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Front Page Titles (by Subject) THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. - A Treatise Concerning Civil Government in Three Parts
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THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. - Josiah Tucker, A Treatise Concerning Civil Government in Three Parts [1781]Edition used:A Treatise Concerning Civil Government in Three Parts (London: T. Cadell, 1781).
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THE PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART.THE Author imogines, that he has confuted the Lockian System in the fore-going Part of this Work. And he is supported in this Opinion by the Judgment of many Persons, not only distinguished for their Learning and good Sense, but also for their zealous Attachment to the Civil, and Religious Liberties of this Country. If this be the Case, that is, if he has really confuted Mr. Locke,he may now, he hopes, with some Propriety, venture to submit to Public Consideration, a System of his own; which he is inclined to think, may serve as a Basis for every Species of Civil Government to stand upon.—At the same Time he is well aware, that it deth not follow, that his must be true, because Mr. Locke’smay have been proved to be false: He is also very sensible, that it is much easier to pull down, than to build up; and that many a Man can demolish the System of another, who cannot defend his own. For these Reasons he is the more desirous of proceeding with due Reserve and Caution;—not expecting, that this Plan should be adopted, as soon as proposed,—nor yet supposing, that it will be totally rejected, before it shall have undergone some Kind of Examination. In order to give it a fair Trial, he has added a Series of Objections, partly as they occurred to himself, in reasoning on the Case, and partly as they were suggested to him in the Conversation he had with others. In respect to all which it will be readily allowed, that not one Objection has lost any of it’s Force and Weight in passing through his Hands: And as to their respective Answers, every Reader will judge for himself. He is very willing to allow, that some Parts of his System are weaker than others: For this must happen more or less, to all human Compositions. Therefore he doth not pretend to lay before the Public a faultless Piece, free from all Objections, but only such a Plan for a political Edifice, as may serve all the good Purposes of real and rational Liberty, and at the same Time be more practicable, and better accommodated to the State of Mankind in every Age and Country, than Mr. Locke’sis confessed to be. The Author doth not build much on the Authority of great Names,—not that he rejects human Authority, when it can be properly introduced in Matters of doubtful Disputation; but because he cannot find that the Point was ever brought into Controversy’till of late, whether the Inclinations of Mankind are naturally and spontaneously turned towards Society and the Subordinations of Civil Government, or towards living in a State of perfect Equality, and Independence. Therefore it is in vain to look for long Argumentations in the Works of political Writers of former Times, relative to this Question, either pro or con, before the Question itself was supposed to exist. However, as it may be a Satisfaction to some Persons to know, What were the genuine Opinions of the Sages of Antiquity on this Subject, before the Arts of Sophistry, and the Rage of Party-Disputes, had blinded Men’s Eyes, and corrupted their natural good Sense;—such Persons will, I hope, be sufficiently gratified, when they come to peruse the third Part of the ensuing Treatise. They will also there find the judiciousHookernow rescued out of the disagreeable Company of modern Republicans, with whom he has been made to associate for some Time past, much against his Will, and restored to his true Friends both in Church and State. |

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