the Proofs he here gives us of the descent of Adams Lordship For continuing his Story of this descent he says 143. In the dispersion of Babel we must certainly find the Establishment of Royal Power throughout the Kingdoms of the World p. 14. If you must find it pray do and you will help us to a new piece of History But you must shew it us before we shall be bound to believe that Regal Power was Established in the World upon your Principles for that Regal Power was Established in the Kingdoms of the World I think no body will dispute but that there should be Kingdoms in the World whose several Kings enjoy'd their Crowns by right descending to them from Adam that we think not only Apocrypha but also utterly impossible and if our A has no better Foundation for his Monarchy then a supposition of what was done at the dispersion of Babel The Monarchy he erects thereon whose top is to reach to Heaven to unite Mankind will serve only to divide and scatter them as that Tower did will produce nothing but confusion 144. For he tells us the Nations they were divided into were distinct Families which had Fathers for Rulers over them whereby it appears that even in the confusion God was careful to preserve the Fatherly Authority by distributing the Diversity of Languages according to the Diversity of Families p. 14. it would have been a hard matter for any one but our A to have found out so plainly in the Text he here brings that all the Nations in that dispersion were governed by Fathers and that God was careful to preserve the Fatherly Authority The words of the Text are These are the Sons of Shem after their Families after their Tongues in their Lands after their Nations and the same thing is said of Cham and Iaphet after an Enumeration of their Posterities in all which there is not one word said of their Governors or Forms of Governmentâ— of Fathers or Fatherly Authority But our A â— who is very quick sighted to spye out Fatherhood where no body else could see any the least glimpses of it tells us positivâ—ly their Ruler were Fathers and God was carâ—fâ—l to preserve the Fatherly Authority and why because those of the same Family spoke the same Language and so of necessity in the division kept together just as if one should argue thus Hanibal in his Army consisting of divers Nations kept those of the same Language togegether therefore Fathers were Captains of each Band and Hanibal was careful of the Fatherly Authority or in Peopling of Carolina the English French Scotch and Welâ—h that are there Plant themselves together and by them the Country is divided in their Lands after their Tongues after their Families after their Nations that therefore care was taken of the Fatherly Authority or because in many parts of America every little Tribe was a distinct People with a different Language one should infer that therefore God was careful to preserve the Fatherly Authority or that therefore their Rulers enjoy'd Adams Lordship by right descending to them though we know not who were their Governors nor what their Form of Government but only that they were divided into little Independent Societies speaking different Languages 145. The Scripture says not a word of their Rulers or Forms of Government but only gives an account how Mankind came to be divided into distinct Languages and Nations and therefore 't is not to argue from the Authority of Scripture to tell us positively Fathers were their Rulers when the Scripture says no such thing but to set up Phansies of ones own Brain when we confidently aver Matter of Fact where records are utterly silent and therefore the same ground has the rest that he says that they were not confused Multitudes without Heads and Governors and at liberty to choose what Governors or Governments they pleased 146. For I demand when Mankind were all yet of one Language all congregated in the plain of Shinar were they then all under one Monarch who enjoyed the Lordship of Adam by right descending to him If they were not there was then no thoughts 't is plain of Adams Heir no right to Government known then upon that Title no care taken by God or Man of Adams Fatherly Authority If when Mankind were but one People dwelt altogether and were of one Language and were upon Building a City together and when 't was plain they could not but know the Right Heir for Shem lived till Isaacs time a long while after the Division at Babel If then I say they were not under the Monarchical Government of Adams Fatherhood by right descending to the Heir 't is plain there was no regard had to the Fatherhood no Monarchy acknowledg'd due to Adams Heir no Empire of Shems in Asia and consequently no such Division of the World by Noah as our A has talked of And as far as we can conclude any thing from Scripture in this matter it seems from this place that if they had any Government it was rather a Common wealth then an Absolute Monarchy For the Scripture tells us Gen. 11. they said 't was not a Prince commanded the Building of this City and Tower 't was not by the command of one Monarch but by the consultation of many a Free People let us build us a City They built it for themselves as Free-men not as Slaves for their Lord and Master that we be not scattered abroad and for having a City once built fixed Habitations to settle their Bodies and Families This was the consultation and design of a People that were at liberty to part asunder but desired to keep in one Body and could not have been either necessary or likely in Men tyed together under the Government of one Monarch who if they had been as our A tells us all Slaves under the Absolute Dominion of a Monarch needed not have taken such care to hinder themselves from wandering out of the reach of his Dominion I demand whether this be not plainer in Scripture then any thing of Adams Heir or Fatherly Authority 147. But if being as God says Gen. 11. 6. one People they had one Ruler one King by natural Right Absolute and Supream over them what care had God to preserve the Paternal Authority of the Supream Fatherhood if on a suddain he suffers 72 for so many our A talks of distinct Nations to be erected out of it under distinct Governors and at once to withdraw themselves from the Obedidience of their Soveriegn This is to entitle Gods care how and to what we please can it be Sense to say that God was careful to preserve Fatherly Authority in those who had it not For if these were Subjects under a Supream Prince what Authority had they when at the same time he takes away the true Supream Fatherhood of the natural Monarch can it be reason to say that God for the Preservation of Fatherly Authority lets several new
