Lock makes necessary^ in his two
treatises
of government, 1.
Rehearsal - v1 - 1750
a
?
us
Tiie REHEARSAL. Al
0. There were some such fools among us, tho' not half so many as among you, who thought we were only fid of conscience ! and that we were obliged to stand to our uoord, and not to proceed further than what we, at sirst, pretended! that is, that we should not gain ground of air enemy ! nor accept of power, when it was in our
power! These were dunder-heads, or, as a great man (of
•our and our side! ) fays perpetually, men of speculation, who know not the world nor man. With this he answers
arguments, and tells stories of his travels
Then sind the conscentious part of both sides were
gidfd; your's into power, which yet they thought sit t0slstvi//;and our Taoc\ex2X. e divines ^Westminster, to let
go, when they found they had let go so far, that was
now too late tostruggle for it. And your history non
conformity, printed 1704, tells us, preface, p. 2. That the assembly of divines at Westminster were all of them,
except eight or nine, conformable ministers but they were moderate men and these eight or nine were able to leaven
the whole lump os them even to make root and branclx
•work with episcopacy, liturgy, and every thing else
This shews how sit moderate men are to stand in the
l*p, in the day of the church's distress
(3. ) Ifthe man war now call'd the moderate (to be
the fastuon! ) fights at this rate, doubt the captain may come to be hang'd for his moderation
Or was a sit emblem you gave us of yovh modera tion, to shew tliat we must expect broad-fides from its and that its language fire, blood, and pillars ofsmoke
(4. ) But if you whigsanddi/senters, joined withoUr moderate men, mould be permitted once more, (for our fins) to over- turn our church and monarchy, WE hope to
rise again, as we did once before. '
O. We'11 ward against that I'll warrant thee.
C You cannot and we will rife again, and
w.
turn you, the fame way we did before.
O. How was that
C. As Thurlo, who was secretary to Oliver, told my'
ord chancellor Clarendon, after the Mag's restoration,. 1660,
L 3
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it
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!
in
all C.
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it ;
!
of it
it
!
!
!
'222 The REHEARSAL.
1660, That tho' they were possestof the people, the/aw- er, and the army, yet they lost all as it were in a moment, and the people, who had set them up, turn'd against them. The chief cause of which he attributed to the books and papers wrote by the cavaliers, which tho' much fewer in number than those on our side (faid Thurlo ) yet were far superior in strength of reason, and the spirit with which they were wrote, above our cant and railing and scolding. And then our own confufions, making good what the royalise had often told us would be the consequence ofa grvei rmer. t set up on the soot of die people, all our autho rity was not sufficient to keep the eyes of the people shut any longer; and they turn'd, like the tide, to their former constitution and government, sinding no rest no tlement possible, but eternal revolution and confufion,
all the schemes of popular government we could contrive; and we try'd round, till we were weary and they too
(5. ) Now, my little Bays, we will do the fame
you. All your scandalous clubs, your rhimers, and jolly- toys, your Locks, your Sidneys, lolands, and D'avexattt, have not been able to give one word in ans'kuer to what has been objected against your popular schemes, from holy seiipture, from reason and experience, and (to srit the scvh out of you) from the Lws of the land, which all jointly damn coercion, and was read to you out of our pulpits in London on Sunday the 28th of January last, with sermons correspondent ou the 30th. At this you fume and fret, and fay tricks are put upon you! but know not how to help your selves. Poor rogues instead of answering or defending your, principles, you cry out
Rome St. Germains you have not one werdmtxe to
at the mouth, and call ill navies, which renders you still more ridiculous! you are gene you 're gone see for how long can noise and clamour hold
fay
you foam
it out against sense and reason, against scripture and law! The enchantment cannot hold long, sure cannot
You, Bays, have done as much as blockhead could do towards dissolving it. For what man of common sense but must see you all bewilder when he reads thy Otstr-
. 11ator
.
i
by
in set
d
a it
! !
! I
;
!
it ;
I
!
!
The
REHEARSAL,
223 maters of last March 28 and 31, N. 99 and 100, of thy 3d Vol. wherein thou asserts, That tlxre is no arhitrary
power in England. No, not in king and parliament f whereas every man that can reckon three upon his sin gers, must know, that all governments in the world must be arhitrary, in some hands or other; for there must be a last re/crt in every government, and that must be arhi
trary xcAunaccountabl:, as having no supericr uponearth. Whether that arhitrary pcwer is in the hands of one, or many, is not now the point, but it mast be somevehere,
else there can be no government. Thestates of Holland are as arhitrary every whit as the Grand Seignior.
0. I put it in the people.
C. The whole body of the people, or the people collec tively can receive no appeal, or pasi any judgment, in any cafe whatever; therefore I suppose you mean the
people representatively, tlrat in their re pres en * tatives in ^ae house ol commons .
0. No no no these are they that battle, make
them rogues and villains, betrayers of their trust, and
wor/e than the Spanish inquistticn, or the Divan of the Twits, or the courts justice in the most barbarous and ar
hitrary governments, as fay N. 99, and now like the lords better than the commons.
C. The lords are all and every one of them made solely and arhitrarily by the crown. And you like the choice of the crown better than of the people then let the crown name all the house of commons too.
O. No, thank you for that we hate prerogative} WE're for pulling down, not raifing higher. And one of our quarrels with the commons is, for their asserting the
prerogative against the lords.
C. To whom then do you appeal from the people re
O. To their principals who elected them, who, fay, did not part with their power absolutely to them, nor give them unlimited commijsions, which, as averN. 100, Would be to act the part ofa mad-man.
C. Then your appeal to the people collective to whom.
presentative
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;
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I
;
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it
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!
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is, I
!
The REHEARSAL.
'
224
whom, as I have shew'd, no appeal can be made.
O. Every one is the people. According to our r«ly that a part is the whole, and that the lejjer part includdH
the greater.
C. Upon this foot then, thou art the people.
O. Yes, and upon this foot, I single John Tutchin do
arraign the whole representative of the nation, upon mj original right, and the birth-right of every Englishrnan in England, else we are all jlaves, and subject to arbitrary power !
C. And every Englistman\&% the fame right, and there are many Englishmen who differ in opinion with worthy John Tutchin ; and think that the house of commons have behaved as they ought to do, and will choose the fair. e members again, even the tackers, and perhaps them chiefs. And that John Tutchin ought to receive that whipping was once forgiven him, for his bold, saucy, and seditious refections upon that august body of the representative of the
nation.
