aid 
 of inquiry, to difcover them as efTedlually as Mr. 
 Paine pretends to have done ; and by the aid of 
 argument, to eftablilh them at lead as folidly ; 
 but he will be thoroughly convinced, that inquiry 
 and argument are neceflary for his fuccefs. 
 
 Man's right, as well as his duty, is to be col- 
 lc6ted from the defign of God who devolved it. 
 As we have fhown it to be confecutive on his duty, 
 and fubordinate to it, it follows that there cannot 
 cxifl a right intrinfically hoftile to, or deftrudtive 
 of, a duty. By our duty we are bound ; " Firft, 
 " to the interefts of the univerfe, or of God who 
 " prefides over it ; fecondly, to thofe of the hu- 
 ** man nature i thirdly, to thofe of our particular 
 '* fociety ; by this fubordination, in cafe of oppo- 
 *' fition of intereft, the will, or, if we may fo fpeak, 
 *' the utility of God, is to be preferred to the uti- 
 *' lity of the human nature ; that of the human 
 " nature, to the utility of any particular fociety ; 
 '' and that of the fociety to which -we belong, to 
 *' our own private utility." *The privilege con- 
 
 * " Priraum mando, feu re<flori ejus Deo, dcinde generi 
 ' hamano, dcinde rcipublicae: Hac fubordinatione, ut incabu 
 
 H 3 " pugaantiae.
 
 ( s^ ) 
 
 ferredhy God on man, can never be paramount to 
 the duty impojed hy God on man. Thus, man's 
 duty being known in any one inllance, there can- 
 not exift a right, a true pofitive right, deftruclive 
 of that duty. And if unbounded ambition, a thirft 
 of blood, contempt for religion, indifference for 
 the quiet and comfort of mankind, are called forth 
 into adivity, they become the tranfgreflion of the 
 highell and the mod facred portion of duty, and 
 confequently the forfeiture of every right. Thofe 
 crimes being eflentially and eternally contrary to 
 to the duty of man, and never to be reconciled to 
 it on the ruffian plea of necelTity.* For, as man's 
 beft rights are fubordinate to all his duties, it is 
 poffible that a duty of forbearance might direft 
 him to abflain from the purfuit of the mofl allur- 
 ing form of right ; and they therefore who would 
 promote the activity of thofe pafTions, under the 
 
 " pugnantiff, voluntas, feu udlitas Dei, fi ita loqui licet, prze* 
 " feratur utilitati generis humani, ethaec utilitati reipublicaBj, 
 *' et haec propriae." Leibniz, torn. iv. p. 185. P. II. 
 
 -n " Should I at your harmlefs innocence 
 
 *' Melt, as I do, yet public reafonjuft, 
 
 " Honor and empire with revenge enlarged, 
 
 By conqu'^ing this new world, compels me now 
 
 *< To do, what elfe, tho' damn'd, I (hould abhor." 
 
 So fpake the Fiend, and with neeeffity, 
 
 Ihe tyrefnfs^lea, excus'd his devilifli deeds. 
 
 Par. Loft IV. 389. 
 
 fallacious
 
 ( S3 ) 
 fallacious pretext of eftablifliing a right, involve 
 themfelves in the guilt, and of courfc in the for- 
 feiture ; nor can a mode be imagined for reco- 
 vering the right, without returning within the 
 ];recin:rs of duty, which conftitute at the fame 
 time the boundary of right. 
 
 Many confiderations, therefore, muft precede 
 a judgment given upon this queftion. Reafon 
 niufl exercife herfelf on certain data, before fhe 
 can pronounce a decifion, or deduce a conclu- 
 fion ; but leaft of Ull will Ihe admit, without ex- 
 amination, and without tracing their comiexion 
 v/ith truth, the promptings of interefl and paflion 
 in their own caufe ; lealt of all will llie furrender 
 up her judicial authority, to the petulance and 
 clamour of fancy and of error. 
 
 V To fpecify the natural rights of man, would be 
 to enumerate evciy poilible advantage or fatisfac- 
 tion that would enfue an univerial and complete 
 difcharge of duty ; which furpafs the calculation, 
 as they exceed the expeftation, of man. This 
 may be confidered as the extreme fpeculative 
 px)int of man's right. A point of imaginary per- 
 fcdlion, not more to be looked for in fa6t, than 
 any other of thofe perfedlions, which it is pofTible 
 for the mind to furvey in contemplation, but 
 
 which
 
 ( 54 ) 
 which youth, ignorance, or enthufiafm only, can 
 be idle enough to exped. Short of this extreme 
 point, however, are many degrees of practicable 
 enjoyment of thofe good things we call our rights ; 
 abundantly fufficient to anfwer every important 
 purpofe for which man is placed on earth, and to 
 fatisfy all thofe inclinations, that reafon will either 
 encourage or approve. To attain thefc, he is pro- 
 pelled, fometimes, by the impuife of delire, fome- 
 times by the inftigation of duty j again, to regu- 
 late or check his purfuit of them, he is con- 
 flrained, by the force of confcience, fometimes 
 by the pofitive prohibition of duty. To fpecily 
 or enumerate all the objedts to which the right 
 annexed to man has relped:, would therefore be 
 impoffible, fince thofe objed:s vary their relation 
 to man according as circumftances vary, and ac- 
 cording to the relative inftru6lions of duty. So 
 that what is one day the objed: of a right ; another 
 day lofes that relation altogether. Thus, the 
 right to life, which is alleged to be a practicable 
 right to-day, may be converted into a nugatory 
 right to-morrow, by being caft on a defolate Ihore 
 without the means of fubfiftence ; or it may be for- 
 feited, by the commiffion of crime, that is by the 
 tranfgreffion of duty ; or it may be overruled by a 
 fuperior right, as when duty, which is the right of 
 God, directs to furrender it; or it may be limply 
 
 with-
 
 ( 55 ) 
 
 Withdrawn, as it effeftually is, when man is remov- 
 ed from the prcfent fcene of exiftcnce. And this is 
 fufficient to fliow us, how incorredt the notions of 
 riglit, promulgated by the profefled heralds of the 
 Rights of Man, are j with what inconfiderate hafte 
 their equivocal nomenclature has been adopted ; 
 and what a tangle of thoughts and conceits this 
 hafty adoption muft unavoidably produce. 
 
 But, if it exceeds the pofiibility of human cal- 
 culation to afcertain a// " i/wfe good things zvhick 
 God 'has provided'' to be the refult of univerfal 
 obedience, it may perhaps be pofiible to adduce 
 fuch of them as are of principal ufe and accommo- 
 dation ; fuch as the human nature demands for the 
 perfection of its different powers ; we may be able 
 to form fome notion of that condition of being 
 which would follow fuch obedience, and ufe it as a 
 general rule in delineating what we conceive to be, 
 our natural rights, or, the genuine objedls of that 
 right or title which we affirm to have been annex- 
 ed to us, by the bounty of the God of Nature. 
 
 And this we cannot better do, than by letting 
 ourfelves inquire, without faftidioufnefs or fear, 
 PVhy man is favoured with any fuch privilege at 
 all ? This queftion it cannot be difficult to refolve ; 
 for, as the privilege is conferred by infinite wifdom, 
 
 tlie
 
 ( 56 ) 
 
 the reafjn of man will moft probably be able to 
 trace out fome motive or final caufe, in refpeft 
 of which it is conferred. And this will at the 
 fame time greatly contribute to determine, the 
 nature and extent of the privilege itfelf. In a ge- 
 neral view, thofe objedts are certain circumftances 
 neceffar}^ to the well-being of man, and conftitut- 
 ing the beft condition of his prefent nature : and 
 the prefence of which, produces a fentiment of 
 complacency and fatisfadtion in him ; the quef- 
 tion then is. Why is man endowed with the 
 means of obtaining the prefence of thofe circum- 
 ftances, and why does their prefence produce a 
 pleafurable fentiment in him ? 
 
 It is the natural effedl of the continued aclion 
 of the force of habit, to obtund and deaden our 
 obferving and fentimental faculties, even againll 
 objcdis the befh adapted to excite them ; but if 
 we can fuppofe ourfelves fuddenly brought into 
 being, pofTefTrng all thofe faculties in their full 
 perfedbion and vivacity, becaufe unimpaired by 
 cuftom, the vilible objedts of nature would 
 roufe in us that fentiment which Milton fo beau- 
 tifully afcribes to Eve : 
 
 " That day I oft remember, when from fleep 
 
 * I firft awak'd, and found myfelf repos'd 
 
 *' Under a (hade on flow'rs, much tuondering nvbence, 
 
 " And ivhat I 'was, luhence thither brought, and hotv." 
 
 If
 
 i 57 ) 
 
 If we claim then the charafler of philofophen, 
 (and luch is the univcrfal ambition of the age) let 
 us awaken this reafonable furprife, which forty or 
 fifty years are not qualified to extinguifh ; and let 
 us not wear our exiftence like children, who never 
 afked themfelves that pregnant queftion, 
 
 " What am I, and from whence ?'* 
 
 Let US not flirink from an inquiry (6 aidful to 
 the prefent argument. Why is man formed with 
 the power of applying to himfelf thofe advantages 
 of outward circumftance, by which the faculties of 
 his nature are foflered and brought to their beft 
 maturity, and which he calls his natural rights ? 
 The anfwer is obvious and conclufivc. It is, in 
 order that he may, without control or hindrance, 
 execute the tafk for which he is placed on earth, 
 and for the performance of which he is accountal')le ; 
 and the fentiment of pleafure is annexed, primarily, 
 as a (limuiant to urge him to purfue the fiiuation 
 in which his powers may be beft qualified for the 
 dlfcharge of his duty ; fecondarily, as a provifion 
 of bounty, to render his inevitable exiftence a cir- 
 cumftance of delight. For that his exiftence, in 
 refpe(fl of himfelf, is inevitable, appears from this ; 
 that it depended in no degree upon his ov/n 
 confent, but upon the abfolute will of Him whofe 
 purpofe it fuited to employ him in the fciicme 
 
 I of
 
 ( 58 ) 
 
 of His creation ; and from this alfo, that let him 
 ftrain and ftruggle as he will, he can never detach 
 from himfelf the growing burthen of refponfi- 
 biiity, until it be finally removed by the fame 
 terrific and almighty hand that firfl attached it. 
 
 The end of this privilege, then, appears to be, 
 firft, to enable man to polLfs his being free for 
 obedience to the will of God ; and fjcondly, to 
 render that being happy and delightful to bimfelf. 
 But the firft of thofe purpofes is, in every refped, 
 anterior to the latter. Man knows the duty to 
 which he himfeif is obliged, and in knowing this, 
 he knows the rule by which every other man is 
 obliged. The obfervation of this rule is the fum 
 of each man's obligation, the meafure of his re- 
 iponfibility ; and from that obfervance flows the 
 pofitive right he derives to thofe things, which, un- 
 happily for precihon, he has alfo chofen to call his 
 rights. To obferve this rule is to purfue the courfe 
 that leads to the right to, and to the pofleffion of, 
 happinefs. To purfue that right and that poflef- 
 fion by the only courfe prefcribed by God, would 
 be to difcharge the complement of our duty, and 
 to fulfil the end of our being. Here, then, is an 
 intimacy which nothing can dilfoive, a relation 
 which nothing can.difiurb. He that wi.l difcharge 
 the condition of his nature, v^'ill eftablifli a pofi^ 
 
 tivQ
 
 ( 59 ) 
 
 tive right ; he that would acquire a pofitive right, 
 mull difcharge the condition of his nature. 
 
 The negative right above fpoken of, which, as 
 we obfervcd, is in fact no right, but only actual 
 poirellion fccurcd for a fhort time by the non-exift- 
 ence of any human right to inva.ie it, may fatisfy 
 tlioie who terminate their views and fpeculations in 
 this narrow and fordid fphere of being ; it may, for 
 the prefent, anfwer every end of ambition, of plun- 
 der, of cruelty, of revenge, of oppreflion, but it 
 will never, even here, be able to fupply the place 
 of that true, pofitive right, defigned by God's 
 goodnefs, in the mind of any one who is confcious 
 of the nature he wears; who values happinefs only 
 according to its permanency ; and who has accuf- 
 tomed his reafon and his fentiment to fwell to 
 the extent of that duration, which all the efforts 
 uf impiety and wickedncls cannot abridge ; and 
 to which they who fliun it, equally as they who 
 court it, will at laft be obliged to fubmit. 
 
 As each one is bound to the condition of duty, 
 each, while he difcharges his own duty, may refill 
 any interruption he might experience from another's 
 deviation from the courfe'of his duty. He can do 
 this upon two grounds; firft, becaule iuch an in- 
 terruption may not only obftrucl his pcrfonal gra- 
 
 l 2 tifi-
 
 ( 6o ) 
 
 tific^tion, which Is a fecondary confideratlon, but 
 it may alfo obftrudt the femce in which he is era- 
 ployed by God, which is his principal concern ; 
 iecondly, becaufe the fatisfaclions which are pro- 
 vided to be the refult of univerfal obedience, can 
 only be obtained by that obedience, and each can 
 only contribute the fum of his own obedience. 
 So tliat he is obliged to refiil the interruptions he 
 might experience in the difcharge of his duty, by 
 the tranfgreffion of duty in others, unlefs when 
 the rule of obligation prohibits the refiflancci 
 and he is autkorijed to exercife the right his obe- 
 dience has given him, in obtaining what the tranf- 
 greflion of others deprive him of, by compelling 
 that obedience which only can procure it. 
 
 Here, then, man is direded by duty, to em- 
 ploy adive means for controlling the tranfgreflion 
 of others, whenever it interferes with the dilcharge 
 of his duty, in all cafes where that duty does 
 not enj.oin fubmiffionj and he is privileged by 
 right, to employ adive means of acquiring for 
 himfelf thole advantages, which the tranfgreffion 
 of others only can withhold from him, unlefs 
 where the fame duty enjoins forbearance ; fo that, 
 in both cafes, the regulation of man's condud 
 remains ever and equally under the abiolute control 
 and diredion of dut^\ 
 
 All
 
 < 6, ) 
 
 All this, however, in the way o'i faEl, man 
 can do, and apply all thefe benefits to his own ufe 
 even though he have forfeited his j3oritive right, 
 provided he has not tranfgreHed in thofe particulars 
 which entitle fociety to abridge him of that capa- 
 city. For, as God has referved the cognizance 
 of thefe cafes entirely to himfelf, and has not left 
 to us the liberty " of judging of another man's 
 *' fervant i" as long as lite continues, every fucli 
 perfon can aflume the benefits due only to obedi- 
 ence, on the fame principle as the *' jnn is madt 
 " /o r;/^ equally upon the jiiji and the imjiif; ,'" and 
 he may challenge the duty of others, equally as 
 if he dilcharged that condition which alone can give 
 him a true title fo to do. He may thus pafs the 
 refidue of his life in abufe of the regulations of 
 God ; a fort of privileged ufurper ; but the ad- 
 vantage, if any it is, can be but of very Ihort 
 continuance, and is obtained at the dreadful price 
 of an infolvent rcfponfibility. But thefe being in- 
 fradlions of, and therefore exceptions from, the 
 general plan, they of courfe form no part of that 
 (latement, in which our only aim is toeftablifh the 
 truth. 
 
 The right ufe of the power and faculties of man, 
 is the objcd of duty ; thefe powers and faculties 
 are contided to his caie; and he. is not only to ufe 
 
 them
 
 ( ('^ ) 
 
 them well on every diftindt occafion, but m gene- 
 ral, to maintain them in the beft condition attain* 
 able. If the departure from duty in others goes to 
 invade thofe powers or faculties, we muft refift and 
 repel the invalion ; in doing which, we difcharge a 
 duty ; but at the fame time, in confequence of an 
 union eftablifhed by the divine goodnefs, we 
 acquire a gratification. The difcharge of the duty 
 however is the firil in order, as it is in importance. 
 If we made the latter our firfh motive, we fhould 
 have no certain rule by which to adl ; for gratifica- 
 tion is to be found in innumerable objects, entirely 
 diftinft from, often directly contrary to, our duty. 
 We Oiould prefently exceed our right, and lofe it 
 infhead of confirming it. When duty ceaies to 
 dire(5t us to fuch refiftance, prudence commands 
 us to halt ; we have loft our only infallible guide ; 
 perfonal fatisfaclion is the only candidate to fucceed 
 her i and the vicinity of error cautions us not to 
 hazard an advance, left we find ourfelves in rapid 
 progrefs beyond the line of duty, and riik to facri- 
 fice the right for which only we contend. As the 
 will of God is what moft concerns a moral and 
 refponfible creature ; and as, when that will is 
 fatisfied, the principal concern of man is fatisfied, 
 we may reafonably remain contented with the 
 fatisfaclions which an unreftraincd power of dif- 
 charging our obligations to God will afford ; efpe- 
 
 cially
 
 ( 63 ) 
 
 cially as the bounty of God has {o enriched the 
 world with means of enjoyment, adapted to every 
 lituation in it ; and as even the j^radiicable degrees 
 of obedience attainable amongft men, furnifh every 
 thing that man's nature can abfolutely need, or 
 reaibnably dcfire. 
 
 The rule of duty, as it is the general rule pro- 
 vided in nature, lo it is, at the fame time, the 
 mcjOi diftind: and fatisfaftor}' one for afcertaining 
 what our nature abfolutely demands. When we 
 are confciou- tiiat the difchargc of a duty is re- 
 quired of us, and that it is witliin our power to 
 remove the impediment that obftrufts us in the 
 difcharge of it, then the removing the impedi- 
 ment incorporates itfcif into the duty to be dif- 
 charged, and becomes a part of it. If it be our 
 duty to repel an intrufion, by rcpelliiig it we dif- 
 charge a duty. Jf the intrufion be at t'le fame 
 time, afflidive of our feelings, as well as obftructive 
 of our duty ; if the removal of it procures us thofe 
 benefits we call our rights, as wed as enable us to 
 difcharge thofc obligations we call our duties ; in 
 purfuing the right we difcliargc a duty, in dif- 
 charging the duty, we eftablilli a right. Su:h is 
 the indiifolubie union, eflablilhed by tlic goodnefs 
 of the Creator, between natural duty aiid right 
 in man 3 between that abtolute and indeieahblc
 
 ( 64 ) 
 
 6bligatIon under which man is born, and that origi- 
 nal and comprehenfive right annexed to his nature 
 by its Author, which our adverfaries, if they mean 
 any thing, muil be fuppoled to mean, by " ahfo- 
 " lute right.'* " Thofe abfolute rights which are 
 ** veiled in him by the immutable laws of nature,'* 
 and which, " fuch as are focial and relative reiult 
 ** from, and are pofterior to. Tiiofe abfolute rights, 
 " which are ufually fummed up in one general 
 " appellation, and denominated the natural liberty 
 ** of mankind being a right inherent in us by 
 " birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his 
 *' creation. *" *' This is the only true and folid 
 " foundation of man's dominion over external 
 *' things, whatever airy metaphyfical notions may 
 " have been ftarted by fanciful writers upon this 
 fubjed.t" 
 
 Man Is not to quarrel for his rights, like chil- 
 dren for their cakes or toys; as if the whole pur- 
 pofe and end of them was to gratify his individual 
 propenfities. The endand purpofe of right in man, 
 or of the moral power of acquiring thofe outward 
 circumflances which have been called his abfolute 
 rights, is, to render his being as perfecfl as it will 
 admit of. But for why ? Not primarily for the 
 
 Blackftone'i Comm. b. i. p. iJ4 5. + lb. b. ii. p. 3. 
 
 plea'
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 pleafure, amuiement, or indulgence of man. No 
 one who has ever refle(5led upon Infinite Wifdom, 
 can hold fo coarfc and fottilli a belief. But it is, 
 to render him a more free and efficient agent within 
 his department, to execute the purpofe of God. 
 It is, that he may be under the bed circumftances 
 for accomplifliing the dcfign of Infinite Wifdom 
 in the fphere prcfcribed for him, and with which his 
 real happinefs is indilTolubly linked. In proportion 
 as the aiflual fituation of man is deflitute of thofc 
 circumftaiices, or removed from that perfection ; 
 and that he feels himfelf unable to purfue the 
 courle that he is conlcious is prcfcribed to him, 
 without exerciiing his active powers in overcoming 
 impediments obftru6ting that courfe; in the fame 
 proportion the efforts he makes to emancipate 
 himl'clf from thele conilralnts, become the dif- 
 charge of that duty, which, as it requires a good 
 employment of his ]:)owers, requires neceffarily the 
 maintenance of tlioi'c powers in the bcft and the 
 mofl free condition attainable. On the other hand, in 
 proportion as he polfcfles thefe favourable circum- 
 ftances, and approaches to that perfciftion, the 
 neccfTity of luch efforts diminlflies, and the right 
 remaining to be fecured is reduced. But if at 
 any time he is io invcfled with tlie circumftances 
 required for his well-being, and approximates lb 
 nearly to that perfcflion, as to potfefs the full 
 
 K and
 
 ( 66 ) 
 
 and free agency of his refponfible faculties , to he 
 able to expand his nature to the wideft capacity 
 of the fphere in whicli his creator has placed him, 
 and to difcha;ge^is duty without moleftation or 
 conftraint; then, the duty of felf-emancipation 
 ceafes with the occafion for it, and of courfe all 
 the right, which cannot outlaft the occafion. And 
 every degree of violence employed, every interrup- 
 tion of general tranquillity produced, with a view 
 only to promote the intereft of perfonal ambition, 
 or to obtrude the fpeculations of enthulijsfm, under 
 the pretext of afcertaining a natural right, being 
 deferted of the only ground of reafon that could 
 give it fupport as fuch, becomes an unqualified and 
 bare tranfgrefiion of duty ; and is a crime aggra- 
 vated in its nature, in as much as it has the auda- 
 city to plead a natural right, which fignifies a titky 
 or grant, conferred by God, at the very time 
 that it is openly and impioufly tranfgreffmg his 
 commands. 
 
