THE EARLY MODERN ERA

THE EARLY MODERN ERA

(c. 1450 – c. 1790)

From the Italian Renaissance

to the French Revolution

EARLY MODERN ERA / 207

I. The Renaissance

Petrarch, “The Ascent of Mount Ventoux” (mid to late 14th century)

Italian poet and humanist, and the most popular Italian poet of the English Renaissance. He was born

at Arezzo, the son of a notary who was expelled from Florence (in the same year as Dante) by the

Black Guelfs and migrated to Avignon in 1312. Here in 1327 Petrarch first saw the woman who

inspired his love poetry. He calls her Laura; her true identity is unknown. Until 1353 Petrarch's life was

centred in Provence, but he made extended visits to Italy, on the first of which, in 1341, he was

crowned poet laureate in Rome, for him the most memorable episode of his life. From 1353 onwards

he resided in Italy, though he travelled widely, both on his own account and at the instance of his

patrons. He died in Arquà in the Euganean Hills. Today Petrarch is best known for his 'Rime Sparse',

the collection of Italian lyrics which includes the long series of poems in praise of Laura; but to his

contemporaries and the generations that immediately succeeded him he was best known as a devoted

student of classical antiquity. Petrarch is justly regarded as the father of Italian humanism and the

initiator of the revived study of Greek and Latin literature, but for English writers his chief inspiration

was to the early sonneteers. [Source: The Oxford Companion to English Literature, (c) Margaret

Drabble and Oxford University Press 1995]

Today I made the ascent of the highest mountain in this region, which is not improperly

called Ventosum. My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to

offer. I have had the expedition in mind for many years; for, as you know, I have lived in this

region from infancy, having been cast here by that fate which determines the affairs of men.

Consequently the mountain, which is visible from a great distance, was ever before my eyes,

and I conceived the plan of some time doing what I have at last accomplished to-day. The

idea took hold upon me with especial force when, in re-reading Livy's History of Rome,

yesterday, I happened upon the place where Philip of Macedon, the same who waged war

against the Romans, ascended Mount Haemus in Thessaly, from whose summit he was able,

it is said, to see two seas, the Adriatic and the Euxine. Whether this be true or false I have not

been able to determine, for the mountain is too far away, and writers disagree. Pomponius

Mela, the cosmographer--not to mention others who have spoken of this occurrence--admits

its truth without hesitation; Titus Livius, on the other hand, considers it false. I, assuredly,

should not have left the question long in doubt, had that mountain been as easy to explore

as this one. Let us leave this matter one side, however, and return to my mountain here--it

seems to me that a young man in private life may well be excused for attempting what an

aged king could undertake without arousing criticism.

When I came to look about for a companion I found, strangely enough, that hardly one

among my friends seemed suitable, so rarely do we meet with just the right combination of

personal tastes and characteristics, even among those who are dearest to us. This one was too

apathetic, that one over-anxious; this one too slow, that one too hasty; one was too sad,

another over-cheerful; one more simple, another more sagacious, than I desired. I feared this


one's taciturnity and that one's loquacity. The heavy deliberation of some repelled me as

much as the lean incapacity of others. I rejected those who were likely to irritate me by a

cold want of interest, as well as those who might weary me by their excessive enthusiasm.

Such defects, however grave, could be borne with at home, for charity suffereth all things,

and friendship accepts any burden; but it is quite otherwise on a journey, where every

weakness becomes much more serious. So, as I was bent upon pleasure and anxious that my

enjoyment should be unalloyed, I looked about me with unusual care, balanced against one

another the various characteristics of my friends, and without committing any breach of

friendship I silently condemned every trait which might prove disagreeable on the way. And--

would you believe it?--I finally turned homeward for aid, and proposed the ascent to my

only brother, who is younger than I, and with whom you are well acquainted. He was

delighted and gratified beyond measure by the thought of holding the place of a friend as

well as of a brother.

At the time fixed we left the house, and by evening reached Malaucene, which lies at the foot

of the mountain, to the north. Having rested there a day, we finally made the ascent this

morning, with no companions except two servants; and a most difficult task it was. The

mountain is a very steep and almost inaccessible mass of stony soil. But, as the poet has well

said, "Remorseless toil conquers all." It was a long day, the air fine. We enjoyed the

advantages of vigour of mind and strength and agility of body, and everything else essential

to those engaged in such an undertaking and so had no other difficulties to face than those of

the region itself. We found an old shepherd in one of the mountain dales, who tried, at great

length, to dissuade us from the ascent, saying that some fifty years before he had, in the same

ardour of youth, reached the summit, but had gotten for his pains nothing except fatigue and

regret, and clothes and body torn by the rocks and briars. No one, so far as he or his

companions knew, had ever tried the ascent before or after him. But his counsels increased

rather than diminished our desire to proceed, since youth is suspicious of warnings. So the old

man, finding that his efforts were in vain, went a little way with us, and pointed out a rough

path among the rocks, uttering many admonitions, which he continued to send after us even

after we had left him behind.

Surrendering to him all such garments or other possessions as might prove burdensome to us,

we made ready for the ascent, and started off at a good pace. But, as usually happens, fatigue

quickly followed upon our excessive exertion, and we soon came to a halt at the top of a

certain cliff. Upon starting on again we went more slowly, and I especially advanced along

the rocky way with a more deliberate step. While my brother chose a direct path straight up

the ridge, I weakly took an easier one which really descended. When I was called back, and

the right road was shown me, I replied that I hoped to find a better way round on the other

side, and that I did not mind going farther if the path were only less steep. This was just an

excuse for my laziness; and when the others had already reached a considerable height I was

still wandering in the valleys. I had failed to find an easier path, and had only increased the

distance and difficulty of the ascent. At last I became disgusted with the intricate way I had

chosen, and resolved to ascend without more ado. When I reached my brother, who, while

waiting for me, had had ample opportunity for rest, I was tired and irritated. We walked

along together for a time, but hardly had we passed the first spur when I forgot about the

circuitous route which I had just tried, and took a lower one again. Once more I followed an


easy, roundabout path through winding valleys, only to find myself soon in my old difficulty.

I was simply trying to avoid the exertion of the ascent; but no human ingenuity can alter the

nature of things, or cause anything to reach a height by going down. Suffice it to say that,

much to my vexation and my brother's amusement, I made this same mistake three times or

more during a few hours.

After being frequently misled in this way, I finally sat down in a valley and transferred my

winged thoughts from things corporeal to the immaterial, addressing myself as follows: "What

thou hast repeatedly experienced to-day in the ascent of this mountain, happens to thee, as

to many, in the journey toward the blessed life. But this is not so readily perceived by men,

since the motions of the body are obvious and external while those of the soul are invisible

and hidden. Yes, the life which we call blessed is to be sought for on a high eminence, and

strait is the way that leads to it. Many, also, are the hills that lie between, and we must

ascend, by a glorious stairway, from strength to strength. At the top is at once the end of our

struggles and the goal for which we are bound. All wish to reach this goal, but, as Ovid says,

'To wish is little; we must long with the utmost eagerness to gain our end.' Thou certainly

dost ardently desire, as well as simply wish, unless thou deceivest thyself in this matter, as in

so many others. What, then, doth hold thee back? Nothing, assuredly, except that thou

wouldst take a path which seems, at first thought, more easy, leading through low and

worldly pleasures. But nevertheless in the end, after long wanderings, thou must perforce

either climb the steeper path, under the burden of tasks foolishly deferred, to its blessed

culmination, or lie down in the valley of thy sins, and (I shudder to think of it!), if the

shadow of death overtake thee, spend an eternal night amid constant torments." These

thoughts stimulated both body and mind in a wonderful degree for facing the difficulties

which yet remained. Oh, that I might traverse in spirit that other road for which I long day

and night, even as to-day I overcame material obstacles by my bodily exertions! And I know

not why it should not be far easier, since the swift immortal soul can reach its goal in the

twinkling of an eye, without passing through space, while my progress to-day was necessarily

slow, dependent as I was upon a failing body weighed down by heavy members.

One peak of the mountain, the highest of all, the country people call "Sonny," why, I do not

know, unless by antiphrasis, as I have sometimes suspected in other instances; for the peak in

question would seem to be the father of all the surrounding ones. On its top is a little level

place, and here we could at last rest our tired bodies.

Now, my father, since you have followed the thoughts that spurred me on in my ascent,

listen to the rest of the story, and devote one hour, I pray you, to reviewing the experiences

of my entire day. At first, owing to the unaccustomed quality of the air and the effect of the

great sweep of view spread out before me, I stood like one dazed. I beheld the clouds under

our feet, and what I had read of Athos and Olympus seemed less incredible as I myself

witnessed the same things from a mountain of less fame. I turned my eyes toward Italy,

whither my heart most inclined. The Alps, rugged and snow-capped, seemed to rise close by,

although they were really at a great distance; the very same Alps through which that fierce

enemy of the Roman name once made his way, bursting the rocks, if we may believe the

report, by the application of vinegar. I sighed, I must confess, for the skies of Italy, which I

beheld rather with my mind than with my eyes. An inexpressible longing came over rne to


see once more my friend and my country. At the same time I reproached myself for this

double weakness, springing, as it did, from a soul not yet steeled to manly resistance. And yet

there were excuses for both of these cravings, and a number of distinguished writers might be

summoned to support me.

Then a new idea took possession of me, and I shifted my thoughts to a consideration of time

rather than place. "To-day it is ten years since, having completed thy youthful studies, thou

didst leave Bologna. Eternal God! In the name of immutable wisdom, think what alterations

in thy character this intervening period has beheld! I pass over a thousand instances. I am not

yet in a safe harbour where I can calmly recall past storms. The time may come when I can

review in due order all the experiences of the past, saying with St. Augustine, 'I desire to recall

my foul actions and the carnal corruption of my soul, not because I love them, but that I may

the more love thee, 0 my God.' Much that is doubtful and evil still clings to me, but what I

once loved, that I hove no longer. And yet what am I saying? I still love it, but with shame,

but with heaviness of heart. Now, at last, I have confessed the truth. So it is. I love, but love

what I would not love, what I would that I might hate. Though loath to do so, though

constrained, though sad and sorrowing, still I do love, and I feel in my miserable self the truth

of the well known words, 'I will hate if I can; if not, I will love against my will.' Three years

have not yet passed since that perverse and wicked passion which had a firm grasp upon me

and held undisputed sway in my heart began to discover a rebellious opponent, who was

unwilling longer to yield obedience. These two adversaries have joined in close combat for

the supremacy, and for a long time now a harassing and doubtful war has been waged in the

field of my thoughts." Thus I turned over the last ten years in my mind, and then, fixing my

anxious gaze on the future, I asked myself, "If, perchance, thou shouldst prolong this

uncertain life of thine for yet two lustres, and shouldst make an advance toward virtue

proportionate to the distance to which thou hast departed from thine original infatuation

during the past two years, since the new longing first encountered the old, couldst thou, on

reaching thy fortieth year, face death, if not with complete assurance, at least with

hopefulness, calmly dismissing from thy thoughts the residuum of life as it faded into old

age?"

These and similar reflections occurred to me, my father. I rejoiced in my progress, mourned

my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct. I had well-nigh

forgotten where I was and our object in coming; but at last I dismissed my anxieties, which

were better suited to other surroundings, and resolved to look about me and see what we

had come to see. The sinking sun and the lengthening shadows of the mountain were already

warning us that the time was near at hand when we must go. As if suddenly wakened from

sleep, I turned about and gazed toward the west. I was unable to discern the summits of the

Pyrenees, which form the barrier between France and Spain; not because of any intervening

obstacle that I know of but owing simply to the insufficiency of our mortal vision. But I could

see with the utmost clearness, off to the right, the mountains of the region about Lyons, and

to the left the bay of Marseilles and the waters that lash the shores of Aigues Mortes, altho' all

these places were so distant that it would require a journey of several days to reach them.

Under our very eyes flowed the Rhone.


While I was thus dividing my thoughts, now turning my attention to some terrestrial object

that lay before me, now raising my soul, as I had done my body, to higher planes, it occurred

to me to look into my copy of St. Augustine's Confessions, a gift that I owe to your love, and

that I always have about me, in memory of both the author and the giver. I opened the

compact little volume, small indeed in size, but of infinite charm, with the intention of

reading whatever came to hand, for I could happen upon nothing that would be otherwise

than edifying and devout. Now it chanced that the tenth book presented itself. My brother,

waiting to hear something of St. Augustine's from my lips, stood attentively by. I call him, and

God too, to witness that where I first fixed my eyes it was written: "And men go about to

wonder at the heights of the mountains, and the mighty waves of the sea, and the wide

sweep of rivers, and the circuit of the ocean, and the revolution of the stars, but themselves

they consider not." I was abashed, and, asking my brother (who was anxious to hear more),

not to annoy me, I closed the book, angry with myself that I should still be admiring earthly

things who might long ago have learned from even the pagan philosophers that nothing is

wonderful but the soul, which, when great itself, finds nothing great outside itself. Then, in

truth, I was satisfied that I had seen enough of the mountain; I turned my inward eye upon

myself, and from that time not a syllable fell from my lips until we reached the bottom again.

Those words had given me occupation enough, for I could not believe that it was by a mere

accident that I happened upon them. What I had there read I believed to be addressed to me

and to no other, remembering that St. Augustine had once suspected the same thing in his

own case, when, on opening the book of the Apostle, as he himself tells us, the first words

that he saw there were, "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness,

not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the

flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."

The same thing happened earlier to St. Anthony, when he was listening to the Gospel where

it is written, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and

thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." Believing this scripture to have

been read for his especial benefit, as his biographer Athanasius says, he guided himself by its

aid to the Kingdom of Heaven. And as Anthony on hearing these words waited for nothing

more, and as Augustine upon reading the Apostle's admonition sought no farther, so I

concluded my reading in the few words which I have given. I thought in silence of the lack of

good counsel in us mortals, who neglect what is noblest in ourselves, scatter our energies in

all directions, and waste ourselves in a vain show, because we look about us for what is to be

found only within. I wondered at the natural nobility of our soul, save when it debases itself

of its own free will, and deserts its original estate, turning what God has given it for its

honour into dishonour. How many times, think you, did I turn back that day, to glance at

the summit of the mountain which seemed scarcely a cubit high compared with the range of

human contemplation, when it is not immersed in the foul mire of earth? With every

downward step I asked myself this: If we are ready to endure so much sweat and labour in

order that we may bring our bodies a little nearer heaven, how can a soul struggling toward

God, up the steeps of human pride and human destiny, fear any cross or prison or sting of

fortune? How few, I thought, but are diverted from their path by the fear of difficulties or the

love of ease! How happy the lot of those few, if any such there be! It is of them, assuredly,

that the poet was thinking, when he wrote:


Happy the man who is skilled to understand

Nature's hid causes; who beneath his feet

All terrors casts, and death's relentless doom,

And the loud roar of greedy Acheron.

How earnestly should we strive, not to stand on mountain-tops, but to trample beneath us

those appetites which spring from earthly impulses.

With no consciousness of the difficulties of the way, amidst these preoccupations which I

have so frankly revealed, we came, long after dark, but with the full moon lending us its

friendly light, to the little inn which we had left that morning before dawn. The time during

which the servants have been occupied in preparing our supper, I have spent in a secluded

part of the house, hurriedly jotting down these experiences on the spur of the moment, lest,

in case my task were postponed, my mood should change on leaving the place, and so my

interest in writing flag. You will see, my dearest father, that I wish nothing to be concealed

from you, for I am careful to describe to you not only my life in general but even my

individual reflections. And I beseech you, in turn, to pray that these vague and wandering

thoughts of mine may some time become firmly fixed, and, after having been vainly tossed

about from one interest to another, may direct themselves at last toward the single, true,

certain, and everlasting good.

[SOURCE: Hanover Historical Texts Project, http://history.hanover.edu/early/petrarch/pet17.htm]

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, “Oration on the Dignity of Man” (late 15th century)

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) studied philosophy, theology and languages, including

Greek, Hebrew, Syriac and Arabic, at several of the major universities of Italy and France during his

short life. He aimed to reconcile religion and philosophy, and though Christian, was not an orthodox

one. He wrote several works, including a collection of 900 theses on a wide variety of subjects

(Conclusiones philosophicae, cabalasticae et theologicae, Rome, 1486, in fol.).

[Source: The Catholic Encylopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10352a.htm]

In 1486 he issued a challenge to all comers to debate on any of nine hundred theses at Rome, but the

debate was forbidden by the pope on the score of the heretical tendency of some of these theses, and

Pico suffered persecution until Alexander VI in 1493 absolved him from heresy. . . . A humanist as well

as a theologian, he wrote various Latin epistles and elegies and a series of sonnets. [Source: The

History Guide, http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/pico.html]

http://history.hanover.edu/early/petrarch/pet17.htm

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10352a.htm

http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/pico.html


Several of these theses were declared heretical by Pope Innocent VIII. Pico then began to compose a

treatise defending Christianity against Jews and Muslims, but he died before he completed it. His

“Oration on the Dignity of Man” summarizes in many ways the attitudes of the Italian Renaissance.

[Source: The Catholic Encylopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10352a.htm]

I once read that Abdala the Muslim, when asked what was most worthy of awe and wonder

in this theater of the world, answered, "There is nothing to see more wonderful than man!"

Hermes Trismegistus concurs with this opinion: "A great miracle, Asclepius, is man!" However,

when I began to consider the reasons for these opinions, all these reasons given for the

magnificence of human nature failed to convince me: that man is the intermediary between

creatures, close to the gods, master of all the lower creatures, with the sharpness of his senses,

the acuity of his reason, and the brilliance of his intelligence the interpreter of nature, the

nodal point between eternity and time, and, as the Persians say, the intimate bond or

marriage song of the world, just a little lower than angels as David tells us. I concede these

are magnificent reasons, but they do not seem to go to the heart of the matter, that is, those

reasons which truly claim admiration. For, if these are all the reasons we can come up with,

why should we not admire angels more than we do ourselves? After thinking a long time, I

have figured out why man is the most fortunate of all creatures and as a result worthy of the

highest admiration and earning his rank on the chain of being, a rank to be envied not merely

by the beasts but by the stars themselves and by the spiritual natures beyond and above this

world. This miracle goes past faith and wonder. And why not? It is for this reason that man is

rightfully named a magnificent miracle and a wondrous creation.

What is this rank on the chain of being? God the Father, Supreme Architect of the Universe,

built this home, this universe we see all around us, a venerable temple of his godhead,

through the sublime laws of his ineffable Mind. The expanse above the heavens he decorated

with Intelligences, the spheres of heaven with living, eternal souls. The scabrous and dirty

lower worlds he filled with animals of every kind. However, when the work was finished,

the Great Artisan desired that there be some creature to think on the plan of his great work,

and love its infinite beauty, and stand in awe at its immenseness. Therefore, when all was

finished, as Moses and Timaeus tell us, He began to think about the creation of man. But he

had no Archetype from which to fashion some new child, nor could he find in his vast

treasure-houses anything which He might give to His new son, nor did the universe contain a

single place from which the whole of creation might be surveyed. All was perfected, all

created things stood in their proper place, the highest things in the highest places, the

midmost things in the midmost places, and the lowest things in the lowest places. But God

the Father would not fail, exhausted and defeated, in this last creative act. God's wisdom

would not falter for lack of counsel in this need. God's love would not permit that he whose

duty it was to praise God's creation should be forced to condemn himself as a creation of

God.

Finally, the Great Artisan mandated that this creature who would receive nothing proper to

himself shall have joint possession of whatever nature had been given to any other creature.

He made man a creature of indeterminate and indifferent nature, and, placing him in the

middle of the world, said to him "Adam, we give you no fixed place to live, no form that is

peculiar to you, nor any function that is yours alone. According to your desires and

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10352a.htm


judgement, you will have and possess whatever place to live, whatever form, and whatever

functions you yourself choose. All other things have a limited and fixed nature prescribed and

bounded by Our laws. You, with no limit or no bound, may choose for yourself the limits

and bounds of your nature. We have placed you at the world's center so that you may

survey everything else in the world. We have made you neither of heavenly nor of earthly

stuff, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with free choice and dignity, you may fashion

yourself into whatever form you choose. To you is granted the power of degrading yourself

into the lower forms of life, the beasts, and to you is granted the power, contained in your

intellect and judgement, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine."

Imagine! The great generosity of God! The happiness of man! To man it is allowed to be

whatever he chooses to be! As soon as an animal is born, it brings out of its mother's womb

all that it will ever possess. Spiritual beings from the beginning become what they are to be

for all eternity. Man, when he entered life, the Father gave the seeds of every kind and every

way of life possible. Whatever seeds each man sows and cultivates will grow and bear him

their proper fruit. If these seeds are vegetative, he will be like a plant. If these seeds are

sensitive, he will be like an animal. If these seeds are intellectual, he will be an angel and the

son of God. And if, satisfied with no created thing, he removes himself to the center of his

own unity, his spiritual soul, united with God, alone in the darkness of God, who is above all

things, he will surpass every created thing. Who could not help but admire this great shape-

shifter? In fact, how could one admire anything else? . . .

For the mystic philosophy of the Hebrews transforms Enoch into an angel called "Mal'akh

Adonay Shebaoth," and sometimes transforms other humans into different sorts of divine

beings. The Pythagoreans abuse villainous men by having them reborn as animals and,

according to Empedocles, even plants. Muhammed also said frequently, "Those who deviate

from the heavenly law become animals." Bark does not make a plant a plant, rather its

senseless and mindless nature does. The hide does not make an animal an animal, but rather

its irrational but sensitive soul. The spherical form does not make the heavens the heavens,

rather their unchanging order. It is not a lack of body that makes an angel an angel, rather it

is his spiritual intelligence. If you see a person totally subject to his appetites, crawling

miserably on the ground, you are looking at a plant, not a man. If you see a person blinded

by empty illusions and images, and made soft by their tender beguilements, completely

subject to his senses, you are looking at an animal, not a man. If you see a philosopher

judging things through his reason, admire and follow him: he is from heaven, not the earth. If

you see a person living in deep contemplation, unaware of his body and dwelling in the

inmost reaches of his mind, he is neither from heaven or earth, he is divinity clothed in flesh.

Who would not admire man, who is called by Moses and the Gospels "all flesh" and "every

creature," because he fashions and transforms himself into any fleshly form and assumes the

character of any creature whatsoever? For this reason, Euanthes the Persian in his description

of Chaldaean theology, writes that man has no inborn, proper form, but that many things

that humans resemble are outside and foreign to them, from which arises the Chaldaean

saying: "Hanorish tharah sharinas ": "Man is multitudinous, varied, and ever changing." Why

do I emphasize this? Considering that we are born with this condition, that is, that we can

become whatever we choose to become, we need to understand that we must take earnest


care about this, so that it will never be said to our disadvantage that we were born to a

privileged position but failed to realize it and became animals and senseless beasts. Instead,

the saying of Asaph the prophet should be said of us, "You are all angels of the Most High."

Above all, we should not make that freedom of choice God gave us into something harmful,

for it was intended to be to our advantage. Let a holy ambition enter into our souls; let us

not be content with mediocrity, but rather strive after the highest and expend all our strength

in achieving it.

Let us disdain earthly things, and despise the things of heaven, and, judging little of what is in

the world, fly to the court beyond the world and next to God. In that court, as the mystic

writings tell us, are the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones in the foremost places; let us not

even yield place to them, the highest of the angelic orders, and not be content with a lower

place, imitate them in all their glory and dignity. If we choose to, we will not be second to

them in anything.

[SOURCE: Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/oration.html]

Petrus Paulus Vergerius, The New Education (c. 1400) Petrus Paulus Vergerius (1370-1444) “was a teacher at Florence, Bologna, and Padua. He was present

at the Council of Constance, and later worked for the Emperor Sigismund. Soon after 1400, he wrote

the first important Renaissance treatise on education. It represented a sort of humanist program. It

does discuss the medieval trivium and quadrivium, along with the traditional disciplines of medicine,

law and theology. But the stress is on the newer "liberal studies," of history, moral philosophy, rhetoric,

and literature.”

[Source: Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vergerius.html]

We call those studies liberal which are worthy of a free man; those studies by which we attain

and practice virtue and wisdom; that education which calls forth, trains and develops those

highest gifts of body and of mind which ennoble men, and which are rightly judged to rank

next in dignity to virtue only. For to a vulgar temper gain and pleasure are the one aim of

existence, to a lofty nature, moral worth and fame. It is, then, of the highest importance that

even from infancy this aim, this effort, should constantly be kept alive in growing minds. For

I may affirm with fullest conviction that we shall not have attained wisdom in our later years

unless in our earliest we have sincerely entered on its search. Nor may we for a moment

admit, with the unthinking crowd, that those who give early promise fail in subsequent

fulfillment. This may, partly from physical causes, happen in exceptional cases. But there is no

doubt that nature has endowed some children with so keen, so ready an intelligence, that

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without serious effort they attain to a notable power of reasoning and conversing upon grave

and lofty subjects, and by aid of right guidance and sound learning reach in manhood the

highest distinction. On the other hand, children of modest powers demand even more

attention, that their natural defects may be supplied by art. But all alike must in those early

years, whilst the mind is supple, be inured to the toil and effort of learning. Not that

education, in the broad sense, is exclusively the concern of youth. Did not Cato think it

honorable to learn Greek in later life? Did not Socrates, greatest of philosophers, compel his

aged fingers to the lute?

Our youth of today, it is to be feared, is backward to learn; studies are accounted irksome.

Boys hardly weaned begin to claim their own way, at a time when every art should be

employed to bring them under control and attract them to grave studies. The Master must

judge how far he can rely upon emulation, rewards, encouragement; how far he must have

recourse to sterner measures. Too much leniency is objectionable; so also is too great severity,

for we must avoid all that terrifies a boy. In certain temperaments--those in which a dark

complexion denotes a quiet but strong personality--restraint must be cautiously applied. Boys

of this type are mostly highly gifted and can bear a gentle hand. Not seldom it happens that a

finely tempered nature is thwarted by circumstances, such as poverty at home, which compels

a promising youth to forsake learning for trade: though, on the other hand, poverty is less

dangerous to lofty instincts than great wealth. Or again, parents encourage their sons to

follow a career traditional in their family, which may divert them from liberal studies: and

the customary pursuits of the city in which we dwell exercise a decided influence on our

choice. So that we may say that a perfectly unbiased decision in these matters is seldom

possible, except to certain select natures, who by favor of the gods, as the poets have it, are

unconsciously brought to choose the right path in life. The myth of Hercules, who, in the

solitude of his wanderings, learned to accept the strenuous life and to reject the way of self-

indulgence, and so attain the highest, is the significant setting of this profound truth. For us it

is the best that can befall, that either the circumstances of our life, or the guidance and

exhortations of those in charge of us, should mould our natures whilst they are still plastic.

In your own case, Ubertinus, you had before you the choice of training in Arms or in Letters.

Either holds a place of distinction amongst the pursuits which appeal to men of noble spirit;

either leads to fame and honor in the world. It would have been natural that you, the scion

of a House ennobled by its prowess in arms, should have been content to accept your father's

permission to devote yourself wholly to that discipline. But to your great credit you elected

to become proficient in both alike: to add to the career of arms traditional in your family, an

equal success in that other great discipline of mind and character, the study of Literature.

There was courage in your choice. For we cannot deny that there is still a horde--as I must

call them--of people who, like Licinius the Emperor [Roman Emperor, ruled 81-96 AD],

denounce learning and the Arts as a danger to the State and hateful in themselves. In reality

the very opposite is the truth. However, as we look back upon history we cannot deny that

learning by no means expels wickedness, but may be indeed an additional instrument for evil

in the hands of the corrupt. To a man of virtuous instincts knowledge is a help and an

adornment; to a Claudius or a Nero it was a means of refinement in cruelty or in folly. On

the other hand, your grandfather, Jacopo da Carrara, who, though a patron of learning, was


not himself versed in Letters, died regretting that opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of

higher studies had not been given him in youth; which shows us that, although we may in old

age long for it, only in early years can we be sure of attaining that learning which we desire.

So that it is no light motive to youthful diligence that we thereby provide ourselves with

precious advantages against on-coming age, a spring of interest for a leisured life, a recreation

for a busy one. Consider the necessity of the literary art to one immersed in reading and

speculation: and its importance to one absorbed in affairs. To be able to speak and write with

elegance is no slight advantage in negotiation, whether in public or private concerns.

Especially in administration of the State, when intervals of rest and privacy are accorded to a

prince, how must he value those means of occupying them wisely which the knowledge of

literature affords to him! Think of Domitian: son of Vespasian though he was, and brother of

Titus, he was driven to occupy his leisure by killing flies! What a warning is here conveyed of

the critical judgments which posterity passes upon Princes! They live in a light in which

nothing can long remain hid. Contrast with this the saying of Scipio: "Never am I less idle, less

solitary, than when to outward seeming I am doing nothing or am alone": evidence of a

noble temper, worthy to be placed beside that recorded practice of Cato, who, amid the

tedious business of the Senate, could withdraw himself from outward distraction and find

himself truly alone in the companionship of his books.

Indeed the power which good books have of diverting our thoughts from unworthy or

distressing themes is another support to my argument for the study of letters. Add to this their

helpfulness on those occasions when we find ourselves alone, without companions and

without preoccupations--what can we do better than gather our books around us? In them

we see unfolded before us vast stores of knowledge, for our delight, it may be, or for our

inspiration. In them are contained the records of the great achievements of men; the wonders

of Nature; the works of Providence in the past, the key to her secrets of the future. And, most

important of all, this Knowledge is not liable to decay. With a picture, an inscription, a coin,

books share a kind of immortality. In all these memory is, as it were, made permanent;

although, in its freedom from accidental risks, Literature surpasses every other form of record.

Literature indeed exhibits not facts alone, but thoughts, and their expression. Provided such

thoughts be worthy, and worthily expressed, we feel assured that they will not die: although

I do not think that thoughts without style will be likely to attract much notice or secure a sure

survival. What greater charm can life offer than this power of making the past, the present,

and even the future, our own by means of literature? How bright a household is the family of

books! we may cry, with Cicero. In their company is no noise, no greed, no self-will: at a

word they speak to you, at a word they are still: to all our requests their response is ever

ready and to the point. Books indeed are a higher--a wider, more tenacious--memory, a

store-house which is the common property of us all.

I attach great weight to the duty of handing down this priceless treasure to our sons

unimpaired by any carelessness on our part. How many are the gaps which the ignorance of

past ages has willfully caused in the long and noble roll of writers! Books--in part or in their

entirety--have been allowed to perish. What remains of others is often sorely corrupt,

mutilated, or imperfect. It is hard that no slight portion of the history of Rome is only to be

known through the labors of one writing in the Greek language: it is still worse that this same


noble tongue, once well nigh the daily speech of our race, as familiar as the Latin language

itself, is on the point of perishing even amongst its own sons, and to us Italians is already

utterly lost, unless we except one or two who in our time are tardily endeavoring to rescue

something--if it be only a mere echo of it--from oblivion.

We come now to the consideration of the various subjects which may rightly be included

under the name of "Liberal Studies." Amongst these I accord the first place to History, on

grounds both of its attractiveness and of its utility, qualities which appeal equally to the

scholar and to the statesman. Next in importance ranks Moral Philosophy, which indeed is, in

a peculiar sense, a "Liberal Art," in that its purpose is to teach men the secret of true freedom.

History, then, gives us the concrete examples of the precepts inculcated by philosophy. The

one shows what men should do, the other what men have said and done in the past, and

what practical lessons we may draw therefrom for the present day. I would indicate as the

third main branch of study, Eloquence, which indeed holds a place of distinction amongst the

refined Arts. By philosophy we learn the essential truth of things, which by eloquence we so

exhibit in orderly adornment as to bring conviction to differing minds. And history provides

the light of experienced cumulative wisdom fit to supplement the force of reason and the

persuasion of eloquence. For we allow that soundness of judgment, wisdom of speech,

integrity of conduct are the marks of a truly liberal temper.

We are told that the Greeks devised for their sons a course of training in four subjects: letters,

gymnastic, music and drawing. Now, of these drawing has no place amongst our liberal

studies; except in so far as it is identical with writing (which is in reality one side of the art of

Drawing), it belongs to the Painter's profession: the Greeks, as an art-loving people, attached

to it an exceptional value.

The Art of Letters, however, rests upon a different footing. It is a study adapted to all times

and to all circumstances, to the investigation of fresh knowledge or to the re-casting and

application of old. Hence the importance of grammar and of the rules of composition must

be recognized at the outset, as the foundation on which the whole study of Literature must

rest: and closely associated with these rudiments, the art of Disputation or Logical argument.

The function of this is to enable us to discern fallacy from truth in discussion. Logic, indeed, as

setting forth the true method of learning, is the guide to the acquisition of knowledge in

whatever subject. Rhetoric comes next, and is strictly speaking the formal study by which we

attain the art of eloquence; which, as we have just stated, takes the third place amongst the

studies specially important in public life. It is now, indeed, fallen from its old renown and is

well nigh a lost art. In the Law-Court, in the Council, in the popular Assembly, in exposition,

in persuasion, in debate, eloquence finds no place now-a-days: speed, brevity, homeliness are

the only qualities desired. Oratory, in which our forefathers gained so great glory for

themselves and for their language, is despised: but our youth, if they would earn the repute

of true education, must emulate their ancestors in this accomplishment.

After Eloquence we place Poetry and the Poetic Art, which though not without their value in

daily life and as an aid to oratory, have nevertheless their main concern for the leisure side of

existence.


As to Music, the Greeks refused the title of "Educated" to anyone who could not sing or play.

Socrates sets an example to the Athenian youth, by himself learning to play in his old age;

urging the pursuit of music not as a sensuous indulgence, but as an aid to the inner harmony

of the soul. In so far as it is taught as a healthy recreation for the moral and spiritual nature,

music is a truly liberal art, and, both as regards its theory and its practice, should find a place

in education.

Arithmetic, which treats of the properties of numbers, Geometry, which treats of the

properties of dimensions, lines, surfaces, and solid bodies, are weighty studies because they

possess a peculiar element of certainty. The science of the Stars, their motions, magnitudes

and distances, lifts us into the clear calm of the upper air. There we may contemplate the

fixed stars, or the conjunctions of the planets, and predict the eclipses of the sun and the

moon. The knowledge of Nature--animate and inanimate--the laws and the properties of

things in heaven and in earth, their causes, mutations and effects, especially the explanation

of their wonders (as they are popularly supposed) by the unraveling of their causes--this is a

most delightful, and at the same time most profitable, study for youth. With these may be

joined investigations concerning the weights of bodies, and those relative to the subject which

mathematicians call "Perspective."

I may here glance for a moment at the three great professional Disciplines: Medicine, Law,

Theology. Medicine, which is applied science, has undoubtedly much that makes it attractive

to a student. But it cannot be described as a Liberal study. Law, which is based upon moral

philosophy, is undoubtedly held in high respect. Regarding Law as a subject of study, such

respect is entirely deserved: but Law as practiced becomes a mere trade. Theology, on the

other hand, treats of themes removed from our senses, and attainable only by pure

intelligence.

The principal "Disciplines" have now been reviewed. It must not be supposed that a liberal

education requires acquaintance with them all: for a thorough mastery of even one of them

might fairly be the achievement of a lifetime. Most of us, too, must learn to be content with

modest capacity as with modest fortune. Perhaps we do wisely to pursue that study which we

find most suited to our intelligence and our tastes, though it is true that we cannot rightly

understand one subject unless we can perceive its relation to the rest. The choice of studies

will depend to some extent upon the character of individual minds. For whilst one boy seizes

rapidly the point of which he is in search and states it ably, another, working far more slowly,

has yet the sounder judgment and so detects the weak spot in his rival's conclusions. The

former, perhaps, will succeed in poetry, or in the abstract sciences; the latter in real studies

and practical pursuits. Or a boy may be apt in thinking, but slow in expressing himself; to him

the study of Rhetoric and Logic will be of much value. Where the power of talk alone is

remarkable I hardly know what advice to give. Some minds are strong on the side of

memory: these should be apt for history. But it is of importance to remember that in

comparison with intelligence memory is of little worth, though intelligence without memory

is, so far as education is concerned, of none at all. For we are not able to give evidence that

we know a thing unless we can reproduce it.


Again, some minds have peculiar power in dealing with abstract truths, but are defective on

the side of the particular and the concrete, and so make good progress in mathematics and in

metaphysics. Those of just opposite temper are apt in Natural Science and in practical affairs.

And the natural bent should be recognized and followed in education. Let the boy of limited

capacity work only at that subject in which he shows he can attain some result.

Respecting the general place of liberal studies, we remember that Aristotle would not have

them absorb the entire interests of life: for he kept steadily in view the nature of man as a

citizen, an active member of the State. For the man who has surrendered himself absolutely

to the attractions of Letters or of speculative thought follows, perhaps, a self-regarding end

and is useless as a citizen or as prince.

[SOURCE: Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vergerius.html]

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (c. 1532) Italian statesman and political philosopher. After holding high office in Florence he was exiled by the

Medicis on suspicion of conspiracy, but was subsequently restored to some degree of favour. His best-

known work is The Prince (1532), a treatise on statecraft advising rulers that the acquisition and

effective use of power may necessitate unethical methods that are not in themselves desirable. He is

thus often regarded as the originator of a political pragmatism in which 'the end justifies the means'.

[Source: Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, (c) Oxford University Press, 1998]

Chapter XIX: That One Should Avoid Being Despised and Hated

Now, concerning the characteristics of which mention is made above, I have spoken of the

more important ones, the others I wish to discuss briefly under this generality, that the prince

must consider, as has been in part said before, how to avoid those things which will make

him hated or contemptible; and as often as he shall have succeeded he will have fulfilled his

part, and he need not fear any danger in other reproaches.

It makes him hated above all things, as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of

the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when

neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content, and he

has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.

It makes him contemptible to be considered fickle, frivolous, effeminate, mean-spirited,

irresolute, from all of which a prince should guard himself as from a rock; and he should

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/vergerius.html


endeavour to show in his actions greatness, courage, gravity, and fortitude; and in his private

dealings with his subjects let him show that his judgments are irrevocable, and maintain

himself in such reputation that no one can hope either to deceive him or to get round him.

That prince is highly esteemed who conveys this impression of himself, and he who is highly

esteemed is not easily conspired against; for, provided it is well known that he is an excellent

man and revered by his people, he can only be attacked with difficulty. For this reason a

prince ought to have two fears, one from within, on account of his subjects, the other from

without, on account of external powers. From the latter he is defended by being well armed

and having good allies, and if he is well armed he will have good friends, and affairs will

always remain quiet within when they are quiet without, unless they should have been

already disturbed by conspiracy; and even should affairs outside be disturbed, if he has

carried out his preparations and has lived as I have said, as long as he does not despair, he

will resist every attack, as I said Nabis the Spartan did.

But concerning his subjects, when affairs outside are disturbed he has only to fear that they

will conspire secretly, from which a prince can easily secure himself by avoiding being hated

and despised, and by keeping the people satisfied with him, which it is most necessary for

him to accomplish, as I said above at length. And one of the most efficacious remedies that a

prince can have against conspiracies is not to be hated and despised by the people, for he

who conspires against a prince always expects to please them by his removal; but when the

conspirator can only look forward to offending them, he will not have the courage to take

such a course, for the difficulties that confront a conspirator are infinite. And as experience

shows, many have been the conspiracies, but few have been successful; because he who

conspires cannot act alone, nor can he take a companion except from those whom he

believes to be malcontents, and as soon as you have opened your mind to a malcontent you

have given him the material with which to content himself, for by denouncing you he can

look for every advantage; so that, seeing the gain from this course to be assured, and seeing

the other to be doubtful and full of dangers, he must be a very rare friend, or a thoroughly

obstinate enemy of the prince, to keep faith with you.

And, to reduce the matter into a small compass, I say that, on the side of the conspirator,

there is nothing but fear, jealousy, prospect of punishment to terrify him; but on the side of

the prince there is the majesty of the principality, the laws, the protection of friends and the

state to defend him; so that, adding to all these things the popular goodwill, it is impossible

that any one should be so rash as to conspire. For whereas in general the conspirator has to

fear before the execution of his plot, in this case he has also to fear the sequel to the crime;

because on account of it he has the people for an enemy, and thus cannot hope for any

escape.

Endless examples could be given on this subject, but I will be content with one, brought to

pass within the memory of our fathers. Messer Annibale Bentivogli, who was prince in

Bologna (grandfather of the present Annibale), having been murdered by the Canneschi, who

had conspired against him, not one of his family survived but Messer Giovanni,* who was in

*Giovanni Bentivogli, born in Bologna 1438, died at Milan 1508. He ruled Bologna from 1462 to


childhood: immediately after his assassination the people rose and murdered all the

Canneschi. This sprung from the popular goodwill which the house of Bentivogli enjoyed in

those days in Bologna; which was so great that, although none remained there after the

death of Annibale who was able to rule the state, the Bolognese, having information that

there was one of the Bentivogli family in Florence, who up to that time had been considered

the son of a blacksmith, sent to Florence for him and gave him the government of their city,

and it was ruled by him until Messer Giovanni came in due course to the government.

For this reason I consider that a prince ought to reckon conspiracies of little account when his

people hold him in esteem; but when it is hostile to him, and bears hatred towards him, he

ought to fear everything and everybody. And well-ordered states and wise princes have taken

every care not to drive the nobles to desperation, and to keep the people satisfied and

contented, for this is one of the most important objects a prince can have.

Among the best ordered and governed kingdoms of our times is France, and in it are found

many good institutions on which depend the liberty and security of the king; of these the first

is the parliament and its authority, because he who founded the kingdom, knowing the

ambition of the nobility and their boldness, considered that a bit to their mouths would be

necessary to hold them in; and, on the other side, knowing the hatred of the people,

founded in fear, against the nobles, he wished to protect them, yet he was not anxious for

this to be the particular care of the king; therefore, to take away the reproach which he

would be liable to from the nobles for favouring the people, and from the people for

favouring the nobles, he set up an arbiter, who should be one who could beat down the

great and favour the lesser without reproach to the king. Neither could you have a better or

a more prudent arrangement, or a greater source of security to the king and kingdom. From

this one can draw another important conclusion, that princes ought to leave affairs of

reproach to the management of others, and keep those of grace in their own hands. And

further, I consider that a prince ought to cherish the nobles, but not so as to make himself

hated by the people.

It may appear, perhaps, to some who have examined the lives and deaths of the Roman

emperors that many of them would be an example contrary to my opinion, seeing that some

of them lived nobly and showed great qualities of soul, nevertheless they have lost their

empire or have been killed by subjects who have conspired against them. Wishing, therefore,

to answer these objections, I will recall the characters of some of the emperors, and will show

that the causes of their ruin were not different to those alleged by me; at the same time I will

only submit for consideration those things that are noteworthy to him who studies the affairs

of those times.

It seems to me sufficient to take all those emperors who succeeded to the empire from

Marcus the philosopher down to Maximinus; they were Marcus and his son Commodus,

Pertinax, Julian, Severus and his son Antoninus Caracalla, Macrinus, Heliogabalus, Alexander,

and Maximinus.

1506. Machiavelli's strong condemnation of conspiracies may get its edge from his own very recent experience

(February 1513), when he had been arrested and tortured for his alleged complicity in the Boscoli conspiracy.


There is first to note that, whereas in other principalities the ambition of the nobles and the

insolence of the people only have to be contended with, the Roman emperors had a third

difficulty in having to put up with--the cruelty and avarice of their soldiers, a matter so beset

with difficulties that it was the ruin of many; for it was a hard thing to give satisfaction both

to soldiers and people; because the people loved peace, and for this reason they loved the

unaspiring prince, whilst the soldiers loved the warlike prince who was bold, cruel, and

rapacious, which qualities they were quite willing he should exercise upon the people, so that

they could get double pay and give vent to their own greed and cruelty. Hence it arose that

those emperors were always overthrown who, either by birth or training, had no great

authority, and most of them, especially those who came new to the principality, recognizing

the difficulty of these two opposing humours, were inclined to give satisfaction to the

soldiers, caring little about injuring the people. Which course was necessary, because, as

princes cannot help being hated by someone, they ought, in the first place, to avoid being

hated by every one, and when they cannot compass this, they ought to endeavour with the

utmost diligence to avoid the hatred of the most powerful. Therefore, those emperors who

through inexperience had need of special favour adhered more readily to the soldiers than to

the people; a course which turned out advantageous to them or not, accordingly as the

prince knew how to maintain authority over them.

From these causes it arose that Marcus, Pertinax, and Alexander, being all men of modest life,

lovers of justice, enemies to cruelty, humane, and benignant, came to a sad end except

Marcus; he alone lived and died honoured, because he had succeeded to the throne by

hereditary title, and owed nothing either to the soldiers or the people; and afterwards, being

possessed of many virtues which made him respected, he always kept both orders in their

places whilst he lived, and was neither hated nor despised.

But Pertinax was created emperor against the wishes of the soldiers, who, being accustomed

to live licentiously under Commodus, could not endure the honest life to which Pertinax

wished to reduce them; thus, having given cause for hatred, to which hatred there was added

contempt for his old age, he was overthrown at the very beginning of his administration.

And here it should be noted that hatred is acquired as much by good works as by bad ones,

therefore, as I said before, a prince wishing to keep his state is very often forced to do evil;

for when that body is corrupt whom you think you have need of to maintain yourself--it may

be either the people or the soldiers or the nobles--you have to submit to its humours and to

gratify them, and then good works will do you harm.

But let us come to Alexander, who was a man of such great goodness, that among the other

praises which are accorded him is this, that in the fourteen years he held the empire no one

was ever put to death by him unjudged; nevertheless, being considered effeminate and a man

who allowed himself to be governed by his mother, he became despised, the army conspired

against him, and murdered him.

Turning now to the opposite characters of Commodus, Severus, Antoninus Caracalla, and

Maximinus, you will find them all cruel and rapacious--men who, to satisfy their soldiers, did

not hesitate to commit every kind of iniquity against the people; and all, except Severus,

came to a bad end; but in Severus there was so much valour that, keeping the soldiers


friendly, although the people were oppressed by him, he reigned successfully; for his valour

made him so much admired in the sight of the soldiers and people that the latter were kept in

a way astonished and awed and the former respectful and satisfied. And because the actions

of this man, as a new prince, were great, I wish to show briefly that he knew well how to

counterfeit the fox and the lion, which natures, as I said above, it is necessary for a prince to

imitate.

Knowing the sloth of the Emperor Julian, he persuaded the army in Sclavonia, of which he

was captain, that it would be right to go to Rome and avenge the death of Pertinax, who

had been killed by the praetorian soldiers; and under this pretext, without appearing to

aspire to the throne, he moved the army on Rome, and reached Italy before it was known

that he had started. On his arrival at Rome, the Senate, through fear, elected him emperor

and killed Julian. After this there remained for Severus, who wished to make himself master

of the whole empire, two difficulties; one in Asia, where Niger, head of the Asiatic army, had

caused himself to be proclaimed emperor; the other in the west where Albinus was, who also

aspired to the throne. And as he considered it dangerous to declare himself hostile to both,

he decided to attack Niger and to deceive Albinus. To the latter he wrote that, being elected

emperor by the Senate, he was willing to share that dignity with him and sent him the title of

Caesar; and, moreover, that the Senate had made Albinus his colleague; which things were

accepted by Albinus as true. But after Severus had conquered and killed Niger, and settled

oriental affairs, he returned to Rome and complained to the Senate that Albinus, little

recognizing the benefits that he had received from him, had by treachery sought to murder

him, and for this ingratitude he was compelled to punish him. Afterwards he sought him out

in France, and took from him his government and life. He who will, therefore, carefully

examine the actions of this man will find him a most valiant lion and a most cunning fox; he

will find him feared and respected by every one, and not hated by the army; and it need not

be wondered at that he, a new man, was able to hold the empire so well, because his

supreme renown always protected him from that hatred which the people might have

conceived against him for his violence.

But his son Antoninus was a most eminent man, and had very excellent qualities, which made

him admirable in the sight of the people and acceptable to the soldiers, for he was a warlike

man, most enduring of fatigue, a despiser of all delicate food and other luxuries, which

caused him to be beloved by the armies. Nevertheless, his ferocity and cruelties were so great

and so unheard of that, after endless single murders, he killed a large number of the people

of Rome and all those of Alexandria. He became hated by the whole world, and also feared

by those he had around him, to such an extent that he was murdered in the midst of his army

by a centurion. And here it must be noted that such-like deaths, which are deliberately

inflicted with a resolved and desperate courage, cannot be avoided by princes, because any

one who does not fear to die can inflict them; but a prince may fear them the less because

they are very rare; he has only to be careful not to do any grave injury to those whom he

employs or has around him in the service of the state. Antoninus had not taken this care, but

had contumeliously killed a brother of that centurion, whom also he daily threatened, yet

retained in his bodyguard; which, as it turned out, was a rash thing to do, and proved the

emperor's ruin.


But let us come to Commodus, to whom it should have been very easy to hold the empire,

for, being the son of Marcus, he had inherited it, and he had only to follow in the footsteps

of his father to please his people and soldiers; but, being by nature cruel and brutal, he gave

himself up to amusing the soldiers and corrupting them, so that he might indulge his rapacity

upon the people; on the other hand, not maintaining his dignity, often descending to the

theatre to compete with gladiators, and doing other vile things, little worthy of the imperial

majesty, he fell into contempt with the soldiers, and being hated by one party and despised

by the other, he was conspired against and was killed.