O. He's a slave that thinks so, ofslavish principles, i Perkinite, and 2. papish.
C. But isn't he the people, as well as Join Tutchin ? And hasn't he the freedom of his own opinion, as well as John Tutchin?
O. Then I John the people will go to cuffs with thee Roger the people.
C. This is the result of thy scheme of government ! and which is worse, it cannot be mended by all the schemes that Lock, Sidney, or all your men of wit put together ever have contriv'd, or possibly ever can contrive, upon the foot of the people; they all end in the self fame non
sense and contradiction! than which nothing can be more ridiculous that ever was asserted by mankind, not except ing Bedlam ! And do'st think it possible for Englishmen to be longer detain'd under such an infatuation, when it is made so very plain to them ? and under which they have seen their country ruin'd and undone, twice almost in the fame age ! and now again on the very brink of the fame
fetal precipice, hurry'd on by the fame madness ! which flops not short of blasphemy. . (6. ) O.
The REHEARSAL. (6. ) O. How! blasphemy!
225
C. What is it short, which
thou asserts N. 99, where
.
hou fay'st. There is a Trinity which all our lams seem
'o uuorjhip here on earth, estate, liberty, and life.
O. It is but a blasphemous allusion ! and I learnt it from
one of our celebrated 'books, intituled, A view of go vernment in Europe— —Also of the antiquity, &c. os par liaments, by'T. R. Esq; printed 1689, for R. Baldwin,
where, p. 10. from these words, Let us make man, he infers, As if God summon 'd a parliament of the Tri
nity- Blasphemous
C. wretches! Whither will nonsense
and obstinacy carry men ?
vine right, and a divine pattern, which was alledg'd in behalf of kings and of monarchy. This made Baxter re-
present heaven as a parliament, and sill it with saints pro portionable ; of which I told thee before, N. 30.
But they had, with better semblance, follow 'd their in genious Milton, who, in his Paradise Lost, makes Lucifer to have call'd a parliament in heaven (and I suppose it was thefirst ) himself the speaker, to assert their rights and li
berties against the arbitrary government os the king. From ^>at. April 7, to •§at. April 14, 1705. N° 37.
1. A provocation to the whigs to answer for themselves. j 2. An answer to a quotation out of Algernoon Sidney,
3. A witch-craft in words. 4. 'J he heathen notion of-
•
(1. ) 0Æ. '"T"*HOU vapourcTst over me, at a strange J. rate last time : and spak'st with the ut
most contempt of our great Lock and Sidney, and all our cracks ; thou makest them speak as great nonsense as I my self: And faid'st, that all their schemes of govern ment end just where mine did, to make me my self; John- Tutchin, or any greater scroundrei such can be found
the nation) . ultimate judge over king, lords, and com
The parliament was fond of di
•
government.
ia
(if
226 The REHEARSAL:
stunts, or any other sort of government that can be set Tip upon the foot of the people. Now, art not thou a suuci fellow, to talk at this rate? Ar't not ashamd of thy self, to set thy self up against men of such reputation for sen/e and learning, and to treat them in such an ungentlemanlike manner, without any regard to their quality or learning ?
C. Have I convers'd so long with thee, and woud'st
have me learn nothing of thee ? But I am not come up
to thy nasty Billingsgate, and casting personal reflecti ons, that concern not the subject in debate, notscrupling withal the most horrid lies and forgeries to blacken with, instead of argument. These are the talents of thee and
thy scandalous club, which I never intend to learn oi imitate.
But when I have sirst answer'd gravely and serioustr, and no reply is made but in thy sink and filth, which dare not touch the argument, only throws dirt about thee; and I see some people still so besotted, as to like that way, and still to have up the names of Lock, Sidney, &c. as men that have pronsd the point, and cannot be answer 'i! Then I thought it necessary, after having fully answer J them, to expose their schemes with the utmost contempt, to provoke their admirers, if possible, to look into the argument, and consider on which fide the proofdoes lie ;
and to give them opportunity to correct the insolence of
an opposer, who speaks with all this assurance. I
thought this would be a temptation to them, to give some sober
answer. And I doubt not we mould have had it long be fore this, ifit had been possible to be given ! but it is im-
and all their iints do sind it so ; therefore they dare not meddle, only set a sew curs to bark, and then laugh at the noise ! and I' will go on with the fame assur ance, till all who will confider are convine'd, that there is nothing but rattle in all these popular schemes ; besides the Utmost confufon and destruclion of mankind, without end Or remedy, and an absolute contradiction to all government of what kind or denomination soever; and as I told thee last time, if you whigs suffer us to go on at this insulting and triumphant rate, without other answer than calling
rogvt
fesfible,
The REHEARSAL.
227
rogue and rascal, it is impossible (unless the nation be gi ven up to a ;udicial blindness) but we must recover the people from you, while we thus write over you.
0. This is huff and ding indeed ! you make very pig mies of all the Polyphemus's of the people! and if we fay nothing to thee, they will think, in good earnest, that thou art apparently and clearly in the right; and that there- is no answer to be given on the whig side.
I have
put
on all this
is not my
C.
wont) on purpose for that very end, to try if I can biing any answer out of thee, or any whom thou can'st quote on thy side : Otherwise to make you all as contemptible as
really you are.
(2 . ) O. I have quoted Algernoon Sidney in mine of 3
1 last March, Vol. 3. N. 100. Than whom (I fay) no one un
derflood better the constitution of the English government. And he fays, in his discourses concerning government, chap. 3. sect. 38. p. 423, 424. That men chosen to serve in par liament —are sent thither by prescription, not from a power
assurance (which
derivd from kings, but from those that chuse them.
C. If Algernoon fays so, then I fay, that he neither un
derstood the nature of government, nor of the English
He talks of prescription. Had that prescrip- . tion no beginning ? There he might have found the consti tution. Who was it gave charters to those corporations that choose parliament-men ? Was it the king, orthe/ct? - pie? Did all the people of England, every individual sin
gle person, (which Mr.
Lock makes necessary^ in his two treatises of government, 1. 2. c. 8. Of the beginning of political societies, p. 3 1 6, &c. ) meet together, and deter mine by vote, what town or corporation should choose parliament- men? Which should choose two, which but me, and which 'none? Did the people ordain that a very
iittle poor corporation mould have as many representatives as a whole county? And was this thought a fair and equal' representation of the peopli?
This is as ridiculous as it is contrary to fafl. The king
is the- only, fountain of power in the kingdom. - Neither lords, , wx. commons, or any other have any authority, but
L 6 . what"
constitution.
