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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28558	A defence of Sir Robert Filmer, against the mistakes and misrepresentations of Algernon Sidney, esq. in a paper delivered by him to the sheriffs upon the scaffold on Tower-Hill, on Fryday December the 7th 1683 before his execution there.	Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.	1684 (1684)	Wing B3450; ESTC R2726	20,559	19

all the care imaginable taken that no Counterfeit Papers might be foisted in afterwards by Sealing them up in a Trunk Tryal p. 21. and Mr. Sidney himself desired to set his Seal too on them for his further assurance Such groundless and almost impossible Surmises as these betray a bad Cause supported with much wilfulness But that which follows is much worse For tho' we should grant it no very difficult thing to Counterfeit a Name or a few Lines who can think so large a Discourse as that Printed in his Tryal and yet it was not the fiftieth part of the whole that was produced and not the tenth of that offered to be read as he tells us in this Paper Pag. 2. Can any man in his right Wits think any man could or would counterfeit at this prodigious rate He tells us in his Tryal If these Papers are right it mentions 200 and odd Sheets Pag. 34. A bold and unheard of Undertaking to pretend to Counterfeit so much And strange must be the Legerdemain that could get them into the Study so opportunely Quae sic mihi narras incredulus odi But the crafty Rogue did not only Counterfeit his Hand so exactly that they that were best acquainted with it swore they believed it was all written by Mr. Sidney but hit his Judgment too so that he said at his Tryal I do not know whether they are my own or no which if they had been Counterfeit he could not have said but these very Papers such as they are do abhor as much as any one can such a Design Pag. 32. Which he could never have said neither if that had been the first time he had ever seen them As he seems to insinuate at his Tryal p. 26. when he replyed My Lord let him give an account of it the Libel that did it Nor hath he retracted one Title in this his last Paper of that which was read at his Tryal but rather confirmed it and in all probability the Truths he so feared would be taken for Treasons may all be found in those Papers I had not insisted so long on this but to shew the temper of the man and to shew the Reader how just it is he should not too easily believe the Account he gives of Sir Robert Filmer He goes on thus But if I had been seen to Write them the matter would not be much altered They plainly appear to relate unto a large Treatise written long since in Answer to Filmer 's Book which by all Intelligent men is thought to be grounded upon Wicked Principles equally pernicious unto Magistrates and People Why if there was so little in it why was all this pains taken to insinuate an Opinion into the minds of men that they might possibly for he no where affirms it positively be Counterfeit And it was much less excusable to do it in this Paper than at his Tryal Here he ought to have laid by all his Arts and Disguises and with the freedom of a dying man have told the world whether that Libel were his or no for whatever he might think at the Bar he was sure on the Scaffold it could not hurt him any further But as nice as he is in this he tells us pretty roundly what his Opinion is of Filmer's Book and no man must pass for an Intelligent man who shall presume to be of another judgment In very good time Are all the Intelligent men in the world become Republicans For I am confident no other man can approve of this Censure and it will pose a wiser man than he ever was to prove any one of Sir R. Filmer's Principles without wresting wicked or pernicious to any other Magistrates or People but such as have itching Fingers to be plucking down their Princes and calling them to account and revenging their own supposed Wrongs on them And for such Magistrates such People none but Traytors would concern themselves in a Monarchy any otherwise than to detest and abhor them and their pernicious Principles Having thus passed a general Censure upon Sir R. Filmer's Book he comes in the next place to a more particular which runs thus pag. 2. If he might publish unto the world his Opinion That all men are born under a Necessity derived from the Laws of God and Nature to submit unto an absolute Kingly Government which could be restrained by no Laws or Oath and that he that hath the Power whether he came unto it by Creation Election Inheritance Usurpation or any other way had the Right and none must oppose his Will but the Persons and Estates of his Subjects must be indispensably subject unto it I know not why I might not have published my Opinion to the contrary without the breach of any Law I have yet known These are his words and it is my duty to enquire how far he hath truly represented Sir Robert Filmer's judgment And as to his first Proposition That all men are born c. I believe he will not be able to shew it me in terminis any where in Sir R. Filmer's Works but I think I can shew him the contrary Patriarcha p. 6. I am not to question or quarrel at the Rights or Liberties of This or any Other Nation my task is chiefly to enquire from whom These first came not to dispute what or how many these are but whether they were derived from the Laws of Natural Liberty or from the Grace and Bounty of Princes My desire and hope is that the People of England may and do enjoy as ample Priviledges as any Nation under Heaven the greatest Liberty in the World if it be duly considered is for a People to live under a Monarch it is the Magna Charta of this Kingdom all other shews or pretexts of Liberty are but several degrees of Slavery and a Liberty only to destroy Liberty And after this pag. 53. he hath these words Indeed the world for a long time knew no other sort of Government but only Monarchy The best Order the greatest Strength the most Stability and Easiest Government are to be found all in Monarchy and in no other Form of Government And he doth every where prefer Monarchy before all other Forms but that he hath any where condemned Aristocracies or Democracies as contrary to the Laws of God and Nature is not to be shewn in him tho' at the same time he owns Monarchy as Aristotle did to be the First the Natural and the Divinest Form of Government p. 53. But to infer from hence That all men are born under a Necessity derived from the Laws of God and Nature to submit unto an absolute Kingly Government is such a Consequence as nothing but passion could draw from those Principles * Grotius de jure Belli pacis l 2. Cap. 5. Sect. 9. n. 3. For tho' Monarchy should be yielded to be the best it will not follow that all other Forms are unlawful tho' it will that

