The Christian Life Part 3 Volume 4, Part 1 · Chapter 5
CHAP. V. Of Justice, as it preserves the Rights of Men acquired by Legal Possession.
II. THERE are other Rights acquired by Legal Possession. For when there was but one Man, he was Lord and Proprietor of all this lower World; but when he had propagated a Family from his Loyns, and that Family was by degrees branched into several Tribes; he sent forth these Tribes under the Conduct of their Heads, Fathers, and Princes to go and take Possession of such, and such Portions of his Earth, as their Numbers, Necessities and Conveniencies required; which when they had done, the Prince and Father of each Tribe divided his Land among the Members of it, and shared it into particular Properties, proportionably to the Merit, or Number of the particular Families contained in it; and when any of these Tribes became too numerous and burthensome to the Land that was thus divided among them, they sent forth Colonies from among themselves, to take Possession of the next unpeopled Country bordering upon them; which when they had done, the Leader of the Colony divided it among his Followers: and so as they increased and multiplyed, they spread themselves from Country to Country, till they had shared the World into Nations, and divided the Nations into distinct and particular Properties, and Families. And this Division was the Original Law, by which each Family claimed as its Property the share that was allotted to it: and since the Father of Mankind was intitled by God, who is the supreme Proprietor to all this Terrestrial Globe, he had an undoubted Right to divide it among the several Tribes that descended from him; and therefore since he impowred the Heads and Princes of his Tribes, to take Possession of such and such Portions, and divide it among their Families; not only each particular Tribe had an undoubted Right to the Portion allotted to it by him that was Head of them all, but each particular Family had an undoubted Right to the share that was allotted to it, by him that was the Head of the Tribe it belonged to. And thus you see the first Division of the World among Men was the great Law of Property; and that whatsoever Men were possessed of by it, they had an undoubted Right and Title to: and upon this Law all the Meums and Tuums, the particular Rights and Properties that are now in the World are founded. For though in process of time not only the Tribes and Colonies incroached upon one another, 'till the stronger by swallowing up the weaker grew into Kingdoms and Empires; but even the particular Families also of these Tribes and Colonies incroach'd upon each other, and either by Fraud or Oppression robbed their Neighbours of their Original share; so that those Rights and Properties which were made by the Primitive Divisions, seem for the most part if not altogether extinguished; yet it is to be considered, that the Laws now extant do suppose all Alienations of Property from the first Owners to have been made according to that Original Law of division; which Law did not so unalienably entail on those Tribes and Families their appropriate Shares, but that they might either sell or give them away, or forfeit them: and if either of these ways those Shares have passed through all successive Generations till now from Tribe to Tribe, or Family to Family, the present Possessors are justly intitled to them by that Original Law of Division. And that they have thus passed, all Laws now extant do suppose: the Law of Nations supposeth those Countries that are held by Right of Conquest, to have been justly forfeited to the Conqueror; and that unless they are so, his Conquest is Robbery, and not Right: the Municipal Laws of Countries do suppose the Estates of particular Families to be held by the Right of Donation, or Purchase from the true Proprietor, and that unless they are so, their first Possession was a Theft and not a Right: and therefore neither the Law of Nations, nor the Law of Countries do allow either Conquerors, or Families to be rightful Possessors of their Conquests, and Estates, so long as there appeareth any just Claim against them. But though the first Possession should be obtained either by unjust Conquest, or by Fraud and Oppression; yet if it continue in the Lineage or Family of the unjust Possessor, till all just Claim against it be extinguish'd, the Law must suppose it to be obtained justly, because there appeareth no Evidence to the contrary. And indeed when a Dominion, or an Estate, which was at first unjustly obtained, hath been so long successively possessed, as that no Man can produce a just Claim and Title to it, it must be either the present Possessor's, or nobodies: but then when God, who is the supreme Proprietor of all, doth by his providential Permission continue any ill-got Possession, till all lawful Claim to it is worn out, he doth thereby intitle the present Possessor to it, and createth it his Right and Property. For though God's Providence can be no Rule against his Revealed Will, nor consequently can authorize any Man to possess what another hath a just Claim to, because his Revealed Will forbiddeth it: yet it is to be considered, that when no Man can justly Claim what I Possess, I wrong no Man in possessing it, and consequently am in no wise forbidden it by God's Revealed Will; and therefore in this Case by his Providential Continuance of the Inheritance of it to me, he giveth me free Leave to possess it; and that Leave is an implicit Conveyance of a just Right and Title to it. So that Legal Possession, when there is no Iust or Legal Claim against it, is an undoubted Right, a Right founded on the free Donation of God, who is the Supreme Proprietor of all things: and therefore Iustice obligeth us not to rob, or deprive Men of what they are intitled to by Law; nor to despoil any Man by Stealth, or strip him by Violence, or defraud him by Craft and cunning Insinuation of any Right, or Property to which the Law intitleth him; because by thus doing we do not only wrong Man of that Right which by Legal Conveyance he deriveth from God, but we do also wrong God himself by presuming to alienate his Bequests, and to reverse and cancel his Donations. For he who by Stealth, or Robbery, or Fraud depriveth another of his Property, doth impiously invade God's Right of bestowing his own where he pleaseth; and refuseth to stand to that Division, and Allotment which his Providence hath made in his own World: he doth in effect declare in his Actions, that God hath nothing to do to share his World among his Creatures, that he will not endure him to reign Lord and Master in his own Family of Beings, nor allow his Providence to Carve and distribute his own Bread and Meat among his Children; but that he will snatch from every one's Trencher, and Carve what he pleases for himself out of every Man's Commons, and Allowance. So that to deprive another, you see, of what he is Legally possessed of is a high, and crying Injustice against God and Men: for he that will needs have more of God's Goods than God hath given him, is an impious Robber of God; and he that will needs have those Goods of God which he hath given to another, must be an unjust Robber of Man. If therefore we have injuriously deprived another of his Legal Rights, we are bound by all the ties of Religion towards God, and of Honesty towards Men, to make what Restitution we are able: for it is certain that my wrongful Seisure of what is another Man's doth not alienate his Right to it, so that he hath the same Right to it while I keep it from him, as he had at first when I took it from him, and consequently till I restore it back to him, I persist to wrong him of it; and my detaining it is a continued Repetition of that Fraud, or Theft, or Oppression, by which I wrongfully seized it. And whilst I thus persist in the Sin, the Guilt of it abideth upon me; and I am justly responsible to the Tribunal of Heaven, for being a Robber of God and Men. Whilst therefore I unjustly detain what is another's Right, I keep the Earnest-peny which the Devil gave me to intitle him to my Soul for ever; and so long as I possess the Spoils of my injured Brother, I maintain so many Evidences to give Testimony against me, and to raise a Cry on me as high as the Tribunal of God.