years and yet die in peace ALEXANDER his Son succeded famous for little except som Expeditions against our King JOHN som Insurrections and a Reign two years longer than his Father's His Son was the third of that name a Boy of eight years old whose Minority was infested with the turbulent CUMMINS who when he was of age being call'd to account not only refus'd to appear but surpriz'd him at Sterling governing him at their pleasure But soon after he was awak'd by a furious Invasion of ACHO King of Norway under the pretence of som Islands given him by MACBETH whom he forc'd to accept a Peace and spent the latter part amidst the Turbulencys of the Priests drunk at that time with their Wealth and Ease and at last having seen the continu'd Funerals of his Sons DAVID ALEXANDER his Wife and his Daughter he himself with a fall from Horse broke his neck leaving of all his Race only a Grandchild by his Daughter which dy'd soon after THIS Man's Family being extinguish'd they were forc'd to run to another Line which that we may see how happy an expedient immediat Succession is for the Peace of the Kingdom and what Miseries it prevents I shall as briefly and as pertinently as I can set down DAVID Brother to K. WILLIAM had three Daughters MARGARET married to ALLAN Lord of Galloway ISABEL married to ROBERT BRUCE Lord of Annandale and Cleveland ADA married to HENRY HASTINGS Earl of Huntingdon Now ALLAN begot on his Wife DORNADILLA married to JOHN BALIOL afterwards King of Scotland and two other Daughters BRUCE on his Wife got ROBERT BRUCE Earl of Carick having married the Heretrix therof As for HUNTINGDON he desisted his claim The question is whether BALIOL in right of the eldest Daughter or BRUCE being com of the second but a Man should have the Crown he being in the same degree and of the more worthy Sex The Controversy being tost up and down at last was refer'd to EDWARD the First of that name King of England He thinking to fish in these troubled waters stirs up eight other Competitors the more to entangle the business and with twenty four Counsellors half English half Scots and abundance of Lawyers fit enough to perplex the matter so handled the business after cunning delays that at length he secretly tampers with BRUCE who was then conceiv'd to have the better right of the business that if he would acknowlege the Crown of him he would adjudg it for him but he generously answering that he valu'd a Crown at a less rate than for it to put his Country under a foren Yoke He made the same motion to BALIOL who accepted it and so we have a King again by what Right we all see but it is good reason to think that Kings com they by their Power never so unjustly may justly keep it BALIOL having thus got a Crown as unhappily kept it for no sooner was he crown'd and had don homage to EDWARD but the ABERNETHYS having slain MACDUF Earl of Fife he not only pardon'd them but gave them a piece of Land in controversy wherupon MACDUF'S Brother complains against him to EDWARD who makes him rise from his Seat in Parlament and go to the Bar He hereupon enrag'd denies EDWARD assistance against the French and renounces his Homage EDWARD immediatly coms to Berwiâ— takes and kills seven thousand most of the Nobility of Fife and Lowthian and afterwards gave them a great Defeat at Dunbar whose Castle instantly surrender'd After this he march'd to Montrose where BALIOL resign'd himself and Crown all the Nobility giving homage to EDWARD BALIOL is sent Prisoner to London and from thence after a years detention into France While EDWARD was possest of all Scotland one WILLIAM WALLACE arose who being a privat man bestir'd himself in the Calamity of his Country and gave the English several notable foils EDWARD coming again with an Army beat him that was already overcom with Envy and Emulation as well as Power upon which he laid by his Command and never acted more but only in slight Incursions But the English being beaten at Roslin EDWARD coms in again takes Sterling and makes them all render Homage but at length BRUCE seeing all his Promises nothing but smoke enters into League with CUMMIN to get the Kingdom but being betray'd by him to EDWARD he stab'd CUMMIN at Drumfreis and made himself King This man tho he came with disadvantage yet wanted neither Patience Courage nor Conduct so that after he had miserably lurk'd in the Mountains he came down and gathering together som Force gave our EDWARD the Second such a defeat near Sterling as Scotland never gave the like to our Nation and continu'd the War with various fortune with the Third till at last Age and Leprosy brought him to his Grave His Son DAVID a Boy of eight years inherited that which he with so much danger obtain'd and wisdom kept In his Minority he was govern'd by THOMAS RANDOLF Earl of Murray whose severity in punishing was no less dreaded than his Valor had bin honor'd But he soon after dying of poison and EDWARD BALIOL Son of JOHN coming with a Fleet and stâ—engthn'd with the assistance of the English and som Robbers the Governor the Earl of Mar was routed so that BALIOL makes himself King and DAVID was glad to retire into France Amidst these Parties EDWARD the Third backing BALIOL was Scotland miserably torn and the BRUCES in a manner extinguish'd till ROBERT after King with them of Argile and his own Family and Friends began to renew the claim and bring it into a War again which was carried on by ANDREW MURRAY the Governor and afterwards by himself So that DAVID after nine years banishment durst return where making frequent Incursions he at length in the fourth year of his return march'd into England and in the Bishoprick of Durham was routed and fled to an obscure Bridg shew'd to this day by the Inhabitants There he was by JOHN COPLAND taken prisoner where he continu'd nine years and in the thirty ninth year of his Reign he dy'd ROBERT his Sisters Son whom he had intended to put by succedes and first brought the STUARTS which at this day are a plague to the Nation into play This man after he was King whether it were Age or Sloth did little but his Lieutenants and the English were perpetually in action He left his Kingdom to JOHN his Bastard Son by the Lady MORE his Concubin whom he marry'd either to legitimat the three Children as the manner was then he had by her or else for old Acquaintance his Wife and her Husband dying much about time This JOHN would be crown'd by the name of ROBERT his own they say being unhappy for Kings a wretched inactive Prince lame and only govern'd by his brother WALTER who having DAVID the Prince upon complaint of som Exorbitancys deliver'd to his care caus'd him to be starv'd upon which the King intending to send
names if they write matters of fact 't is a sign they cannot make them good and all men are agreed to reject their Testimony except such as resolve to deny others common justice but the ill opinion of these prejudic'd persons can no more injure any man than their good opinion will do him honor Besides other reasons of mentioning my suppos'd designs one is to disabuse several people who as I am told are made to believe that in the History of SOCRATES I draw a Parallel between that Philosopher and JESUS CHRIST This is a most scandalous and unchristian calumny as will more fully appear to the world whenever the Book it self is publish'd for that I have bin som time about it I freely avow yet not in the manner those officious Informers report but as becoms a disinterested Historian and a friend to all mankind The Inscription on the Monument of Sir JAMES HARRINGTON and his three Sons at Exton in Rutlandshire HERE lieth Sir James Harrington of Exton Kt. with a And Sister to Sir Philip Sidney Kt. Lucy his Wife Daughter to Sir William Sidney Kt. by whom he had 18 Children wherof three Sons and 8 Daughters marry'd as follows THE eldest Son Sir b Who was afterwards created Ld Harrington and his Lady was Governess to the Queen of Bohemia His Family is extinct as to Heirs Male One of his Daughters was marry'd to the Earl of Bedford and was Groom of the Stole to Q. Ann. The other was marry'd to a Scotch Lord whose name was Lord Bruce Earl of Elgin his Grandson now Lord Alisbury John marry'd the Heiress of Robert Keylwoy Surveyor