Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion in Reference to Civil Society

The Introductory Epistle

THE Introductory Epistle, Presented to the RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM, Lord Craven, Baron Craven OF HAMSTEAD MARSH.! MyLORD, THE extraordinary Character you have acquir'd by the joint Consent of those that have the Honour ofyourAcquaintance, Encourages me to deviate from the common Road, used by our Modern Authors; being made sufficiently sensible, how much a Mind endow'd with Genorous and Modest Inclinations (the inseparable Companions ofa Great Soul) disdains the fulsome Praises, which those Gentlemen make the ChiefSubject oftheir Dedications, whenever they pretend to Court the Patronage ofPersons of Quality, in behalfoftheir Treatises. 1 must conftss, 1 should scarce have had so much Presumption thus to intrude my self into your Lordship s Favour, if1 had not been sufficiently persuaded, that the Renown our Author has so deservedly gain 'd both here and abroad (and that under the Protection ofsome ofthe greatest Princes in Europe) would be prevailing enough with your Lordship, to pardon an Undertaking, which, ifin it self justifiable in nothing else, might perhaps claim the benefit ofa general Custom from your Goodness. The Reputation ofourAuthor being so universally and unquestionably establishedamong allsuch as have a true relish 1. See note II to the editor's introduction. [SZu] 3 4 OD TIlE NATURE AND QUALIDICATION aD RELIGION ofLearning, I might without the least Prejudice to him, supercede to enlarge here upon this Treatise, ifit were not rather out ofa desire to satisfie the Curiosity ofsome, who believe to have sufficient Reason fOr certain Objections made against some Assertions contained in this Treatise, than with an Intention to make the least Addition to a Piece, which, whether in regard ofthe nicety ofthe Subject it Treats of, or ofthe Concatination and fOrce ofits Arguments, deserves to be reckoned among the best now extant in Europe.2 Those, who center the utmost Felicity ofCivil Society in a DemocraticalfOrm ofGovernment, have not been wanting to charge our Author with too much Passion for that Doctrine, of Passive Obedience , which leaves Subjects to the absolute Disposal oftheir Princes; But, besides that, theAppendix annexed to thisTreatise, written by ourAuthor, in opposition to Mr. Hobbes's Monstrous Principles concerning this unlimited Power,3 may sufficiently clear him ftom this Imputation; Ifthese Gentlemen would have taken the pains to make a due comparison ofthe several Passages both in this, and other Treatises ofour Author,4 relating to this Subject, they might, without much difficulty, have been convinc'd oftheir Error; As jar as I am capable ofpenetrating into the Matter, it is the word Princeps, or Prince, which sticks most closely in their Stomachs, not considering, That the WOrds, Summi Imperantes, or Sovereigns; and that ofPrinceps, or Prince, are Synonyms to our Author; and that out of a great many Passages in this Treatise, it is sufficiently apparent, that he attributes the Sovereign Power not always to one single Person, but sometimes also to a Council invested with the Supream Administration ofthe Sovereign Authority in the Commonwealth. Ifit were but only fOr that Advice given by our Author at the very beginning of his Appendix to 2. The translator refers here to Pufendorf's The Whole Duty ofMan. See section II of the editor's introduction. [SZu] 3. See note 12 to the editor's introduction. [SZu] 4. I.e., in The Law ofNature and in The Whole Duty ofMan. Pufendorf's relation to Hobbes is discussed in Fiammetta Palladini, SamuelPufendorfdiscepolo di Hobbes: Per una reinterpretazione del giusnaturalismo moderno (Bologna: II Mulino, 1990); and in Richard Tuck, The Rights of War and Peace: Political Thought and the International Order from Grotius to Kant (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), chap. 5. [SZu] OF THE NATURE AND QUALIFICATION OF RELIGION 5 young Lawyers, to wit, to take care, that under the Pretence of maintaining the Prerogatives of Princes, they should not be prodigal oftheir Liberty and Property, and his asserting the Foundation ofCivil Societies to be built upon the Common Consent ofmutual Defence against Violences ; This alone, I say, might be a convincingArgument to any unbyass'd Person, that his Aim was very remote from maintaining an Arbitrary Power in the State. The next thing laid to our Author s Charge is, that he so entirely separates the Christian Religion from the State, as not to have the least Interference with one another; whereas the contrary is now a-days practised in most Christian States, and in the Commonwealth ofthe Jews (instituted by Gods peculiar...