by the most outragious injuries done to the People sometimes by a foreign aid as Kings were by the power of the Romans imposed upon the Britans that they might wast the Forces and break the Spirits of that sierce people This Tacitus acknowledges and says That amongst other instruments of inslaving Nations they imposed Kings upon them The Medices were made Masters of Florence by the force of Charles the Fifth's Army Sometimes by a corrupt party in their own Country they have destroy'd the best men and subdued the rest as Agathocles Dionysius and Cesar did at Rome and Syracuse Others taking upon them to defend a People have turned the Arms with which they were entrusted against their own Masters as Francesco Sforza who being chosen by those of Milan to be their General against the Venetians made peace with them and by their assistance made himself Prince or in our Author's phrase Father of that great City If these be acts of tenderness love justice and charity those who commit them may well think they have gained the afsections of their People and grow to love those from whom they fear nothing and by whom they think they are loved But if on the other hand they know they have attained to their greatness by the worst of all Villanies and that they are on that account become the object of the publick hatred they can do no less than hate and sear those by whom they know themselves to be hated The Italians ordinarily say that he who dos an injury never pardons because he thinks he is never pardoned But he that enslaves and oppresses a People dos an injury which can never be pardoned and therefore fears it will be revenged Other Princes who come to their Thrones by better ways and are not contented with the power that the Law allows draw the same hatred upon themselves when they endeavour by force or fraud to enlarge it and must necessarily fear and hate their own People as much as he who by the ways besoremention'd has betray'd or subdued them Our Author makes nothing of this but taking it for granted that it was all one whether Samuel spoke of a King or a Tyrant declares that the same patient obedience is due to both but not being pleased to give any reason why we should believe him I intend to offer some why we should not First there is nothing in the nature or institution of Monarchy that obliges Nations to bear the exorbitances of it when it degenerates into Tyranny In the second place we have no precept for it Thirdly we have many approved examples and occasional particular commands to the contrary 1. To the first The point of Paternity being explain'd the duty of Children to Parents proved to proceed from the benefits received from them and that the power over them which at the first seems to have bin left at large because it was thought they would never abuse it has long since bin much restrain'd in all civilized Nations and particularly in our own We may conclude that men are all made of the same paste and that one ows no more to another than another to him unless for some benefit received or by virtue of some promise made The duty arising from a benefit received must be proportionable to it that which grows from a promise is determined by the promise or contract made according to the true sense and meaning of it He therefore that would know what the Babylonians Hebrews Athenians or Romans did owe to Nimrod Saul Theseus or Romulus must inquire what benefits were received from them or what was promised to them It cannot be said that any thing was due to them for the sake of their Parents they could have no prerogative by birth Nimrod was the sixth Son of Chush the Son of Cham who was the youngest Son of Noah his Kingdom was erected whilst Noah and his elder Sons Shem and Faphet as well as Cham Chush and his elder Sons were still living Saul was the Son of Chish a man of Benjamin who was the youngest Son of Jacob and he was chosen in the most Democratical way by Lot amongst the whole People Theseus according to the custom of the times pretended to be the Son of Neptune and Rhea was so well pleased with the Soldier that had gotten her with child that she resolved to think or say that Mars was the Father of the Children that is to say they were Bastards and therefore whatever was due to them was upon their own personal account without any regard to their Progenitors This must be measured according to what they did for those Nations before they were Kings or by the manner of their advancement Nothing can be pretended before they were Kings Nimrod rose up after the confusion of Languages and the People that understood the tongue he spoke follow'd him Saul was a young man unknown in Israel Theseus and Romulus had nothing to recommend them before other Athenians and Romans except the reputation of their Valour and the honours conferred upon them for that reason must proceed from expectation or hope and not from gratitude or obligation It must therefore proceed from the manner by which they came to be Kings He that neither is nor has any title to be a King can come to be so only by force or by consent If by force he dos not confer a benefit upon the People but injures them in the most outragious manner If it be possible therefore or reasonable to imagine that one man did ever subdue a multitude he can no otherwise resemble a Father than the worst of all Enemies who dos the greatest mischiefs resembles the best of all Friends who confers the most inestimable benefits and consequently dos as justly deserve the utmost