OF

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

PART III.

CHAP. I.

Of justice, as it preserves the natural rights of men; and particularly in reference to their bodies.

HAVING in a former discourse asserted and explained the nature of moral good and evil in human actions, I shall now distinctly consider the sum of all that moral duty which we owe to God and to our neighbour, as the prophet hath comprised it in these words; He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God? Micah vi. 8. I begin with that duty which God requires of us towards our neighbour; and it is all implied in the two distinct virtues of justice and mercy.

In discoursing of justice, I shall endeavour these two things: 1. To shew what that justice is which is required of us towards our neighbour. 2. To prove that it is grounded upon such immutable reasons as do render it a moral good.

1. I shall endeavour to shew what that justice is which is owing to our neighbour. In general, therefore, justice consists in giving to every one his due ; in which latitude it comprehends all matter of duty :

for every duty is a due to God, or our neighbour, or ourselves; and accordingly every performance of every duty is a payment of some due; and, as such, is an act of righteousness. And therefore in scripture good men are frequently styled righteous, and the whole of virtue and goodness is called righteousness, because it is a payment of some due, either to God, ourselves, or our neighbours. But justice, being here considered as a distinct and particular virtue, must be understood in a more limited sense; viz. for honesty in all our dealings with men, or giving to every man his due with whom we have any interAnd wherein this consists will best appear by considering what those things are which are due from one man to another, or what those dues and rights are which men may claim by the eternal laws of righteousness. And these are twofold, 1. Natural, and, 2. Acquired.

course.

I begin with the first, viz. The natural rights of men, which are such as appertain to men as they are reasonable creatures, and dwelling in mortal bodies, and joined to one another by their natural relations, and by society. For in all these capacities there accrue to men certain natural rights which we are obliged in justice not to violate, but so far as we can to secure and make good to one another.

First, therefore, we will consider men as dwelling in mortal bodies.

Secondly, As rational creatures.

Thirdly, As joined to one another by natural relations.

Fourthly, As naturally united in society. And I will shew what rights there are redounding to them from all these respects and considerations.

I. We will consider men as dwelling in mortal bodies, in which there is a twofold right accruing to them: 1. A right to their bodies: 2. A right to their bodily subsistence.

1. As dwelling in mortal bodies, they have a natural right to their bodies, and to all the parts of them; for their bodies being the tenements which the great Landlord of the world hath allotted to their souls during their abode in this terrestrial state, are upon that account their undoubted right; which unless they forfeit, they cannot be deprived of without manifest injury and injustice. For if God gave this body to my soul, it is certain that immediately under him my soul hath a right to it, and holding in capite as it doth from the supreme proprietor, is tenant at will to none but him for this its earthly habitation: so that antecedently to all human laws and constitutions, every soul is vested with a natural right to its own body; as being placed in, and put in possession of it by the God of nature; and, till by its own free act it hath alienated or forfeited its right, there is none but God (who hath reserved to himself the sovereign and absolute disposal of it) can justly either dispossess a soul of its body, or of any part or member of it; or offer any violence to the body, or put it any farther out of its soul's disposal, than God himself hath done by placing it under the outward restraints of government. So that for any one either to kill or dismember a body, whose soul hath not forfeited its right to it, to enslave or imprison a body, whose soul hath neither alienated nor forfeited its right to dispose of it, is a piece of high and crying injustice. In short, God hath placed the immortal soul of man in the tene

ment of a mortal body, in which it hath thereupon the right of a tenant at will, that holds at the pleasure of his landlord; by whom it is empowered to enjoy it for its own habitation, to defend it against outward violence, and dispose of it for its own needs and conveniences. So that unless he be empowered by God, there is no man can rightfully destroy or dismember, or without his consent enslave or imprison, another man's body; unless it be in defence of his own life, livelihood, or liberty, which every man hath a natural right to defend. But then, since for the common good and defence of all, God hath placed his reserved authority over our bodies in the hands of human government, it is no violation of the right of our souls, for the government under which we are placed to destroy or dismember, enslave or imprison our bodies, whenever, by offending others, we render it necessary for the defence and good of all. And since the government hath, so far as the common weal requires, God's own authority over our bodies in its hands, it is no more injurious to our souls, for that to dispose of our lives and members, livelihoods and liberties, for the common security and good, than if God himself should do it immediately; since the government doth it by his right and authority, which is paramount to all the natural rights of our souls. But for any others, either to take away the life or members of another's body, except it be necessary for their own defence, or to enslave or imprison another's body, except it be upon free consent or just forfeiture, is an outrageous invasion of the natural rights of human souls.

2. As men dwell in mortal bodies, they have also

a right to their bodily subsistence. For, for God to give them a tenant's right in their mortal bodies would be very insignificant, unless we suppose he hath therewith given them some right to those outward goods that are necessary to their maintenance and subsistence: for God being the supreme proprietor of this lower world, as well as of those tenements of flesh we live in, it must needs be supposed, that, as by placing our soul in this body he hath given her a right to it, so by placing our body in this world, he hath given it a right to such a portion of this world's goods as are necessary to its repair and maintenance. And though in the unequal division of the world that now is, he hath given to some a larger share of it than to others; yet it is not to be supposed he hath so appropriated all to some, as to leave nothing for all the rest. For as all men are equal in their natural faculties and endowments, so according to original constitution they were also equal in their outward properties and possessions; and all things being promiscuously exposed to the use and enjoyment of all, every one from the common stock assumed as his own right what he needed. And as for the inequality and private interests that are now among us, they were by-blows of our fall; for it was sin that introduced our degrees and distances, that devised the names of rich and poor, begot engrossings and enclosures of things, and forged those two pestilent words meum and tuum, which have since engendered so much strife and mischief in the world. And though God hath made these enclosures rights by his long and continued permission of them, yet he hath not thereby parted with his own right to them. He by an