of the Court of Wards and Liverys The 2 d Son Sir c Who happen'd to be President of Ireland and from him descended my Lady Fretchavil's Father my Lady Morison and my Lord Falkland's Lady Henry took to Wife one of the Coheirs of Francis Agar one of his Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland the 3 d Son James d Afterwards Baronet To him were born Sir Edward Harrington Sir Sapcotes Harrington and Mr. John Harrington who had Issue both Sons and Daughters Harrington Esq had to Wife one of the Coheirs of Robert Sapcotes Esq The eldest Daughter Elizabeth was married to Sir Edward e Who was Father to the Lord Montague the Earl of Manchester and Lord Privy Seal and Sir Sidney Montague who was afterwards created Earl of Sandwich and to the Earl of Rutlana's Lady and Judg Montague Montague Kt. The 2 d Frances to Sir William f Who was afterwards created Lord Chichester and Earl of Dunsmore and marry'd one of his Daughters to the Earl of Southamton by whom he had the present Lady Northumberland And his other Daughter marry'd her self to Col. Villâ—rs and is now Governess to the Lady Mary the Duke of York's eldest Daughter Lee Kt. The 3 d Margaret to Don g Which Dukedom afterwards fell to him and by this Lady he had one sole Daughter and Heir who is said to have marry'd the Duke of Ferio and by him to have had one Daughter who is marry'd to a King of Portugal Bonitto de Sisnores of Spain of the Family of the Dukes of Frantasquo The 4 th Katherine to Sir Edward h Of Lincolnshire the King's Standard-bearer Dimmock Kt. The 5 th Mary to Sir Edward i An antient noble Family in Kent Wingâ—ield Kt. The 6 th Maball to Sir Andrew k Now Lord Cambden Owner of the place where this Monument is â—oell Kt. The 7 th Surah was marry'd to the Lord Hastings Heir to the Earl of Huntingdon The 8 th Theodosia l One of whose Daughters marry'd the Earl of Hume in Scotland and had by him two Daughters one married my Lord Morrice and the other my Lord Maitland now Duke of Lauderdale The other Daughter of my Lady Dudley was Heir to the Honour of Dudley Castle of whose Issue by the Mother's side is the present Lord Dudley to the Lord Dudley of Dudley Castle THE same Sir James and Lucy were marry'd fifty years She died first in the 72 d year of her Age he shortly after yielded to Nature being 80 years old in the year of our Lord 1591 and of Queen Elizabeth's Reign 34. their Son James being made sole Executor to them both who that he might as well perform to his Parents their Rites as leave a Testimony of his own Piety to Posterity hath erected and dedicated this Monument to their eternal Memory The Mechanics of Nature OR An Imperfect Treatise written by JAMES HARRINGTON during his sickness to prove against his Doctors that the Notions he had of his own Distemper were not as they alleg'd Hypocondriac Whimsys or Delirious Fancys The PREFACE HAVING bin about nine months som say in a Disease I in a Cure I have bin the wonder of Physicians and they mine not but that we might have bin reconcil'd for Books I grant if they keep close to Nature must be good ones but I deny that Nature is bound to Books I am no study'd Naturalist having long since given over that Philosophy as inscrutable and incertain for thus I thought with my self Nature to whom it is given to work as it were under her Veil or behind the Curtain is the Art of God now if there be Arts of Men who have wrought openly enough to the understanding for example that of TITIAN nevertheless whose excellency I shall never reach How shall I thus sticking in the Bark at the Arts of Men be able to look thence to the Roots or dive into the Abyss of things in the Art of God And nevertheless Si placidum caput undis extulerit should Nature afford me a sight of her I do not think so meanly of my self but that I would know her as soon as another tho more learn'd man Laying therfore Arts wholly and Books almost all aside I shall truly deliver to the world how I felt and saw Nature that is how she came first into my senses and by the senses into my understanding Yet for the sake of my Readers and also for my own I must invert the order of my Discourse For theirs because till I can speak to men that have had the same Sensations with my self I must speak to such as have a like understanding with others For my own because being like in this Discourse to be the Monky that play'd at Chess with his Master I have need of som Cushion on my head that being in all I have spoken hitherto more laid at than my Reason My Discourse then is to consist of two parts the first in which I appeal to his understanding who will use his Reason is a Platform of Nature drawn out in certain Aphorisms and the second in which I shall appeal to his senses who in a Disease very common will make further trial is a Narrative of my Case A Platform or Scheme of Nature 1. NATURE is the Fiat the Breath and in the
is affirm'd to have vindicated the Batavian Freedom is still the same and Genoa tho happy in her DORIA remains as she was before he was born Nor did the Family of the MEDICIS banish'd out of Florence where by virtue of their prodigious Wealth and the inevitable consequence of the Balance their Ancestors had bin Princes many years before CHARLES the Fifth was a Soldier any more by the help of his Arms those of the Pope at that time of the same Family and their Party at home than get into their known saddle To insist a little more at large upon the Storys of Genoa and Florence because upon these the Prevaricator sets up his rest that Mr. HARRINGTON must needs be afflicted Genoa was and is an Oligarchy consisting of twenty eight Familys making the Great Council or Aggregation as they call it none but these being capable of the Senat or of Magistracy and if ever it could be said of a Commonwealth that she had broken her self it might be said at the time related to of Genoa where not only the Faction of the Guelphs and Gibelins which had destroy'd many Citys in Italy then reign'd but the feud between the People included and the Subject excluded was as great as ever had bin between the Nobility and the People in Rome Besides the quarrel of the FIESCHI and the ADORNI two Familys like CAESAR and POMPEY which having many years together as it were ingrost the Magistracy of Duke were nevertheless perpetually striving each with other which should have it and if one of these as it did brought in the King of France there is nothing plainer than that this Commonwealth was subdu'd by her own Sedition nor is there a man knowing any thing of her affairs that makes any doubt of it That of Florence indeed if the Prevaricator could shew it had bin ever up I should grant were down but to relate the Story of this City I must relate that of the House of MEDICIS From COSIMO a Citizen famous throout Europe both for his Wisdom and Book I his Riches this Family for the space of sixty years exercis'd under the pretext of som Magistracy very great Power in Florence To Comines P. Jovius Macchiavel COSIMO succeded PETER to PETER LAURENCE a man in Prudence and Liberality resembling his Grandfather save that he us'd more absolute Power in managing the Commonwealth yet with gentleness and not altogether to the suppression of Liberty Nevertheless he obtain'd of the Signory which did for the most part as he would have them som small Guard for his Person he was a man renown'd thro Italy and look'd upon by foren Princes with much respect To him succeded his Son another PETER who thro Youth and Rashness conceiving the Power exercis'd by his Predecessors to be no more than his due took upon him the Government as absolute Lord of all and standing most formidably upon his Guard grew sottishly profuse of the public Mony and committed many Absurditys and Violences By which means having incurr'd the hatred of the Citizens he was banish'd by the Signory with Cardinal JOHN and JULIAN his Brothers This JOHN coming after to be Pope LEO the Tenth requir'd the revocation of his Brother's Banishment and the restitution of the House of MEDICIS to which finding the prevailing Party of the Florentins to be refractory he stir'd up the Arms of the Emperor CHARLES the Fifth against them by whose joint aid the City after a long siege was