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Penn_101-150.indd 120 1/18/12 8:34 AM ONE Project for the Good of England THAT IS, Our CIVIL UNION is our CIVIL SAFETY Humbly Dedicated to the GREAT CouNCIL, The Parliament of ENGLAND (1679) RELIGI0 N, as it is the noblest End ofMan's Life, so it were the best Bond ofHuman Society, provided Men did not err in the Meaning of that excellent Word. Scripture interprets it to be LovingGod above all, and ourNeighbours as our selves; 1 but Practice teacheth us, that too many meerly resolve it into Opinion and Form; in which, not the Text, but the Comment too often prevails; whence it comes to pass, that those Bodies of Men, who have but one Common Civil Interest, are miserably distracted in Favour oftheir adopted Notions, upon which they are impatient to bestowan Earthly Crown. And this is the Reason of that Mischief and Uncertainty that attend Government. No sooner one Opinion prevails upon another, (though all hold the Text to be sacred) but Human Society is shaken, and the Civil Government must receive and suffer a Revolution; insomuch, that when we consider the Fury and Unnaturalness ofsome People for Religion, (which shews they have none that's True, Religion making Men most Natural as well as Divine) we have Reason to bewail the Mis-understanding as well as Mis-living ofthat venerable Word. But since 'tis so hard to disabuse Men of their wrong Apprehensions of Religion, and the true Nature and Life of it, and consequently as yet too early in the Day to fix such a Religion upon which Mankind will readily agree as a common Basis for Civil Society, we must recur to some lower but true, Principle for the Present, and I think there will be no Difficulty of Succeeding. 'Tis this, That Civil Interest is the Foundation and End ofCivil Government, and where it is not maintained entire, the Government must needs decline. The Word INTEREST has a good and bad Acceptation; when it is taken in an ill Sense, it signifies a Pursuit ofAdvantage without Regard to Truth or Justice; 1. Matthew 22:38- 39; Mark 12:30- 31; and Luke 10:27. Penn_101-150.indd 121 1/18/12 8:34 AM ONE PROJECT FOR THE GOOD OF ENGLAND {121} which I mean not: The good Signification of the Word, and which I mean, is a Legal Endeavour to keep Rights, or augment honest Profits, whether it be in a private Person or a Society. By GOVERNMENT, I understand a just and Equal Constitution, where Might is not Right, but Laws rule, and not the Wills or Power of Men; for that were plain Tyranny. This Government must have a Supreme Authority in it self to Determine, and not be superseded or controuled by any other Power, for then it would not be a Government, but a Subjection, which is a plain Contradiction. Having thus explained the Terms ofthe Principle I have laid down, I repeat it, viz. That Civil Interest is the Foundation and End ofCivil Government, and prove it thus: The Good of the Whole is the Rise and End of Government; but the Good of the Whole must needs be the Interest of the Whole, and consequently the Interest ofthe Whole, is the Reason and End ofGovernment. None can stumble at the Word Good, for every Man may easily and safely interpret that to himself, since he must needs believe, 'tis Good for him to be preserv'd in an undisturb'd Possession of his Civil Rights, according to the Free and just Laws of the Land, and the Construction he makes for himself will serve his Neighbour, and so the whole Society. But as the Good of the People is properly the Civil Interest of the People, and that, the Reason and End of Government; so is the Maintenance of that Civil Interest entire, the Preservation of Government. For where People are sure of their Own, and are protected from Violence or Injury, they cheerfully yield their Obedience, and pay their Contribution to the Support ofthat Government . But on the contrary, where Men are insecure of their Civil Rights, nay, where they are daily violated, and themselves in Danger of Ruin, and that for no Sin committed against the Nature of Civil Interest, (to preserve which, Government was instituted) we ought to suppose their Affections will flag, that they will grow dead-hearted, and that what they pay or do, may go...

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