there reigned any King over the Children of Israel And these are the Names of the Dukes that came of Esau according to their Families after their Places by their Names And Verse the last These be the Dukes of Edom according to their Habitations in the Land of their Possessions he is Esau the Father of the Edomites Now what can be more particular or express than what I have here produc'd Or what can he mean by tracing the Foundation of Polities which are or ever came to our Knowledge since the World began if these will not pass for such He cannot pretend that we should bring a long Roll of Parchment like a Welch Pedigree ap Shinkin ap Morgan and so from the Son to the Father untill we arrive at ap Ismael ap Esau ap Magog ap Javan and so forth that would be too childish to imagine of him for we know very well that all the Kingdoms upon the Earth have oftentimes chang'd their Masters and Families But if he means as surely he must if he mean any thing that we cannot name any such Kingdom or Government that hath been so begun then he is grosly mistaken for the Assyrians the Medes the Ethiopians or Cusoei the Lydians the Jones or Greeks and very many others are sufficiently known and preserve to this day the very names of their first Founders who as is made appear were all Fathers of Families Mer. Cousin I begin to be very weary of this rambling Author Pray therefore let us go on as fast as we can Trav. Read then what follows Mer. As for Abraham whilst he liv'd as also his Son Isaac they were but ordinary Fathers of Families and no question govern'd their Housholds as all others do What have you to say to this Holy Patriarch and most excellent Man Trav. I say we are beholden to our Author that he did not call him a Country Farmer some such a one it may be as in his new Model of the Government is to share the Royal Authority Indeed it is hard that whom the declar'd Enemies to the Hebrew People have thought fit to call a King we who adore the Son of Abraham will not allow to be better than a common Housholder Mer. I confess my Reading is not great but as far as the Bible goes I may adventure to give my Opinion And if I mistake not the Children of Heth own'd him to be a mighty Prince among them Trav. Yes Sir and the Prophet David in the hundred and fifth Psalm calls him the Lords Anointed But because I perceive the Word of God is too vulgar a Study for our Learned Statesman I have found out a Prophane Author who concurs with the History of the Bible And first Justin makes no Scruple to call him in plain Words a King Post Damascum Azillus Mox Adores Abraham Israel Reges fuere lib. 36. Josephus also and Grotius who are Men of no small Repute even amongst the most Learned have quoted Nicolaus Damascenus to vindicate the Regal Authority of Abraham His Words are very intelligible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And tells us moreover that in his Days which was in the Reign of Augustus the Fame of Abraham was much celebrated in that Country and that there was yet a little Town remaining which was called by his Name Mer. I perceive when Men grow fond of their own Imaginations they run over all and neither Reason nor Religion have any Power to stop them Trav. Then he introduceth Samuel upon the Stage chiefly I suppose to insinuate that the People had a Power and did choose themselves a King which is so notoriously false that they never had the least share or pretended any in the election of Saul It is true they chose rather to be govern'd by a temporal King who was to live amongst them and rule as other Kings did than continue under the Government of the King of Heaven and Earth and so the Word chose relates wholly to the Government but not to the Person of the Governour For which Samuel also reproves them and accordingly they acted no farther leaving the Election of their new King wholly to God and their Prophet and God did particularly choose him from the rest of their People and Samuel actually anointed him before the People knew any thing of the matter Afterwards lest some might have accus'd Samuel of Partiality in the Choice he order'd Lots to be cast which in the Interpretation of all men is leaving the Election to God and Saul was again taken What Junius Brutus another old antimonarchical seditious Brother objects concerning renewing the Kingdom at Gilgal where it is said And all the People went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord will serve very little to prove any Right of Power in the People no not so much as of Election for confirming and renewing the Kingdom and such like Expressions signifie no more than the taking by us the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy which I think were never thought to give the King any Right to the Crown but only a just Right to punish us for our Perjury as well as Disobedience in Case of Rebellion So renewing the Covenant with God as particularly a little before the Death of Joshuah cannot be supposed to give a greater right of Power to God Almighty than what