MS" The REHEARSAL.
what they derive wholly and solely from the crown ; the crown holds of none but God. This is the law
England, as it is exprefly declared, 16 Riclf: 2. c. 5. and many otherstatutes. Kings were before parliaments,- sot
parliaments were called by kings ; otherwise let Algernon name that parliament which made the sirst king; and tett- us who call'd it ? And by whose authority it met ? This
-is a choaking question, and reduces matter to faii, and ii- no otherwise answerable but by facl ; and none has had the courage to answer it, but my Bays ofan Qbfir•uater, who fhoots his holt at every thing, and is as hardy as a- drunken man in the akri. And ha-an/kvers it by another as perilous a question, that •ifæo before /Ar first For which leave thee to- the corregion given thee in my bib paper of last August the 5th,- call'd only the Ob- fervator, to try thou cou'd'st know thy own face in a- less flattering glass than what thou had'st made for thy self.
O. Do'st think that all the mighty structure we have been so many years raifing, with such vast ex- pence of wit and learning, with which we have depo
pulated kingdoms (for the good of the people and tum bled down kings from their thrones, can be all blownwzy at once, like the down of thistle, one puff of thy
breath
C. Inchantments have mighty effects while they last,
yet are easily diffol•v'd sew words right plac'd, and there witch-crast in words we have seen it. Fw S's earry'd on the whole revolution of forty-one, theso were, people, parliaments, property and popery. By vertue
turned the government, and thepeople met one another
original U
of the word people, and their power, they over
tl. e> /. /•/, and manur'd their with the
and car-
tpsj'es of the people.
Whatever came to them in the name of ^parliament
. was their own act aud deed, and went down without exa mining! and the most arbitrary and illegal tyranny upon their Æ*« and estates, if done by the parliamentr was their //'for/y and property Whereas the did
but.
if
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tfhe REHEARSAL.
but look at them, or touch'd a hair of their heads, this they
cry'd out upon as persecution, massacres, tended !
And by tacking the word popery to episcopacy, liturgy,. the rrf«/, and the Lo? Ws prayer, they were all together baniflsd out of the
The inchantment of these words is not yet over with
us. And we have added three other, which have no less
power, viz. moderation, seasonable and balancing. The two first put a full yfo/' to any good, how necessary and ta- ntficial soever, that is propos'd for thesecurity of church or ,/fa/*. And the /«/? justisies any «i>iV can be done, even to burn my neighbour's house, if it be better than mine, or to cut his throat, if I fancy he may ca/ mine, tho' he does me no injury in the world.
O. May not I stand upon my guard, if I think my neighbour designs any attempt upon me ?
n9 &c— in
C. Yes, but not to fall upon him, while he lives
peaceably and quietly with you.
O. I love to give the sirst blow.
C. Then you must take the guilt with and all the
blood that follows, lies upon the aggress'or. And -this
we must suppose, there God. in heaven, or any justice, faith, or honour left upon the earth and, at this rate, no peace can be preserv'd in the uoorld. For till the levelling age comes, there will be always pretence for
balancing.
(4. ) O. But to return to our subject. Thy assurance
reaches not only all our late modern heroes, who have
wrote, upon liberty and the original power of the people bat thou set'st thy self above all the antient bothGreck and Roman philosophers, from whom w learnt that notion, and mak'st/Wi of them all, as well as of us.
C. No, make not fools of them, nor set my self
above them, they were men of great •wit and sagacity
yet know from the holy scriptures (which they had not) what all their philosophy could never reach. They knew not how the world or mankind began. How then could they know how government began therefore they were
3L
Put
?
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is a
higher
The
REHEARSAL;
230
put to their gueffes, and some of them thought of the
way of urns ah and agreement among »<»,tho' they knew not when or henu. But they faw that this could be no bafis or settlement of government, especially so as to ob
lige conscience, which is the great security ofgovernment ; for what man is he who can by his own natural au thority bind the conscience of another ? That would be far more than the power of lise, liberty or property. Therefore they faw the necessity of a divine original of
government. To supply which, they fabled their kings to be begot by some God or other, and so to be of an
race than the rest of mankind. And they had their apotheoses of their kings, at their death, or turning them into Gods, to command the t everence and obe&ena
of theirsubjects.
Then their legiflators gave it out, that they received
their laws from some of the Gods. At Numa Pontpilius faid he had his from the Goddess Ægeria. Draco and Solon pretended they had the Athenian laws from Mi nerva. Lycurgus those of the Lacedæmonians, from Apolh. Minos of Crete, from Jupiter. Trismegistus from Mer cury, for the ÆgyptianT. Zoroaster for the Perfians,
from Horomafis. Xamolxis from Vesta, for the Scythians, and so forth.
Thus they grop'd in the dark after what we have clearly
revealed va. holy scripture, the divine original ofgovern ment. And you, (good Christians ! ) lead us back to the Heathens to sind it out, and set up their schemes of com-
pact, rejecting the institution of God, recorded in Genesis, as of the sirst dominion founded in Adam, so of the divi
fion of. nations under Noab.
Frtffl
The REHEARSAL.
231 E? r-©m ^at. April 14, to ^>at. April 21, 1705. N°38-
2Wr. Lock's two treatises ofgovernment examind. And
the reason of it. With an advertisement of a new as sociation going about.
Oi/! OINCE ourlast meetinglhave consulted our great oracle Mr. Lock. I could not endure to be so
mauVd\yf thee, and now I am prepar'd thou shalt not come off victoria ! as thou hast hitherto done. Thou hasl
hevsd him down, as asserting that the consent of every individual was necessary for the erection of government.
And he is as sensible as thou art, that that is impossible, and
fays, in his two treatises ofgovernment, book 2. cap. 8. Of the beginning of political societies, p. 318. Which (lays he, that the consent of every individual confidering the infirmities health, and avocations bufiness, which in
a number, tho" much left than that of a commonwealth, nvill necessarily keep many away from the publick assembly
and the variety opinions, and contrariety interests nvhich unavoidably happen in all collections men, 'tis next
to impossible ever to had.
C. Yet the very page before, and the page before that,
he makes the consent of every individual to be necessary, and the only foundation of all politicalsocieties. He fays, p. 316. When any number men have the consent
every individual made a community . And p. 317. one
body, one community, which the consent every indivi
dual that united into page, Thus every man
agreed, Sec. And again in the fame consenting with others to make one 355. Every member the society.
body politick, &C. And
O. Ay, 'tis feafible and eas> upon the sirst erection of
government, because necessary, and government could
no otherwise be erected. But where he makes
p. 318, upon the point of the majority concluding
the -whole, after the government fays he, Nothing but the consent tanmake any thing te the act
erected, for otherwise, every individual
the while, which, con sidering^
impossible,
he
p.
i. y
of
ofof is
it is
is, of
it
cf
of of
it is
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of
;
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The REHEARSAL.
sidering the infirmities ofhealth, &c. as before quoted, is next to impossihle ever to be bad.