It remains to discuss the character of Maximinus. He was a very warlike man, and the armies,

being disgusted with the effeminacy of Alexander, of whom I have already spoken, killed him

and elected Maximinus to the throne. This he did not possess for long, for two things made

him hated and despised; the one, his having kept sheep in Thrace, which brought him into

contempt (it being well known to all, and considered a great indignity by every one), and the

other, his having at the accession to his dominions deferred going to Rome and taking

possession of the imperial seat; he had also gained a reputation for the utmost ferocity by

having, through his prefects in Rome and elsewhere in the empire, practised many cruelties,

so that the whole world was moved to anger at the meanness of his birth and to fear at his

barbarity. First Africa rebelled, then the Senate with all the people of Rome, and all Italy

conspired against him, to which may be added his own army; this latter, besieging Aquileia

and meeting with difficulties in taking it, were disgusted with his cruelties, and fearing him less

when they found so many against him, murdered him.

I do not wish to discuss Heliogabalus, Macrinus, or Julian, who, being thoroughly

contemptible, were quickly wiped out; but I will bring this discourse to a conclusion by saying

that princes in our times have this difficulty of giving inordinate satisfaction to their soldiers in

a far less degree, because, notwithstanding one has to give them some indulgence, that is

soon done; none of these princes have armies that are veterans in the governance and

administration of provinces, as were the armies of the Roman Empire; and whereas it was

then more necessary to give satisfaction to the soldiers than to the people, it is now more

necessary to all princes, except the Turk and the Soldan, to satisfy the people rather the

soldiers, because the people are the more powerful.

From the above I have excepted the Turk, who always keeps round him twelve thousand

infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry on which depend the security and strength of the

kingdom, and it is necessary that, putting aside every consideration for the people, he should

keep them his friends. The kingdom of the Soldan is similar; being entirely in the hands of

soldiers, it follows again that, without regard to the people, he must keep them his friends.

But you must note that the state of the Soldan is unlike all other principalities, for the reason

that it is like the Christian pontificate, which cannot be called either an hereditary or a newly

formed principality; because the sons of the old prince are not the heirs, but he who is

elected to that position by those who have authority, and the sons remain only noblemen.

And this being an ancient custom, it cannot be called a new principality, because there are

none of those difficulties in it that are met with in new ones; for although the prince is new,

the constitution of the state is old, and it is framed so as to receive him as if he were its

hereditary lord.


But returning to the subject of our discourse, I say that whoever will consider it will

acknowledge that either hatred or contempt has been fatal to the above-named emperors,

and it will be recognized also how it happened that, a number of them acting in one way

and a number in another, only one in each way came to a happy end and the rest to

unhappy ones. Because it would have been useless and dangerous for Pertinax and

Alexander, being new princes, to imitate Marcus, who was heir to the principality; and

likewise it would have been utterly destructive to Caracalla, Commodus, and Maximinus to

have imitated Severus, they not having sufficient valour to enable them to tread in his

footsteps. Therefore a prince, new to the principality, cannot imitate the actions of Marcus,

nor, again, is it necessary to follow those of Severus, but he ought to take from Severus those

parts which are necessary to found his state, and from Marcus those which are proper and

glorious to keep a state that may already be stable and firm.

Chapter XXI: How a Prince Should Conduct Himself so as to Gain Renown

Nothing makes a prince so much esteemed as great enterprises and setting a fine example. We

have in our time Ferdinand of Aragon, the present King of Spain. He can almost be called a

new prince, because he has risen, by fame and glory, from being an insignificant king to be

the foremost king in Christendom; and if you will consider his deeds you will find them all

great and some of them extraordinary. In the beginning of his reign he attacked Granada, and

this enterprise was the foundation of his dominions. He did this quietly at first and without

any fear of hindrance, for he held the minds of the barons of Castile occupied in thinking of

the war and not anticipating any innovations; thus they did not perceive that by these means

he was acquiring power and authority over them. He was able with the money of the Church

and of the people to sustain his armies, and by that long war to lay the foundation for the

military skill which has since distinguished him. Further, always using religion as a plea, so as

to undertake greater schemes, he devoted himself with pious cruelty to driving out and

clearing his kingdom of the Moors; nor could there be a more admirable example, nor one

more rare. Under this same cloak he assailed Africa, he came down on Italy, he has finally

attacked France; and thus his achievements and designs have always been great, and have

kept the minds of his people in suspense and admiration and occupied with the issue of them.

And his actions have arisen in such a way, one out of the other, that men have never been

given time to work steadily against him.

Again, it much assists a prince to set unusual examples in internal affairs, similar to those

which are related of Messer Bernabo da Milano, who, when he had the opportunity, by any

one in civil life doing some extraordinary thing, either good or bad, would take some

method of rewarding or punishing him, which would be much spoken about. And a prince

ought, above all things, always endeavour in every action to gain for himself the reputation

of being a great and remarkable man.

A prince is also respected when he is either a true friend or a downright enemy, that is to say,

when, without any reservation, he declares himself in favour of one party against the other;

which course will always be more advantageous than standing neutral; because if two of your

powerful neighbours come to blows, they are of such a character that, if one of them

conquers, you have either to fear him or not. In either case it will always be more


advantageous for you to declare yourself and to make war strenuously; because, in the first

case, if you do not declare yourself, you will invariably fall a prey to the conqueror, to the

pleasure and satisfaction of him who has been conquered, and you will have no reasons to

offer, nor anything to protect or to shelter you. Because he who conquers does not want

doubtful friends who will not aid him in the time of trial; and he who loses will not harbour

you because you did not willingly, sword in hand, court his fate.

Antiochus went into Greece, being sent for by the Aetolians to drive out the Romans. He sent

envoys to the Achaeans, who were friends of the Romans, exhorting them to remain neutral;

and on the other hand the Romans urged them to take up arms. This question came to be

discussed in the council of the Achaeans, where the legate of Antiochus urged them to stand

neutral. To this the Roman legate answered: "As for that which has been said, that it is better

and more advantageous for your state not to interfere in our war, nothing can be more

erroneous; because by not interfering you will be left, without favour or consideration, the

guerdon of the conqueror." Thus it will always happen that he who is not your friend will

demand your neutrality, whilst he who is your friend will entreat you to declare yourself

with arms. And irresolute princes, to avoid present dangers, generally follow the neutral path,

and are generally ruined. But when a prince declares himself gallantly in favour of one side, if

the party with whom he allies himself conquers, although the victor may be powerful and

may have him at his mercy, yet he is indebted to him, and there is established a bond of

amity; and men are never so shameless as to become a monument of ingratitude by

oppressing you. Victories after all are never so complete that the victor must not show some

regard, especially to justice. But if he with whom you ally yourself loses, you may be

sheltered by him, and whilst he is able he may aid you, and you become companions on a

fortune that may rise again.

In the second case, when those who fight are of such a character that you have no anxiety as

to who may conquer, so much the more is it greater prudence to be allied, because you assist

at the destruction of one by the aid of another who, if he had been wise, would have saved

him; and conquering, as it is impossible that he should not do with your assistance, he

remains at your discretion. And here it is to be noted that a prince ought to take care never

to make an alliance with one more powerful than himself for the purposes of attacking

others, unless necessity compels him, as is said above; because if he conquers you are at his

discretion, and princes ought to avoid as much as possible being at the discretion of any one.

The Venetians joined with France against the Duke of Milan, and this alliance, which caused

their ruin, could have been avoided. But when it cannot be avoided, as happened to the

Florentines when the Pope and Spain sent armies to attack Lombardy, then in such a case, for

the above reasons, the prince ought to favour one of the parties.

Never let any Government imagine that it can choose perfectly safe courses; rather let it

expect to have to take very doubtful ones, because it is found in ordinary affairs that one

never seeks to avoid one trouble without running into another; but prudence consists in

knowing how to distinguish the character of troubles, and for choice to take the lesser evil.

A prince ought also to show himself a patron of ability, and to honour the proficient in every

art. At the same time he should encourage his citizens to practise their callings peaceably,


both in commerce and agriculture, and in every other following, so that the one should not

be deterred from improving his possessions for fear lest they be taken away from him or

another from opening up trade for fear of taxes; but the prince ought to offer rewards to

whoever wishes to do these things and designs in any way to honour his city or state.

Further, he ought to entertain the people with festivals and spectacles at convenient seasons

of the year; and as every city is divided into guilds or into societies, he ought to hold such

bodies in esteem, and associate with them sometimes, and show himself an example of

courtesy and liberality; nevertheless, always maintaining the majesty of his rank, for this he

must never consent to abate in anything.

[SOURCE: Excerpted from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.html]

II. The Age of Exploration

Christopher Columbus, Extracts from His Journal (1492) This document is from the journal of Columbus in his voyage of 1492. The meaning of this voyage is

highly contested. On the one hand, it is witness to the tremendous vitality and verve of late medieval

and early modern Europ--which was on the verge of acquiring a world hegemony. On the other hand,

the direct result of this and later voyages was the virtual extermination, by ill-treatment and disease, of

the vast majority of the Native inhabitants, and the enormous growth of the transatlantic slave trade.

It might not be fair to lay the blame at Columbus' feet, but since all sides treat him as a symbol, such

questions cannot be avoided.

[Source: Internet Medieval Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html]

IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Whereas, Most Christian, High, Excellent, and Powerful Princes, King and Queen of Spain and

of the Islands of the Sea, our Sovereigns, this present year 1492, after your Highnesses had

terminated the war with the Moors reigning in Europe, the same having been brought to an

end in the great city of Granada, where on the second day of January, this present year, I

saw the royal banners of your Highnesses planted by force of arms upon the towers of the

Alhambra, which is the fortress of that city, and saw the Moorish king come out at the gate of

the city and kiss the hands of your Highnesses, and of the Prince my Sovereign; and in the

present month, in consequence of the information which I had given your Highnesses

respecting the countries of India and of a Prince, called Great Can [Khan], which in our

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/machiavelli-prince.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html


language signifies King of Kings, how, at many times he, and his predecessors had sent to

Rome soliciting instructors who might teach him our holy faith, and the holy Father had

never granted his request, whereby great numbers of people were lost, believing in idolatry

and doctrines of perdition. Your Highnesses, as Catholic Christians, and princes who love and

promote the holy Christian faith, and are enemies of the doctrine of Mahomet [Muhammed],

and of all idolatry and heresy, determined to send me, Christopher Columbus, to the above-

mentioned countries of India, to see the said princes, people, and territories, and to learn

their disposition and the proper method of converting them to our holy faith; and

furthermore directed that I should not proceed by land to the East, as is customary, but by a

Westerly route, in which direction we have hitherto no certain evidence that any one has

gone. So after having expelled the Jews from your dominions, your Highnesses, in the same

month of January, ordered me to proceed with a sufficient armament to the said regions of

India, and for that purpose granted me great favors, and ennobled me that thenceforth I

might call myself Don, and be High Admiral of the Sea, and perpetual Viceroy and Governor

in all the islands and continents which I might discover and acquire, or which may hereafter

be discovered and acquired in the ocean; and that this dignity should be inherited by my

eldest son, and thus descend from degree to degree forever. Hereupon I left the city of

Granada, on Saturday, the twelfth day of May, 1492, and proceeded to Palos, a seaport,

where I armed three vessels, very fit for such an enterprise, and having provided myself with

abundance of stores and seamen, I set sail from the port, on Friday, the third of August, half

an hour before sunrise, and steered for the Canary Islands of your Highnesses which are in the

said ocean, thence to take my departure and proceed till I arrived at the Indies, and perform

the embassy of your Highnesses to the Princes there, and discharge the orders given me. For

this purpose I determined to keep an account of the voyage, and to write down punctually

every thing we performed or saw from day to day, as will hereafter appear. Moreover,

Sovereign Princes, besides describing every night the occurrences of the day, and every day

those of the preceding night, I intend to draw up a nautical chart, which shall contain the

several parts of the ocean and land in their proper situations; and also to compose a book to

represent the whole by picture with latitudes and longitudes, on all which accounts it

behooves me to abstain from my sleep, and make many trials in navigation, which things will

demand much labor. . . .

Sunday, 9 September. Sailed this day nineteen leagues, and determined to count less than the

true number, that the crew might not be dismayed if the voyage should prove long. In the

night sailed one hundred and twenty miles, at the rate of ten miles an hour, which make

thirty leagues. The sailors steered badly, causing the vessels to fall to leeward toward the

northeast, for which the Admiral reprimanded them repeatedly. . . .

Thursday, 11 October. . . . At two o'clock in the morning the land was discovered, at two

leagues' distance; they took in sail and remained under the square-sail lying to till day, which

was Friday, when they found themselves near a small island, one of the Lucayos, called in the

Indian language Guanahani. Presently they descried people, naked, and the Admiral landed in

the boat, which was armed, along with Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vincent Yanez his

brother, captain of the Nina. The Admiral bore the royal standard, and the two captains each

a banner of the Green Cross, which all the ships had carried; this contained the initials of the

names of the King and Queen each side of the cross, and a crown over each letter Arrived on


shore, they saw trees very green many streams of water, and diverse sorts of fruits. The

Admiral called upon the two Captains, and the rest of the crew who landed, as also to

Rodrigo de Escovedo notary of the fleet, and Rodrigo Sanchez, of Segovia, to bear witness

that he before all others took possession (as in fact he did) of that island for the King and

Queen his sovereigns, making the requisite declarations, which are more at large set down

here in writing. Numbers of the people of the island straightway collected together. Here

follow the precise words of the Admiral: "As I saw that they were very friendly to us, and

perceived that they could be much more easily converted to our holy faith by gentle means

than by force, I presented them with some red caps, and strings of beads to wear upon the

neck, and many other trifles of small value, wherewith they were much delighted, and

became wonderfully attached to us. Afterwards they came swimming to the boats, bringing

parrots, balls of cotton thread, javelins, and many other things which they exchanged for

articles we gave them, such as glass beads, and hawk's bells; which trade was carried on with

the utmost good will. But they seemed on the whole to me, to be a very poor people. They

all go completely naked, even the women, though I saw but one girl. All whom I saw were

young, not above thirty years of age, well made, with fine shapes and faces; their hair short,

and coarse like that of a horse's tail, combed toward the forehead, except a small portion

which they suffer to hang down behind, and never cut. Some paint themselves with black,

which makes them appear like those of the Canaries, neither black nor white; others with

white, others with red, and others with such colors as they can find. Some paint the face, and

some the whole body; others only the eyes, and others the nose. Weapons they have none,

nor are acquainted with them, for I showed them swords which they grasped by the blades,

and cut themselves through ignorance. They have no iron, their javelins being without it, and

nothing more than sticks, though some have fish-bones or other things at the ends. They are

all of a good size and stature, and handsomely formed. I saw some with scars of wounds

upon their bodies, and demanded by signs; they answered me in the same way, that there

came people from the other islands in the neighborhood who endeavored to make prisoners

of them, and they defended themselves. I thought then, and still believe, that these were

from the continent. It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good

servants and I am of opinion that they would very readily become Christians, as they appear

to have no religion. They very quickly learn such words as are spoken to them. If it please

our Lord, I intend at my return to carry home six of them to your Highnesses, that they may

learn our language. I saw no beasts in the island, nor any sort of animals except parrots."

These are the words of the Admiral.

Saturday, 13 October. "At daybreak great multitudes of men came to the shore, all young and

of fine shapes, very handsome; their hair not curled but straight and coarse like horse-hair,

and all with foreheads and heads much broader than any people I had hitherto seen; their

eyes were large and very beautiful; they were not black, but the color of the inhabitants of

the Canaries, which is a very natural circumstance, they being in the same latitude with the

island of Ferro in the Canaries. They were straight-limbed without exception, and not with

prominent bellies but handsomely shaped. They came to the ship in canoes, made of a single

trunk of a tree, wrought in a wonderful manner considering the country; some of them large

enough to contain forty or forty-five men, others of different sizes down to those fitted to

hold but a single person. They rowed with an oar like a baker's peel, and wonderfully swift.

If they happen to upset, they all jump into the sea, and swim till they have righted their


canoe and emptied it with the calabashes they carry with them. They came loaded with balls

of cotton, parrots, javelins, and other things too numerous to mention; these they exchanged

for whatever we chose to give them. I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they

had any gold. Seeing some of them with little bits of this metal hanging at their noses, I

gathered from them by signs that by going southward or steering round the island in that

direction, there would be found a king who possessed large vessels of gold, and in great

quantities. I endeavored to procure them to lead the way thither, but found they were

unacquainted with the route. I determined to stay here till the evening of the next day, and

then sail for the southwest; for according to what I could learn from them, there was land at

the south as well as at the southwest and northwest and those from the northwest came

many times and fought with them and proceeded on to the southwest in search of gold and

precious stones. This is a large and level island, with trees extremely flourishing, and streams

of water; there is a large lake in the middle of the island, but no mountains: the whole is

completely covered with verdure and delightful to behold. The natives are an inoffensive

people, and so desirous to possess any thing they saw with us, that they kept swimming off

to the ships with whatever they could find, and readily bartered for any article we saw fit to

give them in return, even such as broken platters and fragments of glass. I saw in this manner

sixteen balls of cotton thread which weighed above twenty-five pounds, given for three

Portuguese ceutis. This traffic I forbade, and suffered no one to take their cotton from them,

unless I should order it to be procured for your Highnesses, if proper quantities could be met

with. It grows in this island, but from my short stay here I could not satisfy myself fully

concerning it; the gold, also, which they wear in their noses, is found here, but not to lose

time, I am determined to proceed onward and ascertain whether I can reach Cipango. At

night they all went on shore with their canoes.

Sunday, 14 October. In the morning, I ordered the boats to be got ready, and coasted along

the island toward the north-northeast to examine that part of it, we having landed first at the

eastern part. Presently we discovered two or three villages, and the people all came down to

the shore, calling out to us, and giving thanks to God. Some brought us water, and others

victuals: others seeing that I was not disposed to land, plunged into the sea and swam out to

us, and we perceived that they interrogated us if we had come from heaven. An old man

came on board my boat; the others, both men and women cried with loud voices--"Come

and see the men who have come from heavens. Bring them victuals and drink." There came

many of both sexes, every one bringing something, giving thanks to God, prostrating

themselves on the earth, and lifting up their hands to heaven. They called out to us loudly to

come to land, but I was apprehensive on account of a reef of rocks, which surrounds the

whole island, although within there is depth of water and room sufficient for all the ships of

Christendom, with a very narrow entrance. There are some shoals withinside, but the water is

as smooth as a pond. It was to view these parts that I set out in the morning, for I wished to

give a complete relation to your Highnesses, as also to find where a fort might be built. I

discovered a tongue of land which appeared like an island though it was not, but might be

cut through and made so in two days; it contained six houses. I do not, however, see the

necessity of fortifying the place, as the people here are simple in war-like matters, as your

Highnesses will see by those seven which I have ordered to be taken and carried to Spain in

order to learn our language and return, unless your Highnesses should choose to have them

all transported to Castile, or held captive in the island. I could conquer the whole of them


with fifty men, and govern them as I pleased. Near the islet I have mentioned were groves of

trees, the most beautiful I have ever seen, with their foliage as verdant as we see in Castile in

April and May. There were also many streams. After having taken a survey of these parts, I

returned to the ship, and setting sail, discovered such a number of islands that I knew not

which first to visit; the natives whom I had taken on board informed me by signs that there

were so many of them that they could not be numbered; they repeated the names of more

than a hundred. I determined to steer for the largest, which is about five leagues from San

Salvador; the others were some at a greater, and some at a less distance from that island.

They are all very level, without mountains, exceedingly fertile and populous, the inhabitants

living at war with one another, although a simple race, and with delicate bodies.

15 October. Stood off and on during the night, determining not to come to anchor till

morning, fearing to meet with shoals; continued our course in the morning; and as the island

was found to be six or seven leagues distant, and the tide was against us, it was noon when

we arrived there. I found that part of it towards San Salvador extending from north to south

five leagues, and the other side which we coasted along, ran from east to west more than ten

leagues. From this island espying a still larger one to the west, I set sail in that direction and

kept on till night without reaching the western extremity of the island, where I gave it the

name of Santa Maria de la Concepcion. About sunset we anchored near the cape which

terminates the island towards the west to enquire for gold, for the natives we had taken from

San Salvador told me that the people here wore golden bracelets upon their arms and legs. I

believed pretty confidently that they had invented this story in order to find means to escape

from us, still I determined to pass none of these islands without taking possession, because

being once taken, it would answer for all times. We anchored and remained till Tuesday,

when at daybreak I went ashore with the boats armed. The people we found naked like

those of San Salvador, and of the same disposition. They suffered us to traverse the island,

and gave us what we asked of them. As the wind blew southeast upon the shore where the

vessels lay, I determined not to remain, and set out for the ship. A large canoe being near the

caravel Nina, one of the San Salvador natives leaped overboard and swam to her; (another

had made his escape the night before,) the canoe being reached by the fugitive, the natives

rowed for the land too swiftly to be overtaken; having landed, some of my men went ashore

in pursuit of them, when they abandoned the canoe and fled with precipitation; the canoe

which they had left was brought on board the Nina, where from another quarter had arrived

a small canoe with a single man, who came to barter some cotton; some of the sailors finding

him unwilling to go on board the vessel, jumped into the sea and took him. I was upon the

quarter deck of my ship, and seeing the whole, sent for him, and gave him a red cap, put

some glass beads upon his arms, and two hawk's bells upon his ears. I then ordered his canoe

to be returned to him, and despatched him back to land.

I now set sail for the other large island to the west and gave orders for the canoe which the

Nina had in tow to be set adrift. I had refused to receive the cotton from the native whom I

sent on shore, although he pressed it upon me. I looked out after him and saw upon his

landing that the others all ran to meet him with much wonder. It appeared to them that we

were honest people, and that the man who had escaped from us had done us some injury,

for which we kept him in custody. It was in order to favor this notion that I ordered the

canoe to be set adrift, and gave the man the presents above mentioned, that when your


Highnesses send another expedition to these parts it may meet with a friendly reception. All I

gave the man was not worth four maravedis. . . . According to the account of the natives on

board, there is much gold, the inhabitants wearing it in bracelets upon their arms, legs, and

necks, as well as in their ears and at their noses. . . . And considering the indications of it

among the natives who wear it upon their arms and legs, and having ascertained that it is the

true metal by showing them some pieces of it which I have with me, I cannot fail, with the

help of our Lord, to find the place which produces it.

Being at sea, about midway between Santa Maria and the large island, which I name

Fernandina, we met a man in a canoe going from Santa Maria to Fernandina; he had with

him a piece of the bread which the natives make, as big as one's fist, a calabash of water, a

quantity of reddish earth, pulverized and afterwards kneaded up, and some dried leaves

which are in high value among them, for a quantity of it was brought to me at San Salvador;

he had besides a little basket made after their fashion, containing some glass beads, and two

blancas by all which I knew he had come from San Salvador, and had passed from thence to

Santa Maria. He came to the ship and I caused him to be taken on board, as he requested it;

we took his canoe also on board and took care of his things. I ordered him to be presented

with bread and honey, and drink, and shall carry him to Fernandina and give him his

property, that he may carry a good report of us, so that if it please our Lord when your

Highnesses shall send again to these regions, those who arrive here may receive honor, and

procure what the natives may be found to possess.

Tuesday, 16 October. Set sail from Santa Maria about noon, for Fernandina which appeared

very large in the west; sailed all the day with calms, and could not arrive soon enough to

view the shore and select a good anchorage, for great care must be taken in this particular,

lest the anchors be lost. Beat up and down all night, and in the morning arrived at a village

and anchored. This was the place to which the man whom we had picked up at sea had

gone, when we set him on shore. He had given such a favorable account of us, that all night

there were great numbers of canoes coming off to us, who brought us water and other

things. I ordered each man to be presented with something, as strings of ten or a dozen glass

beads apiece, and thongs of leather, all which they estimated highly; those which came on

board I directed should be fed with molasses. At three o'clock, I sent the boat on shore for

water; the natives with great good will directed the men where to find it, assisted them in

carrying the casks full of it to the boat, and seemed to take great pleasure in serving us. This is

a very large island, and I have resolved to coast it about, for as I understand, in, or near the

island, there is a mine of gold. . . . These people are similar to those of the islands just

mentioned, and have the same language and customs; with the exception that they appear

somewhat more civilized, showing themselves more subtle in their dealings with us, bartering

their cotton and other articles with more profit than the others had experienced. Here we

saw cotton cloth, and perceived the people more decent, the women wearing a slight

covering of cotton over the nudities. The island is verdant, level and fertile to a high degree;

and I doubt not that grain is sowed and reaped the whole year round, as well as all other

productions of the place. I saw many trees, very dissimilar to those of our country, and many

of them had branches of different sorts upon the same trunk; and such a diversity was among

them that it was the greatest wonder in the world to behold. Thus, for instance, one branch

of a tree bore leaves like those of a cane, another branch of the same tree, leaves similar to


those of the lentisk. In this manner a single tree bears five or six different kinds. Nor is this

done by grafting, for that is a work of art, whereas these trees grow wild, and the natives

take no care about them. They have no religion, and I believe that they would very readily

become Christians, as they have a good understanding. Here the fish are so dissimilar to ours

that it is wonderful. Some are shaped like dories, of the finest hues in the world, blue, yellow,

red, and every other color, some variegated with a thousand different tints, so beautiful that

no one on beholding them could fail to express the highest wonder and admiration. Here are

also whales. Beasts, we saw none, nor any creatures on land save parrots and lizards, but a

boy told me he saw a large snake. No sheep nor goats were seen, and although our stay here

has been short . . . .

Wednesday, 17 October. At noon set sail from the village where we had anchored and

watered. Kept on our course to sail round the island; the wind southwest and south. My

intention was to follow the coast of the island to the southeast as it runs in that direction,

being informed by the Indians I have on board, besides another whom I met with here, that

in such a course I should meet with the island which they call Samoet, where gold is found . .

. . I steered to the northwest and arriving at the extremity of the island at two leagues'

distance, I discovered a remarkable haven with two entrances, formed by an island at its

mouth, both very narrow, the inside capacious enough for a hundred ships, were there

sufficient depth of water. . . . As I had first imagined it to be the mouth of a river, I had

directed the casks to be carried ashore for water, which being done we discovered eight or

ten men who straightway came up to us, and directed us to a village in the neighborhood; I

accordingly dispatched the crews thither in quest of water, part of them armed, and the rest

with the casks, and the place being at some distance it detained me here a couple of hours . .

. . The natives we found like those already described, as to personal appearance and

manners, and naked like the rest. Whatever they possessed, they bartered for what we chose

to give them. I saw a boy of the crew purchasing javelins of them with bits of platters and

broken glass. Those who went for water informed me that they had entered their houses and

found them very clean and neat, with beds and coverings of cotton nets. Their houses are all

built in the shape of tents, with very high chimneys. None of the villages which I saw

contained more than twelve or fifteen of them. Here it was remarked that the married

women wore cotton breeches, but the younger females were without them, except a few

who were as old as eighteen years. Dogs were seen of a large and small size, and one of the

men had hanging at his nose a piece of gold half as big as a castellailo, with letters upon it. I

endeavored to purchase it of them in order to ascertain what sort of money it was but they

refused to part with it. Having taken our water on board, I set sail . . . . Every day that I have

been in these Indies it has rained more or less. I assure your Highnesses that these lands are

the most fertile, temperate, level and beautiful countries in the world. . . .

[Source: Excerpted from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html]

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html


Hernan Cortés, Second Letter to Charles V (c. 1519) Spanish conquistador. In Hispaniola and Cuba from 1504, he led a small expedition to Mexico in 1519

and reached Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec Empire. In Cortés' absence, dealing with an attack

from a Spanish force from Cuba, the Aztecs launched an attack on Tenochtitlán, forcing the Spaniards'

retreat--the noche triste (night of sorrows). Cortés eventually rebuilt his forces and destroyed

Tenochtitlán (1521) and the Aztec Empire, founding New Spain. After an expedition to Honduras

(1524-26) Cortés returned to Spain (1528) but renewed his Pacific explorations in the 1530s. He died in

poverty in Spain. [Source: The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001, (c) Market House Books Ltd 2000]

IN ORDER, most potent Sire, to convey to your Majesty a just conception of the great extent

of this noble city of Temixtitlan, and of the many rare and wonderful objects it contains; of

the government and dominions of Moctezuma, the sovereign: of the religious rights and

customs that prevail, and the order that exists in this as well as the other cities appertaining to

his realm: it would require the labor of many accomplished writers, and much time for the

completion of the task. I shall not be able to relate an hundredth part of what could be told

respecting these matters; but I will endeavor to describe, in the best manner in my power,

what I have myself seen; and imperfectly as I may succeed in the attempt, I am fully aware

that the account will appear so wonderful as to be deemed scarcely worthy of credit; since

even we who have seen these things with our own eyes, are yet so amazed as to be unable

to comprehend their reality. But your Majesty may be assured that if there is any fault in my

relation, either in regard to the present subject, or to any other matters of which I shall give

your Majesty an account, it will arise from too great brevity rather than extravagance or

prolixity in the details; and it seems to me but just to my Prince and Sovereign to declare the

truth in the clearest manner, without saying anything that would detract from it, or add to it.

Before I begin to describe this great city and the others already mentioned, it may be well for

the better understanding of the subject to say something of the configuration of Mexico, in

which they are situated, it being the principal seat of Moctezuma's power. This Province is in

the form of a circle, surrounded on all sides by lofty and rugged mountains; its level surface

comprises an area of about seventy leagues in circumference, including two lakes, that

overspread nearly the whole valley, being navigated by boats more than fifty leagues round.

One of these lakes contains fresh and the other, which is the larger of the two, salt water. On

one side of the lakes, in the middle of the valley, a range of highlands divides them from one

another, with the exception of a narrow strait which lies between the highlands and the lofty

sierras. This strait is a bow-shot wide, and connects the two lakes; and by this means a trade

is carried on between the cities and other settlements on the lakes in canoes without the

necessity of traveling by land. As the salt lake rises and falls with its tides like the sea, during

the time of high water it pours into the other lake with the rapidity of a powerful stream;

and on the other hand, when the tide has ebbed, the water runs from the fresh into the salt

lake.

This great city of Temixtitlan [Mexico] is situated in this salt lake, and from the main land to

the denser parts of it, by whichever route one chooses to enter, the distance is two leagues.

There are four avenues or entrances to the city, all of which are formed by artificial


causeways, two spears' length in width. The city is as large as Seville or Cordova; its streets, I

speak of the principal ones, are very wide and straight; some of these, and all the inferior

ones, are half land and half water, and are navigated by canoes. All the streets at intervals

have openings, through which the water flows, crossing from one street to another; and at

these openings, some of which are very wide, there are also very wide bridges, composed of

large pieces of timber, of great strength and well put together; on many of these bridges ten

horses can go abreast. Foreseeing that if the inhabitants of the city should prove treacherous,

they would possess great advantages from the manner in which the city is constructed, since

by removing the bridges at the entrances, and abandoning the place, they could leave us to

perish by famine without our being able to reach the main land, as soon as I had entered it, I

made great haste to build four brigatines, which were soon finished, and were large enough

to take ashore three hundred men and the horses, whenever it should become necessary.

This city has many public squares, in which are situated the markets and other places for

buying and selling. There is one square twice as large as that of the city of Salamanca,

surrounded by porticoes, where are daily assembled more than sixty thousand souls, engaged

in buying and selling; and where are found all kinds of merchandise that the world affords,

embracing the necessaries of life, as for instance articles of food, as well as jewels of gold and

silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, precious stones, bones, shells, snails, and feathers. There are

also exposed for sale wrought and unwrought stone, bricks burnt and unburnt, timber hewn

and unhewn, of different sorts. There is a street for game, where every variety of birds in the

country are sold, as fowls, partridges, quails, wild ducks, fly-catchers, widgeons, turtledoves,

pigeons, reed-birds, parrots, sparrows, eagles, hawks, owls, and kestrels; they sell likewise the

skins of some birds of prey, with their feathers, head, beak, and claws. There are also sold

rabbits, hares, deer, and little dogs [i.e., the chihuahua], which are raised for eating. There is

also an herb street, where may be obtained all sorts of roots and medicinal herbs that the

country affords. There are apothecaries' shops, where prepared medicines, liquids, ointments,

and plasters are sold; barbers' shops, where they wash and shave the head; and restaurateurs,

that furnish food and drink at a certain price. There is also a class of men like those called in

Castile porters, for carrying burdens. Wood and coal are seen in abundance, and braziers of

earthenware for burning coals; mats of various kinds for beds, others of a lighter sort for

seats, and for halls and bedrooms.

There are all kinds of green vegetables, especially onions, leeks, garlic, watercresses,

nasturtium, borage, sorrel, artichokes, and golden thistle; fruits also of numerous descriptions,

amongst which are cherries and plums, similar to those in Spain; honey and wax from bees,

and from the stalks of maize, which are as sweet as the sugar-cane; honey is also extracted

from the plant called maguey, which is superior to sweet or new wine; from the same plant

they extract sugar and wine, which they also sell. Different kinds of cotton thread of all colors

in skeins are exposed for sale in one quarter of the market, which has the appearance of the

silk-market at Granada, although the former is supplied more abundantly. Painters' colors, as

numerous as can be found in Spain, and as fine shades; deerskins dressed and undressed, dyed

different colors; earthen-ware of a large size and excellent quality; large and small jars, jugs,

pots, bricks, and endless variety of vessels, all made of fine clay, and all or most of them

glazed and painted; maize or Indian corn, in the grain and in the form of bread, preferred in

the grain for its flavor to that of the other islands and terra-firma; patés of birds and fish;


great quantities of fish--fresh, salt, cooked and uncooked; the eggs of hens, geese, and of all

the other birds I have mentioned, in great abundance, and cakes made of eggs; finally,

everything that can be found throughout the whole country is sold in the markets, comprising

articles so numerous that to avoid prolixity, and because their names are not retained in my

memory, or are unknown to me, I shall not attempt to enumerate them.

Every kind of merchandise is sold in a particular street or quarter assigned to it exclusively,

and thus the best order is preserved. They sell everything by number or measure; at least so

far we have not observed them to sell anything by weight. There is a building in the great

square that is used as an audience house, where ten or twelve persons, who are magistrates,

sit and decide all controversies that arise in the market, and order delinquents to be punished.

In the same square there are other persons who go constantly about among the people

observing what is sold, and the measures used in selling; and they have been seen to break

measures that were not true.

This great city contains a large number of temples, or houses, for their idols, very handsome

edifices, which are situated in the different districts and the suburbs; in the principal ones

religious persons of each particular sect are constantly residing, for whose use, besides the

houses containing the idols, there are other convenient habitations. All these persons dress in

black, and never cut or comb their hair from the time they enter the priesthood until they

leave it; and all the sons of the principal inhabitants, both nobles and respectable citizens, are

placed in the temples and wear the same dress from the age of seven or eight years until they

are taken out to be married; which occurs more frequently with the first-born who inherit

estates than with the others. The priests are debarred from female society, nor is any woman

permitted to enter the religious houses. They also abstain from eating certain kinds of food,

more at some seasons of the year than others.

Among these temples there is one which far surpasses all the rest, whose grandeur of

architectural details no human tongue is able to describe; for within its precincts, surrounded

by a lofty wall, there is room enough for a town of five hundred families. Around the interior

of the enclosure there are handsome edifices, containing large halls and corridors, in which

the religious persons attached to the temple reside. There are fully forty towers, which are

lofty and well built, the largest of which has fifty steps leading to its main body, and is higher

than the tower of the principal tower of the church at Seville. The stone and wood of which

they are constructed are so well wrought in every part, that nothing could be better done,

for the interior of the chapels containing the idols consists of curious imagery, wrought in

stone, with plaster ceilings, and wood-work carved in relief, and painted with figures of

monsters and other objects. All these towers are the burial places of the nobles, and every

chapel in them is dedicated to a particular idol, to which they pay their devotions.

Three halls are in this grand temple, which contain the principal idols; these are of wonderful

extent and height, and admirable workmanship, adorned with figures sculptured in stone and

wood; leading from the halls are chapels with very small doors, to which the light is not

admitted, nor are any persons except the priests, and not all of them. In these chapels are the

images of idols, although, as I have before said, many of them are also found on the outside;

the principal ones, in which the people have greatest faith and confidence, I precipitated from


their pedestals, and cast them down the steps of the temple, purifying the chapels in which

they had stood, as they were all polluted with human blood, shed ill the sacrifices. In the

place of these I put images of Our Lady and the Saints, which excited not a little feeling in

Moctezuma and the inhabitants, who at first remonstrated, declaring that if my proceedings

were known throughout the country, the people would rise against me; for they believed

that their idols bestowed on them all temporal good, and if they permitted them to be ill-

treated, they would be angry and without their gifts, and by this means the people would be

deprived of the fruits of the earth and perish with famine. I answered, through the

interpreters, that they were deceived in expecting any favors from idols, the work of their

own hands, formed of unclean things; and that they must learn there was but one God, the

universal Lord of all, who had created the heavens and earth, and all things else, and had

made them and us; that He was without beginning and immortal, and they were bound to

adore and believe Him, and no other creature or thing.

I said everything to them I could to divert them from their idolatries, and draw them to a

knowledge of God our Lord. Moctezuma replied, the others assenting to what he said, that

they had already informed me they were not the aborigines of the country, but that their

ancestors had emigrated to it many years ago; and they fully believed that after so long an

absence from their native land, they might have fallen into some errors; that I having more

recently arrived must know better than themselves what they ought to believe; and that if I

would instruct them in these matters, and make them understand the true faith, they would

follow my directions, as being for the best.@ Afterwards, Moctezuma and many of the

principal citizens remained with me until I had removed the idols, purified the chapels, and

placed the images in them, manifesting apparent pleasure; and I forbade them sacrificing

human beings to their idols as they had been accustomed to do; because, besides being

abhorrent in the sight of God, your sacred Majesty had prohibited it by law, and commanded

to put to death whoever should take the life of another. Thus, from that time, they refrained

from the practice, and during the whole period of my abode in that city, they were never

seen to kill or sacrifice a human being.

The figures of the idols in which these people believe surpass in stature a person of more than

ordinary size; some of them are composed of a mass of seeds and leguminous plants, such as

are used for food, ground and mixed together, and kneaded with the blood of human hearts

taken from the breasts of living persons, from which a paste is formed in a sufficient quantity

to form large statues. When these are completed they make them offerings of the hearts of

other victims, which they sacrifice to them, and besmear their faces with the blood. For

everything they have an idol, consecrated by the use of the nations that in ancient times

honored the same gods. Thus they have an idol that they petition for victory in war; another

for success in their labors; and so for everything in which they seek or desire prosperity, they

have their idols, which they honor and serve.

This noble city contains many fine and magnificent houses; which may be accounted for from

the fact, that all the nobility of the country, who are the vassals of Moctezuma, have houses

in the city, in which they reside a certain part of the year; and besides, there are numerous

wealthy citizens who also possess fine houses. All these persons, in addition to the large and

spacious apartments for ordinary purposes, have others, both upper and lower, that contain


conservatories of flowers. Along one of these causeways that lead into the city are laid two

pipes, constructed of masonry, each of which is two paces in width, and about five feet in

height. An abundant supply of excellent water, forming a volume equal in bulk to the human

body, is conveyed by one of these pipes, and distributed about the city, where it is used by

the inhabitants for drink and other purposes. The other pipe, in the meantime, is kept empty

until the former requires to be cleansed, when the water is let into it and continues to be used

till the cleaning is finished. As the water is necessarily carried over bridges on account of the

salt water crossing its route, reservoirs resembling canals are constructed on the bridges,

through which the fresh water is conveyed. These reservoirs are of the breadth of the body of

an ox, and of the same length as the bridges. The whole city is thus served with water, which

they carry in canoes through all the streets for sale, taking it from the aqueduct in the

following manner: the canoes pass under the bridges on which the reservoirs are placed,

when men stationed above fill them with water, for which service they are paid. At all the

entrances of the city, and in those parts where the canoes are discharged, that is, where the

greatest quantity of provisions is brought in, huts are erected, and persons stationed as

guards, who receive a certain sum of everything that enters. I know not whether the

sovereign receives this duty or the city, as I have not yet been informed; but I believe that it

appertains to the sovereign, as in the markets of other provinces a tax is collected for the

benefit of the cacique.

In all the markets and public places of this city are seen daily many laborers waiting for some

one to hire them. The inhabitants of this city pay a greater regard to style in their mode of

dress and politeness of manners than those of the other provinces and cities; since, as the

Cacique Moctezuma has his residence in the capital, and all the nobility, his vassals, are in

constant habit of meeting there, a general courtesy of demeanor necessarily prevails. But not

to be prolix in describing what relates to the affairs of this great city, although it is with

difficulty I refrain from proceeding, I will say no more than that the manners of the people,

as shown in their intercourse with one another, are marked by as great an attention to the

proprieties of life as in Spain, and good order is equally well observed; and considering that

they are barbarous people, without the knowledge of God, having no intercourse with

civilized nations, these traits of character are worthy of admiration.

In regard to the domestic appointments of Moctezuma, and the wonderful grandeur and

state that he maintains, there is so much to be told, that I assure your Highness I know not

where to begin my relation, so as to be able to finish any part of it. For, as I have already

stated, what can be more wonderful than a barbarous monarch, as he is, should have every

object found in his dominions imitated in gold, silver, precious stones, and feathers; the gold

and silver being wrought so naturally as not to be surpassed by any smith in the world; the

stone work executed with such perfection that it is difficult to conceive what instruments

could have been used; and the feather work superior to the finest productions in wax or

embroidery. The extent of Moctezuma's dominions has not been ascertained, since to

whatever point he despatched his messengers, even two hundred leagues from his capital, his

commands were obeyed, although some of his provinces were in the midst of countries with

which he was at war. But as nearly as I have been able to learn, his territories are equal in

extent to Spain itself, for he sent messengers to the inhabitants of a city called Cumatan

(requiring them to become subjects of your Majesty), which is sixty leagues beyond that part


of Putunchan watered by the river Grijalva, and two hundred and thirty leagues distant from

the great city; and I sent some of our people a distance of one hundred and fifty leagues in

the same direction.

All the principal chiefs of these provinces, especially those in the vicinity of the capital, reside,

as I have already stated, the greater part of the year in that great city, and all or most of them

have their oldest sons in the service of Moctezuma. There are fortified places in all the

provinces, garrisoned with his own men, where are also stationed his governors and

collectors of the rents and tribute, rendered him by every province; and an account is kept of

what each is obliged to pay, as they have characters and figures made on paper that are used

for this purpose. Each province renders a tribute of its own peculiar productions, so that the

sovereign receives a great variety of articles from different quarters. No prince was ever more

feared by his subjects, both in his presence and absence. He possessed out of the city as well

as within numerous villas, each of which had its peculiar sources of amusement, and all were

constructed in the best possible manner for the use of a great prince and lord. Within the city

his palaces were so wonderful that it is hardly possible to describe their beauty and extent; I

can only say that in Spain there is nothing equal to them.

There was one palace somewhat inferior to the rest, attached to which was a beautiful

garden with balconies extending over it, supported by marble columns, and having a floor

formed of jasper elegantly inlaid. There were apartments in this palace sufficient to lodge two

princes of the highest rank with their retinues. There were likewise belonging to it ten pools

of water, in which were kept the different species of water birds found in this country, of

which there is a great variety, all of which are domesticated; for the sea birds there were

pools of salt water, and for the river birds, of fresh water. The water is let off at certain times

to keep it pure, and is replenished by means of pipes. Each specie of bird is supplied with the

food natural to it, which it feeds upon when wild. Thus fish is given to the birds that usually

eat it; worms, maize, and the finer seeds, to such as prefer them. And I assure your Highness,

that to the birds accustomed to eat fish there is given the enormous quantity of ten arrobas

every day, taken in the salt lake. The emperor has three hundred men whose sole

employment is to take care of these birds; and there are others whose only business is to

attend to the birds that are in bad health.

Over the polls for the birds there are corridors and galleries, to which Moctezuma resorts,

and from which he can look out and amuse himself with the sight of them. There is an

apartment in the same palace in which are men, women and children, whose faces, bodies,

hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes are white from their birth. The emperor has another very

beautiful palace, with a large court-yard, paved with handsome flags, in the style of a chess-

board. There are also cages, about nine feet in height and six paces square, each of which was

half covered with a roof of tiles, and the other half had over it a wooden grate, skillfully

made. Every cage contained a bird of prey, of all the species found in Spain, from the kestrel

to the eagle, and many unknown there. There was a great number of each kind; and in the

covered part of the cages there was a perch, and another on the outside of the grating, the

former of which the birds used in the night time, and when it rained; and the other enabled

them to enjoy the sun and air. To all these birds fowls were daily given for food, and nothing

else. There were in the same palace several large halls on the ground floor, filled with


immense cages built of heavy pieces of timber, well put together, in all or most of which

were kept lions, tigers, wolves, foxes, and a variety of animals of the cat kind, in great

numbers, which were fed also on fowls. The care of these animals and birds was assigned to

three hundred men. There was another palace that contained a number of men and women

of monstrous size, and also dwarfs, and crooked and ill-formed persons, each of which had

their separate apartments. These also had their respective keepers. As to the other remarkable

things that the emperor had in his city for his amusement, I can only say that they were

numerous and of various kinds.

He was served in the following manner: Every day as soon as it was light, six hundred nobles

and men of rank were in attendance at the palace, who either sat, or walked about the halls

and galleries, and passed their time in conversation, but without entering the apartment

where his person was. The servants and attendants of these nobles remained in the court-

yards, of which there were two or three of great extent, and in the adjoining street, which

was also very spacious. They all remained in attendance from morning until night; and when

his meals were served, the nobles were likewise served with equal profusion, and their

servants and secretaries also had their allowance. Daily his larder and wine-cellar were open

to all who wished to eat or drink. The meals were served by three or four hundred youths,

who brought on an infinite variety of dishes; indeed, whenever he dined or supped, the table

was loaded with every kind of flesh, fish, fruits, and vegetables that the country produced. As

the climate is cold, they put a chafing-dish with live coals under every plate and dish, to keep

them warm. The meals were served in a large hall, in which Moctezuma was accustomed to

eat, and the dishes quite filled the room, which was covered with mats and kept very clean.

He sat on a small cushion curiously wrought of leather. During the meals there were present,

at a little distance from him, five or six elderly caciques, to whom he presented some of the

food. And there was constantly in attendance one of the servants, who arranged and handed

the dishes, and who received from others whatever was wanted for the supply of the table. .

. .

Whenever Moctezuma appeared in public, which is seldom the case, all those who

accompanied him, or whom he accidentally met in the streets, turned away without looking

towards him, and others prostrated themselves until he had passed. One of the nobles always

preceded him on these occasions, carrying three slender rods erect, which I suppose was to

give notice of the approach of his person. And when they descended from the litters, he took

one of them in his hand, and held it until he reached the place where he was going. So many

and various were the ceremonies and customs observed by those in the service of

Moctezuma, that more space than I can spare would be required for the details, as well as a

better memory than I have to recollect them; since no sultan or other infidel lord, of whom

any knowledge now exists; ever had so much ceremonial in his court.

[SOURCE: Excerpted from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1520cortes.html]

http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1520cortes.html


III. The Reformation

Martin Luther, 95 Theses (1517) Martin Luther (1483-1546) was the charismatic leader of the Protestant Reformation, which began in

1517 and ultimately led to the fracture of the Catholic Church and the formation of new Christian

denominations, including the Lutheran church. Although intended by his parents for a career in law,

Luther in 1505 joined the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt and was ordained to the priesthood in 1507.

He received a doctorate in theology from the University of Wittenberg in 1512 and an appointment in

the theology faculty in 1513, where he spent the rest of his life teaching and ministering.

At this stage of his life, Luther began to have increasing doubts about his own salvation, and

found the assurances offered by the Church, and its emphasis upon the role of good works in salvation,

unsatisfying. In 1517, he composed the 95 Theses in which, among other things, he protested the

Church’s practice of selling indulgences. His theses struck a chord among the German people and the

theses were circulated widely around Germany. Thus, the Protestant Reformation began. Luther went

on to write numerous treatises and pamphlets advancing his interpretation of Scriptures and defending

the Protestant cause, despite charges of heresy by the Church and threats against him by many political

authorities.

The central component of Luther’s thought was his emphasis upon justification by faith

alone—in other words, humans could contribute nothing toward their own salvation; instead,

salvation was a gift of God through grace. Luther’s views conflicted with the doctrine of the Catholic

Church, and though similar, also differed from the views of Calvin, thus leading to bitter theological

disputes and ultimately religious war in Europe.

[Source: Harold J. Grimm, The Reformation Era. 2nd edition. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.,

1973.]

DISPUTATION OF DOCTOR MARTIN LUTHER ON THE

POWER AND EFFICACY OF INDULGENCES

OCTOBER 31, 1517

Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light, the following propositions will be

discussed at Wittenberg, under the presidency of the Reverend Father Martin Luther, Master

of Arts and of Sacred Theology, and Lecturer in Ordinary on the same at that place.

Wherefore he requests that those who are unable to be present and debate orally with us,

may do so by letter.

In the Name our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when He said Poenitentiam agite [Repent (Matthew

4:17)], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance.

2. This word cannot be understood to mean sacramental penance, i.e., confession and

satisfaction, which is administered by the priests.


3. Yet it means not inward repentance only; nay, there is no inward repentance which does

not outwardly work divers mortifications of the flesh.

4. The penalty [of sin], therefore, continues so long as hatred of self continues; for this is the

true inward repentance, and continues until our entrance into the kingdom

of heaven.

5. The pope does not intend to remit, and cannot remit any penalties other than those which

he has imposed either by his own authority or by that of the Canons.

6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring that it has been remitted by God and

by assenting to God's remission; though, to be sure, he may grant remission in cases reserved

to his judgment. If his right to grant remission in such cases were despised, the guilt would

remain entirely unforgiven.

