Sect. 1
It having been shewn in the foregoing discourse,
- That Adam had not, either by natural right of fatherhood, or by
positive donation from God, any such authority over his children, or
dominion over the world, as is pretended:
- That if he had, his heirs, yet, had no right to it:
- That if his heirs had, there being no law of nature nor positive law
of God that determines which is the right heir in all cases that may
arise, the right of succession, and consequently of bearing rule, could
not have been certainly determined:
- That if even that had been determined, yet the knowledge of which is
the eldest line of Adam'sposterity, being so long since utterly lost,
that in the races of mankind and families of the world, there remains
not to one above another, the least pretence to be the eldest house, and
to have the right of inheritance:
All these premises having, as I think, been clearly made out, it is
impossible that the rulers now on earth
should make any benefit, or derive any the least shadow of authority
from that, which is held to be the fountain of all power, Adam's private
dominion and paternal jurisdiction; so that he that will not give just
occasion to think that all government in the world is the product only
of force and violence, and that men live together by no other rules but
that of beasts, where the strongest carries it, and so lay a foundation
for perpetual disorder and mischief, tumult, sedition and rebellion,
(things that the followers of that hypothesis so loudly cry out against)
must of necessity find out another rise of government, another original
of political power, and another way of designing and knowing the persons
that have it, than what Sir Robert F[ilmer] hath taught us.
Sect. 2
To this purpose, I think it may not be amiss, to set down what
I take to be political power; that the power of a Magistrate over a
subject may be distinguished from that of a Father over his children, a
Master over his servant, a Husband over his wife, and a Lord over his
slave. All which distinct powers happening sometimes together in the
same man, if he be considered under these different relations, it may
help us to distinguish these powers one from wealth, a father of a
family, and a captain of a galley.
Sect. 3
Political Power, then, I take to be a Right of making laws with
penalties of death, and consequently all less penalties, for the
regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the
community, in the execution of such laws, and in the defence of the
common-wealth from foreign injury; and all this only for the public
good.
|