reduc'd to her old Ward and ALEXANDER of MEDICIS Nephew to the Pope and Son in law to the Emperor set in the known Saddle of his Ancestors This is the Action for which the Prevaricator will have a Common-wealth to have bin conquer'd by the Arms of a Monarch tho whoever reads the Story may very safely affirm First That Florence never attain'd to any such Orders as could deserve the name of a Common-wealth and next That the Purse of COSIMO had don that long before which is here attributed to the Arms of the Pope and the Emperor Reason and Experience as I said are like the Roots and the Branches of Plants and Trees As of Branches Fruits and Flowers being open and obvious to the ey the smell the touch and taste every Girl can judg so examples to vulgar capacitys are the best Arguments Let him that says a Commonwealth has bin at any time conquer'd by a Monarch to it again and shew us the example But tho Fruits and Flowers be easily known each from other their Roots are latent and not only so but of such resemblance that to distinguish of these a man must be a Gardiner or a Herbalist In this manner the reason why a Commonwealth has not bin overcom by a Monarch has bin shewn in the distribution of Arms those of a Prince consisting of Subjects or Servants and those of a Common-wealth rightly order'd of Citizens which difference relates plainly to the perfection or imperfection of the Government Consid p. 51. BVT says the Prevaricator this seems intended for a trial of our Noses whether they will serve us to discover the fallacy of an inference from the prosperous success of Arms to the perfection of Government If the University who should have som care of the Vinyard of Truth shall ly pigging of wild Boars to grunt in this manner and fear with their tusks and I happen to ring som of them as I have don this Marcassin for rooting there is nothing in my faith why such trial of their Noses should be Sin but for fallacious Inferences such I leave to them whose Caps are squarer than their Play FOR all that Great and well policy'd Empires says he have bin Chap. 10 subverted by People so eloign'd from the perfection of Government that we scarce know of any thing to ty them together but the desire of Booty Where or how came he to know this What Reason or Experience dos he allege for the proof of it May we not say of this it is for the trial of our Noses whether they will serve us to discover that a Conclusion should have som Premises He gives us leave to go look and all the Premises that I can find are quite contrary Judg. ch 1 2. THE Arms of Israel were always victorious till the death of JOSHUA wherupon the Orders of that Commonwealth being neglected they came afterwards to be seldom prosperous ISOCRATES in his Oration to the Areopagits speaks thus of Athens The Lacedemonians who when we were under Oligarchy every day commanded us somthing now while we are under popular Administration are our Petitioners that we would not see them utterly ruin'd by the Thebans Nor did Lacedemon fall to ruin till her Agrarian the Foundation of her Government was first broken The Arms of Rome ever noted by Historians and clearly evinc'd by MACCHIAVEL to have bin the Arte della Guerra result of her Policy during the popular Government were at such a pitch
have don This as reason good will be upon Wheels or Rotation For AS the Agrarian answers to the equality of the Foundation or Root so dos Rotation to the equality of the Superstructures or Branches of a Commonwealth EQUAL Rotation is equal Vicissitude in or Succession to Magistracy confer'd for equal terms injoining such equal Vacations as case the Government to take in the Body of the People by parts succeding others thro the free Election or Suffrage of the whole THE contrary wherto is prolongation of Magistracy which trashing the wheel of Rotation destroys the Life or natural Motion of a Commonwealth THE Prevaricator whatever he has don for himself has don this for me that it will be out of doubt whether my Principles be capable of greater Obligation or Confirmation than by having Objections made against them Nor have I bin altogether ingrateful or nice of my Labor but gon far much farther than I needed about that I might return with the more valuable Present to him that sent me on the Book I errand I shall not bo short of like proceding upon the present Subject but rather over ROTATION in a Commonwealth is of the Magistracy of the Senat of the People of the Magistracy and the People of the Magistracy and the Senat or of the Magistracy of the Senat and of the People which in all com to six kinds FOR example of Rotation in the Magistracy you have the Judg Grot. of Israel call'd in Hebrew Shophet The like Magistracy after the Kings ITHOBAL and BAAL came in use with the Tyrians from these with their Posterity the Carthaginians who also call'd their supreme Magistrats being in number two and for their Term Annual Shophetim which the Latins by a softer Pronunciation render Suffetes THE Shophet or Judg of Israel was a Magistrat not that I can find oblig'd to any certain term throout the Book of Judges nevertheless it is plain that his Election was occasional and but for a time after the manner of a Dictator TRUE it is that ELI and SAMUEL rul'd all their lives but upon this such impatience in the People follow'd thro the corruption of their Sons as was the main cause of the succeding Monarchy THE Magistrats in Athens except the Areopagits being a Judicatory were all upon Rotation The like for Lacedemon and Rome except the Kings in the former who were indeed hereditary but had no more Power than the Duke in Venice where all the rest of the Magistrats except the Procuratori whose Magistracy is but mere Ornament are also upon Rotation FOR the Rotation of the Senat you have Athens the Achaeans Aetolians Lycians the Amphictionium and the Senat of Lacedemon reprov'd Pol. l. 2. c. 7. in that it was for life by ARISTOTLE Modern Examples of like kind are the Diet of Switzerland but especially the Senat of Venice FOR the Rotation of the People you have first Israel where the Congregation which the Greecs call Ecclesia the Latins Comitia or Concio having a twofold capacity first that of an Army in which they were the constant Guard of the Country and secondly that of a Representative in which they gave the Vote of the People at the creation of their Laws or election of their Magistrats was Monthly 1 Chron. 27. 1. Now the Children of Israel after their Number to wit the chief Fathers and Captains of thousands and hundreds and their Officers that serv'd the King in any matter of the Courses which came in and went out month by month throout all the months of the year of every Course were twenty and four thousand Grot. ad loc SUCH a multitude there was of military Age that without inconvenience four and twenty thousand were every month in Arms whose term expiring others succeded and so others by which means the Rotation of the whole People came about in the space of one year The Tribuns or Commanders of the Tribes in Arms or of the Prerogative for the month are nam'd in the following part of the Chapter to the sixteenth Verse where begins the enumeration of the Princes tho GAD and ASHUR for what reason I know not be omitted of the Tribes remaining in their Provinces where they judg'd the People and as they receiv'd Orders were to bring or send such farther Inforcement or Recruits as occasion requir'd to the Army after these some other Officers are mention'd There is no question to be made but this Chap. 12 Rotation of the People together with their Prerogative or Congregation was preserv'd by the monthly Election of two thousand Deputys in each of the twelve Tribes which in all came to four and twenty thousand or let any man shew how otherwise it was likely to be don the nature of their Office being to give the Vote of the People who therfore sure must have chosen them By these the Vote of the People was given to their Laws and at Elections of their Magistrats TO their Laws as where DAVID proposes the reduction of the Ark And DAVID consulted with the Captains of thousands and hundreds 1 Chron. 