He

day, or any temporary situation of public affairs, may excite; and most of which, if not be neath the dignity, it is beside the purpose, of a philosophical institution to advert to. will perceive that the several disquisitions are framed with a reference to the condition of this country, and of this government; but it seemed to me to belong to the design of a work like the following, not so much to discuss each altercated point with the particularity of a political pamphlet upon the subject, as to deliver those universal principles, and to exhibit that mode and train of reasoning in politics, by the due application of which every man might be enabled to attain to just conclusions of his own. I am not ignorant of an objection that has been advanced against all abstract speculations concering the origin, principle, or limitation of civil authority; namely, that such speculations possess little or no inAluence upon the conduct either of the state or of the subject, of the governors or the governed; nor are attended with any useful consequences to either: that in times of tranquillity they are not wanted; in times of confusion they are never heard. This represent.tion, however, in my opinion, is not just. Times of tumult, it is true, are not the times to learn; but the choice which men make of their side and party, in the most critical occasions of the commonwealth, may nevertheless depend upon the lessons they have received, the books they have read, and the opinions they have imbibed, in seasons of leisure and quietness. Some judicious persons, who were present at Geneva, during the troubles which lately convulsed that city, thought they perceived, in the contentions there carrying on, the operation of that political theory, which the writings of Rousseau, and the unbounded esteem in which these writings are holden by his countrymen, had diffused amongst the people. Throughout the political disputes that have within these few years taken place in Great Britain, in her sister-kingdom, and in her foreign dependencies, it was impossible not to observe, in the language of party, in the resolutions of public meetings, in debate, in conversation, in the general strain of those fugitive and diurnal addresses to the public which such occasions call forth, the prevalency of those ideas of civil authority which are displayed in the works of Mr. Locke. The credit of that great name, the courage and liberality of his principles, the skill and clearness with which his arguments are proposed, no less than the weight of the arguments themselves, have given a reputation and currency to his opinions, of which I am persuaded, in any unsettled state of public affairs, the influence would be felt. As this is not a place for examining the truth or tendency of these doctrines, I would not be understood, by what I have said, to express any judgment concerning either. I mean only to remark, that such doctrines are not without effect; and that it is of practical im portance to have the principles from which the obligations of social union, and the extent of civil obedience, are derived, rightly explained, and well understood. Indeed, as far as I have observed, in political, beyond all other subjects, where men are without some fundamental and scientific principles to resort to, they are liable to have their understandings played up. on by cant phrases and unmeaning terms, of which every party in every country possesses a vocabulary. We appear astonished when we see the multitude led away by sounds; but we should remember that, if sounds work miracles, it is always upon ignorance. The influ. ence of names is in exact proportion to the want of knowledge.

These are the observations with which I have judged it expedient to prepare the attention of my reader. Concerning the personal motives which engaged me in the following attempt, it is not necessary that I say much; the nature of my academical situation, a great deal of leisure since my retirement from it, the recommendation of an honoured and excellent friend, the authority of the venerable prelate to whom these labours are inscribed, the not perceiv ing in what way I could employ my time or talents better, and my disapprobation, in literary men, of that fastidious indolence which sits still because it disdains to do little, were the considerations that directed my thoughts to this design. Nor have I repented of the undertaking. Whatever be the fate or reception of this work, it owes its author nothing. In sickness and in health I have found in it that which can alone alleviate the one, or give enjoyment to the other,-occupation and engagement.

MORAL

AND

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.

BOOK I.

PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

THE LAW OF THE LAND.

THAT part of mankind, who are beneath the Law of Honour, often make the Law of the Land their rule of life; that is, they are satisfied with themselves, so long as they do or omit nothing, for the doing or omitting of which the law can punish them.

Whereas every system of human laws, considered as a rule of life, labours under the two following defects:

cred volume, may be partly understood from the following consideration:-The laws of this country, ineluding the acts of the legislature, and the decisions of our supreme courts of justice, are not contained in fewer than fifty folio volumes. And yet it is not once in ten attempts that you can find the case you look for, in any law-book whatever: to say nothing of those numerous points of conduct, concerning which the law professes not to prescribe or determine any thing. Had then the same particularity, whicn obtains in human laws so far as they go, been attempted in the Scriptures, throughout the whole extent of morality, it is manifest they would have been by much too bulky to be either read or circulated; or rather, as St. John says, "even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written."