C. If it never could be had, then it never could be had, more upon one occasion than another. And no oc cafion can be nam'd more likely to create •variety of nions, and contrariety of interests, than the contrivance of
and the choice of the governors. So that here you have brought Lock confuting himsels: and plainly owning, that the foundation ofpopular government
nonsense and an impossihility•
But now suppose government set up upon this sounda-
tion, upon which was impossible to be set up, as Lock himself has prov'd. Does he make the government set tled and fix'd in his or their hands where the commu
nity have plac'd
O. What do'll 'mean, an absolute and arhitrary sower
in the supreme and legistative authority No, no, he will not allow of that any means. And he proves ex
cellently, which had not ready at hand last time thou mad'st such goose of me, for faying, that there no ar- litre, ry power in England so that had not ran/ to
fay for my self. For tho' have taken all my principles out of Lock, do not always remember his reasons but now I'm ready for thee, and have at thee. He comes upon this point, in his two treatises, book z. chap. xi. 353. where he treats Of the extent the legiflative power, And fays thus, 355. Tho the legistative, whether one or more, be thesupreme power in every commonwealth,
yet not, nor. can possibly be absolutely arhitrary over the lives andfortunes the people for being but the joint
power every member the society given up to that per son, or assembly which legifiator, can be no more then those persons, had in a state nature, before they enter
into society, and gave up to the community for no body can transfer to another more power than he has in himsels
and no body has an absolute arhitrary power over himself, or over any other to destroy his own life, or take away tie life or property of another. A man, as has been prov'i,
tannoi subject himself to the arhitrary power another.
C. And;.
government,
of
;
a is
; it
it
of
is of
;
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it ;
of it
!
it is
cf
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The REHEARSAL.
I have
233 to thee before, the
C. And, as
legiflative power, wherever it is plac'd> in any sort of government, is, and must be arhitrary and absolute, and it is impossible to be otherwise ; and every man sees it in all governments upon the face of the e^rth. The legifla
tive is not bound to its own laws, but may repeal them
at pleasure ; and before repeal may dispense with them, and leap over them, and act contrary to them ; may de
fully prov'd
ny the liberty of habeas corpus, and keep men in Newgate all the days of their lise, without either trial or bail ; may take a man's life by act of attainder, where the or dinary course of the laws could not reach him. In short, may do what they will, and make what they will to be law ; for their •mill is the law.
Therefore, ifas Mr. Lock fays, and fays he has prov'd No man can fubject himself to the arhitrary power
another, no man can subject himself to any governments of what sort or fize so ever. Nor can there be such thing as government kept up in the world.
And as he fays, no man has power over the life or property of another, then cannot the whole community com mit anyforce upon any single individual, who shall gain
fay their constitution No, nor compel him to leave them, or his native country and hirth-right .
And as he fays again, no- man can transfer to an other more power th'ani'e has in himself, and that no body- has power over himsels to destroy his own life then how came any government to have power of life and death Mr. Lock consesses the individuals could not give it. And who else was there to give it? doubt little divine right must come in here. What else can give to another that power over my life, which- have net my self?
O. This Rehearser aflts many silly questions there's no bearing on'th he puts one out still, and won't let'en'
go on. But I'll tell thee Mr. Lock fays, that art absolute
subje3ion to any form of government worse than anarchy or the state at nature. This he takes pains to prove p. 359. and fays, '[hat he in a much worse condition that iy expos'd to the arhitrary power of one man who has the
command
is
so
1
I is
a
;
?
a
of
if,
it, if,
:
The RE HEARSAL
command of I 00,000, than he that is expos d to the arU- trary power of 100,000 jingle men.
C. This is so very senseless, (with all respect to Mt. Lock's judgment ! ) that it is even tfhame to answer it. Ageu- ral or a king of 100,000 men may command hardiixaQ, ] as to march upon the mouth of a cannon, and bang a man for a very small matter, stepping out of his rank, or tak ing an egg, tho' he were starving, and had not a penny to pay for't, Or for his pay, tho' it be due to him ; yet, with all this arbitrariness, is not this a better
for these ioo,coo men than anarchy, and letting them all loose upon one another, to rob, plunder, and kill one another at discretion I And if the number be greater, aa
of millions in a kingdom, the confufion and destrutHo* would be proportionably greater. And if the whole world were in this supposed of nature, it would be one aeeldama, and nothing but ArtV could the wild uproar ! Yet Mr. Lock thinks this much preferable to the
234
living under the absolute government either of a king, or a commonwealth! And must such stupid notions still /rr- <pa/7, still bewitch this wretched nations
. O. I my self, . /W enough as I am, must forsake my master Lock here. This was putting the case too far, it frights one to think on't ! but he did Hot mean it ; for he fays, p. 422, that if a government be arbitrary, it is dix/hlv'd, and the people are restor'd to their originalstate
of nature; but he does, not suppose the people will conti nue in that state, but may choose a new legislative for themselves, in what form and manner they think sit. This is the subject of chap. XIX. of book 2. Of the disso lution ofgovernment, beginning at p. 432, where all thi* is asserted, and discours'd at large.
C. Dissolution of government is a whim, a dream. One contending party may take the government from another,
and when they have £0/
fall so low as the people state of nature and
they /for/> but never let
they despise your individuals and any individual should set up for
his originalfreedom, they would hang him up for an ori ginalfoci. Such an independent would besuspended as
disturber of any sort ofsettlement whatsoever. And
;
if ;
it,
a it 1
it,
The REHEARS AL.
235
And as there never was such an independent state of mankind, as Lock or the rest of our popular orators vainly fancy ; so cannot mankind fall into such a state, more than
the world into its original chaos.
And ifmankind were in such a state, they cou'd no
more produce government from the consent of every in
dividual; than the chaos, by its own naturalforce, cou'd
have produc'd this world, by a fortuitous concourse of atoms : which some of the heathen philosophers foolishly thought, for want of the knowledge of the creation. And it is full as reasonable for Christians to lay aside the
and follow the heathens in this, as in the
holy scriptures^
original ofgovernment ; of which they knew no more than ofthe other.
Let me but give an instance to make it familiar to eve ry body, in a very little part of the world, that is, the
yleoi Britain.