his Father and his Brother and planted in Mount Seir Gen. xxxvi 6. 39. And thus without supposing any private Dominion and property in Adam over all the World exclusive of all other Men which can no way be proved nor any ones Property be made out from it but supposing the World given as it was to the Children of Men in common we see how labour could make Men distinct titles to several parcels of it for their private uses wherein there could be no doubt of right no room for quarrel 40. Nor is it so strange as perhaps before consideration it may appear that the Property of labour should be able to over-ballance the Community of Land For 't is labour indeed that puts the difference of value on every thing and let any one consider what the difference is between an Acre of Land planted with Tabaco â—r Sugar sown with Wheat or Barley and an Acre of the same Land lying in common without any Husbandry upon it and he will find that the improvement of labour makes the far greater part of the value I think it will be but a very modest Computation to say that of the Products of the Earth useful to the Life of Man 9 10 are the effâ—cts of labour nay if we will rightly estimate things as they come to our use and cast up the several expences about them what in them is purely owing to Nature and what to labour we shall find that in most of them 99 100 are wholly to be put on the account of labour 41. There cannot be a clearer demonstration of any thing than several Nations of the Americans are of this who are rich in Land and poor in all the Comforts of Life whom Nature having furnished as liberally as any other people with the materials of Plenty i. e. a fruitful Soil apt to produce in abundance what might serve for food rayment and delight yet for want of improving it by labour have not 1 100 part of the Conveniencies we enjoy And a King of a large and fruitful Territory there feeds lodges and is clad worse than a day Labourer in England 42. To make this a little clearer let us but trace some of the ordinary provisions of Life through their several progresses before they come to our use and see how much they receive of their value from human industry Bread Wine and Cloth are things of daily use and great plenty yet notwithstanding Acorns Water and Leaves or Skins must be our Bread Drink and Cloathing did not labour furnish us with these more useful Commodities For whatever Bread is more worth than Acorns Wine than Water and Cloth or Silk than Leaves Skins or Moss that is wholly owing to labour and industry The one of these being the food and rayment which unassisted Nature furnishes us with the other Provisions which our industry and pains prepare for us which how much they exceed the other in value when any one hath computed he will then see how much labour makes the far greatest part of the value of things we enjoy in this World and the ground which produces the materials is scarce to be reckon'd in as any or at most but a very small part of it so little that even amongst us Land that is left wholly to Nature that hath no improvement of Pasturage Tillage or Planting is called as indeed it is wast and we shall find the benefit of it amount to little more than nothing 43. An Acre of Land that bears here Twenty Bushels of Wheat and another in America which with the same Husbandry would do the like are without doubt of the same natural intrinsick Value But yet the Benefit Mankind receives from one in a Year is worth 5 l. and the other possibly not worth a Penny if all the Profit an Indian received from it were to be valued and sold here at least I may truly say not 1 â—000 'T is Labour then which puts the greatest part of Value upon Land without which it would scarcely be worth any thing 't is to that we owe the greatest part of all its useful Products for all that the Straw Bran Bread of that Acre of Wheat is more worth than the Product of an Acre of as good Land which lies waste is all the Effect of Labour For 't is not barely the Plough-man's Pains the Reaper's and Thresher's Toil and the Baker's Sweat is to be counted into the Bread we eat the Labour of those who broke the Oxen who digged and wrought the Iron and Stones who felled and framed the Timber imployed about the Plough Mill Oven or any other Utensils which are a vast Number requisite to this Corn from its sowing to its being made Bread must all be charged on the account of Labour and received as an effect of that Nature and the Earth furnished only the almost worthless Materials as in themselves 'T would be a strange Catalogue of things that Industry provided and made use of about every Loaf of Bread before it came to our use if we could trace them Iron Wood Leather Bark Timber Stone Bricks Coals Lime Cloth Dyingâ— Drugs Pitch Tar Masts Ropes and all the Materials made use of in the Ship that brought any of the Commodities made use of by any of the Work-men to any part of the Work all which 't would be almost impossible at least too long to reckon up 44. From all which it is evident that tho' the things of Nature are given in common Man by being Master of himself and Proprietor of his own Person and the Actions or Labour of it had still in himself the great Foundation of Property and that which made up the great part of what he applyed to the Support or Comfort of his being when Invention and Arts had improved the conveniencies of Life was perfectly his own and did not belong in common to others 45. Thus Labour in the beginning gave a Right of Property where ever any one was pleased to imploy it upon what was common which remained a long while the far greater part and is yet more than Mankind makes use of Men at first for the most part contented themselves with what un-assisted Nature offered to their Necessities and though afterwards in some parts of the World where the Increase of People and Stock with the Use of Money had made Land scarce and so of some Value the several Communities setled the Bounds of their distinct Territories and by Laws within themselves regulated the Properties of the private Men of their Society and so by Compact and Agreement setled the Property which Labour and Industry began And the Leagues that have been made between several States and Kingdoms either expresly or tacitly dis-owning all Claim and Right to the Land in the others Possession have by common Consent given up their Pretences to their natural common Right which originally they had to those Countries and so have by positive Agreement settled a Property amongst themselves in