I. Human laws omit many duties, as not objects of compulsion; such as piety to God, bounty to the poor, forgiveness of injuries, education of children, gratitude to benefactors. The law never speaks but to command, nor Morality is taught in Scripture in this wise. commands but where it can compel: conse- -General rules are laid down, of piety, jus quently, those duties, which by their nature tice, benevolence, and purity: such as, wormust be voluntary, are left out of the statute-shipping God in spirit and in truth; doing as book, as lying beyond the reach of its opera- we would be done by; loving our neighbour tion and authority. as ourself; forgiving others, as we expect for. II. Human laws permit, or, which is the giveness from God; that mercy is better than same thing, suffer to go unpunished, many sacrifice; that not that which entereth into a crimes, because they are incapable of being de-man, (nor, by parity of reason, any ceremonial fined by any previous description. Of which pollutions,) but that which proceedeth from nature are luxury, prodigality, partiality in the heart, defileth him. These rules are ocvoting at those elections in which the qualifi-casionally illustrated, either by fictitious exam. cations of the candidate ought to determine the success, caprice in the disposition of men's fortunes at their death, disrespect to parents, and a multitude of similar examples.

ples, as in the parable of the good Samaritan, and of the cruel servant, who refused to his fellow-servant that indulgence and compassion I which his master had shown to him: or in instances which actually presented themselves, as in Christ's reproof of his disciples at the Samaritan village; his praise of the poor widow, who cast in her last mite; his censure of the Pharisees, who chose out the chief rooms,and of the tradition, whereby they evaded the command to sustain their indigent parents : or, lastly, in the resolution of questions, which those who were about our Saviour proposed to him; as his answer to the young man who asked him, "What lack I yet?" and to the honest scribe, who had found out, even in that age and country, that "to love God and his neighbour, was more than all whole burnt

For, this is the alternative: either the law must define beforehand, and with precision, the offences which it punishes; or it must be left to the discretion of the magistrate, to determine upon each particular accusation, whether it constitute that offence which the law designed to punish, or not; which is, in effect, leaving to the magistrate to punish, or not to punish, at his pleasure, the individual who is brought before him; which is just so much tyranny. Where, therefore, as in the nstances above mentioned, the distinction between right and wrong is of too subtile, or of too secret, a nature, to be ascertained by any preconcerted language, the law of most coun-offerings and sacrifice." tries, especially of free states, rather than commit the liberty of the subject to the discretion of the magistrate, leaves men in such cases to themselves.

CHAPTER IV

And this is in truth the way in which all practical sciences are taught, as Arithmetic, Grammar, Navigation, and the like.-Rules are laid down, and examples are subjoined: not that these examples are the cases, much less all the cases, which will actually occur; but by way only of explaining the principle of the rule, and as so many specimens of the method of applying it. The chief difference is, that the examples in Scripture are not annex. WHOEVER expects to find in the Scriptures ed to the rules with the didactic regularity to a specific direction for every moral doubt that which we are now-a-days accustomed, but dearises, looks for more than he will meet with. [livered dispersedly, as particular occasions And to what a magnitude such a detail of par-suggested them; which gave them, however, ticular precepts would have enlarged the sa. (especially to those who heard them, and were

THE SCRIPTURES

present to the occasions which produced them,) | struction, cut off in his infancy from all inter.

an energy and persuasion, much beyond what
the same or any instances would have appear-
ed with, in their places in a system.

course with his species, and, consequently, under no possible influence of example, autho Besides this, the Scriptures commonly pre. I say, such a one would feel, upon the rela rity, education, sympathy, or habit; whether, suppose in the persons to whom they speak, a tion, any degree of that sentiment of disapproknowledge of the principles of natural justice; | bation of Toranius's conduct which we feel, or and are employed not so much to teach new not? rules of morality, as to enforce the practice of it by new sanctions, and by a greater certainty; which last seems to be the proper business of a revelation from God, and what was most wanted.