?
us
Tiie REHEARSAL. Al
0. There were some such fools among us, tho' not half so many as among you, who thought we were only fid of conscience ! and that we were obliged to stand to our uoord, and not to proceed further than what we, at sirst, pretended! that is, that we should not gain ground of air enemy ! nor accept of power, when it was in our
power! These were dunder-heads, or, as a great man (of
•our and our side! ) fays perpetually, men of speculation, who know not the world nor man. With this he answers
arguments, and tells stories of his travels
Then sind the conscentious part of both sides were
gidfd; your's into power, which yet they thought sit t0slstvi//;and our Taoc\ex2X. e divines ^Westminster, to let
go, when they found they had let go so far, that was
now too late tostruggle for it. And your history non
conformity, printed 1704, tells us, preface, p. 2. That the assembly of divines at Westminster were all of them,
except eight or nine, conformable ministers but they were moderate men and these eight or nine were able to leaven
the whole lump os them even to make root and branclx
•work with episcopacy, liturgy, and every thing else
This shews how sit moderate men are to stand in the
l*p, in the day of the church's distress
(3. ) Ifthe man war now call'd the moderate (to be
the fastuon! ) fights at this rate, doubt the captain may come to be hang'd for his moderation
Or was a sit emblem you gave us of yovh modera tion, to shew tliat we must expect broad-fides from its and that its language fire, blood, and pillars ofsmoke
(4. ) But if you whigsanddi/senters, joined withoUr moderate men, mould be permitted once more, (for our fins) to over- turn our church and monarchy, WE hope to
rise again, as we did once before. '
O. We'11 ward against that I'll warrant thee.
C You cannot and we will rife again, and
w.
turn you, the fame way we did before.
O. How was that
C. As Thurlo, who was secretary to Oliver, told my'
ord chancellor Clarendon, after the Mag's restoration,. 1660,
L 3
; ?
of is
!
it
I
!
in
all C.
I
!
it ;
!
of it
it
!
!
!
'222 The REHEARSAL.
1660, That tho' they were possestof the people, the/aw- er, and the army, yet they lost all as it were in a moment, and the people, who had set them up, turn'd against them. The chief cause of which he attributed to the books and papers wrote by the cavaliers, which tho' much fewer in number than those on our side (faid Thurlo ) yet were far superior in strength of reason, and the spirit with which they were wrote, above our cant and railing and scolding. And then our own confufions, making good what the royalise had often told us would be the consequence ofa grvei rmer. t set up on the soot of die people, all our autho rity was not sufficient to keep the eyes of the people shut any longer; and they turn'd, like the tide, to their former constitution and government, sinding no rest no tlement possible, but eternal revolution and confufion,
all the schemes of popular government we could contrive; and we try'd round, till we were weary and they too
(5. ) Now, my little Bays, we will do the fame
you. All your scandalous clubs, your rhimers, and jolly- toys, your Locks, your Sidneys, lolands, and D'avexattt, have not been able to give one word in ans'kuer to what has been objected against your popular schemes, from holy seiipture, from reason and experience, and (to srit the scvh out of you) from the Lws of the land, which all jointly damn coercion, and was read to you out of our pulpits in London on Sunday the 28th of January last, with sermons correspondent ou the 30th. At this you fume and fret, and fay tricks are put upon you! but know not how to help your selves. Poor rogues instead of answering or defending your, principles, you cry out
Rome St. Germains you have not one werdmtxe to
at the mouth, and call ill navies, which renders you still more ridiculous! you are gene you 're gone see for how long can noise and clamour hold
fay
you foam
it out against sense and reason, against scripture and law! The enchantment cannot hold long, sure cannot
You, Bays, have done as much as blockhead could do towards dissolving it. For what man of common sense but must see you all bewilder when he reads thy Otstr-
. 11ator
.
i
by
in set
d
a it
! !
! I
;
!
it ;
I
!
!
The
REHEARSAL,
223 maters of last March 28 and 31, N. 99 and 100, of thy 3d Vol. wherein thou asserts, That tlxre is no arhitrary
power in England. No, not in king and parliament f whereas every man that can reckon three upon his sin gers, must know, that all governments in the world must be arhitrary, in some hands or other; for there must be a last re/crt in every government, and that must be arhi
trary xcAunaccountabl:, as having no supericr uponearth. Whether that arhitrary pcwer is in the hands of one, or many, is not now the point, but it mast be somevehere,
else there can be no government. Thestates of Holland are as arhitrary every whit as the Grand Seignior.
0. I put it in the people.
C. The whole body of the people, or the people collec tively can receive no appeal, or pasi any judgment, in any cafe whatever; therefore I suppose you mean the
people representatively, tlrat in their re pres en * tatives in ^ae house ol commons .
0. No no no these are they that battle, make
them rogues and villains, betrayers of their trust, and
wor/e than the Spanish inquistticn, or the Divan of the Twits, or the courts justice in the most barbarous and ar
hitrary governments, as fay N. 99, and now like the lords better than the commons.
C. The lords are all and every one of them made solely and arhitrarily by the crown. And you like the choice of the crown better than of the people then let the crown name all the house of commons too.
O. No, thank you for that we hate prerogative} WE're for pulling down, not raifing higher. And one of our quarrels with the commons is, for their asserting the
prerogative against the lords.
C. To whom then do you appeal from the people re
O. To their principals who elected them, who, fay, did not part with their power absolutely to them, nor give them unlimited commijsions, which, as averN. 100, Would be to act the part ofa mad-man.
C. Then your appeal to the people collective to whom.
presentative
L 4s
!
is
;
I
I
;
I
I
I ?
!
it
I
of
!
if it
is, I
!
The REHEARSAL.
'
224
whom, as I have shew'd, no appeal can be made.
O. Every one is the people. According to our r«ly that a part is the whole, and that the lejjer part includdH
the greater.
C. Upon this foot then, thou art the people.
O. Yes, and upon this foot, I single John Tutchin do
arraign the whole representative of the nation, upon mj original right, and the birth-right of every Englishrnan in England, else we are all jlaves, and subject to arbitrary power !
C. And every Englistman\&% the fame right, and there are many Englishmen who differ in opinion with worthy John Tutchin ; and think that the house of commons have behaved as they ought to do, and will choose the fair. e members again, even the tackers, and perhaps them chiefs. And that John Tutchin ought to receive that whipping was once forgiven him, for his bold, saucy, and seditious refections upon that august body of the representative of the
nation.
O. He's a slave that thinks so, ofslavish principles, i Perkinite, and 2. papish.
C. But isn't he the people, as well as Join Tutchin ? And hasn't he the freedom of his own opinion, as well as John Tutchin?