7. God remits guilt to no one whom He does not, at the same time, humble in all things and

bring into subjection to His vicar, the priest.

8. The penitential canons are imposed only on the living, and, according to them, nothing

should be imposed on the dying.

9. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us, because in his decrees he always makes

exception of the article of death and of necessity.

10. Ignorant and wicked are the doings of those priests who, in the case of the dying, reserve

canonical penances for purgatory.

11. This changing of the canonical penalty to the penalty of purgatory is quite evidently one

of the tares that were sown while the bishops slept.

12. In former times the canonical penalties were imposed not after, but before absolution, as

tests of true contrition.

13. The dying are freed by death from all penalties; they are already dead to canonical rules,

and have a right to be released from them.

14. The imperfect health [of soul], that is to say, the imperfect love, of the dying brings with

it, of necessity, great fear; and the smaller the love, the greater is the fear.

15. This fear and horror is sufficient of itself alone (to say nothing of other things) to

constitute the penalty of purgatory, since it is very near to the horror of despair.

16. Hell, purgatory, and heaven seem to differ as do despair, almost-despair, and the

assurance of safety.

17. With souls in purgatory it seems necessary that horror should grow less and love increase.


18. It seems unproved, either by reason or Scripture, that they are outside the state of merit,

that is to say, of increasing love.

19. Again, it seems unproved that they, or at least that all of them, are certain or assured of

their own blessedness, though we may be quite certain of it.

20. Therefore by "full remission of all penalties" the pope means not actually "of all," but only

of those imposed by himself.

21. Therefore those preachers of indulgences are in error, who say that by the pope's

indulgences a man is freed from every penalty, and saved;

22. Whereas he remits to souls in purgatory no penalty which, according to the canons, they

would have had to pay in this life.

23. If it is at all possible to grant to any one the remission of all penalties whatsoever, it is

certain that this remission can be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to the very fewest.

24. It must needs be, therefore, that the greater part of the people are deceived by that

indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.

25. The power which the pope has, in a general way, over purgatory, is just like the power

which any bishop or curate has, in a special way, within his own diocese or parish.

26. The pope does well when he grants remission to souls [in purgatory], not by the power

of the keys (which he does not possess), but by way of intercession.

27. They preach man who say that so soon as the penny jingles into the money-box, the soul

flies out [of purgatory].

28. It is certain that when the penny jingles into the money-box, gain and avarice can be

increased, but the result of the intercession of the Church is in the power of God alone.

29. Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be bought out of it, as in the

legend of Sts. Severinus and Paschal.

30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere; much less that he has attained full

remission.

31. Rare as is the man that is truly penitent, so rare is also the man who truly buys

indulgences, i.e., such men are most rare.

32. They will be condemned eternally, together with their teachers, who believe themselves

sure of their salvation because they have letters of pardon.


33. Men must be on their guard against those who say that the pope's pardons are that

inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to Him;

34. For these "graces of pardon" concern only the penalties of sacramental satisfaction, and

these are appointed by man.

35. They preach no Christian doctrine who teach that contrition is not necessary in those

who intend to buy souls out of purgatory or to buy confessionalia.

36. Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even

without letters of pardon.

37. Every true Christian, whether living or dead, has part in all the blessings of Christ and the

Church; and this is granted him by God, even without letters of pardon.

38. Nevertheless, the remission and participation [in the blessings of the Church] which are

granted by the pope are in no way to be despised, for they are, as I have said, the declaration

of divine remission.

39. It is most difficult, even for the very keenest theologians, at one and the same time to

commend to the people the abundance of pardons and [the need of] true contrition.

40. True contrition seeks and loves penalties, but liberal pardons only relax penalties and

cause them to be hated, or at least, furnish an occasion [for hating them].

41. Apostolic pardons are to be preached with caution, lest the people may falsely think them

preferable to other good works of love.

42. Christians are to be taught that the pope does not intend the buying of pardons to be

compared in any way to works of mercy.

43. Christians are to be taught that he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a

better work than buying pardons;

44. Because love grows by works of love, and man becomes better; but by pardons man

does not grow better, only more free from penalty.

45. Christians are to be taught that he who sees a man in need, and passes him by, and gives

[his money] for pardons, purchases not the indulgences of the pope, but the indignation of

God.

46. Christians are to be taught that unless they have more than they need, they are bound to

keep back what is necessary for their own families, and by no means to squander it on

pardons.


47. Christians are to be taught that the buying of pardons is a matter of free will, and not of

commandment.

48. Christians are to be taught that the pope, in granting pardons, needs, and therefore

desires, their devout prayer for him more than the money they bring.

49. Christians are to be taught that the pope's pardons are useful, if they do not put their

trust in them; but altogether harmful, if through them they lose their fear of God.

50. Christians are to be taught that if the pope knew the exactions of the pardon-preachers,

he would rather that St. Peter's church should go to ashes, than that it should be built up with

the skin, flesh and bones of his sheep.

51. Christians are to be taught that it would be the pope's wish, as it is his duty, to give of his

own money to very many of those from whom certain hawkers of pardons cajole money,

even though the church of St. Peter might have to be sold.

52. The assurance of salvation by letters of pardon is vain, even though the commissary, nay,

even though the pope himself, were to stake his soul upon it.

53. They are enemies of Christ and of the pope, who bid the Word of God be altogether

silent in some Churches, in order that pardons may be preached in others.

54. Injury is done the Word of God when, in the same sermon, an equal or a longer time is

spent on pardons than on this Word.

55. It must be the intention of the pope that if pardons, which are a very small thing, are

celebrated with one bell, with single processions and ceremonies, then the Gospel, which is

the very greatest thing, should be preached with a hundred bells, a hundred processions, a

hundred ceremonies.

56. The "treasures of the Church," out of which the pope. grants indulgences, are not

sufficiently named or known among the people of Christ.

57. That they are not temporal treasures is certainly evident, for many of the vendors do not

pour out such treasures so easily, but only gather them.

58. Nor are they the merits of Christ and the Saints, for even without the pope, these always

work grace for the inner man, and the cross, death, and hell for the outward man.

59. St. Lawrence said that the treasures of the Church were the Church's poor, but he spoke

according to the usage of the word in his own time.

60. Without rashness we say that the keys of the Church, given by Christ's merit, are that

treasure;


61. For it is clear that for the remission of penalties and of reserved cases, the power of the

pope is of itself sufficient.

62. The true treasure of the Church is the Most Holy Gospel of the glory and the grace of

God.

63. But this treasure is naturally most odious, for it makes the first to be last.

64. On the other hand, the treasure of indulgences is naturally most acceptable, for it makes

the last to be first.

65. Therefore the treasures of the Gospel are nets with which they formerly were wont to

fish for men of riches.

66. The treasures of the indulgences are nets with which they now fish for the riches of men.

67. The indulgences which the preachers cry as the "greatest graces" are known to be truly

such, in so far as they promote gain.

68. Yet they are in truth the very smallest graces compared with the grace of God and the

piety of the Cross.

69. Bishops and curates are bound to admit the commissaries of apostolic pardons, with all

reverence.

70. But still more are they bound to strain all their eyes and attend with all their ears, lest

these men preach their own dreams instead of the commission of the pope.

71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be anathema and accursed!

72. But he who guards against the lust and license of the pardon-preachers, let him be

blessed!

73. The pope justly thunders against those who, by any art, contrive the injury of the traffic

in pardons.

74. But much more does he intend to thunder against those who use the pretext of pardons

to contrive the injury of holy love and truth.

75. To think the papal pardons so great that they could absolve a man even if he had

committed an impossible sin and violated the Mother of God -- this is madness.

76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of

venial sins, so far as its guilt is concerned.


77. It is said that even St. Peter, if he were now Pope, could not bestow greater graces; this is

blasphemy against St. Peter and against the pope.

78. We say, on the contrary, that even the present pope, and any pope at all, has greater

graces at his disposal; to wit, the Gospel, powers, gifts of healing, etc., as it is written in I.

Corinthians xii.

79. To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the preachers

of indulgences], is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy.

80. The bishops, curates and theologians who allow such talk to be spread among the

people, will have an account to render.

81. This unbridled preaching of pardons makes it no easy matter, even for learned men, to

rescue the reverence due to the pope from slander, or even from the shrewd questionings of

the laity.

82. To wit: -- "Why does not the pope empty purgatory, for the sake of holy love and of the

dire need of the souls that are there, if he redeems an infinite number of souls for the sake of

miserable money with which to build a Church? The former reasons would be most just; the

latter is most trivial."

83. Again: -- "Why are mortuary and anniversary masses for the dead continued, and why

does he not return or permit the withdrawal of the endowments founded on their behalf,

since it is wrong to pray for the redeemed?"

84. Again: -- "What is this new piety of God and the pope, that for money they allow a man

who is impious and their enemy to buy out of purgatory the pious soul of a friend of God,

and do not rather, because of that pious and beloved soul's own

need, free it for pure love's sake?"

85. Again: -- "Why are the penitential canons long since in actual fact and through disuse

abrogated and dead, now satisfied by the granting of indulgences, as though they were still

alive and in force?"

86. Again: -- "Why does not the pope, whose wealth is to-day greater than the riches of the

richest, build just this one church of St. Peter with his own money, rather than with the

money of poor believers?"

87. Again: -- "What is it that the pope remits, and what participation does he grant to those

who, by perfect contrition, have a right to full remission and participation?"

88. Again: -- "What greater blessing could come to the Church than if the pope were to do a

hundred times a day what he now does once, and bestow on every believer these remissions

and participations?"


89. "Since the pope, by his pardons, seeks the salvation of souls rather than money, why does

he suspend the indulgences and pardons granted heretofore, since these have equal efficacy?"

90. To repress these arguments and scruples of the laity by force alone, and not to resolve

them by giving reasons, is to expose the Church and the pope to the ridicule of their enemies,

and to make Christians unhappy.

91. If, therefore, pardons were preached according to the spirit and mind of the pope, all

these doubts would be readily resolved; nay, they would not exist.

92. Away, then, with all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Peace, peace," and

there is no peace!

93. Blessed be all those prophets who say to the people of Christ, "Cross, cross," and there is

no cross!

94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ, their Head,

through penalties, deaths, and hell;

95. And thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations, than

through the assurance of peace.

[SOURCE: Project Wittenberg,

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html]

Martin Luther, Concerning Christian Liberty (1520)

(or, On the Freedom of a Christian)

One of three treatises that Luther released during the year 1520. In it, he grapples with the question of

salvation, how man is justified and whether man has free will. Intended for a wide audience, rather

than simply an academic or clerical one, it is written in a simple style, free of technical terminology,

and full of Scriptural references. It is interesting to note that Luther dedicated the work to Pope Leo X.

DEDICATORY: LETTER OF MARTIN LUTHER TO POPE LEO X

Among those monstrous evils of this age, with which I have now for three years been waging

war, I am sometimes compelled to look to you and to call you to mind, most blessed father

Leo. In truth, since you alone are everywhere considered as being the cause of my engaging

http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/web/ninetyfive.html


in war, I cannot at any time fail to remember you; and although I have been compelled by

the causeless raging of your impious flatterers against me to appeal from your seat to a future

council--fearless of the futile decrees of your predecessors Pius and Julius, who in their foolish

tyranny prohibited such an action--yet I have never been so alienated in feeling from your

Blessedness as not to have sought with all my might, in diligent prayer and crying to God,

every best gift for you and for your See . . . .

I have indeed inveighed sharply against impious doctrines, and I have not been slack to

censure my adversaries on account, not of their bad morals, but of their impiety. And for this

I am so far from being sorry, that I have brought my mind to despise the judgments of men,

and to persevere in this vehement zeal, according to the example of Christ, who, in his zeal,

calls his adversaries a generation of vipers, blind, hypocrites, and children of the devil. Paul

too charges the sorcerer with being a child of the devil, full of all subtlety and all malice; and

defames certain persons as evil workers, dogs, and deceivers. In the opinion of those delicate-

eared persons, nothing could be more bitter or intemperate than Paul's language. What can

be more bitter than the words of the prophets? The ears of our generation have been made

so delicate by the senseless multitude of flatterers, that, so soon as we perceive that anything

of ours is not approved of, we cry out that we are being bitterly assailed; and when we can

repel the truth by no other pretence, we escape by attributing bitterness, impatience,

intemperance, to our adversaries. . . . Accursed is the man, who does the work of the Lord

deceitfully.

Wherefore, most excellent Leo, I beseech you to accept my vindication, made in this letter,

and to persuade yourself that I have never thought any evil concerning your person; further,

that I am one who desires that eternal blessing may fall to your lot, and that I have no

dispute with any man concerning morals, but only concerning the word of truth. In all other

things I will yield to any one, but I neither can nor will forsake and deny the Word. He who

thinks otherwise of me or has taken in my words in another sense, does not think rightly, and

has not taken in the truth.

Your See, however, which is called the Court of Rome, and which neither you nor any man

can deny to be more corrupt than any Babylon or Sodom, and quite, as I believe, of a lost,

desperate, and hopeless impiety, this I have verily abominated, and have felt indignant that

the people of Christ should be cheated under your name and the pretext of the Church of

Rome and so I have resisted, and will resist, as long as the spirit of faith shall live in me. Not

that I am striving after impossibilities, or hoping that by my labours alone, against the furious

opposition of so many flatterers, any good can be done in that most disordered Babylon, but

that I feel myself a debtor to my brethren, and am bound to take thought for them, that

fewer of them may be ruined, or that their ruin may be less complete, by the plagues of

Rome. For many years now, nothing else has overflowed from Rome into the world--as you

are not ignorant--than the laying waste of goods, of bodies, and of souls, and the worst

examples of all the worst things. These things are clearer than the light to all men; and the

Church of Rome, formerly the most holy of all churches, has become the most lawless den of

thieves, the most shameless of all brothels, the very kingdom of sin, death, and hell; so that

not even Antichrist, if he were to come, could devise any addition to its wickedness. . . . .


Thus I come, most blessed Father, and in all abasement beseech you to put to your hand, if it

is possible, and impose a curb upon those flatterers who are enemies of peace, while they

pretend peace. But there is no reason, most blessed Father, why any one should assume that I

am to utter a recantation, unless he prefers to involve the case in still greater confusion.

Moreover, I cannot bear with laws for the interpretation of the Word of God, since the

Word of God, which teaches liberty in all other things, ought not to be bound. Saying these

two things, there is nothing which I am not able, and most heartily willing, to do or to suffer.

I hate contention; I will challenge no one; in return I wish not to be challenged; but, being

challenged, I will not be dumb in the cause of Christ my Master. . . .

Therefore, Leo my Father, beware of listening to those Sirens, who make you out to be not

simply a man, but partly a God, so that you can command and require whatever you will. It

will not happen so, nor will you prevail. You are the servant of servants, and, more than any

other man, in a most pitiable and perilous position. Let not those men deceive you, who

pretend that you are Lord of the world; who will not allow any one to be a Christian

without your authority; who babble of your having power over heaven, hell, and purgatory.

These men are your enemies and are seeking your soul to destroy it, as Isaiah says: "My

people, they that call thee blessed are themselves deceiving thee." They are in error, who

raise you above councils and the universal Church. They are in error, who attribute to you

alone the right of interpreting Scripture. All these men are seeking to set up their own

impieties in the Church under your name, and alas! Satan has gained much through them in

the time of your predecessors. . . .

In fine, that I may not approach you empty handed, Blessed Father, I bring with me this little

treatise, published under your name, as a good omen of the establishment of peace, and of

good hope. . . It is a small matter, if you look to its exterior, but, unless I mistake, it is a

summary of the Christian life put together in small compass . . . I, in my poverty, have no

other present to make you; nor do you need anything else than to be enriched by a spiritual

gift. I commend myself to your Paternity and Blessedness, whom may the Lord Jesus preserve

for ever. Amen.

Wittenberg; 6th September, 1520

CONCERNING CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

CHRISTIAN faith has appeared to many an easy thing; nay, not a few even reckon it among

the social virtues, as it were; and this they do, because they have not made proof of it

experimentally, and have never tasted of what efficacy it is. For it is not possible for any man

to write well about it, or to understand well what is rightly written, who has not at some

time tasted of its spirit, under the pressure of tribulation. While he who has tasted of it, even

to a very small extent, can never write, speak, think, or hear about it sufficiently. For it is a

living fountain, springing up unto eternal life, as Christ calls it in the 4th chapter of St. John.


. . . . That I may open, then, an easier way for the ignorant--for these alone I am trying to

serve--I first lay down these two propositions, concerning spiritual liberty and servitude.

A Christian man is the most free lord of all, and subject to none; a Christian man is the most

dutiful servant of all, and subject to every one.

Although these statements appear contradictory, yet, when they are found to agree together,

they will be highly serviceable to my purpose. They are both the statements of Paul himself,

who says: "Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all" (1 Cor. ix.

19), and: "Owe no man anything, but to love one another." (Rom. xiii. 8.) Now love is by its

own nature dutiful and obedient to the beloved object. Thus even Christ, though Lord of all

things, was yet made of a woman; made under the law; at once free and a [105] servant; at

once in the form of God and in the form of a servant.

Let us examine the subject on a deeper and less simple principle. Man is composed of a

twofold nature, a spiritual and a bodily. As regards the spiritual nature, which they name the

soul, he is called the spiritual, inward, new man; as regards the bodily nature, which they

name the flesh, he is called the fleshly, outward, old man. The Apostle speaks of this:

"Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is relieved day by day." (2 Cor. iv. 16.)

The result of this diversity is, that in the Scriptures opposing statements are made concerning

the same man; the fact being that in the same man these two men are opposed to one

another; the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. (Gal. v. 17.)

We first approach the subject of the inward man, that we may see by what means a man

becomes justified, free, and a true Christian; that is, a spiritual, new, and inward man. It is

certain that absolutely none among outward things, under whatever name they may be

reckoned, has any weight in producing a state of justification and Christian liberty, nor, on

the other hand an unjustified state and one of slavery. This can be shown by an easy course

of argument.

What can it profit the soul, that the body should be in good condition, free, and full of life;

that it should eat, drink, and act according to its pleasure; when even the most impious slaves

of every kind of vice are prosperous in these matters ? Again, what harm can ill-health,

bondage, hunger, thirst, or any other outward evil, do to the soul, when even the most pious

of men, and the freest in the purity of their conscience are harassed by these things? Neither

of these states of things has to do with the liberty or the slavery of the soul.

And, to cast everything aside, even speculations, meditations and whatever things can be

performed by the exertions of the soul itself, are of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is

necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God,

the Gospel of Christ, as He says: "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me

shall not die eternally " (John xi. 25) ; and also (John viii. 36) "If the Son shall make you free,

ye shall be free indeed;" and (Matt. iv. 4), "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every

word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."


Let us therefore hold it for certain and firmly established, that the soul can do without

everything, except the word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for.

But, having the word, it is rich and want for nothing; since that is the word of life, of truth,

of light, of peace, of justification, of salvation, of joy, of liberty, of wisdom, of virtue, of

grace, of glory, and of every good thing. It is on this account that the prophet in a whole

psalm (Ps. cxix.), and in many other places, sighs for and calls upon the word of God with so

many groanings and words.

Again, there is no more cruel stroke of the wrath of God than when He sends a famine of

hearing His words (Amos viii. 11); just as there is no greater favour from Him than the

sending forth of His word, as it is said: "He sent his word and healed them, and delivered

them from their destructions." (Ps. cvii. 20.) Christ was sent for no other office than that of

the word, and the order of apostles, that of bishops, and that of the whole body of the

clergy, have been called and instituted for no object but the ministry of the word.

But you will ask:--"What is this word, and by what means is it to be used, since there are so

many words of God?" I answer, the Apostle Paul (Rom. i.) explains what it is, namely, the

Gospel of God, concerning His Son, incarnate, suffering, risen, and glorified through the

Spirit, the sanctifier. To preach Christ is to feed the soul, to justify it, to set it free, and to save

it, if it believes the preaching. For faith alone, [107] and the efficacious use of the word of

God, bring salvation. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in

thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Rom. x. 9.) And

again: "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. x. 4);

and "The just shall live by faith." (Rom. i. 17.) For the word of God cannot be received and

honoured by any works, but by faith alone. Hence it is clear that, as the soul needs the word

alone for life and justification, so it is justified by faith alone and not by any works. For if it

could be justified by any other means, it would have no need of the word, nor consequently

of faith.

But this faith cannot consist at all with works; that is, if you imagine that you can be justified

by those works, whatever they are, along with it. For this would be to halt between two

opinions, to worship Baal, and to kiss the hand to him, which is a very great iniquity, as Job

says. Therefore, when you begin to believe, you learn at the same time that all that is in you

is utterly guilty, sinful, and damnable; according to that saying: "All have sinned, and come

short of the glory of God." (Rom. iii. 23.) And also: "There is none righteous, no, not one;

they are all gone out of the way; they are together become unprofitable; there is none that

doeth good, no, not one." (Rom. iii. 10-12.) When you have learnt this, you will know that

Christ is necessary for you, since He has suffered and risen again for you, that, believing on

Him, you might by this faith become another man, all your sins being remitted, and you

being justified by the merits of another, namely, of Christ alone.

Since then this faith can reign only in the inward man, as it is said: "With the heart man

believeth unto righteousness" (Rom. x. 10); and since it alone justifies, it is evident that by no

outward work or labour can the inward man be at all justified, made free, and saved; and

that no works whatever have any relation to him. And so, on the other hand, it is solely by

impiety and incredulity of heart that he becomes guilty, and a slave of sin, deserving


condemnation; not by any outward sin or work. Therefore the first care of every Christian

ought to be, to lay aside all reliance on works, and strengthen his faith alone more and more,

and by it grow in [108] the knowledge, not of works, but of Christ Jesus, who has suffered

and risen again for him; as Peter teaches, when he makes no other work to be a Christian

one. Thus Christ, when the Jews asked Him what they should do that they might work the

works of God, rejected the multitude of works, with which He saw that they were puffed up,

and commanded them one thing only, saying: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on

him whom He hath sent, for him hath God the Father sealed." (John vi. 27, 29.)

Hence a right faith in Christ is an incomparable treasure, carrying with it universal salvation,

and preserving from all evil, as it is said: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but

he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark xvi. 16.) Isaiah, looking to this treasure,

predicted: "The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord God of

hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of the land." (Is. x. 22, 23.) As

if he said:--"Faith, which is the brief and complete fulfilling of the law, will fill those who

believe with such righteousness, that they will need nothing else for justification." Thus too

Paul says: "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." (Rom. x. 10.)

But you ask how it can be the fact that faith alone justifies, and affords without works so

great a treasure of good things, when so many works, ceremonies, and laws are prescribed to

us in the Scriptures. I answer: before all things bear in mind what I have said, that faith alone

without works justifies, sets free, and saves, as I shall show more clearly below.

Meanwhile it is to be noted, that the whole Scripture of God is divided into two parts,

precepts and promises. The precepts certainly teach us what is good, but what they teach is

not forthwith done. For they show us what we ought to do, but do not give us the power to

do it. They were ordained, however, for the purpose of showing man to himself; that

through them he may learn his own impotence for good, and may despair of his own

strength. For this reason they are called the Old Testament, and are so. . . . .

Now when a man has through the precepts been taught his own impotence, and become

anxious by what means he may satisfy the law--for the law must be satisfied, so that no jot or

tittle of it may pass away; otherwise he must be hopelessly condemned--then, being truly

humbled and brought to nothing in his own eyes, he finds in himself no resource for

justification and salvation.

Then comes in that other part of Scripture, the promises of God, which declare the glory of

God, and say: "If you wish to fulfil the law, and, as the law requires, not to covet, lo! believe

in Christ, in whom are promised to you grace, justification, peace, and liberty." All these

things you shall have, if you believe, and shall be without them, if you do not believe. For

what is impossible for you by all the works of the law, which are many and yet useless, you

shall fulfil in an easy and summary way through faith; because God the Father has made

everything to depend on faith, so that whosoever has it, has all things, and he who has it not,

has nothing. "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon

all." (Rom. xi. 32.) Thus the promises of God give that which the precepts exact, and, fulfil

what the law commands; so that all is of God alone, both the precepts and their fulfilment.


He alone commands. He alone also fulfils. Hence the promises of God belong to the New

Testament; nay, are the New Testament.

Now since these promises of God are words of holiness, truth, righteousness, liberty, and

peace, and are full of universal goodness; the soul, which cleaves to them with a firm faith, is

so united to them, nay, thoroughly absorbed by them, that it not only partakes in, but is

penetrated and saturated by, all their virtue. For if the touch of Christ was healing, how much

more does that most tender spiritual touch, nay, absorption of the word, communicate to the

soul all that belongs to the word. In this way, therefore, the soul, through faith alone, [110]

without works, is from the word of God justified, sanctified, endued with truth, peace, and

liberty, and filled full with every good thing, and is truly made the child of God; as it is said:

"To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his

name." (John i. 12.) . . . .

Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless

of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its

husband Christ. Thus he presents to himself a glorious bride, without spot or wrinkle,

cleansing her with the washing of water by the word; that is, by faith in the word of life,

righteousness, and salvation. Thus he betrothes her unto [113] himself "in faithfulness, in

righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies." (Hosea ii. 19, 20.) . . .

. . . Hence all we who believe on Christ are kings and priests in Christ, as it is said: "Ye are a

chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew

forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." (1 Pet.

ii. 9.)

These two things stand thus. First, as regards kingship, [115] every Christian is by faith so

exalted above all things, that, in spiritual power, he is completely lord of all things; so that

nothing whatever can do him any hurt; yea, all things are subject to him, and are compelled

to be subservient to his salvation. Thus Paul says: "All things work together for good to them

who are the called" (Rom. viii. 28 ); and also; "Whether life, or death, or things present, or

things to come: all are yours; and ye are Christ's. (I Cor. iii. 22, 23.)

Not that in the sense of corporeal power any one among Christians has been appointed to

possess and rule all things, according to the mad and senseless idea of certain ecclesiastics.

That is the office of kings, princes, and men upon earth. In the experience of life we see that

we subjected to all things, and suffer many things, even death. Yea, the more of a Christian

any man is, to so many the more evils, sufferings, and deaths is he subject; as we see in the

first place in Christ the first-born, and in all His holy brethren.

This is a spiritual power, which rules in the midst of enemies, and is powerful in the midst of

distress. And this is nothing else than that strength is made perfect in my weakness, and that I

can turn all things to the profit of my salvation; so that even the cross and death are

compelled to serve me and to work together for my salvation. This is a lofty and eminent

dignity, a true and almighty dominion, a spiritual empire, in which there is nothing so good,

nothing so bad, as not to work together for my good, if only I believe. And yet there is


nothing of which I have need--for faith alone suffices for my salvation--unless that, in it, faith

may exercise the power and empire of its liberty. This is the inestimable power and liberty of

Christians.

Nor are we only kings and the freest of all men, but also priests for ever, a dignity far higher

than kinship, because by that priesthood we are worthy to appear before God, to pray for

others, and to teach one another mutually the things which are of God. For these are the

duties of priests, and they cannot possibly be permitted to any unbeliever. Christ has

obtained for us this favour, if we believe in Him, that, just as we are His brethren, and co-

heirs and fellow kings with Him, so we should be also fellow priests with Him, and venture

with confidence, through the spirit of faith, to come into the presence of God, [116] and cry

"Abba, Father! " and to pray for one another, and to do all things which we see done and

figured in the visible and corporeal office of priesthood. But to an unbelieving person nothing

renders service or works for good. He himself is in servitude to all things, and all things turn

out for evil to him, because he uses all things in an impious way for his own advantage. and

not for the glory of God. And thus he is not a priest, but a profane person, whose prayers are

turned into sin; nor does he ever appear in the presence of God, because God does not hear

sinners. . . .

From these considerations any one may clearly see how a Christian man is free from all

things; so that he needs no works in order to be justified and saved, but receives these gifts in

abundance from faith alone. Nay, were he so foolish as to pretend to be justified, set free,

saved, and made a Christian, by means of any good work, he would immediately lose faith

with all its benefits. . . .

Here you will ask: "If all who are in the Church are priests by what character are those,

whom we now call priests, to be distinguished from the laity? " I reply: By the use of these

words, "priest," "clergy," "spiritual person," "ecclesiastic," an injustice has been done, since they

have been transferred from the remaining body of Christians to those few, who are now, by

a hurtful custom, called ecclesiastics. For Holy Scripture makes no distinction between them,

except that those, who are now boastfully called popes, bishops, and lords, it calls ministers,

servants, and stewards, who are to serve the rest in the ministry of the Word, for teaching the

faith of Christ [117] and the liberty of believers. For though it is true that we are all equally

priests, yet we cannot, nor, if we could, ought we all to minister and teach publicly. Thus

Paul says "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the

mysteries of God." (1 Cor. iv. 1.)

This bad system has now issued in such a pompous display of power, and such a terrible

tyranny, that no earthly government can be compared to it, as if the laity were something

else than Christians. Through this perversion of things it has happened that the knowledge of

Christian grace, of faith, of liberty, and altogether of Christ, has utterly perished, and has

been succeeded by an intolerable bondage to human works and laws; and, according to the

Lamentations of Jeremiah, we have become the slaves of the vilest men on earth, who abuse

our misery to all the disgraceful and ignominious purposes of their own will. . . .


And now let us turn to the other part, to the outward man. . . . . Although, as I have said,

inwardly, and according to the spirit, a man is amply enough justified by faith, having all that

lie requires to have, except that this very faith and abundance ought to increase from day to

day, even till the future life; still he remains in this mortal life upon earth, in which it is

necessary that he should rule his own body, and have intercourse with men. Here then works

begin; here he must not take his ease; here he must give heed to exercise his body by fastings,

watchings, labour, and other moderate discipline, so that it may be subdued to the spirit, and

obey and conform itself to the inner man and faith, and not rebel against them nor hinder

them, as is its nature to do if it is not kept under. For the inner man, being conformed to

God, and created after the image of God through faith, rejoices and delights itself in Christ, in

whom such blessings have been conferred on it; and hence has only this task before it, to

serve God with joy and for naught in free love.

In doing this he offends that contrary will in his own flesh, which is striving to serve the

world, and to seek its own gratification. This the spirit of faith cannot and will not bear; but

applies itself with cheerfulness and zeal to keep it down and restrain it; as Paul says: "I delight

in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring

against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin." (Rom. vii. 22,

23.) And again: "I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lost that by any means,

when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (1 Cor. ix. 27.) And: "They

that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Gal. v. 24.) . . . . .

From all this it is easy to perceive on what principle good works are to be cast aside or

embraced, and by what rule all teachings put forth concerning works are to be understood.

For if works are brought forward as grounds of justification, and are done under the false

persuasion that we can pretend to be justified by them, they lay on us the yoke of necessity,

and extinguish liberty along with faith, and by this very addition to their use, they become no

longer good, but really worthy of condemnation. For such works are not free, but blaspheme

the grace of God, to which alone it belongs to justify and save through faith. Works cannot

accomplish this, and yet, with impious presumption, through our folly, they take it on

themselves to do so; and thus break in with violence upon the office and glory of grace.

We do not then reject good works; nay, we embrace them and teach them in the highest

degree. It is not on their own account that we condemn them, but on account of this impious

addition to them, and the perverse notion of seeking justification by them. These things cause

them to be only good in outward show, but in reality not good; since by them men are

deceived and deceive others, like ravening wolves in sheep's clothing.

Now this Leviathan, this perverted notion about works, is invincible, when sincere faith is

wanting. For those sanctified [124] doers of works cannot but hold it, till faith, which

destroys it, comes and reigns in the heart. Nature cannot expel it by her own power; nay,

cannot even see it for what it is, but considers it as a most holy will. And when custom steps

in besides, and strengthens this pravity of nature, as has happened by means of impious

teachers, then the evil is incurable, and leads astray multitudes to irreparable ruin. Therefore,

though it is good to preach and write about penitence, confession, and satisfaction, yet if, we

stop there, and do not go on to teach faith, such teaching is without doubt deceitful and


devilish. For Christ, speaking by His servant John, not only said : "Repent ye;" but added: "for

the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matt. iii. 2.) . . . .

Here is the truly Christian life; here is faith really working by love; when a man applies

himself with joy and love to the works of that freest servitude, in which he serves others

voluntarily and for naught; himself abundantly satisfied in the fulness and riches of his own

faith. . . .

Lo! my God, without merit on my part, of His pure and free mercy, has given to me, an

unworthy, condemned, and contemptible creature, all the riches of justification and salvation

in Christ, so that I no longer am in want of anything, except of faith to believe that this is so.

For such a Father then, who has overwhelmed me with these inestimable riches of His, why

should I not freely, cheerfully, and with my whole heart and from voluntary zeal, do all that

I know will be pleasing to Him, and acceptable in His sight? I will therefore give myself, as a

sort of Christ, to my neighbor, as Christ has given Himself to me; and will do nothing in this

life, except what I see will be needful, advantageous, and wholesome for my neighbor, since

by faith I abound in all good things in Christ.

Thus from faith flow forth love and joy in the Lord, and from love a cheerful, willing, free

spirit, disposed to serve our neighbor voluntarily, without taking any account of gratitude or

ingratitude, praise or blame, gain or loss. Its object is not to lay men under obligations, nor

does it distinguish between friends and enemies, or look to gratitude or ingratitude, but most

freely and willingly spends itself and its goods, whether it loses them through ingratitude, or

gains good will. For thus did its Father, distributing all things to all men abundantly and

freely; making His sun to rise upon the just and the unjust. . . . .

Who then can comprehend the riches and glory of the Christian life? It can do all things, has

all things, and is in want of nothing; is lord over sin, death, and hell, and at tile same time is

the obedient and useful servant of all. But alas! it is at this day unknown throughout the

world; it is neither preached nor sought after, so that we are quite ignorant about our own

name, why we are and are called Christians. We are certainly called so from Christ, who is

not absent, but dwells among us, provided, that is, that we believe in Him, and are

reciprocally and mutually one the Christ of the other, doing to our neighbor as Christ does to

us. But now, in the doctrine of men, we are taught only to seek after merits, rewards, and

things which are already ours, and we have made of Christ a taskmaster far more severe than

Moses. . . . .

Such are the works which Paul inculcated; that Christians should be subject to principalities

and powers, and ready to every good work (Tit. iii. 1); not that they may be justified by

these things, for they are already justified by faith, but that in liberty of spirit they may thus

be the servants of others, and subject to powers, obeying their will out of gratuitous love.

[130] Such too ought to have been the works of all colleges, monasteries, and priests; every

one doing the works of his own profession and state of life, not in order to be justified by

them, but in order to bring his own body into subjection, as an example to others, who

themselves also need to keep under their bodies; and also in order to accommodate himself


to the will of others, out of free love. But we must always guard most carefully against any

vain confidence or presumption of being justified, gaining merit, or being saved by these

works; this being the part of faith alone, as I have so often said.

Any man possessing this knowledge may easily keep clear of danger among those

innumerable commands and precepts of the Pope, of bishops, of monasteries, of churches, of

princes, and of magistrates, which some foolish pastors urge on us as being necessary for

justification and salvation, calling them precepts of the Church, when they are not so at all.

For the Christian freeman will speak thus: I will fast, I will pray, I will do this or that, which is

commanded me by men, not as having any need of these things for justification or salvation,

but that I may thus comply with the will of the Pope, of the bishop, of such a community or

such a magistrate, or of my neighbor as an example to him; for this cause I will do and suffer

all things, just as Christ did and suffered much more for me, though He needed not at all to

do so on His own account, and made Himself for my sake under the law, when he was not

under the law. And although tyrants may do me violence or wrong in requiring obedience to

these things, yet it will not hurt me to do them, so long as they are not done against God.

From all this every man will be able to attain a sure judgment and faithful discrimination

between all works and laws, and to know who are blind and foolish pastors, and who are

true and good ones. For whatsoever work is not directed to the sole end, either of keeping

under the body, or of doing service to our neighbor--provided he require nothing contrary to

the will of God--is no good or Christian work. Hence I greatly fear that at this day few or no

colleges, monasteries, altars, or ecclesiastical functions are Christian ones . . . .

We give this rule: the good things which we have from God ought to flow from one to

another, and become common to all, so that every one of us may, as it were, put on his

neighbor, and so behave towards him its if he were himself in his place. They flowed and do

flow from Christ to us; he put us on, and acted for us as if he himself were what we are.

From us they flow to those who have need of them; so that my faith and righteousness ought

to be laid down before God as a covering and intercession for the sins of my neighbor, which

I am to take on myself, and so labour and endure servitude in them, as if they were my own;

for thus has Christ done for us. This is true love and the genuine truth of Christian life. But

only there is it true and genuine, where there is true and genuine faith. . . . .

Finally, for the sake of those to whom nothing can be stated so well but that they

misunderstand and distort it, we must add a word, in case they can understand even that.

There are very many persons, who, when they hear of this liberty of faith, straightway turn it

into an occasion of licence. They think that everything is now lawful for them, and do not

choose to show themselves free men and Christians in any other way than by their contempt

and reprehension of ceremonies, of traditions of human laws; as if they were Christians

merely because they refuse to fast on stated days, or eat flesh when others fast, or omit the

customary prayers; scoffing at the precepts of men, but utterly passing over all the rest that

belongs to the Christian religion. On the other hand, they are most pertinaciously resisted by

those who strive after salvation solely by their observance of and reverence for ceremonies;

as if they would be saved merely because they fast on stated days, or abstain from flesh, or

make formal prayers talking loudly of the precepts of the Church and of the Fathers, and not


caring a straw about those things which belong to our genuine faith. Both these parties are

plainly culpable, in that, while they neglect matters which are of weight and necessary for

salvation, they contend noisily about such as are without weight and not necessary . . . .

It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but from the belief in works,

that is, from foolishly presuming to seek justification through works. Faith redeems our

consciences, makes them upright and preserves them, since by it we recognise the truth that

justification does not depend on our works, although good works neither can nor ought to

be wanting to it; just as we cannot exist without food and drink and all the functions of this

mortal body. Still it is not on them that our justification is based, but on faith; and yet they

ought not on that account to be despised or neglected. Thus in this world we are compelled

by the needs of this bodily life; but we are not hereby justified. "My kingdom is not hence,

nor of this world," says Christ; but He does not say: "My kingdom is not here, nor in this

world." Paul too says "Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh" (2 Cor. x.

3); and: "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." (Gal. ii.

20.) Thus our doings, life, and being, in works and ceremonies, are done from the necessities

of this life, and with the motive of governing our bodies; but yet we are not justified by these

things, but by the faith of the Son of God.

The Christian must therefore walk in the middle path, and met these two classes of men

before his eyes. He may meet with hardened and obstinate ceremonialists, who, like deaf

adders, refuse to listen to the truth of liberty, and cry up, enjoin, and urge on us their

ceremonies, as if they could justify us without faith. Such were the Jews of old, who would

not understand, that they might act well. These men we must resist, do just the contrary to

what they do, and be bold to give them offence; lest by this impious notion of theirs they

should [134] deceive many along with themselves. In the sight of these men it is expedient to

eat flesh, to break fasts, and to do in behalf of the liberty of faith things which they hold to

be the greatest sins. . . . . Christ defended the Apostles, who had plucked ears of corn on the

Sabbath day; and many like instances.

Or else we may meet with simple-minded and ignorant persons, weak in the faith, as the

Apostle calls them, who are as yet unable to apprehend that liberty of faith, even if willing to

do so. These we must spare, lest they should be offended. We must bear with their infirmity,

till they shall be more fully instructed. For since these men do not act thus from hardened

malice, but only from weakness of faith, therefore, in order to avoid giving them offence, we

must keep fasts and do other things which they consider necessary. This is required of us by

charity, which injures no one, but serves all men. It is not the fault of these persons that they

are weak, but that of their pastors, who by the snares and weapons of their own traditions

have brought them into bondage, and wounded their souls, when they ought to have been

set free and healed by the teaching of faith and liberty. . . .

Thus, though we ought boldly to resist those teachers of tradition, and though those laws of

the pontiffs, by which they make aggressions on the people of God, deserve sharp reproof,

yet we must spare the timid crowd, who are held captive by the laws of those impious

tyrants, till they are set free. Fight vigorously against the wolves, but on behalf of the sheep,

not against the sheep. And this you may do by inveighing against the laws and lawgivers, and


yet at the same time observing these laws with the weak, lest they be offended; until they

shall themselves recognise the tyranny as such, and understand their own liberty. If you wish

to use your liberty, [135] do it secretly, as Paul says: "Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before

God." (Rom. xiv. 22) But take care not to use it in the presence of the weak. On the other

hand, in the presence of tyrants and obstinate opposers, use your liberty in their despite, and

with, the utmost pertinacity, that they too may understand that they themselves are tyrants,

and their laws useless for justification; nay, that they had not right to establish such laws. . . .

Thus too we do not contemn works and ceremonies; nay, we set the highest value on them;

but we contemn the belief in works, which no one should consider to constitute true

righteousness; as do those hypocrites who employ and throw away their whole life in the

pursuit of works, and yet never attain to that for the sake of which the works are done. As

the Apostle says, they are "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the

truth." (2 Tim. iii. 7). They appear to wish to build, they make preparations, and yet they

never do build; and thus they continue in a show of godliness, but never attain to its power.

Meanwhile they please themselves with this zealous pursuit, and even dare to judge all

others, whom they do not see adorned with such a glittering display of works; while, if they

had been imbued with faith, they might have done great things for their [137] own and

others' salvation, at the same cost which they now waste in abuse of the gifts of God. But

since human nature and natural reason, as they call it, are naturally superstitious, and quick to

believe that justification can be attained by any laws or works proposed to them; and since

nature is also exercised and confirmed in the same view by the practice of all earthly

lawgivers, she can never, of her own power, free herself from this bondage to works, and

come to a recognition of the liberty of faith.

We have therefore need to pray that God will lead us, and make us taught of God, that is,

ready to learn from God; and will Himself, as He has promised, write His law in our hearts;

otherwise there is no hope for us. For unless He himself teach us inwardly this wisdom

hidden in a mystery, nature cannot but condemn it and judge it to be heretical. She takes

offence at it and it seems folly to her; just as we see that it happened of old in the case of the

prophets and apostles; and just as blind and impious pontiffs, with their flatterers, do now in

my case and that of those who are like me; upon whom, together with ourselves, may God

at length have mercy, and lift up the light of His countenance upon them, that we may know

His way upon earth and His saving health among all nations, Who is blessed for evermore.

Amen. In the year of the Lord MDXX.

[SOURCE: Excerpted from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/luther-freedomchristian.html]

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/luther-freedomchristian.html


John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536)

The second great Protestant reformer was John Calvin (1509-1564), who came a generation after

Luther. Calvin was born in France but spent the bulk of his career in Geneva (in modern-day

Switzerland), which he turned into a godly city that for a time, at least, was the marvel of Europe. As

a young man, Calvin studied law at the University of Paris, but was soon attracted to theology. In

1536, he wrote the Institutes of the Christian Religion, which contained the essentials of Calvinism, or

the Reformed Church. Calvinism had an enormous impact upon France and England in particular, and

influenced regions in Germany and Switzerland. Calvinism in its fully articulated form was dynamic—

in fact, by the end of the 16th century, Calvinism was spreading much more quickly than other forms of

Protestantism, such as Lutheranism. Some of North America’s first colonists, the Pilgrims, were

Calvinist, so that Calvinism in its Puritan form strongly influenced the early development of the British

North American colonies—those that would join together to become the United States of America.

[See Harold J. Grimm, The Reformation Era, 2nd

edition, New York: Macmillan, 1973]

John Calvin's great theological work, the Institutes of the Christian Religion was published, and

expanded, in a number of Latin and French editions. (In fact it was among the first serious texts to be

published in French). The first edition was published in 1536 and the final, definitive edition in 1559.

The text below is from the chapter on predestination. The emphasis on this doctrine (double

predestination) became one of the distinctive marks of Calvinism. [Source: Internet Modern History

Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/calvin-predest.html

THE covenant of life not being equally preached to all, and among those to whom it is

preached not always finding the same reception, this diversity discovers the wonderful depth

of the Divine judgment. Nor is it to be doubted that this variety also follows, subject to the

decision of God's eternal election. If it be evidently the result of the Divine will, that salvation

is freely offered to some, and others are prevented from attaining it--this immediately gives

rise to important and difficult questions, which are incapable of any other explication, than

by the establishment of pious minds in what ought to be received concerning election and

predestination--a question, in the opinion of many, full of perplexity; for they consider

nothing more unreasonable, than that, of the common mass of mankind, some should be

predestinated to salvation, and others to destruction. But how unreasonably they perplex

themselves will afterwards appear from the sequel of our discourse. Besides, the very

obscurity which excites such dread, not only displays the utility of this doctrine, but shows it

to be productive of the most delightful benefit. We shall never be clearly convinced as we

ought to be, that our salvation flows from the fountain of God's free mercy, till we are

acquainted with His eternal election, which illustrates the grace of God by this comparison,

that He adopts not all promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what He

refuses to others.

Ignorance of this principle evidently detracts from the Divine glory, and diminishes real

humility. But according to Paul, what is so necessary to be known, never can be known,

unless God, without any regard to works, chooses those whom He has decreed. "At this

present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then

it is no more of works; otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no

more grace; otherwise, work is no more work." If we need to be recalled to the origin of

election, to prove that we obtain salvation from no other source than the mere goodness of

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/calvin-predest.html


God, they who desire to extinguish this principle, do all they can to obscure what ought to

be magnificently and loudly celebrated, and to pluck up humility by the roots. In ascribing

the salvation of the remnant of the people to the election of grace, Paul clearly testifies, that

it is then only known that God saves whom upon which there can be no claim. They who

shut the gates to prevent anyone from presuming to approach and taste this doctrine, do no

less injury to man than to God; for nothing else will be sufficient to produce in us suitable

humility, or to impress us with a due sense of our great obligations to God. Nor is there any

other basis for solid confidence, even according to the authority of Christ, who, to deliver us

from all fear, and render us invincible amidst so many dangers, snares, and deadly conflicts,

promises to preserve in safety all whom the Father has committed to His care.

Whence we infer, that they who know not themselves to be God's peculiar people will be

tortured with continual anxiety; and therefore, that the interest of all believers, as well as

their own, is very badly consulted by those who, blind to the three advantages we have

remarked, would wholly remove the foundation of our salvation. And hence the Church rises

to our view, which otherwise, as Bernard justly observes, could neither be discovered nor

recognized among creatures, being in two respects wonderfully concealed in the bosom of a

blessed predestination, and in the mass of a miserable damnation. But before I enter on the

subject itself, I must address some preliminary observations to two sorts of persons. The

discussion of predestination--a subject of itself rather intricate--is made very perplexed, and

therefore dangerous, by human curiosity, which no barriers can restrain from wandering into

forbidden labyrinths, and soaring beyond its sphere, as if determined to leave none of the

Divine secrets unscrutinized or unexplored. As we see multitudes everywhere guilty of this

arrogance and presumption, and among them some who are not censurable in other respects,

it is proper to admonish them of the bounds of their duty on this subject. First, then, let them

remember that when they inquire into predestination, they penetrate the inmost recesses of

Divine wisdom, where the careless and confident intruder will obtain no satisfaction to his

curiosity, but will enter a labyrinth from which he will find no way to depart. For it is

unreasonable that man should scrutinize with impunity those things which the Lord has

determined to be hidden in himself; and investigate, even from eternity, that sublimity of

wisdom which God would have us to adore and not comprehend, to promote our

admiration of His glory. The secrets of His will which He determined to reveal to us, He

discovers in His word; and these are all that He foresaw would concern us or conduce to our

advantage.

II. "We are come into the way of faith," says Augustine; "let us constantly pursue it. It

conducts into the king's palace, in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and

knowledge. For the Lord Christ Himself envied not His great and most select disciples when

He said, 'I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.' We must talk,

we must improve, we must grow, that our hearts may be able to understand those things of

which we are at present incapable. If the last day finds us improving, we shall then learn

what we never could learn in the present state." If we only consider that the word of the

Lord is the only way to lead us to an investigation of all that ought to be believed concerning

Him, and the only light to enlighten us to behold all that ought to be seen of Him, this

consideration will easily restrain and preserve us from all presumption.


For we shall know that when we have exceeded the limits of the word, we shall get into a

devious and darksome course, in which errors, slips, and falls, will often be inevitable. Let us,

then, in the first place, bear in mind, that to desire any other knowledge of predestination

than what is unfolded in the word of God, indicates as great folly, as a wish to walk through

unpassable roads, or to see in the dark. Nor let us be ashamed to be ignorant of some things

relative to a subject in which there is a kind of learned ignorance. Rather let us abstain with

cheerfulness from the pursuit of that knowledge, the affectation of which is foolish,

dangerous, and even fatal. But if we are stimulated by the wantonness of intellect, we must

oppose it with a reflection calculated to repress it, that as "it is not good to eat much honey,

so for men to search their own glory, is not glory." For there is sufficient to deter us from that

presumption, which can only precipitate us into ruin.

III. Others, desirous of remedying this evil, will have all mention of predestination to be as it

were buried; they teach men to avoid every question concerning it as they would a precipice.

