I.

SECT.

Of Publick Teachers of the Laws and

As

Morality.

S there are many focial Duties of the Law of Nature which regard the Security of the Lives and Properties of Men, for which all Government is defign'd; fuch as Honesty, Juftice, Truth, Gratitude, Goodness to Men, Honor, and Fidelity to Superiors, &c. fo there are many Crimes which are deftructive to their Properties or their Lives, or to their whole Government and Peace; fuch as Treason in all Degrees, Cheating, Stealing, Robbing, Plundering, Adultery, Affaults, Maiming, Murder, and various other forts of Injuries to the Bodies of Men, to their known Rights, Powers, and Privileges, as well as to their Eftates, their Reputation, good Name, and Comfort: all which ought to be in the power of Civil Governments to forbid and restrain by proper Laws; which Laws fhould fometimes have proper Rewards appointed for the innocent Informers and Affistants of the Magistrates,

but

but always Penalties to be inflicted on the Criminal.

II. There are also fome perfonal Duties of the Law of Nature, fuch as Sobriety and Temperance, Frugality and Industry; and there are Sins against this Law which relate primarily and chiefly to fingle Perfons, fuch as Intemperance of every kind, Gluttony, Drunkenness, profufe and riotous Living, univerfal Idleness or Neglect of Labour among the Poor, Fornication, Self-Murder, &c. which tho' they do not perhaps fo fenfibly, directly, and immediately injure our Neighbors, yet they are very pernicious to any State or Government, inafmuch as they difpofe Men greatly to the Commiffion of Injuries against their Neighbors, the Violation of the Rights of Mankind, and the Peace of Society or Government. These Crimes feem therefore properly to lie under the Cognizance and the Restraints of the Civil Government.

III. Now as there are Laws which are or fhould be made in every Society for the Prefervation of the Peace, and for fupporting and carrying on the common Welfare of the Society; and as fome of thefe Laws fhould forbid those focial Crimes, fuch as Cheating,

Stealing, 3

Stealing, Murder, Adultery, &c. and these perfonal Crimes, Idleness, Drunkenness, &c. fo it is neceffary in a well-conftituted Government, that there fhould be fome common appointed way of communicating the Knowledge of thefe Laws to the People, that they may be well apprized what is their Duty and what they are forbid to practise. Surely the Laws of a Land fhould be made known to those who are to walk and live according to them, and who are to be punish'd for not keeping them.

And by the way I wish I could give some fufficient Reason why, when new Laws are made in Great Britain by the three Estates of the Kingdom, there fhould not be as much Care taken in a legal promulging them or the fubftance of them, fo far as concerns all pri vate Perfons at leaft, thro' every City and Town in the Nation, as there is of publish ing the meer Will of the Prince by Royal Proclamations, which must be read in every Market-Town. Multitudes of People are as ignorant of the Laws as they would be of Proclamations if not publish'd in this man

ner.

IV. And for the fame Reafon, fince the awful Veneration of a fuperior invifible Power that

,

that knows all things, and can punish Falsehood and fecret Crimes, is neceffary to Government, there should be fome Care taken by the Governors that the Knowledge of this fuperior invifible Power fhould be fome way proclaimed or propagated amongst all the Subjects.

-V. And tho' 'tis poffible (as was hinted before) that the belief and acknowledgment of several Gods, who are Avengers of Falfehood and fecret Mischief, may be consistent with the tolerable Welfare and Conveniencies of the State, yet it must be granted that Polytheism or the Belief of many Gods hath To much Abfurdity in it, and is fo contrary to the Light of Nature, that many Inconveniencies may arife from it; and therefore it is highly proper that the Existence and Per-fections, the Providence and natural and moral Government of the One true God should be fome way made known thro' the Nation, together with the natural Veneration or Reverence that is due to him from all Men.

VI. Whether the Belief and Profeffion of the One true God fhould be impofed on all the Nation under any Penalty, I leave others to determine. I rather think it fhould not; and that for thefe three Reasons.

(1.)

(1.) There may be many Heathens who worship feveral Gods, who yet may be ufeful Members of the State; they may heartily agree to an original Compact of Government, and may feal it fincerely with an Oath; they may dread the Vengeance of their Gods falling upon them for Falfhoods, and may perhaps add great Wealth and Strength to a Government or Nation; why then should they be utterly fecluded from it?

If it be objected that no fuch Perfons as Idolaters were permitted to live in the Jewish State by the Laws of God, Mr. Locke in his admirable Letters of Toleration has anfwer'd that Difficulty, by fhewing that the Jewish Government was a Theocracy wherein God, even Jehovah, the One true God, was their political King, and therefore the Acknowledgment of any other God was Treafon against the State; but it never was fo in any other Nation upon Earth *.

(2.)

* I would not willingly divert from my Subject here fo far as to fhew, that God was the proper political Lord and fupreme King of the Jews, even after they had Kings as well as before. It was God himself who from time to time, pointed out by Inspiration or by extraordinary Providences the Judges who fhould rule them: it was God who pointed out their Kings as his Deputies in an immediate manner, as Saul, David, Solomon who was one of David's younger Sons, &c. It was God who divided the Kingdom into two King

doms,