that in the beginning, the father of the family was priest, as that he
was ruler in his own houshold.


CHAP. VII.

Of Political or Civil Society.

Sec. 77. GOD having made man such a creature, that in his own
judgment, it was not good for him to be alone, put him under strong
obligations of necessity, convenience, and inclination to drive him into
society, as well as fitted him with understanding and language to
continue and enjoy it. The first society was between man and wife, which
gave beginning to that between parents and children; to which, in time,
that between master and servant came to be added: and though all these
might, and commonly did meet together, and make up but one family,
wherein the master or mistress of it had some sort of rule proper to a
family; each of these, or all together, came short of political society,
as we shall see, if we consider the different ends, ties, and bounds of
each of these.
Sec. 78. Conjugal society is made by a voluntary compact between man
and woman; and tho' it consist chiefly in such a communion and right in
one another's bodies as is necessary to its chief end, procreation; yet
it draws with it mutual support and assistance, and a communion of
interests too, as necessary not only to unite their care and affection,
but also necessary to their common off-spring, who have a right to be
nourished, and maintained by them, till they are able to provide for
themselves.
Sec. 79. For the end of conjunction, between male and female, being
not barely procreation, but the continuation of the species; this