effects of hatred as the other dos of love respect and service If by consent he who is raised from amongst the people and placed above his Brethren receives great honours and advantages but confers none The obligations of gratitude are on his side and whatsoever he dos in acknowledgment to his benefactors for their love to him is no more than his duty and he can demand no more from them than what they think fit to add to the favours already received If more be pretended it must be by virtue of that contract and can no otherwise be proved than by producing it to be examined that the true sense meaning and intention of it may be known This Contract must be in form and substance according to a general Rule given to all mankind or such as is left to the will of every Nation If a general one be pretended it ought to be shown that by enquiring into the contents we may understand the force and extent of it If this cannot be done it may justly pass for a fiction no conclusion can be drawn from it and we may be sure that what Contracts soever have bin made between Nations and their Kings have
lineal Subjection And in the next affirms That the Ignorance of the Creation occasioned several amongst the Heathen Philosophers to think that men met together as herds of Cattel Whereas they could not have bin ignorant of the Creation if they had read the Books that Moses writ and having that knowledg they could not think that men met together as herds of Cattel However I deny that any of them did ever dream of that lineal Subjection derived from the first Parents of mankind or that any such thing was to be learnt from Moses Tho they did not perhaps justly know the beginning of Mankind they did know the beginnings and progress of the Governments under which they lived and being assured that the first Kingdoms had bin those which they called Heroum Regna that is of those who had bin most beneficial to Mankind that their Descendents in many places degenerating from their Vertues had given Nations occasion to set up Aristocracies and they also falling into corruption to institute Democracies or mixed Governments did rightly conclude That every Nation might justly order their own Affairs according to their own pleasure and could have neither obligation nor reason to set up one man or a few above others unless it did appear to them that they had more of those Virtues which conduce to the good of Civil Societies than the rest of their Brethren Our Author's cavil upon Aristotle's Opinion That those who are wise in mind are by Nature sitted to be Lords and those who are strong of body ordained to obey deserves no answer for he plainly falsifies the Text Aristotle speaks only of those qualities which are required for every purpose and means no more than that such as are eminent in the virtues of the mind deserve to govern tho they do not excel in bodily strength and that they who are strong of body tho of little understanding and uncapable of commanding may be useful in executing the commands of others But is so far from denying that one man may excel in all the perfections of mind and body that he acknowledges him only to be a King by nature who dos so both being required for the full performance of his Duty And if this be not true I suppose that one who is like Agrippa Posthumus Corporis viribus stolidé ferox may be fit to govern many Nations and Moses or Samuel if they naturally wanted bodily strength or that it decayed by age might justly be made Slaves which is discovery worthy our Author's invention SECT II. Every Man that hath Children hath the right of a Father and is capable of preferment in a Society composed of many I Am not concerned in making good what Suarez says A Jesuit may speak that which is true but it ought to be received as from the Devil cautiously lest mischief be hid under it and Sir Robert's frequent prevarications upon the Scripture and many good Authors give reason to suspect he may have falsified one that few Protestants read if it served to his purpose and not mentioning the place his fraud cannot easily be discovered unless it be by one who has leisure to examin all his vastly voluminous Writings But as to the point in question that pains may be saved there is nothing that can be imputed to the invention of Suarez for that Adam had only an Oeconomical not a political Power is not the voice of a Jesuit but of Nature and common Sense for Politick signifying no more in Greek than Civil in Latin 't is evident there could be no Civil Power where there was no Civil Society and there could be none between him and his Children because a Civil Society is composed of Equals and fortified by mutual compacts which could not be between him and his Children at least if there be any thing of truth in our Author's Doctrine That all Children do perpetually and absolutely depend upon the Will of their Father Suarez seems to have bin of another opinion and observing the benefits we receive from Parents and the Veneration we owe to them to be reciprocal he could not think any Duty could extend farther than the knowledg of the Relation upon which it was grounded and makes a difference between the Power of a Father before and after his Children are made free that is in truth before and after they are able to provide for themselves and to deliver their Parents from the burden of taking care of them which will appear rational to any who are able to distinguish between what a Man of fifty years old subsisting by himself and having