had been towards him; whence it is apparent, that the Breach of this Commandment lies in that depraved Difpofition of Mind, which is oppofite to the found defire of withing a Man's Neighbour's bodily Welfare in order to the Health of his Soul, which because none ever heartily doth but in virtue of his own Love of Bliss, the Want of that Love is the formal Reafon why the bereaving any one of Life, or working his bodily harm, is a fin or hinderance to Felicity.

The 7th. Commandment is, Thou shalt not commit Adultery; the Breach of which doth not confist in the material Act of carnal co. pulation with anothers Wife, but in forfaking the Love of God for an unlawful Plea fure. For fuppofe a Wife should leave her Husband, and be married to another Man inculpably ignorant of her former Marriage, the Woman alone would offend against this Precept, albeit the Man alfo tranfgreffed the Letter of the Law, in carnally knowing anothers Wife. Or in cafe a Man fhould' have his Neighbours Confort put into his Bed, thinking her to be his own, he offended not, although he should commit the external Act of Adultery with her. And on the contrary, if an Husband lay with his

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own Wife, thinking her to be his Neighbours, he would in fo doing fin against this Precept, and yet no Tranfgreffion of it would thereby be made as to the external Act prohibited. Hence it is plain, that the Violation of the Seventh Comandment is in the depraved Affection of the Will, in turning the Heart away from the Love of God to unchaft Pleasures; and that it is kept by having a Mind'undefiled with fleshly Lufts, which every one fo long hath, as Charity or the Love of God above all things is predo minant in the Soul. If it be objected, that fimple Fornication also alienates the Heart from God, through the defire of unlawful Venereal Pleasures, whence it should be a fin no lefs grievous then Adultery; I anfwer, that he who attempts to pollute his Neighbours Bed, knows that he ought upon a double account not to do it. First, be caufe his Neighbours Wife is not tied in a Matrimonial Bond to him. Secondly, be cause she is bound to another; and therefore he will have his Heart more hardned in fin, or farther estranged from God, thạn if he only defired to fatisfie his Luft with one, from whom upon the former account alone, he holds himself to be restrained, and fo the fin of Adultery, (all Circumstances

being equal)is a more heinous Tranfgreffion of the Law of God, than the Sin of fimple Fornication is.

The 8th. Commandment is, Thou shalt not Steal; by which we are obliged not only to abstain from taking by Force or Fraud whatfoever temporal Good our Neighbour has a Right to; but also to employ our Endeavours, if just occafion require, to help to fecure him in the lawful Poffeffion of the fame; yet with this intent, that he use it as a Means to further him in the purfüit of his Eternal Good, the fruition of which, is the Ultimate End of all Laws, whether Divine, Moral, Canonical or Civil; in the fincere Defire whereof they are only truly kept, and for want of which they are folely broken, as to their principal and Grand Design, albeit not as to their particular refpective ends, which they more immediately, but lefs beneficially look at. And therefore even this Precept which more obviously regards and enjoyns the doing Justice, may be violated as to the letter of it, without a formal Breach thereof, as will appear by fhewing that in fome Cafe one Man may, without violating this Precept, take from another without his Confent, what the Mu nicipal Laws of the Land where they both

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live, entitle him to; which I thus undertake to do. No Man by the primary Law of Nature or Reafon can, or ever could (except Adam, who was Lord of the whole Earth) claim Propricty in any thing without himfelf. Propriety came by a latter Law,namely, either by Diftribution of Lands and Goods made by Adam; or else by Division, or Occupancy, after Adams Deceafe, of what he had not difpofed of immediately, or mediately, in his Life time; to which purpose Grotius in his Second Book and Second Chapter, De Jure belli ac pacis, rationally writeth, "Cum non contenti homines vefci fponte natis, antra habitare, corpore aut nudo agere, aut "corticibus arborum, ferarumve pellibus veftito, "vitæ genus exquifitius delegissent, industria opus fuit, quam finguli rebus fingulis adhibe

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rent. Quo minus autem fructus in commune conferrentur,primum obftitit locorum, in que "homines difcefferunt, diftantia; deinde jufti. "tia amoris defectus, per quem fiebat, ut "nec in labore, nec in confumptione fructuum,

que debebat, aqualitas fervaretur. When Men not content to feed on things which grew naturally, to live in Caves, to go erther naked, or clad with the Bark of Trees, or the Skins of wild Beafts, chofe a more delicate way of living, there was need of

industry

industry for particular Perfons to use in particular things. And that the Fruits of the Earth could not be laid up in Common, first the distance of Places, whither Men departed was an hindrance, then the want of Juftice and Love, by which it fell out, that a due equality, neither in their Labour nor Confumption of the Fruits could be obferved. This the learned Man tells us was the occafion of introducing Property, and the manner of doing it, he adds as follows; “Res in proprietatem iverunt, non animi aðú "folo; neque enim fcire alii poterant, quid a"lii-fuum effe vellent, ut eo abftinerent; & "idem velle plures poterant ; fed Pacto quodam ant expreffo, ut per Divifionem; aut ἐσ "tacito, ut per occupationem; fimulatque enim "Communio difplicuit, nec instituta eft Divifio, fenferi debet inter omnes conveniffe, ut

quod quifque occupaffet id proprium haberet. Property came in, not by the fole act of the Mind, for none could know what others would be defirous to have, that they might abstain from it, and several Men might defire the fame thing; but by fome Compact either exprefs, as by Divifion, or tacite, as by Occupancy; for when to have all in common disliked Men, and yet no di. vifion was made, it ought to be held, that