Thus the "unjust, covenant-breakers, and extortioners," are condemned in Scripture, supposing it known, or leaving it, where it admits of doubt, to moralists to determine, what injustice, extortion, or breach of cove

nant, are.

The above considerations are intended to prove that the Scriptures do not supersede the use of the science of which we profess to treat, and at the same time to acquit them of any charge of imperfection or insufficiency on that

account.

CHAPTER V.

THE MORAL SENSE.

ral sense; of innate maxims; of a natural
They who maintain the existence of a mo-
conscience; that the love of virtue and hatred
of vice are instinctive; or the perception of
only different ways of expressing the same
right and wrong intuitive; (all which are
opinion,) affirm that he would.

sense, &c. affirm that he would not.
They who deny the existence of a moral

And upon this, issue is joined.

and, from the difficulty of procuring a subject As the experiment has never been made, (not to mention the impossibility of propos ing the question to him, if we had one.) is never likely to be made, what would be the event, can only be judged of from probable

reasons.

or disapproved in all ages and countries of the world;-circumstances, say they, which strongly indicate the operation of an instinct or moral sense.

They who contend for the affirmative, observe, that we approve examples of generosity, gratitude, fidelity, &c. and condemn the contrary, instantly, without deliberation, without having any interest of our own concerned in "The father of Caius Toranius had been able to give any reason for, our approbation : them, oft-times without being conscious of, or proscribed by the triumvirate. Caius Tora- that this approbation is uniform and univernius, coming over to the interests of that par-sal, the same sorts of conduct being approved ty, discovered to the officers, who were in pursuit of his father's life, the place where he concealed himself, and gave them withal a description, by which they might distinguish his person, when they found him. The old man, more anxious for the safety and fortunes of his son, than about the little that might remain of his own life, began immediately to inquire of the officers who seized him, whether his son was well, whether he had done his duty to the satisfaction of his generals.lers, that there is scarcely a single vice which, That son (replied one of the officers,) so dear to thy affections, betrayed thee to us; by his information thou art apprehended, and diest.' The officer with this, struck a poniard to his heart, and the unhappy parent fell, not so much affected by his fate, as by the means to which he owed it." *

Now the question is, whether, if this story were related to the wild boy caught some years ago in the woods of Hanover, or to a savage without experience, and without in

to most of these arguments, by the patrons of On the other hand, answers have been given the opposite system: and,

they controvert the fact. They remark, from First, as to the uniformity above alleged, authentic accounts of historians and travel.

in some age or country of the world, has not been countenanced by public opinion: that in one country, it is esteemed an office of piety in children to sustain their aged parents; in another, to dispatch them out of the way: that suicide, in one age of the world, has been is punished by most laws, by the laws of Sparta heroism, is in another felony that theft, which was not unfrequently rewarded: that the promiscuous commerce of the sexes, although condemned by the regulations and censure of all civilised nations, is practised by the sa

* "Caius Toranius triumvirum partes secutus, pro-vages of the tropical regions without reserve, scripti patris sui prætorii et ornati viri latebras, ætatem, notasque corporís, quibus agnosci posset, centurionibus edidit, qui eum, persecuti sunt. Senex de filii magis vita et incrementis, quam de reliquo spiritu suo sollicitus, an incolumis esset, et an imperatoribus satisfaceret, interrogare cos coepit. E quibus unus: Abillo,' inquit, quem tantopere diligis, demonstratus nostro ministerio, filii indicio occideris: protinusque pectus ejus gladio trajecit. Collapsus itaque est infelix, auctore cædis, quam ipsa

aede, miserior."-VALER. MAX lib. ix. cap. 11.

compunction, or disgrace: that crimes, of
which it is no longer permitted us even to
speak, have had their advocates amongst the
sages of very renowned times: that, if an in-
habitant of the polished nations of Europe be
delighted with the appearance, wherever he
meets with it, of happiness, tranquillity. and

the various other causes by which it universally comes to pass, that a society of men, touched in the feeblest degree with the same passion, soon communicate to one another a great degree of it. This is the case with most of us at present; and is the cause also, that the process of association, described in the last paragraph but one, is little now either perceived or wanted.

