14 CRITIQUES AND ADDRESSES. [i 



an intention in every one the better to preserve himself, his liberty 

 and property (for no rational creature can be supposed to change his 

 condition with an intention to be worse), the power of the society, or 

 legislation, constituted by them can never be supposed to extend fur- 

 ther than the common good, but is obliged to secure every one's pro- 

 perty by providing against those three defects above mentioned, that 

 made the state of nature so unsafe and uneasy. And so, whoever has 

 the legislative or supreme power of any commonwealth, is bound to 

 govern by established standing laws, promulgated and known to the 

 people, and not by extemporary decrees ; by indifferent and upright 

 judges, who are to decide controversies by those laws : and to employ 

 the force of the community at home only in the execution of such 

 laws; or abroad, to prevent or redress foreign injuries, and secure 

 the community from inroads and invasion. And all this to be 

 directed to no other end than the peace, safety, and public good of 

 the people." l 



Just as in the case of Hobbes, so in that of Locke, it 

 may at first sight appear from this passage that the latter 

 philosopher's views of the functions of Government 

 incline to the negative, rather than the positive, side. 

 But a further study of Locke's writings will at once 

 remove this misconception. In the famous " Letter con- 

 cerning Toleration," Locke says : 



" The commonwealth seems to me to be a society of men con- 

 stituted only for the procuring, preserving, and advancing their own 

 civil interests. 



" Civil interests I call life, liberty, health, and indolency of body ; 

 and the possession of outward things, such as money, lands, houses, 

 furniture, and the like. 



" " It is the duty of the civil magistrate, by the impartial execution 

 of equal laws, to secure unto all the people in general, and to every 

 one of his subjects in particular, the just possession of those things 

 belonging to this life. 



"... The whole jurisdiction of the magistrate reaches only to 

 these civil concernments. . . . All civil power, right, and dominion, is 

 bounded and confined to the only care of promoting these things." 



Elsewhere in the same " Letter," Locke lays down the 

 proposition that if the magistrate understand washing a 



1 Locke's Essay, " Of Civil Government," 131. 