O. Then I John the people will go to cuffs with thee Roger the people.
C. This is the result of thy scheme of government ! and which is worse, it cannot be mended by all the schemes that Lock, Sidney, or all your men of wit put together ever have contriv'd, or possibly ever can contrive, upon the foot of the people; they all end in the self fame non
sense and contradiction! than which nothing can be more ridiculous that ever was asserted by mankind, not except ing Bedlam ! And do'st think it possible for Englishmen to be longer detain'd under such an infatuation, when it is made so very plain to them ? and under which they have seen their country ruin'd and undone, twice almost in the fame age ! and now again on the very brink of the fame
fetal precipice, hurry'd on by the fame madness ! which flops not short of blasphemy. . (6. ) O.
The REHEARSAL. (6. ) O. How! blasphemy!
225
C. What is it short, which
thou asserts N. 99, where
.
hou fay'st. There is a Trinity which all our lams seem
'o uuorjhip here on earth, estate, liberty, and life.
O. It is but a blasphemous allusion ! and I learnt it from
one of our celebrated 'books, intituled, A view of go vernment in Europe— —Also of the antiquity, &c. os par liaments, by'T. R. Esq; printed 1689, for R. Baldwin,
where, p. 10. from these words, Let us make man, he infers, As if God summon 'd a parliament of the Tri
nity- Blasphemous
C. wretches! Whither will nonsense
and obstinacy carry men ?
vine right, and a divine pattern, which was alledg'd in behalf of kings and of monarchy. This made Baxter re-
present heaven as a parliament, and sill it with saints pro portionable ; of which I told thee before, N. 30.
But they had, with better semblance, follow 'd their in genious Milton, who, in his Paradise Lost, makes Lucifer to have call'd a parliament in heaven (and I suppose it was thefirst ) himself the speaker, to assert their rights and li
berties against the arbitrary government os the king. From ^>at. April 7, to •§at. April 14, 1705. N° 37.
1. A provocation to the whigs to answer for themselves. j 2. An answer to a quotation out of Algernoon Sidney,
3. A witch-craft in words. 4. 'J he heathen notion of-
•
(1. ) 0Æ. '"T"*HOU vapourcTst over me, at a strange J. rate last time : and spak'st with the ut
most contempt of our great Lock and Sidney, and all our cracks ; thou makest them speak as great nonsense as I my self: And faid'st, that all their schemes of govern ment end just where mine did, to make me my self; John- Tutchin, or any greater scroundrei such can be found
the nation) . ultimate judge over king, lords, and com
The parliament was fond of di
•
government.
ia
(if
226 The REHEARSAL:
stunts, or any other sort of government that can be set Tip upon the foot of the people. Now, art not thou a suuci fellow, to talk at this rate? Ar't not ashamd of thy self, to set thy self up against men of such reputation for sen/e and learning, and to treat them in such an ungentlemanlike manner, without any regard to their quality or learning ?
C. Have I convers'd so long with thee, and woud'st
have me learn nothing of thee ? But I am not come up
to thy nasty Billingsgate, and casting personal reflecti ons, that concern not the subject in debate, notscrupling withal the most horrid lies and forgeries to blacken with, instead of argument. These are the talents of thee and
thy scandalous club, which I never intend to learn oi imitate.
But when I have sirst answer'd gravely and serioustr, and no reply is made but in thy sink and filth, which dare not touch the argument, only throws dirt about thee; and I see some people still so besotted, as to like that way, and still to have up the names of Lock, Sidney, &c. as men that have pronsd the point, and cannot be answer 'i! Then I thought it necessary, after having fully answer J them, to expose their schemes with the utmost contempt, to provoke their admirers, if possible, to look into the argument, and consider on which fide the proofdoes lie ;
and to give them opportunity to correct the insolence of
an opposer, who speaks with all this assurance. I
thought this would be a temptation to them, to give some sober
answer. And I doubt not we mould have had it long be fore this, ifit had been possible to be given ! but it is im-
and all their iints do sind it so ; therefore they dare not meddle, only set a sew curs to bark, and then laugh at the noise ! and I' will go on with the fame assur ance, till all who will confider are convine'd, that there is nothing but rattle in all these popular schemes ; besides the Utmost confufon and destruclion of mankind, without end Or remedy, and an absolute contradiction to all government of what kind or denomination soever; and as I told thee last time, if you whigs suffer us to go on at this insulting and triumphant rate, without other answer than calling
rogvt
fesfible,
The REHEARSAL.
227
rogue and rascal, it is impossible (unless the nation be gi ven up to a ;udicial blindness) but we must recover the people from you, while we thus write over you.
0. This is huff and ding indeed ! you make very pig mies of all the Polyphemus's of the people! and if we fay nothing to thee, they will think, in good earnest, that thou art apparently and clearly in the right; and that there- is no answer to be given on the whig side.
I have
put
on all this
is not my
C.
wont) on purpose for that very end, to try if I can biing any answer out of thee, or any whom thou can'st quote on thy side : Otherwise to make you all as contemptible as
really you are.
(2 . ) O. I have quoted Algernoon Sidney in mine of 3
1 last March, Vol. 3. N. 100. Than whom (I fay) no one un
derflood better the constitution of the English government. And he fays, in his discourses concerning government, chap. 3. sect. 38. p. 423, 424. That men chosen to serve in par liament —are sent thither by prescription, not from a power
assurance (which
derivd from kings, but from those that chuse them.
C. If Algernoon fays so, then I fay, that he neither un
derstood the nature of government, nor of the English
He talks of prescription. Had that prescrip- . tion no beginning ? There he might have found the consti tution. Who was it gave charters to those corporations that choose parliament-men ? Was it the king, orthe/ct? - pie? Did all the people of England, every individual sin
gle person, (which Mr.
Lock makes necessary^ in his two treatises of government, 1. 2. c. 8. Of the beginning of political societies, p. 3 1 6, &c. ) meet together, and deter mine by vote, what town or corporation should choose parliament- men? Which should choose two, which but me, and which 'none? Did the people ordain that a very
iittle poor corporation mould have as many representatives as a whole county? And was this thought a fair and equal' representation of the peopli?
This is as ridiculous as it is contrary to fafl. The king
is the- only, fountain of power in the kingdom. - Neither lords, , wx. commons, or any other have any authority, but
L 6 . what"
constitution.