 How this may apply to England, we leave it 
 with YOU to determine. Look back to the paft 
 hiftories of mankind. Look forth upon the 
 preient face of human affairs. Look to the prin- 
 ciples of that Conftitution which, till the French 
 eruption, we were all taught to revere ; and to the 
 practical blelTmgs flowing from it, which we flill 
 
 do
 
 ( 67 ) 
 
 do not ccafc to enjoy; and then do YOU pro- 
 nounce, whether this is the country, in which the 
 nature of man is deflitute of the circumflances, 
 that enable him to execute freely the great purpofe 
 for which he was placed on earth ; whether this 
 is the country, in which man's nature may not 
 attain to the greateft degree of perfection, (con- 
 fequently of natural happinefs,) attainable by man? 
 And if this is not the cai'c ; if the contrary fliould 
 prove to be the cafe; if the annals of our diftin- 
 guiihed nation, the biography of our illuftrious 
 countrymen, our own unvarying experience, and 
 the concurring fcntiments of every rival people, 
 exclaim againft the ingratitude and blafp' emy of 
 fuch a doubt ; then, neither is it the country in 
 which ambitious violence, or turbulent intrigue, 
 can efcape the abhorrence of the reafonable and 
 virtuous portion of mankind ; the curfes of a neg- 
 lected and defrauded pofterity ; and, what is far 
 worfe, the fullefl meaiure of condemnation, at the 
 future tribunal of heaven. 
 
 What has been ftated, fliows the nature, origin, 
 and end of natural right in man. It is communicated 
 from God, who has annexed it to our nature; and 
 made it dependent on the fulfilment of that obli- 
 gation, by which we are bound, antecedently to any 
 annexation of right. In annexing a right to our 
 K 2 nature
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 nature, God afligns over to each of us an intereft 
 in that general obligation, by which all are bound 
 to Him. For as right and obligation are reciprocal, 
 (all rigiit neceffarily producing a correfpondent 
 obligation) and as the obligation by which man 
 is bound in duty to man, is no other than a part of 
 the obJigation by which all are bound in obedience 
 to the will of God ; it is clear, that the right 
 which iiian is enabled to claim in refped: of man, 
 and which produces a correfponding obligation, 
 can be no other than the fovereign right of God, 
 partially and conditionally communicated by Him 
 to man. Thenotioixof rightinman, therefore, fprings 
 from a notion of obedience, or, of duty difcharged on 
 hb part. Its genuine ol.je6ts can only be obtained, 
 by an univerfal difcha'"ge of duty. To produce this 
 ger.eral discharge of duty, (at leafl in fuch refpedls 
 as influence in the intercourfe between man and 
 man) as the on'y prafticable method for obtaining 
 thofc objects, is the dcfgn of civil government ; 
 which is empjoyed, in contriving the means for 
 producing that conduct from whence the general 
 good may rcfult, and in putting thofe means 
 into execution. 
 
 Duty, therefore is the ru/e by which civil govern- 
 ment a<5ls, in or..er lo attain the end ior which it was 
 deviled, namely, the happinefs of mankind, dur.ng 
 
 their
 
 ( 69 ) 
 
 tlieir tranficnt cxlftcnce upon earth. That it has 
 been ib conliderecl by the bed and wilcfl of men, 
 from the firfl dawn of civil poUty, to its full meri- 
 dian in Britain, might be fhowed by an hoft of 
 evidence. But fuch evidence would contriI:)ute 
 nothing towards determining the prefcnt contro- 
 verfy, in which a formal appeal is made from the 
 colle(ftive energies of reafon, and her moft applaud- 
 ed decifions in time paft, to the collufive affertions, 
 and canvaired aflents, of the intereft and paffion of 
 the day. We therefore wave the venerable fup- 
 port we might bring to the argument from that 
 evidence, and content ourfelvfs with Hiowing, that 
 without reference to times paft, or to any extra- 
 neous authority whatever, it they will only con- 
 fent to let reafon at the prelent day be arbitrator 
 in the difpute, ilie will decide and demonftraie to 
 the fulleft conviction, that duty is the only poffi- 
 ble rule or bafis of civil govLTnment ; and t'lat 
 no pofitive right in man can be deduced, or ima- 
 gined, that has not its origin in a notion of duty. 
 
 If we would, in a few words, expofc the reafon 
 of that prodigious diifercncc which appears between 
 the fyftem ot ibciety propagated from tiie French 
 eruption, and every other that the jM-aclice of 
 mankind had before experienced, or the ingenuity 
 uf philofophers dcvifed, it perhaps could not be 
 
 more
 
 ( 7 ) . 
 
 more clearly done than by faying, that every other 
 fyftem of government, every other form of focial 
 union, every difcourfe on human law, every trea- 
 tife on jurifprudence, has laid its firft foundation 
 in, the duty of man* They have conceived it to 
 be the natural and necelTary fource of every good 
 that law, government, or fociety, can poflibly in- 
 tend ; the only rule by which it can be obtained. 
 France, on the other hand, labours to make rights 
 or, as they equivocally call it, the the rights of man, 
 the bafis and rule of all government. To their 
 arbitrar)% uncertain, and fluctuating notions of this 
 right, they endeavour to fquare and bend the na- 
 ture of duty ; inftead of ufmg the diftindl, unalter- 
 able, and only unerring rule of duty, to trace out 
 the natural form and real proportions of right. When 
 we confider this new fyftem, in comparifon with 
 what the world had conceived before that inftruft- 
 refs opened her fchool, we appear to fee two cones, 
 the one inverted and labouring to ereft itfelf upon 
 its apex, the oth^r ftanding on its broad foundation, 
 and eftabliflied without effort by the immutable 
 iaws of nature. 
 
 * " Rationi valde confcntaneum exifllmena, politicas inftitu- 
 ** \\onc%exordiri ab ilia prima philofophia- nioralis parte, qux, 
 *' velut unica vita: huiuiiuiin reflrix et masiiftra, singulos sui 
 * muneris ac ojjj[n.ii admonet.'' Bibliogr. Politica Naudai. Grotii. 
 Pid. i2mo. 
 
 When
 
 ( 7' ) 
 
 When Plato confidered the effects of civil 
 government, and the benefit that It was enabled 
 to impart to mankind by reflraining crime and 
 compelling to duty, his admiration drew from him 
 the doubt, whether it were not a fchemc of divine 
 original, a contrivance communicated from God 
 to man. Though Plato may be derided, or forgot- 
 ten, in France, though he may be without autho- 
 rity in England, yet every feeling and thinking 
 j)erfon will recognife the ground of his admiration, 
 and will dlfcern, that if civil government was not 
 formally communicated from God, it neceflarily 
 arofe out of the provifions of God, the relations of 
 man, and the inilruftions of reafon. It had one 
 general end, common to every local lituation of 
 man, namely, the acquirement and fecurity of thofe 
 advantages which can only be withheld from the 
 obedient by the tranfgreilion of the difobedient ; 
 and it employed one univerfil mean to attain its 
 end, namely the coercion of crime, and the com- 
 pulfion to duty. 
 
 Thefe advantages, common to every lituation 
 of man, becaul'e adapted to the common nature, 
 coniliturc the natural object which the right annex- 
 ed to man refpedis. Thefe, by abufe of language, 
 are in common phrafe called, the natural rights of 
 
 man
 
 ( 7^ ) 
 
 man ; from being the appropriate objed: of the 
 right annexed to his particular nature, by the 
 Author of univerfal nature. ' 
 
 In attempting to afcertain what thefe are, it 
 is of the highefl importance to be careful to difbin- 
 guiih, between the infbruftions of reafon, and the 
 promptings of paflion. As the objects that can 
 induce man to affert a right, muft poffefs allure- 
 ments to intice him to purfue them, and as every 
 objedl that flatters or pleafes the paffions, polTefTes 
 ftrong allurements alfo, it is of extreme confequence 
 to difcriminate, between the confent of reafon, and 
 the propenfity of inclination ; between thofe allure- 
 ments, towards which reafon favours the propenfity, 
 and thofe, towards which the propenfity is wholly 
 urged by the activity of paflion ; left by miftaking 
 the one for the other, endlefs confufion and mif- 
 adventure fliould enfue. To endeavour, therefore, 
 to afcertain the proper obje6t of a right annexed to 
 man, folely by the quality of the temptations they 
 may prefent ; that is, by the relation they Ihali 
 bear to our inclinations and our wifhes, and not to 
 that fundamental reafon which alone eftablifhes the 
 right to them, would at the befl be equivocal ; and 
 would furnifh us with no fubflantial evidence that 
 our inquiries had been fuccefsful. It would be 
 inclination appealing to its own verdi(5t ; there 
 would neither be autliority nor proof. Such a pro- 
 
 ceG
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 cefs might advance the interefls of anarchy or fedi* 
 tion, but would be radically dc{lru(flive of tlie in 
 
 tercfts of civil government. 
 
 If truth is the objed (and we are to fuppofe 
 it to be fo till we have either proof, or very jhrewd 
 reafons to fiifped that it is not) wc muft look for 
 fome teft by means of which that truth may be 
 tried. Of the validity of this teft reafon is to 
 judge ; but reafon difcovers no fuch validity in the 
 plea fet up by inclination or dcfire, unfupported 
 by other authority. Where then can w^e look for 
 fuch a teft ? we have feen how intimi.te an union 
 fubfifts between duty and right in man ; that they, 
 in a manner, fhape each other's courfc ; that they 
 confine on each other's territory, that the outline 
 of duty, becomes at the fame time the delineation 
 of right. From the well-examined country of duty, 
 we are to proceed in qucft of difcoveries, in the 
 unexplored, or uncertain diftridt of right. The 
 dutv of man we know , with this given quantity it 
 will not be difficult to obtain the produce of right. 
 It is a rule that cannot millead us. It offers 
 nothing to allure our pafTions ; it comprehends 
 nothing to bias our judgment, but rather to roufe 
 it to a fcrutinifing jealoufy. Right, on the contrary, 
 prefents nothing but allurement, nothing but per- 
 fonal fatisfadion. In the inquiry after duty there- 
 L fore
 
 ( 74 ) 
 
 fore, our felfifh paflions are at reft, and the energy 
 of reafon is employed, without importunity or 
 hindrance, in determining its claim. 
 
 The duty of man has different immediate objefts ; 
 in relation to thefe, moralifts have claifed, his duty 
 to God, his duty to his fellow, and his duty to 
 himfelf. The rule of thefe duties is apprehended 
 by his reafon in different degrees of evidence and 
 perfpicuity, according as it colledls it, either from 
 the effort of private refleftion ; or, from the united 
 energies of man, unaided by fuperior light ; or from 
 the communication of truth from the fource, im- 
 parting to man a thorough and complete know- 
 ledge of his own nature, and of the fovereign will, 
 which is the only ultimate rule of human ac- 
 ion. In whichever of thefe degrees of evidence 
 m.an is able to acquire the knowledge of that 
 will, whether it be from the law of nature, 
 or from that of revelation, the moft perfpicuous 
 and comprehenlive within his power to ob- 
 tain conftitutes the rule of his feveral duties ; 
 all of which compofe the fum of his obligation, 
 the meafure of the fervice for which he was placed 
 on earth. To inftigate to the difcharge of thefe 
 duties, God placed in us conlcience, which pro- 
 pells to this difcharge, according to the degree of 
 exerclfe it has received j and he has annexed to 
 
 their
 
 ( 75 ) 
 
 their difcharge certain cnjoj'ments, congenial to oui 
 natures, which allure us to dilcharge them. Thus 
 wifely providing both for the firft impuifc towards 
 duty, and for its final accomplifhment. So that 
 to effed: the purpofe of God, and to procure the 
 happinefs of man, requires the fame procefs.* 
 
 To obtain this double end, to promote the fer- 
 viceofGod, and the confequent happineis of man, 
 the Creator laid in him thofe principles, which im- 
 mediately produced the fruit of fociety ripening 
 into government. They anticipated the wild ine- 
 quality of nature, and confirmed each on the fame 
 juft level of individual fecurity. Thofe whole 
 
 * It is on this account tl\at pious writers are apt to inculcate, 
 tliiit the happineis of man is tlu end of God in creating him. 
 That it is an end oi \\\s creation, we have tlie fullcit and molt 
 afre(^l:ing evidence ; wc perceive that it is an inevitable con- 
 fequence of tlie accom]iUlhment of tlie divine v>ill; that it is 
 therefore a part of ihe divine purpole. But, to fav therefore 
 that it is, exciufivcly, tlie cud of his being, is vvliat \vc are not 
 authorifed to pronounce. It is enough for us, that it is a necef- 
 fary confcqucnce of the execution of the divine phin in the crea- 
 tion of man. But as it may br only a partial and collateral con- 
 f'equence ; and as there may be otlier deiigns within the fcope of 
 Infinite VVifdom, in introducing the moral agent man into the 
 univerfe ; it may be a fource ot error, and an occafion of pre- 
 fumption, to adcrt that the iiajij^inefs of man was the I'olc end oi 
 his being; and it anfwcrs every moral purpofe, for man to be 
 well aware, that extreme and eternal happinefs is an uiuivoidabte 
 refult of his conforming witli the rules prefciibed for his actijig 
 by the fovercign will. 
 
 L 2 fxcefs
 
 ( 76 ) 
 
 cxcefs of force would have induced them to moleft 
 the common purfuit of happinefs, were abridged 
 of their injurious vigour, and reduced to the general 
 level that the rule of duty prefcribed. Thofe 
 whom natural weaknefs or timidity withheld from 
 the benefits they might rightfully have affumed, 
 were invigorated from the collective ftrength of the 
 union, and raifed to the fame level of fecure 
 cxiftence. 
 
 How that collective ftrength was firft produced ; 
 how government gained its original afcendencyj 
 and how the rebellious will of man that govern^! 
 ment is eftabliihed to control, fo far controlled 
 itfelf at firft, as to fubmit to the conftraint of 
 government, has been a matter of juft aftonilhment 
 in every age of wife refearch. Certainly it nev^r 
 happened as fome theorifts have affumed ; that 
 men, a<5luated by a general impulfe of wifdom, met 
 to concert a regular compad: of union, or form of 
 fubordination. The very effence of government ; 
 which is, coercion j* and its objed:, which is, man 
 
 * " The defign of ppUcal fociety is, to fecure the tranquillity 
 <' of all its members. In order to this, it was neccflary to tako 
 * meafures for fuppreding all attempts to difturb the public 
 <* peace. Experience has difcovered, that the fupport of fociety 
 ** depends entirely on the coercive power, which by exemplary 
 * punifhments intimidates the wicked, and balances the allure- 
 ** ments of pleafure, and the ftrength of the pafsions.'' Gogiiet. 
 Origin of Lavif Sec. V i. p. 19. 
 
 himjclf
 
 ( 77 ) 
 
 hmje]f\ render this conjeclure inadmifTible. The 
 growth of government can be traced with much 
 fairer internal evidence of probabilitVj on the fcrip- 
 tural foundation, by fuppofing mankind to have 
 fpread out from one original family, indrucled by 
 the Author of their reafon, and extending patriar" 
 chal authority, till it became fupplantcd by fomc 
 other more comprehenfive. 
 
 Such was the general nature, defign, and end, 
 of focial regulation. But the extent of the ha- 
 bitable earth, the prodigious numbers of the 
 human race, and the influence of various concur- 
 ring caufes, occafioned man to form different and 
 diftind: focieties. A fcheme of government com- 
 prehending all, would have been in various refpedls 
 jmpradlicable and unnecciTary ; wherefore man- 
 kind, being divided by the progrefs of events, 
 and by other incidental caufes, into different alib- 
 ciations, each of thcfe exerted itfelf to accomplifh 
 that Icheme, which was to be productive of fo 
 much benefit to all, But hence aroie various 
 diverfities in the modes which each devifcd, while 
 they provided their refpfdive regulations, ella- 
 blilhed their particular cufloms, and conftitutcd 
 the artificial organs by which wifdom was to direct, 
 and power ad, for the welfare of the whole. Thefe 
 jiiodcs being differently influenced in different 
 
 focieties
 
 ( 78 ) 
 
 focieties/ by partial and local circumftanccs, or 
 by peculiar occurrences, induced different charac- 
 ters of ftates ; refembling each other neceflarily in 
 this only, that they fought the fame general end, 
 by the fame general means j but at the fame time, 
 and under the control of that general principle, 
 they admitted various diflincl, and fubordinate 
 principles for their refpediive focietics ; ariiing from 
 climate, foil, extent, and other relative conlidera- 
 tions. The firfb, and governing principle, refpefled 
 man's abfolute nature ; the fecond, and fubordi- 
 nate principle, refpected man's relative fituation. 
 Here was a great field for the characters, paffions, 
 vices, virtues, and talents of men to difplay them- 
 felves ; each of which more or lefs aided to influ- 
 ence the circumftances of eveiy particular fociety. 
 In fome, the great original purpofe of govern- 
 ment was better executed than in others. Some 
 exhibited more, and fome lefs fkill. In fome, the 
 paflions were more, in others lefs, reRrained. In 
 fome, the energies of the mind, the foundations 
 of moral duty, the arts of life, the principles of 
 fcience, were more, in others lefs, cultivated. 
 In all, two rules were profelFcd or implied ; namely, 
 firft, the general rule in refpeft of which govern- 
 ment was originally eflablilhed ; fecondly, the par- 
 ticular rule according to which the particular o- 
 ciety was a^ually arranged. The hrft comprehended 
 
 thofe
 
 ( 79 ) 
 
 thofe general Intcrefts of miui's nature, which It is 
 client ial tor him to fecure ; the lecond included 
 thofe particular interefts of man's fituation, which 
 it is highly convenient for him to pollefs. The 
 firft of theie form what are intended by thephrafe, 
 nut lira I rights ; the fccond, what are intended by the 
 name of ciinl ox municipal rights. The rule of the 
 former is the abfolute will of God, obfcurely adum- 
 brated by tJie law of nature, but accurately de- 
 fined by the law of revelation ; the rule of the lat- 
 ter is the notorious practice of the fociety, dillinelly 
 expofed by the evidence of enacfted laws, and im- 
 memorial ufage. If the laws and cuftoms of 
 a fociety, comply with the will ot God in what 
 refpefts the natural duty of man, by binding each 
 one, without rcfpecl or favour, to the obfervance 
 of that duty, which all muit obferve in order that 
 each may be enfured of enjoying his natural right ; 
 they are at full liberty to cftablilh their forms, as 
 circumilances Ihall direct ; nor can any reaionablc 
 app^eal be madefrom the varieties of fuch a govern- 
 ment, to any rule whatever of natural right, which 
 reful'cs to take cognizance of all fuch matters. As 
 long as fuch a ibclety continues not to infringe 
 upon that facrcd objecft, natural right is fatlshed. 
 The wliclom of fucceeding generations under fuch 
 a government, being exercifed on matters within 
 iu own experience, the accumulation of their 
 
 labours
 
 ( 8o ) 
 
 labours conftitutes the moil fecure and folid bafis 
 upon which civil fociety can poffibly reft. Nof 
 can any call for internal change, in fuch a govern-^ 
 ment be urged, upon a plea of natural right , all 
 the claims of which are fully fatisfied, whenever 
 all are equally conftrained by the operation of the 
 force of law. And if, of two focieties, in each ot 
 which this great objedl fhould htfecured, the one 
 fhould exift a repubHc and the other a monarchy, 
 it would be a crime of the fame fpeciftc quality for 
 a party to endeavour, to ere6l the former into 
 a monarchy, as to deprefs the latter into a repub- 
 lic i becaufe in both cafes it would be an offence 
 againft the fundamental law of the polity } which, 
 when the claims of natural duty and natural right 
 are fatisfied, conftitutes the higheft authority to 
 which, under God, man is obliged to fubmit. 
 If on principles agreeable to wifdom, and by means 
 coniiftent with duty, the fociety were to produce 
 that change, there would be no blame, there would 
 even be a right ; but it is not the defire of forty or 
 fifty leaders, of fix or feven clubs, of eight or ten 
 thoufand mutijieers, that can conftitute a fufficient 
 and reafonable ground fordifturbingafyftem under 
 which eight millions of individuals live in the fecurit}^ 
 of their lives and liberties ; in the pra6lical enjoy- 
 ment of ev^er)' obje6l to which the Creator has con- 
 veyed, them a right ; and in the unmolefted profits 
 of their labour, ingenuity, or induftry.
 
 ( s. ) 
 
 To fix the boundary of natural right, to fay 
 what every man may do, we muft look to the rule 
 we have fo repeatedly enforced, and fay what every 
 man nivjl do j we muft look to dut}^ and by its 
 aid deHneate right. We muft look to the duty 
 required ot him who would cxercife a right, and to 
 the duty required of him who would invade or 
 impede that exercife ; for if all perform their duty, 
 that is, if each dues his own duty, fo that no one 
 anno3's or molefts another, each is virtually in pof- 
 felfion of every obje(ft to which he has a right, tlie 
 bounty and providence of God having dilpofed the 
 objects to which he has communicated a right, 
 within the reach of human induftry. 
 
 We are told in an authoritative tone, that man's 
 natural rights are ///l% iibertx, and equality : To 
 any fair rcafoner we would grant tliis [)olition, 
 becaule fuch an one would not make a fwindlin^' 
 ufe of the conceffion, but would take care that the 
 terms he uled (hould be uniform in their mcan- 
 ijig, and defined in their extent. We would grant 
 the })ofition upon this fair ground, that man has 
 a rig/jl to retain his /i/e, as long as it [)lcafcs God 
 he Ihould do fo ; that lie has a rig/u to a /red ufe 
 of thofe natural faculties for the exercife of which 
 life was given him ; and that a// nien have eqna'/v 
 a ri^ht to thofe benefits. But it i^. imj^ioflible to 
 ]\T make
 
 ( 82 ) 
 
 make this conceflion to the antagonifts who fland 
 oppofite to us in the controverfy, without burthen- 
 ing it with tedious limitations ; becaufe the fame 
 equivocation that we have perceived to exift in 
 their word rights extends itfelf to every word in 
 their vocabulary. 
 