Though their moderation is to be commended, in judging that mysteries ought to be handled

with such great sobriety, yet, as they descend too low, they have little influence on the mind

of man, which refuses to submit to unreasonable restraints. To observe, therefore, the

legitimate boundary on this side also, we must recur to the word of the Lord, which affords a

certain rule for the understanding. For the Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which,

as nothing necessary and useful to be known is omitted, so nothing is taught which is not

beneficial to know. Whatever, therefore, is declared in the Scripture concerning

predestination, we must be cautious not to withhold from believers, lest we appear either to

defraud them of the favor of their God, or to reprove and censure the Holy Spirit for

publishing what it would be useful by any means to suppress. Let us, I say, permit the

Christian man to open his heart and his ears to all the discourses addressed to him by God,

only with this moderation, that as soon as the Lord closes his sacred mouth, he shall also

desist from further inquiry. This will be the best barrier of sobriety, if in learning we not only

follow the leadings of God, but as soon as he ceases to teach, we give up our desire of

learning. Nor is the danger they dread, sufficient to divert our attention from the oracles of

God. It is a celebrated observation of Solomon, that "it is the glory of God to conceal a

thing." But, as both piety and common sense suggest that this is not to be understood

generally of every thing, we must seek for the proper distinction, lest we content ourselves

with brutish ignorance under the pretext of modesty and sobriety. Now, this distinction is

clearly expressed in a few words by Moses: "The secret things," he says, "belong unto the Lord

our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children forever,

that we may do all the words of this law." For we see how he enforces on the people

attention to the doctrine of the law only by the celestial decree, because it pleased God to

promulgate it; and restrains the same people within those limits with this single reason, that it

is not lawful for mortals to intrude into the secrets of God.

IV. Profane persons, I confess, suddenly lay hold of something relating to the subject of

predestination, to furnish occasion for objections, cavils, reproaches, and ridicule. But if we

are frightened from it by their impudence, all the principal articles of the faith must be

concealed, for there is scarcely one of them which such persons as these leave unviolated by

blasphemy. The refractory mind will discover as much insolence, on hearing that there are

three persons in the Divine essence, as on being told, that when God created man, He


foresaw what would happen concerning him. Nor will they refrain from derision on being

informed that little more than five thousand years have elapsed since the creation of the

world. They will ask why the power of God was so long idle and asleep. Nothing can be

advanced which they will not endeavor to ridicule. Must we, in order to check these

sacrileges, say nothing of the Divinity of the Son and Spirit, or pass over in silence the

creation of the world? In this instance, and every other, the truth of God is too powerful to

dread the detraction of impious men; as is strenuously maintained by Augustine, in his treatise

on the Perseverance of the Faithful. We see the false apostles, with all their defamation and

accusation of the true doctrine of Paul, could never succeed to make him ashamed of it. Their

assertion, that all this discussion is dangerous to pious minds, because it is inconsistent with

exhortations, shakes their faith, and disturbs and discourages the heart itself, is without any

foundation. Augustine admits, that he was frequently blamed, on these accounts, for

preaching predestination too freely; but he readily and amply refutes them.

But as many and various absurdities are crowded upon us here, we prefer reserving every

one to be refuted in its proper place. I only desire this general admission, that we should

neither scrutinize those things which the Lord has left concealed, nor neglect those which He

has openly exhibited, lest we be condemned for excessive curiosity on the one hand, or for

ingratitude on the other. For it is judiciously remarked by Augustine, that we may safely

follow the Scripture, which proceeds as with the pace of a mother stooping to the weakness

of a child; that it may not leave our weak capacities behind. But persons who are so cautious

or timid, as to wish predestination to be buried in silence, lest feeble minds should be

disturbed, with what pretext, I ask, will they gloss over their arrogance, which indirectly

charges God with foolish inadvertency, as though He foresaw not the danger which they

suppose they have had the penetration to discover. Whoever, therefore, endeavors to raise

prejudices against the doctrine of predestination, openly reproaches God, as though

something had inconsiderately escaped from Him that is pernicious to the Church.

V. Predestination, by which God adopts some to the hope of life, and adjudges others to

eternal death, no one, desirous of the credit of piety, dares absolutely to deny. But it is

involved in many cavils, especially by those who make foreknowledge the cause of it. We

maintain, that both belong to God; but it is preposterous to represent one as dependent on

the other. When we attribute foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things have ever

been, and perpetually remain, before His eyes, so that to His knowledge nothing in future or

past, but all things are present; and present in such a manner, that He does not merely

conceive of them from ideas formed in His mind, as things remembered by us appear present

to our minds, but really beholds and sees them as if actually placed before Him. And this

foreknowledge extends to the whole world, and to all the creatures. Predestination we call

the eternal decree of God, by which He has determined in Himself what would have to

become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny;

but eternal life is fore-ordained for some, and eternal damnation for others. Every man,

therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say, he is predestinated either

to life or to death. This God has not only testified in particular persons, but has given a

specimen of it in the whole posterity of Abraham, which should evidently show the future

condition of every nation to depend upon His decision. "When the Most High divided the


nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, the Lord's portion was His people; Jacob was

the lot of His inheritance."

The separation is before the eyes of all: in the person of Abraham, as in the dry trunk of a

tree, one people is peculiarly chosen to the rejection of others: no reason for this appears,

except that Moses, to deprive their posterity of all occasion of glorying, teaches them that

their exaltation is wholly from God's gratuitous love. He assigns this reason for their

deliverance, that "He loved their fathers, and chose their seed after them." More fully in

another chapter: "The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were

more in number than any people; but because the Lord loved you." He frequently repeats the

same admonition: "Behold, the heaven is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that

therein is. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed

after them." In another place, sanctification is enjoined upon them, because they were chosen

to be a peculiar people. And again, elsewhere, love is asserted to be the cause of their

protection. It is declared by the united voice of the faithful, "He hath chosen our inheritance

for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom He loved." For the gifts conferred on them by God,

they all ascribe to gratuitous love, not only from a consciousness that these were not

obtained by any merit of theirs, but from a conviction, that the holy patriarch himself was

not endued with such excellence as to acquire the privilege of so great an honor for himself

and his posterity. And the more effectually to demolish all pride, he reproaches them with

having deserved no favor, being "a stiff-necked and rebellious people." The prophets also

frequently reproach the Jews with the unwelcome mention of this election, because they had

shamefully departed from it. Let them, however, now come forward, who wish to restrict the

election of God to the desert of men, or the merit of works. When they see one nation

preferred to all others--when they hear that God had no inducement to be more favorable to

a few, and ignoble, and even disobedient and obstinate people--will they quarrel with him

because he has chosen to give such an example of mercy? But their obstreperous clamors will

not impede this work, nor will the reproaches they hurl against Heaven, injure or affect his

justice; they will rather recoil upon their own heads. Lo, this principle of the gracious

covenant, the Israelites are also recalled whenever thanks are to be rendered to God, or their

hopes are to be raised for futurity. "He hath made us, and not we ourselves," says the

Psalmist: "we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." It is not without reason that the

negation is added, "not we ourselves," that they may know that of all the benefits they enjoy,

God is not only the Author, but derived the cause from Himself, there being nothing in them

deserving of such great honor. He also enjoins them to be content with the mere good

pleasure of God, in these words: "O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His

chosen." And after having recounted the continual benefits bestowed by God as fruits of

election, he at length concludes that He had acted with such liberality, "because He

remembered His covenant."

Consistent with this doctrine is the song of the whole Church: "Thy right hand, and Thine

arm, and the light of Thy countenance, gave our fathers the land, because Thou hadst a favor

unto them." It must be observed that where mention is made of the land, it is a visible

symbol of the secret separation, which comprehends adoption. David, in another place,

exhorts the people to the same gratitude: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and

the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance." Samuel animates to a good


hope: "The Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake; because it hath

pleased the Lord to make you His people." David, when his faith is assailed, thus arms himself

for the conflict: "Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach unto

Thee; he shall dwell in Thy courts." But since the election hidden in God has been confirmed

by the first deliverance, as well as by the second and other intermediate blessings, the word

choose is transferred to it in Isaiah: "The Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose

Israel"; because, contemplating a future period, He declares that the collection of the residue

of the people, whom He had appeared to have forsaken, would be a sign of the stable and

sure election, which had likewise seemed to fail. When He says also, in another place, "I have

chosen thee, and not cast thee away," He commends the continual course of His signal

liberality and paternal benevolence. The angel, in Zachariah, speaks more plainly: "The Lord

shall choose Jerusalem again"; as though His severe chastisement had been a rejection, or

their exile had been an interruption of election; which, nevertheless, remains inviolable,

though the tokens of it are not always visible.

VI. We must now proceed to a second degree of election, still more restricted, or that in

which the Divine grace was displayed in a more special manner, when of the same race of

Abraham God rejected some, and by nourishing others in the Church, proved that He

retained them among His children. Israel at first obtained the same station as his brother

Isaac, for the spiritual covenant was equally sealed in him by the symbol of circumcision. He

is cut off; afterwards Esau; lastly, an innumerable multitude, and almost all Israel. In Isaac the

seed was called; the same calling continued in Jacob. God exhibited a similar example in the

rejection of Saul, which is magnificently celebrated by the Psalmist: "He refused the tabernacle

of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah ;" and this the

sacred history frequently repeats, that the wonderful secret of Divine grace may be more

manifest in that change. I grant, it was by their own crime and guilt that Ishmael, Esau, and

persons of similar characters, fell from the adoption; because the condition annexed was, that

they should faithfully keep the covenant of God, which they perfidiously violated. Yet it was

a peculiar favor of God, that He deigned to prefer them to other nations; as it is said in the

Psalms: "He hath not dealt so with any nation; and so for His judgments, they have not

known them." But I have justly said that here are two degrees to be remarked; for in the

election of the whole nation, God has already shown that in His mere goodness He is bound

by no laws, but is perfectly free, so that none can require of Him an equal distribution of

grace, the inequality of which demonstrates it to be truly gratuitous. Therefore Malachi

aggravates the ingratitude of Israel, because, though not only elected out of the whole race of

mankind, but also separated from a sacred family to be a peculiar people, they perfidiously

and impiously despised God their most beneficent Father. "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?

saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau." For God takes it for granted, since both

were sons of a holy father, successors of the covenant, and branches from a sacred root, that

the children of Jacob were already laid under more than common obligations by their

admission to that honor; but Esau, the first-born, having been rejected, and their father,

though inferior by birth, having been made the heir, He proves them guilty of double

ingratitude, and complains of their violating this two-fold claim.

VII. Though it is sufficiently clear, that God, in his secret counsel, freely chooses whom He

wills, and rejects others, His gratuitous election is but half displayed till we come to particular


individuals, to whom God not only offers salvation, but assigns it in such a manner, that the

certainty of the effect is liable to no suspense or doubt. These are included in that one seed

mentioned by Paul; for though the adoption was deposited in the hand of Abraham, yet

many of his posterity being cut off as putrid members, in order to maintain the efficacy and

stability of election, it is necessary to ascend to the head, in whom their heavenly Father has

bound His elect to each other, and united them to Himself by an indissoluble bond. Thus the

adoption of the family of Abraham displayed the favor of God, which He denied to others;

but in the members of Christ there is a conspicuous exhibition of the superior efficacy of

grace; because, being united to their head, they never fail of salvation. Paul, therefore, justly

reasons from the passage of Malachi which I have just quoted, that where God, introducing

the covenant of eternal life, invites any people to Himself, there is a peculiar kind of election

as to part of them, so that he does not efficaciously choose all with indiscriminate grace. The

declaration, "Jacob have I loved," respects the whole posterity of the patriarch, whom the

prophet there opposes to the descendants of Esau.

Yet this is no objection to our having in the person of one individual a specimen of the

election, which can never fail of attaining its full effect. These, who truly belong to Christ,

Paul correctly observes, are called "a remnant"; for experience proves, that of a great

multitude the most part fall away and disappear, so that often only a small portion remains.

That the general election of a people is not always effectual and permanent, a reason readily

presents itself, because, when God covenants with them, He does not also give the spirit of

regeneration to enable them to preserve in the covenant to the end; but the eternal call,

without the internal efficacy of grace. which would be sufficient for their preservation, is a

kind of medium between the rejection of all mankind and the election of the small number of

believers. The whole nation of Israel was called "God's inheritance," though many of them

were strangers; but God, having firmly covenanted to their Father and Redeemer, regards

that gratuitous favor rather than the defection of multitudes; by whom His truth was not

violated, because His preservation of a certain remnant to Himself, made it evident that His

calling was without repentance. For God's collection of a Church for himself, from time to

time, from the children of Abraham, rather than from the profane nations, was in

consideration of his covenant, which, being violated by the multitude, He restricted to a few,

to prevent a total failure. Lastly, the general adoption of the seed of Abraham was a visible

representation of a greater blessing, which God conferred on the few out of the multitude.

This is the reason that Paul so carefully distinguishes the descendants of Abraham according to

the flesh, from His spiritual children called after the example of Isaac. Not that the mere

descent from Abraham was a vain and unprofitable thing, which could not be asserted

without depreciating the covenant; but because to the latter alone the immutable counsel of

God, in which He predestinated whom He would, was of itself effectual to salvation. But I

advise my readers to adopt no prejudice on either side, till it shall appear from adduced

passages of Scripture what sentiments ought to be entertained. In conformity, therefore, to

the clear doctrine of the Scripture, we assert, that by an eternal and immutable counsel, God

has once for all determined, both whom He would admit to salvation, and whom He would

condemn to destruction. We affirm that this counsel, as far as concerns the elect, is founded

on His gratuitous mercy, totally irrespective of human merit; but that to those whom He

devotes to condemnation, the gate of life is closed by a just and irreprehensible, but


incomprehensible, judgment. In the elect, we consider calling as an evidence of election, and

justification as another token of its manifestation, till they arrive in glory, which constitutes its

completion. As God seals His elect by vocation and justification, so by excluding the

reprobate from the knowledge of His name and the sanctification of His Spirit, He affords an

indication of the judgment that awaits them. Here I shall pass over many fictions fabricated

by foolish men to overthrow predestination. It is unnecessary to refute things which, as soon

as they are advanced, sufficiently prove their own falsehood. I shall dwell only on these

things which are subjects of controversy among the learned, or which may occasion difficulty

to simple minds, or which impiety speciously pleads in order to stigmatize the Divine justice.

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/calvin-

predest.html]

Council of Trent, 6th session (on justification) (c. 1560)

The Catholic Church called the 19th ecumenical council, which met at Trent from 1545 to 1563. The

Council of Trent did two things: first, it examined problems, abuses and corruptions in the Church and

instituted reforms in an attempt to correct them; second, it examined, explicated and clarified Catholic

doctrine on any number of issues, so that Catholicism before Trent was in many very different than

Catholicism after Trent. [See Harold J. Grimm, The Reformation Era, 2nd

edition, New York:

Macmillan, 1973]

DECREE ON JUSTIFICATION

Whereas there is, at this time, not without the shipwreck of many souls, and grievous

detriment to the unity of the Church, a certain erroneous doctrine disseminated touching

Justification; the sacred and holy, oecumenical and general Synod of Trent, lawfully

assembled in the Holy Ghost--the most reverend lords, Giammaria del Monte, bishop of

Palaestrina, and Marcellus of the title of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, priest, cardinals of the

holy Roman Church, and legates apostolic a latere, presiding therein, in the name of our most

holy father and lord in Christ, Paul III., by the providence of God, Pope--purposes, unto the

praise and glory of Almighty God, the tranquillising of the Church, and the salvation of souls,

to expound to all the faithful of Christ the true and sound doctrine touching the said

Justification; which (doctrine) the sun of justice, Christ Jesus, the author and finisher of our

faith, taught, which the apostles transmitted, and which the Catholic Church, the Holy Ghost

reminding her thereof, has always retained; most strictly forbidding that any henceforth




presume to believe, preach, or teach, otherwise than as by this present decree is defined and

declared.

CHAPTER I. On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to justify man.

The holy Synod declares first, that, for the correct and sound understanding of the doctrine of

Justification, it is necessary that each one recognise and confess, that, whereas all men had

lost their innocence in the prevarication of Adam--having become unclean, and, as the

apostle says, by nature children of wrath, as (this Synod) has set forth in the decree on

original sin--they were so far the servants of sin, and under the power of the devil and of

death, that not the Gentiles only by the force of nature, but not even the Jews by the very

letter itself of the law of Moses, were able to be liberated, or to arise, therefrom; although

free will, attenuated as it was in its powers, and bent down, was by no means extinguished in

them.

CHAPTER II. On the dispensation and mystery of Christ's advent.

Whence it came to pass, that the heavenly Father, the father of mercies and the God of all

comfort, when that blessed fullness of the time was come, sent unto men, Jesus Christ, His

own Son--who had been, both before the Law, and during the time of the Law, to many of

the holy fathers announced and promised--that He might both redeem the Jews who were

under the Law, and that the Gentiles, who followed not after justice, might attain to justice,

and that all men might receive the adoption as sons. Him God hath proposed as a

propitiator, through faith in his blood, for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for

those of the whole world.

CHAPTER III. Who are justified through Christ.

But, though He died for all, yet do not all receive the benefit of His death, but those only

unto whom the merit of His passion is communicated. For as in truth men, if they were not

born propagated of the seed of Adam, would not be born unjust--seeing that, by that

propagation, they contract through him, when they are conceived, injustice as their own--so,

if they were not born again in Christ, they never would be justified; seeing that, in that new

birth, there is bestowed upon them, through the merit of His passion, the grace whereby they

are made just. For this benefit the apostle exhorts us evermore to give thanks to the Father,

who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, and hath delivered

us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of the Son of his

love, in whom we have redemption, and remission of sins.

CHAPTER IV. A description is introduced of the Justification of the impious, and of the

Manner thereof under the law of grace.

By which words, a description of the Justification of the impious is indicated, as being a

translation, from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of

grace, and of the adoption of the sons of God, through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our

Saviour. And this translation, since the promulgation of the Gospel, cannot be effected,


without the laver of regeneration, or the desire thereof, as it is written: unless a man be born

again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.

CHAPTER V. On the necessity, in adults, of preparation for Justification, and whence it

proceeds.

The Synod furthermore declares, that in adults, the beginning of the said Justification is to be

derived from the prevenient grace of God, through Jesus Christ, that is to say, from His

vocation, whereby, without any merits existing on their parts, they are called; that so they,

who by sins were alienated from God, may be disposed through His quickening and assisting

grace, to convert themselves to their own justification, by freely assenting to and co-

operating with that said grace: in such sort that, while God touches the heart of man by the

illumination of the Holy Ghost, neither is man himself utterly without doing anything while

he receives that inspiration, forasmuch as he is also able to reject it; yet is he not able, by his

own free will, without the grace of God, to move himself unto justice in His sight. Whence,

when it is said in the sacred writings: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you, we are

admonished of our liberty; and when we answer: ‘Convert us, O Lord, to thee, and we shall

be converted,’ we confess that we are prevented by the grace of God.

CHAPTER VI. The manner of Preparation.

Now they (adults) are disposed unto the said justice, when, excited and assisted by divine

grace, conceiving faith by hearing, they are freely moved towards God, believing those things

to be true which God has revealed and promised, and this especially, that God justifies the

impious by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; and when,

understanding themselves to be sinners, they, by turning themselves, from the fear of divine

justice whereby they are profitably agitated, to consider the mercy of God, are raised unto

hope, confiding that God will be propitious to them for Christ's sake; and they begin to love

Him as the fountain of all justice; and are therefore moved against sins by a certain hatred

and detestation, to wit, by that penitence which must be performed before baptism: lastly,

when they purpose to receive baptism, to begin a new life, and to keep the commandments

of God. Concerning this disposition it is written: He that cometh to God, must believe that he

is, and is a rewarder to them that seek him; and, Be of good faith, son, thy sins are forgiven

thee; and, The fear of the Lord driveth out sin; and, Do penance, and be baptized every one

of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the

gift of the Holy Ghost; and, Going, therefore, teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the

name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; finally, Prepare your hearts unto

the Lord.

CHAPTER VII. What the justification of the impious is, and what are the causes thereof.

This disposition, or preparation, is followed by Justification itself, which is not remission of

sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary

reception of the grace, and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just, and of an

enemy a friend, that so he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting.


Of this Justification the causes are these: the final cause indeed is the glory of God and of

Jesus Christ, and life everlasting; while the efficient cause is a merciful God who washes and

sanctifies gratuitously, signing, and anointing with the holy Spirit of promise, who is the

pledge of our inheritance; but the meritorious cause is His most beloved only-begotten, our

Lord Jesus Christ, who, when we were enemies, for the exceeding charity wherewith he

loved us, merited Justification for us by His most holy Passion on the wood of the cross, and

made satisfaction for us unto God the Father; the instrumental cause is the sacrament of

baptism, which is the sacrament of faith, without which (faith) no man was ever justified;

lastly, the alone formal cause is the justice of God, not that whereby He Himself is just, but

that whereby He maketh us just, that, to wit, with which we being endowed by Him, are

renewed in the spirit of our mind, and we are not only reputed, but are truly called, and are,

just, receiving justice within us, each one according to his own measure, which the Holy

Ghost distributes to every one as He wills, and according to each one's proper disposition

and co-operation. For, although no one can be just, but he to whom the merits of the

Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ are communicated, yet is this done in the said justification of

the impious, when by the merit of that same most holy Passion, the charity of God is poured

forth, by the Holy Spirit, in the hearts of those that are justified, and is inherent therein:

whence, man, through Jesus Christ, in whom he is ingrafted, receives, in the said justification,

together with the remission of sins, all these (gifts) infused at once, faith, hope, and charity.

For faith, unless hope and charity be added thereto, neither unites man perfectly with Christ,

nor makes him a living member of His body. For which reason it is most truly said, that Faith

without works is dead and profitless; and, In Christ Jesus neither circumcision, availeth

anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by charity. This faith, Catechumen's

beg of the Church--agreeably to a tradition of the apostles--previously to the sacrament of

Baptism; when they beg for the faith which bestows life everlasting, which, without hope and

charity, faith cannot bestow: whence also do they immediately hear that word of Christ; If

thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. Wherefore, when receiving true and

Christian justice, they are bidden, immediately on being born again, to preserve it pure and

spotless, as the first robe given them through Jesus Christ in lieu of that which Adam, by his

disobedience, lost for himself and for us, that so they may bear it before the judgment-seat of

our Lord Jesus Christ, and may have life everlasting.

CHAPTER VIII. In what manner it is to be understood, that the impious is justified by faith,

and gratuitously.

And whereas the Apostle saith, that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be

understood in that sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church hath held and

expressed; to wit, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the

beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification; without

which it is impossible to please God, and to come unto the fellowship of His sons: but we are

therefore said to be justified freely, because that none of those things which precede

justification--whether faith or works--merit the grace itself of justification. For, if it be a grace,

it is not now by works, otherwise, as the same Apostle says, grace is no more grace.


CHAPTER IX. Against the vain confidence of Heretics.

But, although it is necessary to believe that sins neither are remitted, nor ever were remitted

save gratuitously by the mercy of God for Christ's sake; yet is it not to be said, that sins are

forgiven, or have been forgiven, to any one who boasts of his confidence and certainty of the

remission of his sins, and rests on that alone; seeing that it may exist, yea does in our day

exist, amongst heretics and schismatics; and with great vehemence is this vain confidence, and

one alien from all godliness, preached up in opposition to the Catholic Church. But neither is

this to be asserted, that they who are truly justified must needs, without any doubting

whatever, settle within themselves that they are justified, and that no one is absolved from

sins and justified, but he that believes for certain that he is absolved and justified; and that

absolution and justification are effected by this faith alone: as though whoso has not this

belief, doubts of the promises of God, and of the efficacy of the death and resurrection of

Christ. For even as no pious person ought to doubt of the mercy of God, of the merit of

Christ, and of the virtue and efficacy of the sacraments, even so each one, when he regards

himself, and his own weakness and indisposition, may have fear and apprehension touching

his own grace; seeing that no one can know with a certainty of faith, which cannot be subject

to error, that he has obtained the grace of God.

CHAPTER X. On the increase of Justification received.

Having, therefore, been thus justified, and made the friends and domestics of God, advancing

from virtue to virtue, they are renewed, as the Apostle says, day by day; that is, by

mortifying the members of their own flesh, and by presenting them as instruments of justice

unto sanctification, they, through the observance of the commandments of God and of the

Church, faith co-operating with good works, increase in that justice which they have received

through the grace of Christ, and are still further justified, as it is written; He that is just, let

him be justified still; and again, Be not afraid to be justified even to death; and also, Do you

see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. And this increase of justification

holy Church begs, when she prays, "Give unto us, O Lord, increase of faith, hope, and

charity."

CHAPTER XI. On keeping the Commandments, and on the necessity and possibility thereof.

But no one, how much soever justified, ought to think himself exempt from the observance

of the commandments; no one ought to make use of that rash saying, one prohibited by the

Fathers under an anathema, that the observance of the commandments of God is impossible

for one that is justified. For God commands not impossibilities, but, by commanding, both

admonishes thee to do what thou are able, and to pray for what thou art not able (to do),

and aids thee that thou mayest be able; whose commandments are not heavy; whose yoke is

sweet and whose burthen light. For, whoso are the sons of God, love Christ; but they who

love him, keep his commandments, as Himself testifies; which, assuredly, with the divine

help, they can do. For, although, during this mortal life, men, how holy and just soever, at

times fall into at least light and daily sins, which are also called venial, not therefore do they

cease to be just. For that cry of the just, Forgive us our trespasses, is both humble and true.

And for this cause, the just themselves ought to feel themselves the more obligated to walk in


the way of justice, in that, being already freed from sins, but made servants of God, they are

able, living soberly, justly, and godly, to proceed onwards through Jesus Christ, by whom

they have had access unto this grace. For God forsakes not those who have been once

justified by His grace, unless he be first forsaken by them. Wherefore, no one ought to flatter

himself up with faith alone, fancying that by faith alone he is made an heir, and will obtain

the inheritance, even though he suffer not with Christ, that so he may be also glorified with

him. For even Christ Himself, as the Apostle saith, Whereas he was the son of God, learned

obedience by the things which he suffered, and being consummated, he became, to all who

obey him, the cause of eternal salvation. For which cause the same Apostle admonishes the

justified, saying: Know you not that they that run in the race, all run indeed, but one

receiveth the prize? So run that you may obtain. I therefore so run, not as at an uncertainty: I

so fight, not as one beating the air, but I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection; lest

perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become a cast-away. So also the

prince of the apostles, Peter: Labour the more that by good works you may make sure your

calling and election. For doing those things, you shall not sin at any time. From which it is

plain, that those are opposed to the orthodox doctrine of religion, who assert that the just

man sins, venially at least, in every good work; or, which is yet more insupportable, that he

merits eternal punishments; as also those who state, that the just sin in all their works, if, in

those works, they, together with this aim principally that God may be gloried, have in view

also the eternal reward, in order to excite their sloth, and to encourage themselves to run in

the course: whereas it is written, I have inclined my heart to do all thy justifications for the

reward: and, concerning Moses, the Apostle saith, that he looked unto the reward.

CHAPTER XII. That a rash presumptuousness in the matter of Predestination is to be

avoided.

No one, moreover, so long as he is in this mortal life, ought so far to presume as regards the

secret mystery of divine predestination, as to determine for certain that he is assuredly in the

number of the predestinate; as if it were true, that he that is justified, either cannot sin any

more, or, if he do sin, that he ought to promise himself an assured repentance; for except by

special revelation, it cannot be known whom God hath chosen unto Himself.

CHAPTER XIII. On the gift of Perseverance.

So also as regards the gift of perseverance, of which it is written, He that shall persevere to

the end, he shall be saved--which gift cannot be derived from any other but Him, who is able

to establish him who standeth that he stand perseveringly, and to restore him who falleth--let

no one herein promise himself any thing as certain with an absolute certainty; though all

ought to place and repose a most firm hope in God's help. For God, unless men be

themselves wanting to His grace, as he has begun the good work, so will he perfect it,

working (in them) to will and to accomplish. Nevertheless, let those who think themselves to

stand, take heed lest they fall, and, with fear and trembling work out their salvation, in

labours, in watchings, in almsdeeds, in prayers and oblations, in fastings and chastity: for,

knowing that they are born again unto a hope of glory, but not as yet unto glory, they ought

to fear for the combat which yet remains with the flesh, with the world, with the devil,

wherein they cannot be victorious, unless they be with God's grace, obedient to the Apostle,


who says: We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh; for if you live

according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh,

you shall live.

CHAPTER XIV. On the fallen, and their restoration.

As regards those who, by sin, have fallen from the received grace of Justification, they may be

again justified, when, God exciting them, through the sacrament of Penance they shall have

attained to the recovery, by the merit of Christ, of the grace lost: for this manner of

Justification is of the fallen the reparation: which the holy Fathers have aptly called a second

plank after the shipwreck of grace lost. For, on behalf of those who fall into sins after

baptism, Christ Jesus instituted the sacrament of Penance, when He said, Receive ye the Holy

Ghost, whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain,

they are retained. Whence it is to be taught, that the penitence of a Christian, after his fall, is

very different from that at (his) baptism; and that therein are included not only a cessation

from sins, and a detestation thereof, or, a contrite and humble heart, but also the sacramental

confession of the said sins--at least in desire, and to be made in its season--and sacerdotal

absolution; and likewise satisfaction by fasts, alms, prayers, and the other pious exercises of a

spiritual life; not indeed for the eternal punishment, which is, together with the guilt,

remitted, either by the sacrament, or by the desire of the sacrament, but for the temporal

punishment, which, as the sacred writings teach, is not always wholly remitted, as is done in

baptism, to those who, ungrateful to the grace of God which they have received, have

grieved the Holy Spirit, and have not feared to violate the temple of God. Concerning which

penitence it is written: Be mindful whence thou art fallen; do penance, and do the first

works. And again: The sorrow that is according to God worketh penance steadfast unto

salvation. And again: Do penance, and bring forth fruits worthy of penance.

CHAPTER XV. That, by every mortal sin, grace is lost, but not faith.

In opposition also to the subtle wits of certain men, who, by pleasing speeches and good

words, seduce the hearts of the innocent, it is to be maintained, that the received grace of

Justification is lost, not only by infidelity whereby even faith itself is lost, but also by any

other mortal sin whatever, though faith be not lost; thus defending the doctrine of the divine

law, which excludes from the kingdom of God not only the unbelieving, but the faithful also

(who are) fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, liers with mankind, thieves, covetous,

drunkards, railers, extortioners, and all others who commit deadly sins; from which, with the

help of divine grace, they can refrain, and on account of which they are separated from the

grace of Christ.

CHAPTER XVI. On the fruit of Justification, that is, on the merit of good works, and on the

nature of that merit.

Before men, therefore, who have been justified in this manner, whether they have preserved

uninterruptedly the grace received, or whether they have recovered it when lost, are to be

set the words of the Apostle: Abound in every good work, knowing that your labour is not

in vain in the Lord; for God is not unjust, that he should forget your work, and the love


which you have shown in his name; and, do not lose your confidence, which hath a great

reward. And, for this cause, life eternal is to be proposed to those working well unto the end,

and hoping in God, both as a grace mercifully promised to the sons of God through Jesus

Christ, and as a reward which is according to the promise of God Himself, to be faithfully

rendered to their good works and merits. For this is that crown of justice which the Apostle

declared was, after his fight and course, laid up for him, to be rendered to him by the just

judge, and not only to him, but also to all that love his coming. For, whereas Jesus Christ

Himself continually infuses his virtue into the said justified--as the head into the members, and

the vine into the branches--and this virtue always precedes and accompanies and follows their

good works, which without it could not in any wise be pleasing and meritorious before God,

we must believe that nothing further is wanting to the justified, to prevent their being

accounted to have, by those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the

divine law according to the state of this life, and to have truly merited eternal life, to be

obtained also in its (due) time, if so be, however, that they depart in grace: seeing that Christ,

our Saviour, saith: If any one shall drink of the water that I will give him, he shall not thirst

for ever; but it shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto life everlasting.

Thus, neither is our own justice established as our own as from ourselves; nor is the justice of

God ignored or repudiated: for that justice which is called ours, because that we are justified

from its being inherent in us, that same is (the justice) of God, because that it is infused into us

of God, through the merit of Christ. Neither is this to be omitted, that although, in the sacred

writings, so much is attributed to good works, that Christ promises, that even he that shall

give a drink of cold water to one of his least ones, shall not lose his reward; and the Apostle

testifies that, That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us

above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; nevertheless God forbid that a

Christian should either trust or glory in himself, and not in the Lord, whose bounty towards

all men is so great, that He will have the things which are His own gifts be their merits. And

forasmuch as in many things we all offend, each one ought to have before his eyes, as well

the severity and judgment, as the mercy and goodness (of God); neither ought any one to

judge himself, even though he be not conscious to himself of anything; because the whole life

of man is to be examined and judged, not by the judgment of man, but of God, who will

bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts,

and then shall every man have praise from God, who, as it is written, will render to every

man according to his works. After this Catholic doctrine on Justification, which whoso

receiveth not faithfully and firmly cannot be justified, it hath seemed good to the holy Synod

to subjoin these canons, that all may know not only what they ought to hold and follow, but

also what to avoid and shun.

[SOURCE: Hanover Historical Texts Project, http://history.hanover.edu/early/trent/ct06d1.htm]

http://history.hanover.edu/early/trent/ct06d1.htm


Tridentine Creed (1564)

Based upon the work of the Council of Trent, which clarified Catholic doctrine, religious practices and

beliefs, the Catholic Church devised the Tridentine Creed. In the latter half of the 16th century,

Catholics were required to state their faith using the words of the Tridentine Creed, even as Protestants

were required by their respective authorities to state their faith using various creeds, such as the

Augsburg Confession for Lutherans. [See Harold J. Grimm, The Reformation Era, 2nd

edition, New

York: Macmillan, 1973]

From the bull Injunction Nobis, promulgated by Pope Pius IV, November 1564.

I profess that true God is offered in the Mass, a proper, propitiatory sacrifice for the living

and the dead, and that in the Holy Eucharist there are truly and substantially the body and

blood, together with the soul and the divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and that conversion is

made of the whole substance of bread into his body and of the whole substance of wine into

his blood, which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation. I also confess that

the whole and entire Christ and the true sacrament is taken under the one species along.

I hold unswervingly that there is a purgatory and that the souls there detained are helped by

the intercessions of the faithful. Likewise also that the Saints who reign with Christ are to be

venerated and invoked; that they offer prayers to God for us and that their relics are to be

venerated . . . . I affirm that the power of indulgences has been left by Christ in the Church,

and that their use is very salutary for Christian people.

I recognize the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Roman Church as the Mother and Mistress of all

churches; and I vow and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of Blessed

Peter, Chief of the Apostles, and representative of Jesus Christ.

[SOURCE: http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~lyman/english233/Tridentine_Creed.htm]

http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~lyman/english233/Tridentine_Creed.htm


IV. The Scientific Revolution

Galileo Galilei, Letter to the

Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (c. 1614/1615) Italian astronomer and physicist, one of the founders of modern science. His discoveries include the

constancy of a pendulum's swing, later applied to the regulation of clocks. He formulated the law of

uniform acceleration of falling bodies, and described the parabolic trajectory of projectiles. Galileo

applied the telescope to astronomy and observed craters on the Moon, sunspots, the stars of the Milky

Way, Jupiter's satellites, and the phases of Venus. His acceptance of the Copernican system was

rejected by the Catholic Church, and under threat of torture from the Inquisition he publicly recanted

what the Church held to be heretical views. He is, however, said to have added under his breath

"eppur si muove" (still it moves—a reference to the Earth, which the Catholic Church insisted was

stationary at the centre of the Universe). The Vatican graciously absolved Galileo of heresy--in 1992.

[Source: Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, (c) Oxford University Press 1998]

To the Most Serene Grand Duchess Mother:

Some years ago, as Your Serene Highness well knows, I discovered in the heavens many

things that had not been seen before our own age. The novelty of these things, as well as

some consequences which followed from them in contradiction to the physical notions

commonly held among academic philosophers, stirred up against me no small number of

professors--as if I had placed these things in the sky with my own hands in order to upset

nature and overturn the sciences. They seemed to forget that the increase of known truths

stimulates the investigation, establishment, and growth of the arts; not their diminution or

destruction.

Showing a greater fondness for their own opinions than for truth they sought to deny and

disprove the new things which, if they had cared to look for themselves, their own senses

would have demonstrated to them. To this end they hurled various charges and published

numerous writings filled with vain arguments, and they made the grave mistake of sprinkling

these with passages taken from places in the Bible which they had failed to understand

properly, and which were ill-suited to their purposes.

These men would perhaps not have fallen into such error had they but paid attention to a

most useful doctrine of St. Augustine's, relative to our making positive statements about things

which are obscure and hard to understand by means of reason alone. Speaking of a certain

physical conclusion about the heavenly bodies, he wrote: "Now keeping always our respect

for moderation in grave piety, we ought not to believe anything inadvisedly on a dubious

point, lest in favor to our error we conceive a prejudice against something that truth

hereafter may reveal to be not contrary in any way to the sacred books of either the Old or

the New Testament."


Well, the passage of time has revealed to everyone the truths that I previously set forth; and,

together with the truth of the facts, there has come to light the great difference in attitude

between those who simply and dispassionately refused to admit the discoveries to be true,

and those who combined with their incredulity some reckless passion of their own. Men who

were well grounded in astronomical and physical science were persuaded as soon as they

received my first message. There were others who denied them or remained in doubt only

because of their novel and unexpected character, and because they had not yet had the

opportunity to see for themselves. These men have by degrees come to be satisfied. But

some, besides allegiance to their original error, possess I know not what fanciful interest in

remaining hostile not so much toward the things in question as toward their discoverer. No

longer being able to deny them, these men now take refuge in obstinate silence, but being

more than ever exasperated by that which has pacified and quieted other men, they divert

their thoughts to other fancies and seek new ways to damage me.

I should pay no more attention to them than to those who previously contradicted me--at

whom I always laugh, being assured of the eventual outcome--were it not that in their new

calumnies and persecutions I perceive that they do not stop at proving themselves more

learned than I am (a claim which I scarcely contest), but go so far as to cast against me the

imputations of crimes which must be, and are, more abhorrent to me than death itself. I

cannot remain satisfied merely to know that the injustice of this is recognized by those who

are acquainted with these men and with me, as perhaps it is not known to others.

Persisting in their original resolve to destroy me and everything mine by any means they can

think of, these men are aware of my views in astronomy and philosophy. They know that as

to the arrangement of the parts of the universe, I hold the sun to be situated motionless in

the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the earth revolves about the sun. They

know also that I support this position not only by refuting the arguments of Ptolemy and

Aristotle, but by producing many counter-arguments; in particular, some which relate to

physical effects whose causes can perhaps be assigned in no other way. In addition there are

astronomical arguments derived from many things in my new celestial discoveries that plainly

confute the Ptolemaic system while admirably agreeing with and confirming the contrary

hypothesis. Possibly because they are disturbed by the known truth of other propositions of

mine which differ from those commonly held, and therefore mistrusting their defense so long

as they confine themselves to the field of philosophy, these men have resolved to fabricate a

shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible.

These they apply with little judgement to the refutation of arguments that they do not

understand and have not even listened to.

First they have endeavored to spread the opinion that such propositions in general are

contrary to the Bible and are consequently damnable and heretical. They know that it is

human nature to take up causes whereby a man may oppress his neighbor, no matter how

unjustly, rather than those from which a man may receive some just encouragement. Hence

they have had no trouble in finding men who would preach the damnability and heresy of

the new doctrine from their very pulpits with unwonted confidence, thus doing impious and

inconsiderate injury not only to that doctrine and its followers but to all mathematics and

mathematicians in general. Next, becoming bolder, and hoping (though vainly) that this seed


which first took root in their hypocritical minds would send out branches and ascend to

heaven, they began scattering rumors among the people that before long this doctrine would

be condemned by the supreme authority. They know, too, that official condemnation would

not only suppress the two propositions which I have mentioned, but would render damnable

all other astronomical and physical statements and observations that have any necessary

relation or connection with these.

In order to facilitate their designs, they seek so far as possible (at least among the common

people) to make this opinion seem new and to belong to me alone. They pretend not to

know that its author, or rather its restorer and confirmer, was Nicholas Copernicus; and that

he was not only a Catholic, but a priest and a canon. He was in fact so esteemed by the

church that when the Lateran Council under Leo X took up the correction of the church

calendar, Copernicus was called to Rome from the most remote parts of Germany to

undertake its reform. At that time the calendar was defective because the true measures of the

year and the lunar month were not exactly known. The Bishop of Culm, then super-

intendent of this matter, assigned Copernicus to seek more light and greater certainty

concerning the celestial motions by means of constant study and labor. With Herculean toil

he set his admirable mind to this task, and he made such great progress in this science and

brought our knowledge of the heavenly motions to such precision that he became celebrated

as an astronomer. Since that time not only has the calendar been regulated by his teachings,

but tables of all the motions of the planets have been calculated as well.

Having reduced his system into six books, he published these at the instance of the Cardinal

of Capua and the Bishop of Culm. And since he had assumed his laborious enterprise by

order of the supreme pontiff, he dedicated this book On the celestial revolutions to Pope

Paul III. When printed, the book was accepted by the holy Church, and it has been read and

studied by everyone without the faintest hint of any objection ever being conceived against

its doctrines. Yet now that manifest experiences and necessary proofs have shown them to be

well grounded, persons exist who would strip the author of his reward without so much as

looking at his book, and add the shame of having him pronounced a heretic. All this they

would do merely to satisfy their personal displeasure conceived without any cause against

another man, who has no interest in Copernicus beyond approving his teachings.

Now as to the false aspersions which they so unjustly seek to cast upon me, I have thought it

necessary to justify myself in the eyes of all men, whose judgment in matters of religion and

of reputation I must hold in great esteem. I shall therefore discourse of the particulars which

these men produce to make this opinion detested and to have it condemned not merely as

false but as heretical. To this end they make a shield of their hypocritical zeal for religion.

They go about invoking the Bible, which they would have minister to their deceitful

purposes. Contrary to the sense of the Bible and the intention of the holy Fathers, if I am not

mistaken, they would extend such authorities until even purely physical matters--where faith

is not involved--they would have us altogether abandon reason and the evidence of our

senses in favor of some biblical passage, though under the surface meaning of its words this

passage may contain a different sense.


I hope to show that I proceed with much greater piety than they do, when I argue not

against condemning this book, but against condemning it in the way they suggest--that is,

without understanding it, weighing it, or so much as reading it. For Copernicus never

discusses matters of religion or faith, nor does he use argument that depend in any way upon

the authority of sacred writings which he might have interpreted erroneously. He stands

always upon physical conclusions pertaining to the celestial motions, and deals with them by

astronomical and geometrical demonstrations, founded primarily upon sense experiences and

very exact observations. He did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his

doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scriptures when they were rightly

understood and thus at the end of his letter of dedication, addressing the pope, he said:

"If there should chance to be any exegetes ignorant of mathematics who pretend to skill in

that discipline, and dare to condemn and censure this hypothesis of mine upon the authority

of some scriptural passage twisted to their purpose, I value them not, but disdain their

unconsidered judgment. For it is known that Lactantius--a poor mathematician though in

other respects a worthy author--writes very childishly about the shape of the earth when he

scoffs at those who affirm it to be a globe. Hence it should not seem strange to the ingenious

if people of that sort should in turn deride me. But mathematics is written for

mathematicians, by whom, if I am not deceived, these labors of mine will be recognized as

contributing something to their domain, as also to that of the Church over which Your

Holiness now reigns."

Such are the people who labor to persuade us that an author like Copernicus may be

condemned without being read, and who produce various authorities from the Bible, from

theologians, and from Church Councils to make us believe that this is not only lawful but

commendable. Since I hold these to be of supreme authority I consider it rank temerity for

anyone to contradict them--when employed according to the usage of the holy Church. Yet I

do not believe it is wrong to speak out when there is reason to suspect that other men wish,

for some personal motive, to produce and employ such authorities for purposes quite

different from the sacred intention of the holy Church.

Therefore I declare (and my sincerity will make itself manifest) not only that I mean to submit

myself freely and renounce any errors into which I may fall in this discourse through

ignorance of matters pertaining to religion, but that I do not desire in these matters to engage

in disputes with anyone, even on points that are disputable. My goal is this alone: that if,

among errors that may abound in these considerations of a subject remote from my

profession, there is anything that may be serviceable to the holy Church in making a decision

concerning the Copernican system, it may be taken and utilized as seems best to the

superiors. And if not, let my book be torn and burnt, as I neither intend nor pretend to gain

from it any fruit that is not pious and Catholic. And though many of the things I shall reprove

have been heard by my own ears, I shall freely grant to those who have spoken them that

they never said them, if that is what they wish, and I shall confess myself to have been

mistaken. Hence let whatever I reply be addressed not to them, but to whoever may have

held such opinions.


The reason produced for condemning the opinion that the earth moves and the sun stands

still in many places in the Bible one may read that the sun moves and the earth stands still.

Since the Bible cannot err: it follows as a necessary consequence that anyone takes a

erroneous and heretical position who maintains that the sun is inherently motionless and the

earth movable.

With regard to this argument, I think in the first place that it is very pious to say and prudent

to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth--whenever its true meaning is

understood. But I believe nobody will deny that it is often very abstruse, and may say things

which are quite different from what its bare words signify. Hence in expounding the Bible if

one were always to confine oneself to the unadorned grammatical meaning, one might fall

into error. Not only contradictions and propositions far from true might thus be made to

appear in the Bible, but even grave heresies and follies. Thus it would be necessary to assign

to God feet, hands and eyes, as well as corporeal and human affections, such as anger,

repentance, hatred, and sometimes even the forgetting of things past and ignorance of those

to come. These propositions uttered by the Holy Ghost were set down in that manner by the

sacred scribes in order to accommodate them to the capacities of the common people, who

are rude and unlearned. For the sake of those who deserve to be separated from the herd, it

is necessary that wise expositors should produce the true senses of such passages, together

with the special reasons for which they were set down in these words. This doctrine is so

widespread and so definite with all theologians that it would be superfluous to adduce

evidence for it.

Hence I think that I may reasonably conclude that whenever the Bible has occasion to speak

of any physical conclusion (especially those which are very abstruse and hard to understand),

the rule has been observed of avoiding confusion in the minds of the common people which

would render them contumacious toward the higher mysteries. Now the Bible, merely to

condescend to popular capacity, has not hesitated to obscure some very important

pronouncements, attributing to God himself some qualities extremely remote from (and even

contrary to) His essence. Who, then, would positively declare that this principle has been set

aside, and the Bible has confined itself rigorously to the bare and restricted sense of its words,

when speaking but casually of the earth, of water, of the sun, or of any other created thing?

Especially in view of the fact that these things in no way concern the primary purpose of the

sacred writings, which is the service of God and the salvation of souls--matters infinitely

beyond the comprehension of the common people.

This being granted, I think that in discussions of physical problems we ought to begin not

from the authority of scriptural passages but from senseexperiences and necessary

demonstrations; for the holy Bible and the phenomena of nature proceed alike from the

divine Word, the former as the dictate of the Holy Ghost and the latter as the observant

executrix of God's commands. It is necessary for the Bible, in order to be accommodated to

the understanding of every man, to speak many things which appear to differ from the

absolute truth so far as the bare meaning of the words is concerned. But Nature, on the other

hand, is inexorable and immutable; she never transgresses the laws imposed upon her, or

cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are understandable to

men. For that reason it appears that nothing physical which senseexperience sets before our


eyes, or which necessary demonstrations prove to us, ought to be called in question (much

less condemned) upon the testimony of biblical passages which may have some different

meaning beneath their words. For the Bible is not chained in every expression to conditions

as strict as those which govern all physical effects; nor is God any less excellently revealed in

Nature's actions than in the sacred statements of the Bible. Perhaps this is what Tertullian

meant by these words:

"We conclude that God is known first through Nature, and then again, more particularly, by

doctrine, by Nature in His works, and by doctrine in His revealed word."

From this I do not mean to infer that we need not have an extraordinary esteem for the

passages of holy Scripture. On the contrary, having arrived at any certainties in physics, we

ought to utilize these as the most appropriate aids in the true exposition of the Bible and in

the investigation of those meanings which are necessarily contained therein, for these must be

concordant with demonstrated truths. I should judge that the authority of the Bible was

designed to persuade men of those articles and propositions which, surpassing all human

reasoning, could not be made credible by science, or by any other means than through the

very mouth of the Holy Spirit.

Yet even in those propositions which are not matters of faith, this authority ought to be

preferred over that of all human writings which are supported only by bare assertions or

probable arguments, and not set forth in a demonstrative way. This I hold to be necessary

and proper to the same extent that divine wisdom surpasses all human judgment and

conjecture.

But I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses,

reason and intellect has intended us to forego their use and by some other means to give us

knowledge which we can attain by them. He would not require us to deny sense and reason

in physical matters which are set before our eyes and minds by direct experience or necessary

demonstrations. This must be especially true in those sciences of which but the faintest trace

(and that consisting of conclusions) is to be found in the Bible. Of astronomy, for instance, so

little is found that none of the planets except Venus are so much as mentioned, and this only

once or twice under the name of "Lucifer." If the sacred scribes had had any intention of

teaching people certain arrangements and motions of the heavenly bodies, or had they

wished us to derive such knowledge from the Bible, then in my opinion they would not have

spoken of these matters so sparingly in comparison with the infinite number of admirable

conclusions which are demonstrated in that science. Far from pretending to teach us the

constitution and motions of the heavens and other stars, with their shapes, magnitudes, and

distances, the authors of the Bible intentionally forbore to speak of these things, though all

were quite well known to them. Such is the opinion of the holiest and most learned Fathers,

and in St. Augustine we find the following words:

"It is likewise commonly asked what we may believe about the form and shape of the

heavens according to the Scriptures, for many contend much about these matters. But with

superior prudence our authors have forborne to speak of this, as in no way furthering the

student with respect to a blessed life, and, more important still, as taking up much of that


time which should be spent in holy exercises. What is it to me whether heaven, like a sphere

surrounds the earth on all sides as a mass balanced in the center of the universe, or whether

like a dish it merely covers and overcasts the earth? Belief in Scripture is urged rather for the

reason we have often mentioned; that is, in order that no one, through ignorance of divine

passages, finding anything in our Bibles or hearing anything cited from them of such a nature

as may seem to oppose manifest conclusions, should be induced to suspect their truth when

they teach, relate, and deliver more profitable matters. Hence let it be said briefly, touching

the form of heaven, that our authors knew the truth but the Holy Spirit did not desire that

men should learn things that are useful to no one for salvation."