comfort, a wild American is no less diverted strength and vigour, from censure and encou. with the writhings and contortions of a vic- ragement, from the books they read, the contim at the stake: that even amongst our-versations they hear, the current application selves, and in the present improved state of of epithets, the general turn of language, and moral knowledge, we are far from a perfect consent in our opinions or feelings: that you shall hear duelling alternately reprobated and applauded, according to the sex, age, or station, of the person you converse with: that the forgiveness of injuries and insults is accounted by one sort of people magnanimity, by another meanness: that in the above instances, and perhaps in most others, moral approbation follows the fashions and institutions of the country we live in; which fashions also and institutions themselves have grown out of the exigencies, the climate, situation, or local circumstances of the country; or have been set up by the authority of an arbitrary chieftain, or the unaccountable caprice of the multitude: all which, they observe, looks very little like the steady hand and indelible characters of Nature. But,

Secondly, because, after these exceptions and abatements, it cannot be denied but that some sorts of actions command and receive the esteem of mankind more than others; and that the approbation of them is general though not universal: as to this they say, that the general approbation of virtue, even in instances where we have no interest of our own to induce us to it, may be accounted for without the assistance of a moral sense; thus:

Amongst the causes assigned for the continuance and diffusion of the same moral sentiments amongst mankind, we have mention. ed imitation.

The efficacy of this principle is most ob servable in children: indeed, if there be any thing in them, which deserves the name of an instinct, it is their propensity to imitation. Now there is nothing which children imitate or apply more readily than expressions of affection and aversion, of approbation, hatred, resentment, and the like; and when these passions and expressions are once connected, which they soon will be by the same association which unites words with their ideas, the pas. sion will follow the expression, and attach upon the object to which the child has been accustomed to apply the epithet. In a word, when almost every thing else is learned by imitation, can we wonder to find the same cause concerned in the generation of our mo

"Having experienced, in some instance, a "particular conduct to be beneficial to our-ral sentiments? "selves, or observed that it would be so, a "sentiment of approbation rises up in our "minds; which sentiment afterwards accom"panies the idea or mention of the same con"duct, although the private advantage which "first excited it no longer exist."

And this continuance of the passion, after the reason of it has ceased, is nothing more, say they, than what happens in other cases; especially in the love of money, which is in no person so eager, as it is oftentimes found to be in a rich old miser, without family to proride for, or friend to oblige by it, and to whom consequently it is no longer (and he may be sensible of it too) of any real use or value; yet is this man as much overjoyed with gain, and mortified by losses, as he was the first day he opened his shop, and when his very subsistence depended upon his success in it.

Another considerable objection to the system of moral instincts is this, that there are no maxims in the science which can well be deemed innate, as none perhaps can be assign. ed, which are absolutely and universally true; in other words, which do not bend to circumstances. Veracity, which seems, if any be, a natural duty, is excused in many cases towards an enemy, a thief, or a madman. The obli gation of promises, which is a first principle in morality, depends upon the circumstances under which they were made; they may have been unlawful, or become so since, or inconsistent with former promises, or erroneous, or extorted; under all which cases, instances may be suggested, where the obligation to perform the promise would be very dubious; and so of most other general rules, when they come to be actually applied.

An argument has been also proposed on

By these means the custom of approving certain actions commenced: and when once "From instances of popular tumults, seditions, fao such a custom hath got footing in the world, tions, panics, and of all passions which are shared with a it is no difficult thing to explain how it is multitude, we may learn the influence of society, in exciting and supporting any emotion; while the most untransmitted and continued; for then the great-governable disorders are raised, we find, by that means, est part of those who approve of virtue, ap-be more or less than man, who kindles not in the com from the slightest and most frivolous occasions. He mus prove of it from authority, by imitation, and mon blaze. What wonder then, that moral sentiments from a habit of approving such and such ac are found of such influence in life, though springing from tions, inculcated in early youth, and receiv. principles, which may appear, at first sight, somewhat small and delicate""Hume's Inquiry concerning the ing, as men grow up, continual accessions of Principles of Morals, Sect. ix. p. 326.