 That we may not, however, appear to decline 
 the queflion under any form, and thereby virtually 
 to concede that which we altogether refufe, let us 
 endeavour to difcover in what way man can claim 
 a right to fuch things as are conveyed to the un- 
 derftanding by the words, life., liberty^ and equality^ 
 Man is created by God, and endowed with reafon ; 
 a fphere of adici is afligned him, and he is rendered 
 feverely accountable for his ufe of it. He is thus 
 placed in life firft of all for that end, and his life 
 is the firll circumllance necelTary for accomplifliing 
 it ; fince, by extinguifhing the lifey the whole 
 agency is at once deftroyed, and the purpofe en- 
 tirely defeated. That man fliould livey was 
 therefore God's will ; and deftroying the life, 
 in its firft efFeft, is counteradiing the will of 
 God. There is no great myftery in the right 
 to life ; if man is to perform a fervice, he 
 mufh live in order to do fo. As life is rendered, by 
 God's goodnefs, an objedt of defire, as well as of 
 obligation, man adheres to it independently of 
 
 duty;
 
 ( S3 ) 
 
 duty ; but ftill, as the means of defending it are 
 confided to him, he is to maintain it as thtfubjira- 
 turn of the agency vefled in him. But he has alfo 
 a diftind: and perfonal interefl: in retaining hfe ; it 
 was given him, firft for ufe, and next for enjoy- 
 ment J the fecond confequence of impairing life 
 is, impairing the rightful intereft of man. Man 
 refigns up his life to the Donor without conceiving 
 the notion of a right to retain it ; but if any but 
 the Donor threatens to difturb it, uniefs it be in 
 evident conformity with the will of the Donor, 
 the notion of a duty to defend it, and of a right 
 to preferve it, fuggeft themfelves to his mind. 
 The former, as he looks to God, to whom he is 
 accountable for it ; the latter, as he looks to his 
 adverfary, who has no authority to difturb it. 
 Man miiji live to be able to fulfil the fphere affigned 
 him, till God difpenfe with the neceflity ; man 
 may live, and avail himfeif of that permiflion in 
 the moft effectual manner (provided he does not 
 attempt to fatisfy his perfonal inclination by 
 means adverfe to the will of God) until God 
 withdraw the permifhon. Man's life, on a gene- 
 ral afped:, prefents itfclf to our thoughts in no 
 other way than as a matter of facl. In refpecfl of 
 any unjuft attempt from man to impair it, it 
 may be alleged an objed: of right holdcn of God ; 
 but even then its defence is no lefs a matter of 
 M 2 duty
 
 ( 84 ) 
 
 duty alfo. And though we may defend it with 
 greater alacrity on the ground of right, as feeling 
 the urgency of perfonai intereft, yet we are called 
 upon to defend it on the ground of duty alfo, until 
 duty forbid us to defend it, and then furely the 
 right to defend it ceafes altogether. Such appears 
 to be the nature of the right to life, as far as we 
 can render it intelligible to our underftanding. 
 
 The right to liberty, feems to flow neceflarily 
 from the right to life juft explained. For, as 
 it is neceffary to live, in order to hold the agency 
 affigned to us ; fo, in order to execute that agency 
 by the rule prefcribed, it is neceffary to be free 
 to do fo \ that is, that our beings and faculties 
 Ihould be free from all unreafonable and vexatious 
 conftraint, embarraffmg or impeding the execu- 
 tion of our office. If we fuppofe the rule of duty 
 faithfully and univerfally obferved, and duty dif- 
 charged on all parts, every man will have a51:ed 
 without the hindrance or impediment of others ; 
 this is the jirfi degree of freedom to which we are 
 entitled, becaufe it is infeparable from the adlual 
 difcharge of the duty to which we are obliged. 
 But, as every man's adivity, who dircds it by the 
 rule of duty, is fufficiently controled, the refidue 
 of liberty that remains after the difcharge of duty, 
 i;eing unprodudive of evil, forms t\\& fecond degree 
 
 of
 
 ( 8.? ) 
 
 of that freedom, which man, by God's bounty, is 
 entitled to enjoy. 
 
 Thefe form the fum total of the benefits fought 
 for in the fcheme of civil government, and are 
 therefore comprchenfive of every other. They 
 eftabliOi the liberty of acting; and of courfe, ail 
 the natural confequences of afting; the whole ot 
 which may be included under the notion of pro- 
 perty ; which " confills in a free ufe, enjoyment, 
 *' and difpofal of all the acquifitions without any 
 control or diminution, (fave only by the laws of 
 the land,")* that man renders the objefts of his 
 ading ; whatever be the mode, or quality, of thofe 
 acquifitions; whether corporeal or mental, whether 
 they be of wealth, or reputation. This freedom 
 of ad ion is of two forts or degrees ; firft, freedom 
 to proceed without reftraint in the courfe pre- 
 fer ibed by God ; fccondly, freedom to afTume 
 every perfonal fatisfadion to which that courfe na- 
 turally conducls. As duty is anterior to right, 
 and as the performance of duty not only leads in 
 its ilfue to certain enjoyments, but is aUo ever ne- 
 celllirily accompanied in its progrefs with certain 
 otb.er enjoyments, (the circumflances that enable 
 us beft to fulfil our duties, being fuch as are at 
 
 Blackstonc's Comm. B,I. p. 138. 
 
 the
 
 ( 86 ) 
 
 the fame time moft fatisfactory to our natures ; it 
 follows, that the enjoyments which are coeval with 
 duty, and infeparable from it, muft be anterior to 
 thofe which are confequent on duty; and that 
 they therefore conftitute the firft and moft promi- 
 nent part of our natural fatisfadtions, or, to ufe the 
 popular phrafe, of our natural rights. That 
 freedom which we enjoy, when we freely difcharge 
 our obligation to God, conftitutes much the moft 
 confiderable and momentous portion of our free- 
 dom, fmce it fecures to us the free ufe of our 
 life, of our perfons, of our natural and intellediual 
 powers, and of the means of maintaining and im- 
 proving them all ; and is therefore productive of 
 all our higheft enjoyments. Thefe enjoyments 
 from freedom, which are infeparable from the free 
 difcharge of our indefeafible obligation to God, we 
 can virtually define, by defining the duty with 
 which they are commenfurate. It is our duty, to 
 make the beft ufe of the faculties committed to us, 
 in conformity with the rule prefcribed to our 
 intelligence ; it is therefore our duty to maintain 
 our faculties in the beft condition ; fince it is all 
 one to ufe our faculties illourfelves, or to allow of 
 their detereoration by caufes within our power to 
 control. We are therefore to refift every coun- 
 tera<fting caufe, that would impair the faculties 
 that we are obliged to bring to a good fruit. 
 
 If
 
 ( 8; ) 
 
 If we have gained that degree of freedom which 
 empowers us to accomphfh this great end ; if our 
 condition be fuch as to enable us to obtain full 
 knowledge of the purpofes of God, of the per- 
 manent interefts of man, and of the meafure of 
 his refponfibihty, and at the fame time freely to 
 a6t according to all this knowledge ; if our lives 
 are fccure, our perfons/r^i?, and that the faculties 
 of the mind and heart are provided with an oppor- 
 tunity of expanding to the wideft capacity of 
 their nature ; if no impediment or obftrudtion is 
 offered to this growth, no unnatural conftraint 
 tending to dwarf or diflort it ; and if this/r<r^- 
 dom is rendered equal amongft all, by reducing 
 every one equally under the control of law, thereby 
 incapacitating each from impairing that freedom 
 in another ; then, the mofl; important, the moft 
 extenfive, the moft attractive, the beft defined 
 portion of liberty is attained ; the remainder 
 can bear no comparifon with it ; it is of lefs ex- 
 tent, of lefs effeft, of lefs confequence to the 
 agency of man, or to the real and permanent in- 
 tercft of his being. He may doubtlefs purfue it, 
 provided he does fo with lerious attention to the 
 purpofe of his creation, with faithful oblervance 
 of the dictates of reafbn and coiifcience ; and 
 that he ever fcrupuloufly compare the yearnings of 
 
 his
 
 ( 88 ) 
 
 his defire, with the diftinct unequivocal rule of 
 duty, imprefled upou his mind. 
 
 Having thus afcertained the nature of the right 
 to /{/>, and liberty ; and having feen that they 
 fignify, " a right common to the human nature, 
 ' and therefore equal in every individual, to pre- 
 '* ferve life^ and to ufe it freely ; except where 
 " duty prefcribes bounds to that ufe ;" which 
 feems to include every poflible benefit that man 
 can feek under the authority of natural right ; we 
 find no corner left for the diftindt rig/ii io equality ; 
 the meaning of which w^ords is indeed extremely 
 perplexed, offering nothing precife, or that entitles 
 it to a feparate place in the clafs of natural rights. 
 In the natures of men, all is inequality ; to prevent 
 the inconveniences and miferies reiulting from 
 thence, and to obtain equal fecurity of life and of 
 the ufe of life, was the end of civil government. 
 What then is this equality, which is claimed on the 
 ground of a natural right, inherent in ever}^ man ? 
 Do they who affert it, wifh to abftracl the relative 
 notion of equality from equal fecurity of life and 
 liberty, and then to conco(5t it into an independent 
 and pofitive entity ? This would in tiuth be a def- 
 perate attempt of metaphyfical fublimation. Do 
 they mean to infinuate, that mankind, if fet free 
 from the control of government, would relapfe into 
 
 ari
 
 ( 89 ) 
 
 an equality of powers and cliaracters ? But truth 
 difcovcrs to us, with every power of tefluuony, that 
 without the control of government, the world mull 
 be a fcene of the moft difaftrous inequality. Do 
 they mean that every man is equally bound to 
 dilcharge the obligation impofcd upon man ? that 
 equal refponlibility, equal neceffity of anfwering to 
 that refponlibility, is annexed to each without 
 exemption or diftinction ? This is moft undeniably 
 true ; but if they mean this, it is the allegation of 
 a duty, and not of a r:'g/it. Do they mean that 
 there is a natural right inherent in man, which is 
 intrinfically and eternally repugnant to civil diftinc- 
 tions in ftates ? If they rjiean this (and it is tolera- 
 bly clear that this is what they with to inculcate) 
 it is a tangle of fallacy and inconiequence, occa- 
 fioned by inaccuracy of thought and equivocation 
 of terms, that calls for iome temperate unravelling. 
 Natural right is fecured by the general perform- 
 ance of natural duty. The particular regulations 
 of a government that provides effectually for the 
 performance of every natural duty, in every part of 
 the community, cannot invade any natural right. 
 In the above perplexed propofition, in which civil 
 diffincliuns are affirmed to be repugnant to natural 
 rights two objetfls are confufed, whofe natures are 
 intrinfically diftind. The notion of civil equality, 
 implicated thus in the queftion of natural right, 
 
 N is
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 is in truth no queflion of natural right,* but of 
 political convenience ; and determinable by very 
 different principles than thofe, by which the inquiry 
 
 into 
 
 * We have already obferved, and we may venture to repeat 
 the obfervation, that the natural right to equality, or in terms more 
 precife and intelligible, the natural right to democracy of the mo- 
 dem Jacobins, and the di'vine right to ahfolute monarchy of the 
 old Jacobites, are notions that differ only in outward applica- 
 tion, and not at all in intrinfic quality. If we compare, and 
 attempt to generalifc the two propofitions, of a natural, inde 
 feafible right to democracy, and a divine, indefeafible right to 
 monarchy, we ihall find, that they both flow into one common 
 principle ; namely, that there exifls in the eternal and fove- 
 reign reafon of the univerfe, an exclufive pattern or form for 
 human fociety ; precluding all liberty among mankind to de- 
 viate from that form ; even though there fhould exifl reafons 
 of evident convenience, aptnefs, or even moral necefTity for 
 doing fo. The maintainers of this doftrine, however, have been 
 fo unfortunate as to differ veiy widely (indeed as widely as op- 
 pofite extremes can be) in their application of this arbitrary 
 maxim ; fome applying it to the confluence of all the artificial 
 powers of government into one individual perfon ; others ap- 
 plying it to thediifufion of thofe fame powers to every indivi-^ 
 dual in the fociety ; the one deriving effectual fupport to the 
 ambition of a few afpiring individuals, from the irrefiflible 
 energy of defpotifm ; the other deriving an equally flrong fup- 
 port to a few afpiring individuals, from the irrefiftib'e im- 
 petus of a multitude. Each reafoned witn an equally grave 
 plaufibility from tieir common principle ; the firfl alleging, 
 that it is neceflary for mankind to exifl under a fufficient con- 
 trol, which can only be effeftcd under an abfolute monarchy ; the 
 
 fecQnd,
 
 ( 9' ) 
 
 into the natural right of man is to be condudled. 
 It is a qucftion whether or not, in any given govern- 
 ment., in which civil diflindlions are admitted, the 
 original end of government is truly attained. To 
 decide which, we arc to revert to the original defign 
 of government i for the government that bcft at- 
 tains that end, will thereby approve itfelf to be the 
 beft conflituted oovernment, whatever artificial 
 regulations it may have eventually admitted. 
 
 The objeft of government therefore, being (as 
 has been (hown) to obtain the difcharge of duty 
 
 fecond, that man ought to cxid under no more control than is 
 fufficient, which can only be fecurcd under a democracy. The 
 firft part of their pofitions is perfedly true, but they con- 
 chided very erroneoufly. Both were fo far true, that it is right 
 for man to exift under a fufficient control, and under no more 
 control than is fufficient. But it happens, that democracy is by 
 its nature hoftile to the firft of thefe, and abfolute monarchy to 
 the fecond. So that though each oroduccd a re?f^n invalidating 
 thccLiim of the other, neither produced a icafon eftablifliing its 
 own claim. All that followed was, therefore, that to obtain 
 control fufficient, democracy ought to be avoided ; and that to 
 prevent that control from being more than fufficient, abfolute 
 monarchy ought to be avoided. And in this we dif.over, if not 
 what particular compound of government is moft conducive to 
 the fccurity and happinefs of mankind, at leaft that it is neither 
 abfolute monarchy nor democracy ; and confequently, tliat both 
 Jacobite and Jacobin are equally unfupported by the ground, 
 on which each have fucceffivcly attempted to erccl, their very 
 different and difcordant fyftems. 
 
 N 2 among
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
 among mankind, in order to be able to acquire the 
 happinefs that can only be obtained by that procefs ; 
 if in any given country, whofe Internal polity has 
 contrived artificial ranks and claffesot fubordination, 
 it be queflloned, whether fuch a contrivance invades 
 the natural right of man ; we are not to put the 
 iffue upon a general aflcnt to, or diffent from the 
 terms of the queftion, (which is the very matter 
 in debate) but we are to examine and determine 
 whether in that given country, the government 
 eftablKhed defends and fecures the natural right 
 of man ; which if it does, the particular regulations 
 of a country, in which the natural right of man is 
 fo fecured, cannot, confiflently with common fenfe, 
 at the fame time endanger them. For, if the 
 means employed are fuch as evidently produce the 
 end of government, "and therefore fecure man's 
 natural right, it is quite impoffible they fhould be 
 at the fame time deJiruBive of the right they fecure. 
 
 We cannot too often enforce, that the object of 
 government is, to produce the difcharge of thofe 
 duties in each, which (hall ehfure to all the enjoy- 
 ment of what they denominate their natural right. 
 Thefe duties, forming a part of that abfolute and 
 indefeafible obligation with which man is born, 
 each one brings them with him into fociety; nor 
 can any artificial or incidental circumflancc of focial 
 
 life
 
 ( 93 ) 
 
 lite whatever, exDncrate any one from that condition, 
 to obtain the performance of whicli in all^ is the 
 very effence of affoclation, the immutable purpofe 
 of all government. Becaufe if any are exempted 
 from the necefTity of the obligation, in that pro- 
 })ortion the fuccefs of the fcheme of government 
 is rendered abortive. 
 
 Every contrivance of government, every artificial 
 regulation that focieties may introduce, is to be 
 cftimated by its tendency to produce this general 
 refult. To devifc an arrangement that might 
 produce that refult, was left to the labour and in- 
 duftry of man in every feparate fociety. Different 
 were the modes that each adopted, and accordingly 
 as they, were more or lefs apt to gain the purpofed 
 end, they fucceeded or failed, they were continued 
 or changed. The progrefs of experience improved 
 the progrefs of civil polity ; experimental good or 
 evil guided each fociety in correfting or varying 
 that which had proved inefficient to, or deftruclive 
 of, the great intereft of the union ; and in propor- 
 tion as any fyftem improved, the dllcharge of duty 
 in e-'jery member of the fociety, became more ex- 
 tended and more efTeclually enlured. 
 
 In the great comprehenfive fcheme of God, the 
 difcharge of duty is the end for which man was 
 
 created j
 
 ( 94 ) 
 
 created; it is the right of God*s fovereignty, 
 which overrules and determines every other confi- 
 deration. The happinefs to which, by God's good- 
 nefs, that difcharge leads, is anticipated by the heart 
 of man, and is a powerful nieafis contrived by the 
 all-wdfe Creator, to allure him to that difcharge. 
 But in the partial fcheme of civil government^ the 
 operation appears to be reverfed. The happinefs 
 to which the nature of man tends ; that happinefs 
 which is provided to be the refult of the perform- 
 ance of duty, and to which he is intitled by the 
 difpenfation of the divine bounty ; is the end de- 
 figned by the inftitution ; and the means employed 
 to attain that end, are means calculated to produce 
 the difcharge of duty, as inftrumental to that hap- 
 pinefs. Here again we difcover the neceflar}'^ fub- 
 ordination of man's happinefs, to which he alleges 
 a right, to God's purpofe, in wdiich he is confcious 
 of an obligation. 
 
 The perfect and entire difcharge of duty, can- 
 not be produced by the operation of any fecondary 
 and external caufes. Near approximations are all 
 that either wifdom expefts, or nature allows. He 
 who would be at the labour of fearching for abfo- 
 lute perfection in human affairs, would refemble 
 the fimple boy who chafed the rainbow j a meteor, 
 the laws of whofe being have nothing in common 
 
 with
 
 ( 95 ) 
 
 with the laws of fubftantial exlftcnce. Perfedion 
 in government, mull ever be relative to the ability 
 of procuring the moft attainable degree ofhappi- 
 nefs among mankind, by means of the moft prac- 
 ticable neceffity to the difcharge of duty. 
 
 The claim to perfedion in any human govern- 
 ment, muft therefore produce evidence of thefetwo 
 things : firft, that it is (o conftituted, as to include 
 ever)' attainable means for Gn^ovc'ing unti/erfa / oI?edi' 
 ena of the duties that man owes to man, as initru- 
 mcntal to the general happinefs ; and to contain 
 no principle tending to counteract its own end : 
 fecondly, that it be fo conftrudted, and calculated 
 in its ditfcrent parts, as to promife permanency ; 
 fmce the permanency of happinefs, is of abfolute 
 neceffity to its completion. 
 
 The hiftory of mankind is a hiftory of govern- 
 ments, attended with more or lefs fuccefs, contri- 
 ved with more or lefs effect to anfwer tlie end in- 
 tended, and lafting a longer or a fliorter time. In 
 that inftruclive hiftory, we are enabled to furvey 
 at leifurc the different forms that government 
 aftumed in different focictles, to trace the refped:ive 
 operations of each, the caufe of its luccefs, the oc- 
 cafion of its failure. In fome, the power for compel- 
 ing obedience was injnfficient , in others, its operation 
 
 was
 
 ( 96 ) 
 
 was partial; whereas in every one it ought to be, 
 both umverfal and complete. 
 
 The machine of government, in its genuine de- 
 fign, fuppofes a force and a re fi (lance. The force 
 conlifls of an union of the natural powers of man 
 under the guidance of reafon, emplo3'ed to over- 
 come the refijlance produced by fimilar powers 
 under the ihftigation of paflion. But the confti- 
 tuent parts of this machine, when confidered in 
 refped; to practice, contain a radical imperfection 
 which no human contrivance can ever remove j 
 becaufe it extends beyond the reach of human 
 agency, and fubfiftsin the ver}' nature itfelf of man; 
 in that defedt of his nature, which alone rendered 
 government neceffary. If the force of government 
 were to be exercifed by Infinite Wifdom, as is 
 impHed in the true meaning of a theocracy, that 
 imperfeftion, which more or lefs attends every pof- 
 (ible form of human government, would not exiil; 
 becaufe in that cafe government, which is defigned 
 to be exerred according to the rule of wifdom, 
 would in reality be fo exerted. But as foon as the 
 fcheme was attempted to be reduced to pra<5tice 
 among men, the inherent detV<fts of the individuals 
 who were made the agents to conduct it, influenced 
 the conftituent parts of the machine, and pro- 
 duced a confufion and perplexity in the powers ; by 
 
 which
 
 ( 97 ) 
 
 which event the' unity of the original fcheme was 
 eflentially impaired. Fa*- the force of government, 
 which, in its genuine defign, is a force intended to 
 beexercifed by the ruleofwifdom, being configned 
 to an agent in which wifdom did not prevail, but 
 who poflcfled that defective nature which called for 
 the artificial control of government ; the force 
 that fliould have been direded by the rule of 
 wifdom, was confided to the arm of pafTion, and 
 was confequently abufed from its original purpofe, 
 to the prejudice of thofe who confided it. And 
 this occafioned a relative difference in the fituation 
 of the parties ; for the breach of duty occurring 
 in that part where the power for enforcing duty 
 was confided, it remained for thofe who fought 
 the real benefit of government to repair the 
 breach thus made ; which they could only do by 
 encouraging the force of refiilance in a propor- 
 tionate degree, fo as to counterafl and repair the 
 ill effeds of this abufc of the force of government. 
 And thus, a material change was introduced into 
 the original fcheme, two forces being produced 
 afting with a continual reciprocating motion, one 
 againft the other. And, whatever inconvenience 
 might attend the ftruggle, the nature of man ren- 
 dered this reciprocation abiblutely neceflary, as 
 being a lefs evil than that which it was defigned 
 to prevent. Wherefore, as every human govern- 
 
 O mcnt
 
 ( 98 ) 
 
 ment muft be exercifed by beings of the fame com- 
 mon and imperfed nature, and which requires 
 regulation and control in each, it is next to impof- 
 fible to difpofe force in fuch a manner, as to pro- 
 duce a reaction on thofe invefted with it, and to 
 keep them alfo under the conftraint of politive obli- 
 gation, without at the fame time relaxing the due 
 control of government over the mafs of fociety. 
 And yet, if this is not effeded, the evil that refults 
 is, that either the force of government becomes 
 infufEcient, or its operation partial. 
 
 [t is infufficient, whenever the refiftance to be 
 overcome is greater than the power that is to over- 
 come it ; Its operation is partial, whenever any 
 are exempted from its effed. 
 
 The refiftance to be overcome, is greater than 
 the power that is to overcome it ; whenever the 
 means of enforcing duty are inferior to the means 
 of tranfgrefling it ; that is, whenever the natural 
 oppofition to duty that government was inftituted 
 to overcome, is able to maintain itfelf againfl the 
 efforts of government. 
 
 The natural oppofition to duty is great or little, 
 in proportion as the paflions of thofe conftituting 
 the community are reduced under control ; and that 
 
 control
 
 ( 99 ) 
 
 control is efficient, in proportion as it is able to 
 maintain it (elf by means, independent of the 
 palTions it is intended to rcftrain. If the paffions 
 of man had no other control, or but little other 
 control, than the injunftions of duty and reafon ; 
 and if as foon as the authority of thefe fhould 
 be contefted, the power of government would 
 ceafe ; there, the fchcmc of government would 
 be but a very trilling removal of man's condition 
 from the fuppoicd ftate of nature. Bccaufe in the 
 latter cafe, man would exifl without any external 
 conftraint over his pafilons ; and in the former, he 
 would exiil in a ftate in which he could pre- 
 fently overcome any conftrauit attempted to be 
 exercifed over him. 
 