The same disregard of these sacred authors toward beliefs about the phenomena of the

celestial bodies is repeated to us by St. Augustine in his next chapter. On the question

whether we are to believe that the heaven moves or stands still, he writes thus:

"Some of the brethren raise a question concerning the motion of heaven, whether it is fixed

or moved. If it is moved, they say, how is it a firmament? If it stands still, how do these stars

which are held fixed in it go round from east to west, the more northerly performing shorter

circuits near the pole, so that the heaven (if there is another pole unknown to us) may seem

to revolve upon some axis, or (if there is no other pole) may be thought to move as a discus?

To these men I reply that it would require many subtle and profound reasonings to find out

which of these things is actually so; but to undertake this and discuss it is consistent neither

with my leisure nor with the duty of those whom I desire to instruct in essential matters more

directly conducing to their salvation and to the benefit of the holy Church."

From these things it follows as a necessary consequence that, since the Holy Ghost did not

intend to teach us whether heaven moves or stands still, whether its shape is spherical or like

a discus or extended in a plane, nor whether the earth is located at its center or off to one

side, then so much the less was it intended to settle for us any other conclusion of the same

kind. And the motion or rest of the earth and the sun is so closely linked with the things just

named, that without a determination of the one, neither side can be taken in the other

matters. Now if the Holy Spirit has purposely neglected to teach us propositions of this sort

as irrelevant to the highest goal (that is, to our salvation), how can anyone affirm that it is

obligatory to take sides on them, that one belief is required by faith, while the other side is

erroneous? Can an opinion be heretical and yet have no concern with the salvation of souls?

Can the Holy Ghost be asserted not to have intended teaching us something that does

concern our salvation? I would say here something that was heard from an ecclesiastic of the

most eminent degree: "That the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to

heaven, not how heaven goes."

But let us again consider the degree to which necessary demonstrations and sense experiences

ought to be respected in physical conclusions, and the authority they have enjoyed at the

hands of holy and learned theologians. From among a hundred attestations I have selected

the following:

"We must also take heed, in handling the doctrine of Moses. that we altogether avoid saying

positively and confidently anything which contradicts manifest experiences and the reasoning


of philosophy or the other sciences. For since every truth is in agreement with all other truth,

the truth of Holy Writ cannot be contrary to the solid reasons and experiences of human

knowledge."

And in St. Augustine we read:

"If anyone shall set the authority of Holy Writ against clear and manifest reason, he who does

this knows not what he has undertaken; for he opposes to the truth not the meaning of the

Bible, which is beyond his comprehension, but rather his own interpretation, not what is in

the Bible, but what he has found in himself and imagines to be there."

This granted, and it being true that two truths cannot contradict one another, it is the

function of expositors to seek out the true senses of scriptural texts. These will unquestionably

accord with the physical conclusions which manifest sense and necessary demonstrations have

previously made certain to us. Now the Bible, as has been remarked, admits in many places

expositions that are remote from the signification of the words for reasons we have already

given. Moreover, we are unable to affirm that all interpreters of the Bible speak by Divine

inspiration for if that were so there would exist no differences among them about the sense

of a given passage. Hence I should think it would be the part of prudence not to permit

anyone to usurp scriptural texts and force them in some way to maintain any physical

conclusion to be true, when at some future time the senses and demonstrative or necessary

reasons may show the contrary. Who indeed will set bounds to human ingenuity? Who will

assert that everything in the universe capable of being perceived is already discovered and

known? Let us rather confess quite truly that "Those truths which we know are very few in

comparison with those which we do not know."

We have it from the very mouth of the Holy Ghost that God delivered up the world to

disputations, so that man cannot find out the work that God hath done from the beginning

even to the end. In my opinion no one, in contradiction to that dictum, should close the

road to free philosophizing about mundane and physical things, as if everything had already

been discovered and revealed with certainty. Nor should it be considered rash not to be

satisfied with those opinions which have become common. No one should be scorned in

physical disputes for not holding to the opinions which happen to please other people best,

especially concerning problems which have been debated among the greatest philosophers

for thousands of years. One of these is the stability of the sun, mobility of the earth, a

doctrine believed by Pythagoras and all his followers, by Heracleides of Pontus (who was one

of them), by Philolaus, the teacher of Plato, and by Plato himself, according to Aristotle.

Plutarch writes in his Life of Numa that Plato, when he had grown old, said it was absurd to

believe otherwise. The same doctrine was held by Aristarchus of Samos, as Archimedes tells

us; by Seleucus the mathematician, by Nicetas the philosopher (on the testimony of Cicero),

and by many others. Finally this opinion has been amplified and confirmed with many

observations and demonstrations by Nicholas Copernicus. And Seneca, a most eminent

philosopher, advises us in his book on comets that we should more diligently seek to

ascertain whether it is in the sky or in the earth that the diurnal rotation resides.


Hence it would probably be wise and useful counsel if, beyond articles which concern

salvation and the establishment of our Faith, against the stability of which there is no danger

whatever that any valid and effective doctrine can ever arise, men would not aggregate

further articles unnecessarily. And it would certainly be preposterous to introduce them at the

request of persons, who, besides not being known to speak by inspiration of divine grace, are

clearly seen to lack that understanding which is necessary in order to comprehend, let alone

discuss, the demonstrations by which such conclusions are supported in the subtler sciences. If

I may speak my opinion freely, I should say further that it would perhaps fit in better with

the decorum and majesty of the sacred writings to take measures for preventing every

shallow and vulgar writer from giving to his compositions (often grounded upon foolish

fancies) an air of authority by inserting in them passages from the Bible, interpreted (or rather

distorted) into senses as far from the right meaning of Scripture as those authors are near to

absurdity who thus ostentatiously adorn their writings. Of such abuses many examples might

be produced, but for the present I shall confine myself to two which are germane to these

astronomical matters. The first concerns those writings which were published against the

existence of the Medicean planets recently discovered by me, in which many passages of holy

Scripture were cited. Now that everyone has seen these planets, I should like to know what

new interpretations those same antagonists employ in expounding the Scripture and excusing

their own simplicity. My other example is that of a man who has lately published, in defiance

of astronomers and philosophers, the opinion that the moon does not receive its light from

the sun but is brilliant by its own nature. He supports this fancy (or rather thinks he does) by

sundry texts of Scripture which he believes cannot be explained unless his theory is true; yet

that the moon is inherently dark is surely as plain as daylight.

It is obvious that such authors, not having penetrated the true senses of Scripture, would

impose upon others an obligation to subscribe to conclusions that are repugnant to manifest

reason and sense, if they had any authority to do so. God forbid that this sort of abuse

should gain countenance and authority, for then in a short time it would be necessary to

proscribe all the contemplative sciences. People who are unable to understand perfectly both

the Bible and the science far outnumber those who do understand them. The former,

glancing superficially through the Bible, would arrogate to themselves the authority to decree

upon every question of physics on the strength of some word which they have misunder-

stood, and which was employed by the sacred authors for some different purpose. And the

smaller number of understanding men could not dam up the furious torrent of such people,

who would gain the majority of followers simply because it is much more pleasant to gain a

reputation for wisdom without effort or study than to consume oneself tirelessly in the most

laborious disciplines. Let us therefore render thanks to Almighty God, who in His beneficence

protects us from this danger by depriving such persons of all authority, reposing the power of

consultation, decision, and decree on such important matters in the high wisdom and

benevolence of most prudent Fathers, and in the supreme authority of those who cannot fail

to order matters properly under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Hence we need not concern

ourselves with the shallowness of those men whom grave and holy authors rightly reproach,

and of whom in particular St. Jerome said, in reference to the Bible:

"This is ventured upon, lacerated, and taught by the garrulous old woman, the doting old

man, and the prattling sophist before they have learned it. Others, led on by pride, weigh


heavy words and philosophize amongst women concerning holy Scripture. Others--oh

shame!--learn from women what they teach to men, and (as if that were not enough) glibly

expound to others that which they themselves do not understand. I forebear to speak of

those of my own profession who, attaining a knowledge of the holy Scriptures after

mundane learning, tickle the ears of the people with affected and studied expressions, and

declare that everything they say is to be taken as the law of God. Not bothering to learn

what the prophets and the apostles have maintained, they wrest incongruous testimonies into

their own senses--as if distorting passages and twisting the Bible to their individual and

contradictory whims were the genuine way of teaching, and not a corrupt one."

I do not wish to place in the number of such lay writers some theologians whom I consider

men of profound learning and devout behavior, and who are therefore held by me in great

esteem and veneration. Yet I cannot deny that I feel some discomfort which I should like to

have removed, when I hear them pretend to the power of constraining others by scriptural

authority to follow in a physical dispute that opinion which they think best agrees with the

Bible, and then believe themselves not bound to answer the opposing reasons and

experiences. In explanation and support of this opinion they say that since theology is queen

of all the sciences, she need not bend in any way to accommodate herself to the teachings of

less worthy sciences which are subordinate to her; these others must rather be referred to her

as their supreme empress, changing and altering their conclusions according to her statutes

and decrees. They add further that if in the inferior sciences any conclusion should be taken as

certain in virtue of demonstrations or experiences, while in the Bible another conclusion is

found repugnant to this, then the professors of that science should themselves undertake to

undo their proofs and discover the fallacies in their own experiences, without bothering the

theologians and exegetes. For, they say, it does not become the dignity of theology to stoop

to the investigation of fallacies in the subordinate sciences; it is sufficient for her merely to

determine the truth of a given conclusion with absolute authority, secure in her inability to

err.

Now the physical conclusions in which they say we ought to be satisfied by Scripture, without

glossing or expounding it in senses different from the literal, are those concerning which the

Bible always speaks in the same manner and which the holy Fathers all receive and expound

in the same way. But with regard to these judgments I have had occasion to consider several

things, and I shall set them forth in order that I may be corrected by those who understand

more than I do in these matters--for to their decisions I submit at all times.

First I question whether there is not some equivocation in failing to specify the virtues which

entitle sacred theology to the title of "queen." It might deserve that name by reason of

including everything that is included from all the other sciences and establishing everything by

better methods and with profounder learning. It is thus, for example, that the rules for

measuring fields and keeping accounts are much more excellently contained in arithmetic and

in the geometry of Euclid than in the practices of surveyors and accountants. Or theology

might be queen because of being occupied with a subject which excels in dignity all the

subjects which compose the other sciences, and because her teachings are divulged in more

sublime ways.


That the title and authority of queen belongs to theology in the first sense, I think, will not be

affirmed by theologians who have any skill in the other sciences. None of these, I think, will

say that geometry, astronomy, music, and medicine are much more excellently contained in

the Bible than they are in the books of Archimedes, Ptolemy, Boethius, and Galen. Hence it

seems likely that regal preeminence is given to theology in the second sense; that is, by reason

of its subject and the miraculous communication of divine revelation of conclusions which

could not be conceived by men in any other way, concerning chiefly the attainment of

eternal blessedness.

Let us grant then that theology is conversant with the loftiest divine contemplation, and

occupies the regal throne among sciences by dignity. But acquiring the highest authority in

this way, lf she does not descend to the lower and humbler speculations of the subordinate

sciences and has no regard for them because they are not concerned with blessedness, then

her professors should not arrogate to themselves the authority to decide on controversies in

professions which they have neither studied nor practiced. Why, this would be as if an

absolute despot, being neither a physician nor an architect but knowing himself free to

command, should undertake to administer medicines and erect buildings according to his

whim--at grave peril of his poor patients' lives, and the speedy collapse of his edifices.

Again, to command that the very professors of astronomy themselves see to the refutation of

their own observations and proofs as mere fallacies and sophisms is to enjoin something that

lies beyond any possibility of accomplishment. For this would amount to commanding that

they must not see what they see and must not understand what they know, and that in

searching they must find the opposite of what they actually encounter. Before this could be

done they would have to be taught how to make one mental faculty command another, and

the inferior powers the superior, so that the imagination and the will might be forced to

believe the opposite of what the intellect understands. I am referring at all times to merely

physical propositions, and not to supernatural things which are matters of faith.

I entreat those wise and prudent Fathers to consider with great care the difference that exists

between doctrines subject to proof and those subject to opinion. Considering the force

exerted by logical deductions, they may ascertain that it is not in the power of the professors

of demonstrative sciences to change their opinions at will and apply themselves first to one

side and then to the other. There is a great difference between commanding a mathematician

or a philosopher and influencing a lawyer or a merchant, for demonstrated conclusions about

things in nature or in the heavens cannot be changed with the same facility as opinions about

what is or is not lawful in a contract, bargain, or bill of exchange. This difference was well

understood by the learned and holy Fathers, as proven by their having taken great pains in

refuting philosophical fallacies. This may be found expressly in some of them; in particular,

we find the following words of St. Augustine:

"It is to be held as an unquestionable truth that whatever the sages of this world have

demonstrated concerning physical matters is in no way contrary to our Bibles, hence

whatever the sages teach in their books that is contrary to the holy Scriptures may be

concluded without any hesitation to be quite false. And according to our ability let us make

this evident, and let us keep the faith of our Lord, in whom are hidden all the treasures of


wisdom so that we neither become seduced by the verbiage of false philosophy nor

frightened by the superstition of counterfeit religion."

From the above words I conceive that I may deduce this doctrine: That in the books of the

sages of this world there are contained some physical truths which are soundly demonstrated,

and others that are merely stated; as to the former, it i the office of wise divines to show that

they do not contradict the holy Scriptures. And as to the propositions which are stated but

not rigorously demonstrated, anything contrary to the Bible involved by them must be held

undoubtedly false and should be proved so by every possible means.

Now if truly demonstrated physical conclusions need not be subordinated to biblical

passages, but the latter must rather be shown not to interfere with the former, then before a

physical proposition is condemned it must be shown to be not rigorously demonstrated--and

this is to be done not by those who hold the proposition to be true, but by those who judge

it to be false. This seems very reasonable and natural, for those who believe an argument to

be false may much more easily find the fallacies in it than men who consider it to be true and

conclusive. Indeed, in the latter case it will happen that the more the adherents of an opinion

turn over their pages, examine the arguments, repeat the observations, and compare the

experiences, the more they will be confirmed in that belief. And Your Highness knows what

happened to the late mathematician of the University of Pisa who undertook in his old age

to look into the Copernican doctrine in the hope of` shaking its foundations and refuting it,

since he considered it false only because he had never studied it. As it fell out, no sooner had

he understood its grounds, procedures, and demonstrations than he found himself persuaded,

and from an opponent he became a very staunch defender of it. I might also name other

mathematicians who, moved by my latest discoveries, have confessed it necessary to alter the

previously accepted system of the world, as this is simply unable to subsist any longer.

If in order to banish the opinion in question from the world it were sufficient to stop the

mouth of a single man--as perhaps those men persuade themselves who, measuring the minds

of others by their own, think it impossible that this doctrine should be able to continue to

find adherents--then that would be very easily done. But things stand otherwise. To carry out

such a decision it would be necessary not only to prohibit the book of Copernicus and the

writings of other authors who follow the same opinion, but to ban the whole science of

astronomy. Furthermore, it would be necessary to forbid men to look at the heavens, in

order that they might not see Mars and Venus sometimes quite near the earth and sometimes

very distant, the variation being so great that Venus is forty times and Mars sixty times as

large at one time as at another. And it would be necessary to prevent Venus being seen

round at one time and forked at another, with very thin horns; as well as many other sensory

observations which can never be reconciled with the Ptolemaic system in any way, but are

very strong arguments for the Copernican. And to ban Copernicus now that his doctrine is

daily reinforced by many new observations and by the learned applying themselves to the

reading of his book, after this opinion has been allowed and tolerated for these many years

during which it was less followed and less confirmed, would seem in my judgment to be a

contravention of truth, and an attempt to hide and suppress her the more as she revealed

herself the more clearly and plainly. Not to abolish and censure his whole book, but only to

condemn as erroneous this particular proposition, would (if I am not mistaken) be a still


greater detriment to the minds of men, since it would afford them occasion to see a

proposition proved that it was heresy to believe. And to prohibit the whole science would be

to censure a hundred passages of holy Scripture which teach us that the glory and greatness of

Almighty God are marvelously discerned in all his works and divinely read in the open book

of heaven. For let no one believe that reading the lofty concepts written in that book leads

to nothing further than the mere seeing of the splendor of the sun and the stars and their

rising and setting, which is as far as the eyes of brutes and of the vulgar can penetrate. Within

its pages are couched mysteries so profound and concepts so sublime that the vigils, labors,

and studies of hundreds upon hundreds of the most acute minds have still not pierced them,

even after the continual investigations for thousands of years. The eyes of an idiot perceive

little by beholding the external appearance of a human body, as compared with the

wonderful contrivances which a careful and practiced anatomist or philosopher discovers in

that same body when he seeks out the use of all those muscles, tendons, nerves, and bones;

or when examining the functions of the heart and the other principal organs, he seeks the seat

of the vital faculties, notes and observes the admirable structure of the sense organs, and

(without ever ceasing in his amazement and delight) contemplates the receptacles of the

imagination, the memory, and the understanding. Likewise, that which presents itself to mere

sight is as nothing in comparison with the high marvels that the ingenuity of learned men

discovers in the heavens by long and accurate observation . . . .

Your Highness may thus see how irregularly those persons proceed who in physical disputes

arrange scriptural passages (and often those illunderstood by them) in the front rank of their

arguments. If these men really believe themselves to have the true sense of a given passage, it

necessarily follows that they believe they have in hand the absolute truth of the conclusion

they intend to debate. Hence they must know that they enjoy a great advantage over their

opponents, whose lot it is to defend the false position; and he who maintains the truth will

have many senseexperiences and rigorous proofs on his side, whereas his antagonist cannot

make use of anything but illusory appearances, quibbles, and fallacies. Now if these men

know they have such advantages over the enemy even when they stay within proper bounds

and produce no weapons other than those proper to philosophy, why do they, in the thick

of the battle, betake themselves to a dreadful weapon which cannot be turned aside, and

seek to vanquish the opponent by merely exhibiting it? If I may speak frankly, I believe they

have themselves been vanquished, and, feeling unable to stand up against the assaults of the

adversary, they seek ways of holding him off. To that end they would forbid him the use of

reason, divine gift of Providence, and would abuse the just authority of holy Scripture--

which, in the general opinion of theologians, can never oppose manifest experiences and

necessary demonstrations when rightly understood and applied. If I am correct, it will stand

them in no stead to go running to the Bible to cover up their inability to understand (let

alone resolve) their opponents' arguments, for the opinion which they fight has never been

condemned by the holy Church. If they wish to proceed in sincerity, they should by silence

confess themselves unable to deal with such matters. Let them freely admit that although they

may argue that a position is false, it is not in their power to censure a position as erroneous--

or in the power of anyone except the Supreme Pontiff, or the Church Councils. Reflecting

upon this, and knowing that a proposition cannot be both true and heretical, let them

employ themselves in the business which is proper to them; namely, demonstrating its falsity.


And when that is revealed, either there will no longer be any necessity to prohibit it (since it

will have no followers), or else it may safely be prohibited without the risk of any scandal.

Therefore, let these men begin to apply themselves to an examination of the arguments of

Copernicus and others, leaving condemnation of the doctrine as erroneous and heretical to

the proper authorities. Among the circumspect and most wise Fathers, and in the absolute

wisdom of one who cannot err, they may never hope to find the rash decisions into which

they allow themselves to be hurried by some particular passion or personal interest. With

regard to this opinion, and others which are not directly matters of faith, certainly no one

doubts that the Supreme Pontiff has always an absolute power to approve or condemn; but

it is not in the power of any created being to make things true or false, for this belongs to

their own nature and to the fact. Therefore, in my judgment one should first be assured of

the necessary and immutable truth of the fact, over which no man has power. This is wiser

counsel than to condemn either side in the absence of such certainty, thus depriving oneself

of continued authority and ability to choose by determining things which are now

undetermined and open and still lodged in the will of supreme authority. And in brief, if it is

impossible for a conclusion to be declared heretical while we remain in doubt as to its truth,

then these men are wasting their time clamoring for condemnation of the motion of the

earth and stability of the sun, which they have not yet demonstrated to be impossible or

false. . . .

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-

tuscany.html]

Robert Bellarmine, Letter on Galileo's Theories (1615)

Galileo's letter of 1614 to the Grand Duchess Christina Duchess of Tuscany was not widely known, and

was ignored by Church authorities. When a year later the Carmelite provincial Paolo Foscarini

supported Galileo publicly by attempting to prove that the new theory was not opposed to Scripture,

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, as "Master of Controversial Questions," responded.

[Source: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1615bellarmine-

letter.html]

On April 12, 1615 the saint [Bellarmine] wrote to Foscarini:

"I have gladly read the letter in Italian and the treatise which Your Reverence sent me, and I

thank you for both. And I confess that both are filled with ingenuity and learning, and since

you ask for my opinion, I will give it to you very briefly, as you have little time for reading

and I for writing:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/galileo-tuscany.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1615bellarmine-letter.html



"First. I say that it seems to me that Your Reverence and Galileo did prudently to content

yourself with speaking hypothetically, and not absolutely, as I have always believed that

Copernicus spoke. For to say that, assuming the earth moves and the sun stands still, all the

appearances are saved better than with eccentrics and epicycles, is to speak well; there is no

danger in this, and it is sufficient for mathematicians. But to want to affirm that the sun really

is fixed in the center of the heavens and only revolves around itself (i. e., turns upon its axis)

without traveling from east to west, and that the earth is situated in the third sphere and

revolves with great speed around the sun, is a very dangerous thing, not only by irritating all

the philosophers and scholastic theologians, but also by injuring our holy faith and rendering

the Holy Scriptures false. For Your Reverence has demonstrated many ways of explaining

Holy Scripture, but you have not applied them in particular, and without a doubt you would

have found it most difficult if you had attempted to explain all the passages which you

yourself have cited.

"Second. I say that, as you know, the Council [of Trent] prohibits expounding the Scriptures

contrary to the common agreement of the holy Fathers. And if Your Reverence would read

not only the Fathers but also the commentaries of modern writers on Genesis, Psalms,

Ecclesiastes and Joshua, you would find that all agree in explaining literally (ad litteram) that

the sun is in the heavens and moves swiftly around the earth, and that the earth is far from

the heavens and stands immobile in the center of the universe. Now consider whether in all

prudence the Church could encourage giving to Scripture a sense contrary to the holy Fathers

and all the Latin and Greek commentators. Nor may it be answered that this is not a matter

of faith, for if it is not a matter of faith from the point of view of the subject matter, it is on

the part of the ones who have spoken. It would be just as heretical to deny that Abraham

had two sons and Jacob twelve, as it would be to deny the virgin birth of Christ, for both are

declared by the Holy Ghost through the mouths of the prophets and apostles.

"Third. I say that if there were a true demonstration that the sun was in the center of the

universe and the earth in the third sphere, and that the sun did not travel around the earth

but the earth circled the sun, then it would be necessary to proceed with great caution in

explaining the passages of Scripture which seemed contrary, and we would rather have to say

that we did not understand them than to say that something was false which has been

demonstrated. But I do not believe that there is any such demonstration; none has been

shown to me. It is not the same thing to show that the appearances are saved by assuming

that the sun really is in the center and the earth in the heavens. I believe that the first

demonstration might exist, but I have grave doubts about the second, and in a case of doubt,

one may not depart from the Scriptures as explained by the holy Fathers. I add that the

words ' the sun also riseth and the sun goeth down, and hasteneth to the place where he

ariseth, etc.' were those of Solomon, who not only spoke by divine inspiration but was a man

wise above all others and most learned in human sciences and in the knowledge of all created

things, and his wisdom was from God. Thus it is not too likely that he would affirm

something which was contrary to a truth either already demonstrated, or likely to be

demonstrated. And if you tell me that Solomon spoke only according to the appearances,

and that it seems to us that the sun goes around when actually it is the earth which moves, as

it seems to one on a ship that the beach moves away from the ship, I shall answer that one

who departs from the beach, though it looks to him as though the beach moves away, he


knows that he is in error and corrects it, seeing clearly that the ship moves and not the beach.

But with regard to the sun and the earth, no wise man is needed to correct the error, since he

clearly experiences that the earth stands still and that his eye is not deceived when it judges

that the moon and stars move. And that is enough for the present. I salute Your Reverence

and ask God to grant you every happiness."

Notes:

Solange Hertz makes the problem clear in her commentary on this letter (in an article which contends

that the earth is indeed the center of the Universe):

"There are many such passages in the Bible, outstanding among them being, of course, the one relating

how Joshua commanded, "Move not, O sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, O moon, toward the valley

of Ajalon," whereupon, "the sun and the moon stood still, till the people revenged themselves of their

enemies" (Jos.10:12-13). And again, as St. Robert Bellarmine pointed out, the Preacher says," The sun

riseth and goeth down and returneth to his place: and there rising again, maketh his round by the

south and turneth again to the north" (Eccles. 1:5-6)

"Scripture also specifies that the Earth is immovable in the face of these solar and lunar peregrinations,

Psalm 92 stating flatly that God "hath established the world which shall not be moved." Psalm 103 says

He has"founded the earth upon its own bases ; it shall not be moved forever and ever," Psalm 95

telling us God has "corrected the world, which shall not be moved." Again, in I Paralipomenon 16:30,

"He hath founded the earth immovable," and according to Job 26:7, God by His power"stretched out

the north over the empty space and hangeth the earth upon nothing." No less an authority than the

Catechism of the Council of Trent, in its commentary on the Creed, states furthermore, "The earth also

God commanded to stand in the midst of the world, rooted in its own foundation."

Action by the Congregation of the Index

In 1616 the Congregation of the Index--founded by St. Pius V in 1571 and now headed by Cardinal

Bellarmine acting in the name of Paul V--was forced to take action, based on the findings of consultors

to the Holy Office. Without naming Galileo, it banned all writings which treated of Copernicanism as

anything but an unproven hypothesis,

"because it has come to the attention of this Congregation that the Pythagorean doctrine which is false

and contrary to Holy Scripture, which teaches the motion of the earth and the immobility of the sun,

and which is taught by Nicholas Copernicus in De Revolutionibus Orbium Caelestium and by Diego de

Zuniga's On Job, is now being spread and accepted by many--as may be seen from a letter of a

Carmelite Father entitled 'Letter of the Rev. Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini, Carmelite, on the Opinion

of the Pythagoreans and of Copernicus concerning the Motion of the Earth and the Stability of the Sun,

and the New Pythagorean System of the World,' printed in Naples by Lazzaro Scoriggio in 1615: in

which the said Father tries to show that the doctrine of the immobility of the sun in the center of the

world, and that of the earth's motion, is consonant with truth and is not opposed to Holy Scripture.

"Therefore, so that this opinion may not spread any further to the prejudice of Catholic truth, it (the

Sacred Congregation ) decrees that the said Nicholas Copernicus' De Revolutionibus Orbium, and

Diego de Zuniga's On Job, be suspended until corrected; but that the book of the Carmelite Father,

Paolo Foscarini, be prohibited and condemned, and that all other books likewise, in which the same is

taught, be prohibited."


Continuing Condemnation:

Taking her information from The Pontifical Decrees against the Doctrine of the Earth's Movement and

the Ultramontane Defense of Them, compiled in 1870 by the English Catholic priest William W.

Roberts, the Catholic creationist writer Paula Haigh has pointed out that a generation after Galileo's

death:

"In 1664 the Church went to further lengths to extirpate his error: The Index for that year was prefixed

by a Bull, entitled Speculatores Domus Israel, signed by Pope Alexander VII, who declared, 'We, having

taken the advice of our Cardinals, confirm and approve with Apostolic authority by the tenor of these

presents, and command and enjoin all persons everywhere to yield to this Index a constant and

complete obedience.'

"The importance of this document cannot be minimized, for it included and re-affirmed not only

previous formal condemnations, but 'all the relevant decrees up to the present time, that have been

issued since the Index of our predecessor Clement.'" Miss Haigh therefore rightly concludes, "The

evidence for papal infallibility in the Galileo case rests then upon the Bull of Alexander VII in 1664."

She discerns a twofold basis for its authority: "1) The decrees of the Index and the Inquisition which

were based on the truth of the Church's tradition, especially as in this case it rested upon the unanimity

of the Fathers and the constant position of the Church; and 2) the infallibility of the Pope speaking in

his own official capacity as Head of the Church and therefore ex cathedra, even though not defining

any new dogma but simply affirming tradition.

"The modern theologians have never addressed the problem posed by this Bull of Alexander VII. If

they had, they would need to admit its direct papal authority and search for some subsequent

document by a subsequent pope that formally and specifically abrogated, i.e., nullified the 1664 Bull.

But no such document has ever been found or produced.

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1615bellarmine-letter.html]



V. Political Ideas

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) Thomas Hobbes (1589-1679) was an English philosopher, political theorist, mathematician, and

linguist. He emerged as a leading spokesman for the Royalist cause on the eve of the Civil War. When

the Civil War broke out, Hobbes feared that Parliament might have him arrested, so he fled to France

in 1640 and remained there until 1651. Because of his writings, especially Leviathan, Hobbes stood

under threat of prosecution even after the restoration of Charles II. Hobbes's best-known work,

Leviathan; or, The Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth Ecclesiastical and Civil (1651),

presents a defense of the doctrine of sovereignty. This work aroused the suspicions of the French

authorities by its attack on the papacy. Again fearful of arrest, Hobbes returned to England. Although

Hobbes was favored by Charles II, Parliament in 1666 placed Leviathan on a list of books which were

to be examined for atheistic ideas. Several of Hobbes’ works were ceremoniously burned in England,

mainly because many at the time saw in them a direct challenge to Christianity. In the later years of his

life, Hobbes devoted his attention primarily to translations of classical texts, including Thucydides’

History of the Peloponnesian War and Homer’s Iliad.

Hobbes was among the first Western thinkers to provide a secular justification for the political

state. He supported the notion of an absolute monarchy, which he felt would counter the

decentralizing ideas of the Reformation, which, Hobbes contended, brought anarchy. Hobbes’

political theory was based upon his belief that humans were motivated solely by self-interest. Since

people are fearful and predatory, Hobbes argued, they must submit to the absolute supremacy of the

state, in both secular and religious matters, in order to live by reason and gain lasting preservation.

Hobbes has been regarded as an important early influence on the philosophical doctrine of

utilitarianism (he believed people were motivated by appetite [akin to pleasure] and aversion [akin to

pain]). [Source: Encarta Encyclopedia, http://www.encarta.msn.com]

CHAPTER XIII. OF THE NATURAL CONDITION OF MANKIND AS CONCERNING THEIR

FELICITY AND MISERY

NATURE hath made men so equal in the faculties of body and mind as that, though there be

found one man sometimes manifestly stronger in body or of quicker mind than another, yet

when all is reckoned together the difference between man and man is not so considerable as

that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend

as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the

strongest, either by secret machination or by confederacy with others that are in the same

danger with himself.

And as to the faculties of the mind, setting aside the arts grounded upon words, and

especially that skill of proceeding upon general and infallible rules, called science, which very

few have and but in few things, as being not a native faculty born with us, nor attained, as

prudence, while we look after some what else, I find yet a greater equality amongst men than

that of strength. For prudence is but experience, which equal time equally bestows on all men

in those things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps make such

http://www.encarta.msn.com/


equality incredible is but a vain conceit of one's own wisdom, which almost all men think

they have in a greater degree than the vulgar; that is, than all men but themselves, and a few

others, whom by fame, or for concurring with themselves, they approve. For such is the

nature of men that how so ever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or

more eloquent or more learned, yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as

themselves; for they see their own wit at hand, and other men's at a distance. But this

proveth rather that men are in that point equal, than unequal. For there is not ordinarily a

greater sign of the equal distribution of any thing than that every man is contented with his

share.

From this equality of ability arise the quality of hope in the attaining of our ends. And

therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy,

they become enemies; and in the way to their end (which is principally their own

conservation, and sometimes their delectation only) endeavour to destroy or subdue one

another. And from hence it comes to pass that where an invader hath no more to fear than

another man's single power, if one plant, sow, build, or possess a convenient seat, others may

probably be expected to come prepared with forces united to dispossess and deprive him,

not only of the fruit of his labour, but also of his life or liberty. And the invader again is in

the like danger of another.

And from this diffidence of one another, there is no way for any man to secure himself so

reasonable as anticipation; that is, by force, or wiles, to master the persons of all men he can

so long till he see no other power great enough to endanger him: and this is no more than his

own conservation requireth, and is generally allowed. Also, because there be some that,

taking pleasure in contemplating their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue

farther than their security requires, if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease

within modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would not be able,

long time, by standing only on their defence, to subsist. And by consequence, such

augmentation of dominion over men being necessary to a man's conservation, it ought to be

allowed him.

Again, men have no pleasure (but on the contrary a great deal of grief) in keeping company

where there is no power able to overawe them all. For every man looketh that his

companion should value him at the same rate he sets upon himself, and upon all signs of

contempt or undervaluing naturally endeavours, as far as he dares (which amongst them that

have no common power to keep them in quiet is far enough to make them destroy each

other), to extort a greater value from his contemners, by damage; and from others, by the

example.

So that in the nature of man, we find three principal causes of quarrel. First, competition;

secondly, diffidence; thirdly, glory.

The first maketh men invade for gain; the second, for safety; and the third, for reputation.

The first use violence, to make themselves masters of other men's persons, wives, children,

and cattle; the second, to defend them; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different


opinion, and any other sign of undervalue, either direct in their persons or by reflection in

their kindred, their friends, their nation, their profession, or their name.

Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them

all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man

against every man. For war consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting, but in a tract

of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known: and therefore the notion

of time is to be considered in the nature of war, as it is in the nature of weather. For as the

nature of foul weather lieth not in a shower or two of rain, but in an inclination thereto of

many days together: so the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting, but in the known

disposition thereto during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is

peace.

Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of war, where every man is enemy to every

man, the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what

their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them withal. In such condition there

is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of

the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no

commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much

force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no

society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of

man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

It may seem strange to some man that has not well weighed these things that Nature should

thus dissociate and render men apt to invade and destroy one another: and he may

therefore, not trusting to this inference, made from the passions, desire perhaps to have the

same confirmed by experience. Let him therefore consider with himself: when taking a

journey, he arms himself and seeks to go well accompanied; when going to sleep, he locks his

doors; when even in his house he locks his chests; and this when he knows there be laws and

public officers, armed, to revenge all injuries shall be done him; what opinion he has of his

fellow subjects, when he rides armed; of his fellow citizens, when he locks his doors; and of

his children, and servants, when he locks his chests. Does he not there as much accuse

mankind by his actions as I do by my words? But neither of us accuse man's nature in it. The

desires, and other passions of man, are in themselves no sin. No more are the actions that

proceed from those passions till they know a law that forbids them; which till laws be made

they cannot know, nor can any law be made till they have agreed upon the person that shall

make it.

It may peradventure be thought there was never such a time nor condition of war as this;

and I believe it was never generally so, over all the world: but there are many places where

they live so now. For the savage people in many places of America, except the government

of small families, the concord whereof dependeth on natural lust, have no government at all,

and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I said before. Howsoever, it may be perceived

what manner of life there would be, where there were no common power to fear, by the

manner of life which men that have formerly lived under a peaceful government use to

degenerate into a civil war.


But though there had never been any time wherein particular men were in a condition of

war one against another, yet in all times kings and persons of sovereign authority, because of

their independency, are in continual jealousies, and in the state and posture of gladiators,

having their weapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another; that is, their forts,

garrisons, and guns upon the frontiers of their kingdoms, and continual spies upon their

neighbours, which is a posture of war. But because they uphold thereby the industry of their

subjects, there does not follow from it that misery which accompanies the liberty of particular

men.

To this war of every man against every man, this also is consequent; that nothing can be

unjust. The notions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, have there no place. Where

there is no common power, there is no law; where no law, no injustice. Force and fraud are

in war the two cardinal virtues. Justice and injustice are none of the faculties neither of the

body nor mind. If they were, they might be in a man that were alone in the world, as well as

his senses and passions. They are qualities that relate to men in society, not in solitude. It is

consequent also to the same condition that there be no propriety, no dominion, no mine and

thine distinct; but only that to be every man's that he can get, and for so long as he can keep

it. And thus much for the ill condition which man by mere nature is actually placed in;

though with a possibility to come out of it, consisting partly in the passions, partly in his

reason.

The passions that incline men to peace are: fear of death; desire of such things as are

necessary to commodious living; and a hope by their industry to obtain them. And reason

suggesteth convenient articles of peace upon which men may be drawn to agreement. These

articles are they which otherwise are called the laws of nature, where of I shall speak more

particularly in the two following chapters.

CHAPTER XIV. OF THE FIRST AND SECOND NATURAL LAWS, AND OF CONTRACTS

THE right of nature, which writers commonly call jus naturale, is the liberty each man hath to

use his own power as he will himselff or the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of

his own life; and consequently, of doing anything which, in his own judgement and reason,

he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto.

By liberty is understood, according to the proper signification of the word, the absence of

external impediments; which impediments may oft take away part of a man's power to do

what he would, but cannot hinder him from using the power left him according as his

judgement and reason shall dictate to him.

A law of nature, lex naturalis, is a precept, or general rule, found out by reason, by which a

man is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of

preserving the same, and to omit that by which he thinketh it may be best preserved. For

though they that speak of this subject use to confound jus and lex, right and law, yet they

ought to be distinguished, because right consisteth in liberty to do, or to forbear; whereas law

determineth and bindeth to one of them: so that law and right differ as much as obligation

and liberty, which in one and the same matter are inconsistent.


And because the condition of man (as hath been declared in the precedent chapter) is a

condition of war of everyone against everyone, in which case every one is governed by his

own reason, and there is nothing he can make use of that may not be a help unto him in

preserving his life against his enemies; it followeth that in such a condition every man has a

right to every thing, even to one another's body. And therefore, as long as this natural right

of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no security to any man, how strong or

wise soever he be, of living out the time which nature ordinarily alloweth men to live. And

consequently it is a precept, or general rule of reason: that every man ought to endeavour

peace, as far as he has hope of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek

and use all helps and advantages of war. The first branch of which rule containeth the first

and fundamental law of nature, which is: to seek peace and follow it. The second, the sum of

the right of nature, which is: by all means we can to defend ourselves.

From this fundamental law of nature, by which men are commanded to endeavour peace, is

derived this second law: that a man be willing, when others are so too, as far forth as for

peace and defence of himself he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things;

and be contented with so much liberty against other men as he would allow other men

against himself. For as long as every man holdeth this right, of doing anything he liketh; so

long are all men in the condition of war. But if other men will not lay down their right, as

well as he, then there is no reason for anyone to divest himself of his: for that were to expose

himself to prey, which no man is bound to, rather than to dispose himself to peace. This is

that law of the gospel: Whatsoever you require that others should do to you, that do ye to

them. And that law of all men, quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris.*

To lay down a man's right to anything is to divest himself of the liberty of hindering another

of the benefit of his own right to the same. For he that renounceth or passeth away his right

giveth not to any other man a right which he had not before, because there is nothing to

which every man had not right by nature, but only standeth out of his way that he may

enjoy his own original right without hindrance from him, not without hindrance from

another. So that the effect which redoundeth to one man by another man's defect of right is

but so much diminution of impediments to the use of his own right original.

Right is laid aside, either by simply renouncing it, or by transferring it to another. By simply

renouncing, when he cares not to whom the benefit thereof redoundeth. By transferring,

when he intendeth the benefit thereof to some certain person or persons. And when a man

hath in either manner abandoned or granted away his right, then is he said to be obliged, or

bound, not to hinder those to whom such right is granted, or abandoned, from the benefit of

it: and that he ought, and it is duty, not to make void that voluntary act of his own: and that

such hindrance is injustice, and injury, as being sine jure; the right being before renounced or

transferred. So that injury or injustice, in the controversies of the world, is somewhat like to

that which in the disputations of scholars is called absurdity. For as it is there called an

absurdity to contradict what one maintained in the beginning; so in the world it is called

injustice, and injury voluntarily to undo that which from the beginning he had voluntarily

* What you do not want to be done to you, that you should not do to others.


done. The way by which a man either simply renounceth or transferreth his right is a

declaration, or signification, by some voluntary and sufficient sign, or signs, that he doth so

renounce or transfer, or hath so renounced or transferred the same, to him that accepteth it.

And these signs are either words only, or actions only; or, as it happeneth most often, both

words and actions. And the same are the bonds, by which men are bound and obliged:

bonds that have their strength, not from their own nature (for nothing is more easily broken

than a man's word), but from fear of some evil consequence upon the rupture.

Whensoever a man transferreth his right, or renounceth it, it is either in consideration of

some right reciprocally transferred to himself, or for some other good he hopeth for thereby.

For it is a voluntary act: and of the voluntary acts of every man, the object is some good to

himself. And therefore there be some rights which no man can be understood by any words,

or other signs, to have abandoned or transferred. As first a man cannot lay down the right of

resisting them that assault him by force to take away his life, because he cannot be

understood to aim thereby at any good to himself. The same may be said of wounds, and

chains, and imprisonment, both because there is no benefit consequent to such patience, as

there is to the patience of suffering another to be wounded or imprisoned, as also because a

man cannot tell when he seeth men proceed against him by violence whether they intend his

death or not. And lastly the motive and end for which this renouncing and transferring of

right is introduced is nothing else but the security of a man's person, in his life, and in the

means of so preserving life as not to be weary of it. And therefore if a man by words, or

other signs, seem to despoil himself of the end for which those signs were intended, he is not

to be understood as if he meant it, or that it was his will, but that he was ignorant of how

such words and actions were to be interpreted.

The mutual transferring of right is that which men call contract. . . .

In contracts the right passeth, not only where the words are of the time present or past, but

also where they are of the future, because all contract is mutual translation, or change of

right; and therefore he that promiseth only, because he hath already received the benefit for

which he promiseth, is to be understood as if he intended the right should pass: for unless he

had been content to have his words so understood, the other would not have performed his

part first. And for that cause, in buying, and selling, and other acts of contract, a promise is

equivalent to a covenant, and therefore obligatory.

He that performeth first in the case of a contract is said to merit that which he is to receive by

the performance of the other, and he hath it as due. Also when a prize is propounded to

many, which is to be given to him only that winneth, or money is thrown amongst many to

be enjoyed by them that catch it; though this be a free gift, yet so to win, or so to catch, is to

merit, and to have it as due. For the right is transferred in the propounding of the prize, and

in throwing down the money, though it be not determined to whom, but by the event of the

contention. But there is between these two sorts of merit this difference, that in contract I

merit by virtue of my own power and the contractor's need, but in this case of free gift I am

enabled to merit only by the benignity of the giver: in contract I merit at the contractor's

hand that he should depart with his right; in this case of gift, I merit not that the giver should

part with his right, but that when he has parted with it, it should be mine rather than


another's. And this I think to be the meaning of that distinction of the Schools between

meritum congrui and meritum condigni. For God Almighty, having promised paradise to

those men, hoodwinked with carnal desires, that can walk through this world according to

the precepts and limits prescribed by him, they say he that shall so walk shall merit paradise

ex congruo. But because no man can demand a right to it by his own righteousness, or any

other power in himself, but by the free grace of God only, they say no man can merit

paradise ex condigno. This, I say, I think is the meaning of that distinction; but because

disputers do not agree upon the signification of their own terms of art longer than it serves

their turn, I will not affirm anything of their meaning: only this I say; when a gift is given

indefinitely, as a prize to be contended for, he that winneth meriteth, and may claim the

prize as due.

If a covenant be made wherein neither of the parties perform presently, but trust one

another, in the condition of mere nature (which is a condition of war of every man against

every man) upon any reasonable suspicion, it is void: but if there be a common power set

over them both, with right and force sufficient to compel performance, it is not void. For he

that performeth first has no assurance the other will perform after, because the bonds of

words are too weak to bridle men's ambition, avarice, anger, and other passions, without the

fear of some coercive power; which in the condition of mere nature, where all men are

equal, and judges of the justness of their own fears, cannot possibly be supposed. And

therefore he which performeth first does but betray himself to his enemy, contrary to the

right he can never abandon of defending his life and means of living.

But in a civil estate, where there a power set up to constrain those that would otherwise

violate their faith, that fear is no more reasonable; and for that cause, he which by the

covenant is to perform first is obliged so to do.

The cause of fear, which maketh such a covenant invalid, must be always something arising

after the covenant made, as some new fact or other sign of the will not to perform, else it

cannot make the covenant void. For that which could not hinder a man from promising

ought not to be admitted as a hindrance of performing.

He that transferreth any right transferreth the means of enjoying it, as far as lieth in his

power. As he that selleth land is understood to transfer the herbage and whatsoever grows

upon it; nor can he that sells a mill turn away the stream that drives it. And they that give to

a man the right of government in sovereignty are understood to give him the right of levying

money to maintain soldiers, and of appointing magistrates for the administration of justice.

To make covenants with brute beasts is impossible, because not understanding our speech,

they understand not, nor accept of any translation of right, nor can translate any right to

another: and without mutual acceptation, there is no covenant.

To make covenant with God is impossible but by mediation of such as God speaketh to,

either by revelation supernatural or by His lieutenants that govern under Him and in His

name: for otherwise we know not whether our covenants be accepted or not. And therefore

they that vow anything contrary to any law of nature, vow in vain, as being a thing unjust to


pay such vow. And if it be a thing commanded by the law of nature, it is not the vow, but

the law that binds them.

The matter or subject of a covenant is always something that falleth under deliberation, for

to covenant is an act of the will; that is to say, an act, and the last act, of deliberation; and is

therefore always understood to be something to come, and which judged possible for him

that covenanteth to perform.

And therefore, to promise that which is known to be impossible is no covenant. But if that

prove impossible afterwards, which before was thought possible, the covenant is valid and

bindeth, though not to the thing itself, yet to the value; or, if that also be impossible, to the

unfeigned endeavour of performing as much as is possible, for to more no man can be

obliged.

Men are freed of their covenants two ways; by performing, or by being forgiven. For

performance is the natural end of obligation, and forgiveness the restitution of liberty, as

being a retransferring of that right in which the obligation consisted.

Covenants entered into by fear, in the condition of mere nature, are obligatory. For example,

if I covenant to pay a ransom, or service for my life, to an enemy, I am bound by it. For it is

a contract, wherein one receiveth the benefit of life; the other is to receive money, or service

for it, and consequently, where no other law (as in the condition of mere nature) forbiddeth

the performance, the covenant is valid. Therefore prisoners of war, if trusted with the

payment of their ransom, are obliged to pay it: and if a weaker prince make a

disadvantageous peace with a stronger, for fear, he is bound to keep it; unless (as hath been

said before) there ariseth some new and just cause of fear to renew the war. And even in

Commonwealths, if I be forced to redeem myself from a thief by promising him money, I am

bound to pay it, till the civil law discharge me. For whatsoever I may lawfully do without

obligation, the same I may lawfully covenant to do through fear: and what I lawfully

covenant, I cannot lawfully break.

A former covenant makes void a later. For a man that hath passed away his right to one man

today hath it not to pass tomorrow to another: and therefore the later promise passeth no

right, but is null.

A covenant not to defend myself from force, by force, is always void. For (as I have shown

before) no man can transfer or lay down his right to save himself from death, wounds, and

imprisonment, the avoiding whereof is the only end of laying down any right; and therefore

the promise of not resisting force, in no covenant transferreth any right, nor is obliging. For

though a man may covenant thus, unless I do so, or so, kill me; he cannot covenant thus,

unless I do so, or so, I will not resist you when you come to kill me. For man by nature

chooseth the lesser evil, which is danger of death in resisting, rather than the greater, which is

certain and present death in not resisting. And this is granted to be true by all men, in that

they lead criminals to execution, and prison, with armed men, notwithstanding that such

criminals have consented to the law by which they are condemned.


A covenant to accuse oneself, without assurance of pardon, is likewise invalid. For in the

condition of nature where every man is judge, there is no place for accusation: and in the

civil state the accusation is followed with punishment, which, being force, a man is not

obliged not to resist. The same is also true of the accusation of those by whose condemnation

a man falls into misery; as of a father, wife, or benefactor. For the testimony of such an

accuser, if it be not willingly given, is presumed to be corrupted by nature, and therefore not

to be received: and where a man's testimony is not to be credited, he is not bound to give it.

Also accusations upon torture are not to be reputed as testimonies. For torture is to be used

but as means of conjecture, and light, in the further examination and search of truth: and

what is in that case confessed tendeth to the ease of him that is tortured, not to the informing

of the torturers, and therefore ought not to have the credit of a sufficient testimony: for

whether he deliver himself by true or false accusation, he does it by the right of preserving his

own life.