distinct Parts of the World yet there are still great Tracts of Ground to be found which the Inhabitants thereof not having joyned with the rest of Mankind in the consent of the Use of their common Money lye waste and are more than the People who dwell on it do or can make use of and so still lye in common Though this can scarce happen amongst that part of Mankind that have consented to the Use of Money 46. The greatest part of things really useful to the Life of Man and such as the necessity of subsisting made the first Commoners of the World look after as it doth the Americans now are generally things of short duration such as if they are not consumed by use will decay and perish of themselves Gold Silver and Diamonds are things that Phancy or Agreement hath put the Value on more than real Use and the necessary Support of Life Now of those good things which Nature hath provided in common every one hath a Right as hath been said to as much as he could use and had a Property in all he could effect with his Labour all that his Industry could extend to to alter from the State Nature had put it in was his He that gathered a Hundred Bushels of Acorns or Apples had thereby a Property in them they were his Goods as soon as gathered He was only to look that he used them before they spoiled else he took more than his share and robb'd others And indeed it was a foolish thing as well as dishonest to hoard up more than he could make use of If he gave away a part to any body else so that it perished not uselesly in his Possession these he also made use of And if he also bartered away Plumbs that would have rotted in a Week ' for Nuts that would last good for his eating a whole Year he did no injury he wasted not the common Stock destroyed no part of the portion of Goods that belonged to others so long as nothing perished uselesly in his hands Again If he would give his Nuts for a piece of Metal pleased with its colour or exchange his Sheep for Shells or Wooll for a sparkling Pebble or a Diamond and keep those by him all his Life he invaded not the Right of others he might heap up as much of these durable things as he pleased the exceeding of the bounds of his just Property not lying in the largeness of his Possession but the perishing of any thing uselesly in it 47. And thus came in the use of Money some lasting thing that Men might keep without spoiling and that by mutual consent Men would take in exchange for the truly useful but perishable Supports of Life 48. And as different degrees of Industry were apt to give Men Possessions in different Proportions so this Invention of Money gave them the opportunity to continue and enlarge them For supposing an Island separate from all possible Commerce with the rest of the World wherein there were but a Hundred Families but there were Sheep Horses and Cowes with other useful Animals wholesome Fruits and Land enough for Corn for a Hundred thousand times as many but nothing in the Island either because of its Commonness or perishableness fit to supply the Place of Money What reason could any one have there to enlarge his Possessions beyond the use of his Family and a plentiful supply to its Consumption either in what their own Industry produced or they could barter for like perishable useful Commodities with others Where there is not something both lasting and scarce and so valuable to be hoarded up there Men will not be apt to enlarge their Possessions of Land were it never so rich never so free for them to take For I ask What would a Man value Ten thousand or an Hundred thousand Acres of excellent Land ready cultivated and well stocked too with Cattle in the middle of the in-land Parts of America where he had no hopes of Commerce with other parts of the World to draw Money to him by the Sale of the Product It would not be worth the inclosing and we should see him give up again to the wild Common of Nature what-ever was more than would supply the Conveniencies of Life to be had there for him and his Family 49. Thus in the beginning all the World was America and more so than that is now for no such thing as Money was any where known Find out something that hath the Use and Value of Money amongst his Neighbours you shall see the same Man will begin presently to enlarge his Possessions 50. But since Gold and Silver being little useful to the Life of Man in proportion to Food Rayment and Carriage has its value only from the consent of Men whereof labour yet makes in great part the measure It is plain that the consent of Men have agreed to a disproportionate and unequal Possession of the Earth I mean out of the bounds of Society and Compact for in Governments the Laws regulate it they having by consent found out and agreed in a way how a Man may rightfully and without injury possess more than he himself can make use of by receiving Gold and Silver which may continue long in a Mans Possession without decaying for the overplus and agreeing those Metals should have a value 51. And thus I think it is very easy to conceive without any difficulty how labour could at first begin a title of Property in the common things of nature and how the spending it upon our uses bounded it So that there could then be no reason of quarrelling about title nor any doubt about the largeness of Possession it gave Right and Conveniency went together For as a Man had a right to all he could imploy his labour upon so he had no temptation to labour for more than he could make use of This left no room for Controversie about the title nor for incroachment on the right of others what Portion a Man carved to himself was easily seen and it was useless as well as dishonest to carve himself too much or take more than he needed CHAP. VI. Of Paternal Power 52. IT may perhaps be censured an impertinent Criticism in a discourse of this nature to find fault with words and names that have obtained in the World And yet possibly it may not be amiss to offer new ones when the old are apt to lead Men into mistakes as this of Paternal Power probably has done which seems so to place the Power of Parents over their Children wholly in the Father as if the Mother had no share in it whereas if we consult Reason or Revelation we shall find she hath an equal title which may give one reason to ask Whether this might not be more properly called Parental Power For whatever obligation Nature and the right of Generation lays on Children it must certainly bind them equal to both the concurrent Causes of it And accordingly