 Again, the operation of the force of govern- 
 ment will be partial, wliere any arc exempted 
 from its effect: . 
 
 This is the cafe whenever that force is exciufively 
 difpofed in the hands of one, or of a certain 
 limited number of individuals, fo that they who 
 hold it, are thereby enabled to compel obedience 
 in the general, while they tliemfelves are free from 
 any luch compulfion. When this cafe liappens, 
 the force created for the purpofe ot j^iroducing ge- 
 neral obedience, having no operation on the indi- 
 
 O 2 viduals
 
 ( 100 ) 
 
 viduals who exercife it, and who are thereby eman- 
 cipated from all conftraint, becomes liable to be 
 profhituted to the fervice of paflion and perfonal 
 intereft in wrong of the public welfare ; and the 
 cxcefs of ftrength it fuperadds to the natural powers 
 of man, partially revives the inequality of nature, 
 and aids them more efFeftually to trefpafs upon 
 the interefls of others, who are by this means 
 abridged of even the natural powers of refift- 
 ance. 
 
 So that, when the fear of confiding to the arti- 
 ficial organ, a force fufficient to reflrain the adlion 
 of paflion, leaves the controlling power of govern- 
 ment inefficient, paflion is ever liable to prevail ; 
 the natural diforder of mankind that government 
 aims at reprelling, is at all times hable to break 
 forth ; and of courfe, law and order to be dif- 
 folved, and anarchy to enfue. On the other 
 hand, when force is fo abfolutely and exclufively 
 abandoned to the artificial 'organ, that there re- 
 mains no power to reftrain the operation of paffion 
 acting in the human fubjedts compofing that organ ; 
 there, pafTion, which is the proper objeft of govern- 
 ment, is enabled to aft without reflraijit ; and 
 being invigorated by an adventitious flrength pro- 
 duces dcfpotifm or tyranny. Such have been the 
 cafe more or lefs whenever the fcheme of govern- 
 ment
 
 ( loi ) 
 
 n:ent lias contained within itfelf a principle, def- 
 tructive of its genuine purpofe. The former, ex- 
 ifting in its fullcfl defetfl is, the cafe of abfolute 
 democracy ; the latter, exifling in their fulleft 
 defedis are, cafes of abfolute monarchy, and abfo- 
 lutc arillocracy. 
 
 In the firfi: cafe, the body of refiflance is too 
 great for the power that is oppofed to it ; in the- 
 latter, the operation of that power, which ought 
 to be equally directed upon ail, is diverted from 
 influencing upon fome, and its weight falls witli 
 increafed, undifcriminating violence, upon the re-, 
 mainder. 
 
 To correct thofe evils, wnfe men laboured from 
 the beginning of fociety j while from the fame 
 aera, wicked men ftruggled hard to perpetuate 
 them. 
 
 They who endeavoured to correft the evils of 
 abfolute democracy, imagined various counteract- 
 ing powers to reprefs the turbulence of the mafs. 
 They who endeavoured to corre(5t the evils of the 
 two other forms, fought, on the contrary, the 
 means of giving energy and efFecft to the natural 
 vigour of the mafs. They purfued and tried every 
 poflible relation and proportion between force and 
 
 refill-
 
 ( 102 ) 
 
 refiflance ; but in the two compound quantities 
 which they thus endeavoured to regulate, and into 
 which the pohtical machine was divided, a con- 
 ftant fluctuation and variation took place. They 
 laboured to adjuft the balance ; but if ever it was 
 nearly effefted, a grain added to either fide occa- 
 lioned a preponderance. They were wanting in 
 fome certain means for preferving the equilibrium in 
 the ftate , and thus the reftleflhefs of man, 
 afting vigoroufly in two oppofite relations, kept 
 up an unceafing transfer of weight from the one 
 fide to the other ; and the affairs of human fociety 
 partook of the evils attending either the reciproca- 
 tion of the balance, or the preponderance of either 
 fcale. 
 
 To put an end to thefe diforders, by obtaining 
 fome principle of government that fhould be at all 
 times able to repel them, became an object of 
 anxious defire to the moll enlightened minds j who, 
 knowing equally well how to eftimate the value of 
 legal reftraint as of rational liberty, and polTeffing 
 full experience of the forms and efFe(5ts of every 
 different government that the world had wit- 
 nefifed, yearned for fome one, which, while it pof- 
 felTed the advantages of each, fhould be at the 
 fame time radically exempt from all their defeds. 
 
 Neither
 
 ( 103 ) 
 
 Neither Greece nor Rome, the great champions 
 of Hberty and oracles of civil polity, were able to 
 accomplllh that medium. Their dates rofe and 
 funk, fometimes by the weight of democracy, 
 fometimes by that of ariftocracy, ibmetimes by 
 that of autocracy. The refleftive experience of 
 which calamitous proofs of the incapacity, of any 
 of thofe forms of polity, however modified or con- 
 torted, to procure the full meafure of the benefits 
 of civil government, and to fecure their flabiiity, 
 drew from the pens of two of the wifeft men that 
 ever rcflefted honour upon their fpccies, thofe 
 iliort but pregnant and memorable fentiments, 
 never to be too often or too deeply imprinted on 
 the memories of Enghllimen. 
 
 " That (faid Cicero) would, in my opinion, be 
 *' the bcfl pofTibly conftituted ftate, which lliould 
 " confift of a moderate commixture of the three 
 " kinds of governments, regal, noble, and 
 " popular.'* 
 
 And at the diflance of a century and a half from 
 Cicero, Tacitus, though he dcfpaired of its prafli- 
 cability, and therefore banilhed all expecflation of 
 feeing it realifed, flill maintained the fame opinion. 
 *' All nations (fays he) have been hitherto go- 
 *' vended, either by the mafs, or by a few leaders, 
 
 " or
 
 ( i04 ) 
 
 " or by individual governors. A form of govern- 
 " ment conftituted by feledion from each of 
 " thefe, would rather be a fubjed of mental admi- 
 " ration than of probable occurrence , or if it did 
 " take place, it could not be of long continuance/* 
 
 So thought thofe two great realoners on govern- 
 ment. They had never feen fuch a government ; 
 they had no profped of feeing fuch a government ; 
 but their perfect knowledge of paft events, and of 
 the nature and praftice of human fociety ; the in- 
 flrudions of their wifdom, and their unqualified 
 attachment to truth ; obliged them to infer, that 
 the evils attending every other form of govern- 
 ment that man had devifed, could only be radically 
 cured or prevented, by eftablifhing government on 
 an union of the principles of thefe three feveral 
 forms ; the feeds of each of which exlft in every 
 ftate, becaufe in every ftate the interefts of liberty, 
 property, and fecurity fubfift ; all of which are beft 
 attained, and bell advanced, by fuch a form of 
 polity : difpofmg them in fuch a manner, as to 
 procure every benefit peculiarly refulting from each, 
 and at the fame time to reprefs the evils to which 
 each might particularly give rife : and fo diftribut- 
 ing the fupreme power between them, that each 
 fliould counterpoife another, and a third at all 
 times maintain the equipoife between two, when- 
 ever
 
 ( '05 ) 
 
 ever it fhould be in danger of being dillurbed. 
 By thefe means, control, the great objefl of go- 
 vernment would be eafily and naturally produced 
 in eachconftituent part of the ftate ; each would be 
 contained within the limits afligned by the law, 
 without ftraining the political machine, or burthen- 
 ing it with any complex and excrefcent machineries, 
 tending always to impede or perplex its necelTary 
 motions. For, as the failure in the original fcheme 
 of government was owing to the irregular flruggle 
 between two contending quantities, moved by con- 
 trary interefts and jealoufies, and ading in direct 
 and conflant oppcfition the one to the other ; and 
 as fuch ftruggle either became perpetual, thus per- 
 petuating internal broil and confufion ; or was 
 terminated by the preponderance of one or other 
 ])ower, thus fixing different proportions of anarchy 
 or tyranny ; there was no method left for remedy- 
 ing thofe evils, than in altogether removing the 
 caufc producing them ; by making a new diftribu- 
 tion of the powers and intereits that civil govern- 
 ment introduces among men ; and difpofing them 
 in llich a manner that the evils of the old diftribu- 
 tion fliould never be able to return, and that a 
 portion of force fliould always fubfift, capable ot 
 giving effecftual fuccour to that- fide, which, in the 
 event of oppofition between two powers, Ihould 
 endeavour to maintain the great objcds of duty and 
 
 P riirht,
 
 ( 'o6 ) 
 
 riglit, the ultimate purpofe for which government 
 was originally contrived. And, in order to prevent 
 partial intereft in the exercife of thefe feveral alot- 
 ments of power, from operating to the prejudice of 
 of the public good, but, on the contrary, to render 
 the aftivity of private intereft, which can never be 
 eXtinguifhed in man, inftrumental to the public 
 welfare, and an aftive principle to advance the 
 motion of the ftate ; it followed, that it would be 
 altogether neceflary to annex particular interefts to 
 each, in fuch a manner, as that an attempt in any 
 one to difturb the arrangement eflabliihed, would 
 impair the refpedive interefts of the other two, and 
 thereby impel them to unite in refiftance of the 
 violence attempted ; thus producing a force at all 
 times fuperior to the moft vigorous oppofition, 
 that any one could make againft them : and 
 further, that the particular interefts thus re- 
 fpedtively attached to each, Ihould be fuch as to- 
 gether to conftitute the general interefts of all ; for 
 the vigilance with which each would maintain the 
 appropriate intereft in which it was more efpecially 
 concerned, would not only keep each from follow- 
 ing the declination of either of the other powers, 
 and caufe it to adhere ftrenuoully to the fphere 
 affigned it ; but the great aggregate intereft, in 
 refpedt to which fociety is eftablifhed, and accord- 
 ing to the cultivation of which, fociety becomes 
 
 power-
 
 ( 107 ) 
 
 powerful and refined,, would be defended and 
 promoted with all the zeal, that the energy of 
 private intereft, or of individual gratification, can 
 poffibly contribute. By dividing, therefore, the 
 fupremc power of government into three equal 
 portions of force, an equipoife could be enfured in 
 its machinery ; and by annexing fpecially to each 
 of thefe, one of the three leading interefts of fociety, 
 that machinery would invariable ad in furtherance 
 of the public interefL 
 
 The leading intereils in fociety appear to be 
 reducible to three general heads ; liberty, pHTOperty, 
 and fecurity. Liberty, is an intereft equal In every 
 individual, and annexed to our common nature by 
 its Author. It confifts in the free ufe of life, and 
 of the faculties of life, except where the will of the 
 Author has prefcribed bounds to that ufe. Pro- 
 perty, is an intereft arifmg out of the exertion and 
 induftry of man in fociety, and is the objed; 
 of all human adion ; it confifts * in tlie enjoy- 
 ** ment and difpofal of our acqtiiftiicm, without 
 " any control or dimunition, fave only by the law 
 *' of the land/' Security, is the great intereft 
 purfued in the eftabhihment of civil government, 
 and without which, liberty and property can 
 fcarcely be faid to exift at ^vll. It confifts in the 
 adual application of power to reprefs all caufes 
 
 P 2 tend-
 
 ( io8 ) 
 
 tending to endanger either liberty or property, and 
 which therefore eftabhihes in the minds of all, that 
 repofe and confidence which is abfolutely neceflary 
 to the complete enjoyment of either. 
 
 If, now, a due adaptation were made of thefe 
 three leading interefts of fociety, to each of the 
 three conftituent parts of the government here 
 'fuppofed with peculiar motives urging each to the 
 particular prefervation of its refpediive interefl; 
 the adlion of the three powers, in relation to the 
 general interefl, would be enfured, by the vigour 
 with which each would maintain its feparate in- 
 terefl j and which, at the fame time, by means of 
 the counteradlion of the other two, it would never 
 be able to extend to a degree injurious to the 
 refl. 
 
 As this cannot be placed in too flrong light of evi- 
 dence, let us confider again the fcheme of government 
 here fuggcfled to our imagination. What we are 
 to obferve in it is, the number and (quality of 
 the organs, among which the fovereign power is 
 propoied to be diftributed. And that which pre- 
 fents itfelf firft to our contemplation is the number^ 
 or the diflribution of the energies of the ftate into 
 three portions j inflead of into tzvo, as it mufl 
 neceflarily be in every other fyflem, excepting fuch 
 
 3,5
 
 ( 109 ) 
 
 as arc abfolutely defpotic. The Immediate confe- 
 quence of this divifion of fupreme legiflative 
 power into three equal parts is, that no one conftitu- 
 tuent part pofllifles more than one third of that 
 power, confequently, that no one can exert more 
 power than in that proportion. The firft effedl of 
 this rcdudion of the quantity of power in the organs 
 of the ftate, by increafmg their number, is, to pro- 
 duce immediately that quiet and repofe, which 
 was in vain fought for while the whole power was 
 contefled by two a6tive and hoftile interefls, both 
 inclined, and able, to maintain a perpetual conten- 
 tion. For the comparative weakncfs of each of the 
 three powers, rendering it unable to cope with 
 two other powers, each equal to itfelf, would dif- 
 pofe each to remain quiet within its fphere ; or, if 
 either fliould make any attempt to exceed it, the 
 double force of the refilling powers would pre- 
 fently reduce it within its equal bounds. Hence 
 a principle of repofe, or internal quiet, is obtained 
 by this fimple operation, which no other divifion 
 of that power could poflibly elfed. But as thefe 
 three confli tuent divifions of the fovereign power 
 are to a 51 * for the welflire of the whole ; and as 
 
 ** Ces trois puissances devroient former un refws on une 
 ^' inaElion. Mais comme, par le movement r.cccss;ure des 
 *' chofes, elles feront contraintes dialler, elles fcront forccjs 
 y d'alUrcn concert." Esprit des Leix. 1. xi. c. 6.
 
 ( no ) 
 
 the union of their feveral atfls is to conftitute the 
 a(?: of the whole, or the Uw ; it is neceffary that 
 all fliould be aduated by an identity of intereft, 
 in order that all may confpire to the general end. 
 And yet, as it is of principal neceffity to the main- 
 tenance of the threefold divifion of power, that 
 the feveral organs invefted with that power fhould 
 continue ever intrinfically diftin<9c fotherwife there 
 would be an end to the threefold divifion intended) 
 and that they Ihould be incapable of ever coalefcing, 
 or uniting into one ; it is neceffary that all (hould 
 be aduated by a diverlity of interefls, tending to 
 keep them ever diftind: and ap^art the one from 
 the other. Thus each, as by a fpecies of centri- 
 fugal force, yielding to a particular impulfe y and 
 again, by a fpecies of centripetal attra<flion, com- 
 pelled to adhere to the general interefts of the com- 
 munity. And in fuch a government as is here fug- 
 gefted, thefe neceffities fingularly concur. For, as 
 in all ftates, as we have obferved, the interefts of 
 liberty, property, and fecurity fubfift, and confti- 
 tute the interefts of all i fo, in this particular ftate, 
 befides the intereft which all poffefs in common in 
 thefe particulars, each of the three fuppofed organs 
 poffeffes a diftin<ft and powerful incentive for pur- 
 fuing one of thefe in particular. This will be per- 
 ceived if we confider the (inality of the organs 
 
 fup-
 
 ( u? ) 
 
 fuppofcd in this hypothefis ; which are, popular, 
 noble, and regal. 
 
 As in fuch a government, in whidi power would 
 fublifl: in ftn equal degree in each divifion of the ftate, 
 each would equally concur to create the law ; (o the 
 law would be fure to influence equally upon each, 
 and no exemption would be allovved to any. In fuch 
 a fyftem, therefore, there would be but one general 
 rule or law for liberty, one general rule for property, 
 and one general rule for fecurity ; and the mode that 
 beft defended each, would befl proteft all. Liberty is 
 immediately endangered, when power grows txcc^- 
 five in any fupreme conftituent fun(5tion ; property 
 is immediately endangered, either when artificial 
 power grows exceflive in any .particular function ; 
 or, when the boundaries of law are threatehed, and 
 the defences fet to property invaded, by the erup- 
 tion of the natural palFions of mankind ; Jecuriiy is 
 endangered, when thofe whom the law is defigncd 
 to reprefs, acquire a preponderating force over the 
 energy of the law. The jcaloufy with which the 
 popular part, or the bulk of fociety, ading by that 
 organ of reprefentation which every democratic 
 body mull poflefs, would refift eVer}^ encroachment 
 on liberty, would eftablifti the beft proteftion that 
 the natural intereft of liberty can pofTefs, againft 
 any effort or exertion made on the part of power. 
 
 The
 
 ( "2 ) 
 
 The jealoufy with which the opulent nobles (who 
 conflitute the fecond organ here fuppofed) would 
 naturally defend, with the power veiled in them, 
 their large fhare of that general capital which is 
 the objed of common concern, and in the perpe- 
 tual circulation of which confifts the profperity 
 of the whole community ; would be the moft fecure 
 protection that the artificial intereft of property 
 could pofTefs, againfl either excefs of power tending 
 to regal confifcation ; or the eruption of popular 
 paffion, producing democratic plunder. The jea- 
 loufy and vigilance with which the regal organ- 
 would defend its individual capacity, the fource of 
 all political adlion, againfl any illegal force ufurping 
 upon its authority, would be the beft pledge of 
 fecnrity; which is only to be obtained by an alert and 
 flrenuous exertion of the calculated powers veiled 
 in it by the law. 
 
 In a government thus compounded, we are not 
 only to compute the quantity of good that each of 
 the three general qualities can contribute ; we are 
 alfo to afcertain the particular evils that each might 
 occafion, and to provide effcdually againfl them. 
 In the regal eflate, we have to guard againfl the 
 excefs of power, which conflitutes the evil of abfo- 
 lute monarchy ; in the popular part, we are to 
 guard againfl that turbulence of pafTion, which is 
 
 the
 
 ( TJ ) 
 
 the inherent malady of all democracy. A due 
 rediiftion of the power of the former, eftablifhes 
 hberty, and with it fecurity, in all ; a due con- 
 ftraint of the violence of the latter, produces 
 fecurity, and with it liberty, for all. If however, 
 the force of either of the two exceed its bounds, 
 and become exercifed in refpecl to individual in- 
 tereft , whether it be the intereft of the few fupported 
 by monarchical power, or the intereft of the many 
 fupported by democratical vehemence, the great 
 trttereft of property, which is the bafis of all regular, 
 induftrious, prol'pcrous and pohllied fociety, is 
 endangered. This great intereft of property, there 
 fore, becomes invariably and excluiively united 
 with power, in the intermediate order, and is thui 
 equally defended againft kingly plunder, and de- 
 mocratical equalization. So that we may vert-^ 
 lure to affirm, that of thefe three feveral fiinc- 
 tions, that whofe means of benefiting, infinitely 
 overweighs its abihty of injuring fociety, is that 
 of the nobles ; becaufe, at the fame time that it 
 contributes as much as either of its coequais, to 
 maintain the equilibrium of power, and to fecure 
 the equality of law, it contains no feed of ftrength, 
 tending either to cramp liberty by the abufe of law, or 
 to fubvert law by the exniofion of human paflions. 
 It thus ftands a mediator, eftabli(hing peace and 
 amity between the energies of regal and popular 
 Q power.
 
 ( 'U ) 
 
 power. It is, in a manner, the key-ftone, that binds 
 the triumphal arch, fpringing from the oppofite 
 bafes of monarchy and democracy. 
 
 The good effect of this machinery once fet in 
 aftion, was manifeft to the minds of thofe great 
 men. The partition of powers j the oppofition 
 of particular interefts, producing neceflarily the 
 eftabhQiment of the general intereft ; would una- 
 voidably fecure at all times a majority of ftrength 
 on the fide of duty, and proportionably dimin^ 
 the power of refiftance on the fide of pafliion. The 
 fame motive for difturbing the machine, could 
 never adluate two of the powers at the {ame time, 
 becaufe their particular interefts would be diftinft ; 
 and yet the common intereft of preferving the 
 machine would always actuate the two that found 
 an enemy in the third. Whereever refiftance to 
 the fcheme of government difcovered itfelf in the 
 proportion of one third, coercive power would be 
 able to exert itfelf in the proportion of two thirds. 
 If the refiftance ftiowed itfelf in the regal part, the 
 middle and popular part would reduce it j if it 
 appeared in the popular part, the regal and middle 
 would conftrain it ; if in the middle, the regal and 
 popular would overcome it. And thus, each being 
 compelliblc by the fundamental principle of the 
 polity to difcharge " the duties of the artificial 
 
 IpherQ
 
 .( "5 > 
 
 fphere contrived for each, none would be exempted 
 from the operation of that neceffity, and the refult 
 would be univerfal obedience, as far as the nature 
 of man will allow ; and its produce would be thofe 
 enjoyments of exiftence, which naturally flow from 
 thence, and which compofe what are called in 
 popular phrafe, the natural rights of man. And 
 under the enjoyment of thefe, the united induftry 
 and talents of each would be enabled to multiply 
 and cultivate thofe other fubordinate enjoyments, 
 which he calls his civil rights. And it is a very 
 i^ibnable prefumption, that the government that 
 beft attains the general end of its inftitution, will 
 provide alfo the beft ftore of focial benefits, or civil 
 rights: for it can only attain the g^eneral end, by a 
 ftricl obfervance of wifdom andjuftice; and wifdom 
 and juflice are all that is required, to eftablifli civil 
 rights on the beft and moft profperous foundation. 
 
 To the confcience of ever}' Englifliman we now 
 appeal ; to that honour, that frankncfs and honefty, 
 which, we fiin would flatter ourfelves, ftamps the 
 character of Engliftimen ; to them we afk 
 Where has fuch a government been found } What 
 focial fruits has that government produced } 
 
 Did it exift in Egypt or the Eaft ; in Greece 
 
 or in Rome ? No ! it was at bv-ft a phantom in the 
 
 Q 2 minds
 
 ( "6 ) 
 
 minds of theit wifeft philofophers ; a point of 
 imaginary perfection, to which they hardly could 
 allow themfelves to hope, that human nature 
 would, in pradice, ever be able to attain. 
 