a Family of his own or a Child of eight doth owe to his Father The same reason that obliges a Child to submit entirely to the Will of his Parents when he is utterly ignorant of all things dos permit and often enjoyn men of ripe age to examin the commands they receive before they obey them and 't is not more plain that I owe all manner of duty affection and respect to him that did beget and educate me than that I can owe nothing on any such account to one that did neither This may have bin the opinion of Suarez but I can hardly believe such a notion as that Adam in process of time might have Servants could proceed from any other brain than our Authors for if he had lived to this day he could have had none under him but his own Children and if a Family be not compleat without Servants his must always have bin defective and his Kingdom must have bin so too if that has such a resemblance to a Family as our Author fancies This is evident that a hard Father may use his Children as Servants or a rebellious stubborn Son may deserve to be so used and a gentle and good Master may shew that kindness to faithful and well-deserving Servants which resembles the sweetness of a fatherly rule but neither of them can change their nature a Son can never grow to be a Servant nor a Servant to be a Son If a Family therefore be not compleat unless it consist of Children and Servants it cannot be like to a Kingdom or City which is composed of Freemen and Equals Servants may be in it but are not Members of it As Truth can never be repugnant to Justice 't is impossible this should be a prejudice to the paternal rule which is most just especially when a grateful remembrance of the benefits received doth still remain with a necessary and perpetual obligation of repaying them in all affection and duty whereas the care of ever providing for their Families as they did probably increase in the time of our first long living Fathers would have bin an insupportable burden to Parents if it had bin incumbent on them We do not find that Adam exercised any such power over Cain when he had slain Abel as our Author fancies to be Regal The Murderer went out and built a City for himself and called it by the
Princes that have bin in the world who having their power for life and leaving it to descend to their children have wanted the Virtues requir'd for the performance of their duty And I should less fear to be guilty of an absurdity in saying that a Nation might every year change its Head than that he can be the Head who cares not for the Members nor understands the things that conduce to their good most especially if he set up an Interest in himself against them It cannot be said that these are imaginary cases and that no Prince dos these things for the proof is too easy and the examples too numerous Caligula could not have wished the Romans but one Head that he might cut it off at once if he had bin that Head and had advanced no Interest contrary to that of the Members Nero had not burn'd the City of Rome if his concernments had bin inseparably united to those of the people He who caused above three hundred thousand of his innocent unarmed Subjects to be murder'd and fill'd his whole Kingdom with fire and blood did set up a personal Interest repugnant to that of the Nation and no better testimony can be requir'd to shew that he did so than a Letter written by his Son to take off the penalty due to one of the chief Ministers of those cruelties for this reason that what he had done was by the command and for the service of his Royal Father King John did not pursue the advantage of his people when he endeavoured to subject them to the Pope or the Moors And whatever Prince seeks assistance from foreign Powers or makes Leagues with any stranger or enemy for his own advantage against his people however secret the Treaty may be declares himself not to be the Head but an enemy to them The Head cannot stand in need of an exterior help against the Body nor subsist when divided from it He therefore that courts such an assistance divides himself from the Body and if he do subsist it must be by a life he has in himself distinct from that of the Body which the Head cannot have But besides these enormities that testify the most wicked rage and fury in the highest degree there is another practice which no man that knows the world can deny to be common with Princes and incompatible with the nature of a Head The Head cannot desire to draw all the nourishment of the Body to it self nor more than a due proportion If the rest of the parts are sick weak or cold the Head suffers equally with them and if they perish must perish also Let this be compared with the actions of many Princes we know and we shall soon see which of them are Heads of their people If the Gold brought from the Indies has bin equally distributed by the Kings of Spain to the body of that Nation I consent they may be called the Heads If the Kings of France assume no more of the Riches of that great Kingdom than their due proportion let them also wear that honourable name But if the naked backs and empty bellies of their miserable Subjects evince the contrary it can by no means belong to them If those great Nations wast and languish if nothing be so common in the best Provinces belonging to them as misery famine and all the effects of the most outragious oppression whilst their Princes and Favorites possess such treasures as the most wanton prodigality cannot exhaust if that which is gained by the sweat