he had before but is only a stricter Obligation for the Peoples Obedience that they might be condemned out of their own Mouths And Joshuah said unto the People See ye are Witnesses against your selves So Samuel makes the People bind themselves to God to their King and to their Prophet that they would faithfully obey him whom the Lord had set over them And behold saith Samuel the Lord hath set a King over you But having spoke more to this purpose elsewhere and the Case being most clear as well by the History it self as by the Authority of Grotius and other learned Men that Saul and the rest of the Hebrew Kings did not in the least depend upon their People but received all their Right of Power wholly from God we will proceed with our Author Only I must note by the way that with the learned Gentleman's leave neither the Sanhedrim the Congregation of the People nor the Princes of the Tribes had any manner of Power but what was subordinate and that only to judge the People according to the Laws and Institutions of Moses And so they continued to the Babylonish Captivity Grotius only observing in favour of the Sanhedrim that they had a particular Right of judging concerning a whole Tribe the High Priest and a Prophet Mer. Well Sir we are now come to our modern despotical Power What say you to Mahomet and Cingis Can. Trav. Prethee Cousin let 's not trouble our selves with those Turks and Tartars they are yet â—ar enough off and not like to trouble us nor does their Government much concern us we have Laws of our own sufficient which
to the Origines Sacroe of Dr. Stillingfleet or Mr. Gale's Court of the Gentiles For the Reason of his History especially as it relates to the Creation of Man nothing seems more just than that God Almighty who is the Fountain of all Wisdom and Goodness should have rather chosen to propagate the World at first as he did at last after the Flood by Succession than by such a promiscuous Production of the Earth as is before mention'd that even thereby he might prevent as he did that State of War suppos'd by our Author and those many Mischiefs and Inconveniences which would attend an Equality intolerable and never yet known upon the Earth And notwithstanding the ridiculous Arguments of Mr. Hobbs and some others they could never yet produce any good Authorities or Examples where this Equality was ever to be found except in their own Understandings The Learned Pompenatius in his Treatise de immort Animoe tells us That if the Inequality which is amongst Men were taken away the Race of Mankind would be destroy'd or at best subsist with great Inconvenience and that it is not the occasion of Discord but rather of the most perfect Harmony Hoecque inoequalitas si toleretur aut genus hâ—manum periret aut non commodè constaret Neque inoequalitas inter homines commensurata tamen debet discordiam parare imo sicut in symphonia vocum commensurata diversitas concentum delectabilem facit siâ— commensurata diversitas inter homines perfectum pulchrum decorum delectabilem generat On the other side by this successive Propagation God hath secur'd Man's Preservation and that by introducing a natural form of Government and Obedience so certain and so reasonable that it might have continued even to this day had not the Negligence of the Governours in the first Age permitted a Confusion And the Ambition and Avarice both of the Governours and Governed in the latter Age so entangled the Reins that they have made it sometimes as hard to drive as to be driven In the next place the compiling of the Law of Moses shews so demonstrably the Wisdom and Reason of the Law-giver that his Laws have been the Ground and Patterns for the best and most ancient both of the Attick or Greek as well as Roman Institutions And lastly for Testimony concerning the Veracity of his History we find even the very Particulars confirm'd by the most ancient Authors Hesiod Homer and Euripides declare That Man was made out of Clay Callimachus calls Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lutum Prometheum The History of Adam and Eve of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Serpent are attested by Sanchuniathon In the most ancient of the Grecian Ceremonies and Mysteries they used to shew a Serpent crying out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Eva Hesychius Clemens in protreptico and Chalcidius ad Timoeum tell us that according to the account of Moses God forbad our Fore-fathers the eating of the Fruit of certain Trees left thereby they should come to the Knowledge of good and Evil ex quibus notitia boni malique animis eorum obreperet The Story of the Gyants is attested by Pausanias Philostratus and Pliny Berosus and Abydenus the Assyrian with many others give a perfect Account of the Deluge Trogus Pompeius Polemones Manetho Lysimachus and others of the flight of the Children of Israel out of Aegypt under the Conduct of Moses himself All which and a great deal more to this purpose abundantly confirm the Authority of Moses his History and oblige our