 Did it fucceed to the fubverfion of empire in 
 Rome, and eftablifl:^ itfelf on the ruins of imperial 
 tyranny ? Alas ! the various fhapes of defpotifm 
 or licentioufnefs, that fprung from the ruin of the 
 empire, Ihowed how ill it was to be procured by 
 turbulence or war. Did it any where attempt to gain 
 as real and fubftantial exillence ? If fuch efforts 
 it feemed here and there to make, they proved 
 abortive ; the balance was prefently turned, and 
 the fcale fixed by the preponderance of one or 
 other of tlie powers. 
 
 There remained however one great and illuf- 
 trious exception, one brilliant and fingle inftance 
 of fuccefs amidft the general failure. This prin- 
 ciple of government, the faireft offspring of wif- 
 dom and of juftice, involved itfelf in the origin, 
 of civilization in England, and accompanied its 
 progrefs through every modification of its polity. 
 It influenced every aft tending to the public good f 
 and if at any time the equilibrium was loft by the 
 vacillation of the balance, this principle rellored it ; 
 it brought the fcales by degrees to an exadt and 
 
 perfed
 
 ( "7 ) 
 
 perfect equipoifc ; and at length fixed the beatp, 
 lb that no moderate convuliion eould turn it. 
 
 From the commencement of our hiftory, we 
 difcovQr the principle of the partition of powers; 
 of the oppofition of partial intereflsj producing 
 the fecurity of the aggregate intereft ; of that tri- 
 partite diftribution of power, which only can effec- 
 tually and certainly cnfure to duty and right, 3, 
 force at all times equal to their deiejice. In the 
 progrefs of that hiftory, we have proof of the falu- 
 tary cffcd: of this arrangement, in tlic boundaries 
 at different times afligned to thofe different powers ; 
 by fometimes abfcinding from the one and adding 
 to the other, according as experimental necefifity 
 diredled ; until at length their due relative propor- 
 tions were accurately defined and fixed, by the 
 truly glorious and happy revolution of 1688. An 
 event, how much more juflly to be remembered 
 with pious gratitude, and commemorated with 
 patriotic ardor, by Engliflimen, tlian any one of 
 the i/iree revolutions of France, during the laft 
 feven yearly by the ill-fated vidtims of their fury ! 
 
 Such is the nature of the government fybfifting 
 in England. It provides a univerfal control over 
 ^11 who are lubject to it, whether king, peerage, 
 or commons : for king, peers, a^d commons, arc 
 
 equally
 
 ( ii8 ) 
 
 equally fubjeft to that rule, which is paramount 
 over all. As far as human nature can allow it, as 
 far as any eifedt can be perfect, of which man is 
 the inftrument or medium, the conftitution of this 
 government is perfed:. Some of thofe defedts 
 which will ever adhere to works of human execu- 
 tion, may doubtlefs be difcoverable even here 5 
 but it contains within itfeif a correfting energy, 
 a6ting always up to the meafure of experimental 
 neceffity. That principle which was coeval with 
 its origin, and attendant on every ftep of its pro- 
 grefs, illll animates its fyftem j it is immortal and" 
 exhauftlefs as the immutable wifdom from whence 
 it fprings ; and if we defer t not it, it never will 
 defert us. -ajP!''* * 
 
 It prefents to all, a full meafure of the fruits of 
 accompliihed government, namely, equal necejity 
 to duty equal fecurity of right. The inevitable 
 confequence of that moderating fyfhem of legifla- 
 tion is, a correfponding moderation and equality 
 in the adminiftration of the laws provided. Each 
 interefb contributing equally to make the law, no 
 artificial fundion is exempted from that neceffity 
 to duty, no individual perfon is excluded fn.m that 
 equal fecurity of righ t . Neither wealth nor privilege, 
 poverty nor obfcurity, furnithes the leaft exception 
 from the former ; on the other hand, equal fecurity 
 
 of
 
 ( "9 ) 
 
 of right is extended to all. He who toils in iht 
 meancft office of fociety, (lands on the fame level 
 with the prince of the fovercign's blood, in the 
 facred eye of the law. Though the Ichemc of 
 government requires, for the cxiftence and motion 
 of its machineries, the contrivance of different 
 degrees of fubordination, yet the refult of the 
 whole is, fccurity and protection dealt out equally 
 to each. The honeft avowal of a diftinguiftied 
 foreign writer, the native of a republic, is perhaps 
 one of the moft fatisfadlory evidences that can be 
 produced to Englithmen, of the ineftimablc blef 
 lings they poflefs in the adminiftration of the laws 
 of their country. " The fingular lituations of the 
 ** Engiifli judges relatively to the three conftituent 
 " powers of the ftate, has at laft created fuch 
 *' an impartiality in the diftribution of public 
 " juftice in England, and procured to every in- 
 " dividual, both fuch an eafy accels to the courts 
 f of law, and fuch a certainty of redrefs, as are 
 ** not to be paralleled in any other government: 
 " Philip de Comines, fo long as three hundred 
 " years ago, commended in ftrong terms the 
 f< exadnefs with which jufLice is done in En2;iand 
 " to all ranks of fubjeds ; and the impartiality 
 ** with which the fame i? adminidered in thefe 
 " days, win with flilliiiore reafon create the fur- 
 ** prife cf every ftrangcr, who has an opportunity of 
 
 *' ob-
 
 ( 120 ) 
 
 *' obferving the cuftoms of this countr}'-.*" Such 
 is the blefling exceeding all calculation, which wc 
 derive from the adminiftration of public juftice, 
 *' relatively (as this writer well remarks) to the three 
 " conftituent powers of the flate." If we were to 
 allow any one of thefe conftituent powers to be in 
 the leafb impaired, a change in that admirable 
 fyflem of juftice, entailing confequences affe<fling 
 us all, muft be the certain refuit. 
 
 But, befides that the Englifh conftitution pro- 
 duces effectually the miverfality of obediencey and 
 thereby thtji ability of fociety, it alfo provides for 
 its own permanency. It is a felf-prefervative, felf- 
 a(fting principle ; another cixcumftance that we 
 have fkated to be necefiary to the perfeftion of 
 government, and to the completion of that hanpi- 
 nefs which government endeavotirs .to eftablifli. 
 For the fame commanding reafon, that direds to 
 the proper means for obtaining the end of govern- 
 inent ; and that has rendered the permanency of 
 happinefs effential to its completion ; requires, 
 that the means for obtaining the great end of focial 
 fecurity, when once fuccefsfully contrived, IhalJ 
 alfo be rendered permanent. 
 
 De Lolme, On tkeConJl. of England, p. 376. Sec the note he 
 fiibjoins to the paflage here quoted. 
 
 The
 
 ( 121 ) 
 
 The permanency of civil government, is befi 
 fought for in the perpetuation of that which .pro- 
 duced itsftabihty. This, as we have feen, was th(? 
 threefold diflribution of power, by the infertion of 
 a moderating quantity, capable at all times of pro- 
 ducing anequipoife. The Engl ifh polity, produces 
 the (lability of government by its adual operation-^ 
 it fecures its permanency by its fundamental 
 conftitution. 
 
 That this (lability (liould become permanent, 
 it is necetfary that the means producing the (lability 
 (hould be continued without interruption. Thefe 
 means confift of th^ mutual aftion and concur- 
 rence of the tliree feveral branches, among which 
 the fupreme power has been equally divided. Th^ 
 permanency of the popular part, is effeded by thp 
 common operation of the laws of nature, by whic^i 
 a condant fucceffion in the human race is main- 
 tained, and it is thus that the popular interefl \s 
 rendered perpetual. As the powers of the two 
 other parts are to be exercifed by men, and the 
 life of man is precarious and Ihort j and as it is 
 eflential to the threefold didribution of power, thi\t 
 each be equal to the other in evpry refped:, nqt 
 only in adlual, but alio in continuing, uninterrupt- 
 ed energ}^; the example of nati^re is followed, and 
 perpetuity is communicated to the two otl^er 
 R branches
 
 ( 122 ) 
 
 branches of the ftate, on the fame principle of here- 
 ditary fucceffion. Not devifed, as pride and envy 
 endeavour to perfuade, with the fole view of cre-^ 
 ating invidious and partial benefits ; but for the 
 wife and falutary purpofe of continuing, without 
 interruption, the operation of a caufe, that pro- 
 duces and confirms every poflible advantage of civil 
 government. By means of hereditary fucceffion of 
 their refpedive qualities and characters, in all the 
 three conflituent parts of the government, a con- 
 ftant and equal procefs of every part of the politi- 
 cal machinery is fecured. Every inconvenience 
 flowing to the pracftical ufe of civil government 
 from the brevity of human life, by which the wifefl 
 contrivances are defeated, and the periodical return 
 of civil diforder produced, is by this means totally 
 prevented. Diftant ages, that the term of human 
 life is unable to conned, are by tliis contrivance 
 conne<5led ; and poflerity is thus enfured of the 
 tranfmiffion of thofe benefits, with unalterable 
 identity, which wifdom and virtue have bled to 
 procure. A perpetual interefl is maintained, fup- 
 plying the energies of civil government with perpe- 
 tual vigour. And thus the three conflituent portions 
 of the flate, each united in itfelf, and all compadl- 
 ed with each other ; pofleffing the fame inherent 
 ftrength of nature, and endowed with the fame 
 principle of perpetuity ; eftabliHi that ftrong, com- 
 plex
 
 ( 123 ) 
 
 plex, indiflbluble chain, which holds the confti- 
 tution, during the tide of centuries, nrm to the 
 foil of England, fecuring iti identity, while it efla- 
 blifhes its permanency.* 
 
 Such are the benefits we derive from this triple 
 arrangement of ^ower ; the evidence of which has 
 forcibly affjcted all thofe philofophers who have 
 directed their attention to obferve it. ** This," 
 fays the celebrated Montefquieu, " is the funda- 
 " mental conftitution of the government of which 
 ** w^e are fpeaking. The Icgidcitive body being 
 *' compofed of two parts, the one will control the 
 " other by its power of negativing ; and both 
 *' thefe will be controled by the executive branch, 
 *' which in its turn will alfo control the tw^o legif- 
 " lative branches. The three powers would 
 *' therefore produce a repofe, or inadion; but 
 *' fince, by the unavoidable courfe of things, they 
 *' will be obliged to a6t, they will thus be under 
 ' the neceffity of ading in concert. "t '* If this 
 *' power had only been divided into two parts," 
 (fays De Lolme) " it is probable they would not 
 " in all cafes unite, either for doing or undoing : 
 
 * So that we may apply to it Chryfippus's definition of fate : 
 ** Scnipiterna quxdam et indeclinabilis feries rerum et catena," 
 &c. Aul : Gell: L. vi. c 2. 
 
 + Spirit of Laws. B. xi, c. 6, 
 
 R2 if
 
 ( 124 ) 
 
 " if it has been divided into three parts, the 
 ** chance that no change will be made is thereby 
 ** greatly inereafed."* And- here we may by the 
 way obferve, that by being divided into three -parts ^ 
 muft be meant, in common reafon, three eqiial parts ^ 
 For, unlefs the power be diftributed in every re- 
 fpe6l equally to each of the three ^ fo that each be 
 abfolutely and equally independent one of the other 
 in the exercife of that power, and alfo equally per- 
 manent, nothing is done ; nor can the arithmetic 
 of three tranfmit any virtue to the triple dijiribiition 
 of power, unlefs upon this principle of equal dijiri-.^ 
 btition: for, in which ever ofthefe points one of the 
 three is radically inferior to the others, whether it 
 be in the quantity of power, in its abfolutc occu- 
 pation, or in its permanency, in that point an ex- 
 cefs is given to one or both of the others j the 
 equilibrium, which alone was fought for in this 
 tripartite divifion, is ipfo fa5lo deftroyed j and it 
 matters very little then, how many nominal or 
 oftenfible fliapes the pageant of government aflumes. 
 Such is the cafe of France, who, in order to comply 
 in outward exhibition with the peremptory voice 
 of reafon and experience, has now fplit her demo- 
 cracy into three oftenfible portions. But as thefe da 
 not all ftand on the fame foundation, of equality 
 
 * Pe JU)lrn?. B. ii. c 3. 
 
 of
 
 ( 1^5 ) 
 
 of legiflativc power, of independency and per- 
 manency, it is not faithfully divided according to 
 the rule pretended. But. with refpe6t to us, " The 
 ** legiflature of the kingdom is intruded to three 
 " diftinft powers, entirely independent of each 
 " other; firft, the King; fecondly, the Lords 
 " and, thirdly the Houfe of Commons. As this 
 '' aggregate body, actuated by different fprings, 
 *' and attentive to different interefhs, compofes the 
 *' Britifh Parliament, and has the fupreme dif- 
 ** pofai of every thing; there can no inconvenience 
 ** be attempted by either of the three branches, 
 *' but will be withftood by one of the other two ; 
 *' each branch being armed with a negative power, 
 *' fufficient to repel any innovation which it (hall 
 *' think inexpedient or dangerous." 
 
 " Here then is lodged the fovereignty of the 
 * Britifh conflitution ; and lodged as beneficially 
 *' as poffible for f(x:iety. For in no other fhaj">e 
 *' could we be fo 'certain of finding the three great 
 ** qualities of government lb well and fo hapj^ily 
 * united, If the fupreme power was lodged in 
 *' any one of the three branches leparately, we 
 *' muft be expofed to the inconveniences of cither 
 *' abfolute monarchy, ariftocracy, or democracy 5 
 ' and lb want two of the three principal ingredients 
 ^* of good poUty, cither virtue, wifJom, or power. 
 
 If
 
 [( 1^6 ) 
 
 If it were lodged in any one of the tv/o branches ; 
 for iiiftance in the king and houfe of lords, our 
 laws might be providently made, and well exe- 
 cuted, but they might not always have the 
 good of the people in view : if lodged in the 
 king and commons, we fhould want that cir- 
 cumfpeftion and mediatory caution, which the 
 wifdom of the peers is to afford : if the fupreme 
 rights of legiflature were lodgi^.d in the two houfes 
 only, and tlie king had no negative upon their 
 proceedings, they might be tempted to incroach 
 upon the royal prerogative, or perhaps to abolifh 
 the kingly office, and thereby weaken (if not 
 totally deftroy) the ftrength ot the executive 
 power. But the conftitutional government of 
 this illand is fo admjrabiy tempered and com- 
 pounded, that nothing can endanger or hurt it, 
 but deftroying the equilibrium of power between 
 one branch of the legiflature and the reft. For 
 if ever it fhould happen that the independence 
 of one of the three fhould be. loft, or that it 
 fhould become fubfervient to the views of either 
 of the other two, there would foon be an end of 
 the conftitution.*" 
 
 And as each of thefe three is efpecially moved to 
 
 adhere to one of the tliree leading interefts of fociety, 
 
 the popular part being the ftrenuous defenders of 
 
 indl- 
 * Blackftone's Comm. b, i.
 
 ( '27 3 
 
 iftdivit-lual liberty in particular ; the nobles being 
 the jealous protectors of opulence, and all its ad- 
 vantag-es, and therein at the fame time oi property 
 in general, and all its enjoyments ;* there being but 
 one law ibr property in all its various degrees of 
 
 * It is wortliy of remark hero, that the fiift gre t fecurity 
 obtained for the property of every denoniinacion (. t perfuns in 
 the realm, and that, too, at a time whjn ihj bulk of the peo- 
 ple were immerfed in valfalige and flavery, was proc:;red by 
 thejealoufy with which the rich barons furveyed the arbitrary 
 charafter of the Crown. It was to tht m that the nation owed 
 X\\t great Charier of Liberties, by which the prop rty cf every 
 Englilhman was placed upon the fame level of fciiri y; a .d 
 {to ufe the words of the excellent Blackftone) it did that 
 " which alone would have merited the tith- that it bears, of 
 ** l\\t great charter, it protefted e\cry individual of the nation 
 ** in the free enjoyment of his life, his I.berty, a-.d his pro- 
 " perty, unlefs declared to be forfeiced by the judgm nt of his 
 *' peers, or the law of the land." At ,; much later pt-riol cf 
 our hiftory, when the abuf' of ihe king'y power had given 
 way to the abufe of the democratic power, of the conlHtuticjn ; 
 the peerage of the realm oppofcd ti.e career cd t'.e latter, as in 
 the time of John they had oppdfed the conduct of the ("town. 
 But the Crown being then extingnifhed, the pecage became 
 only the weaker of two contending powers, and were foon 
 aboliflied, and voted to be uielefs and dimgerous, by thofe, who 
 defired to fway without control. In which hiflorics, we may 
 xemark, firft, the benefit of the intermediate body vi the 
 nobles, while the ftate remained entire ; and fecondly, the 
 facility with which the whole fabric of the conftituiion was over- 
 turned, as foon as an infradion was made into any of its parts. 
 
 the
 
 ( 128 ) 
 
 wealth or competenqr j and the king being, by 
 the unity of his political capacity, the vigilant and 
 efFedtual maintainer of the force of government, by 
 which fecurity is produced ; and in maintaining 
 which, the dignity, and fafety, no lefs of his per- 
 fbnthan of his office, entirely depends ; it becomes 
 morally impoffible that any one fhould abandon its 
 particular interefts, and confequently that the in- 
 terefl of the whole fhould not be fully promoted. 
 
 The conftitution of England ^ however, while it 
 has eftabliihed itfelf on the general plan firft com- 
 mended by Cicero, has infinitely refined upon the 
 general principle, by the admirable conftitutions of 
 the regal, mediatory, and reprefentative organs of 
 legiflation; (abfolutely in themfelves, and relatively 
 to each other;) and by the delegation of all the exe- 
 cutive power to a fingle individual, who is kept in 
 check by the entire referve of the treafure of the 
 country to the difpofal of the great councils of the na- 
 tion, with different degrees of power : thus adapting 
 its parts fo exquifitely the one to the other, that they 
 appear to blend into a perfed: whole, in which the 
 radical diverfity of interefts are with difficulty dif- 
 tinguiftied: each conftituent part being render- 
 ed fufccptible of the interefts of each, and in a 
 manner an epitome of the whole. 
 
 But
 
 ( 129 ) 
 
 But this permanency of government, which 
 wifdom calls for as indifpenfable to its perfedlion, 
 is dilblaimed by our antagonifts as eflentially con- 
 trary to their " rights of man". Thofe rights, fay 
 they, proteft againfl any reilridion being impofed 
 by one generation upon another. Here we again 
 difcover, with amazement and with grief, the fnare 
 woven by knavery, to entrap inadvertency and fim- 
 plicity. Had government no better foundation on 
 which it could reft than the caprice of man, their 
 objcdion would be admiflible ; becaufe no man is 
 obliged to fubmit to the caprice of another. But 
 as ever}^ man is born the fubject of InfiniteWifdom ; 
 as he is bound in his nature by an abfolute and 
 indefeafiblc obligation to the will of God; and is 
 feverely accountable for his obfervance of the rule 
 prefcribed by it ; as civil government adls on be- 
 half of that wifdom, and in conformity with that 
 rule ; and as the authority of wifdom is in every 
 age unalterably the fame ; it fignifies nothing in 
 what fpecific generation the injunctions of wifdom 
 received the fandtion of human laws. In order, 
 therefore, to be free from fo embarraffing a rule, 
 and to leave the door open to the continual a61:ion 
 of intereft and paffion, thefe have endeavoured to 
 perfuade, that government has no rule but the 
 will of the community , thereby intending to 
 give force to the abfolute iC/77/o/"w^w, independently 
 S of
 
 ( IJC^ ) 
 
 of ei'cry moral rule. And to this hypothecs thtj 
 have adapted all their reafoning. But if this prin- 
 ciple were admitted, man's right would extend to 
 prevent the continuance of any inftitution that 
 wifdom might enjoin ; and the fpeculations of every 
 race, being backed by an alleged right to make ex- 
 periment of thofe fpeculations, the beft efforts of 
 wifdom might be over- ruled by the operation of a 
 principle, pretended to be implanted by wifdom 
 herfelf ; than which nothing can well be more 
 prepofterous and abfurd. Such a right would, in 
 effedt, be a right to maintain an unceafing revolu- 
 tion of human affairs ; and the right of one gene- 
 ration, following clofe upon that of the preceding 
 one, the old age of man would have no ground 
 for hoping, that it fhould enjoy the continuation 
 of that which his manhood had laboured to efla- 
 blilh ; there having fprung up a new right with 
 power, capable of over-ruling the bare right, which 
 the decrepitude of age now left deflitute of fup- 
 port. Thus, the duration of governments would 
 merely extend from the age of vigour in one gene- 
 ration, to the age of vigour in another ^ and 
 their (lability would remain to be computed by 
 the longevity of man in each, determinable only 
 by their reipedive bills of mortality. 
 
 On
 
 ( '3' ) 
 
 On fuch a foundation would reft the whole 
 fabric of fociety, the whole apparatus of govern- 
 ment, if tliere were not fome fecure ground, fome 
 folid Jubftratum^ immoveable by any plea of right 
 in man ; on which fuch plea muft depend ; and 
 which, in the event of oppofition, muft quafti 
 every plea of right fet up by man. Such a ground 
 is wifdom ; enjoining ftrict obfervance of the rule 
 of duty, thence deducing the notion of right in 
 man j and dired;ing to an union of the natural 
 energies of man, to compel obfervance of that 
 rule, thence to acquire the natural obje(fts of that 
 right. This is the only true and genuine nature of 
 government, which is more or lefs good, not as 
 it agrees or difagrees with arbitrary and indiftindt 
 notions of right j but, as it is more or lefs 
 capable of fecuring the end fought for by its infti- 
 tution. 
 
 Until a remote view of the corufcations proceed- 
 ing from the conflagration of the ancient monarchy 
 of France, was miftaken by many for the dawn- 
 ing luftre of a brighter day, we w^ere all accuftomed 
 to believe, that this great objccl was attained, 
 and in a manner almoft miraculous, under our 
 revered conftitution. There are ftill many, very 
 many, who hold this opinion unlhakea ; who 
 have been proof againft the fliort-lived illufion. 
 S 2 Theic
 
 ( ^32 ) 
 
 Thefe conceive, that the pole ftar of vvifdom, by 
 which the hehn of Britain has been {leered during 
 a boiflerous voyage of many centuries, and by 
 means of which the facred veflel was at length 
 prolperoufly brought to her moorings in the haven 
 of the Revolution, prefents to all mankind, but 
 experimentally to Britons, a far fecurer guidance 
 than the incendiary blaze of France, however its 
 glare may fenfibly exceed in intenfity, or its ap- 
 parent diameter in magnitude. 
 