MS" The REHEARSAL.
what they derive wholly and solely from the crown ; the crown holds of none but God. This is the law
England, as it is exprefly declared, 16 Riclf: 2. c. 5. and many otherstatutes. Kings were before parliaments,- sot
parliaments were called by kings ; otherwise let Algernon name that parliament which made the sirst king; and tett- us who call'd it ? And by whose authority it met ? This
-is a choaking question, and reduces matter to faii, and ii- no otherwise answerable but by facl ; and none has had the courage to answer it, but my Bays ofan Qbfir•uater, who fhoots his holt at every thing, and is as hardy as a- drunken man in the akri. And ha-an/kvers it by another as perilous a question, that •ifæo before /Ar first For which leave thee to- the corregion given thee in my bib paper of last August the 5th,- call'd only the Ob- fervator, to try thou cou'd'st know thy own face in a- less flattering glass than what thou had'st made for thy self.
O. Do'st think that all the mighty structure we have been so many years raifing, with such vast ex- pence of wit and learning, with which we have depo
pulated kingdoms (for the good of the people and tum bled down kings from their thrones, can be all blownwzy at once, like the down of thistle, one puff of thy
breath
C. Inchantments have mighty effects while they last,
yet are easily diffol•v'd sew words right plac'd, and there witch-crast in words we have seen it. Fw S's earry'd on the whole revolution of forty-one, theso were, people, parliaments, property and popery. By vertue
turned the government, and thepeople met one another
original U
of the word people, and their power, they over
tl. e> /. /•/, and manur'd their with the
and car-
tpsj'es of the people.
Whatever came to them in the name of ^parliament
. was their own act aud deed, and went down without exa mining! and the most arbitrary and illegal tyranny upon their Æ*« and estates, if done by the parliamentr was their //'for/y and property Whereas the did
but.
if
by
)!
3. )
' is? ?
in
a
by a
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a
(
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I
tfhe REHEARSAL.
but look at them, or touch'd a hair of their heads, this they
cry'd out upon as persecution, massacres, tended !
And by tacking the word popery to episcopacy, liturgy,. the rrf«/, and the Lo? Ws prayer, they were all together baniflsd out of the
The inchantment of these words is not yet over with
us. And we have added three other, which have no less
power, viz. moderation, seasonable and balancing. The two first put a full yfo/' to any good, how necessary and ta- ntficial soever, that is propos'd for thesecurity of church or ,/fa/*. And the /«/? justisies any «i>iV can be done, even to burn my neighbour's house, if it be better than mine, or to cut his throat, if I fancy he may ca/ mine, tho' he does me no injury in the world.
O. May not I stand upon my guard, if I think my neighbour designs any attempt upon me ?
n9 &c— in
C. Yes, but not to fall upon him, while he lives
peaceably and quietly with you.
O. I love to give the sirst blow.
C. Then you must take the guilt with and all the
blood that follows, lies upon the aggress'or. And -this
we must suppose, there God. in heaven, or any justice, faith, or honour left upon the earth and, at this rate, no peace can be preserv'd in the uoorld. For till the levelling age comes, there will be always pretence for
balancing.
(4. ) O. But to return to our subject. Thy assurance
reaches not only all our late modern heroes, who have
wrote, upon liberty and the original power of the people bat thou set'st thy self above all the antient bothGreck and Roman philosophers, from whom w learnt that notion, and mak'st/Wi of them all, as well as of us.
C. No, make not fools of them, nor set my self
above them, they were men of great •wit and sagacity
yet know from the holy scriptures (which they had not) what all their philosophy could never reach. They knew not how the world or mankind began. How then could they know how government began therefore they were
3L
Put
?
E
I
I
;;
a
;
it,
if it
is a
higher
The
REHEARSAL;
230
put to their gueffes, and some of them thought of the
way of urns ah and agreement among »<»,tho' they knew not when or henu. But they faw that this could be no bafis or settlement of government, especially so as to ob
lige conscience, which is the great security ofgovernment ; for what man is he who can by his own natural au thority bind the conscience of another ? That would be far more than the power of lise, liberty or property. Therefore they faw the necessity of a divine original of
government. To supply which, they fabled their kings to be begot by some God or other, and so to be of an
race than the rest of mankind. And they had their apotheoses of their kings, at their death, or turning them into Gods, to command the t everence and obe&ena
of theirsubjects.
Then their legiflators gave it out, that they received
their laws from some of the Gods. At Numa Pontpilius faid he had his from the Goddess Ægeria. Draco and Solon pretended they had the Athenian laws from Mi nerva. Lycurgus those of the Lacedæmonians, from Apolh. Minos of Crete, from Jupiter. Trismegistus from Mer cury, for the ÆgyptianT. Zoroaster for the Perfians,
from Horomafis. Xamolxis from Vesta, for the Scythians, and so forth.
Thus they grop'd in the dark after what we have clearly
revealed va. holy scripture, the divine original ofgovern ment. And you, (good Christians ! ) lead us back to the Heathens to sind it out, and set up their schemes of com-
pact, rejecting the institution of God, recorded in Genesis, as of the sirst dominion founded in Adam, so of the divi
fion of. nations under Noab.
Frtffl
The REHEARSAL.
231 E? r-©m ^at. April 14, to ^>at. April 21, 1705. N°38-
2Wr. Lock's two treatises ofgovernment examind. And
the reason of it. With an advertisement of a new as sociation going about.
Oi/! OINCE ourlast meetinglhave consulted our great oracle Mr. Lock. I could not endure to be so
mauVd\yf thee, and now I am prepar'd thou shalt not come off victoria ! as thou hast hitherto done. Thou hasl
hevsd him down, as asserting that the consent of every individual was necessary for the erection of government.
And he is as sensible as thou art, that that is impossible, and
fays, in his two treatises ofgovernment, book 2. cap. 8. Of the beginning of political societies, p. 318. Which (lays he, that the consent of every individual confidering the infirmities health, and avocations bufiness, which in
a number, tho" much left than that of a commonwealth, nvill necessarily keep many away from the publick assembly
and the variety opinions, and contrariety interests nvhich unavoidably happen in all collections men, 'tis next
to impossible ever to had.
C. Yet the very page before, and the page before that,
he makes the consent of every individual to be necessary, and the only foundation of all politicalsocieties. He fays, p. 316. When any number men have the consent
every individual made a community . And p. 317. one
body, one community, which the consent every indivi
dual that united into page, Thus every man
agreed, Sec. And again in the fame consenting with others to make one 355. Every member the society.
body politick, &C. And
O. Ay, 'tis feafible and eas> upon the sirst erection of
government, because necessary, and government could
no otherwise be erected. But where he makes
p. 318, upon the point of the majority concluding
the -whole, after the government fays he, Nothing but the consent tanmake any thing te the act
erected, for otherwise, every individual
the while, which, con sidering^
impossible,
he
p.
i. y
of
ofof is
it is
is, of
it
cf
of of
it is
it
of be
of
by
of )
of
;
a^a
The REHEARSAL.
sidering the infirmities ofhealth, &c. as before quoted, is next to impossihle ever to be bad.