of so many millions of men be torn out of the mouths of their starving Wives and Children to foment the vices of those luxurious Courts or reward the Ministers of their lusts the nourishment is not distributed equally to all the parts of the body the oeconomy of the whole is overthrown and they who do these things cannot be the Heads nor parts of the Body but something distinct from and repugnant to it 'T is not therefore he who is found in or advanced to the place of the Head who is truly the Head 'T is not he who ought but he who dos perform the office of the Head that deserves the name and privileges belonging to the Head If our Another theresore will perswade us that any King is Head of his People he must do it by Arguments peculiarly relating to him since those in general are found to be false If he say that the King as King may direct or correct the people and that the power of determining all controversies must be referred to him because they may be mistaken he must show that the King is infallible for unless he do so the wound is not cured This also must be by some other way than by saying he is their Head for such Powers belong not to the office of the Head and we see that all Kings do not deserve that name Many of them want both understanding and will to perform the functions of the Head and many act directly contrary in the whole course of their Government If any therefore among them have merited the glorious name of Heads of Nations it must have bin by their personal Virtues by a vigilant care of the good of their People by an inseparable conjunction of interests with them by an ardent love to every member of the Society by a moderation of spirit affecting no undue Superiority or assuming any singular advantage which they are not willing to communicate to every part of the political body He who finds this merit in himself will scorn all the advantages that can be drawn from misapplied names He that knows such honor to be peculiarly due to him for being the best of Kings will never glory in that which may be common to him with the worst Nay whoever pretends by such general discourses as these of our Author to advance the particular Interests of any one King dos either know he is of no merit and that nothing can be said for him which will not as well agree with the worst of men or cares not what he says so he may do mischief and is well enough contented that he who is set up by such Maxims as a publick plague may fall in the ruin he brings upon the people SECT XL. Good Laws prescribe easy and safe Remedies against the Evils proceeding from the vices or infirmities of the Magistrate and when they fail they must be supplied THOSE who desire to advance the power of the Magistrate above the Law would perswade us that the difficulties and dangers of inquiring into his actions or opposing his will when employ'd in violence and injustice are so great that the remedy is always worse than the disease and that 't is better to suffer all the evils that may proceed from his infirmities and vices than to hazard the consequences of displeasing him But on the contrary I think and hope to prove 1. That in well-constituted Governments the remedies against ill Magistrates are easy
I presume no wise man will think I do so if I profess that having observed as well as I can what History and daily Experience teach us concerning the Virtues and Religions that are or have bin from the beginning of the World encouraged and supported by Monarchs the methods they have follow'd since they have gone under the name of Christians their moral as well as their theological Graces together with what the Scriptures tell us of those who in the last days will principally support the Throne of Antichrist I cannot be confident that they are generally in an extraordinary manner preserved by the hand of God from the Vices and Frailties to which the rest of mankind is subject If no man can shew that I am in this mistaken I may conclude that as they are more than any other men in the world exposed to temptations and snares they are more than any in danger of being corrupted and made Instruments of corrupting others if they are no otherwise defended than the rest of men This being the state of the matter on both sides we may easily collect that all Governments are subject to corruption and decay but with this difference that Absolute Monarchy is by principle led unto or rooted in it whereas mixed or popular Governments are only in a possibility of falling into it As the first cannot subsist unless the prevailing part of the people be corrupted the other must certainly perish unless they be preserved in a great measure free from Vices and I doubt whether any better reason can be given why there have bin and are more Monarchies than popular Governments in the world than that Nations are more easily drawn into corruption than defended from it and I think that Monarchy can be said to be natural in no other sense than that our depraved nature is most inclined to that which is worst To avoid unnecessary Disputes I give the name of Popular Governments to those of Rome Athens Sparta and the like tho improperly unless the same may also be given to many that are usually called Monarchies since there is nothing of violence in either the Power is conferr'd upon the chief Magistrates of both by the free consent of a willing People and such a part as they think fit is still retained and executed in their own Assemblies and in this sense it is that our Author