 We fhall enter into no further examination of 
 the peculiar excellencies of the conllitution, firft, 
 becaufe it would extend this addrefs beyond all 
 confident bounds ; fecondly, becaufe we have 
 done all that we were deiirous of doing, by Ihow- 
 ing that the Englilh conftitution eftabliflies th^t 
 equal neceflity to obey the force of government 
 in every individual, which is the objed: of all gOt 
 vernment, and that it does this folely by the triple 
 and equal diftribution of its legiflative power ; but 
 laflly, and moft particularly, becaufe that work is 
 already greatly accomplifhed, and by talents 
 widely different from ours. Were thofe inva- 
 luable produdlions as induflrioufly confulted, as 
 the fcurrilous and lying ribaldry diffeminated by 
 the friends of diforder ; the conftitution would be- 
 come an objedl of far more enthufiaftic admiration, 
 
 than
 
 ( 133 ) 
 
 than it has ever yet been of obloquy and abufe. 
 To thofe found and pcrfuafive writers, let us diredt 
 the attention of every defcription of Englishmen; 
 thofe particularly, who feel an anxiety to form an 
 opinion of the conftitution, or a defire to pro- 
 nounce a judgment upon it ; but moft cfpecially 
 thofe, who have joined in the uproar and clamor 
 that ignorance, yielding itfelf to the authority of 
 treafon, has fozealoufly raifedagainflit. There they 
 will difcover, with wonder and with indignation, 
 that they have been made the dupes of the moft 
 hollow and unfubftantial artifice that was everexer- 
 cifed over the underftandings of mankind. There 
 they will difcover, that what has been held forth to 
 them as an objed: defervingonly of their contempt, 
 their fufpicion, and difguftj will transfix them by 
 the evidence of its worth, and fulfil them with con- 
 fidence, with affeftion, and rcfped: : They will 
 foon be convinced, that thofe who flandered their 
 birthrights and the iburce of their fecurity, had 
 their fccret reafons for being the enemies of tlieir 
 birthrights and fecurity ; and if they cannot cxaClly 
 trace the fpecific interefl that each purfucd bv iiicli 
 a proceeding, they will at lead detect the fpiris: of 
 treachery and viilany that confpired their deflirur- 
 tion. To thole oracles, tiicreforc, of fair and 
 honeft reafoning, thofe juft and f;iithful cxj/jfitors 
 pf the laws and conftitution of his country, wc 
 
 refer
 
 ( '34 ) 
 
 refer every inquiring Briton ;* fatisfying ourfelves 
 with producing here only one authority, but which 
 is qualified for this fele(^lion by the particular cha- 
 racfler of the man, whofe writings have eminently 
 tended to raife tiiat perturbed and unhallowed 
 fpirit, which, from the heart of France, his native 
 country, now diffufes melancholy and diilrefs over 
 the whole face of Chriftendorq. 
 
 " We may believe," fays this writer, " that^ a 
 
 " conflitution which has regulated the rights of the 
 
 '* king, of the nobles, and of the people, and in 
 
 ** which each finds his fecurity, will laft as long as 
 
 " any thing human can laft. We may further 
 
 " believe, that all flates that are not founded on 
 
 " fimilar principles, mud undergo revolutions," 
 
 " The government of England has attained 
 " this objedt by inflating men in all thofe natural 
 " rights of which they are abridged in almoft 
 " evsry monarchy. Thefe rights are, entire liberty 
 *' of his perfon and property ; the liberty of ad- 
 *' drefling the nation in writing ; of not being 
 " judged in any criminal matter otherwife than 
 " by a jury compofed of independent men ; of 
 
 Sec Blackftone's Commentaries Vol. I. De Lolme, on TAe 
 CoTtJlitution of Evgland. Paley's Moral Pkilof op hy^ Vol. 11. b. 6. 
 Montefquieu's Spirit of Laws, b.ii. 
 
 " being
 
 ( '35 ) 
 
 being, in no cafe, othervvife judged than accord- 
 ing to the ftri6t terms of the law ; of peaceably 
 profcfTing any religion, with the fole condition 
 of foregoing thofe particular fituations which 
 are fet apart for the eftablifhcd church. Thefe 
 are ft3'led prerogatives ; and it is in truth a very 
 great and happy prerogative, over and above 
 moft nations of the earth, for a man to be fure 
 in going to bed that he fnall rife in the morn- 
 ing mailer of the fame property he then pof- 
 fefled ; that he fliall not be torn from the arms 
 of his wife, from his children, in the miuJle of 
 the niglit, to be conveyed to a dungeon or a de- 
 fert ; that in rifmg from his bed he fhali have the 
 power of publicly expofin^ his thoughts ; that 
 if he is accufed of any crime, either by ad:, by 
 fpeech, or by writing, that he Ihall only be 
 judged according to law. And this prerogative 
 extends its foot to ever}' one who fets his foot 
 in England. A foreigner enjoys equa'Iy the 
 liberty of his perlon and property ; and if he is 
 accufed, he may demand that half his jurors 
 lliould be alfo foreigners. 
 
 *' I will venture to affirm, that if the whole 
 race of men were aflembled for the purpofe of 
 making laws, they would be formed after this 
 model for the general fecurity."* 
 
 * Voltaire, DiB. Philofoph. Gcuternment. 
 
 Such
 
 ( '36 ) 
 
 Such is the condition, under which that pof tiOil 
 of mankind who inhabit the Britilh illands, enjoy 
 by God's good providence their favoured exiftence ! 
 flich is the refult of that coincidence of circum- 
 flances, which has confpired to place their country 
 on the pinnacle of the world 5 and which has ren- 
 dered Great Britain the mediating power in the 
 fcale of nations, to which all look for the preferva- 
 tion of the rights and liberties eftabUfhed among 
 ftates. To every Engliftiman, the confhitution 
 of his country is his deareft and moft valuable pof- 
 feflion ; it is his right to hold and to preferve it. 
 But it is alfo the right of his pofterity, intruded 
 to his care ; it is therefore his duty to honour and 
 to defend it. It is an efficient engine in his own 
 hand, the beft that the united labours of reafon 
 and experience have yet been able to produce, for 
 acquiring the moft prafticable happinefs that the 
 fhort life of man can ever hope to tafte. It is his 
 right to defend it, as he defends his caftle ; but 
 what is of far prior importance, it is his bounden 
 duty to defend it. 
 
 There is an expedient, congenial to their natures, 
 to which the adverfaries of the conftitution have 
 ready 'recourfe, in order to reprefs any movements 
 YOU might be difpofed to make to control the 
 adivity of treafon \ and that is, by reprefenting all 
 
 fuch
 
 ( m ) 
 
 fuch efforts as engaged in the fupport of tyranny, 
 and having for their ultimate objed to extend the 
 power of the Crown ; thus repelHng the charge 
 of treafon by the counter-charge of fervihty. And if 
 fuch a fhratagcni could be fuccefsful ; if confcious 
 integrity were unable to maintain itfelf againft 
 confcious crime ; if the courage of virtue could 
 not cope with the courage of guilt, nothing more 
 would be required to extinguifh the conftltution, 
 and to accom])lilh the fcheme of anarchy and de- 
 fol-Uion. As foon as Engliflimen fliall be deterred, 
 by the lofty tone of traitors, from engaging openly 
 and boldly in the caufe of duty ; as foon as the 
 fear of enduring that imputation which their hearts 
 repel, (hall overcome their propcnfity to difcharge 
 tliat duty which their hearts enjoin ; as foon as 
 juries fliall imbibe the fatal maxim, that the crime 
 of treafon is of fo indefinite' and doubtful a quality, 
 as to defcrve by every pofliblc contrivance to be 
 refcued from the rigour of the law ; and as foon as 
 it fliall be radicated in the minds of the multitude, 
 that though it is the duty of every one to bring 
 forth to juftice, him who fteals to fatisfy the cries 
 of hunger in an impoveriHied family, it is yet infa- 
 mous, and an offence againft all fociety, to inform 
 againfl him who endeavours to plunge fociety itfelf 
 into mifery and blood 3 as foon as all thefe things 
 fliall be accoinpl idled, the triumph of treafon will 
 T be
 
 ( >38 ) 
 
 be completed, and the period of oui illuflrlous go^ 
 vernment irrevocably fixed. But if thefe things 
 are permitted, if they who feel the impulfe of duty 
 to maintain the authority of government, are to be 
 checked in their purpofe by the falfe and infamous 
 afperfion of fervility, direfted againfl them from 
 rebels and confpirators ; what becomes of confcious 
 lincerity, of virtuous courage, of triumphant 
 honour ? Shall thefe be baniilied from the nation in 
 accomodation of the fcheme of treafon ? Shall the 
 clamor of villany unnerve and paralyfe the arm 
 of integrity ? Is not this the ftale and hacknied 
 artifice of crime wherever it appears ? Has not the 
 tyrant at all times challenged the afTertor of 
 liberty for a rebel ; and has not the traitor at all 
 times challenged the vindicator of government 
 for a Have ? And are thefe fenfelefs words, uttered in 
 rage and defpair, to command the world and to 
 break the fpirit of freemen ? It is our duty, a duty 
 which honour no lefs than confcience peremptorily 
 enjoins, to take our pofl between tyranny and trea- 
 fon ; tO' refill with equal vigour and unrelaxing 
 determination, the enemies of regulated liberty,. 
 from which ever fide they advance ; whether they in- 
 fult under the flyleof Prince or of Citizen ; whether 
 they emblazon on their banners the Crown or the 
 Cap ; whether their pretext be, to reduce rebel- 
 lion, or to extinguiih tyranny : they are equally 
 
 and
 
 ( 139 ) 
 
 and eternally the enemies of peace, of freedom, 
 and of England. 
 
 At ail times the defence of jud government is 
 the defence of right. The intereil of the power of 
 government, under the Britilh conititution, is the 
 perfonal interefh of every free and upright Briton. 
 It is the power that commands that flate of outward 
 circumftance, from whence refuits the enjoyment 
 of every object of his right. At all times, therefore, 
 intereft and duty direct us, with the voice of autho- 
 rity, to maintain the conditution in all, and each, 
 its parts. 
 
 But at this 'particular time, and in reipe(5t of 
 thofe tragical events to which this addreis has 
 reference, the duties of Englifhmen, and of Your- 
 selves moft efpecially, are called forth in a 
 peculiar manner towards that particular branch of 
 the conflitution, which has been more immediately 
 endangered. 
 
 Thofe who are unable to difcriminate between 
 courage and ferocity, between religion and fuper- 
 ftition, between the ufe and the abufe of things, 
 we have no hopes of convincing that loyaity is not 
 fervility. But let fuch perfons know, that the 
 confufion of their own ideas will induce no confu- 
 
 T 2 fion
 
 ( 140 ) 
 
 fion into the nature of things j and that none arc 
 fo little likely to lapfe into fervility, as they who 
 take pains to inveftigate the nature of loyalty, and 
 to afcertain its extent, 
 
 " Allegiance," fays the Law of England, " is 
 " ufually, and therefore moil eafily, confidered as 
 " the duty of the people ; and protection, as the 
 " duty of the magiftrate i and yet they are recipro- 
 " cally the rights as well as duties of each other. 
 *' Allegiance is the right of the magiftrate, and 
 *' protedion the right of the people.*" 
 
 " Allegiance is the tie, or ligamen, which binds 
 ** the fubjeft to the king, in return for that pro- 
 " tedion which the king affords the fubjedl.t" 
 
 " The law holds, that there is an implied, origi- 
 " nal, and virtual allegiance owing, from every fub- 
 *' jecT: to his fove reign. For as the king, by the 
 ** very defcent of the crown, is fully invefted with 
 *' all the rights^ and bound to all the duties^ of 
 " fovereignty, before his coronation ; fo the fubjecft 
 " is bound to his prince by an intrinfic allegiance, 
 <* before the indudion of thofe outward bonds, of 
 *' oaths, homages, fealty, which were only inftitut- 
 
 - BUckftonc. B. I. c. I. + lb, B. I. c. lO. 
 
 ed
 
 ( H> ) 
 
 *^ ed to remind the fubjed of his previous duty, 
 
 ** and for the better fecuring its performance. - 
 
 ** Which occasions Sir Edward Coke very juftly 
 
 " to obferve, that all fubje(5ts are equally bound 
 
 " to their allegiance, as if they had taken the 
 
 ** oath; becaufe it is written by the finger of the 
 
 *' law in their hearts, and the taking of the corporal 
 
 *' oath is but an outward declaration of the fame.*" 
 
 " It is due from all born within the king's 
 " dominions immediately upon their birth. For 
 ** immediately on their birth they are under the 
 ** king's protedion ; at a time too, w4ien (during 
 " their infancy) they are incapable of proteifling 
 " themfelves. Natural allegiance is therefore a 
 " debt of gratitude, which cannot be forfeited, 
 " cancelled, or altered, by any change of time, 
 *' place, or circumftance, nor by any thing but the 
 * united concurrence of the legiflature.t" 
 
 " Allegiance is held to be applicable, not only 
 *' to the political capacity of the king, or regal 
 *' office, but to his natural perfon and blood royal. 
 " And from hence arofe that principle of perjonal 
 " attachment, and ajfe5iionate loyalty, which induced 
 *' our forefathers (and, if occafion required, would 
 *' doubtlefs Induce their fons) to hazard all that was 
 
 Ibid. + Ibid. 
 
 " dear
 
 ( 142 ) 
 
 ** dear to them, life, fortune, and family, in defence 
 " and fupport of their liege lord and fovereign."t 
 
 Thus fpeaks the free, but juftand honourable, fpi- 
 rit of the conftkution, by the pen of one of the ableft 
 aflertors of the rights and liberties of Engliflimen. 
 And the more we fhall examine what it pronounces 
 the more we fhall difcover, that every fair indu6bion 
 of reafon, every genuine impulfe of honour, will 
 guide us to the fame conclufion. 
 
 The protecflion to be thus afforded, to the fub- 
 jeft, proceeds in a principal degree from the natural 
 and mechanical exercife of the regal office ; which 
 is fo contrived under that admirable form of go- 
 vernment which we have in a general way confidered; 
 that the mod common action of its own princi- 
 ples, if they receive no obflrudion from him who 
 is to exert it, furnifhes a degree of protection to 
 the fubjeft, unknown in any other country'. But 
 if it happen that the individual exercifmg that 
 office, at any given time, (hall poflefs a mind har- 
 monifing with thefe principles, and fhall add the 
 impulfe of his own inclination to the natural a6lion 
 of the fprings, as opportunity fhall offer ; then the 
 degree of protedion is increafed j and although 
 the great majority ofprotedion afforded, is to be 
 
 4 Ibid. 
 
 attributed
 
 ( '43 ) 
 
 attributed to the kingly office legally dlfcharged, 
 yet the accefs of prote<5lion is to be alcribed to 
 the particular incHnation of him who exercifed it ; 
 and is, upon every principle of truth and ordinary 
 juftice, to be imputed to the individual himfelf. 
 
 What general protet^lion has been uniformly 
 extended to the nation, by the faithful difcharge 
 of the duties of the Crown ; but in a more efpeciai 
 and ftriking manner, during the awRil crifis of the 
 prefcnt reign ; during the paroxyfm of feditious 
 and fanatical fury in the year ijSo; and again, 
 during the laft few years, in which the alarm that 
 pervaded the nation has been gradually allayed by 
 the vvifdom and determination of parliament, and 
 the daring enemies of the confiiitution coerced and 
 reduced, by the firm and faithful exertion of the 
 executive arm ; is known and felt by all who are 
 fo hap4)y as topoflefs their minds in freedom, un- 
 biaffed by the control of pafTion or of party. But 
 to tell Engliihmen that they enjoy the general pro- 
 tection i tilling from the Crown through every fubor- 
 dinate function in the realm, would be an idle oc- 
 cupation of their time ; it would be telling them 
 of that which the experience of every parifli in the 
 kingdom, daily and hourly demonftrates. But to 
 inquire whether we have received any particular 
 
 proteftion
 
 ( 144 ) 
 
 protedlion from the opportunities afforded to tte 
 adual pofTeflbr of the Crown, and to be afcribed 
 to himfelf, perjonally, on the principle above ad- 
 duced, may not be fo idle an occupation of their 
 time ; and it is one that honour and juftice pofi- 
 tively enjoin ; becaufe it is againll him individually 
 that paflions the moft infernal, aftlng by inftru- 
 ments the moft formidable, have direded all their 
 energ}'. 
 
 Perfonal liberty, is the great crj' of Engllfhmen j 
 it is the houfliold god of every tenement in the 
 realm ; it is fo deeply imprellcd upon our imagina-* 
 tions, that many while they adually poffefs it, run 
 about in purfuit of it, with as much anxiety and 
 as much jealoufy, as if they had it not. It has 
 been the policy of arbitrary fovereigns, in all times 
 and countries, to prefervc an influence over the 
 courts of judicature, in order to enfure the execu- 
 tion of their will, and the coercion of thofe who 
 might attempt to difturb its career. They did 
 this, either by referving to their own perfons the 
 power of determining caufes, or by appointing to 
 that office creatures of their own, inftruments of 
 their defigns, and dependants on their pleafure. 
 " In very early times, our kings (fays Blackftone) 
 " often heard and determined caufes between 
 
 ** party
 
 ( >45 ) 
 
 " party and party.'* In the courfe of events, 
 " they delegated their judicial power to the judges 
 " of their feveral courts i'* but ftill, as thefe held 
 their fituations by the pleafure of the fovereign, 
 and as the emoluments of thofe fituations depended 
 on the fame pleafure, the door was open (as expe- 
 rience fliowed) to many and great abufes, and to va- 
 rious opportunities for fatisfying the appcitite of the 
 Crown, at the expenfe of the liberty of the fubje6t. 
 To remedy this dreadful evil in fome degree, and 
 to prevent the entrance of fo many abufes as that 
 latitude admitted, a ftatute was enabled in the 
 thirteenth year of William IIL by which the 
 judges* commiflions were made out to continue 
 during their good behaviour, their falaries were 
 regulated, and other provifions were made, tend^ 
 ing confiderably to reduce their dependance on the 
 Crown. But though the door to abufc was thus 
 nearly clofed, yet it was not entirely ftiut ; and 
 while it remained in any degree open, abufes were 
 ever liable to infmuate themfelves, and the perfeft 
 liberty of the fubjed remained unfecured. Such 
 was the cafe when his prefent Majefty afcended the 
 
 throne of England ; but fuck is the cafe 
 
 no longer. Hiftory will faithfully proclaim, and 
 pofterity will gratefully commemorate, the illuftri- 
 ous caufe of this lafl: ad that remained, to clofe 
 and rivet the perfed liberty of Engliflimen. It 
 
 U flands
 
 ( U6 ) 
 
 ftands thus recorded on a page, that will outlaft 
 every thing that is not immortal as the fpirit of its 
 author ; that, 
 
 " By the desire of His present Ma- 
 " jesty, the Judges have been made 
 ** completely independent of the King, 
 " His ministers, and successors."* 
 
 " By the noble improvements of the law of 
 " 13. W. III. in the ftatuteof i. Geo. III. enad- 
 " ed at the earneft recommendation of the King 
 *' himfelf from the throne, the judges are conti- 
 * nued in their office during their good behaviour, 
 ** notwithftanding any demife of the Crown, 
 " (which was formerly held immediately to vacate 
 " their feats) and their full faJaries are fecured to 
 " them during the continuance of their com- 
 " miffions j his Majefty having been pleafed to 
 ** declare. That He looked upon the independence 
 ** and uprightnejs of the judges^ as ejfential to the 
 ** impartial adminijlration ofjujlice ; as one of the 
 ** befl fecurities of the rights and liberties of His 
 ** fubjeeis ; and as mofi conducive to the honour of 
 ** His crownA'* 
 
 By thus obtaining the door to be finally clofcd 
 againfl abufe, or undue influence, in the adini- 
 
 Blackftonc, b. iv. c. 3 j. f BlackUone, b. i. c. 7.
 
 (" >47 ) 
 
 nlfiiration of juiiice, to the prejudice of this. liber- 
 ties of the fubject, and by effecftlially removing 
 the judges beyond the reach of roydl or miniilerial 
 difpleaiure, His Majefty, has done that, wliich if 
 told of fome hero of remote time, would have 
 Hood foremoft in the catalogue of his deeds. Here 
 "then we believe, that juflice muft concede, that 
 not only mechanical protection has been afforded 
 by the Crown, but that this protediion has been 
 increafed by the caufe abovementioned ; namely, 
 the impulfc of inclination in a mind harmonizing 
 with the prmciples of the conflitution, in the man 
 adually adorned by the crown. 
 
 There is another kind of protection, not necef- 
 farily flowing from the kingly office, however emi- 
 nently becoming it, and that is, the protection, or 
 general benefit and fecurity, reftilting from the 
 force of virtuous example. This, wherever it 
 occurs, is perfonal and individual ; it is the effect, 
 not of human laws, not of artificial contrivance, 
 but of an intrinfic regard to what is right, of an 
 a(5tive principle, urging to the oblervance of that 
 moral, rule which the mind rceognifes to be pre- 
 fcribed by God. Whether or not fuch example 
 is difplayed from the throne, let common lenfe, 
 and common-place honefty pronounce. Wc lliall 
 not make this appeal to cavillers and feoffors thofe 
 
 U 2 annoy-
 
 ( 148 ) 
 
 annoycrs of every thing grave and important, but 
 to thofe who compofe the great bulk of the na- 
 tion j to ail the different relations of hufband and 
 wife, of parent and cliild, of mafter and fervant. 
 Let every family be a tribunal to decide, whether 
 domeftic virtue is recommended from the throne, by 
 the commanding power of example ; whether the 
 obfcureft retreat affords an inftance of nature'5 
 faireft ties more honoured or fecured, than in the 
 focus of artificial life, in the vortex of pleafure 
 and extravagance ? If the dccilion is affirmative, 
 then let us look back to fee, how often hiflory 
 teaches to expeft the return of fo great a blelfmg. 
 What if the Court were a fcene of profligacy and 
 irreliglon ? What if we faw revived the difToIute 
 times of Charles the Second ? Should we not 
 then, purfue in imagination, what we now in reality 
 poffefs ? Since, then, we have the protedion of 
 example held out from the eminence of fovereignty 
 and with a luflre not often paralleled in the annals of 
 our hiflory, let us not be fo defpicably mean, as 
 to withhold from it the honour due to it in every 
 fituation in life ; nor fo prepofteroufly flupid, as 
 to be unable to efliniate its value in that particular 
 elevation. Let us cherifh the blefling we poffefs 
 with all the anxiety that honour can infpire, and 
 defend it with ail the effeft that wifdom can fug- 
 ^efl ; and when the courfe of nature fhaU occaiion 
 
 the
 
 ( U9 ) 
 
 the demife, may the impreffion of the example 
 accompany the progrels of the Crown, through 
 every future defcent ! 
 