13. and with every Leader And DAVID said to all the Congregation of Israel If it seems good to you and it be of the Lord God let us send abroad to our Brethren every where the Princes of Tribes in their Provinces that are left in the Land of Israel and with them also to the Priests and Levites which are in the Citys and Suburbs that they may gather themselves to us and let us bring again the Ark of our God to us for we inquir'd not at it in the days of SAUL And all the Congregation gave their Suffrage in the Affirmative said that they would do so for the thing was right in the eys of the People Nulla lex sibi soli conscientiam Justitiae Grot. è Tertul. suae debet sed eis a quibus obsequium expectat Now that the same Congregation or Representative gave the Vote of the People also in the Election of Priests Officers and Magistrates Moreover DAVID and 1 Chron. 25. the Captains of the Host separated to the Service of the Sons of ASAPH and of HEMAN and of JEDUTHUN who should prophesy with Harps with Psalterys and with Cymbals But upon the occasion to which we are more especially beholden for the preservation and discovery of this admirable Order DAVID having propos'd the business in a long and 1 Chron. 28. 2. pious speech the Congregation made SOLOMON the Son of DAVID King the second time and anointed him to the Lord to be chief Governor 1 Chron. 29. 22. and ZADOK to be Priest For as to the first time that SOLOMON was made King it happen'd thro the Sedition of ADONIJAH to 1 Kings 1. have bin don in hast and tumultuously by those only of Jerusalem and the reason why ZADOK is here made Priest is that ABIATHAR was put out for being of the Conspiracy with ADONIJAH I MAY expect by
to shew that the Lot is of Popular Institution quotes ARISTOTLE and yet Arist Pol. B. 6. c. 2. when he coms to speak of the Lots that were cast at the Election of MATTHIAS says it was that it might appear not whom the Multitude De Imp. S. P. c. 10. but whom God had ordain'd as if the Magistrat lawfully elected by the People were not elected by God or that the Lot which thus falls into the lap were not at the disposing of the Lord. But if the League by which the People receiv'd DAVID into the Throne or the Votes by which first the People of Jerusalem and afterwards the Congregation of Israel as was shewn in the former Book made SOLOMON King were of the Lord then Election by the People was of the Lord and the Magistrat that was elected by the Chirotonia of the People was elected by the Chirotonia of God for as the Congregation of Israel is call'd in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ecclesia or Congregation Judges 20. of God so the Chirotonia of this Congregation is call'd by JOSEPHUS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Chirotonia of God who as I noted Jos l. 4. before out of CAPELLUS was in this Commonwealth Political King or Civil Legislator Sans comparaison as SOLON in Athens and ROMULUS in Rome that is to propose to the People Haec est lex quam MOSES proposuit and whatever was propos'd by God or the lawful Magistrat under him and chirotoniz'd or voted by the People was Law in Israel and no other Nay and the People had not only power to reject any Law that was thus propos'd but to repeal any Law that was thus enacted for if God intending Popular Government should have ordain'd it otherwise he must have contradicted Book II himself wherfore he plainly acknowleges to them this power where Josephus l. 6. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rejected him whom they had formerly chirotoniz'd or chosen King that he should not reign over them and elected SAUL This if God had withstood by his Power he must have introduc'd that kind of Monarchy which he had declar'd against wherfore he chose rather to abandon this sottish and ingrateful People to the most inextricable yoke of deserv'd slavery telling them when he had warn'd them and they would not hear him that they should cry to him and he would not hear them one tittle of whose words pass'd not unfulfil'd BY this time I have shewn that all the Civil Magistrats in Israel were chosen by the Chirotonia of the People or to follow JOSEPHUS by the Chirotonia of God which is all one for the Chirotonia of the President of the Congregation as I have instanc'd in that of the Proedri of the Thesmothetae of the Consuls of the Tribuns and the Chirotonia of the Congregation is the same thing and of the Congregation of Israel God except only at the voting of a King was President TO com then from the Civil Magistrats to the Priests and Levits these were chosen in two ways either by the Lot or by the Chirotonia THE office and dignity of the High Priest being the greatest in Israel and by the institution to be hereditary caus'd great disputes in the Election to this MOSES by the command of God had design'd AARON his Brother which Designation the Command of God being at first either not so obvious as that relation or the ambition of others so blind that they could not or would not see it caus'd great combustion First thro the conspiracy of KORAH DATHAN and ABIRAM and next by the murmuring of the Princes of the Tribes all emulous of this Honor. KORAH being not only a great Numb 16. Josephus l. 4. man but of the Tribe of Levi could not see why he was not as worthy of the Priesthood consideration had of his Tribe as AARON and if any other Tribe might pretend to it DATHAN and ABIRAM being descended from REUBEN were not only of the elder House but troubl'd to see a younger prefer'd before them Wherfore these having gain'd to their party three hundred of the most powerful men of the Congregation accus'd MOSES of affecting Tyranny and doing those things which threaten'd the Liberty of the Commonwealth as under pretence of Divination to blind the eys of the People preferring his Brother to the Priesthood without the Suffrage of the Congregation of which charge MOSES acquitting himself in the Congregation tells the People that AARON was chosen both by God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their Suffrages which KORAH being upon this occasion miraculously destroy'd were therupon once more given by the People Nevertheless the Princes of the Tribes continuing still discontented and full of murmur God decided the Controversy by a second miracle the budding of AARON 's Rod and so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being thrice confirm'd by the Chirotonia of God he was confirm'd in that honor Now that the Chirotonia of God in this place of JOSEPHUS signifys the Chirotonia of the 1 Chron. â—9 22. People is plain by that in Scripture where they made SOLOMON King and ZADOCK to be Priest After the Captivity as in other things so in this power the Sanhedrim came as I conceive Chap. 3 to overreach the People JOSHUA the Son of JOSEDECH being thus elected High Priest by the Sanhedrim and this Honor thenceforth Grot ad Hag. 1. 1. Joseph de Bel Jud. l. 4. Maimon Hal. Cele Hamikdasch cap. 4 5. 2 Chron. 24. 5. 25. 8. 26. 13. as appears by MAIMONIDES being at the disposing of this Court Nor could any inferior Priest serve at the Altar except he had acquir'd that right by the Lot as is not only deliver'd by the same Author and by JOSEPHUS but in Scripture Now the Lot as was shewn giving no Prerogative either to any person or party is as popular an Institution as the Chirotonia So in election of Priests the Orders of Israel differ'd not from human Prudence nor those of other Commonwealths the Priest of JUPITER having bin elected after the same manner in the Commonwealth of Syracusa the Augustales and the Vestals in that of Rome and if the right of bearing holy Magistracy being in Israel confin'd to one Tribe or Order may seem to make any difference it was for som time no otherwise in Athens nor in Rome where the Patricians or Nobility assum'd these Offices or the greatest of them to themselves till the People in those Citys disputed that Custom as introduc'd without their consent which the People of Israel could not fairly do because it was introduc'd by their consent TO com to the Levits in their original Ordination God commanded MOSES saying Thou shalt bring the Levits before the Tabernacle Numb 8. 9 10. of the Congregation and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the Children of Israel and they shall put their hands upon the Levits This in the sound of the words may seem to imply the