seems to speak against them As to Popular Government in the strictest sense that is pure Democracy where the People in themselves and by themselves perform all that belongs to Government I know of no such thing and if it be in the World have nothing to say for it In asserting the Liberty generally as I suppose granted by God to all mankind I neither deny that so many as think fit to enter into a Society may give so much of their Power as they please to one or more men for a time or perpetually to them and their Heirs according to such Rules as they prescribe nor approve the Disorders that must arise if they keep it intirely in their own hands And looking upon the several Governments which under different forms and names have bin regularly constituted by Nations as so many undeniable Testimonies that they thought it good for themselves and their Posterity so to do I infer that as there is no man who would not rather chuse to be governed by such as are just industrious valiant and wise than by those that are wicked slothful cowardly and foolish and to live in society with such as are qualified like those of the first sort rather than with those who will be ever ready to commit all manner of Villanies or want experience strength or courage to join in repelling the Injuries that are offer'd by others So there are none who do not according to the measure of understanding they have endeavour to set up those who seem to be best qualified and to prevent the introduction of those Vices which render the Faith of the Magistrate suspected or make him unable to perform his duty in providing for the execution of Justice and the publick defence of the State against Foreign or Domestick Enemies For as no man who is not absolutely mad will commit the care of a Flock to a Villain that has neither skill diligence nor courage to defend them or perhaps is maliciously set to destroy them rather than to a stout faithful and wise Shepherd 't is less to be imagined that any would commit the same error in relation to that Society which comprehends himself with his Children Friends and all that is dear to him The same Considerations are of equal force in relation to the Body of every Nation For since the Magistrate tho the most perfect in his kind cannot perform his duty if the people be so base vicious effeminate and cowardly as not to second his good Intentions those who expect good from him cannot desire so to corrupt their Companions that are to help him as to render it impossible for him to accomplish it Tho I believe there have bin in all Ages bad men in every Nation yet I doubt whether there was one in Rome except a Catiline or a Cesar who design'd to make themselves Tyrants that would not rather have wished the whole People as brave and virtuous as in the time of the Carthaginian Wars than vile and base as in the days of Nero and Domitian But 't is madness to think that the whole Body would not rather wish to be as it was when Virtue flourished and nothing upon earth was able to resist their power than weak miserable base slavish and trampled under foot by any that would invade them and forced as a Chattel to become a prey to those that were strongest Which is sufficient to shew that a People acting according to the liberty of their own Will never advance unworthy men unless it be by mistake nor willingly suffer the introduction of Vices Whereas the Absolute Monarch always prefers the worst of those who are addicted to him and cannot subsist unless the prevailing part of the People be base and vicious If it be said that those Governments in which the Democratical part governs most do more frequently err in the choice of men or the means of preserving that purity of Manners which is required for the well-being of a People than those wherein Aristocracy prevails I confess it and that in Rome and Athens the best and wisest men did for the most part incline to Aristocracy Xenophon Plato Aristotle Thucydides Livy Tacitus Cicero and others were of this sort But if our Author there seek Patrons for his Absolute Monarchy he will find none but Phalaris Agathocles Dionysius Catiline Cethegus Lentulus with the corrupted Crew of mercenary Rascals who did or endeavour'd to set them up These are they quibus ex honesto nulla est spes they abhor the Dominion of the Law because it curbs their Vices and make themselves subservient to
Diogenes seeing him at Corinth tho in a poor and contemptible condition said he rather deserved to have continued in the misery fears and villanies of his Tyranny than to be suffer'd peaceably to converse with honest men And if such as these are to be called observers of Justice it must be concluded that the Laws of God and of Men are either of no value or contrary to it and that the destruction of Nations is a better work than their preservation No Faith is to be observed Temples may be justly sack'd the best men slain for daring to be better than their Masters and the whole World if it were in the power of one Man rightly torn in pieces and destroy'd His Reasons for this are as good as his Doctrin It is saith he the multitude of people and abundance of riches that are the glory and strength of every Prince the bodies of his Subjects do him service in War and their goods supply his wants Therefore if not out of affection to his people yet out of natural love unto himself every Tyrant desires to preserve the lives and goods of his Subjects I should have thought that Princes tho Tyrants being God's Vicegerents and