 " Tki Rights of Man^" with equal abfufdity and 
 infult, takes pains to fi gnify to us that the 
 king is a man ; and to this fubUme difcovery, 
 its difciples triumphantly fubfcxibe. Mifera^le 
 refource of impotence and fpleen ! The kiijg is 
 indeed a man hke ourfelves, placed in the mofl 
 arduous and perplexing of fituations. Are any ib 
 grolly dull as to think, that a king has more capa- 
 city for pleafnre, lefs capacity for pain than 
 another ? that the proportions of happinefs are 
 bigger in him than in another ? if any fuch ihouljd 
 exift, the fordid fcoffing of that libel will be con- 
 verted into a falutary and ufeful inllr\jd'on. The 
 king is indeed a man, and it is from tliis common 
 nature that refult, the duties we owe to him, and 
 that he owes to us. But while thi^ \^tx^ ajjume 
 great merit to themfelves for thus reducing a king 
 to the flandard of a man, they perpetuate the dis- 
 tance they pretend to have effaced, by reducing 
 themfelves below the ftandard of men. For .wh^t 
 can the mind conceive more abfolutely below t^ 
 charafter of men, than the mixture of ferogity and 
 cowardice they at once difplay ? what can b^ divifsj^ 
 more daftardly, than to abufe the affured forebear- 
 gnce and temper qi the executive arm, ta th^^ia- 
 
 ance
 
 ( '5 ) 
 
 fernal purpofe of deftroying the life that might 
 exert it ; what more cowardly and ferocious at 
 once, than with the genuine fpirit of a Nero, to 
 aim a death blow at the conftitution in that part, 
 where the political body becomes' united uiider 
 one head ? 
 
 The king'is i'hdeed a man;^ one placed, for the 
 public fecurity and peace,* in that lingular fitua- 
 tion, a lituatiort in which he can- ^ive no equal, 
 confequently no friend, except it be Upon the 
 principle of loyalty. If loyalty be extinguiflied, 
 let even the clumfieft feelings fuggeft what rriuft 
 be the fituation of a king , of one efpecially whofe 
 powers of ading are limited and prefcribed. The 
 life of a king, of this country at leaft, does not con- 
 fift of gold and purple, of pomp and' enjoyment, of 
 the chace or the theatre ; envy or malignity muft 
 ' have corroded that man to the very core, whofe mind 
 can difcem in the fituation of a king, nothing but 
 the outward accidents of fplendor annexed to the 
 office, (and therefore infeparable from the perfon), 
 for the moft reafonable of purpofes; and whofe 
 imagination magnifies thofe fatisfadions which the 
 human nature requires according to its relative 
 fituations, into a ftate of perfed enjoyment, ahd 
 emancipation from all concern. To be the perpetual 
 butt and mark of ambition, difappointment, fe- 
 
 See this fubjedt profoundly and honestly treated by the 
 Republican Pe Lolme, b. ii. c a. & lo. 
 
 venge
 
 ( '5' ) 
 
 venge, obloquy, and fcurrility j to live in the cer- 
 tainty of multiplying enemies in a compound ratio 
 to any favour that the office muft confer on fome 
 one ; to pafs an exiftence in the daily exercife of 
 fome part or other of the moft weighty and embar- 
 raffing of fundiions j to feel in no fingle inftance 
 the pcrfeft liberty of life, free from the neceffities 
 of ceremony or biiiinefs ; to be obliged to fubmit 
 weekly to the afflidting duty of figning the doom 
 of men ; thus having fcenes of crime, death, and 
 diftrefs, continually before the mind : thefe, and a 
 thoufand other confiderations, evidently fhow, 
 that the fituation of a king, as it is in no degree an 
 obje6l for our envy, fo neither is it a fit objedt 
 for our hatred. The king, lefs than any other man, 
 can make his pcrfonal intereft the end of his acting. 
 When therefore his perfon is endangered, he defends 
 it as a public and not a private concern. But as 
 public meafures are not determined with the fame 
 rapidity with which private interefts are purfued, 
 but require deliberation and calculation of the 
 bearings of different interefls ; he is often obliged 
 to poflpone the confideration of the kingly perfon 
 that can die, to the dignity of the kingly office 
 that cannot die. Here, then, is a favoury moment 
 for the fanguinary appetite of treafon. But how 
 feels loyalty? or, m other words, how iQ^Xjufiue- 
 and honour? They impel to the fuccour of the prince; 
 they fympathife with the fecHngs of the man ;
 
 ( 152 ) 
 
 they view him as brought into this diftinguifhed 
 peril, from being foreman in their caufe ; they 
 refoive to Ihare in that danger wiiich the defence 
 of their rights has occafioned ; they anticipate the 
 claim to allegiance, which the protection of thofe 
 rights has eftabiifhed ; and they vie in each to form 
 a phalanx round the man, in whofe perfon is fought, 
 the dilTolution of government, the enlargement of 
 all crime, the plunder of all property, and the an- 
 nihilation of the fyftem of our happinefs, raifed on 
 the well-laid foundation, of the Englifh Con- 
 ftitution. 
 
 Such ever was, fuch in a peculiar manner is at 
 prefent, and fuch under parallel circumflances ever 
 will be, the fuggeftions of native and unalloyed 
 honour, even though it were never to be called by 
 the name of loyalty. 
 
 Is it for Us deliberately to inquire, whether the 
 fuccefs of the fcheme of regicide would in reality be 
 attended by effeds fo durable and extenfive ? is it 
 for Us to compute, whether, and how much, they 
 have overrated its iflue ; and to regulate Our cor- 
 refponding fentiments by the cold rule of geometri- 
 cal proportion ? If it be fo, let allegiance be met^d 
 out by the flriftell rule di protection ; let it be 
 iflued with the mod parfmionious attention to that 
 
 rule
 
 ( ^S3 ) 
 
 rule, let mechanical protedion receive only mecha- 
 nical allegiance j let rational protedion receive -a 
 rational allegiance j but let affedionate protediion 
 alfo receive from the breads of Englifhmen, that 
 afFediionate loyalty which none but freemen can 
 bellow, and which our anceftors moft liberal y gave, 
 when they grafped the fword in defence of their 
 liberties. 
 
 Let this principle live, let the reafon on which 
 it Hves be cultivated, and it cannot fail to prevent 
 the return of thofe odious fcenes which the j..Tefent 
 occafion retraces on our memory. If it Ihould not 
 enflame the hearts of thofe who at that time fo 
 deeply fold themfelves to treafon, it will at leaft 
 inflame Your hearts, who occupy the capital, 
 who conftitutc its ftrength and fplendor, and 
 who are equally interefted in its honour as its 
 fafety. Let Englifhmen feel their native value; 
 let them feel, not only that the defence of the go- 
 vernment is their duty, but that the protection of 
 the conftitution is their right ; and if the protection 
 of the whole be their right, fo is that of thofe parts 
 of which the whole confifts. If the fubje6l of the 
 divan proflrates himfelf in the progreis of his 
 fultan, let him know that he bov/s before him 
 whofe property he is, who has power over his 
 
 X per'
 
 ( 154 ) 
 
 perfon and his life. But if the freeman of Britain 
 fhall efcort the progrefs of the Crown, if he fhall 
 teftify his loyalty by fliouts and acclamations, let 
 him know that lie offers this tribute to one, who 
 has no power whatever over his perfon or his life ; 
 but to him who is the oftenfible head, and higheft 
 organ, of that conflitution, from whence all his 
 enjoyments and fecurity proceeds ; of that confli- 
 tution, which is his native and unalienable birth- 
 right, and in defending the diftindt, conftituent 
 parts of which, he defends the fum and comple- 
 ment of all his happinefs. 
 
 So truly is the government of England confti- 
 tuted in conformity with the laws of man*s nature, 
 that duty and right equally confpire in directing 
 to its defence. 
 
 It appears, that a fenfe of the powerful union of 
 thefe two principles, duty and right, urging to the 
 defence of the conflitution, has driven its enemies 
 to employ all their abilities to feparate the two, and 
 having feparated them, to endeavour to deflroy, or 
 prevent, the natural force of each. They fought to 
 rob the conflitution of the fupport it received, from 
 the perfuafion that it infures to every one the en- 
 joyment of his natural right, by contending, that 
 
 the
 
 ( K'iS ) 
 
 die objects of that right, far from being compre- 
 hended by, are excluded from, the eilablilhed 
 fyftem of Engliih polity ; io that the acl;ivity which 
 a icnk of right infpires, ought rather to l>e dircfted 
 in fubverfion of fuch a fyftem, than in its preferva- 
 tion. But, defpairing of the fucceis of fo fcanda- 
 lous a faU'ehood, while the mind of man was un- 
 difturbed by paffion, and capable of apprehending 
 truth in its native form ; they called forth a frefh 
 exertion, and endeavoured to eradicate the motive 
 of duty. They found, that the bonds of fubordi- 
 nation could never be loofened^ while the principle 
 of duty continued to triumph over every other 
 motive of action. They, therefore fet themfelves 
 to enfeeble this principle ; by perfur-tling the 
 interefts and paffions to believe, that it was a fi(5lion 
 of tyrannic birth, intrinficaily hoilile to the high and 
 fubiimc notion of abfolute right ; which (they main- 
 tained) ought to be the fir ft and governing motive 
 in man. Thus fending God into the back ground, 
 and rendering their a<5tual gratification the leading 
 confideration of their nature. This llratagem par- 
 tially fucceeded ; flill however the tree adhered to 
 its native foil. They could not entirely eradicate 
 it ; for though they fucceeded in burfling many of 
 its roots, it flill held firm by the ftrong tap-root of 
 religion. As every princijMe of religion infligates 
 to the difcharge of duty, and therefore tends to 
 
 X 2 con-
 
 ( '56 ) 
 
 confirm the fabric of civil government eflablifhed, 
 every fuch principle became adverfe to their views 
 in proportion to its vigour. But of all fuch princi- 
 ples of religion, the mofl completely and inexora- 
 bly deftrudtive of their endeavours was, the princi- 
 ple of chriftian religion ; becaufe it furpafled 
 every other by the diftindnefs of its rule, the bril- 
 liancy of its evidence, and the power of the motive 
 it affords. They obferved, that thofe who really 
 ad in obedience to its impulfe, ad in the llridell 
 parallel with the original diredion of government, 
 and ad . inflexibly : that they eminently confider 
 diityy as the only rule for human ading : that they 
 cannot be too minute in afcertaining that rule : 
 that they deny the breach of any duty to be com- 
 patible with the eftablifhment of any right : and 
 that they eftimate the affairs of earth as an objed 
 by no means fitting to terminate the fpeculations 
 of the human nature. Here then was a force which, 
 if government could attach it to itfelf, was fuperior 
 to every power of refiftance they could pofTibly op- 
 pofe to it : it was a felf-ading, a felf-controUing 
 principle, by which each would compel himfelf 
 to do that, which government was contrived to 
 compel every one to do. It is no wonder that they 
 who laboured to defeat the end of civil government, 
 and to emancipate the pafTions from moral control, 
 fliould obfervc a principle 6f fo fatal a tendency. 
 
 with
 
 ( ^57 ) 
 
 with extreme jealoufy, averfion, and dlfmay : That 
 they (liould fear beyond all things the inveteracy of 
 fuch a principle ; and fhould obferve with alarm 
 the vigour it might poflefs : that in proportion as 
 it was ftrong and fixed, their enmity to it fhould 
 increafc : and that if they fliould any where dif- 
 cover it to be eftablifhed on a bafis that no human 
 means could affccb, that their rage and defpair 
 fhould be carried beyond all bounds. To thi;;, 
 then, as to the ftrong and towering fortrefs that 
 defied all their attempts, and oppoied the comple- 
 tion of their triumph, the great collecled force of 
 aflailment was to be directed. Like thofe who 
 exclaimed on feeing the laft apparent obftacle of 
 their defires ; come let us kill him and the inheritance 
 Jhall be ours ; fo argued thefe ; come, let us cut 
 chrijiian religion by the root, and the Jublunary world 
 is ours to rijle and defpoil. 
 
 Thus it was that, 
 
 " He, who envies now VOUR flate, 
 
 " Who now is plotting how he may feduce 
 " Yr, alfo from obedience, that with him, 
 *' Bereav'd of happinefs, ye may partake 
 " His punifhment." 
 
 He, who firft endeavoured to rob us of all prefect 
 enjoyment by his, " Rights of Man ;" fet him- 
 felf with increafed alTiduity to fubvert all our fpe- 
 
 cuiatlons
 
 ( 158 ) 
 
 gulations of a future happinefs, by his, '* Age of 
 " Reafon.'* 
 
 The adverfaries of Chriflianity exhibit various 
 degrees of acerbity and force, of bigotry and 
 jBraud. Experience, however, has happily Ihewn, 
 that it is far from being as really dangerous to the 
 interefls of human fociety, as it is hideous to 
 the mind, when the enemies of civil order and 
 religion arrive at the laft adt of their defperation, 
 and raife the arm againft heaven. Though na- 
 ture feems to blacken at the fcene, the crifis is 
 then pafb ; man has done his worft. While 
 the energies of man combat with their equals, the 
 adverfary may long preferve an appearance of equa- 
 lity, fometimes of fuperiority ; but when at length 
 he arrogantly prefumes that he has exhaufted tlie 
 oppofitions of earth, and throws out the gauntlet 
 to heaven, there fcarcely exifls a mind fo mifer- 
 ably depraved, as not to find the illufion inflantly 
 difappear. The true proportions of the quixote 
 become inflantly portrayed ; and he who one 
 while puzzled the imagination by the magnitude 
 of his pretenfions, now fhrinks to the tininefs 
 of a mite, too fmall for any other afFedion, unlefs 
 that of compafTion, And though the heart may 
 palpitate at the impiety of the affault, it yet 
 
 conceives
 
 C 159 ) 
 
 conceives no portion of alarm ; on the contrary, 
 the apprehenfions that firft poffeffed the fancy are 
 now allayed, and the mind relaples into quiet by a 
 confideration of the power provoked into the con- 
 teft. W6 mav venture to pronounce, that if the 
 puny cliampion inflead of coming fmgly, were 
 followed by '* the gates of ]iell," they would 
 " prevail" nothing. 
 
 When the enemies of God and man have 
 brought the battle to this iffue, the warfare of 
 man is clofed. If man has faithfully defended 
 that fphere that he was created to fulfil, God has 
 undertaken the refb, and will confirm the interefts 
 of man. He has prepared an hod invincible, ever 
 ready and a'.crt for fuch occalions ; an hoft of evi- 
 dence, brigliter than the blaze of noon ; and 
 which are ]:ioured forth from the arlenals of truth, 
 whenever the welfare of his fervants demands it.* 
 
 It 
 
 * The arguments by wliich the truth of Chriftian Religion is 
 uplicld, have been invariably the fame in every age, becaufe in 
 every age the fame grounds of oppofition have been urged againft 
 it. It flands therefore invincibly eltablifhed, by the efforts of 
 reaforv and learning, in each fucceeding generation. The reader 
 will find a moft convenient fummary of thefe in, Grotius, On 
 the Truth of Chrijliayi Religion. Butler's Analogy of Religion^ 
 natural and revealed, to the Conjiitution and Course of Nature. Ad- 
 difon's Evidences, &c . \^c{[\it'^ Short and eafy Method with the 
 Deijis. Mi . Archdeacon Paley's View cf the Evidence of Chrif 
 
 tian
 
 ( i6o ) 
 
 It is impoflible for the mind, on this occafion, 
 not to recal that defcription which the poet fo ter- 
 ribly paints, when the enemies of the eternal 
 polity of heaven arrived at the period of their 
 difcomfiture, and, 
 
 '* Stood reimbattel'd fierce, by force or fraud 
 
 " Weening to profper, and at length prevail 
 
 *' Againfl: God and Messiah, or to fall 
 
 *' In univerfal ruin lafi; j and now 
 
 " To final battel drew, difdaining flight 
 
 " Or faint retreat, when the great Son of God 
 
 " To all his hoft on either hand thus fpake. 
 
 ' Stand ftill in bright array, ye Saints here ftand 
 ** Ye angels arm'd, this day from battle reft ; 
 " Faithful hath been your warfare, and of God 
 " Accepted, fearlefs in his righteous caufe; 
 " And as ye have received fo have ye done 
 " Invincibly ; but of this curfed crew 
 *' The puniftiment to other hands belongs ; 
 " Vengeance is his, or whom he fole appoints; 
 " Numbers to this day's work is not ordained 
 " Nor multitude ; (land only and behold 
 " God's indignation on thefe godlefs poured 
 ' By mc ; not you, but Ml they have despised." 
 
 While the conteft was of thofe matters which 
 called for the vigorous exertion of the mind to 
 
 tianity: and in B'fhop Waffon's, Ap$logy for Chriftianity, ad- 
 dreffed to Mr. Gibbon ; and his Apo'ogyfor the Bible, addieflTed 
 to Mr, Paine. 7o thc'e, the reader may add, with fatisfadtion 
 to litmfelf, The Jewi' Utters to M. Voltaire; and the cele- 
 brated M. Bonnet, of Geneva, on the Truth of Chriftianity : he 
 will also find many of the arguments colleifled with the most pious 
 and benevolent desijjns, in buUiv<in'& View of Nature ^ vols. v. vi, 
 
 vanquifli
 
 ( '6' ) 
 
 vanquiih error, or eftablilh truth, on points rc- 
 fpeding man's nature, but which were involved in 
 perplexity and obfcurity, then was toil and fatigue^ 
 doubt and diimay. But, when the conteft is 
 turned to matters long fmcc refcued from all 
 perplexity or obfcurity, and placed for ever in the 
 full meridian of truth; when it is tilrned to heaven, 
 and to the difpenfations of heaven by which hap- 
 pinefs both prefent and eternal has been difpenfed 
 to millions j then the labours of man ceafe j he is 
 left free and unmolefted ; he needs only to direft 
 his mental perception towards that blaze of evidence, 
 which all thofe who are lincerely anxious to 
 difcern, have it always in their power to do, 
 
 Befides thefcj the more virulent and ferocious 
 enemies of chriftian religion, there is another clafs, 
 certain coxcombs of fophiftry and farcafm, on 
 whom the courtefy of the world has lavifhcd the 
 title of philofophers j who triumph prodigioufly, 
 whenever they fee their pigmy champions ftrutting 
 in defiance of that coloflal power, whom the wifeft 
 and beft of men during eighteen centuries have 
 worfhipped, from the dawn of reafon to the clofe 
 of life, with unrepenting devotion, and with the 
 moft exuberant confolation. As a ferocious ma- 
 lignity feems to charafterife the former, fo a fneer- 
 ing malignity feems to chara(^crife thefe. BuC 
 
 Y thef
 
 ( l62 ) 
 
 they feem little aware of the nature of that rldicuk 
 to which they fo familiarly recur. They appear 
 not to have difcovered in human nature, that the 
 readinefs- with which laughter is excited by ferious 
 obje<fts, is uiually in inverfe proportion with depth 
 of penetration, extent of comprehenfion, or power 
 of combination. Wliere a wife man difcovers an 
 objedl for ferious contemplation, one of thefe can 
 only glean a few fcattered and unconnected matters, 
 titillatory of laughter, and congenial with the weak 
 flaccid texture of their minds. Let fuch philofophifts 
 know, that from the days of Sir Chriilopher 
 Wrenn, myriads of little infeds have paffed their 
 hours in detaching and removing particles of mor- 
 tar, mofs, perhaps of flone itfelf from the immenfe 
 fabric of St. Paul's cathedral ; yet have their little 
 labours produced no fenlible effedl whatever on the 
 folidity, magnitude, beauty, unity, or utility, of 
 that mofl fumptuous ftrudure. And juft fo the 
 reptile inftruments of fophiftry and farcafm, fo 
 bufily employed againft the far more ftupendous 
 fabric of chriftian religion, have worked for ages 
 without pr9ducing any effe<5l ; unlefs indeed in the 
 microfcopic eyes of the infeds themfelves ; the ca- 
 pacity of whofe optics is not fufficient to embrace 
 the entire form and proportions of that body, on 
 which each one exercifes his forceps or probofcis, 
 in conftant, but incffedual, atrition. There 
 
 have
 
 ( i63 ) 
 
 liave been thofe, who'" were able to notice in the 
 convulfions of death, nothing but the wr)' face ; 
 there were alfo thofe, who while Socrates was im- 
 parting to the heathen world truths to therti the 
 moft confolatory and fublime, could attend, to 
 nothing but his turned up nofe. Thefe wer^ 
 minute philofophers^ men, gifted with the fplendid 
 faculty of abflra<5ting the wry face and the turned 
 up nofe, from all the various confufed objedls pre- 
 fented to the heart and underftanding. Of a 
 fimilar complexion are they, whofe mental powers 
 are fo conftrufted, as to be able only to difcover 
 in the cumbrous compound of fcripture, thofe 
 particular obje(5ts, which are befh qualified to ex- 
 cite in them their venerable and charadieriftig 
 Rflre<5tion of laughter, 
 
 *o 
 
 It is a facfl not very honourable to human nature, 
 but {landing on the faithful record of hiftory, that 
 in proportion as piety has increafed in purity and 
 energy by the promulgation of chriltianity, impiety 
 has increafed in malignity and intenfity ; and that 
 in proportion as religion has, from the fame caufe, 
 increafed in weight and importance, irreligion has 
 increafed in levity and bufTooncry. 
 