C. If it never could be had, then it never could be had, more upon one occasion than another. And no oc cafion can be nam'd more likely to create •variety of nions, and contrariety of interests, than the contrivance of
and the choice of the governors. So that here you have brought Lock confuting himsels: and plainly owning, that the foundation ofpopular government
nonsense and an impossihility•
But now suppose government set up upon this sounda-
tion, upon which was impossible to be set up, as Lock himself has prov'd. Does he make the government set tled and fix'd in his or their hands where the commu
nity have plac'd
O. What do'll 'mean, an absolute and arhitrary sower
in the supreme and legistative authority No, no, he will not allow of that any means. And he proves ex
cellently, which had not ready at hand last time thou mad'st such goose of me, for faying, that there no ar- litre, ry power in England so that had not ran/ to
fay for my self. For tho' have taken all my principles out of Lock, do not always remember his reasons but now I'm ready for thee, and have at thee. He comes upon this point, in his two treatises, book z. chap. xi. 353. where he treats Of the extent the legiflative power, And fays thus, 355. Tho the legistative, whether one or more, be thesupreme power in every commonwealth,
yet not, nor. can possibly be absolutely arhitrary over the lives andfortunes the people for being but the joint
power every member the society given up to that per son, or assembly which legifiator, can be no more then those persons, had in a state nature, before they enter
into society, and gave up to the community for no body can transfer to another more power than he has in himsels
and no body has an absolute arhitrary power over himself, or over any other to destroy his own life, or take away tie life or property of another. A man, as has been prov'i,
tannoi subject himself to the arhitrary power another.
C. And;.
government,
of
;
a is
; it
it
of
is of
;
I; I
it ;
of it
!
it is
cf
p.
a
it
of
T
I
by
?
it
i inp.
opi
is
The REHEARSAL.
I have
233 to thee before, the
C. And, as
legiflative power, wherever it is plac'd> in any sort of government, is, and must be arhitrary and absolute, and it is impossible to be otherwise ; and every man sees it in all governments upon the face of the e^rth. The legifla
tive is not bound to its own laws, but may repeal them
at pleasure ; and before repeal may dispense with them, and leap over them, and act contrary to them ; may de
fully prov'd
ny the liberty of habeas corpus, and keep men in Newgate all the days of their lise, without either trial or bail ; may take a man's life by act of attainder, where the or dinary course of the laws could not reach him. In short, may do what they will, and make what they will to be law ; for their •mill is the law.
Therefore, ifas Mr. Lock fays, and fays he has prov'd No man can fubject himself to the arhitrary power
another, no man can subject himself to any governments of what sort or fize so ever. Nor can there be such thing as government kept up in the world.
And as he fays, no man has power over the life or property of another, then cannot the whole community com mit anyforce upon any single individual, who shall gain
fay their constitution No, nor compel him to leave them, or his native country and hirth-right .
And as he fays again, no- man can transfer to an other more power th'ani'e has in himself, and that no body- has power over himsels to destroy his own life then how came any government to have power of life and death Mr. Lock consesses the individuals could not give it. And who else was there to give it? doubt little divine right must come in here. What else can give to another that power over my life, which- have net my self?
O. This Rehearser aflts many silly questions there's no bearing on'th he puts one out still, and won't let'en'
go on. But I'll tell thee Mr. Lock fays, that art absolute
subje3ion to any form of government worse than anarchy or the state at nature. This he takes pains to prove p. 359. and fays, '[hat he in a much worse condition that iy expos'd to the arhitrary power of one man who has the
command
is
so
1
I is
a
;
?
a
of
if,
it, if,
:
The RE HEARSAL
command of I 00,000, than he that is expos d to the arU- trary power of 100,000 jingle men.
C. This is so very senseless, (with all respect to Mt. Lock's judgment ! ) that it is even tfhame to answer it. Ageu- ral or a king of 100,000 men may command hardiixaQ, ] as to march upon the mouth of a cannon, and bang a man for a very small matter, stepping out of his rank, or tak ing an egg, tho' he were starving, and had not a penny to pay for't, Or for his pay, tho' it be due to him ; yet, with all this arbitrariness, is not this a better
for these ioo,coo men than anarchy, and letting them all loose upon one another, to rob, plunder, and kill one another at discretion I And if the number be greater, aa
of millions in a kingdom, the confufion and destrutHo* would be proportionably greater. And if the whole world were in this supposed of nature, it would be one aeeldama, and nothing but ArtV could the wild uproar ! Yet Mr. Lock thinks this much preferable to the
234
living under the absolute government either of a king, or a commonwealth! And must such stupid notions still /rr- <pa/7, still bewitch this wretched nations
. O. I my self, . /W enough as I am, must forsake my master Lock here. This was putting the case too far, it frights one to think on't ! but he did Hot mean it ; for he fays, p. 422, that if a government be arbitrary, it is dix/hlv'd, and the people are restor'd to their originalstate
of nature; but he does, not suppose the people will conti nue in that state, but may choose a new legislative for themselves, in what form and manner they think sit. This is the subject of chap. XIX. of book 2. Of the disso lution ofgovernment, beginning at p. 432, where all thi* is asserted, and discours'd at large.
C. Dissolution of government is a whim, a dream. One contending party may take the government from another,
and when they have £0/
fall so low as the people state of nature and
they /for/> but never let
they despise your individuals and any individual should set up for
his originalfreedom, they would hang him up for an ori ginalfoci. Such an independent would besuspended as
disturber of any sort ofsettlement whatsoever. And
;
if ;
it,
a it 1
it,
The REHEARS AL.
235
And as there never was such an independent state of mankind, as Lock or the rest of our popular orators vainly fancy ; so cannot mankind fall into such a state, more than
the world into its original chaos.
And ifmankind were in such a state, they cou'd no
more produce government from the consent of every in
dividual; than the chaos, by its own naturalforce, cou'd
have produc'd this world, by a fortuitous concourse of atoms : which some of the heathen philosophers foolishly thought, for want of the knowledge of the creation. And it is full as reasonable for Christians to lay aside the
and follow the heathens in this, as in the
holy scriptures^
original ofgovernment ; of which they knew no more than ofthe other.
Let me but give an instance to make it familiar to eve ry body, in a very little part of the world, that is, the
yleoi Britain.