submit his Interest unto theirs since he is no more then any one of them in any other Respect than that he is by the Consent of all raised above any other Tryal p. 23. Now if these and several other be such doctrines as he describes i. e. Approved in all Ages Nations and Religions then will I never trust my Eyes more Let but the Reader consult Sir R. Filmers Patriarcha ' and he will stand amazed at the confidence prejudice or partiality of this man Indeed the Heathen Philosophers and Historians being ignorant of the true History of the Creation do generally seem to think that Regall power which they all own to have been the first form of Government was introduced by the consent of the People and thus Cicero expresseth it de leg lib. 1. cap. 2. All the Ancient Nations obeyed Kings which sort of Dominion Empire they the people gave at first to the most Just and Wisest men But with Christianity this Doctrine expired and all the Fathers and Ancient Christians without exception looked upon God as the Author of Kingly Government and the Giver of Kings I will quote only one St. Augustin De Civit. dei li. 4. cap. 33. God the Author and Giver of Happiness because he only is the true God gives himself earthly Kingdoms both to the Good and to the Bad and this not inconsiderately and as it were by chance because he is God and not Fortune but according to the Order of things and times which is secret as to us but most perfectly known to him And this was the Doctrine of all Christians till Pope Zachary revived the old Heathen Doctrines to justifie the Deposition of Childerick and Election of Pipin in France The King saith he Aven l. 3. Annal. Boiariae is Obnoxious to the People by whose favour he injoys whatsoever he hath that is he received from them his Power Honour Riches Glory and Dignity The Multitude Plebs makes a King and may DEPOSE him Sacro Sancta regum Majestas p. 26. A Learned man of our Country cites this passage and saith that for ought he knew he was the first Divine or Pope of Rome either that said so or writ so So in all probability here is the first Christian Author of Mr. Sidneys Doctrine about the middle of the 7th Centry How and for what ends it was imbraced by the School-men and after them by the Presbyterians you may find in the beginning of the Patriarcha The rest deserves just as much Credit as this doth and might most easily be answered if it were worth the while There is one thing more he quarrelled Sir R. Filmer for at his Tryal p. 33. He saith it is the same thing whether a Prince be of Age or no a Man or a Child of Sense or out of Sense And so doubtless it is as to the right tho' not as to the exercise of that right thus Sir R. expresseth it by this means Succession pag. 20. it comes to pass that many a Child by succeeding a King hath the right of a Father over many a Gray-headed Multitude and hath the Title of Pater Patriae Est tamen to quoque tempore Filius out Filia capax Dominii in res ex jure gentium Sed Exercitium impeditur ob judicii imperfectionem c. Grot. de jur Bell l. 2. c. 5. Sect. 1. n. 2. Of this the Scriptures give several Examples and some of them have proved excellent Princes But then such Princes have ever had Guardians or Protectors But this Gentleman seems to yield the Point when he saith unless be any Prince could deduce his pedigree from the Eldest Son of Noah and shew that the succession had still continued in the Eldest of the Eldest Line and been so deducted to him Why what if a Prince could do this then it seems Mr. Sidney would allow him a right to his Crown without the consent of the people which must be by the right of Primogeniture and Nature Well there is certainly such a man in the World how came the people in every Nation by his right If any Prince should pretend a Right to an Universal Monarchy I think it were but reasonable he should be put to make out his Title according to Mr. Sidney's Rule but seeing no body does so to the best of my knowledge it is but reasonable that all Princes should in the mean time enjoy what they are in lawful possession of till this Heir of Noah hath make out his Pedigree and Title and then they may consider further of it And in the interim Mr. Sidney will certainly be wiped out of Mr. Multitudes Calendar of Saints and Martyrs for thus betraying their Case to the Kings and Princes of the World who will never now willingly surrender their Crowns and Scepters but still pretend when all other Arguments fail they keep them to the use of Noah's Heir general Thus I have with as much brevity as I could answered what ever I have remarked in this Paper or the Tryal that doth particularly relate to Sir R. Filmer and if the Reader will but be pleased to read that piece himself it will abundantly satisfie him that all Mr. Sidney's Clamour against it is causeless and unreasonable the sole Effect of passion interest prejudice and such other humane infirmities For tho' this is a Posthumous piece and for want of the last hand of that Learned Gentleman is not so full and perfect as he might have made it yet there are such threads of Learning Truth Modesty Loyalty and Prudence run through every part of it that the Reader will think his pains abundantly recompensed FINIS