 " As the chrlflian religion is adverfe to the incli- 
 
 ** nations and paflions of the corrupted part of 
 
 Y 2 " mankind
 
 ( l64 ) 
 
 ** mankind (fays an admired writer) it has beeii 
 ** its fate in every age, to encounter the oppofition 
 ** o various foes. Sometimes, it has undergone 
 " the ftorms of violence and perfecution, Some- 
 ** times, it has been attacked by the arms of falfe 
 " reafoning, and fophillry. When thefe have 
 ** failed of fi^ccefs, it has at other times been 
 *' expofed to the feoffs of the petulant. Men of 
 ** light and frivolous minds, who had no comprcr 
 <' henfion of thought for difcerning what is great, 
 '* and no folidity of judgment fqr deciding oil 
 ^* what is true, have taken upon them to treat 
 ** religion with contempt, as if it were of no con- 
 ** fequence to the \yorid. They have affected to 
 ^* reprefent the whole of that venerable fabric, 
 ** which has fo long commanded the refped of 
 *' mankind ; which, for ages, the learned have 
 " fupported and the wife have admired j as having 
 " no better foundation than the gloomy imagi-i 
 f* nation of fanatics and vifionaries."* 
 
 But if thefe are reflediions qualified to give us 
 pain, there is another which is qualified to give us 
 the moft fubftantial comfort ; it is this, that the 
 enemies of chriflian rehgion, of civil government, 
 and of the Englilh conftitution, prove, in general, 
 
 * Blair. 0/(o^g ct Religien, Vol. 3. Serm \\, 
 
 ta
 
 ( 65 ) 
 
 to be one and the fame. This is a reflexion, that 
 will remove any doubt we might have partially ad- 
 mitted i and it difcovers to us, that if wc will only 
 be faithful, and not furrender up the interefts of 
 either of the three, each will confirm the other i 
 Chrhlian relig on will impart unceafing energy to 
 tlie true principles of civil government, and tiicie 
 principles will effedually fuftain the fabric of the 
 conftitution. As civil government is a fchemc 
 t-Q compel the difcharge ot a part of that obU 
 gation under which man is born, and as chriftian 
 religion furnifhes an impuife propelling and aiding 
 each to difcharge the whole of that obligation ; it is 
 evident, that the efFedt of chriftian religion, com*- 
 prehends the efFed of civil government, and anti^ 
 cijates its defign; that it caufes every man to 
 govern hjmfelf more effeduaJly than artificial go* 
 vernment could do, and that it therefore, gives 
 animation to all thofe principles on which civil 
 government is eflabliflied. And, again, as all found 
 principles of government ; fuppofethefubjeclion of 
 jBvery conflituent purt of the flatc to the obligation 
 of duty, and require therefore a reciprocal and 
 equal adion of the artificial force of government on 
 ^1 thofe parts, fo as to be equal and complete in its 
 effefts on each j and as the conflitution of England 
 is the only government in point of pradice, and the 
 only fyfteo) in poiii^ of theory, that can adduce a 
 
 fatisfactory
 
 ( i66 ) 
 
 fatisfadory evidence of its ability to execute that 
 great delign with any degree of perfeftion, and to 
 maintain that ability unalterably ; it is manifeft, 
 that the genuine principles of government are 
 reduced to their moil fruitful experience, under 
 the happy form of polity conftituted in thefc 
 Jiingdoms. 
 
 Others who defpaired of altogether extinguilhing 
 chriftian religion, imagined the artifice of feparating 
 its prefent and future influence ; and granted its 
 excellency in refpedt of a future condition of the 
 human nature, provided it might be conceded to 
 them, that it was incompatible with the prefent 
 unavoidable condition of human fociety ; and they 
 liberally allowed its fpiritual pre-eminence, in order 
 that they might obtain an acknowledgment 
 of its temporal inferiority. This at leafl 
 would reduce its confequence in refpeft of 
 that compafs of exiftence, which engaged 
 all their concern. But here again they failed ; 
 for the duties of Chriflianity are duties in 
 perfect unifon with the original fcheme of govern- 
 ment 'j they are the complement of that uncertain 
 rule, collefted from the unaided light ol reafon, 
 which conflitutes what is called, the law of na- 
 ture J and they fo evidently proceed from the fame 
 coramou fource, that if they were certainly fulfilled, 
 
 they
 
 ( '6; ) 
 
 they would fupercedc the neceflity of government ) 
 becaufe, as we obferved, each would then govern 
 himfelf in a manner much more effectual, than any 
 Icheme of human polity can polTibly govern any 
 one. It was indeed incompatible with duplicity, 
 with intrigue, ambition, violence, Sec. ; which 
 belong, not to the ufc, but to the abule of go- 
 vernment. But it was not incompatible with the 
 pure and genuine notion of government ; luch as 
 every wife and good man underdands ; and which 
 demands an equality of control or^tx the human fpe- 
 cies, in order to provide for each an equality of/ecu-' 
 rity. When this fallacious notion was promulged, 
 and it was alleged, " that true Chriftlans couki 
 *' never conftitute a ftate capable of continuing :'* 
 the great Montefquieu replied, " And wherefore 
 " not ? They would be citizens inflrufted, in an 
 " eminent degree, in their duties, and moved by - 
 " an aftive zeal to difcharge them ; they would 
 *' be able f>erfe(flly to comprehend the rights of 
 '* felf-defence ; the more they felt themfelves 
 " bound to their religion, the clofer they would 
 " attach themfelves to their country. The prin- 
 " ciples of Chriftianity deeply engraven on their 
 " hearts, would be infinitely more efficient than 
 *' the artificial honour of monarchies, the mere 
 ' human virtue of repubhcs, or the fervile fear of 
 
 " defpotic
 
 ( 68 ) 
 
 ** defpotic governments*. Chriftian religion thai 
 " commands all men to love each other, neceffa-^ 
 ** fily intends that every people (Kail poflefs the 
 " beft political and civil laws attainable ; becaufe 
 ** thefe, next to itfelf, conftitute the greateft 
 " happinefs that man can either receive or com- 
 ** municate."t If peace, and the arts of fociai 
 life, can contribute to the continuance of a 
 (late, fuch a (late muft continue ; becaufe it 
 be undidurbed by intedine commotion, and would, 
 as far, as it was poflfible, avoid all external hoflilities. 
 ** If Chriftian nations (fays an ingenious writer) 
 " were nations of Chriftians, all war would be im- 
 " poflible.t" And what more would be required, 
 to bring back the human nature to the <iginal 
 condition in which it proceeded from the hands ol 
 its Creator, and to which the redorative difpcn- 
 fation of Chriftianity, is intended to reduce it 
 again ? 
 
 Chriftianity reveals the whole fcheme of man, 
 the origin of all his relations, and the end of all 
 his capacities. It expands the narrow fphere in 
 which philfophers had contemplated his nature, 
 
 Efpirit des Loix, L. xxiv. c. 6. Id. Ltv. c. i, 
 X Soame Jenyngs, Int. Evid. of Chr, p. 55 
 
 extend-
 
 ( '69 ) 
 
 extending it on the one fide to tlie eternal altri- 
 butesofthc Deity, and on the other to the eternity 
 of duration. In this ftiipendous enlargement of 
 the interell of man, the Httle fphere of duty that 
 had employed the Ipeculations of his reafon, is 
 loft and abforbed. The term of his prefent exift- 
 ence forms but a point of his total exiftence ; 
 the laws of his prefent nature, are but partial and 
 tranfitory relations of his general nature ; and the 
 interefts of this diminutive portion of his being, 
 are in every refped: fubordinate to the interefts of 
 his perpetual duration. Under the Chriftian dif- 
 penfation, man knows no governing or abfolute 
 rule, but the will of God ; he knows no final 
 object, but the eternity of his exiftence. As theie 
 are infeparable from the views of a Chriftian, "they 
 qualify the notions that a Chriftian forms of civil 
 government. And they do this, not by intro- 
 ducing new principles fubverfive of thofe which 
 are implanted In nature ; but by extending thofe 
 very principles to their full and perfect growth ; 
 thus foftering the weak and yielding plant, till it 
 become a ftrong, towering, and umbrageous 
 tree. 
 
 The abfolute diftindion between the law of 
 nature and the law of revelation; exifts only in the 
 minds of thofe who make that diftindion ^ and 
 
 Z be-
 
 ( i7<^ ) 
 
 bftokens, either inaccuracy of perception, that 
 cannot afcertain the identity of an obj-'dl ; or nar- 
 rownels of capacity, that cannot embrace its totality. 
 Natural law, is the will of God, partially and con- 
 fufodly collededj by the labours of the human 
 reafon ; revealed law, is the lame identical will, 
 but perfpicuoufly and diflinftiy expofed, by com- 
 munication from God. They are one and the 
 fame object under different degrees of evidence ; 
 and in the degrees o' that evidence, all their diver- 
 fity conoids. So that the moraliil who fhould 
 labour to determine the fum of man's obligation by 
 the rule of natural law only, with the entire ex- 
 ciufion of the rule provided in the law revealed, 
 would be like an aftronomer, who fhould obfti- 
 nately perfift in determining the conftellations or 
 the planetary fyftem, by the tube of Galileo, 
 rather than by thofe of Huygens or of Hcrfchel. 
 
 Thofe unbelievers in chriftianity, who difclaim 
 all (hare in the charaders above exhibited ; and 
 who, from living within the light of chriflian re- 
 ligion have been enabled to colled: a fyftem of re- 
 ligious ethics, agreeable to their reafon, and to 
 which a natural rcditude of heart inclines them ; 
 will do well, and confonantly with that reditude, 
 to afcertain exadly the fource, from whence they 
 have derived that exuberant ftore of truth, which 
 
 4ifpofe^
 
 ( '7' ) 
 
 dirpoles them very unjuftly to infer, that chrlftla- 
 nity is fuperfluous, and tiierefore falfe. Jealous 
 of reafon, and not aware how anxioufly chriflianity 
 appeals to tlie bar of reafon j hoftiie to fuj^erftition, 
 and not aware how completely chnftianity dilpcls 
 fuperftitioni they have crroneoufly reje6ted in 
 chriftianity, at once the vindicator of reafon and 
 the vanquilher of fuperflition. But let them be 
 careful to certify to their minds, whether that beau- 
 tiful fyftem of morality which they admire, be not 
 obtained through the aid of revelation ;* whether 
 that fyftem be not comprehended in chriftianity, 
 and whether it were known to mankind before its 
 promulgation* And if, as is demonftrably true, the 
 wifeft philofophers were able to attain to it, till the 
 diffuiion of revealed truths enlarged the capacities 
 of man, and defined his notions j then, let them 
 be fair to acknowledge the magnitude of the debt 
 in which they ftand obliged to the luxuriance aud 
 munificence of chriflianity. 
 
 In proportion to the capacity and genius of writers 
 on the fubje^t of natural law, the boundaries of that 
 fcicnce have been extended, and its identity with 
 the law of revelation has been fully demonftrat* 
 ed. 
 
 See, Ellis's, Knowledge of Div. Things from JRevtlalion, not 
 ftom JSature or RcaJ'on, 8vo. 
 
 Z 2 In
 
 ( ^72 ) 
 
 " In unlverfal fociety, under the prclidenc^^ 
 *' of God," (fays a genius of the firfl order,) 
 " every virtue is comprehended in the obhgation to 
 " univerfal juftice j and not only our external 
 " actions, but alfo our internal affedions, are fub- 
 " jed; to that moil diftinft and certain rule ; and 
 " he who reafons worthily of natural law, will take 
 " into his confideration, not only the eftablifhment 
 " of peace with refped to man, but the acquire- 
 " ment of friendihip on the part of God ; the 
 " poffeffion of which is an earneft of eternal feli- 
 *' city. We are not born for ourfelves alone ; but 
 " belong, in part, to our fellow-creatures, totally,to 
 " God*." Thus much for the rule of adling. 
 " To overlook the circumftance of future life," 
 (fays the fame writer) *^ which is inleparably con- 
 " nested with the divine Providence j and to re- 
 " main contented with fome inferior and fubordi- 
 " nate degree of natural law, that can have effect 
 " even among Atheifts, is to defpoil that fcience 
 *' of its moft beautiful part ; and to extinguifli 
 " many duties relating even to this life+. To pre- 
 *' fer a nominal immortality, or a pofthumous 
 " fame, which are but founds incapable of con- 
 " veying any benefit to us, to a folid and fubflan- 
 " tial happinefs i what is it but a fplendid flupi- 
 
 Ldbnizii Op. Tom. IV. Part ii. page z8i. f Idem, p. 77- 
 
 ** dity ?
 
 ( '73 ) 
 
 " dlty ? The dodrine of rivatural law, as expounded 
 '* by Chriflians, that is to fay, by men truly phi- 
 *' lofophers, is far too Tublime and capacious to 
 *' mealbre ever}' thing by the accommodations of 
 " this hfe*." So far for the end of our acting. 
 And the fame great teacher thus ably and 
 wifely concludes his comment ^ " To fum up 
 " what has been faid, we fliall fay in general, that 
 *' the end of natural law is, the benefit of all who 
 " are fubjeifl to it; that its obje5i\^, whatever can 
 " affect the happinefs of others, and is at the 
 *' fame time under our control ; and finally, that 
 " its efficient canfe within us is, the light of eternal 
 " reafon, tranfmitted by the Deity into our minds. 
 " Which things from being fo clear and fmipie 
 " I apprehend have appeared to fome men as too 
 ** obvious ; and that they have therefore been in- 
 " duced to excogitate fomething more paradoxical, 
 " which might captivate by its ^.ppcarance of 
 *^ novelty ; not being fufhciently aware either, of 
 " the pregnancy of that which they rejected, or of 
 '* the imperfection of that which they adopted. t" 
 
 Such is the extent to which the circumference of 
 natural law has been gradually enlarged, by the 
 light that Chriflian Religion has diffufed. How 
 
 f Idem. t Ibid, page 287. 
 
 equally
 
 ( '74 ) 
 
 equally and powerfully that light is diffufed ; how 
 ' clearly it exhibits to all, the rule of ading by 
 which men are bound to employ their faculties ; 
 how forcibly the end it propofes compels an ob- 
 fervance of that rule ; is bed reprefented in the 
 words of one of the brighteil ornaments of our 
 church and country. By means of that perfpicuous 
 apprehenfion of the great truths of religion, which 
 the Chriftian faith imparts, " ruftics and mecha- 
 nics (fays this afFeding writer) do in true know- 
 " ledge furpafs the moft refined wits, and children 
 " prove wifer than old philofophers. A child can 
 *' alfurc us of that, wherein a deep philofopher is 
 " not refolved ; for aik a boor, afk a child educated 
 *' in our religion, Who made him? he will 
 " tell you, God Almighty ; which is more than 
 " Ariflotle or Democritus could have told ! De- 
 *' mand of him, why he was made ? He will tell 
 " you, to ferve and glorify his Maker j and hardly 
 *' could Pythagoras or Plato have replied fo wifely; 
 " examine him concerning his foul, he will aver, 
 " that it is immortal, that it Ihall undergo a judg- 
 " ment after this life, that accordingly it (hall 
 " abide in a ftate of blifs or mifery everlafting j 
 " about which jxjints neither Socrates nor Seneca 
 " could aflure any thing. Inquire of him, how 
 " things are upheld, how governed and ordered ? 
 " He prefently will reply, by the powerful hand 
 
 and
 
 ( ^75 ) 
 
 '* and wife providence of God ; whereas among 
 
 " philofophers, one would afcribe all events to 
 
 ** the current of fate, another to the tide of for- 
 
 ^' tunej one to bHnd influences of ftars, another 
 
 ** to a confufed jumble of atoms : pofe him 
 
 '* about the main points of morality and duty, 
 
 " and he will in a few words better inform you> 
 
 " than Cicero, or Epiftetus, or Ariftotle, or 
 
 ** Plutarch, in their lai^e tracts and vo uminous 
 
 *"< difcourfes abgut matters of that nature. So real 
 
 ** a property, it is of God's law, to give fuhtilty 
 
 *' to theftmple, to the young man knowledge and dij- 
 
 ** cretion.*** 
 
 Thus 
 
 * 'Bzrravf, OntbiViriueartd Riafonalilenefs of Faith. Serm. II. In this 
 wife, faithful, and pcrfuafive writer, the reader (if he has not already the 
 happinefs of being familiar with him) will difcover the zenith ofthat fphere, 
 of which the author of the Rights of Man may juftly be efteemed the 
 nadir. From this great and good man, he will obtain a knowledge of 
 the Deity capable of influencing to moral acflion ; he wil difcover the 
 verity of Chriftian Religion, unconfoundcd with the adulterous growth 
 of human artifice and fupcrftition ; he will difcover, fairnefs and candor; 
 found and precife reafoning ; profound knowledge of every fubjed he at- 
 tempts to invcftigatc, and faithful communication of all that knowledge; 
 he will find, in fliort, all that is not to be found in the Agt of Rcafon. Nor 
 is this to be evaded by alleging the mutilated effigies of Religion, which 
 that work exhibits in order to effecftnate the feduftion of weak and nn- 
 difcriminating minds from belief in Chriftianity That cftigies, culled and 
 purloined as it is from the works of Chriftian Philofophers, betrays 
 the archetype from whence it was ftolen } but how unlike its fnblime 
 priginal ! 
 
 " As when the fun new rifen 
 
 * Looks through the horizontal, miftyair, 
 
 " Shorn of his beams ; or from behind the Moon, 
 
 * 111 dim cdipfe, difaftrous twilight Iheds!" 
 
 And
 
 ( '76 ) 
 
 Thus is chriflian religion the exhauftlefs fource 
 of that principle of moral obedience copied after in 
 civil government, and the want of which that 
 fcheme is intended to fupply. It is the life that 
 government, proceeding from principles implanted 
 by God, aims toeftablifli. Forwhat does government 
 intend, but the peace and welfare of mankind ? 
 And what does chriftian religion enjoin, but uni-^ 
 verfal love to all mankind ? And what is " love'^ but 
 *^ the fulfilling of the law T' Chriftian religion is there- 
 fore the life which the human nature will live, 
 when the neceffities of human government fhall 
 ceafe, and man be ultimately and immediately fub- 
 jedted to the eternal monarchy of God. It is a, 
 
 And yet this adventurous author thinks it prudent to afiirm, that, " except* 
 *' ing the book of Job, and one Pfalm, the Bible contains no inftruAion 
 < on the fubjedt of the Creator." He indeed acknowledges, but I keep 
 ' no Bib'e ; but even this can furnifh no extenuation of that falfehood j 
 fcecaufe he has given us fuflBcient proof, that he once had borrowed one at 
 leafl, in order to mifreprefent its contents. It was (according to his own 
 avowal) a cafual circumftance only that induced him to give this credit to 
 the Bock of Job, and not its own intrnal evidence. He tellsus,that he 
 had entirely difcarded that book among the reft, when he chanced to read 
 in a Jewifli writer that it did not belong tf the Bible ; and /.Sim betook it into 
 favour. It will be no arduous talk to fliow, from the points inadvertently 
 conceded by " The ySge of Reajon" both the certainty of Chriftian truth, 
 and the no lefs certain inconfcquence and falfliood of all which that ran- 
 corous libel comprehends. Nor will this latter receive the finallcft fup- 
 port frm the illiterate, coarfe, and ignorant attempt at a defence, by 
 by which " a Deijl" has difgorged his crude, undigefted malignity, og 
 the truly Chriftian manual of that learned Prelate, who has comprefled 
 iHto a fmall compaDi a valuable ftore of antidote, to foUo\r the poifon fo in- 
 duflrioully d^ftWc^* 
 
 perfect
 
 ( ^11 ) 
 
 perfedt life attempted to be lived among the im- 
 perfect ions of human fociety. It is the anticipa- 
 tion of that fcheme of polity, of focial intercourle, 
 which will fupplant the diftradions of the prefent 
 fcene, and which the great apoflle fo fublimely 
 mtends when he fays, *' Our form of focial union 
 exijis in heaven,''* 
 
 And (hall we then relinquiili fuch a religion to 
 the defilement of its aflailers ? Shall we defert thofc 
 principles of focial intercourfe producing government 
 which were originally prepared by God, and which 
 are therefore naturally invigorated by the genial influ- 
 ence of His own religion ? And fliall we abandon that 
 fplendid form of government, riling out of thofe 
 principles, and nourithed by the foftcring care of 
 wifdom, of virtue, and of freedom, during a growth 
 of many centuries ? We need not Your anfwer. 
 Your determination is too diilinctly forcfeen. 
 That form of government, is all You can in this 
 life enjoy, towards obtaining thofe blerfings, which 
 the original law of nature, and the fubfequent dii- 
 penfation of chriillanity, defign for the human 
 fpecies. But unlefs we manfully adhere to the pod 
 of duty i unlefs we difplay to the enemy a vigi- 
 
 'H[Jt,ay TO tro'K^rivyi.x s s^atojj vrrx^yjn Phillip. iii.20. 
 Tlie force of this pafTage is greatly entceMed in oar verfion, 
 wh'ch renders it thus : ' Our converfation h in heaven." 
 
 A a lance
 
 ( '78 ) 
 
 lance equal with his, and a courage and power fu-* 
 perior to his ; that blefling will be precarious and 
 infecure. Of all mortal prognoftics among Hates, 
 none are fo dreadfally certain, as imaginary fecurity 
 in the midft of danget-i^> " The kings of the earthy 
 and all the inhabitants of the world, would not have 
 believed that the adverfary and the enemy JJiould have 
 entered into the gates of Jerufalem ;" And yet they 
 did enter, and did " not leave one flone upon another.^'' 
 To defend the conftituted polity of England againll 
 its embittered and diflra(fled foes, is at all times, 
 therefore, the duty of Englifhmen \ to defend it at 
 this particular time, or to ftand prepared for its 
 defence, is a duty in a peculiar and confpicuous 
 manner impofed upon You ; becaufe Your 
 Residence is the theatre that Treafon has fcr 
 levied for her atrocities ; and becaufe the unquef- 
 tionabie light of experience diicovers to us, which is 
 The Occasion that fhe eftecms moft favourable 
 to her views. What You are to do, how You 
 are to conduft Yourselves, is not for us to pre- 
 fume to point out. The laws of your country 
 impofe a falutary conQ.rainton the aiftivity of indi- 
 viduals, and coniign the power of all public ading 
 exciufivcly to the organs of the fl:atc. But what 
 thole ia-vvs concede, that You may rightfully aflume. 
 And furcly they concede to You various means for 
 jiTcvcnling the repetition of thofe karcely paralleled 
 
 enor-
 
 (^79) 
 
 enormities; which, at the time of the king's laft 
 progrefs to the Parliament, produced a tranfient 
 comparifon between the capital of England and 
 the capital of France, You have wifdom. You 
 have power, You have leifure to decide, how You 
 may bell oppofe loyalty to treafon, -freedom to fa- 
 vagenefs, courage to ferocity, obedience to rebellion, 
 order to diforder. All that we may venture to 
 fuggeft is, in the words of the higheft authority ; 
 *' Be vigilant. Be Jirong and of good courage ; 
 " dread not, nor be difmayed.''^ 
 
 Should treafon, either in the head or herd, 
 think this our effort worthy of afperfionj as an 
 offering of fuperftition, a tribute of ferviHty, a 
 labour of venality, or a tool of tyranny ; we fhall 
 give it no heed ; but fhall repofe, with confidence 
 and with fecurity on the fecret fuffrage of tjie 
 wife and the good. 
 
 THE END.
 
 9 082 6 
 
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