Liberty of the People which sense also is imply'd by their upbraiding him in Scripture Is it a small thing that thou hast Numb 16. 13. brought us up out of the Land that flows with Milk and Hony to kill us in the Wilderness except thou makest thy self altogether a Prince over us But wheras the Scripture in all this presumes these Incendiarys to have That Moses was no King bely'd MOSES som will have all they thus laid to his charge to be no more but less than truth in as much as they will needs have MOSES not only to have bin a King but to have bin a King exercising Arbitrary Power and such Arbitrary Power as being without any bounds fully amounts to Tyranny Sect. 2 That Moses propos'd his Laws to the People and their Suffrage THE word King is not a sufficient definition of the Magistrat so stil'd Between a Lacedemonian King and a Persian King or between either of these and a King of England there was a vast difference Both the Kings in Lacedemon were but as one Duke in Venice The Venetians therfore if it had so pleas'd them might as well have call'd their Duke a King Certainly it is that he is not so much in the Commonwealth as are a few of his Counsillors and yet all Acts of the Government run in his name as if there were no Common-wealth Deut. 34. 4. In what sense Moses may be call'd a King IT is said according to our Translation MOSES commanded us a Law c. according to the Original MOSES propos'd or gave us a Law which is an Inheritance to the Congregation of JACOB The Duke of Venice has a right to propose or give Law in the Congregation or great Council of Venice where he who sees him sitting would believe he were a King And if MOSES were King in Jesurun Ver. 5. or Israel it was when the Heads of the People and the Tribes of Israel were gather'd together PAUL epitomizing the story of the Acts 13. People of Israel in his Sermon to the Antiochian Jews shews how God chose their Fathers exalted the People destroy'd for their sakes seven Nations in the Land of Canaan and divided their Land to them by Lots but speaks not a word of any King given to them till expresly after their Judges But if MOSES were a King yet that he did not propose but command by his power the Laws which he gave to Israel dos not follow For DAVID was a King who nevertheless did no otherwise make any Law than by Proposition to the People and their â— Chron. 13. free Suffrage upon it DAVID consulted with the Captains of thousands and hundreds and with every Leader of which Military Disciplin of the Congregation of Israel more in due place will be shewn and DAVID said to all the Congregation If it seems good to you and that it be of the Lord our God tho he was a King and a man after God's own heart he makes the People Judges what was of God let us send abroad to our Brethren every where that are left in all the Land of Israel and with them also to the Priests and Levits that are in their Citys and Suburbs that they to the end this thing may be perform'd with the greatest solemnity may gather themselves to us and let us bring the Ark of God to us for we inquir'd not at it in the days of SAUL 1 Sam. 4. In the days of ELI the Ark was taken by the Philistins who being smitten till there was a deadly destruction throout all the City and their Divines attributing the cause therof to the detention of the Ark after seven months sent it to Bethshemesh whence it was brought to Kirjath-jearim and there lodg'd in the house of AMINADAB before SAUL was King where it remain'd till such time as DAVID propos'd in the manner shewn to the People the reduction of the same Upon this Proposition the People giving Suffrage are unanimous Chap. 1 in their result All the Congregation said that they would do so not 1 Chron. 13. 4. that they could do no otherwise by a King for they did not the like by REHOBOAM but that the thing was right in the eys of all the People Moreover DAVID and the Captains of the Host separated to Chap. 25. the Service som of the Sons of ASAPH and of HEMAN and of JEDUTHUN who should prophesy with Harps with Psalterys and with Cymbals that is propos'd these Laws for Church Disciplin or Offices of the Priests and Levits to the same Representative of the People of which more in other places Thus much in this to shew that if MOSES were a King it dos not follow that he propos'd not his Laws to a Congregation of the People having the power of Result To say that the Laws propos'd by MOSES were the Dictat of GOD is not to evade but to confirm the necessity of proposing them to the People seeing the Laws or Dictats of GOD or of CHRIST can no otherwise be effectually receiv'd or imbrac'd by a People or by a privat man than by the free suffrage of the Soul or Conscience and not by Force or Rewards which may as well establish the Laws of the Devil That there lay no appeal from the 70 Elders to Moses Numb 11. 16. BUT for another way such a one as it is of crowning MOSES Sect. 3 som are positive that there lay an appeal from the seventy Elders to Him Now the Command of God to MOSES for the institution of the Seventy is this Gather to me seventy men of the Elders of Israel that they may stand with thee Upon which words let me ask whether had MOSES thenceforth a distinct or a joint political Capacity If the Seventy stood with MOSES or it were a joint Capacity then MOSES was no King in their sense and if it were distinct then lay there to MOSES no appeal even by his own Law for thus in the case of Appeals it is by him directed If there arises a Controversy too Deut. 6. hard for thee in Judgment thou shalt com to the Priests and Levits that is to the seventy Elders According to the sentence of the Law which they shall tell thee thou shalt do And the man that will do presumtuously and will not hearken even that man shall dy In which words all color of appeal from the seventy Elders is excluded BUT whether MOSES were a King or no King either his Sect. 4 Power was more than that of King DAVID or without proposition to and result of the People it is plain that he could pass no Law Now the Senat Sanhedrim or seventy Elders came in the place of MOSES or stood with him therfore their Power could be no more than was that of MOSES So that if the Power of MOSES were never more in the point of Lawgiving than to propose to the People then the power of the Sanhedrim
any thing wherof they were in actual possession yet as to their legal Right took he from them as SAMUEL had forewarn'd their Fields their Vinyards and their Oliveyards even the best of them and gave them to his Servants or to a Nobility which by this means he introduc'd 2 Sam. 23. 1 Chron. 11. THE first Order of the Nobility thus instituted were as they are term'd by our Translators DAVID'S Worthys to these may be added the great Officers of his Realm and Court with such as sprang out of both But however these things by advantage of foren Conquest might be order'd by DAVID or continu'd for the time of his next Successor certain it is that the balance of Monarchy in so small a Country must be altogether insufficient to it self or destructive to the People A Parallel of the Monarchichal Balances in Israel and in Lacedemon Plutarch in Agis and Cleomenes THE Commonwealth of Lacedemon being founded by LYCURGUS Sect. 3 upon the like Lots with these design'd by MOSES came after the spoil of Athens to be destroy'd by Purchasers and brought into one hundred hands wherupon the People being rooted out there remain'd no more to the two Kings who were wont to go out with great Armys than one hundred Lords nor any way if they were invaded to defend themselves but by Mercenarys or making War upon the Penny which at the farthest it would go not computing the difference in Disciplin reach'd not in one third those Forces which the popular Balance could at any time have afforded without Mony This som of those Kings perceiving were of all others the most earnest to return to the popular Balance What Disorders in a Country no bigger than was theirs or this of the Israelits must in case the like course be not taken of necessity follow may be at large perus'd in the story of Lacedemon and shall be fully shewn when I com to the story of the present Kings The Superstructures of the Hebrew Monarchy FOR the Superstructures of DAVID'S Government it has bin Sect. 4 shewn at large what the Congregation of Israel was and that without the Congregation of Israel and their Result there was not any Law made by DAVID The like in the whole or for the most part was observ'd till REHOBOAM who refusing to redress the Grievances of the People was depos'd by one part of this Congregation or Parlament and set up by another to the confusion both of Parlament and People And DAVID as after him JEHOSHAPHAT did restore the Sanhedrim I will not affirm by popular Election after the antient manner He might do it perhaps as he made JOAB over the Host JEHOSHAPHAT Recorder and SERAIAH Scribe 1 Sam. 8. 