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.
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.