PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

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cid~utes, cirect the ducent or disposition of
property; a righ~ in a word, in anyone man or
particular body of men, to make laws and regulations
for the rest. For none of these rights would
exist in the cewlv inhabited island •
.I
And· here it will be a~ked, how adventitious
rights are created; or, which is the same thing, how
any new ~g!l~ ~an. acc:ru~fro~
__ ci"v~_~e'-I; as rights of all kJnd~, we remeolber,
: aepend upon the will of God, and civil society is
but the ordin;qlr,e and institution of DIan? For the
;elution of this difficulty, we must return to our fi!"st
fprin{:iples. God will.s the happiness of maclcind,
~ and the existence of ci¥il society, as c~£1ducive to
}that happiness. Consequently, many things s which
{are useful for the support of civil society in general,
lor for the conduct and conversation of particular
e;rieties already established, are, fur that TeaSOD,
1" consistent with the will of God," or "right~"
twhich without tbat reason, i. e. without the establishment
of civil society ~ would not have been so.
"From whence also" it appe~rs, that adventitious
the ~blishlll@ ...Qt
,!ights, though immediately derived from human
appointment, 3!e no~ for_ tha~ r~n J:e5S...§a~redJhap
natural riKll~~_n~~ the obI i g:ation to_ r~~pcct Jh!"m
less -cogent. • They bo~ ultimately rely upon the
same autlivnty, the WIll of God. Such a man
claims a right · to a particular estate. lIe can shew,
~i: is true, nothing for his right, but a rule of the
civil community to which he belongs; and this rule
may be arbitrary, capricious and absurd. Notwith.
standing ail this, there would be the same sin in dispossessing
the man of hh estate by craft or violence,
as if it had been a~'Signed to him, like the partition of
the country amongst the twelve tribes, by the im.
mediate designation and appointment of heaven.
SEC?NDL Y, _Righ~-;-are ~nable or unalienat>i~.
Which terms explam themsefver.