15. Certain it is the Jewish Writers hold unanimously that the seventy Elders were in DAVID'S time and by a good token for they say to him only of all the Kings it was lawful or permitted to enter into the Sanhedrim which I the rather credit for the words of DAVID where he says I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Council Psal 111. 1. and in the Congregation of the Vpright which words relate to the Senat and the Congregation of Israel The final cause of the popular Congregation in a Commonwealth is to give such a balance by their Book II Result as may and must keep the Senat from that Faction and Corruption wherof it is not otherwise curable or to set it upright Yet our Translation gives the words cited in this manner I will praise the Lord with my whole Heart in the Assembly of the Vpright and in the Psal 82. 1. Congregation There are other Allusions in the English Psalms of the like nature shaded in like manner As God is present in the Congregation of God that is in the Representative of the People of Israel he judges among the Gods that is among the seventy Elders or in the Sanhedrim What the Orders of the Israelitish Monarchy in the time of DAVID were tho our Translators throout the Bible have don what they could against Popular Government is clear enough in many such places Sect. 5 The Story of the Hebrew Kings TO conclude this Chapter with the story of the Hebrew Kings Till REHOBOAM and the division thro the cause mention'd of the Congregation in his time the Monarchy of the Hebrews was one but came thenceforth to be torn into two that of Judah consisting of two Tribes Judah and Benjamin and that of Israel consisting of the other ten From which time this People thus divided had little or no rest from the flame of that Civil War which once kindl'd between the two Realms or Factions could never be extinguish'd but in the destruction of both Nor was Civil War of so new a date among them SAUL whose whole Reign was impotent and perverse being conquer'd by DAVID and DAVID invaded by his Son ABSALOM so strongly that he fled before him SOLOMON the next Successor happen'd to have a quiet Reign by settling himself upon his Throne in the death of ADONIJAH his elder Brother and in the deposing of the High Priest ABIATHAR yet made he the yoke of the People grievous After him we have the War between JEROBOAM and REHOBOAM Then the Conspiracy of BAASHA against NADAB King of Israel which ends in the destruction of JEROBOAM'S House and the Usurpation of his Throne by BAASHA which BAASHA happens to leave to his Son ASA Against ASA rises ZIMRI Captain of the Chariots kills him with all his kindred reigns seven days at the end wherof he burns himself for fear of OMRI who upon this occasion is made Captain by one part of the People as is also TIBNI by another The next Prize is plaid between OMRI and TIBNI and their Factions in which TIBNI is slain Upon this success OMRI out-doing all his Predecessors in Tyranny leaves his Throne and Virtues to his Son AHAB Against AHAB drives JEHU furiously destroys him and his Family gives the flesh of his Queen JEZEBEL to the Dogs and receives a Present from those of Samaria even seventy Heads of his Masters Sons in Baskets To ASA and JEHOSHAPHAT Kings of Judah belongs much Reverence But upon this Throne sat ATHALIAH who to reign murder'd all her Grand-children except one which was JOASH JOASH being hid by the High Priest at whose command ATHALIAH was som time after slain ends his Reign in being murder'd by his Servants To him succedes his Son AMAZIA slain also by his Servants About the same time ZACHARIAH King of Israel was smitten by SHALLUM who reign'd in his stead SHALLUM by MANAHIM who reign'd in his stead PEKAHA the Son of MANAHIM by PEKAH one of his Captains who reign'd in his stead PEKAH by HOSHEA HOSHEA having reign'd nine years is carry'd by Chap. 4 SALMANAZZER King of Assyria with the ten Tribes into Captivity Now might it be expected that the Kingdom of Judah should injoy Peace a good King they
of the cause wherupon they were subdu'd it seem'd good to the Senat and the People to confirm them And that it be lawful for the Provincials to appeal from their Provincial Magistrats Councils or Generals to the People of England IN modelling a Commonwealth the concernment of Provincial Government coms in the last place for which cause I conceive any long Discourse upon these Orders to be at present unnecessary But certain things there are in the way which I am unwilling to let slip without pointing at them Whether Men or Mony be the Nerve of War SOM will have Men som will have Mony to be the Nerve of War each of which Positions in proper cases may be a Maxim For if France where the main Body of the People is imbas'd or Venice which stands upon a Mercenary Militia want Mony they can make no War But it has heretofore bin otherwise with Commonwealths Roman Historians as is observ'd by MACCHIAVEL in their Military Preparations or Expeditions make no mention of Mony unless what was gain'd by the War and brought home into the Treasury as the Spoil of Macedon by AEMILIUS PAULUS being such as the People for som years after were discharg'd of their Tribute Not that their Wars were made altogether without Mony for if so why should the People at any time before have paid Tribute Or why upon this occasion were they excus'd but that the Mony in which their Wars stood them was not considerable in comparison of that which is requisit where Mony may be counted the Nerve of War that is where Men are not to be had without it But Rome by virtue of its Orders could have rais'd vaster numbers of Citizens and Associats than perhaps it ever did tho during the Consulat of PAPPUS and REGULUS she levy'd in Italy only seventy thousand Horse and seven hundred thousand Foot Should we conceive the Nerve of this Motion to have bin Mony we must reckon the Indys to have bin exhausted before they were found or so much Brass to have bin in Italy as would have made Stones to be as good Mony A well order'd Commonwealth dos these things not by Mony but by such Orders as make of its Citizens the Nerve of its Wars The Youth of the Commonwealth propos'd are esteem'd in all at five hundred thousand Of these there is an annual Band consisting of one hundred thousand Of this one hundred thousand there is a standing Army consisting of thirty thousand Foot and ten thousand Horse besides such as being above Book III thirty years of age shall offer themselves as Voluntiers of which the number is in no wife likely to be few To the standing Army the Provinces or that only of Scotland being both Populous and Martial can afford at any time an equal number of Auxiliarys THESE Orders thus sum'd up together render this Common-wealth ordinarily able to wage War with fourscore thousand men a Force which it is known not any Prince in Christendom is able to match in Virtue Number or Disciplin For these the Common-wealth in her Sea Guard has always at hand sufficient Waftage or at least such a sufficient Convoy as may make any Vessels at hand a sufficient Transportation all this I say by virtue of Orders Not but that the March the Equipage the Waftage of so great an Army must cost Mony but that it will com to no account in comparison of a lingring War made by a matter of thirty thousand Mercenarys the very consumtion of a State wheras fourscore thousand men so disciplin'd and so furnish'd as has bin shewn