Page:Thoughts on civil liberty, on licentiousness and faction.djvu/36

 in its Nature, and therefore in its Effects: A Regulation of this Principle, therefore, is of the most important Consequence; because, if left to its own fantastic Dictates, it will often endanger instead of strengthening the Foundations of public Freedom.

The third Principle, that of natural Conscience, which tends to confirm the Establishment of Liberty, is founded in the Approbation of our own Heart. This Principle is in one Respect independent on the other two, but in another Respect seems to stand intimately related to them. It is independent of them, as it neither looks out for the Approbation of God, nor the Applause of Men: It seems intimately related to them, because on a strict Examination of the human Frame, as well as the History of Mankind, it appears generally to be the Result of the one, or other, or both. We transplant the acknowledged Approbation of Heaven and the Applause of Men into our own Heart;