of Spain. He was only in a position to make such grants (a) because Spain accepted views
similar to Filmer's, and (b) because the Spaniards were able to defeat the Indians in battle.
Nevertheless we hold the heirs of those to whom he made grants to have a just title. Perhaps in
future this will seem as fantastic as Filmer seems now.
B. THE STATE OF NATURE, AND NATURAL LAWLocke begins his second Treatise on Government by saying that, having shown the
impossibility of deriving the authority of government from that of a father, he will now set forth
what he conceives to be the true origin of government.
He begins by supposing what he calls a "state of nature," antecedent to all human government.
In this state there is a "law of nature," but the law of nature consists of divine commands, and is
not imposed by any human legislator. It is not clear how far the state of nature is, for Locke, a
mere illustrative hypothesis, and how far he supposes it to have had a historical existence; but I
am afraid that he tended to think of it as a stage that had actually occurred. Men emerged from
the state of nature by means of a social contract which instituted civil government. This also he
regarded as more or less historical. But for the moment it is the state of nature that concerns us.
What Locke has to say about the state of nature and the law of nature is, in the main, not
original, but a repetition of medieval scholastic doctrines. Thus Saint Thomas Aquinas says:
"Every law framed by man bears the character of a law exactly to that extent to which it is
derived from the law of nature. But if on any point it is in conflict with the law of nature, it at
once ceases to be a law; it is a mere perversion of law." *
Throughout the Middle Ages, the law of nature was held to condemn "usury," i.e., lending
money at interest. Church property was almost entirely in land, and landowners have always
been borrowers rather than lenders. But when Protestantism arose, its support--especially the
support of Calvinism--came chiefly from the rich middle class, who were lenders rather than
borrowers. Accordingly first Calvin, then other Protestants, and finally the Catholic Church,
sanctioned
* Quoted by Tawney in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.