being once transported must suddenly com to be no Charge or make the War defray it self BUT 't is objected that to reckon upon such a Militia were to suppose a large Country capable of being a Commonwealth wheras we hold them learn'd who say that no Commonwealth has consisted of more Whether a Commonwealth has consisted of more than one City or Town than som one City or Town But in what Language or in what Geography are the twelve Tribes of Israel the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peopledoms or Prytanys of Athens which THESEUS gather'd into one body the Tribes and Linages in Lacedemon instituted by LYCURGUS the five and thirty Roman Tribes planted between the Rivers Vulturnus and Arno or between the Citys now call'd Capua and Florence the 13 Cantons of the Switzers the seven United Provinces of the Low Countrys understood to have bin or to be but one City or Town Whether were not the People of Israel under their Commonwealth six hundred thousand What reason can be given why the Government that could take in six hundred thousand might not as well take in twice that number How much short came the Country planted by the Roman Tribes of 150 Miles square Or how much over is England And what reason can be given why a Government taking in 150 Miles square might not as well take in twice that Compass Whether was our House of Commons under Monarchy not collected from the utmost Bounds of the English Territory And whether had the Laws by them enacted not their free course to the utmost limits of the same And why should that be impossible or impracticable to a Representative of the People in a Commonwealth which was so facil and practicable to a Representative of the People under Monarchy IT is a wonder how the Commonwealth of Rome which held as it were the whole World by Provinces should be imagin'd by any man to have consisted but of one Town or City BUT to return It is alleg'd by others and as to Provincial Government very truly that a Commonwealth may be a Tyranny Nor do I think that Athens in this point came short of any Prince Rome on the other side was according to the merits of the cause as frequent in giving Liberty as in taking it away The Provinces of Venice and of Switzerland would not change their condition with the Subjects of the best Prince However the possibility in a Common-wealth of tyrannizing over Provinces is not to be cur'd for be the Commonwealth or the Prince a State or a Man after God's own heart there is no way of holding a Province but by Arms. The thirteenth Parallel 2 Sam. 8. 5 6. WHEN the Syrians of Damascus came to succor HADADEZER King of Zobah DAVID slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand Men then DAVID put Garisons in Syria of Damascus and the Syrians became Servants to DAVID and brought Gifts and the Lord preserv'd DAVID whithersoever he went WITH this Parallel I draw the Curtain and close be it Comedy to such as are for Tragedy this Model appealing to the present or the next Age whether throout I have not had God himself for my Vouchee In the mean time there is nothing hereby propos'd which See the Corollary of Oceana may not stand with a supreme Magistrat The Conclusion Shewing how the Model propos'd may be prov'd or examin'd
Governments CHAP. I. Considering the Principles or Balance of National Governments with the different kinds of the same CHAP. II. Shewing the variation of the English Balance CHAP. III. Of the fixation of the Balance or of Agrarian Laws CHAP. IV. Shewing the Superstructures of Governments THE Conclusion observing that the Principles of Human Prudence being good without proof out of Scripture are nevertheless such as are provable out of Scripture The Second Book THE Preface shewing that there were Commonwealths before that of Israel CHAP. I. Shewing that Israel was a Commonwealth CHAP. II. Shewing what Commonwealth Israel was CHAP. III. Shewing the Anarchy or state of the Israelits under their Judges CHAP IV. Shewing the state of the Israelits under their Kings to the Captivity CHAP. V. Shewing the state of the Jews in Captivity and after their return from Captivity or the frame of the Jewish Commonwealth and in that the Original of Ordination CHAP. VI. Shewing how Ordination was brought into the Christian Church and the divers ways of the same at divers times in use with the Apostles THE Conclusion Shewing that neither God nor Christ or the Apostles ever instituted any Government Ecclesiastical or Civil upon any other Principles than those only of Human Prudence The Third Book THE Preface Containing a Model of Popular Government propos'd notionally CHAP. I. Containing the Civil part of the Model propos'd practicably CHAP. II. Containing the Religious part of the Model propos'd practicably CHAP. III. Containing the Military part of the Model propos'd practicably CHAP. IV. Containing the Provincial part of the Model propos'd practicably THE Conclusion Shewing how the Model may be prov'd or examin'd and giving a brief Answer to Mr. WREN's last Book intitul'd Monarchy asserted c. THE FIRST BOOK SHEWING THE FOUNDATIONS AND SUPERSTRUCTURES Of all kinds of GOVERNMENT If this Age fails me the next will do me Justice The PREFACE Considering the Principles or Nature of Family Government DIVINES and the like studious Assertors of Monarchy have not laid their Principles so fairly while they have conceal'd one part from the right of Paternity or from the Government of Familys which may be of two kinds wheras they have taken notice but of one For Family Government may be as necessarily Popular in som cases as Monarchical in others Monarchical Family TO shew now the nature of the Monarchical Family Put the case a man has one thousand Pounds a year or therabouts he marrys a Wife has Children and Servants depending upon him at his good will in the distribution of his Estate for their livelihood Suppose then that this Estate coms to be spent or lost where is the Monarchy of this Family But if the Master was no otherwise Monarchical than by virtue of his Estate then the foundation or balance of his Empire consisted in the thousand pounds a year Popular Family THAT from these principles there may also be a Popular Family is apparent For suppose six or ten having each three hundred pounds a year or so shall agree to dwell together as one Family can any one of these pretend to be Lord and Master of the same or to dispose of the Estates of all the rest Or do they not agree together upon such Orders to which they consent equally to submit But if so then certainly must the Government of this Book I Family be a Government of Laws or Orders and not the Government of one or of som three or four of these men Government of Laws and Government of Men. YET the one Man in the Monarchical Family giving Laws and the Many in the Popular Family doing no more it may in this sense be indifferently said That all Laws are made by Men. But it is plain that where the Law is made by one Man there it may be unmade by one man so that the Man is not govern'd by the Law but the Law by the Man which amounts to the Government of the Man and not of the Law Wheras the Law being not to be made but by the Many no man is govern'd by another man but by that only which is the common interest by which means this amounts to a Government of Laws and not of Men. The facility that is in true Politics THAT the Politics may not be thought an unnecessary or difficult Art if these Principles be less than obvious and undeniable even to any Woman that knows what belongs to housekeeping I confess I have no more to say But in case what has bin said be to all sorts and capacitys evident it is most humbly submitted to Princes and Parlaments whether without violence or removing of Property they can make a Popular Family of the Monarchical or a Monarchical Family of the Popular Or whether that be practicable or possible in a Nation upon the like balance or foundation in Property which is not in a Family A Family being but a smaller Society or Nation and a Nation but a greater Society or Family The difference between a Soverain Lord and a Magistrat tho supreme THAT which is usually answer'd to this point is That the six or ten thus agreing to make one Family