Fathers of their People would have sought their good tho no advantage had thereby redounded to themselves but it seems no such thing is to be expected from them They consider Nations as Grasiers do their Herds and Flocks according to the profit that can be made of them and if this be so a People has no more security under a Prince than a Herd or Flock under their Master Tho he desire to be a good Husband yet they must be delivered up to the slaughter when he finds a good Market or a better way of improving his Land but they are often foolish riotous prodigal and wantonly destroy their Stock tho to their own prejudice We thought that all Princes and Magistrates had bin set up that under them we might live quietly and peaceably in all godliness and honesty but our Author teaches us that they only seek what they can make of our Bodies and Goods and that they do not live and reign for us but for themselves If this be true they look upon us not as Children but as Beasts nor do us any good for our own sakes or because it is their duty but only that we may be useful to them as Oxen are put into plentiful Pastures that they may be strong for labour or fit for slaughter This is the divine Model of Government that he offers to the World The just Magistrate is the Minister of God for our good but this Absolute Monarch has no other care of us than as our Riches and Multitude may increase his own Glory and Strength We might easily judg what would be the issue of such a Principle when the Being of Nations depending upon his will must also depend upon his opinion whether the Strength Multitude and Riches of a People do conduce to the increase of Glory and Power or not tho Histories were silent in the case for these things speak of themselves The judgment of a single man is not to be relied upon the best and wisest do osten err the foolish and perverse always and our discourse is not of what Moses or Samuel would do but what may come into the fancy of a furious or wicked man who may usurp the supreme Power or a child a woman or a fool that may inherit it Besides the Proposition upon which he builds his Conclusion proves often false for as the Riches Power Number and Courage of our Friends is for our advantage and that of our Enemies threatens us with ruin those Princes only can reasonably believe the strength of their Subjects beneficial to them who govern so as to be assured of their Affection and that their Strength will be employ'd for them But those who know they are or deserve to be hated cannot but think it will be employ'd against them and always seek to diminish that which creates their danger This must certainly befal as many as are lewd foolish negligent imprudent cowardly wicked vicious or any way unworthy the places they obtain for their Reign is a perpetual exercise of the most extreme and ruinous Injustice Every man that follows an honest Interest is prejudic'd Every one who finds the Power that was ordained for his good to be turned to his hurt will be angry and hate him that dos it If the People be of uncorrupted manners this hatred will be universal because every one of them desires that which is just if composed of good and evil the first will always be averse to the evil Government and the others endeavouring to uphold it the safety of the Prince must depend upon the prevalence of either Party If the best prove to be the strongest he must perish and knowing himself to be supported only by the worst he will always destroy as many of his Enemies as he can weaken those that remain enrich his Creatures with their Spoils and Confiscations by fraud and rapine accumulate Treasures to increase the number of his Party and advance them into all places of power and trust that by their assistance he may crush his Adversaries and every man is accounted his Adversary who has either Estate Honor Virtue or Reputation This naturally casts all the Power into the hands of those who have no such dangerous qualities nor any thing to recommend them but an absolute resignation of themselves to do whatever they are commanded These men having neither will nor knowledg to do good as soon as they come to be in power Justice is perverted military Discipline neglected the publick Treasures exhausted new Projects invented to raise more and the Prince's wants daily increasing through their ignorance negligence or deceit there is no end of their devices and tricks to gain supplies To this end swarms of Spies Informers and false Witnesses are sent out to circumvent the richest and most eminent men The Tribunals are fill'd with Court-Parasites of profligate Consciences Fortunes and Reputation that no man may escape who is brought before them If Crimes are wanting the diligence of well-chosen Officers and Prosecutors with the favour of the Judges supply all defects the Law is made a Snare Virtue suppress'd Vice fomented and in a short time Honesty and Knavery Sobriety and Lewdness Virtue and Vice become Badges of the several Factions and every man's conversation and manners shewing to what Party he is addicted the Prince who makes himself head of the worst must favour them to the overthrow of the best which is so streight a way to an universal ruin that no State can prevent it unless that course be interrupted These things consider'd no general Judgment can be made of a Magistrate's Counsels from his Name or Duty He that is just and become grateful to the People by doing good will find his own Honour and Security in increasing their Number