Approbation and Belief even without the express and indisputable Command both of God and Man Mer. I am perfectly satisfy'd and shall reap this advantage from the long Trouble I have given you that I shall henceforward apply our Authors Propositions to the History of Moses and according as they are conformable to it approve them or otherwise if contrary totally reject them and for the present am sufficiently convinc'd that the first Regulation of Mankind began from paternal Governments For his Necessity universal Right to all things the regulating of Ownership and Property and the Mediation of some wise men for the consenting to the establishing a Government I shall look upon them hereafter as canting Terms contriv'd by some Commonwealths Men and not at all consonant to Reason or Truth especially since he hath not produc'd one Instance of any Government originally so begun against twenty which you have and I believe can produce for the deducing many great Governments from Fathers of Families Trav. You will find that the force of all his reasoning quite through his Book depends chiefly upon such canting Propositions as you have here repeated But pray proceed Mer. He tells us then p. 31. That could we trace all Foundations of Polities that now are or ever came to our Knowledge since the World began we shall find none of them to have descended from Paternal Power Trav. Did you ever meet with a more impudent or more ignorant Author You remember I suppose those Instances which I have already produc'd to demonstrate the repeopling the World by Fathers of Families which are confirm'd to us by approv'd and irreproachable Authors Besides what is more notoriously known than the History of the Edomites or the Posterity of Esau or Edom and the Hatred which continued in his Family against the Sons of Jacob when they deny'd the Israelites Passage through their Country Nay so certain is it that that great Nation descended from Edom who was the eldest Son of Isaac and Father of his Family and that they spread as far as the Red Sea that the Greeks themselves from his Name Edom which they interpret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have left the Name of Mare Erythroeum even to this day Nor less known is the Genealogy of Ismael the Son of Abraham from whence the Ismaelites or Arabians whom Epiphanius calls the Saracens are lineally descended And as a constant Mark of their unquestionable Descent from Ismael they have to our Age retain'd the Custom of being circumcised after the thirteenth Year according to what we find written of their Father Ismael himself There are besides as I told you many more undoubted Instances in those Authors which I have already nam'd to you And if our Politician hath any respect for the Holy Bible and History of Moses let me recommend him to the twenty fifth Chap. of Genesis where Moses numbring the Children of Ismael concludes These are the Sons of Ismael and these are their Names by their Towns and by their Castles twelve Princes according to their Nations And they dwelt from Havila unto Shur that is before Egypt as thou goest towards Assyria And whilst he hath the Book in his hand let him turn forward to the thirty sixth Chapter of Genesis where after a long Catalogue of the Dukes and Kings which descended lineally from Esau it is said ver 31. And these are the Kings that reigned in the Land of Edom before
as they secure us from the danger of any Despotical Power or arbitrary Government which can rise up amongst our selves so they do no less protect the Person of our Supream Magistrate or King from all manner of Violence or Jurisdiction of the People Mer. In the next place then we come to an Aphorism which is That Empire is founded in Property Upon which he tells us he must build the most of his subsequent Reasoning Trav. Ay marry here 's Work indeed And no doubt but the Foundation being so solid the Building will last eternally But let us see in page 40. he gives us this Aphorism in Latine and then it runs thus Imperium fundatur in Dominio which lest we might not understand he tells us his meaning of Dominium is the Possession of Lands And that what Kings soever in former times had no Companion in the Sovereign Power they had no share likewise in the Possession of the Ground or Land Truly Cousin I do not remember to have met with such grave and serious Fooling in any Author besides himself But we will examine his Reasoning and his Aphorism as fully and impartially as we can And in the first place it is most necessary that we should define the Word Imperium which surely we cannot do more plainly than when we say That Imperium est jus Imperandi Empire is a Right of Command Now that this Right of Command should be fix'd or founded upon what in it self is incapable of receiving any Command or paying any Obedience I mean Land is so absurd a Proposition that it makes Empire an empty Name only and Sound for when you thunder your Imperial Laws through your hollow Rocks your shady Groves and Woods those stiff and stately