Barbeyrac, Jean The spirit of the ecclesiasticks of all sects and ages, as to the doctrines of morality London 1722
Barbeyrac, Jean. The spirit of the ecclesiasticks of all sects and ages, as to the doctrines of morality, and more particularly the spirit of the ancient Fathers of the church, examin'd, by Mons. Barbeyrac, Professor of Laws and History in the University of Lausanne. Translated from the French by a gentleman of Gray's-Inn. With a preface by the author of the Independent-Whig. London: printed for J. Peele, 1722. (8), 72 pp. 8vo, disbound. First edition thus. A translation of a major portion of the celebrated preface to Jean Barbeyrac's French version of Puffendorf's De Jure Naturae et Gentium. "In fundamental principles he follows almost entirely Locke and Pufendorf; but he works out with great skill the theory of moral obligation, referring it to the command or will of God. He indicates the distinction, developed more fully by Thomasius and Kant, between the legal and the moral qualities of action. The principles of international law he reduces to those of the law of nature, and combats, in so doing, many of the positions taken up by Grotius." -- Encyclop¾dia Britannica. The preface to this English text is by Thomas Gordon, a prolific political pamphleteer with a strong Whig bias. Title-page a little dusty, old numbering sticker in the blank upper corner, but a very good copy. CBEL II, 1503.
£250
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