A Theologico-Political Treatise part 4 | Page 4

AND
CIVIL RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS; AND OF THE RIGHTS OF
THE SOVEREIGN POWER.
(1) Hitherto our care has been to separate philosophy from theology,
and to show the freedom of thought which such separation insures to
both. (2) It is now time to determine the limits to which such freedom
of thought and discussion may extend itself in the ideal state. (3) For
the due consideration of this question we must examine the foundations
of a State, first turning our attention to the natural rights of individuals,
and afterwards to religion and the state as a whole.
(16:4) By the right and ordinance of nature, I merely mean those
natural laws wherewith we conceive every individual to be conditioned
by nature, so as to live and act in a given way. (5) For instance, fishes
are naturally conditioned for swimming, and the greater for devouring
the less; therefore fishes enjoy the water, and the greater devour the less
by sovereign natural right. [16:1] (6) For it is certain that nature, taken
in the abstract, has sovereign right to do anything, she can; in other
words, her right is co- extensive with her power. (7) The power of
nature is the power of God, which has sovereign right over all things;
and, inasmuch as the power of nature is simply the aggregate of the
powers of all her individual components, it follows that every,
individual has sovereign right to do all that he can; in other words, the
rights of an individual extend to the utmost limits of his power as it has
been conditioned. (8) Now it is the sovereign law and right of nature
that each individual should endeavour to preserve itself as it is, without

regard to anything but itself ; therefore this sovereign law and right
belongs to every individual, namely, to exist and act according to its
natural conditions. (9) We do not here acknowledge any difference
between mankind and other individual natural entities, nor between
men endowed with reason and those to whom reason is unknown; nor
between fools, madmen, and sane men. (10) Whatsoever an individual
does by the laws of its nature it has a sovereign right to do, inasmuch as
it acts as it was conditioned by nature, and cannot act otherwise. [16:2]
(11) Wherefore among men, so long as they are considered as living
under the sway of nature, he who does not yet know reason, or who has
not yet acquired the habit of virtue, acts solely according to the laws of
his desire with as sovereign a right as he who orders his life entirely by
the laws of reason.
(16:12) That is, as the wise man has sovereign right to do all that
reason dictates, or to live according to the laws of reason, so also the
ignorant and foolish man has sovereign right to do all that desire
dictates, or to live according to the laws of desire. (13) This is identical
with the teaching of Paul, who acknowledges that previous to the law -
that is, so long as men are considered of as living under the sway of
nature, there is no sin.
(16:14) The natural right of the individual man is thus determined, not
by sound reason, but by desire and power. (15) All are not naturally
conditioned so as to act according to the laws and rules of reason; nay,
on the contrary, all men are born ignorant, and before they can learn the
right way of life and acquire the habit of virtue, the greater part of their
life, even if they have been well brought up, has passed away. (16)
Nevertheless, they are in the meanwhile bound to live and preserve
themselves as far as they can by the unaided impulses of desire. (17)
Nature has given them no other guide, and has denied them the present
power of living according to sound reason; so that they are no more
bound to live by the dictates of an enlightened mind, than a cat is
bound to live by the laws of the nature of a lion.
(16:18) Whatsoever, therefore, an individual (considered as under the
sway of nature) thinks useful for himself, whether led by sound reason
or impelled by the passions, that he has a sovereign right to seek and to
take for himself as he best can, whether by force, cunning, entreaty, or
any other means; consequently he may regard as an enemy anyone who

hinders the accomplishment of his purpose.
(16:19) It follows from what we have said that the right and ordinance
of nature, under which all men are born, and under which they mostly
live, only prohibits such things as no one desires, and no one can attain:
it does not forbid strife, nor hatred, nor anger, nor