"As for the instance of gaining the secure and perpetual felicity of heaven by any way, it is frivolous: there being but one way imaginable, and that is not breaking, but keeping of covenant."
Chapter Fifteen: Of Other Laws of Nature
- This chapter continues building on Hobbes' main point of chapter fourteen - that the natural state of war between men be avoided at all costs.
- By "covenant", Hobbes' is referring mostly to those men make as a group when they transfer power (and their rights) to the sovereign. In his mind, this is the only way to attain peace. It is in this covenant between subjects and sovereign that we see "the fountain and original of Justice".
- To break a covenant is ultimately unjust, and so men must uphold the covenant at all costs. Thus, rebellion of any kind is unacceptable. He even argues that this justice itself is a law of nature, in that "...keeping of covenant is a rule of reason, by which we are forbidden to do anything destructive to our life, and consequently a law of nature."