Page:Whole works of joseph butler.djvu/244

213 "ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men: as free," perhaps in distinction from the servile state of which he speaks afterwards, 1 Pet. ii. 16, "and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness," of anything wrong, for so the word signifies; and therefore comprehends petulance, affectation of popularity, with any other like frivolous turn of mind, as well as the more hateful and dangerous passions, such as malice, or ambition: for all of which liberty may equally be "used as a cloak." The apostle adds, "but as the servants of God; as free—but as his servants," who requires a dutiful submission to "every ordinance of man," to magistracy; and to whom we are accountable for our manner of using the liberty we enjoy under it, as well as for all other parts of our beha- viour. "Not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God."

Here are three things offered to our consideration:

First, A general supposition, that what is wrong cannot be avowed in its proper colours, but stands in need of some cloak to be thrown over it: Secondly, A particular one, that there is danger, some singular danger, of liberty's being made use of for this purpose: Lastly, An admonition not to make this ill use of our liberty, "but" to use it "as the servants of God."

I. Here is a general supposition, that what is wrong cannot be avowed in its proper colours, but stands in need of some cloak to be thrown over it. God has constituted our nature, and the nature of society, after such a manner, that, generally speaking, men cannot encourage or support themselves in wickedness, upon the footing of there being no difference between right and wrong, or by a direct avowal of wrong, but by disguising it, and endeavouring to spread over it some colours of right. And they do this in every capacity and every respect, in which there is a right or a wrong. They do it, not only as social creatures under civil government, but also as moral agents under the