The force of words being (as I have formerly noted) too weak to hold men to the

performance of their covenants, there are in man's nature but two imaginable helps to

strengthen it. And those are either a fear of the consequence of breaking their word, or a

glory or pride in appearing not to need to break it. This latter is a generosity too rarely found

to be presumed on, especially in the pursuers of wealth, command, or sensual pleasure,

which are the greatest part of mankind. The passion to be reckoned upon is fear; whereof

there be two very general objects: one, the power of spirits invisible; the other, the power of

those men they shall therein offend. Of these two, though the former be the greater power,

yet the fear of the latter is commonly the greater fear. The fear of the former is in every man

his own religion, which hath place in the nature of man before civil society. The latter hath

not so; at least not place enough to keep men to their promises, because in the condition of

mere nature, the inequality of power is not discerned, but by the event of battle. So that

before the time of civil society, or in the interruption thereof by war, there is nothing can

strengthen a covenant of peace agreed on against the temptations of avarice, ambition, lust,

or other strong desire, but the fear of that invisible power which they every one worship as

God, and fear as a revenger of their perfidy. All therefore that can be done between two

men not subject to civil power is to put one another to swear by the God he feareth: which

swearing, or oath, is a form of speech, added to a promise, by which he that promiseth

signifieth that unless he perform he renounceth the mercy of his God, or calleth to him for

vengeance on himself. Such was the heathen form, Let Jupiter kill me else, as I kill this beast.

So is our form, I shall do thus, and thus, so help me God. And this, with the rites and

ceremonies which every one useth in his own religion, that the fear of breaking faith might be

the greater.

By this it appears that an oath taken according to any other form, or rite, than his that

sweareth is in vain and no oath, and that there is no swearing by anything which the swearer

thinks not God. For though men have sometimes used to swear by their kings, for fear, or

flattery; yet they would have it thereby understood they attributed to them divine honour.

And that swearing unnecessarily by God is but profaning of his name: and swearing by other

things, as men do in common discourse, is not swearing, but an impious custom, gotten by

too much vehemence of talking.


It appears also that the oath adds nothing to the obligation. For a covenant, if lawful, binds

in the sight of God, without the oath, as much as with it; if unlawful, bindeth not at all,

though it be confirmed with an oath.

[SOURCE: Chapter XIII from the Internet Modern History Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hobbes-lev13.html; Chapter XIV excerpted from

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-c.html#CHAPTERXIV]

John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1690)

John Locke (1632-1704) was an English philosopher and political theorist. He studied

medicine at the University of Oxford and later served as physician to the Earl of Shaftesbury, who

opposed the Stuart monarchy. Because of this stance, Locke was forced to leave England for France in

1675. There he spent four years studying continental philosophy, especially that of Descartes. On his

return, Locke worked with Shaftesbury to block the succession of the Catholic James, Duke of York,

later James II, from the throne. Shaftesbury was tried for treason in 1679, and though acquitted, still

stood under the threat of further prosecution. Because of his close association with Shaftesbury, Locke

was similarly threatened and he went to Holland in 1683. He returned to England in about 1688

when James II was forced from the throne, which was then assumed by William and Mary (the

daughter of Charles II).

Locke’s writings had enormous impact upon both political theory and philosophy. In the area

of philosophy, he is considered to be the founder of Empiricism. In the field of political theory, Locke

articulated the idea of the political contract. Locke believed that the purpose of government was to

protect the natural rights (life, liberty and property) of its citizens. He opposed the idea of a divine-

right monarchy, and instead argued that kings ruled by consent of the people, who transferred their

power to him through a political contract, which obligated both sides to act in certain ways. If, for

example, the king violated the rights of individuals (i.e., he failed to uphold the contract), the king

could be resisted and, if necessary, replaced. These ideas were very influential in the American

Revolution and can be seen in the Declaration of Independence.

Locke wrote numerous essays and treatises. Perhaps his most famous works are the Two

Treatises of Government (1690), the Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690), and the

Reasonableness of Christianity (1695). The Two Treatises of Government advanced his idea of a

political contract and thus presented a defense of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Locke was

interested in religious matters his entire life, and in his later years, he devoted more and more time to

theology. Among his posthumously published works were commentaries on the letters of Paul and

Discourse on Miracles.

[Source: John Locke www.cla.calpoly.edu and John Locke www.odur.let.rug.nl]

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/hobbes-lev13.html

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/texts/hobbes/leviathan-c.html#CHAPTERXIV

http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/

http://www.odur.let.rug.nl/


CHAPTER II: Of the State of Nature

Sect. 4. To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider,

what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their

actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of

the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.

A state also of equality, wherein all the power and jurisdiction is reciprocal, no one having

more than another; there being nothing more evident, than that creatures of the same species

and rank, promiscuously born to all the same advantages of nature, and the use of the same

faculties, should also be equal one amongst another without subordination or subjection,

unless the lord and master of them all should, by any manifest declaration of his will, set one

above another, and confer on him, by an evident and clear appointment, an undoubted right

to dominion and sovereignty.

Sect. 5. This equality of men by nature, the judicious Hooker looks upon as so evident in

itself, and beyond all question, that he makes it the foundation of that obligation to mutual

love amongst men, on which he builds the duties they owe one another, and from whence

he derives the great maxims of justice and charity. His words are, The like natural inducement

hath brought men to know that it is no less their duty, to love others than themselves; for

seeing those things which are equal, must needs all have one measure; if I cannot but wish to

receive good, even as much at every man's hands, as any man can wish unto his own soul,

how should I look to have any part of my desire herein satisfied, unless myself be careful to

satisfy the like desire, which is undoubtedly in other men, being of one and the same nature?

To have any thing offered them repugnant to this desire, must needs in all respects grieve

them as much as me; so that if I do harm, I must look to suffer, there being no reason that

others should shew greater measure of love to me, than they have by me shewed unto them:

my desire therefore to be loved of my equals in nature as much as possible may be, imposeth

upon me a natural duty of bearing to them-ward fully the like affection; from which relation

of equality between ourselves and them that are as ourselves, what several rules and canons

natural reason hath drawn, for direction of life, no man is ignorant.

Sect. 6. But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of licence: though man in that

state have an uncontroulable liberty to dispose of his person or possessions, yet he has not

liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession, but where some

nobler use than its bare preservation calls for it. The state of nature has a law of nature to

govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who

will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his

life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent,

and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his

order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to

last during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing all

in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us,

that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as

Richard Hooker, On the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593), Lib. 1. Hereafter cited as Hooker, Eccl. Pol.


the inferior ranks of creatures are for our's. Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and

not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in

competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not,

unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the

preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another.

Sect. 7. And that all men may be restrained from invading others’ rights, and from doing hurt

to one another, and the law of nature be observed, which willeth the peace and preservation

of all mankind, the execution of the law of nature is, in that state, put into every man's

hands, whereby every one has a right to punish the transgressors of that law to such a degree,

as may hinder its violation: for the law of nature would, as all other laws that concern men in

this world, be in vain, if there were no body that in the state of nature had a power to

execute that law, and thereby preserve the innocent and restrain offenders. And if any one in

the state of nature may punish another for any evil he has done, every one may do so: for in

that state of perfect equality, where naturally there is no superiority or jurisdiction of one

over another, what any may do in prosecution of that law, every one must needs have a

right to do.

Sect. 8. And thus, in the state of nature, one man comes by a power over another; but yet no

absolute or arbitrary power, to use a criminal, when he has got him in his hands, according to

the passionate heats, or boundless extravagancy of his own will; but only to retribute to him,

so far as calm reason and conscience dictate, what is proportionate to his transgression, which

is so much as may serve for reparation and restraint: for these two are the only reasons why

one man may lawfully do harm to another, which is that we call punishment. In transgressing

the law of nature, the offender declares himself to live by another rule than that of reason

and common equity, which is that measure God has set to the actions of men, for their

mutual security; and so he becomes dangerous to mankind, the tye, which is to secure them

from injury and violence, being slighted and broken by him. Which being a trespass against

the whole species, and the peace and safety of it, provided for by the law of nature, every

man upon this score, by the right he hath to preserve mankind in general, may restrain, or

where it is necessary, destroy things noxious to them, and so may bring such evil on any one,

who hath transgressed that law, as may make him repent the doing of it, and thereby deter

him, and by his example others, from doing the like mischief. And in the case, and upon this

ground, EVERY MAN HATH A RIGHT TO PUNISH THE OFFENDER, AND BE

EXECUTIONER OF THE LAW OF NATURE.

Sect. 9. I doubt not but this will seem a very strange doctrine to some men: but before they

condemn it, I desire them to resolve me, by what right any prince or state can put to death,

or punish an alien, for any crime he commits in their country. It is certain their laws, by virtue

of any sanction they receive from the promulgated will of the legislative, reach not a

stranger: they speak not to him, nor, if they did, is he bound to hearken to them. The

legislative authority, by which they are in force over the subjects of that commonwealth, hath

no power over him. Those who have the supreme power of making laws in England, France

or Holland, are to an Indian, but like the rest of the world, men without authority: and

therefore, if by the law of nature every man hath not a power to punish offences against it,

as he soberly judges the case to require, I see not how the magistrates of any community can


punish an alien of another country; since, in reference to him, they can have no more power

than what every man naturally may have over another.

Sect, 10. Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and varying from the right rule

of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the

principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to

some person or other, and some other man receives damage by his transgression: in which

case he who hath received any damage, has, besides the right of punishment common to him

with other men, a particular right to seek reparation from him that has done it: and any

other person, who finds it just, may also join with him that is injured, and assist him in

recovering from the offender so much as may make satisfaction for the harm he has suffered.

Sect. 11. From these two distinct rights, the one of punishing the crime for restraint, and

preventing the like offence, which right of punishing is in every body; the other of taking

reparation, which belongs only to the injured party, comes it to pass that the magistrate, who

by being magistrate hath the common right of punishing put into his hands, can often, where

the public good demands not the execution of the law, remit the punishment of criminal

offences by his own authority, but yet cannot remit the satisfaction due to any private man

for the damage he has received. That, he who has suffered the damage has a right to demand

in his own name, and he alone can remit: the damnified person has this power of

appropriating to himself the goods or service of the offender, by right of self-preservation, as

every man has a power to punish the crime, to prevent its being committed again, by the

right he has of preserving all mankind, and doing all reasonable things he can in order to that

end: and thus it is, that every man, in the state of nature, has a power to kill a murderer,

both to deter others from doing the like injury, which no reparation can compensate, by the

example of the punishment that attends it from every body, and also to secure men from the

attempts of a criminal, who having renounced reason, the common rule and measure God

hath given to mankind, hath, by the unjust violence and slaughter he hath committed upon

one, declared war against all mankind, and therefore may be destroyed as a lion or a tyger,

one of those wild savage beasts, with whom men can have no society nor security: and upon

this is grounded that great law of nature, Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his

blood be shed. And Cain was so fully convinced, that every one had a right to destroy such a

criminal, that after the murder of his brother, he cries out, Every one that findeth me, shall

slay me; so plain was it writ in the hearts of all mankind.

Sect. 12. By the same reason may a man in the state of nature punish the lesser breaches of

that law, it will perhaps be demanded, with death? I answer, each transgression may be

punished to that degree, and with so much severity, as will suffice to make it an ill bargain to

the offender, give him cause to repent, and terrify others from doing the like. Every offence,

that can be committed in the state of nature, may in the state of nature be also punished

equally, and as far forth as it may, in a commonwealth: for though it would be besides my

present purpose, to enter here into the particulars of the law of nature, or its measures of

punishment; yet, it is certain there is such a law, and that too, as intelligible and plain to a

rational creature, and a studier of that law, as the positive laws of commonwealths; nay,

possibly plainer; as much as reason is easier to be understood, than the fancies and intricate

contrivances of men, following contrary and hidden interests put into words; for so truly are


a great part of the municipal laws of countries, which are only so far right, as they are

founded on the law of nature, by which they are to be regulated and interpreted.

Sect. 13. To this strange doctrine, viz. that in the state of nature every one has the executive

power of the law of nature, I doubt not but it will be objected, that it is unreasonable for

men to be judges in their own cases, that self-love will make men partial to themselves and

their friends: and on the other side, that ill nature, passion and revenge will carry them too

far in punishing others; and hence nothing but confusion and disorder will follow, and that

therefore God hath certainly appointed government to restrain the partiality and violence of

men. I easily grant, that civil government is the proper remedy for the inconveniencies of the

state of nature, which must certainly be great, where men may be judges in their own case,

since it is easy to be imagined, that he who was so unjust as to do his brother an injury, will

scarce be so just as to condemn himself for it: but I shall desire those who make this

objection, to remember, that absolute monarchs are but men; and if government is to be the

remedy of those evils, which necessarily follow from men's being judges in their own cases,

and the state of nature is therefore not to how much better it is than the state of nature,

where one man, commanding a multitude, has the liberty to be judge in his own case, and

may do to all his subjects whatever he pleases, without the least liberty to any one to

question or control those who execute his pleasure--and in whatsoever he doth, whether led

by reason, mistake or passion, must be submitted to--much better it is in the state of nature,

wherein men are not bound to submit to the unjust will of another: and if he that judges,

judges amiss in his own, or any other case, he is answerable for it to the rest of mankind.

Sect. 14. It is often asked as a mighty objection, where are, or ever were there any men in

such a state of nature? To which it may suffice as an answer at present, that since all princes

and rulers of independent governments all through the world, are in a state of nature, it is

plain the world never was, nor ever will be, without numbers of men in that state. I have

named all governors of independent communities, whether they are, or are not, in league

with others: for it is not every compact that puts an end to the state of nature between men,

but only this one of agreeing together mutually to enter into one community, and make one

body politic; other promises, and compacts, men may make one with another, and yet still

be in the state of nature. The promises and bargains for truck, &c. between the two men in

the desert island, mentioned by Garcilasso de la Vega, in his history of Peru; or between a

Swiss and an Indian, in the woods of America, are binding to them, though they are perfectly

in a state of nature, in reference to one another: for truth and keeping of faith belongs to

men, as men, and not as members of society.

Sect. 15. To those that say, there were never any men in the state of nature, I will not only

oppose the authority of the judicious Hooker, Eccl. Pol. lib. i. sect. 10, where he says, The

laws which have been hitherto mentioned, i.e. the laws of nature, do bind men absolutely,

even as they are men, although they have never any settled fellowship, never any solemn

agreement amongst themselves what to do, or not to do: but forasmuch as we are not by

ourselves sufficient to furnish ourselves with competent store of things, needful for such a life

as our nature doth desire, a life fit for the dignity of man; therefore to supply those defects

and imperfections which are in us, as living single and solely by ourselves, we are naturally

induced to seek communion and fellowship with others: this was the cause of men's uniting


themselves at first in politic societies. But I moreover affirm, that all men are naturally in that

state, and remain so, till by their own consents they make themselves members of some

politic society; and I doubt not in the sequel of this discourse, to make it very clear.

CHAPTER VII: Of Political or Civil Society

Sect. 77. GOD having made man such a creature, that in his own judgment, it was not good

for him to be alone, put him under strong obligations of necessity, convenience, and

inclination to drive him into society, as well as fitted him with understanding and language to

continue and enjoy it. The first society was between man and wife, which gave beginning to

that between parents and children; to which, in time, that between master and servant came

to be added: and though all these might, and commonly did meet together, and make up but

one family, wherein the master or mistress of it had some sort of rule proper to a family;

each of these, or all together, came short of political society, as we shall see, if we consider

the different ends, ties, and bounds of each of these.

Sect. 79. For the end of conjunction, between male and female, being not barely

procreation, but the continuation of the species; this conjunction betwixt male and female

ought to last, even after procreation, so long as is necessary to the nourishment and support

of the young ones, who are to be sustained even after procreation, so long as is necessary to

the nourishment and support of the young ones, who are to be sustained by those that got

them, till they are able to . . . provide for themselves . . . .

Sect. 80. And herein I think lies the chief, if not the only reason, why the male and female in

mankind are tied to a longer conjunction than other creatures, viz. because the female is

capable of conceiving, and de facto is commonly with child again, and brings forth too a new

birth, long before the former is out of a dependency for support on his parents’ help, and

able to shift for himself, and has all the assistance is due to him from his parents: whereby the

father, who is bound to take care for those he hath begot, is under an obligation to continue

in conjugal society with the same woman longer than other creatures, whose young being

able to subsist of themselves, before the time of procreation returns again, the conjugal bond

dissolves of itself, and they are at liberty, till Hymen at his usual anniversary season summons

them again to chuse new mates. Wherein one cannot but admire the wisdom of the great

Creator, who having given to man foresight, and an ability to lay up for the future, as well as

to supply the present necessity, hath made it necessary, that society of man and wife should

be more lasting, than of male and female amongst other creatures; that so their industry

might be encouraged, and their interest better united, to make provision and lay up goods

for their common issue, which uncertain mixture, or easy and frequent solutions of conjugal

society would mightily disturb.

Sect. 81. But tho' these are ties upon mankind, which make the conjugal bonds more firm

and lasting in man, than the other species of animals; yet it would give one reason to

enquire, why this compact, where procreation and education are secured, and inheritance

taken care for, may not be made determinable, either by consent, or at a certain time, or

upon certain conditions, as well as any other voluntary compacts, there being no necessity in


the nature of the thing, nor to the ends of it, that it should always be for life; I mean, to such

as are under no restraint of any positive law, which ordains all such contracts to be perpetual.

Sect. 82. But the husband and wife, though they have but one common concern, yet having

different understandings, will unavoidably sometimes have different wills, too; it therefore

being necessary that the last determination, i. e. the rule, should be placed somewhere; it

naturally falls to the man's share, as the abler and the stronger. But this reaching but to the

things of their common interest and property, leaves the wife in the full and free possession

of what by contract is her peculiar right, and gives the husband no more power over her life

than she has over his; the power of the husband being so far from that of an absolute

monarch, that the wife has in many cases a liberty to separate from him, where natural right,

or their contract allows it; whether that contract be made by themselves in the state of

nature, or by the customs or laws of the country they live in; and the children upon such

separation fall to the father or mother's lot, as such contract does determine.

Sect. 83. For all the ends of marriage being to be obtained under politic government, as well

as in the state of nature, the civil magistrate doth not abridge the right or power of either

naturally necessary to those ends, viz. procreation and mutual support and assistance whilst

they are together; but only decides any controversy that may arise between man and wife

about them. If it were otherwise, and that absolute sovereignty and power of life and death

naturally belonged to the husband, and were necessary to the society between man and wife,

there could be no matrimony in any of those countries where the husband is allowed no such

absolute authority. But the ends of matrimony requiring no such power in the husband, the

condition of conjugal society put it not in him, it being not at all necessary to that state.

Conjugal society could subsist and attain its ends without it; nay, community of goods, and

the power over them, mutual assistance and maintenance, and other things belonging to

conjugal society, might be varied and regulated by that contract which unites man and wife

in that society, as far as may consist with procreation and the bringing up of children till they

could shift for themselves; nothing being necessary to any society, that is not necessary to the

ends for which it is made.

Sect. 84. The society betwixt parents and children, and the distinct rights and powers

belonging respectively to them, I have treated of so largely, in the foregoing chapter, that I

shall not here need to say any thing of it. And I think it is plain, that it is far different from a

politic society.

Sect. 85. Master and servant are names as old as history, but given to those of far different

condition; for a freeman makes himself a servant to another, by selling him, for a certain

time, the service he undertakes to do, in exchange for wages he is to receive: and though this

commonly puts him into the family of his master, and under the ordinary discipline thereof;

yet it gives the master but a temporary power over him, and no greater than what is

contained in the contract between them. But there is another sort of servants, which by a

peculiar name we call slaves, who being captives taken in a just war, are by the right of

nature subjected to the absolute dominion and arbitrary power of their masters. These men

having, as I say, forfeited their lives, and with it their liberties, and lost their estates; and


being in the state of slavery, not capable of any property, cannot in that state be considered

as any part of civil society; the chief end whereof is the preservation of property.

Sect. 86. Let us therefore consider a master of a family with all these subordinate relations of

wife, children, servants, and slaves, united under the domestic rule of a family; which, what

resemblance soever it may have in its order, offices, and number too, with a little common-

wealth, yet is very far from it, both in its constitution, power and end: or if it must be

thought a monarchy, and the paterfamilias the absolute monarch in it, absolute monarchy

will have but a very shattered and short power, when it is plain, by what has been said

before, that the master of the family has a very distinct and differently limited power, both as

to time and extent, over those several persons that are in it; for excepting the slave (and the

family is as much a family, and his power as paterfamilias as great, whether there be any

slaves in his family or no) he has no legislative power of life and death over any of them, and

none too but what a mistress of a family may have as well as he. And he certainly can have

no absolute power over the whole family, who has but a very limited one over every

individual in it. But how a family, or any other society of men, differ from that which is

properly political society, we shall best see, by considering wherein political society itself

consists.

Sect. 87. Man being born, as has been proved, with a title to perfect freedom, and an

uncontrolled enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the law of nature, equally with any

other man, or number of men in the world, hath by nature a power, not only to preserve his

property, that is, his life, liberty and estate, against the injuries and attempts of other men;

but to judge of, and punish the breaches of that law in others, as he is persuaded the offence

deserves, even with death itself, in crimes where the heinousness of the fact, in his opinion,

requires it. But because no political society can be, nor subsist, without having in itself the

power to preserve the property, and in order thereunto, punish the offences of all those of

that society; there, and there only is political society, where every one of the members hath

quitted this natural power, resigned it up into the hands of the community in all cases that

exclude him not from appealing for protection to the law established by it. And thus all

private judgment of every particular member being excluded, the community comes to be

umpire, by settled standing rules, indifferent, and the same to all parties; and by men having

authority from the community, for the execution of those rules, decides all the differences

that may happen between any members of that society concerning any matter of right; and

punishes those offences which any member hath committed against the society, with such

penalties as the law has established: whereby it is easy to discern, who are, and who are not,

in political society together. Those who are united into one body, and have a common

established law and judicature to appeal to, with authority to decide controversies between

them, and punish offenders, are in civil society one with another: but those who have no

such common appeal, I mean on earth, are still in the state of nature, each being, where there

is no other, judge for himself, and executioner; which is, as I have before shewed it, the

perfect state of nature.

Sect. 88. And thus the commonwealth comes by a power to set down what punishment shall

belong to the several transgressions which they think worthy of it, committed amongst the

members of that society (which is the power of making laws), as well as it has the power to


punish any injury done unto any of its members, by any one that is not of it (which is the

power of war and peace); and all this for the preservation of the property of all the members

of that society, as far as is possible. But though every man who has entered into civil society,

and is become a member of any commonwealth, has thereby quitted his power to punish

offences, against the law of nature, in prosecution of his own private judgment, yet with the

judgment of offences, which he has given up to the legislative in all cases, where he can

appeal to the magistrate, he has given a right to the common-wealth to employ his force, for

the execution of the judgments of the common-wealth, whenever he shall be called to it;

which indeed are his own judgments, they being made by himself, or his representative. And

herein we have the original of the legislative and executive power of civil society, which is to

judge by standing laws, how far offences are to be punished, when committed within the

common-wealth; and also to determine, by occasional judgments founded on the present

circumstances of the fact, how far injuries from without are to be vindicated; and in both

these to employ all the force of all the members, when there shall be need.

Sect. 89. Wherever therefore any number of men are so united into one society, as to quit

every one his executive power of the law of nature, and to resign it to the public, there and

there only is a political, or civil society. And this is done, where-ever any number of men, in

the state of nature, enter into society to make one people, one body politic, under one

supreme government; or else when any one joins himself to, and incorporates with any

government already made: for hereby he authorizes the society, or which is all one, the

legislative thereof, to make laws for him, as the public good of the society shall require; to

the execution whereof, his own assistance (as to his own decrees) is due. And this puts men

out of a state of nature into that of a common-wealth, by setting up a judge on earth, with

authority to determine all the controversies, and redress the injuries that may happen to any

member of the commonwealth; which judge is the legislative, or magistrates appointed by it.

And where-ever there are any number of men, however associated, that have no such

decisive power to appeal to, there they are still in the state of nature.

Sect. 90. Hence it is evident that absolute monarchy, which by some men is counted the only

government in the world, is indeed inconsistent with civil society, and so can be no form of

civil-government at all: for the end of civil society, being to avoid, and remedy those

inconveniencies of the state of nature, which necessarily follow from every man's being judge

in his own case, by setting up a known authority, to which every one of that society may

appeal upon any injury received, or controversy that may arise, and which every one of the

society ought to obey; where-ever any persons are, who have not such an authority to

appeal to, for the decision of any difference between them, there those persons are still in the

state of nature; and so is every absolute prince, in respect of those who are under his

dominion.

The public power of all society is above every soul contained in the same society; and the principal use of that

power is, to give laws unto all that are under it, which laws in such cases we must obey, unless there be reason

shewed which may necessarily inforce, that the law of reason, or of God, doth enjoin the contrary. (Hooker, Eccl.

Pol. l. i. sect. 16. )


Sect. 91. For he being supposed to have all, both legislative and executive power in himself

alone, there is no judge to be found, no appeal lies open to any one, who may fairly, and

indifferently, and with authority decide, and from whose decision relief and redress may be

expected of any injury or inconviency, that may be suffered from the prince, or by his order:

so that such a man, however intitled, Czar, or Grand Seignior, or how you please, is as much

in the state of nature, with all under his dominion, as he is with the rest of mankind: for

wherever any two men are, who have no standing rule, and common judge to appeal to on

earth, for the determination of controversies of right betwixt them, there they are still in the

state of nature, and under all the incon-veniencies of it, with only this woeful difference to

the subject, or rather slave of an absolute prince: that whereas, in the ordinary state of

nature, he has a liberty to judge of his right, and according to the best of his power, to

maintain it; now, whenever his property is invaded by the will and order of his monarch, he

has not only no appeal, as those in society ought to have, but as if he were degraded from

the common state of rational creatures, is denied a liberty to judge of, or to defend his right;

and so is exposed to all the misery and inconveniencies, that a man can fear from one, who

being in the unrestrained state of nature, is yet corrupted with flattery, and armed with

power.

Sect. 92. For he that thinks absolute power purifies men's blood, and corrects the baseness of

human nature, need read but the history of this, or any other age, to be convinced of the

contrary. He that would have been insolent and injurious in the woods of America, would

not probably be much better in a throne; where perhaps learning and religion shall be found

out to justify all that he shall do to his subjects, and the sword presently silence all those that

dare question it: for what the protection of absolute monarchy is, what kind of fathers of

their countries it makes princes to be and to what a degree of happiness and security it carries

civil society, where this sort of government is grown to perfection, he that will look into the

late relation of Ceylon, may easily see.

Sect. 93. In absolute monarchies indeed, as well as other governments of the world, the

subjects have an appeal to the law, and judges to decide any controversies, and restrain any

violence that may happen betwixt the subjects themselves, one amongst another. This every-

one thinks necessary, and believes he deserves to be thought a declared enemy to society and

mankind, who should go about to take it away. But whether this be from a true love of

mankind and society, and such a charity as we owe all one to another, there is reason to

To take away all such mutual grievances, injuries and wrongs, i.e. such as attend men in the state of nature,

there was no way but only by growing into composition and agreement amongst themselves, by ordaining some

kind of govemment public, and by yielding themselves subject thereunto, that unto whom they granted authority

to rule and govem, by them the peace, tranquillity and happy estate of the rest might be procured. Men always

knew that where force and injury was offered, they might be defenders of themselves; they knew that however

men may seek their own commodity, yet if this were done with injury unto others, it was not to be suffered, but

by all men, and all good means to be withstood. Finally, they knew that no man might in reason take upon him

to determine his own right, and according to his own determination proceed in maintenance thereof, in as much

as every man is towards himself, and them whom he greatly affects, partial; and therefore that strifes and troubles

would be endless, except they gave their common consent, all to be ordered by some, whom they should agree

upon, without which consent there would be no reason that one man should take upon him to be lord or judge

over another. (Hooker, Eccl. Pol. l. i. sect. 10.)


doubt: for this is no more than what every man, who loves his own power, profit, or

greatness, may and naturally must do, keep those animals from hurting, or destroying one

another, who labour and drudge only for his pleasure and advantage; and so are taken care

of, not out of any love the master has for them, but love of himself, and the profit they bring

him: for if it be asked, what security, what fence is there, in such a state, against the violence

and oppression of this absolute ruler? the very question can scarce be borne. They are ready

to tell you, that it deserves death only to ask after safety. Betwixt subject and subject, they

will grant, there must be measures, laws and judges, for their mutual peace and security: but

as for the ruler, he ought to be absolute, and is above all such circumstances; because he has

power to do more hurt and wrong, it is right when he does it. To ask how you may be

guarded from harm, or injury, on that side where the strongest hand is to do it, is presently

the voice of faction and rebellion: as if when men quitting the state of nature entered into

society, they agreed that all of them but one, should be under the restraint of laws, but that

he should still retain all the liberty of the state of nature, increased with power, and made

licentious by impunity. This is to think, that men are so foolish, that they take care to avoid

what mischiefs may be done them by pole-cats, or foxes; but are content, nay, think it safety,

to be devoured by lions.

Sect. 94. But whatever flatterers may talk to amuse people's understandings, it hinders not

men from feeling; and when they perceive that any man, in what station soever, is out of the

bounds of the civil society which they are of, and that they have no appeal on earth against

any harm they may receive from him, they are apt to think themselves in the state of nature,

in respect of him whom they find to be so; and to take care, as soon as they can, to have that

safety and security in civil society, for which it was first instituted, and for which only they

entered into it. And therefore, though perhaps at first (as shall be shewed more at large

hereafter in the following part of this discourse) some one good and excellent man having

got a pre-eminency amongst the rest, had this deference paid to his goodness and virtue, as

to a kind of natural authority, that the chief rule, with arbitration of their differences, by a

tacit consent devolved into his hands, without any other caution, but the assurance they had

of his uprightness and wisdom; yet when time, giving authority, and (as some men would

persuade us) sacredness of customs, which the negligent, and unforeseeing innocence of the

first ages began, had brought in successors of another stamp, the people finding their

properties not secure under the government, as then it was (whereas government has no

other end but the preservation of property), could never be safe nor at rest, nor think

themselves in civil society, till the legislature was placed in collective bodies of men, call them

senate, parliament, or what you please. By which means every single person became

subject, equally with other the meanest men, to those laws, which he himself, as part of the

legislative, had established; nor could anyone, by his own authority, avoid the force of the

law, when once made; nor by any pretence of superiority plead exemption, thereby to

At the first, when some certain kind of regiment was once appointed, it may be that nothing was then farther

thought upon for the manner of governing, but all permitted unto their wisdom and discretion, which were to

rule, till by experience they found this for all parts very inconvenient, so as the thing which they had devised for a

remedy, did indeed but increase the sore, which it should have cured. They saw, that to live by one man's will,

became the cause of all men's misery. This constrained them to come unto laws, wherein all men might see their

duty beforehand, and know the penalties of transgressing them. (Hooker, Eccl. Pol. l. i. sect. 10.)


license his own, or the miscarriages of any of his dependents. No man in civil society can be

exempted from the laws of it: for if any man may do what he thinks fit, and there be no

appeal on earth for redress or security against any harm he shall do, I ask, whether he be not

perfectly still in the state of nature, and so can be no part or member of that civil society,

unless any one will say, the state of nature and civil society are one and the same thing,

which I have never yet found any one so great a patron of anarchy as to affirm.

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1690locke-

sel.html]

VI. The Enlightenment

Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)

French philosopher and writer. He came to fame in 1750 with a series of works highly critical of the

existing social order. His philosophy is underpinned by a belief in the fundamental goodness of human

nature, encapsulated in the concept of the 'noble savage', and the warping effects of civilization. In his

novel Émile (1762) Rousseau formulated new educational principles giving the child full scope for

individual development in natural surroundings, shielded from the corrupting influences of civilization.

His Social Contract (1762) anticipated much of the thinking of the French Revolution. Rousseau is also

noted for his Confessions (1782), one of the earliest autobiographies. Though influenced by the ideas

of John Locke, Rousseau’s “social contract” is different from Locke’s “political contract.”

[Source: Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, (c) Oxford University Press, 1998]

Origin and Terms of the Social Contract

Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains. This man believes that he is the master of

others, and still he is more of a slave than they are. How did that transformation take place? I

don't know. How may the restraints on man become legitimate? I do believe I can answer

that question. . . .

At a point in the state of nature when the obstacles to human preservation have become

greater than each individual with his own strength can cope with . . ., an adequate

Civil law being the act of the whole body politic, doth therefore over-rule each several part of the same body.

(Hooker, Eccl. Pol. l. i. sect. 10.)

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combination of forces must be the result of men coming together. Still, each man's power and

freedom are his main means of self preservation. How is he to put them under the control of

others without damaging himself . . . ?

This question might be rephrased: "How is a method of associating to be found which will

defend and protect--using the power of all--the person and property of each member and still

enable each member of the group to obey only himself and to remain as free as before?" This

is the fundamental problem; the social contract offers a solution to it.

The very scope of the action dictates the terms of this contract and renders the least

modification of them inadmissible, something making them null and void. Thus, although

perhaps they have never been stated in so many words, they are the same everywhere and

tacitly conceded and recognized everywhere. And so it follows that each individual

immediately recovers his primitive rights and natural liberties whenever any violation of the

social contract occurs and thereby loses the contractual freedom for which he renounced

them.

The social contract's terms, when they are well understood, can be reduced to a single

stipulation: the individual member alienates himself totally to the whole community together

with all his rights. This is first because conditions will be the same for everyone when each

individual gives himself totally, and secondly, because no one will be tempted to make that

condition of shared equality worse for other men . . . .

Once this multitude is united this way into a body, an offense against one of its members is

an offense against the body politic. It would be even less possible to injure the body without

its members feeling it. Duty and interest thus equally require the two contracting parties to

aid each other mutually. The individual people should be motivated from their double roles

as individuals and members of the body to combine all the advantages which mutual aid

offers them . . . .

Individual Wills and the General Will

In reality, each individual may have one particular will as a man that is different from--or

contrary to--the general will which he has as a citizen. His own particular interest may suggest

other things to him than the common interest does. His separate, naturally independent

existence may make him imagine that what he owes to the common cause is an incidental

contribution--a contribution which will cost him more to give than their failure to receive it

would harm the others. He may also regard the moral person of the State as an imaginary

being since it is not a man, and wish to enjoy the rights of a citizen without performing the

duties of a subject. This unjust attitude could cause the ruin of the body politic if it became

widespread enough.

So that the social pact will not become meaningless words, it tacitly includes this

commitment, which alone gives power to the others: Whoever refuses to obey the general

will shall be forced to obey it by the whole body politic, which means nothing else but that

he will be forced to be free. This condition is indeed the one which by dedicating each citizen


to the fatherland gives him a guarantee against being personally dependent on other

individuals. It is the condition which all political machinery depends on and which alone

makes political undertakings legitimate. Without it, political actions become absurd,

tyrannical, and subject to the most outrageous abuses.

Whatever benefits he had in the state of nature but lost in the civil state, a man gains more

than enough new ones to make up for them. His capabilities are put to good use and

developed; his ideas are enriched, his sentiments made more noble, and his soul elevated to

the extent that--if the abuses in this new condition did not often degrade him to a condition

lower than the one he left behind--he would have to keep blessing this happy moment which

snatched him away from his previous state and which made an intelligent being and a man

out of a stupid and very limited animal . . . .

Property Rights

In dealing with its members, the State controls all their goods under the social contract, which

serves as the basis for all rights within the State, but it controls them only through the right of

first holder which individuals convey to the State. . . .

A strange aspect of this act of alienating property rights to the state is that when the

community takes on the goods of its members, it does not take these goods away from them.

The community does nothing but assure its members of legitimate possession of goods,

changing mere claims of possession into real rights and customary use into property....

Through an act of transfer having advantages for the public but far more for themselves they

have, so to speak, really acquired everything they gave up . . . .

Indivisible, Inalienable Sovereignty

The first and most important conclusion from the principles we have established thus far is

that the general will alone may direct the forces of the State to achieve the goal for which it

was founded, the common good . . . . Sovereignty is indivisible . . . and is inalienable . . . . A

will is general or it is not: it is that of the whole body of the people or only of one faction. In

the first instance, putting the will into words and force is an act of sovereignty: the will

becomes law. In the second instance, it is only a particular will or an administrative action; at

the very most it is a decree.

Our political theorists, however, unable to divide the source of sovereignty, divide

sovereignty into the ways it is applied. They divide it into force and will; into legislative

power and executive power; into the power to tax, the judicial power, and the power to

wage war; into internal administration and the power to negotiate with foreign countries.

Now we see them running these powers together. Now they will proceed to separate them.

They make the sovereign a being of fantasy, composed of separate pieces, which would be

like putting a man together from several bodies, one having eyes, another arms, another feet-

nothing more. Japanese magicians are said to cut up a child before the eyes of spectators,

then throw the pieces into the air one after the other, and then cause the child to drop down

reassembled and alive again. That is the sort of magic trick our political theorists perform.


After having dismembered the social body with a trick worthy of a travelling show, they

reassemble the pieces without anybody knowing how . . . .

If we follow up in the same way on the other divisions mentioned, we find that we are

deceived every time we believe we see sovereignty divided. We find that the jurisdictions we

have thought to be exercised as parts of sovereignty in reality are subordinate to the [one]

sovereign power. They presuppose supreme wills, which they merely carry out in their

jurisdictions . . . .

Need for Citizen Participation, Not Representation

It follows from the above that the general will is always in the right and inclines toward the

public good, but it does not follow that the deliberations of the people always have the same

rectitude. People always desire what is good, but they do not always see what is good. You

can never corrupt the people, but you can often fool them, and that is the only time that the

people appear to will something bad . . . .

If, assuming that the people were sufficiently informed as they made decisions and that the

citizens did not communicate with each other, the general will would always be resolved

from a great number of small differences, and the deliberation would always be good. But

when blocs are formed, associations of parts at the expense of the whole, the will of each of

these associations will be general as far as its members are concerned but particular as far as

the State is concerned. Then we may say that there are no longer so many voters as there are

men present but as many as there are associations. The differences will become less numerous

and will yield less general results. Finally, when one of these associations becomes so strong

that it dominates the others, you no longer have the sum of minor differences as a result but

rather one single [unresolved] difference, with the result that there no longer is a general will,

and the view that prevails is nothing but one particular view . . . .

But we must also consider the private persons who make up the public, apart from the public

personified, who each have a life and liberty independent of it. It is very necessary for us to

distinguish between the respective rights of the citizens and the sovereign and between the

duties which men must fulfill in their role as subjects from the natural rights they should enjoy

in their role as men.

It is agreed that everything which each individual gives up of his power, his goods, and his

liberty under the social contract is only that part of all those things which is of use to the

community, but it is also necessary to agree that the sovereign alone is the judge of what that

useful part is.

All the obligations which a citizen owes to the State he must fulfill as soon as the sovereign

asks for them, but the sovereign in turn cannot impose any obligation on subjects which is

not of use to the community. If fact, the sovereign cannot even wish to do so, for nothing

can take place without a cause according to the laws of reason, any more than according to

the laws of nature [and the sovereign community will have no cause to require anything

beyond what is of communal use] . . . .


Government . . . is wrongly confused with the sovereign, whose agent it is. What then is

government? It is an intermediary body established between the subjects and the sovereign to

keep them in touch with each other. It is charged with executing the laws and maintaining

both civil and political liberty . . . . The only will dominating government . . . should be the

general will or the law. The government's power is only the public power vested in it. As

soon as [government] attempts to let any act come from itself completely independently, it

starts to lose its intermediary role. If the time should ever come when the [government] has a

particular will of its own stronger than that of the sovereign and makes use of the public

power which is in its hands to carry out its own particular will--when there are thus two

sovereigns, one in law and one in fact--at that moment the social union will disappear and

the body politic will be dissolved.

Once the public interest has ceased to be the principal concern of citizens, once they prefer to

serve State with money rather than with their persons, the State will be approaching ruin. Is it

necessary to march into combat? They will pay some troops and stay at home. Is it necessary

to go to meetings? They will name some deputies and stay at home. Laziness and money

finally leave them with soldiers to enslave their fatherland and representatives to sell it . . . .

Sovereignty cannot be represented . . . . Essentially, it consists of the general will, and a will is

not represented: either we have it itself, or it is something else; there is no other possibility.

The deputies of the people thus are not and cannot be its representatives. They are only the

people's agents and are not able to come to final decisions at all. Any law that the people

have not ratified in person is void, it is not a law at all.

Sovereignty and Civil Religion

Now then, it is of importance to the State that each citizen should have a religion requiring

his devotion to duty; however, the dogmas of that religion are of no interest to the State

except as they relate to morality and to the duties which each believer is required to perform

for others. For the rest of it, each person may have whatever opinions he pleases . . . .

It follows that it is up to the sovereign to establish the articles of a purely civil faith, not

exactly as dogmas of religion but as sentiments of social commitment without which it would

be impossible to be either a good citizen or a faithful subject . . . . While the State has no

power to oblige anyone to believe these articles, it may banish anyone who does not believe

them. This banishment is not for impiety but for lack of social commitment, that is, for being

incapable of sincerely loving the laws and justice or of sacrificing his life to duty in time of

need. As for the person who conducts himself as if he does not believe them after having

publicly stated his belief in these same dogmas, he deserves the death penalty. He has lied in

the presence of the laws.

The dogmas of civil religion should be simple, few in number, and stated in precise words

without interpretations or commentaries. These are the required dogmas: the existence of a

powerful, intelligent Divinity, who does good, has foreknowledge of all, and provides for all;

the life to come; the happy rewards of the just; the punishment of the wicked; and the


sanctity of the social contract and the laws. As for prohibited articles of faith, I limit myself to

one: intolerance. Intolerance characterizes the religious persuasions we have excluded.

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/Rousseau-

soccon.html

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776) Scottish economist and philosopher. He is regarded by many as the founder of modern economics, and

his work marks a significant turning-point in the breakdown of mercantilism and the spread of laissez-

faire ideas. Smith retired from academic life to write his Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the

Wealth of Nations (1776), establishing theories of labour, distribution, wages, prices, and money, and

advocating free trade and minimal state interference in economic matters.


Book I, Chapter 1 -- Of the Division of Labor

THE greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor, and the greater part of the

skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have

been the effects of the division of labor . . . . To take an example, therefore, the trade of the

pin-maker; a workman not educated to this business, nor acquainted with the use of the

machinery employed in it, could scarce, perhaps, with his utmost industry, make one pin in a

day, and certainly could not make twenty. But in the way in which this business is now

carried on, not only the whole work is a peculiar trade, but it is divided into a number of

branches, of which the greater part are likewise peculiar trades. One man draws out the wire,

another straights it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving,

the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on is a peculiar

business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper;

and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen

distinct operations, which, in some factories, are all performed by distinct hands, though in

others the same man will sometimes perform two or three of them.

I have seen a small manufactory of this kind where ten men only were employed, and where

some of them consequently performed two or three distinct operations. But though they

were very poor, and therefore but indifferently accommodated with the necessary

machinery, they could, when they exerted themselves, make among them about twelve

pounds of pins in a day. There are in a pound upwards of four thousand pins of a middling

size. Those ten persons, therefore, could make among them upwards of forty-eight thousand

pins in a day. Each person, therefore, making a tenth part of forty-eight thousand pins, might

be considered as making four thousand eight hundred pins in a day. But if they had all

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wrought separately and independently, and without any of them having been educated to

this peculiar business, they certainly could not each of them have made twenty, perhaps not

one pin in a day; that is, certainly, not the two hundred and fortieth, perhaps not the four

thousand eight hundredth part of what they are at present capable of performing, in

consequence of a proper division and combination of their different operations . . . .

The division of labor, so far as it can be introduced, occasions, in every art, a proportionable

increase of the productive powers of labor. The separation of different trades and

employments from one another seems to have taken place in consequence of this advantage.

This separation, too, is generally called furthest in those countries which enjoy the highest

degree of industry and improvement; what is the work of one man in a rude state of society

being generally that of several in an improved one . . . . This great increase of the quantity of

work which, in consequence of the division of labor, the same number of people are capable

of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in

every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in

passing from one species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number

of machines which facilitate and abridge labor, and enable one man to do the work of many

. . . .

It is the great multiplication of the productions of all the different arts, in consequence of the

division of labor, which occasions, in a well-governed society, that universal opulence which

extends itself to the lowest ranks of the people. Every workman has a great quantity of his

own work to dispose of beyond what he himself has occasion for; and every other workman

being exactly in the same situation, he is enabled to exchange a great quantity of his own

goods for a great quantity, or, what comes to the same thing, for the price of a great quantity

of theirs. He supplies them abundantly with what they have occasion for, and they

accommodate him as amply with what he has occasion for, and a general plenty diffuses itself

through all the different ranks of the society . . . .

Book I, Chapter 2 -- Of the Principle which gives occasion to the Division of Labor

THIS division of labor, from which so many advantages are derived, is not originally the

effect of any human wisdom, which foresees and intends that universal opulence to which it

gives occasion. It is the necessary, though very slow and gradual consequence of a certain

propensity in human nature which has in view no such extensive utility; the propensity to

truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another . . . . Man has almost constant occasion for

the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He

will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favor, and show them that

it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to

another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall

have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we

obtain from one another the far greater art of those good offices which we stand in need of.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our

dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

As it is by treaty, by barter, and by purchase that we obtain from one another the greater

part of those mutual good offices which we stand in need of, so it is this same trucking


disposition which originally gives occasion to the division of labor. In a tribe of hunters or

shepherds a particular person makes bows and arrows, for example, with more readiness and

dexterity than any other. He frequently exchanges them for cattle or for venison with his

companions; and he finds at last that he can in this manner get more cattle and venison than

if he himself went to the field to catch them. From a regard to his own interest, therefore, the

making of bows and arrows grows to be his chief business, and he becomes a sort of armorer,

etc. . . . .

Book I, Chapter 4 -- Of the Origin and Use of Money

WHEN the division of labor has been once thoroughly established, it is but a very small part

of a man's wants which the produce of his own labor can supply. He supplies the far greater

part of them by exchanging that surplus part of the produce of his own labor, which is over

and above his own consumption, for such parts of the produce of other men's labor as he has

occasion for. Every man thus lives by exchanging, or becomes in some measure a merchant,

and the society itself grows to be what is properly a commercial society.

But when the division of labor first began to take place, this power of exchanging must

frequently have been very much clogged and embarrassed in its operations. One man, we

shall suppose, has more of a certain commodity than he himself has occasion for, while

another has less. The former consequently would be glad to dispose of, and the latter to

purchase, a part of this superfluity. But if this latter should chance to have nothing that the

former stands in need of, no exchange can be made between them. The butcher has more

meat in his shop than he himself can consume, and the brewer and the baker would each of

them be willing to purchase a part of it. But they have nothing to offer in exchange, except

the different productions of their respective trades, and the butcher is already provided with

all the bread and beer which he has immediate occasion for. No exchange can, in this case, be

made between them. In order to avoid the inconvenience of such situations, every prudent

man in every period of society, after the first establishment of the division of labor, must

naturally have endeavored to manage his affairs in such a manner as to have at all times by

him, besides the peculiar produce of his own industry, a certain quantity of some one

commodity or other, such as he imagined few people would be likely to refuse in exchange

for their produce . . . . It is in this manner that money has become in all civilized nations the

universal instrument of commerce, by the intervention of which goods of all kinds are bought

and sold, or exchanged for one another . . . .

Book I, Chapter 5 -- Of the Real and Nominal Price of Commodities, or their Price in Labor,

and their Price in Money

EVERY man is rich or poor according to the degree in which he can afford to enjoy the

necessaries, conveniences, and amusements of human life. But after the division of labor has

once thoroughly taken place, it is but a very small part of these with which a man's own

labor can supply him. The far greater part of them he must derive from the labor of other

people, and he must be rich or poor according to the quantity of that labor which he can

command, or which he can afford to purchase. The value of any commodity, therefore, to

the person who possesses it, and who means not to use or consume it himself, but to


exchange it for other commodities, is equal to the quantity of labor which it enables him to

purchase or command. Labor, therefore, is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all

commodities . . . .

The real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it,

is the toil and trouble of acquiring it. What everything is really worth to the man who has

acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it or exchange it for something else, is the toil and

trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose upon other people. What is

bought with money or with goods is purchased by labor as much as what we acquire by the

toil of our own body. That money or those goods indeed save us this toil . . . .

Book I, Chapter 6 -- Of the Component Parts of the Price of Commodities

IN that early and rude state of society which precedes both the accumulation of stock and the

appropriation of land, the proportion between the quantities of labor necessary for acquiring

different objects seems to be the only circumstance which can afford any rule for exchanging

them for one another. If among a nation of hunters, for example, it usually costs twice the

labor to kill a beaver which it does to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange for or

be worth two deer. It is natural that what is usually the produce of two days' or two hours'

labor, should be worth double of what is usually the produce of one day's or one hour's

labor. If the one species of labor should be more severe than the other, some allowance will

naturally be made for this superior hardship; and the produce of one hour's labor in the one

way may frequently exchange for that of two hours' labor in the other . . . .

As soon as stock has accumulated in the hands of particular persons, some of them will

naturally employ it in setting to work industrious people, whom they will supply with

materials and subsistence, in order to make a profit by the sale of their work, or by what

their labor adds to the value of the materials. In exchanging the complete manufacture either

for money, for labor, or for other goods, over and above what may be sufficient to pay the

price of the materials, and the wages of the workmen, something must be given for the

profits of the undertaker of the work who hazards his stock in this adventure. The value

which the workmen add to the materials, therefore, resolves itself in this ease into two parts,

of which the one pays their wages, the other the profits of their employer upon the whole

stock of materials and wages which he advanced . . . .

In this state of things, the whole produce of labor does not always belong to the laborer. He

must in most cases share it with the owner of the stock which employs him. Neither is the

quantity of labor commonly employed in acquiring or producing any commodity, the only

circumstance which can regulate the quantity which it ought commonly to purchase,

command, or exchange for. An additional quantity, it is evident, must be due for the profits

of the stock which advanced the wages and furnished the materials of that labor . . . .The real

value of all the different component parts of price, it must be observed, is measured by the

quantity of labor which they can, each of them, purchase or command. Labor measures the

value not only of that part of price which resolves itself into labor, but of that which resolves

itself into rent, and of that which resolves itself into profit. In every society the price of every

commodity finally resolves itself into some one or other, or all of those three parts; and in


every improved society, all the three enter more or less, as component parts, into the price of

the far greater part of commodities . . . .