Subjects of your new found Empire will pay no other Homage or Obedience than a Return of your Commands upon your own Royal Head by the Repetition of a foolish Eccho the only Subject which can entertain you with Discourse You in the mean time must remain like Midas amidst his Gold without Service or Sustenance except being wholly transform'd into an Ass or grazing like Nebuchadnezar amidst your fertile Pastures you might indeed in such case become a fat and lusty though a beastly Emperour But Cousin to be serious the great Folly of our Authors Aphorism will appear more demonstrable by putting a familiar Case or two and such as may shew us plainly upon what Empire is truly founded and upon what it is not Let us suppose then that the King should make some Nobleman or Gentleman Duke or Prince or if you will Emperour of some vast tract of Land in the Western Part of Terra Australis incognita which we will also imagine totally uninhabited What kind of Emperour do you think this Nobleman would be Mer. Truly Sir if he had no Subjects I think he would appear much such another kind of Prince as Duke Trinkolo in the Comedy Trav. You have hit upon a very proper Instance Mer. But pray Cousin why may not our Emperour have Subjects having Land to bestow Trav. Undoubtedly so he may but they must be procur'd one of these three ways either from his own Loins as in the old World that is from his Wife and Children or from Slaves such as may possibly be bought in some other Part of the World or from Free People whom he may probably carry over with him Mer. Very well and why may not the Land be peopled in time by his own Family especially if Polygamy be permitted as formerly it was and both himself and Sons take to themselves several Wives Trav. So it may Sir but this will not do our Business for his Empire in that case will not be founded upon the Possession of his Land but the Persons of his Children who become naturally his Subjects even when he did not possess one Acre of Land For God and Nature have so invested a Sovereign Right of Command in Fathers over their Children that no Power upon Earth can take that Right away 'T is true the Civil Law for the Good of all has reduc'd even Fathers themselves under the Civil Government who is still Pater Patrioe But naturally every Father is Emperour in his own Family Mer. I understand you Sir for Fathers having naturally a Sovereign Right of Command over their own Children if then he peoples a Country by his own Posterity the Possession of his Land gives him no more Power than what he had originally and from a higher Title too before It is plain but why may he not then stock his Land with Slaves from Guiney or other Parts of Africa Trav. O Cousin but properly speaking there is no Empire of Slaves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Aristotle lib. 8. de Rep. and from thence Grotius assure us That such a Government is not properly an Empire but an over-grown Family Qui ergo tali tenetur imperio populus in posterum non civitas erit sed magna Familia Besides Reason it self convinces us of this Truth for no Man is a Slave willingly and what we hold by force is not truly an Empire which as I said is Jus Imperandi but a Tyranny which always includes Injustice Mer. But by your leave may not a Man justly command his Slave Trav. Yes Sir as he may use his Oxe or his Horse and they are always look'd upon as part of our Personal Estate and pass accordingly But naturally or according to the Law of Nature which is Justice no Man is born a Slave Servi natura id est citra factum humanum hominum nulli sunt saith Grotius lib. 3. Whence the Civilians tell us Contra naturam esse hanc servitutem Lawfully indeed which is humane Institution Men become and are sometimes born Slaves but Subjects we are both by Law and Nature too All Politicians therefore and Civilians have made a Distinction between Subjects and Slaves the last are so by Accident and Misfortune and against their Will for the sole Benefit of their Lord and Master the others are Subjects by Nature and willingly continue so not only for the Honour of their Emperour King or Supreme Governour but for the peaceable and happy Subsistence of themselves So Tacitus distinguisheth them in these Words Non Dominationem servos seâ— rectorem cives cogitatet And Xenophon of Agesilaus whatsoever Cities he reduc'd under his Government he exempted from those servile Offices which Slaves pay their Lords and only commanded such things as were fit for Free-Men to pay their Supreme Governour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor are there or ever were there any such Kingdoms of Slaves For though the Turk and Tartars at present the Persians and generally all other Eastern Kings anciently govern'd despotically yet their Subjects always had a Civil as well as a Personal Liberty and were generally so far from being govern'd against their Wills that as Apollonius observes the Assyrians and Medes adâ—r'd their Monarchy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