must have som Steward and to make such a Steward in a Nation is to make a King But this is to imagin that the Steward of a Family is not answerable to the Masters of it or to them upon whose Estates and not upon his own he defrays the whole Charge For otherwise this Stewardship cannot amount to Dominion but must com only to the true nature of Magistracy and indeed of annual Magistracy in a Commonwealth seeing that such Accounts in the years end at farthest use to be calculated and that the Steward Body and Estate is answerable for the same to the Proprietors or Masters who also have the undoubted right of constituting such another Steward or Stewards as to them shall seem good or of prolonging the Office of the same Where the art of Lawgiving is necessary NOW where a Nation is cast by the unseen ways of Providence into a disorder of Government the duty of such particularly as are elected by the People is not so much to regard what has bin as to provide for the supreme Law or for the safety of the People which consists in the true Art of Lawgiving The art of Lawgiving is of two kinds THE Art of Lawgiving is of two kinds the one as I may say false the other true The first consists in the reduction of the Balance to Arbitrary Superstructures which requires violence as being contrary to Nature The other in erecting necessary Superstructures that is such as are conformable to the Balance or Foundation which being purely natural requires that all interposition of Force be remov'd CHAP. I. Chap. 1 Considering the Principles or Balance of National Governments with the different kinds of the same Psal 115. 16. The Original of Property Gen. 3. 19. THE Heaven says DAVID even
the Heavens are the Lords but the Earth has he given to the Children of Men Yet says God to the Father of these Children In the sweat of thy Face shalt thou eat thy Bread Dii laborantibus sua munera vendunt This Donation of the Earth to Man coms to a kind of selling it for INDUSTRY a Treasure which seems to purchase of God himself From the different kinds and successes of this Industry whether in Arms or in other Exercises of the Mind or Body derives the natural equity of Dominion or Property and from the legal establishment or distribution of this Property be it more or less approaching towards the natural equity of the same procedes all Government The balance of Empire consists in Property THE distribution of Property so far as it regards the nature or procreation of Government lys in the overbalance of the same Just as a man who has two thousand pounds a year may have a Retinue and consequently a Strength that is three times greater than his who injoys but five hundred pounds a year Not to speak at this time of Mony which in small Territorys may be of a like effect but to insist upon the main which is Property in Land the overbalance of this as it was at first constituted or coms insensibly to be chang'd in a Nation may be especially of three kinds that is in One in the Few or in the Many The generation of Absolute Monarchy THE overbalance of Land three to one or therabouts in one Man against the whole People creates Absolute Monarchy as when JOSEPH had purchas'd all the Lands of the Aegyptians for PHARAOH The Constitution of a People in this and such cases is capable of intire servitude Buy us and our Land for Bread and we and Gen. 47. 19. our Land will be Servants to PHARAOH The generation of Regulated Monarchy 1 Sam. 8. THE overbalance of Land to the same proportion in the Few against the whole People creates Aristocracy or Regulated Monarchy as of late in England And hereupon says SAMUEL to the People of Israel when they would have a King He will take your Fields even the best of them and give them to his Servants The constitution of a People in this and the like cases is * Nec totam libertatem nec totam servitutem pati possunt Tacit. neither capable of intire Liberty nor of intire Servitude The generation of Popular Government THE overbalance of Land to the same proportion in the People or where neither one nor the few overbalance the whole People creates Popular Government as in the division of the Land of Canaan to the whole People of Israel by lot The constitution of a People in this and the like cases is capable of intire Freedom nay not capable of any other settlement it being certain that if a Monarch or single Person in such a State thro the corruption or improvidence of their Counsils might carry it yet by the irresistible force of Nature or the reason alleg'd by MOSES I am not able to bear all this People alone Numb 11. 14. Book I because it is too heavy for me he could not keep it but out of the deep Waters would cry to them whose feet he had stuck in the mire Of the Militia and of the Negative Voice WHEREVER the balance of a Government lys there naturally is the Militia of the same and against him or them wherin the Militia is naturally lodg'd there can be no negative Vote IF a Prince holds the overbalance as in Turky in him is the Militia as the Janizarys and Timariots If a Nobility has the over-balance the Militia is in them as among us was seen in the Barons Wars and those of York and Lancaster and in France is seen when any considerable part of that Nobility rebelling they are not to be reduc'd but by the major part of their Order adhering to the King IF the People has the overbalance which they had in Israel the Judg. 20. Militia is in them as in the four hundred thousand first decreing and then waging War against Benjamin Where it may be inquir'd what Power there was on earth having a Negative Voice to this Assembly This always holds where there is Settlement or where a Government is natural Where there is no Settlement or where the Government is unnatural it procedes from one of these two causes either an imperfection in the Balance or else such a corruption in the Lawgivers wherby a Government is instituted contrary to the Balance Imperfect Government IMPERFECTIONS of the Balance that is where it is not good or down weight cause imperfect Governments as those of the Roman and of the Florentin People and those of the Hebrew Kings and Roman Emperors being each exceding bloody or at least turbulent Tyranny Oligarchy Anarchy GOVERNMENT against the balance in One is Tyranny as that of the Athenian PISISTRATUS in the Few it is Oligarchy as that of the Roman DECEMVIRS in the Many Anarchy as that under the Neapolitan MAZINELLO The Divine right of Government WHEREVER thro Causes unforeseen by Human Providence the Balance coms to be intirely chang'd it is the more immediatly to be attributed to Divine Providence And since God cannot will the necessary cause but he must also will the necessary effect or consequence what Government soever is in the necessary direction of the Balance the same is of Divine Right Wherfore tho of the Israelits God says â—os 8. 4. They have set up Kings but not by me they have made Princes and I knew it not yet to the small Countries adjoining to the Assyrian Empire â—â—r 27. 6 17. he says Now have I given all these Lands into the hand of the King of Babylon my Servant Serve the King of Babylon and live CHAP. II. Shewing the variation of the English Balance THE Land in possession of the Nobility and Clergy of England till HENRY 7 th cannot be esteem'd to have overbalanc'd those held by the People less than four to one Wheras in our days the Clergy being destroy'd the Lands in possession of the People overbalance those held by the Nobility at least nine in ten In shewing how this change came about som would have it that I assume to my self more than my share tho they do not find me delivering that which must rely upon Authority and not vouching my Authors But HENRY the Seventh being conscious of infirmity in his Title yet finding with what strength and vigor he was brought in by the Nobility Chap. 2 conceiv'd jealousys of the like Power in case of a decay or change of Affections Nondum orbis adoraverat Romam The Lords yet led Country lives their Houses were open to Retainers Men experienc'd in Military Affairs and capable of commanding their Hospitality was the delight of their Tenants who by their Tenures or Dependence were oblig'd to follow their Lords in Arms.