Book I, Chapter 7 -- Of the Natural and Market Price of Commodities

THERE is in every society or neighborhood an ordinary or average rate both of wages and

profit in every different employment of labor and stock. This rate is naturally regulated, as I

shall show hereafter, partly by the general circumstances of the society, their riches or

poverty, their advancing, stationary, or declining condition; and partly by the particular

nature of each employment. There is likewise in every society or neighborhood an ordinary

or average rate of rent, which is regulated too, as I shall show hereafter, partly by the general

circumstances of the society or neighborhood in which the land is situated, and partly by the

natural or improved fertility of the land. These ordinary or average rates may be called the

natural rates of wages, profit, and rent, at the time and place in which they commonly

prevail. When the price of any commodity is neither more nor less than what is sufficient to

pay the rent of the land, the wages of the labor, and the profits of the stock employed in

raising, preparing, and bringing it to market, according to their natural rates, the commodity

is then sold for what may be called its natural price. Though the price, therefore, which leaves

him this profit is not always the lowest at which a dealer may sometimes sell his goods, it is

the lowest at which he is likely to sell them for any considerable time; at least where there is

perfect liberty, or where he may change his trade as often as he pleases.

The actual price at which any commodity is commonly sold is called its market price. It may

either be above, or below, or exactly the same with its natural price. The market price of

every particular commodity is regulated by the proportion between the quantity which is

actually brought to market, and the demand of those who are willing to pay the natural price

of the commodity, or the whole value of the rent, labor, and profit, which must be paid in

order to bring it thither. When the quantity of any commodity which is brought to market

falls short of the effectual demand, all those who are willing to pay the whole value of the

rent, wages, and profit, which must be paid in order to bring it thither, cannot be supplied

with the quantity which they want. Rather than want it altogether, some of them will be

willing to give more. A competition will immediately begin among them, and the market

price will rise more or less above the natural price, according as either the greatness of the

deficiency, or the wealth and wanton luxury of the competitors, happen to animate more or

less the eagerness of the competition.

When the quantity brought to market exceeds the effectual demand, it cannot be all sold to

those who are willing to pay the whole value of the rent, wages, and profit, which must be

paid in order to bring it thither. Some part must be sold to those who are willing to pay less,

and the low price which they give for it must reduce the price of the whole. The market price

will sink more or less below the natural price, according as the greatness of the excess

increases more or less the competition of the sellers, or according as it happens to be more or

less important to them to get immediately rid of the commodity. When the quantity brought

to market is just sufficient to supply the effectual demand, and no more, the market price

naturally comes to be either exactly, or as nearly as can be judged of, the same with the

natural price. The whole quantity upon hand can be disposed of for this price, and cannot be


disposed of for more. The competition of the different dealers obliges them all to accept of

this price, but does not oblige them to accept of less.

Such fluctuations affect both the value and the rate either of wages or of profit, according as

the market happens to be either overstocked or understocked with commodities or with

labor; with work done, or with work to be done. But though the market price of every

particular commodity is in this manner continually gravitating, if one may say so, towards the

natural price, yet sometimes particular accidents, sometimes natural causes, and sometimes

particular regulations of police, may, in many commodities, keep up the market price, for a

long time together, a good deal above the natural price.

When by an increase in the effectual demand, the market price of some particular commodity

happens to rise a good deal above the natural price, those who employ their stocks in

supplying that market are generally careful to conceal this change. If it was commonly

known, their great profit would tempt so many new rivals to employ their stocks in the same

way that, the effectual demand being fully supplied, the market price would soon be reduced

to the natural price, and perhaps for some time even below it. If the market is at a great

distance from the residence of those who supply it, they may sometimes be able to keep the

secret for several years together, and may so long enjoy their extraordinary profits without

any new rivals. Secrets of this kind, however, it must be acknowledged, can seldom be long

kept; and the extraordinary profit can last very little longer than they are kept.

A monopoly granted either to an individual or to a trading company has the same effect as a

secret in trade or manufactures. The monopolists, by keeping the market constantly

understocked, by never fully supplying the effectual demand, sell their commodities much

above the natural price, and raise their emoluments, whether they consist in wages or profit,

greatly above their natural rate. The price of monopoly is upon every occasion the highest

which can be got. The natural price, or the price of free competition, on the contrary, is the

lowest which can be taken, not upon every occasion, indeed, but for any considerable time

together. The one is upon every occasion the highest which can be squeezed out of the

buyers, or which, it is supposed, they will consent to give: the other is the lowest which the

sellers can commonly afford to take, and at the same time continue their business.

The exclusive privileges of corporations, statutes of apprenticeship, and all those laws which

restrain, in particular employments, the competition to a smaller number than might

otherwise go into them, have the same tendency, though in a less degree. They are a sort of

enlarged monopolies, and may frequently, for ages together, and in whole classes of

employments, keep up the market price of particular commodities above the natural price,

and maintain both the wages of the labor and the profits of the stock employed about them

somewhat above their natural rate. Such enhancements of the market price may last as long

as the regulations of police which give occasion to them . . . .

Book I, Chapter 8 -- Of the Wages of Labor


THE produce of labor constitutes the natural recompense or wages of labor. In that original

state of things, which precedes both the appropriation of land and the accumulation of stock,

the whole produce of labor belongs to the laborer. He has neither landlord nor master to

share with him. Had this state continued, the wages of labor would have augmented with all

those improvements in its productive powers to which the division of labor gives occasion.

All things would gradually have become cheaper. They would have been produced by a

smaller quantity of labor; and as the commodities produced by equal quantities of labor

would naturally in this state of things be exchanged for one another, they would have been

purchased likewise with the produce of a smaller quantity. But this original state of things, in

which the laborer enjoyed the whole produce of his own labor, could not last beyond the

first introduction of the appropriation of land and the accumulation of stock. It was at an

end, therefore, long before the most considerable improvements were made in the

productive powers of labor, and it would be to no purpose to trace further what might have

been its effects upon the recompense or wages of labor. As soon as land becomes private

property, the landlord demands a share of almost all the produce which the laborer can

either raise, or collect from it. His rent makes the first deduction from the produce of the

labor which is employed upon land.

Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination,

not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate. To violate this combination is

everywhere a most unpopular action, and a sort of reproach to a master among his neighbors

and equals. Masters, too, sometimes enter into particular combinations to sink the wages of

labor even below this rate. These are always conducted with the utmost silence and secrecy,

till the moment of execution, and when the workmen yield, as they sometimes do, without

resistance, though severely felt by them, they are never heard of by other people. Such

combinations, however, are frequently resisted by a contrary defensive combination of the

workmen; who sometimes too, without any provocation of this kind, combine of their own

accord to raise the price of their labor . . . . A man must always live by his work, and his

wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even upon most occasions be

somewhat more; otherwise it would be impossible for him to bring up a family, and the race

of such workmen could not last beyond the first generation . . . .

When the landlord, annuitant, or monied man, has a greater revenue than what he judges

sufficient to maintain his own family, he employs either the whole or a part of the surplus in

maintaining one or more menial servants. Increase this surplus, and he will naturally increase

the number of those servants. When an independent workman, such as a weaver or

shoemaker, has got more stock than what is sufficient to purchase the materials of his own

work, and to maintain himself till he can dispose of it, he naturally employs one or more

journeymen with the surplus, in order to make a profit by their work. Increase this surplus,

and he will naturally increase the number of his journeymen. The demand for those who live

by wages, therefore, necessarily increases with the increase of the revenue and stock of every

country, and cannot possibly increase without it. The increase of revenue and stock is the

increase of national wealth . . . .

Is this improvement in the circumstances of the lower ranks of the people to be regarded as

an advantage or as an inconvenience to the society? The answer seems at first sight


abundantly plain. Servants, laborers, and workmen of different kinds, make up the far greater

part of every great political society. But what improves the circumstances of the greater part

can never be regarded as an inconvenience to the whole. No society can surely be flourishing

and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but

equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should

have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed,

clothed, and lodged.

The liberal reward of labor, as it encourages the propagation, so it increases the industry of

the common people. The wages of labor are the encouragement of industry, which, like

every other human quality, improves in proportion to the encouragement it receives. A

plentiful subsistence increases the bodily strength of the laborer, and the comfortable hope of

bettering his condition, and of ending his days perhaps in ease and plenty, animates him to

exert that strength to the utmost. Where wages are high, accordingly, we shall always find

the workmen more active, diligent, and expeditious than where they are low.

Book I, Chapter 10 -- Of Wages and Profit in the different Employments of Labor and Stock

THE policy of Europe, by not leaving things at perfect liberty, occasions other inequalities of

much greater importance. It does this chiefly in the three following ways. First, by restraining

the competition in some employments to a smaller number than would otherwise be

disposed to enter into them; Second, by increasing it in others beyond what it naturally

would be; and, Third, by obstructing the free circulation of labor and stock, both from

employment to employment and from place to place.

First, the policy of Europe occasions a very important inequality in the whole of the

advantages and disadvantages of the different employments of labor and stock, by restraining

the competition in some employments to a smaller number than might otherwise be disposed

to enter into them. The exclusive privileges of corporations, or guilds, are the principal means

it makes use of for this purpose. The property which every man has in his own labor, as it is

the original foundation of all other property, so it is the most sacred and inviolable. The

patrimony of a poor man lies in the strength and dexterity of his hands; and to hinder him

from employing this strength and dexterity of his hands; and to hinder him from employing

this strength and dexterity in what manner he thinks proper without injury to his neighbor is

a plain violation of this most sacred property. It is a manifest encroachment upon the just

liberty both of the workman and of those who might be disposed to employ him. As it

hinders the one from working at what he thinks proper, so it hinders the others from

employing whom they think proper . . . . The pretense that corporations are necessary for

the better government of the trade is without any foundation. The real and effectual

discipline which is exercised over a workman is not that of his corporation, but that of his

customers. It is the fear of losing their employment which restrains his frauds and corrects his

negligence. An exclusive corporation necessarily weakens the force of this discipline.

Second, the policy of Europe, by increasing the competition in some employments beyond

what it naturally would be, occasions another inequality of an opposite kind in the whole of

the advantages and disadvantages of the different employments of labor and stock . . . . In


the professions, such as law and medicine, if an equal proportion of people were educated at

the public expense, the competition would soon be so great as to sink very much their

pecuniary reward. It might then not be worth any man's while to educate his son to either of

those professions at his own expense . . . .

Third, the policy of Europe, by obstructing the free circulation of labor and stock both from

employment to employment, and from place to place, occasions in some cases a very

inconvenient inequality in the whole of the advantages and disadvantages of their different

employments . . . . Whatever obstructs the free circulation of labor from one employment to

another obstructs that of stock likewise; the quantity of stock which can be employed in any

branch of business depending very much upon that of the labor which can be employed in it.

Corporation laws, however, give less obstruction to the free circulation of stock from one

place to another than to that of labor. It is everywhere much easier for a wealthy merchant

to obtain the privilege of trading in a town corporate, than for a poor artificer to obtain that

of working in it . . . .

Book I, Chapter 11 -- Effects of the Progress of Improvement upon the Real Price of

Manufactures

It is the natural effect of improvement, however, to diminish gradually the real price of

almost all manufactures. That of the manufacturing workmanship diminishes, perhaps, in all

of them without exception. In consequence of better machinery, of greater dexterity, and of

a more proper division and distribution of work, all of which are the natural effects of

improvement, a much smaller quantity of labor becomes requisite for executing any

particular piece of work, and though, in consequence of the flourishing circumstances of the

society, the real price of labor should rise very considerably, yet the great diminution of the

quantity will generally much more than compensate the greatest rise which can happen in the

price . . . . But in all cases in which the real price of the rude materials either does not rise at

all, or does not rise very much, that of the manufactured commodity sinks very considerably.

Every improvement in the circumstances of the society tends either directly or indirectly to

raise the real rent of land, to increase the real wealth of the landlord, his power of purchasing

the labor, or the produce of the labor of other people. The extension of improvement and

cultivation tends to raise it directly. The landlord's share of the produce necessarily increases

with the increase of the produce . . . . Every increase in the real wealth of the society, every

increase in the quantity of useful labor employed within it, tends indirectly to raise the real

rent of land. A certain proportion of this labor naturally goes to the land. A greater number

of men and cattle are employed in its cultivation, the produce increases with the increase of

the stock which is thus employed in raising it, and the rent increases with the produce.


http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/adamsmith-summary.html

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/adamsmith-summary.html


Thomas Paine, Of the Religion of Deism Compared with the Christian Religion and the Superiority of the

Former over the Latter (1804)

British political writer. After immigrating to America in 1774, he wrote the pamphlet Common Sense

(1776), which called for American independence and laid the ground for the Declaration of

Independence. On returning to England in 1787, he published The Rights of Man (1791), defending the

French Revolution in response to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790). His radical

views prompted the British government to indict him for treason and he fled to France.


By 1793, he was imprisoned in France for not endorsing the execution of Louis XVI. During his

imprisonment, he wrote and distributed the first part of what was to become his most famous work at

the time, the anti-church text, The Age of Reason (1794-96). He was freed in 1794 (narrowly escaping

execution) thanks to the efforts of James Monroe, then U.S. Minister to France. Paine remained in

France until 1802 when he returned to America on an invitation from Thomas Jefferson. Paine

discovered that his contributions to the American Revolution had been all but eradicated due to his

religious views. Derided by the public and abandoned by his friends, he died on June 8, 1809 at the

age of 72 in New York City. [Source: http://www.ushistory.org/paine/]

Every person, of whatever religious denomination he may be, is a DEIST in the first article of

his Creed. Deism, from the Latin word Deus, God, is the belief of a God, and this belief is the

first article of every man's creed.

It is on this article, universally consented to by all mankind, that the Deist builds his church,

and here he rests. Whenever we step aside from this article, by mixing it with articles of

human invention, we wander into a labyrinth of uncertainty and fable, and become exposed

to every kind of imposition by pretenders to revelation.

The Persian shows the Zend-Avesta of Zoroaster, the lawgiver of Persia, and calls it the divine

law; the Bramin shows the Shaster, revealed, he says, by God to Brama, and given to him out

of a cloud; the Jew shows what he calls the law of Moses, given, he says, by God, on the

Mount Sinai; the Christian shows a collection of books and epistles, written by nobody

knows who, and called the New Testament; and the Mahometan shows the Koran, given, he

says, by God to Mahomet: each of these calls itself revealed religion, and the only true Word

of God, and this the followers of each profess to believe from the habit of education, and

each believes the others are imposed upon.

But when the divine gift of reason begins to expand itself in the mind and calls man to

reflection, he then reads and contemplates God and His works, and not in the books

pretending to be revelation. The creation is the Bible of the true believer in God. Everything

in this vast volume inspires him with sublime ideas of the Creator. The little and paltry, and

often obscene, tales of the Bible sink into wretchedness when put in comparison with this

mighty work.

http://www.ushistory.org/paine/


The Deist needs none of those tricks and shows called miracles to confirm his faith, for what

can be a greater miracle than the creation itself, and his own existence?

There is a happiness in Deism, when rightly understood, that is not to be found in any other

system of religion. All other systems have something in them that either shock our reason, or

are repugnant to it, and man, if he thinks at all, must stifle his reason in order to force himself

to believe them.

But in Deism our reason and our belief become happily united. The wonderful structure of

the universe, and everything we behold in the system of the creation, prove to us, far better

than books can do, the existence of a God, and at the same time proclaim His attributes.

It is by the exercise of our reason that we are enabled to contemplate God in His works, and

imitate Him in His ways. When we see His care and goodness extended over all His

creatures, it teaches us our duty toward each other, while it calls forth our gratitude to Him.

It is by forgetting God in His works, and running after the books of pretended revelation,

that man has wandered from the straight path of duty and happiness, and become by turns

the victim of doubt and the dupe of delusion.

Except in the first article in the Christian creed, that of believing in God, there is not an article

in it but fills the mind with doubt as to the truth of it, the instant man begins to think. Now

every article in a creed that is necessary to the happiness and salvation of man ought to be as

evident to the reason and comprehension of man as the first article is, for God has not given

us reason for the purpose of confounding us, but that we should use it for our own happiness

and His glory.

The truth of the first article is proved by God Himself, and is universal; for the creation is of

itself demonstration of the existence of a Creator. But the second article, that of God's

begetting a son, is not proved in like manner, and stands on no other authority than that of a

tale.

Certain books in what is called the New Testament tell us that Joseph dreamed that the angel

told him so, (Matthew i, 20): "And behold the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph, in a

dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that

which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost."

The evidence upon this article bears no comparison with the evidence upon the first article,

and therefore is not entitled to the same credit, and ought not to be made an article in a

creed, because the evidence of it is defective, and what evidence there is, is doubtful and

suspicious. We do not believe the first article on the authority of books, whether called Bibles

or Korans, nor yet on the visionary authority of dreams, but on the authority of God's own

visible works in the creation.

The nations who never heard of such books, nor of such people as Jews, Christians, or

Mahometans, believe the existence of a God as fully as we do, because it is self-evident. The


work of man's hands is a proof of the existence of man as fully as his personal appearance

would be.

When we see a watch, we have as positive evidence of the existence of a watchmaker, as if

we saw him; and in like manner the creation is evidence to our reason and our senses of the

existence of a Creator. But there is nothing in the works of God that is evidence that He

begat a son, nor anything in the system of creation that corroborates such an idea, and,

therefore, we are not authorized in believing it.

What truth there may be in the story that Mary, before she was married to Joseph, was kept

by one of the Roman soldiers, and was with child by him, I leave to be settled between the

Jews and Christians. The story, however, has probability on its side, for her husband Joseph

suspected and was jealous of her, and was going to put her away. "Joseph, her husband,

being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was going to put her away,

privately." (Matt. i, 19).

I have already said that "whenever we step aside from the first article (that of believing in

God), we wander into a labyrinth of uncertainty," and here is evidence of the justness of the

remark, for it is impossible for us to decide who was Jesus Christ's father.

But presumption can assume anything, and therefore it makes Joseph's dream to be of equal

anthority with the existence of God, and to help it on calls it revelation. It is impossible for

the mind of man in its serious moments, however it may have been entangled by education,

or beset by priestcraft, not to stand still and doubt upon the truth of this article and of its

creed.

But this is not all. The second article of the Christian creed having brought the son of Mary

into the world (and this Mary, according to the chronological tables, was a girl of only fifteen

years of age when this son was born), the next article goes on to account for his being

begotten, which was, that when he grew a man he should be put to death, to expiate, they

say, the sin that Adam brought into the world by eating an apple or some kind of forbidden

fruit.

But though this is the creed of the Church of Rome, from whence the Protestants borrowed

it, it is a creed which that Church has manufactured of itself, for it is not contained in nor

derived from, the book called the New Testament.

The four books called the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which give, or pretend

to give, the birth, sayings, life, preaching, and death of Jesus Christ, make no mention of

what is called the fall of man; nor is the name of Adam to be found in any of those books,

which it certainly would be if the writers of them believed that Jesus was begotten, born, and

died for the purpose of redeeming mankind from the sin which Adam had brought into the

world. Jesus never speaks of Adam himself, of the garden of Eden, nor of what is called the

fall of man.

But the Church of Rome having set up its new religion, which it called Christianity, invented

the creed which it named the Apostles' Creed, in which it calls Jesus the only son of God,


conceived by the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin Mary; things of which it is impossible

that man or woman can have any idea, and consequently no belief but in words; and for

which there is no authority but the idle story of Joseph's dream in the first chapter of

Matthew, which any designing imposter or foolish fanatic might make.

It then manufactured the allegories in the book of Genesis into fact, and the allegorical tree of

life and the tree of knowledge into real trees, contrary to the belief of the first Christians, and

for which there is not the least authority in any of the books of the New Testament; for in

none of them is there any mention made of such place as the Garden of Eden, nor of

anything that is said to have happened there.

But the Church of Rome could not erect the person called Jesus into a Savior of the world

without making the allegories in the book of Genesis into fact, though the New Testament, as

before observed, gives no authority for it. All at once the allegorical tree of knowledge

became, according to the Church, a real tree, the fruit of it real fruit, and the eating of it

sinful.

As priestcraft was always the enemy of knowledge, because priestcraft supports itself by

keeping people in delusion and ignorance, it was consistent with its policy to make the

acquisition of knowledge a real sin.

The Church of Rome having done this, it then brings forward Jesus the son of Mary as

suffering death to redeem mankind from sin, which Adam, it says, had brought into the

world by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. But as it is impossible for reason to

believe such a story, because it can see no reason for it, nor have any evidence of it, the

Church then tells us we must not regard our reason, but must believe, as it were, and that

through thick and thin, as if God had given man reason like a plaything, or a rattle, on

purpose to make fun of him.

Reason is the forbidden tree of priestcraft, and may serve to explain the allegory of the

forbidden tree of knowledge, for we may reasonably suppose the allegory had some

meaning and application at the time it was invented. It was the practice of the Eastern

nations to convey their meaning by allegory, and relate it in the manner of fact. Jesus

followed the same method, yet nobody ever supposed the allegory or parable of the rich

man and Lazarus, the Prodigal Son, the ten Virgins, etc., were facts.

Why then should the tree of knowledge, which is far more romantic in idea than the parables

in the New Testament are, be supposed to be a real tree? The answer to this is, because the

Church could not make its new-fangled system, which it called Christianity, hold together

without it. To have made Christ to die on account of an allegorical tree would have been too

barefaced a fable.

But the account, as it is given of Jesus in the New Testament, even visionary as it is, does not

support the creed of the Church that he died for the redemption of the world. According to

that account he was crucified and buried on the Friday, and rose again in good health on the


Sunday morning, for we do not hear that he was sick. This cannot be called dying, and is

rather making fun of death than suffering it.

There are thousands of men and women also, who if they could know they should come

back again in good health in about thirty-six hours, would prefer such kind of death for the

sake of the experiment, and to know what the other side of the grave was. Why then should

that which would be only a voyage of curious amusement to us, be magnified into merit and

suffering in him? If a God, he could not suffer death, for immortality cannot die, and as a

man his death could be no more than the death of any other person.

The belief of the redemption of Jesus Christ is altogether an invention of the Church of

Rome, not the doctrine of the New Testament. What the writers of the New Testament

attempted to prove by the story of Jesus is the resurrection of the same body from the grave,

which was the belief of the Pharisees, in opposition to the Sadducees (a sect of Jews) who

denied it.

Paul, who was brought up a Pharisee, labors hard at this for it was the creed of his own

Pharisaical Church: I Corinthians xv is full of supposed cases and assertions about the

resurrection of the same body, but there is not a word in it about redemption. This chapter

makes part of the funeral service of the Episcopal Church. The dogma of the redemption is

the fable of priestcraft invented since the time the New Testament was compiled, and the

agreeable delusion of it suited with the depravity of immoral livers. When men are taught to

ascribe all their crimes and vices to the temptations of the devil, and to believe that Jesus, by

his death, rubs all off, and pays their passage to heaven gratis, they become as careless in

morals as a spendthrift would be of money, were he told that his father had engaged to pay

off all his scores.

It is a doctrine not only dangerous to morals in this world, but to our happiness in the next

world, because it holds out such a cheap, easy, and lazy way of getting to heaven, as has a

tendency to induce men to hug the delusion of it to their own injury.

But there are times when men have serious thoughts, and it is at such times, when they begin

to think, that they begin to doubt the truth of the Christian religion; and well they may, for it

is too fanciful and too full of conjecture, inconsistency, improbability and irrationality, to

afford consolation to the thoughtful man. His reason revolts against his creed. He sees that

none of its articles are proved, or can be proved.

He may believe that such a person as is called Jesus (for Christ was not his name) was born

and grew to be a man, because it is no more than a natural and probable case. But who is to

prove he is the son of God, that he was begotten by the Holy Ghost? Of these things there

can be no proof; and that which admits not of proof, and is against the laws of probability

and the order of nature, which God Himself has established, is not an object for belief. God

has not given man reason to embarrass him, but to prevent his being imposed upon.

He may believe that Jesus was crucified, because many others were crucified, but who is to

prove he was crucified for the sins of the world? This article has no evidence, not even in the


New Testament; and if it had, where is the proof that the New Testament, in relating things

neither probable nor provable, is to be believed as true?

When an article in a creed does not admit of proof nor of probability, the salvo is to call it

revelation; but this is only putting one difficulty in the place of another, for it is as impossible

to prove a thing to be revelation as it is to prove that Mary was gotten with child by the

Holy Ghost.

Here it is that the religion of Deism is superior to the Christian Religion. It is free from all

those invented and torturing articles that shock our reason or injure our humanity, and with

which the Christian religion abounds. Its creed is pure, and sublimely simple. It believes in

God, and there it rests.

It honors reason as the choicest gift of God to man, and the faculty by which he is enabled to

contemplate the power, wisdom and goodness of the Creator displayed in the creation; and

reposing itself on His protection, both here and hereafter, it avoids all presumptuous beliefs,

and rejects, as the fabulous inventions of men, all books pretending to revelation.

[SOURCE: Internet Modern History Sourcebook, http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/paine-

deism.html

Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1788)

British historian. While on a visit to Rome in 1764 he conceived the plan for what has become the

most celebrated historical work in English literature, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire (1776-88), a six-volume study that traces the connection of the ancient world with the modern,

encompassing such subjects as the establishment of Christianity, the Teutonic tribes, the conquests of

Islam, and the Crusades. The work is distinguished by the author's great erudition and elegant and lucid

prose style, and is enlivened by ironic wit. [Source: Oxford Paperback Encyclopedia, (c) Oxford

University Press 1998]

CHAPTER 15

IMPORTANCE OF THE INQUIRY. A CANDID but rational inquiry into the progress and

establishment of Christianity may be considered as a very essential part of the history of the

Roman empire. While that great body was invaded by open violence, or undermined by

slow decay, a pure and humble religion gently insinuated itself into the minds of men, grew

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/paine-deism.html

http://www.fordham.edu/HALSALL/mod/paine-deism.html


up in silence and obscurity, derived new vigour from opposition, and finally erected the

triumphant banner of the Cross on the ruins of the Capitol. Nor was the influence of

Christianity confined to the period or to the limits of the Roman empire. After a revolution

of thirteen or fourteen centuries, that religion is still professed by the nations of Europe, the

most distinguished portion of human kind in arts and learning as well as in arms. By the

industry and zeal of the Europeans it has been widely diffused to the most distant shores of

Asia and Africa; and by the means of their colonies has been firmly established from Canada

to Chili, in a world unknown to the ancients.

ITS DIFFICULTIES. But this inquiry, however useful or entertaining, is attended with two

peculiar difficulties. The scanty and suspicious materials of ecclesiastical history seldom enable

us to dispel the dark cloud that hangs over the first age of the church. The great law of

impartiality too often obliges us to reveal the imperfections of the uninspired teachers and

believers of the Gospel; and, to a careless observer, their faults may seem to cast a shade on

the faith which they professed. But the scandal of the pious Christian, and the fallacious

triumph of the Infidel, should cease as soon as they recollect not only by whom, but likewise

to whom, the Divine Revelation was given. The theologian may indulge the pleasing task of

describing Religion as she descended from Heaven, arrayed in her native purity. A more

melancholy duty is imposed on the historian. He must discover the inevitable mixture of

error and corruption which she contracted in long residence upon earth, among a weak and

degenerate race of beings.

FIVE CAUSES OF THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY. Our curiosity is naturally prompted to

inquire by what means the Christian faith obtained so remarkable a victory over the

established religions of the earth. To this inquiry an obvious but unsatisfactory answer may be

returned; that it was owing to the convincing evidence of the doctrine itself, and to the ruling

providence of its great Author. But as truth and reason seldom find so favourable a reception

in the world, and as the wisdom of Providence frequently condescends to use the passions of

the human heart, and the general circumstances of mankind, as instruments to execute its

purpose, we may still be permitted, though with becoming submission, to ask, not indeed

what were the first, but what were the secondary causes of the rapid growth of the Christian

church? It will, perhaps, appear that it was most effectually favoured and assisted by the five

following causes: I. The inflexible, and, if we may use the expression, the intolerant zeal of

the Christians, derived, it is true, from the Jewish religion, but purified from the narrow and

unsocial spirit which, instead of inviting, had deterred the Gentiles from embracing the law of

Moses. II. The doctrine of a future life, improved by every additional circumstance which

could give weight and efficacy to that important truth. III.The miraculous powers ascribed to

the primitive church. IV. The pure and austere morals of the Christians. V. The union and

discipline of the Christian republic, which gradually formed an independent and increasing

state in the heart of the Roman empire.

ZEAL OF THE JEWS. We have already described the religious harmony of the ancient world,

and the facility with which the most different and even hostile nations embraced, or at least

respected, each other's superstitions. A single people refused to join in the common

intercourse of mankind. The Jews, who, under the Assyrian and Persian monarchies, had

languished for many ages the most despised portion of their slaves, emerged from obscurity


under the successors of Alexander; and as they multiplied to a surprising degree in the East,

and afterwards in the West, they soon excited the curiosity and wonder of other nations. The

sullen obstinacy with which they maintained their peculiar rites and unsocial manners seemed

to mark them out a distinct species of men, who boldly professed, or who faintly disguised,

their implacable hatred to the rest of humankind. Neither the violence of Antiochus, nor the

arts of Herod, nor the example of the circumjacent nations, could ever persuade the Jews to

associate with the institutions of Moses the elegant mythology of the Greeks. According to

the maxims of universal toleration, the Romans protected a superstition which they despised.

The polite Augustus condescended to give orders that sacrifices should be offered for his

prosperity in the temple of Jerusalem; while the meanest of the posterity of Abraham, who

should have paid the same homage to the Jupiter of the Capitol, would have been an object

of abhorrence to himself and to his brethren. But the moderation of the conquerors was

insufficient to appease the jealous prejudices of their subjects, who were alarmed and

scandalised at the ensigns of paganism, which necessarily introduced themselves into a Roman

province. The mad attempt of Caligula to place his own statue in the temple of Jerusalem

was defeated by the unanimous resolution of a people who dreaded death much less than

such an idolatrous profanation. Their attachment to the law of Moses was equal to their

detestation of foreign religions. The current of zeal and devotion, as it was contracted into a

narrow channel, ran with the strength, and sometimes with the fury, of a torrent.

ITS GRADUAL INCREASE. This inflexible perseverance, which appeared so odious or so

ridiculous to the ancient world, assumes a more awful character, since Providence has

deigned to reveal to us the mysterious history of the chosen people. But the devout and even

scrupulous attachment to the Mosaic religion, so conspicuous among the Jews who lived

under the second temple, becomes still more surprising if it is compared with the stubborn

incredulity of their forefathers. When the law was given in thunder from Mount Sinai; when

the tides of the ocean and the course of the planets were suspended for the convenience of

the Israelites; and when temporal rewards and punishments were the immediate

consequences of their piety or disobedience, they perpetually relapsed into rebellion against

the visible majesty of their Divine King, placed the idols of the nations in the sanctuary of

Jehovah, and imitated every fantastic ceremony that was practised in the tents of the Arabs,

or in the cities of Phoenicia. As the protection of Heaven was deservedly withdrawn from

the ungrateful race, their faith acquired a proportionable degree of vigour and purity. The

contemporaries of Moses and Joshua had beheld with careless indifference the most amazing

miracles. Under the pressure of every calamity, the belief of those miracles has preserved the

Jews of a later period from the universal contagion of idolatry; and in contradiction to every

known principle of the human mind, that singular people seems to have yielded a stronger

and more ready assent to the traditions of their remote ancestors than to the evidence of

their own senses.

THEIR RELIGION BETTER SUITED TO DEFENCE RATHER THAN TO CONQUEST. The

Jewish religion was admirably fitted for defence, but it was never designed for conquest; and

it seems probable that the number of proselytes was never much superior to that of

apostates. The divine promises were originally made, and the distinguishing rite of

circumcision was enjoined, to a single family. When the posterity of Abraham had multiplied

like the sands of the sea, the Deity, from whose mouth they received a system of laws and


ceremonies, declared himself the proper and as it were the national God of Israel; and with

the most jealous care separated his favourite people from the rest of mankind. The conquest

of the land of Canaan was accompanied with so many wonderful and with so many bloody

circumstances, that the victorious Jews were left in a state of irreconcilable hostility with all

their neighbours. They had been commanded to extirpate some of the most idolatrous tribes,

and the execution of the Divine will had seldom been retarded by the weakness of humanity.

With the other nations they were forbidden to contract any marriages or alliances; and the

prohibition of receiving them into the congregation, which in some cases was perpetual,

almost always extended to the third, to the seventh, or even to the tenth generation. The

obligation of preaching to the Gentiles the faith of Moses had never been inculcated as a

precept of the law, nor were the Jews inclined to impose it on themselves as a voluntary

duty. In the admission of new citizens that unsocial people was actuated by the selfish vanity

of the Greeks rather than by the generous policy of Rome. The descendants of Abraham were

flattered by the opinion that they alone were the heirs of the covenant, and they were

apprehensive of diminishing the value of their inheritance by sharing it too easily with the

strangers of the earth. A larger acquaintance with mankind extended their knowledge

without correcting their prejudices; and whenever the God of Israel acquired any new

votaries, he was much more indebted to the inconstant humour of polytheism than to the

active zeal of his own missionaries. The religion of Moses seems to be instituted for a

particular country as well as for a single nation; and if a strict obedience had been paid to the

order that every male, three times in the year, should present himself before the Lord

Jehovah, it would have been impossible that the Jews could ever have spread themselves

beyond the narrow limits of the promised land. That obstacle was indeed removed by the

destruction of the temple of Jerusalem; but the most considerable part of the Jewish religion

was involved in its destruction; and the Pagans, who had long wondered at the strange

report of an empty sanctuary, were at a loss to discover what could be the object, or what

could be the instruments, of a worship which was destitute of temples and of altars, of priests

and of sacrifices. Yet even in their fallen state, the Jews, still asserting their lofty and exclusive

privileges, shunned, instead of courting, the society of strangers. They still insisted with

inflexible rigour on those parts of the law which it was in their power to practise. Their

peculiar distinctions of days, of meats, and a variety of trivial though burdensome

observances, were so many objects of disgust and aversion for the other nations, to whose

habits and prejudices they were diametrically opposite. The painful and even dangerous rite

of circumcision was alone capable of repelling a willing proselyte from the door of the

synagogue.

MORE LIBERAL ZEAL OF CHRISTIANITY. Under these circumstances, Christianity offered

itself to the world, armed with the strength of the Mosaic law, and delivered from the weight

of its fetters. An exclusive zeal for the truth of religion and the unity of God was as carefully

inculcated in the new as in the ancient system: and whatever was now revealed to mankind

concerning the nature and designs of the Supreme Being was fitted to increase their reverence

for that mysterious doctrine. The divine authority of Moses and the prophets was admitted,

and even established, as the firmest basis of Christianity. From the beginning of the world an

uninterrupted series of predictions had announced and prepared the long expected coming of

the Messiah, who, in compliance with the gross apprehensions of the Jews, had been more

frequently represented under the character of a King and Conqueror, than under that of a


Prophet, a Martyr, and the Son of God. By his expiatory sacrifice the imperfect sacrifices of

the temple were at once consummated and abolished. The ceremonial law, which consisted

only of types and figures, was succeeded by a pure and spiritual worship, equally adapted to

all climates, as well as to every condition of mankind; and to the initiation of blood, was

substituted a more harmless initiation of water. The promise of divine favour, instead of

being partially confined to the posterity of Abraham, was universally proposed to the

freeman and the slave, to the Greek and to the barbarian, to the Jew and to the Gentile.

Every privilege that could raise the proselyte from earth to heaven, that could exalt his

devotion, secure his happiness, or even gratify that secret pride which, under the semblance

of devotion, insinuates itself into the human heart, was still reserved for the members of the

Christian church; but at the same time all mankind was permitted, and even solicited, to

accept the glorious distinction, which was not only proffered as a favour, but imposed as an

obligation. It became the most sacred duty of a new convert to diffuse among his friends and

relations the inestimable blessing which he had received, and to warn them against a refusal

that would be severely punished as a criminal disobedience to the will of a benevolent but all

powerful Deity.

MIRACULOUS POWERS OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH. The supernatural gifts, which even in

this life were ascribed to the Christians above the rest of mankind, must have conduced to

their own comfort, and very frequently to the conviction of infidels. Besides the occasional

prodigies, which might sometimes be effected by the immediate interposition of the Deity

when he suspended the laws of Nature for the service of religion, the Christian church, from

the time of the apostles and their first disciples, has claimed an uninterrupted succession of

miraculous powers, the gift of tongues, of vision, and of prophecy, the power of expelling

daemons, of healing the sick, and of raising the dead. The knowledge of foreign languages

was frequently communicated to the contemporaries of Irenaeus, though Irenecus himself was

left to struggle with the difficulties of a barbarous dialect whilst he preached the Gospel to the

natives of Gaul. The divine inspiration, whether it was conveyed in the form of a waking or

of a sleeping vision, is described as a favour very liberally bestowed on all ranks of the

faithful, on women as on elders, on boys as well as upon bishops. When their devout minds

were sufficiently prepared by a course of prayer, of fasting, and of vigils, to receive the

extraordinary impulse, they were transported out of their senses, and delivered in ecstasy that

was inspired, being mere organs of the Holy Spirit, just as a pipe or flute is of him who blows

into it. We may add that the design of these visions was, for the most part, either to disclose

the future history, or to guide the present administration, of the church. The expulsion of the

daemons from the bodies of those unhappy persons whom they had been permitted to

torment was considered as a signal though ordinary triumph of religion, and is repeatedly

alleged by the ancient apologists as the most convincing evidence of the truth of Christianity.

The awful ceremony was usually performed in a public manner, and in the presence of a

great number of spectators; the patient was relieved by the power or skill of the exorcist, and

the vanquished daemon was heard to confess that he was one of the fabled gods of antiquity,

who had impiously usurped the adoration of mankind. But the miraculous cure of diseases of

the most inveterate or even preternatural kind can no longer occasion any surprise, when we

recollect that in the days of Irenaeus, about the end of the second century, the resurrection of

the dead was very far from being esteemed an uncommon event; that the miracle was

frequently performed on necessary occasions, by great fasting and the joint supplication of


the church of the place, and that the persons thus restored to their prayers had lived

afterwards among them many years. At such a period, when faith could boast of so many

wonderful victories over death, it seems difficult to account for the scepticism of those

philosophers who still rejected and derided the doctrine of the resurrection. A noble Grecian

had rested on this important ground the whole controversy, and promised Theophilus,

bishop of Antioch, that, if he could be gratified with the sight of a single person who had

been actually raised from the dead, he would immediately embrace the Christian religion. It is

somewhat remarkable that the prelate of the first eastern church, however anxious for the

conversion of his friend, thought proper to decline this fair and reasonable challenge.

THEIR TRUTH CONTESTED. The miracles of the primitive church, after obtaining the

sanction of ages, have been lately attacked in a very free and ingenious inquiry which,

though it has met with the most favourable reception from the public, appears to have

excited a general scandal among the divines of our own as well as of the other Protestant

churches of Europe. Our different sentiments on this subject will be much less influenced by

any particular arguments than by our habits of study and reflection, and, above all, by the

degree of the evidence which we have accustomed ourselves to require for the proof of a

miraculous event.

OUR PERPLEXITY IN DEFINING THE MIRACULOUS PERIOD. The duty of an historian does

not call upon him to interpose his private judgment in this nice and important controversy;

but he ought not to dissemble the difficulty of adopting such a theory as may reconcile the

interest of religion with that of reason, of making a proper application of that theory, and of

defining with precision the limits of that happy period, exempt from error and from deceit,

to which we might be disposed to extend the gift of supernatural powers. From the first of

the fathers to the last of the popes, a succession of bishops, of saints, of martyrs, and of

miracles, is continued without interruption; and the progress of superstition was so gradual

and almost imperceptible, that we know not in what particular link we should break the

chain of tradition. Every age bears testimony to the wonderful events by which it was

distinguished, and its testimony appears no less weighty and respectable than that of the

preceding generation, till we are insensibly led on to accuse our own inconsistency if, in the

eighth or in the twelfth century, we deny to the venerable Bede, or to the holy Bernard, the

same degree of confidence which, in the second century, we had so liberally granted to Justin

or to Irenaeus. If the truth of any of those miracles is appreciated by their apparent use and

propriety, every age had unbelievers to convince, heretics to confute, and idolatrous nations

to convert; and sufficient motives might always be produced to justify the interposition of

Heaven. And yet, since every friend to revelation is persuaded of the reality, and every

reasonable man is convinced of the cessation, of miraculous powers, it is evident that there

must have been some period in which they were either suddenly or gradually withdrawn

from the Christian church. Whatever era is chosen for that purpose, the death of the apostles,

the conversion of the Roman empire, or the extinction of the Arian heresy, the insensibility of

the Christians who lived at that time will equally afford a just matter of surprise. They still

supported their pretensions after they had lost their power. Credulity performed the office of

faith; fanaticism was permitted to assume the language of inspiration, and the effects of

accident or contrivance were ascribed to supernatural causes. The recent experience of

genuine miracles should have instructed the Christian world in the ways of Providence, and


habituated their eye (if we may use a very inadequate expression) to the style of the Divine

artist. Should the most skilful painter of modern Italy presume to decorate his feeble

imitations with the name of Raphael or of Correggio, the insolent fraud would be soon

discovered and indignantly rejected.

USE OF THE PRIMITIVE MIRACLES. Whatever opinion may be entertained of the miracles of

the primitive church since the time of the apostles, this unresisting softness of temper, so

conspicuous among the believers of the second and third centuries, proved of some

accidental benefit to the cause of truth and religion. In modern times, a latent and even

involuntary scepticism adheres to the most pious dispositions. Their admission of supernatural

truths is much less an active consent than a cold and passive acquiescence. Accustomed long

since to observe and to respect the invariable order of Nature, our reason, or at least our

imagination, is not sufficiently prepared to sustain the visible action of the Deity. But in the

first ages of Christianity the situation of mankind was extremely different. The most curious,

or the most credulous, among the Pagans were often persuaded to enter into a society which

asserted an actual claim of miraculous powers. The primitive Christians perpetually trod on

mystic ground, and their minds were exercised by the habits of believing the most

extraordinary events. They felt, or they fancied, that on every side they were incessantly

assaulted by daemons, comforted by visions, instructed by prophecy, and surprisingly

delivered from danger, sickness, and from death itself, by the supplications of the church. The

real or imaginary prodigies, of which they so frequently conceived themselves to be the

objects, the instruments, or the spectators, very happily disposed them to adopt with the

same ease, but with far greater justice, the authentic wonders of the evangelic history; and

thus miracles that exceeded not the measure of their own experience inspired them with the

most lively assurance of mysteries which were acknowledged to surpass the limits of their

understanding. It is this deep impression of supernatural truths which has been so much

celebrated under the name of faith; a state of mind described as the surest pledge of the

Divine favour and of future felicity, and recommended as the first or perhaps the only merit

of a Christian. According to the more rigid doctors, the moral virtues, which may be equally

practised by infidels, are destitute of any value or efficacy in the work of our justification.

VIRTUES OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS. But the primitive Christian demonstrated his faith by

his virtues; and it was very justly supposed that the Divine persuasion, which enlightened or

subdued the understanding, must at the same time purify the heart and direct the actions of

the believer. The first apologists of Christianity who justify the innocence of their brethren,

and the writers of a later period who celebrate the sanctity of their ancestors, display, in the

most lively colours, the reformation of manners which was introduced into the world by the

preaching of the Gospel. As it is my intention to remark only such human causes as were

permitted to second the influence of revelation, I shall slightly mention two motives which

might naturally render the lives of the primitive Christians much purer and more austere than

those of their Pagan contemporaries or their degenerate successors - repentance for their past

sins, and the laudable desire of supporting the reputation of the society in which they were

engaged.

THEIR AVERSION TO THE BUSINESS OF WAR AND GOVERNMENT. The Christians were

not less adverse to the business than to the pleasures of this world. The defence of our


persons and property they knew not how to reconcile with the patient doctrine which

enjoined an unlimited forgiveness of past injuries, and commanded them to invite the

repetition of fresh insults. Their simplicity was offended by the use of oaths, by the pomp of

magistracy, and by the active contention of public life; nor could their humane ignorance be

convinced that it was lawful on any occasion to shed the blood of our fellow-creatures, either

by the sword of justice or by that of war, even though their criminal or hostile attempts

should threaten the peace and safety of the whole community. It was acknowledged that,

under a less perfect law, the powers of the Jewish constitution had been exercised, with the

approbation of Heaven, by inspired prophets and by anointed kings. The Christians felt and

confessed that such institutions might be necessary for the present system of the world, and

they cheerfully submitted to the authority of their Pagan governors. But while they inculcated

the maxims of passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil

administration or the military defence of the empire. Some indulgence might perhaps be

allowed to those persons who, before their conversion, were already engaged in such violent

and sanguinary occupations; but it was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a

more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes. This

indolent, or even criminal disregard to the public welfare, exposed them to the contempt and

reproaches of the Pagans, who very frequently asked, what must be the fate of the empire,

attacked on every side by the barbarians, if all mankind should adopt the pusillanimous

sentiments of the new sect? To this insulting question the Christian apologists returned

obscure and ambiguous answers, as they were unwilling to reveal the secret cause of their

security; the expectation that, before the conversion of mankind was accomplished, war,

government, the Roman empire, and the world itself, would be no more. It may be observed

that, in this instance likewise, the situation of the first Christians coincided very happily with

their religious scruples, and that their aversion to an active life contributed rather to excuse

them from the service than to exclude them from the honours of the state and army.

WHETHER THE FIRST CHRISTIANS WERE MEAN AND IGNORANT. Such is the constitution

of civil society, that, whilst a few persons are distinguished by riches, by honours, and by

knowledge, the body of the people is condemned to obscurity, ignorance, and poverty. The

Christian religion, which addressed itself to the whole human race, must consequently collect

a far greater number of proselytes from the lower than from the superior ranks of life. This

innocent and natural circumstance has been improved into a very odious imputation, which

seems to be less strenuously denied by the apologists than it is urged by the adversaries of the

faith; that the new sect of Christians was almost entirely composed of the dregs of the

populace, of peasants and mechanics, of boys and women, of beggars and slaves, the last of

whom might sometimes introduce the missionaries into the rich and noble families to which

they belonged. These obscure teachers (such was the charge of malice and infidelity) are as

mute in public as they are loquacious and dogmatical in private. Whilst they cautiously avoid

the dangerous encounter of philosophers, they mingle with the rude and illiterate crowd, and

insinuate themselves into those minds who their age, their sex, or their education has best

disposed to receive the impression of superstitious terrors.

CHRISTIANITY MOST FAVOURABLY RECEIVED BY THE POOR AND SIMPLE. And yet these

exceptions are either too few in number, or too recent in time, entirely to remove the

imputation of ignorance and obscurity which has been so arrogantly cast on the first


proselytes of Christianity. Instead of employing in our defence the fictions of later ages, it will

be more prudent to convert the occasion of scandal into a subject of edification. Our serious

thoughts will suggest to us that the apostles themselves were chosen by Providence among

the fishermen of Galilee, and that, the lower we depress the temporal condition of the first

Christians, the more reason we shall find to admire their merit and success. It is incumbent on

us diligently to remember that the kingdom of heaven was promised to the poor in spirit,

and that minds afflicted by calamity and the contempt of mankind cheerfully listen to the

divine promise of future happiness; while, on the contrary, the fortunate are satisfied with the

possession of this world; and the wise abuse in doubt and dispute their vain superiority of

reason and knowledge.

CHAPTER 39 -- GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

IN THE WEST

The Greeks, after their country had been reduced into a province, imputed the triumphs of

Rome, not to the merit, but to the FORTUNE, of the republic. The inconstant goddess who

so blindly distributes and resumes her favours, had now consented (such was the language of

envious flattery) to resign her wings, to descend from her globe, and to fix her firm and

immutable throne on the banks of the Tiber. A wiser Greek, who has composed, with a

philosophic spirit, the memorable history of his own times, deprived his countrymen of this

vain and delusive comfort, by opening to their view the deep foundations of the greatness of

Rome. The fidelity of the citizens to each other and to the state was confirmed by the habits

of education and the prejudices of religion. Honour, as well as virtue, was the principle of the

republic; the ambitious citizens laboured to deserve the solemn glories of a triumph; and the

ardour of the Roman youth was kindled into active emulation as often as they beheld the

domestic images of their ancestors. The temperate struggles of the patricians and plebeians

had finally established the firm and equal balance of the constitution, which united the

freedom of popular assemblies with the authority and wisdom of a senate and the executive

powers of a regal magistrate. When the consul displayed the standard of the republic, each

citizen bound himself, by the obligation of an oath, to draw his sword in the cause of his

country till he had discharged the sacred duty by a military service of ten years. This wise

institution continually poured into the field the rising generations of freemen and soldiers;

and their numbers were reinforced by the warlike and populous states of Italy, who, after a

brave resistance, had yielded to the valour and embraced the alliance of the Romans. The

sage historian, who excited the virtue of the younger Scipio and beheld the ruin of Carthage,

has accurately described their military system; their levies, arms, exercises, subordination,

marches, encampments; and the invincible legion, superior in active strength to the

Macedonian phalanx of Philip and Alexander. From these institutions of peace and war

Polybius has deduced the spirit and success of a people incapable of fear and impatient of

repose. The ambitious design of conquest, which might have been defeated by the seasonable

conspiracy of mankind, was attempted and achieved; and the perpetual violation of justice

was maintained by the political virtues of prudence and courage. The arms of the republic,

sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the

Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass,

that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron

monarchy of Rome.


