Originally in the natural state of

Originally in the natural state of things, all the crops and animals belonged to the common stock of goods for human consumption as they were the product of a spontaneous and beneficent nature created by God. And although God, as the ‘one omnipotent and infinitely wise Maker’, created nature that was bountiful and generous in its goods that were to be held in common for all, he also gave humans, as the products of his workmanship, the ability to reason and develop alternative means to appropriate nature ‘for the support and comfort of their being’. That is, nature, which was given to humanity in common for individual consumption and, thus, for the self-preservation of human life, was also given the potential to develop more effective and rational ways of utilising the physical environment for its ‘best advantage and convenience’.