The rise of a city, which swelled into an empire, may deserve, as a singular prodigy, the

reflection of a philosophic mind. But the decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable

effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of

destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had

removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own

weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and instead of inquiring why the Roman

empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The

victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of strangers and mercenaries, first

oppressed the freedom of the republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple.

The emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace, were reduced to the

base expedient of corrupting the discipline which rendered them alike formidable to their

sovereign and to the enemy; the vigour of the military government was relaxed and finally

dissolved by the partial institutions of Constantine; and the Roman world was overwhelmed

by a deluge of barbarians.

The decay of Rome has been frequently ascribed to the translation of the seat of empire but

this history has already shown that the powers of Government were divided rather than

removed. The throne of Constantinople was erected in the East; while the West was still

possessed by a series of emperors who held their residence in Italy, and claimed their equal

inheritance of the legions and provinces. This dangerous novelty impaired the strength and

fomented the vices of a double reign: the instruments of an oppressive and arbitrary system

were multiplied; and a vain emulation of luxury, not of merit, was introduced and supported

between the degenerate successors of Theodosius. Extreme distress, which unites the virtue of

a free people, embitters the factions of a declining monarchy. The hostile favourites of

Arcadius and Honorius betrayed the republic to its common enemies; and the Byzantine

court beheld with indifference, perhaps with pleasure, the disgrace of Rome, the misfortunes

of Italy, and the loss of the West. Under the succeeding reigns the alliance of the two empires

was restored; but the aid of the Oriental Romans was tardy, doubtful, and ineffectual; and

the national schism of the Greeks and Latins was enlarged by the perpetual difference of

language and manners, of interests, and even of religion. Yet the salutary event approved in

some measure the judgment of Constantine. During a long period of decay his impregnable

city repelled the victorious armies of barbarians, protected the wealth of Asia, and

commanded, both in peace and war, the important straits which connect the Euxine and

Mediterranean seas. The foundation of Constantinople more essentially contributed to the

preservation of the East than to the ruin of the West.

As the happiness of a future life is the great object of religion, we may hear without surprise

or scandal that the introduction, or at least the abuse of Christianity, had some influence on

the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of

patience and pusillanimity; the active virtues of society were discouraged; and the last

remains of military spirit were buried in the cloister: a large portion of public and private

wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and the soldiers'

pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes who could only plead the merits of

abstinence and chastity. Faith, zeal, curiosity, and more earthly passions of malice and

ambition, kindled the flame of theological discord; the church, and even the state, were

distracted by religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody and always


implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted from camps to synods; the Roman

world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects became the secret

enemies of their country. Yet party-spirit, however pernicious or absurd, is a principle of

union as well as of dissension. The bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits, inculcated the

duty of passive obedience to a lawful and orthodox sovereign; their frequent assemblies and

perpetual correspondence maintained the communion of distant churches; and the

benevolent temper of the Gospel was strengthened, though confirmed, by the spiritual

alliance of the catholics. The sacred indolence of the monks was devoutly embraced by a

servile and effeminate age; but if superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same

vices would have tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser motives, the standard

of the republic. Religious precepts are easily obeyed which indulge and sanctify the natural

inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and genuine influence of Christianity may be traced

in its beneficial, though imperfect, effects on the barbarian proselytes of the North. If the

decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of Constantine, his victorious

religion broke the violence of the fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.

This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction of the present age. It is the

duty of a patriot to prefer and promote the exclusive interest and glory of his native country:

but a philosopher may be permitted to enlarge his views, and to consider Europe as one

great republic, whose various inhabitants have attained almost the same level of politeness

and cultivation. The balance of power will continue to fluctuate, and the prosperity of our

own or the neighbouring kingdoms may be alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial

events cannot essentially injure our general state of happiness, the system of arts, and laws,

and manners, which so advantageously distinguish, above the rest of mankind, the Europeans

and their colonies. The savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilised

society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether Europe is still threatened with a

repetition of those calamities which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome.

Perhaps the same reflections will illustrate the fall of that mighty empire, and explain the

probable causes of our actual security.

I. The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their dangers and the number of their enemies.

Beyond the Rhine and Danube the northern countries of Europe and Asia were filled with

innumerable tribes of hunters and shepherds, poor, voracious, and turbulent; bold in arms,

and impatient to ravish the fruits of industry. The barbarian world was agitated by the rapid

impulse of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was shaken by the distant revolutions of

China. The Huns, who fled before a victorious enemy, directed their march towards the

West; and the torrent was swelled by the gradual accession of captives and allies. The flying

tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the spirit of conquest; the endless

column of barbarians pressed on the Roman empire with accumulated weight; and, if the

foremost were destroyed, the vacant space was instantly replenished by new assailants. Such

formidable emigrations no longer issue from the North; and the long repose, which has been

imputed to the decrease of population, is the happy consequence of the progress of arts and

agriculture. Instead of some rude villages thinly scattered among its woods and morasses,

Germany now produces a list of two thousand three hundred walled towns: the Christian

kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland have been successively established; and the

Hanse merchants, with the Teutonic knights, have extended their colonies along the coast of


the Baltic as far as the Gulf of Finland. From the Gulf of Finland to the Eastern Ocean, Russia

now assumes the form of a powerful and civilised empire. The plough, the loom, and the

forge are introduced on the banks of the Volga, the Oby, and the Lena; and the fiercest of

the Tartar hordes have been taught to tremble and obey. The reign of independent barbarism

is now contracted to a narrow span; and the remnant of Calmucks or Uzbecks, whose forces

may be almost numbered, cannot seriously excite the apprehensions of the great republic of

Europe. Yet this apparent security should not tempt us to forget that new enemies and

unknown dangers may possibly arise from some obscure people, scarcely visible in the map

of the world. The Arabs or Saracens, who spread their conquests from India to Spain, had

languished in poverty and contempt till Mahomet breathed into those savage bodies the soul

of enthusiasm.

II. The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and perfect coalition of its

members. The subject nations, resigning the hope and even the wish of independence,

embraced the character of Roman citizens; and the provinces of the West were reluctantly

torn by the barbarians from the bosom of their mother country. But this union was purchased

by the loss of national freedom and military spirit; and the servile provinces, destitute of life

and motion, expected their safety from the mercenary troops and governors who were

directed by the orders of a distant court. The happiness of an hundred millions depended on

the persona merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose minds were corrupted by

education, luxury, and despotic power. The deepest wounds were inflicted on the empire

during the minorities of the sons and grandsons of Theodosius; and, after those incapable

princes seemed to attain the age of manhood, they abandoned the church to the bishops, the

state to the eunuchs, and the provinces to the barbarians. Europe is now divided into twelve

powerful, though unequal kingdoms, three respectable commonwealths, and a variety of

smaller, though independent states: the chances of royal and ministerial talent are multiplied,

at least, with the number of its rulers; and a Julian, or Semiramis, may reign in the North,

while Arcadius and Honorius again slumber on the thrones of the South. The abuses of

tyranny are restrained by the mutual influence of fear and shame; republics have acquired

order and stability; monarchies have imbibed the principles of freedom, or, at least, of

moderation; and some sense of honour and justice is introduced into the most defective

constitutions by the general manner of the times. In peace, the progress of knowledge and

industry is accelerated by the emulation of so many active rivals: in war, the European forces

are exercised by temperate and indecisive contests. If a savage conqueror should issue from

the deserts of Tartary, he must repeatedly vanquish the robust peasants of Russia, the

numerous armies of Germany, the gallant nobles of France, and the intrepid freemen of

Britain; who, perhaps, might confederate for their common defence. Should the victorious

barbarians carry slavery and desolation as far as the Atlantic Ocean, ten thousand vessels

would transport beyond their pursuit the remains of civilised society; and Europe would

revive and flourish in the American world, which is already filled with her colonies and

institutions.

III. Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue fortify the strength and courage of

barbarians. In every age they have oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India,

and Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counter-balance these natural powers by the

resources of military art. The warlike states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome,


educated a race of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage, multiplied their

forces by regular evolutions, and converted the iron which they possessed into strong and

serviceable weapons. But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and manners: and

the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors armed and instructed, for the ruin of the

empire, the rude valour of the barbarian mercenaries. The military art has been changed by

the invention of gunpowder; which enables man to command the two most powerful agents

of nature, air and fire.

Mathematics, chemistry, mechanics, architecture have been applied to the service of war; and

the adverse parties oppose to each other the most elaborate modes of attack and of defence.

Historians may indignantly observe that the preparations of a siege would found and

maintain a flourishing colony; yet we cannot be displeased that the subversion of a city

should be a work of cost and difficulty; or that an industrious people should be protected by

those arts which survive and supply the decay of military virtue. Cannon and fortifications

now form an impregnable barrier against the Tartar horse; and Europe is secure from any

future irruption of barbarians; since, before they can conquer, they must cease to be

barbarous. Their gradual advances in the science of war would always be accompanied, as

we may learn from the example of Russia, with a proportionable improvement in the arts of

peace and civil policy; and they themselves must deserve a place among the polished nations

whom they subdue.

Should these speculations be found doubtful or fallacious, there still remains a more humble

source of comfort and hope. The discoveries of ancient and modern navigators, and the

domestic history or tradition of the most enlightened nations, represent the human savage

naked both in mind and body, and destitute of laws, of arts, of ideas, and almost of

language. From this abject condition, perhaps the primitive and universal state of man, he has

gradually arisen to command the animals, to fertilise the earth, to traverse the ocean, and to

measure the heavens. His progress in the improvement and exercise of his mental and

corporeal faculties has been irregular and various; infinitely slow in the beginning, and

increasing by degrees with redoubled velocity: ages of laborious ascent have been followed

by a moment of rapid downfall; and the several climates of the globe have felt the

vicissitudes of light and darkness. Yet the experience of four thousand years should enlarge

our hopes and diminish our apprehensions: we cannot determine to what height the human

species may aspire in their advance towards perfection; but it may safely be presumed that no

people, unless the face of nature is changed, will relapse into their original barbarism. The

improvements of society may be viewed under a threefold aspect. 1/. The poet or

philosopher illustrates his age and country by the efforts of a single mind; but these superior

powers of reason or fancy are rare and spontaneous productions; and the genius of Homer,

or Cicero, or Newton, would excite less admiration if they could be created by the will of a

prince or the lessons of a preceptor. 2/. The benefits of law and policy, of trade and

manufactures, of arts and sciences, are more solid and permanent; and many individuals may

be qualified, by education and discipline, to promote, in their respective stations, the interest

of the community. But this general order is the effect of skill and labour; and the complex

machinery may be decayed by time, or injured by violence. 3/. Fortunately for mankind, the

more useful, or, at least, more necessary arts, can be performed without superior talents or

national subordination; without powers of one, or the union of many. Each village, each


family, each individual, must always possess both ability and inclination to perpetuate the use

of fire and of metals; the propagation and service of domestic animals; the methods of

hunting and fishing; the rudiments of navigation; the imperfect cultivation of corn or other

nutritive grain; and the simple practice of the mechanic trades. Private genius and public

industry may be extirpated, but these hardy plants survive the tempest, and strike an

everlasting root into the most unfavourable soil. The splendid days of Augustus and Trajan

were eclipsed by a cloud of ignorance; and the barbarians subverted the laws and palaces of

Rome. But the scythe, the invention or emblem of Saturn, still continued annually to mow

the harvests of Italy; and the human feasts of the Laestrigons have never been renewed on

the coast of Campania.

Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and religious zeal have diffused among

the savages of the Old and New World these inestimable gifts: they have been successively

propagated; they can never be lost. We may therefore acquiesce in the pleasing conclusion

that every age of the world has increased and still increases the real wealth, the happiness, the

knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race.

[SOURCE: http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/home.html]

VII. Colonial America

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (c. 1650) Bradford was one of the leaders of the English Puritan Separatists whom we now call "The Pilgrims."

This history was his personal journal, completed around 1650, after he had served some 35 years as

governor of the colony. The first excerpt describes his feelings as he is on the Mayflower in 1620, on

the night before they land to start their Puritan colony, considered by some as the first utopian

experiment in the Americas. [Source: Internet Modern History Sourcebook,

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html]

How they sought a place of habitation (1620)

Being thus arrived at Cape Cod the 11th of November, and necessity calling them to look out

a place for habitation (as well as the master's and mariner's importunity); they having brought

a large shallop with them out of England, stowed in quarters in the ship, they now got her

out and set their carpenters to work to trim her up; but being much bruised and shattered in

the ship with foul weather, they saw she would be long in mending. Whereupon a few of

http://www.ccel.org/g/gibbon/decline/home.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html


them tendered themselves to go by land and discover those nearest places, whilst the shallop

was in mending; and the rather because as they went into that harbor there seemed to be an

opening some two or three leagues off, which the master judged to be a river. It was

conceived there might be some danger in the attempt, yet seeing them resolute, they were

permitted to go, being sixteen of them well armed under the conduct of Captain Standish,

having such instructions given them as was thought meet.

They set forth the 15 of November; and when they had marched about the space of a mile

by the seaside, they espied five or six persons with a dog coming towards them, who were

savages; but they fled from them and ran up into the woods, and the English followed them,

partly to see if they could speak with them, and partly to discover if there might not be more

of them lying in ambush. But the Indians seeing themselves thus followed, they again forsook

the woods and ran away on the sands as hard as they could, so as they could not come near

them but followed them by the track of their feet sundry miles and saw that they had come

the same way. So, night coming on, they made their rendezvous and set out their sentinels,

and rested in quiet that night; and the next morning followed their track till they had headed

a great creek and so left the sands, and turned another way into the woods. But they still

followed them by guess, hoping to find their dwellings; but they soon lost both them and

themselves, falling into such thickets as were ready to tear their clothes and armor in pieces;

but were most distressed for want of drink. But at length they found water and refreshed

themselves, being the first New England water they drunk of, and was now in great thirst as

pleasant unto them as wine or beer had been in foretimes.

Afterwards, they directed their course to come to the other shore, for they knew it was a

neck of land they were to cross over, and so at length got to the seaside and marched to this

supposed river, and by the way found a pond of clear, fresh water, and shortly after a good

quantity of clear ground where the Indians had formerly set corn, and some of their graves.

And proceeding further they saw new stubble where corn had been set the same year; also

they found where lately a house had been, where some planks and a great kettle was

remaining, and heaps of sand newly paddled with their hands. Which, they digging up, found

in them divers fair Indian baskets filled with corn, and some in ears, fair and good, of divers

colors, which seemed to them a very goodly sight (having never seen any such before). This

was near the place of that supposed river they came to seek, unto which they went and

found it to open itself into two arms with a high cliff of sand in the entrance but more like to

be creeks of salt water than any fresh, for aught they saw; and that there was good harborage

for their shallop, leaving it further to be discovered by their shallop, when she was ready. So,

their time limited them being expired, they returned to the ship lest they should be in fear of

their safety; and took with them part of the corn and buried up the rest. And so, like the men

from Eshcol, carried with them of the fruits of the land and showed their brethren; of which,

and their return, they were marvelously glad and their hearts encouraged.

After this, the shallop being got ready, they set out again for the better discovery of this

place, and the master of the ship desired to go himself. So there went some thirty men but

found it to be no harbor for ships but only for boats. There was also found two of their

houses covered with mats, and sundry of their implements in them, but the people were run

away and could not be seen. Also there was found more of their corn and of their beans of


various colors; the corn and beans they brought away, purposing to give them full

satisfaction when they should meet with any of them as, about some six months afterward

they did, to their good content.

And here is to be noted a special providence of God, and a great mercy to this poor people,

that here they got seed to plant them corn the next year, or else they might have starved, for

they had none nor any likelihood to get any till the season had been past, as the sequel did

manifest. Neither is it likely they had had this, if the first voyage had not been made, for the

ground was now all covered with snow and hard frozen; but the Lord is never wanting unto

His in their greatest needs; let His holy name have all the praise. . . .

The Mayflower Compact (1620)

I shall a little return back, and begin with a combination made by them before they came

ashore; being the first foundation of their government in this place. Occasioned partly by the

discontented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst them had let fall

from them in the ship: That when they came ashore they would use their own liberty, for

none had power to command them, the patent they had being for Virginia and not for New

England, which belonged to another government, with which the Virginia Company had

nothing to do. And partly that such an act by them done, this their condition considered,

might be as firm as any patent and in some respects more sure.

The form was as followeth:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN.

We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord

King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender

of the faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and

Honor of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern

Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God

and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body

Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends

aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal

Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be

thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which

we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder

subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the llth of November, in the year of the reign of

our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of

Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.

After this they chose, or rather confirmed, Mr. John Carver (a man godly and well approved

amongst them) their Governor for that year. And after they had provided a place for their

goods, or common store (which were long in unlading [unloading] for want of boats,


foulness of the winter weather and sickness of divers) and begun some small cottages for their

habitation; as time would admit, they met and consulted of laws and orders, both for their

civil and military government as the necessity of their condition did require, still adding

thereunto as urgent occasion in several times, and as cases did require.

In these hard and difficult beginnings they found some discontents and murmurings arise

amongst some, and mutinous speeches and carriages in other; but they were soon quelled

and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just and equal carriage of things, by the

Governor and better part, which clave faithfully together in the main.

Treaty with the Indians (1621)

All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and would sometimes show themselves

aloof off, but when any approached near them, they would run away; and once they stole

away their tools where they had been at work and were gone to dinner. But about the 16th

of March, a certain Indian came boldly amongst them and spoke to them in broken English,

which they could well understand but marveled at it. At length they understood by discourse

with him, that he was not of these parts, but belonged to the eastern parts where some

English ships came to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry of them by

their names, amongst whom he had got his language. He became profitable to them in

acquainting them with many things concerning the state of the country in the east parts

where he lived, which was afterwards profitable unto them; as also of the people here, of

their names, number and strength, of their situation and distance from this place, and who

was chief amongst them. His name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose

name was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England and could speak better

English than himself.

Being after some time of entertainment and gifts dismissed, a while after he came again, and

five more with him, and they brought again all the tools that were stolen away before, and

made way for the coming of their great Sachem, called Massasoit. Who, about four or five

days after, came with the chief of his friends and other attendance, with the aforesaid

Squanto. With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts given him, they made a

peace with him (which hath now continued this 24 years) in these terms:

1. That neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people.

2. That if any of his did hurt to any of theirs, he should send the offender, that they

might punish him.

3. That if anything were taken away from any of theirs, he should cause it to be

restored; and they should do the like to his.

4. If any did unjustly war against him, they would aid him; if any did war against them,

he should aid them.

5. He should send to his neighbors confederates to certify them of this, that they might

not wrong them, but might be likewise comprised in the conditions of peace.

6. That when their men came to them, they should leave their bows and arrows behind

them.


After these things he returned to his place called Sowams, some 40 miles from this place, but

Squanto continued with them and was their interpreter and was a special instrument sent of

God for their good beyond their expectation. He directed them how to set their corn, where

to take fish, and to procure other commodities, and was also their pilot to bring them to

unknown places for their profit, and never left them till he died. He was a native of this

place, and scarce any left alive besides himself. He was carried away with divers others by

one Hunt, a master of a ship, who thought to sell them for slaves in Spain. But he got away

for England and was entertained by a merchant in London, and employed to Newfoundland

and other parts, and lastly brought hither into these parts by one Mr. Dermer, a gentleman

employed by Sir Ferdinando Gorges and others for discovery and other designs in these parts.

Private and communal farming (1623)

All this while no supply was heard of, neither knew they when they might expect any. So

they began to think how they might raise as much corn as they could, and obtain a better

crop than they had done, that they might not still thus languish in misery. At length, after

much debate of things, the Governor (with the advice of the chiefest amongst them) gave

way that they should set corn every man for his own particular, and in that regard trust to

themselves; in all other thing to go on in the general way as before. And so assigned to every

family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number, for that end, only for

present use (but made no division for inheritance) and ranged all boys and youth under some

family. This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more

corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other

could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women

now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which

before would allege weakness and inability; whom to have compelled would have been

thought great tyranny and oppression.

The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and

that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and

other ancients applauded by some of later times; and that the taking away of property and

bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if

they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much

confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their

benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labor and service,

did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and

children without any recompense. The strong, or man of parts, had no more in division of

victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this

was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labors and

victuals, clothes etc., with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignity and

disrespect unto them. And for men's wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as

dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could

many husbands well brook it. Upon the point all being to have alike, and all to do alike, they

thought themselves in the like condition, and one as good as another; and so, if it did not cut

off those relations that God hath set amongst men, yet it did at least much diminish and take

off the mutual respects that should be preserved amongst them. And would have been worse


if they had been men of another condition. Let none object this is men's corruption, and

nothing to the course itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in His

wisdom saw another course fitter for them.


http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html]

Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741) Edwards (1703-1758) served as minister of the Congregational Church at Northampton, Massachusetts

from 1727 to 1750. There his strongly Calvinistic preaching led to the revival movement known as the

Great Awakening. Dismissed because of his overzealous orthodoxy, he continued to preach and

became president of the College of Princeton, New Jersey. Perhaps the foremost of Puritan theologians

and philosophers, Edwards, after graduating from Yale in 1720, held a series of pastorates and

ministerial posts in the American colonies. This left him time to compose the writings in which he

systematizes and justifies the Puritan theme of the utter dependence of humanity and nature on God.

Edwards argues from the unthinkability of the notion of absolute nothingness to the eternal existence

of being; this necessary eternal being must be infinite and omnipresent and cannot be solid. It can only

be space, or God. Furthermore, consciousness and being are the same since it is unthinkable that

something could exist from all eternity and nothing be conscious of it.

[Source: The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001, (c) Market House Books Ltd 2000; The Oxford

Companion to Philosophy, (c) Oxford University Press 1995]

For better or worse, the sermon for which Edwards is probably most famous—or infamous—is the one

preached to the congregation of Enfield, Massachusetts (later Connecticut) in July 1741. Anthologized

in high school and college textbooks, “Sinners” represents in many persons’ minds the bleak, cruel, and

hell-bent outlook of Edwards and his Puritan predecessors. But of course such a representation is only a

caricature, for “Sinners,” if it represents anything, stands for only a small part of Edwards’s view of the

relationship between humankind and God. As a specially crafted awakening sermon, “Sinners” was

aimed at a particularly hard-hearted congregation. But, at the same time, the awakening sermon and

all it expressed—the awful weight of sin, the wrath of an infinitely holy God, and the unexpectedness

of the moment when God will execute justice—were integral to Edwards’s theology. This sermon,

therefore, deserves to be studied and meditated on for its own sake, but also as part of a larger vision

of the spiritual life. [Source: http://edwards.yale.edu/major-works/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-

god/]

--Their foot shall slide in due time.-- Deuteronomy 32:35

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who

were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who,

notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained (as ver. 28.) void of

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1650bradford.html

http://edwards.yale.edu/major-works/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/

http://edwards.yale.edu/major-works/sinners-in-the-hands-of-an-angry-god/


counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought

forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. The expression I

have chosen for my text, Their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following

doings, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were

exposed. That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in

slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction

coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm

lxxiii. 18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into

destruction."

2. It implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that

walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment

whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without

warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm lxxiii. 18, 19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery

places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in

a moment!"

3. Another thing implied is that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown

down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing

but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already, and do not fall now, is only that God's

appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes,

their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight.

God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then

at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining

ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls

and is lost.

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this: "There is nothing that

keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." By the

mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no

obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's

mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation

of wicked men one moment.

The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's

hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor

can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can

most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue

a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers

of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the

power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine

and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light


chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We

find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for

us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he

pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we, that we should think to stand before

him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

2. They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no

objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the

contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the

tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?"

Luke xiii. 7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it

is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.

3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly

deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and

immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out

against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John iii.

18--"He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly

belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is. John viii. 23--"Ye are from beneath." And

thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his

unchangeable law assign to him.

4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in

the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment is not

because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many

miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his

wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth: yea,

doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is

with many of those who are now in the flames of hell.

So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he

does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such an one as

themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them,

their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is

now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is

whet [sharp], and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God

shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his

dominion. The scripture represents them as his goods, Luke xi. 12. The devils watch them;

they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry

lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God

should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon

their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive

them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.


6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently

kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very

nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt

principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell

fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were

not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would

flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts

of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the

wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isaiah lvii. 20. For the present, God

restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled

sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further"; but if God should withdraw that

restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is

destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need

nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is

immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up

by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and

as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the

soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.

7. It is no security to wicked men for one moment, that there are no visible means of death

at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see

which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is

no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. The manifold and continual experience

of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of

eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world. The unseen, unthought-of

ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and

inconceivable. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are

innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these

places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot

discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the

world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to

be at the expence of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy

any wicked man, at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the

world, are so in God's hands, and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and

determination, that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God, whether

sinners shall at any moment go to hell, than if means were never made use of, or at all

concerned in the case.

8. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to

preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal

experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no

security to them from death; that if it were otherwise we should see some difference between

the wise and politic men of the world, and others, with regard to their liableness to early and

unexpected death: but how is it in fact? Eccles. ii. 16. "How dieth the wise man? even as the

fool."


9. All wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue

to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment.

Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends

upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now

doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall

avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes

will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men

that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters

better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place

of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters

so for himself as not to fail.

But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes, and in

confidence in their own strength and wisdom; they trust to nothing but a shadow. The

greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace, and are now

dead, are undoubtedly gone to hell; and it was not because they were not as wise as those

who are now alive: it was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to

secure their own escape. If we could speak with them, and inquire of them, one by one,

whether they expected, when alive, and when they used to hear about hell ever to be the

subects of that misery: we doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never

intended to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I thought I should

contrive well for myself: I thought my scheme good. I intended to take effectual care; but it

came upon me unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner; it came as a

thief: Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I

was flattering myself, and pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter;

and when I was saying, Peace and safety, then suddenly destruction came upon me.

10. God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of

hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any

deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of

grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But

surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the

children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in

the Mediator of the covenant.

So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's

earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest, that whatever pains a natural man

takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no

manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.

So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have

deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his

anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the

fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate

that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment;

the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them,


and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts

is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means

within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take

hold of, all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted,

unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.

APPLICATION

The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation.

This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of

misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful

pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and

you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of, there is nothing between you

and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.

You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the

hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution,

your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed

these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep

you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.

Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great

weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink

and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and

your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have

no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have

to stop a falling rock. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not

bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature

is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly

shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her

increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon;

the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals,

while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies. God's creatures are good, and were

made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and

groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And

the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath

subjected it in hope. There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your

heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining

hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for

the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction

would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor.

The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more

and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is

stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that

judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's

vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and


you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing

more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the

waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should

only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery

floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and

would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand

times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest,

sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends

the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God,

and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one

moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a

great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that

were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state

of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God.

However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious

affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house

of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed

up in everlasting destruction. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what

you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the

like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon

most of them; when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, Peace and

safety: now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were

nothing but thin air and empty shadows.

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome

insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like

fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer

eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in

his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely

more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds

you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did

not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you

closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not

dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There

is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the

house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn

worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very

moment drop down into hell.

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and

bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God,

whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned

in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and

ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any


Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of

wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to

induce God to spare you one moment. And consider here more particularly:

1. Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man,

though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded.

The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the

possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere

will. Prov. xx. 2.--"The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to

anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince is

liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can

inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates in their greatest majesty and strength, and when

clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison

of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can

do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings

of the earth, before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both

their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings is as much

more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke xii. 4, 5--"And I say unto you, my

friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can

do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed, hath

power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him."

2. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God;

as in Isaiah lix. 18--"According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his

adversaries." So Isaiah lxvi. 15--"For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots

like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in

many other places. So, Rev. xix. 15, we read of "the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of

Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of

God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness

and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that

be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the

fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation

of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though

omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their

strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will

become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart

can endure? To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor

creature be sunk who shall be the subject of this!

Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God

will execute the fierceness of his anger implies that he will inflict wrath without any pity.

When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so

vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks

down, as it were, into an infinite gloom, he will have no compassion upon you, he will not

forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no

moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to


your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, than

only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld,

because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezek. viii. 18--"Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine

eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud

voice, yet I will not hear them." Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy;

you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of

mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will

be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no

other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other

end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of

this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to

him, that it is said he will only "laugh and mock," Prov. i. 25, 26, &c.

How awful are those words, Isaiah lxiii. 3, which are the words of the great God: "I will tread

them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled

upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." It is perhaps impossible to conceive of

words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, vis. contempt, and

hatred, and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from

pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favour, that instead of

that, he will only tread you under foot. And though he will know that you cannot bear the

weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet he will not regard that, but he will crush you

under his feet without mercy; he will crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be

sprinkled on his garments, so as to stain all his raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will

have you, in the utmost contempt: no place shall be thought fit for you, but under his feet to

be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that he might show

what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on his heart to show to angels and men, both

how excellent his love is, and also how terrible his wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a

mind to show how terrible their wrath is, by the extreme punishments they would execute

on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of

the Chaldean empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshech,

and Abednego; and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated

seven times hotter than it was before; doubtless, it was raised to the utmost degree of

fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show his wrath,

and magnify his awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of his enemies.

Rom. ix. 22--"What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure

with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" And seeing this is his

design, and what he has determined, even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath, the

fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, he will do it to effect. There will be something

accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and

angry God hath risen up and executed his awful vengeance on the poor sinner, and the

wretch is actually suffering the infinite weight and power of his indignation, then will God

call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be

seen in it. Isa. xxxiii. 12-14--"And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up

shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are


near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the

hypocrites," &c.

Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state, if you continue in it; the infinite

might, and majesty, and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you, in

the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy

angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the

glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may

see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is; and when they have seen it, they will

fall down and adore that great power and majesty. Isaiash lxvi. 23, 24--"And it shall come to

pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh

come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the

carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither

shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

4. It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty

God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite

horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration

before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will

absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all.

You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions of millions of ages, in

wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance; and then when you have so

done, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know

that all is but a point to what remains. So that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh,

who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is! All that we can possibly say

about it gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it; it is inexpressible and

inconceivable: For "who knows the power of God's anger?"

How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath

and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not

been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh

that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think that there

are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of

this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what

thoughts they now have. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without

much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising

themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the

whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it

be to think of! If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person!

How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! But,

alas! instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would

be a wonder, if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even

before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons, that now sit here, in

some seats of this meeting-house, in health, quiet and secure, should be there before

tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition, that shall keep

out of hell longest will be there in a little time! your damnation does not slumber; it will


come swiftly, and, in all probability, very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to

wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen

and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely

to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery

and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and

have an opportuniry to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls

give for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door

of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day

wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God. Many are daily

coming from the east, west, north and south; many that were very lately in the same

miserable condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with

love to him who has loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood, and

rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful is it to be left behind at such a day! To see

so many others feasting, while you are pining and perishing! To see so many rejoicing and

singing for joy of heart, while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart, and howl for

vexation of spirit! How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as

precious as the souls of the people at Suffield, where they are flocking from day to day to

Christ?

Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born

again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since

they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, sirs, your case, in an

especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great.

Do you not see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present

remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy? You had need to consider

yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of

the infinite God.-And you, young men, and young women, will you neglect this precious

season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful

vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if

you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days

of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And

you, children, who are unconverted, do not you know that you are going down to hell, to

bear the dreadful wrath of that God, who is now angry with you every day and every night?

Will you be content to be the children of the devil, when so many other children in the land

are converted, and are become the holy and happy children of the King of kings?

And let every one that is yet out of Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be

old men and women, or middle aged, or young people, or little children, now harken to the

loud calls of God's word and providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such

great favours to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others. Men's

hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls;

and never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and

Suffield was a town in the neighborhood.


blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in his elect in all parts of the land;

and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in

now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great out-pouring of the Spirit upon

the Jews in the apostles' days; the election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this

should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever

you was born, to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you

had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly it is, as it was in the

days of John the Baptist, the axe is in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees,

that every tree which brings not forth good fruit, may be hewn down and cast into the fire.

Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come.

The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this

congregation: Let every one fly out of Sodom: "Haste and escape for your lives, look not

behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed."

[SOURCE: The Edwards Pulpit, http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm

and http://members.aol.com/jonathanedw/Sinners.html]

VIII. Revolutions of the Early Modern Era: English & American

Declaration of Rights (Engl.and, 1689) In English history, the Glorious Revolution, or Bloodless Revolution, of 1688, constituted the

deposition of James II and the accession of William III (r. 1689-1702) and Mary II (r. 1689-1694) to the

English throne. Although the English showed themselves to be firmly attached to the idea of a

monarchy, even after a Parliamentary victory in the Civil War, the restoration of Charles II in 1660

aroused unease among many Englishmen who feared the Stuarts’ Roman Catholic tendencies and

absolutist bent. Charles II’s tolerance of Catholic dissent and his foreign policy, which tended to favor

alliances with Catholic powers in Europe, prompted the Whigs, a parliamentary group, to attempt to

exclude the Catholic James, duke of York (brother of Charles), from the succession. The attempt

failed, and James came to the throne in 1685. However, James’ open Catholicism and the birth of his

son, which meant a Catholic successor, united Tories and Whigs in opposition to James. This political

alliance issued an invitation to the Dutch prince William of Orange and his consort, Mary, Protestant

daughter of Charles II, to assume the English throne. The Glorious Revolution succeeded without

bloodshed, mainly because James’s forces deserted him, thus forcing him to flee to France at the end of

1688. Early in 1689, Parliament deposed James II and invited William and Mary to rule as joint

sovereigns. The Declaration of Rights (later Bill of Rights) of 1689 clearly spelled out the terms upon

http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Warnings/sinners.htm

http://members.aol.com/jonathanedw/Sinners.html


which the throne was offered to and accepted by William and Mary. In addition to limiting royal

power, the statement of rights also prohibited any future Catholic succession to the throne.

Henceforth, the monarch could no longer suspend and/or dispense with law, levy taxes, or maintain a

standing army in peacetime without the consent of Parliament. Thus, the Glorious Revolution

continued the process of transferring power from the monarch to Parliament. This movement was

very evident in the Civil War, but had really begun centuries before. The ascendancy of Parliament

was firmly established and never effectively challenged after 1688, though the monarch still retained

considerable power. [Source: Columbia Encyclopedia, www.bartleby.com]

An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject

and Settling the Succession of the Crown

Whereas the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster, lawfully,

fully and freely representing all the estates of the people of this realm, did upon the

thirteenth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-eight [old

style date] present unto their Majesties, then called and known by the names and style of

William and Mary, prince and princess of Orange, being present in their proper persons, a

certain declaration in writing made by the said Lords and Commons in the words following,

viz.:

Whereas the late King James the Second, by the assistance of divers evil counsellors, judges

and ministers employed by him, did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant

religion and the laws and liberties of this kingdom;

By assuming and exercising a power of dispensing with and suspending of laws and the

execution of laws without consent of Parliament;

By committing and prosecuting divers worthy prelates for humbly petitioning to be excused

from concurring to the said assumed power;

By issuing and causing to be executed a commission under the great seal for erecting a court

called the Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes;

By levying money for and to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative for other time

and in other manner than the same was granted by Parliament;

By raising and keeping a standing army within this kingdom in time of peace without consent

of Parliament, and quartering soldiers contrary to law;

By causing several good subjects being Protestants to be disarmed at the same time when

papists were both armed and employed contrary to law;

By violating the freedom of election of members to serve in Parliament;

http://www.bartleby.com/


By prosecutions in the Court of King's Bench for matters and causes cognizable only in

Parliament, and by divers other arbitrary and illegal courses;

And whereas of late years partial corrupt and unqualified persons have been returned and

served on juries in trials, and particularly divers jurors in trials for high treason which were

not freeholders;

And excessive bail hath been required of persons committed in criminal cases to elude the

benefit of the laws made for the liberty of the subjects;

And excessive fines have been imposed;

And illegal and cruel punishments inflicted;

And several grants and promises made of fines and forfeitures before any conviction or

judgment against the persons upon whom the same were to be levied;

All which are utterly and directly contrary to the known laws and statutes and freedom of

this realm;

And whereas the said late King James the Second having abdicated the government and the

throne being thereby vacant, his Highness the prince of Orange (whom it hath pleased

Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering this kingdom from popery and

arbitrary power) did (by the advice of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and divers principal

persons of the Commons) cause letters to be written to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal

being Protestants, and other letters to the several counties, cities, universities, boroughs and

cinque ports, for the choosing of such persons to represent them as were of right to be sent to

Parliament, to meet and sit at Westminster upon the two and twentieth day of January in this

year one thousand six hundred eighty and eight [old style date], in order to such an

establishment as that their religion, laws and liberties might not again be in danger of being

subverted, upon which letters elections having been accordingly made;

And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, pursuant to their

respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representative of this

nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the ends

aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the

vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties declare

That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws by regal authority

without consent of Parliament is illegal;

That the pretended power of dispensing with laws or the execution of laws by regal

authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal;

That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes,

and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious;


That levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence of prerogative, without grant

of Parliament, for longer time, or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is

illegal;

That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions

for such petitioning are illegal;

That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be

with consent of Parliament, is against law;

That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their

conditions and as allowed by law;

That election of members of Parliament ought to be free;

That the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be

impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament;

That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and

unusual punishments inflicted;

That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned, and jurors which pass upon men in

trials for high treason ought to be freeholders;

That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction

are illegal and void;

And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening and preserving of

the laws, Parliaments ought to be held frequently.

And they do claim, demand and insist upon all and singular the premises as their undoubted

rights and liberties, and that no declarations, judgments, doings or proceedings to the

prejudice of the people in any of the said premises ought in any wise to be drawn hereafter

into consequence or example; to which demand of their rights they are particularly

encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means

for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein. Having therefore an entire confidence that his

said Highness the prince of Orange will perfect the deliverance so far advanced by him, and

will still preserve them from the violation of their rights which they have here asserted, and

from all other attempts upon their religion, rights and liberties, the said Lords Spiritual and

Temporal and Commons assembled at Westminster do resolve that William and Mary, prince

and princess of Orange, be and be declared king and queen of England, France and Ireland

and the dominions thereunto belonging, to hold the crown and royal dignity of the said

kingdoms and dominions to them, the said prince and princess, during their lives and the life

of the survivor to them, and that the sole and full exercise of the regal power be only in and

executed by the said prince of Orange in the names of the said prince and princess during

their joint lives, and after their deceases the said crown and royal dignity of the same


kingdoms and dominions to be to the heirs of the body of the said princess, and for default

of such issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body, and for default of

such issue to the heirs of the body of the said prince of Orange. And the Lords Spiritual and

Temporal and Commons do pray the said prince and princess to accept the same accordingly.

And that the oaths hereafter mentioned be taken by all persons of whom the oaths have

allegiance and supremacy might be required by law, instead of them; and that the said oaths

of allegiance and supremacy be abrogated.

I, A.B., do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to their

Majesties King William and Queen Mary. So help me God.

I, A.B., do swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure as impious and heretical

this damnable doctrine and position, that princes excommunicated or deprived by the Pope

or any authority of the see of Rome may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or any

other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate

hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority,

ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm. So help me God.

Upon which their said Majesties did accept the crown and royal dignity of the kingdoms of

England, France and Ireland, and the dominions thereunto belonging, according to the

resolution and desire of the said Lords and Commons contained in the said declaration. And

thereupon their Majesties were pleased that the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and

Commons, being the two Houses of Parliament, should continue to sit, and with their

Majesties' royal concurrence make effectual provision for the settlement of the religion, laws

and liberties of this kingdom, so that the same for the future might not be in danger again of

being subverted, to which the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons did agree,

and proceed to act accordingly. Now in pursuance of the premises the said Lords Spiritual

and Temporal and Commons in Parliament assembled, for the ratifying, confirming and

establishing the said declaration and the articles, clauses, matters and things therein contained

by the force of law made in due form by authority of Parliament, do pray that it may be

declared and enacted that all and singular the rights and liberties asserted and claimed in the

said declaration are the true, ancient and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this

kingdom, and so shall be esteemed, allowed, adjudged, deemed and taken to be; and that all

and every the particulars aforesaid shall be firmly and strictly holden and observed as they

are expressed in the said declaration, and all officers and ministers whatsoever shall serve

their Majesties and their successors according to the same in all time to come. And the said

Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, seriously considering how it hath pleased

Almighty God in his marvellous providence and merciful goodness to this nation to provide

and preserve their said Majesties' royal persons most happily to reign over us upon the

throne of their ancestors, for which they render unto him from the bottom of their hearts

their humblest thanks and praises, do truly, firmly, assuredly and in the sincerity of their

hearts think, and do hereby recognize, acknowledge and declare, that King James the Second

having abdicated the government, and their Majesties having accepted the crown and royal

dignity as aforesaid, their said Majesties did become, were, are and of right ought to be by

the laws of this realm our sovereign liege lord and lady, king and queen of England, France


and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging, in and to whose princely persons the

royal state, crown and dignity of the said realms with all honours, styles, titles, regalities,

prerogatives, powers, jurisdictions and authorities to the same belonging and appertaining are

most fully, rightfully and entirely invested and incorporated, united and annexed. And for

preventing all questions and divisions in this realm by reason of any pretended titles to the

crown, and for preserving a certainty in the succession thereof, in and upon which the unity,

peace, tranquility and safety of this nation doth under God wholly consist and depend, the

said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do beseech their Majesties that it may be

enacted, established and declared, that the crown and regal government of the said kingdoms

and dominions, with all and singular the premises thereunto belonging and appertaining,

shall be and continue to their said Majesties and the survivor of them during their lives and

the life of the survivor of them, and that the entire, perfect and full exercise of the regal

power and government be only in and executed by his Majesty in the names of both their

Majesties during their joint lives; and after their deceases the said crown and premises shall be

and remain to the heirs of the body of her Majesty, and for default of such issue to her Royal

Highness the Princess Anne of Denmark and the heirs of the body of his said Majesty; and

thereunto the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons do in the name of all the

people aforesaid most humbly and faithfully submit themselves, their heirs and posterities for

ever, and do faithfully promise that they will stand to, maintain and defend their said

Majesties, and also the limitation and succession of the crown herein specified and contained,

to the utmost of their powers with their lives and estates against all persons whatsoever that

shall attempt anything to the contrary. And whereas it hath been found by experience that it

is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this Protestant kingdom to be governed by a

popish prince, or by any king or queen marrying a papist, the said Lords Spiritual and

Temporal and Commons do further pray that it may be enacted, that all and every person

and persons that is, are or shall be reconciled to or shall hold communion with the see or

Church of Rome, or shall profess the popish religion, or shall marry a papist, shall be

excluded and be for ever incapable to inherit, possess or enjoy the crown and government of

this realm and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging or any part of the same, or to

have, use or exercise any regal power, authority or jurisdiction within the same; and in all

and every such case or cases the people of these realms shall be and are hereby absolved of

their allegiance; and the said crown and government shall from time to time descend to and

be enjoyed by such person or persons being Protestants as should have inherited and enjoyed

the same in case the said person or persons so reconciled, holding communion or professing

or marrying as aforesaid were naturally dead; and that every king and queen of this realm

who at any time hereafter shall come to and succeed in the imperial crown of this kingdom

shall on the first day of the meeting of the first Parliament next after his or her coming to the

crown, sitting in his or her throne in the House of Peers in the presence of the Lords and

Commons therein assembled, or at his or her coronation before such person or persons who

shall administer the coronation oath to him or her at the time of his or her taking the said

oath (which shall first happen), make, subscribe and audibly repeat the declaration

mentioned in the statute made in the thirtieth year of the reign of King Charles the Second

entitled, An Act for the more effectual preserving the king's person and government by

disabling papists from sitting in either House of Parliament. But if it shall happen that such

king or queen upon his or her succession to the crown of this realm shall be under the age of

twelve years, then every such king or queen shall make, subscribe and audibly repeat the


same declaration at his or her coronation or the first day of the meeting of the first

Parliament as aforesaid which shall first happen after such king or queen shall have attained

the said age of twelve years. All which their Majesties are contented and pleased shall be

declared, enacted and established by authority of this present Parliament, and shall stand,

remain and be the law of this realm for ever; and the same are by their said Majesties, by and

with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in Parliament

assembled and by the authority of the same, declared, enacted and established accordingly.

II. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after this

present session of Parliament no dispensation by non obstante of or to any statute or any

part thereof shall be allowed, but that the same shall be held void and of no effect, except a

dispensation be allowed of in such statute, and except in such cases as shall be specially

provided for by one or more bill or bills to be passed during this present session of

Parliament.

III. Provided that no charter or grant or pardon granted before the three and twentieth day

of October in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred eighty-nine shall be any ways

impeached or invalidated by this Act, but that the same shall be and remain of the same force

and effect in law and no other than as if this Act had never been made.

[SOURCE: The Avalon Project, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm]

Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence (1776)

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, whose

purpose was to present clearly the principles which had prompted the Congress two days earlier to

declare the independence of the 13 colonies from England. The Declaration was designed to influence

public opinion and gain support for the Revolution, both from Americans and from abroad, especially

from France, whose military assistance the new "United States" sorely needed.

The Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June

28, 1776. “Though influenced by the ideas and ideals of the French and English Enlightenments,

Jefferson found his greatest inspiration in the language and arguments of the English philosopher John

Locke, who had justified England's ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688 on the basis of man's ‘natural rights.’

Locke's theory held that government was a contract between the governed and those governing, who

derived their power solely from the consent of the governed and whose purpose it was to protect

every man's inherent right to property, life and liberty. Jefferson's theory of ‘natural law’ differed in

that it substituted the inalienable right of ‘the pursuit of happiness’ for ‘property,’ emphasizing that

happiness is the product of civic virtue and public duty. Jefferson emphasized the contractual

justification for independence, arguing that when the tyrannical government of King George III of

England repeatedly violated ‘natural law,’ the colonists had not only the right but the duty to revolt.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm


The assembled Continental Congress deleted a few passages of the draft, and amended others, but

outright rejected only two sections: 1) a derogatory reference to the English people; 2) a passionate

denunciation of the slave trade. The latter section was left out, as Jefferson reported, to accede to the

wishes of South Carolina and Georgia, who wanted to continue the importation of slaves. The rest of

the draft was accepted on July 4, and 56 members of Congress began their formal signing of the

document on August 2, 1776.”

[Source: Library of Congress http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/abt_declar.html]

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the

political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers

of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God

entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare

the causes which impel them to the separation.

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT:

That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to

secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from

the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of

these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new

government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form,

as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for

light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more

disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms

to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing

invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is

their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their

future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the

necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of

the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in

direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let

facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless

suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he

has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless

those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable

to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/abt_declar.html


He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from

the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance

with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his

invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby

the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for

their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions

from without and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the

laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration

hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing

judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the

amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our

people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our

legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and

unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should

commit on the inhabitants of these states;

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;

For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;


For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein

an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example

and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally

the forms of our governments;

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to

legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war

against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of

our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of

death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy

scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized

nation.

He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against

their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves

by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the

inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an

undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms;

our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose

character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a

free people.

Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them,

from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction

over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here.

We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by

the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably

interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of

justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces

our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace

friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress

assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions,


do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish

and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND

INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and

that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be,

totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war,

conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which

independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm

reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives,

our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

[SOURCE: The Avalon Project, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm]

Constitution of the United States: Bill of Rights (1789) The Federal Convention convened in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation.

By June, it had become clear to the delegates that the Articles could not be revised. Instead, the

delegates found it necessary to draft an entirely new document. “All through the summer, in closed

sessions, the delegates debated, and redrafted the articles of the new Constitution. Among the chief

points at issue were how much power to allow the central government, how many representatives in

Congress to allow each state, and how these representatives should be elected--directly by the people

or by the state legislators. The work of many minds, the Constitution stands as a model of cooperative

statesmanship and the art of compromise.”

“During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged

that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in

their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution.

They demanded a ‘bill of rights’ that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state

conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified

the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.”

“On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the

state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced

against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each

Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however,

ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution,

known as the Bill of Rights.

[Source: National Archives and Records Administration http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-

experience/charters/constitution.html and http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-

experience/charters/bill_of_rights.html

For an account of the drafting, ratification, and contents of the Constitution, see

http://www.usconstitution.org/conhomepg1.cfm?whatpage=greatAmerican]

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/declare.htm

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights.html

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights.html

http://www.usconstitution.org/conhomepg1.cfm?whatpage=greatAmerican


Article I.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free

exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the

people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Article II.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people

to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Article III.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the

Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Article IV.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against

unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but

upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place

to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Article V.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a

presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces,

or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person

be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be

compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty,

or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use,

without just compensation.

Article VI.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by

an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which

district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and

cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory

process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his

defence.

Article VII.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right

of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined

in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.


Article VIII.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual

punishments inflicted.

Article IX.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or

disparage others retained by the people.

Article X.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to

the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

[SOURCE: National Archives and Records Administration, http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-

experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html and

www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html#amend]

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

http://www.law.emory.edu/FEDERAL/usconst.html#amend

THE EARLY MODERN ERA

Documents

Transcript of THE EARLY MODERN ERA