who that is; for it may be any one, who is not known to be of a younger house, and all others have equal titles. If there be more than one heir of Adam, every one is his heir, and fo every one has regal power: for if two fons can be heirs together, then all the fons are equally heirs, and fo all are heirs, being all fons, or fons fons of Adam. Betwixt these two the right of heir cannot ftand; for by it either but one only man, or all men are kings. Take which you please, it diffolves the bonds of government and obedience; fince, if all men are heirs, they can owe obedience to no body; if only one, no body can be obliged to pay obedience to him, till he be known, and his title made out. CHA P. XI. §. 106. T HE great question which in all ages has disturbed mankind, and brought on them the greatest part of those mischiefs which have ruined cities, depopulated countries, and difordered the peace of the world, has been, not whether there be power in the world, nor whence it came, but who fhould have it. The fettling of this point being of no smaller moment than the fecurity of princes, and the peace and and welfare of their eftates and kingdoms, a reformer of politics, one would think, should lay this fure, and be very clear in it for if this remain difputable, all the rest will be to very little purpofe; and the skill used in dreffing up power with all the splendor and temptation abfoluteness can add to it, without fhewing who has a right to have it, will ferve only to give a greater edge to man's natural ambition, which of its felf is but too keen. What can this do but fet men on the more eagerly to fcramble, and fo lay a fure and lafting foundation of endless contention and diforder, inftead of that peace and tranquillity, which is the business of government, and the end of human fociety? §. 107. This defignation of the person our author is more than ordinary obliged to take care of, because he, affirming that the af fignment of civil power is by divine inftitution, hath made the conveyance as well as the power itself sacred: fo that no confideration, no act or art of man, can divert it from that perfon, to whom, by this divine right, it is affigned; no neceffity or contrivance can fubftitute another perfon in his room for if the affignment of civil power be by divine inftitution, and Adam's heir be he to whom it is thus affigned, as in the foregoing chapter our author tells us, it would be as much facrilege for any one to be king, who was not Adam's heir, as it would have been amongst the Jews, for any one to have been priest, who had not been of Aaron's pofterity: for not only the priesthood in general being by divine inftitution, but the affignment of it to the fole line and pofterity of Aaron, made it impoffible to be enjoyed or exercised by any one, but those perfons who were the off-fpring of Aaron: whofe fucceffion therefore was carefully obferved, and by that the perfons who had a right to the priesthood certainly known. §. 108. Let us fee then 'what care our author has taken, to make us know who is this heir, who by divine inftitution has a right to be king over all men. The first account of him we meet with is, p. 12. in these words: This fubjection of children, being the fountain of all regal authority, by the ordination of God bimfelf; it follows, that civil power, not only in general, is by divine inftitution, but even the affignment of it, fpecifically to the eldest parents. Matters of fuch confequence as this is, should be in plain words, as little liable, as might be, to doubt or equivocation; and I think, if language be capable of expreffing any thing diftinctly and clearly, that of kindred, and the feveral degrees of nearness of blood, is one. It were therefore to be wished, that our author had used a little more intelligible expreffions here, that we might have better known, who it is, to whom the affignment of civil power is made by divine inftitution; or at leaft would have told us what he meant by eldeft eldeft parents: for I believe, if land had been affigned or granted to him, and the eldest parents of his family, he would have thought it had needed an interpreter; and it would fcarce have been known to whom next it belonged. S. 109. In propriety of speech, (and certainly propriety of fpeech is neceffary in a difcourfe of this nature) eldeft parents fignifies either the eldeft men and women that have had children, or those who have longest had iffue; and then our author's affertion will be, that those fathers and mothers, who have been longest in the world, or longest fruitful, have by divine inftitution a right to civil power. If there be any abfurdity in this, our author must answer for it: and if his meaning be different from my explication, he is to be blamed, that he would not speak it plainly. This I am fure, parents cannot fignify heirs male, nor eldest parents an infant child: who yet may fometimes be the true heir, if there can be but one. And we are hereby still as much at a loss, who civil power belongs to, notwithstanding this affignment by divine inftitution, as if there had been no fuch affignment at all, or our author had faid nothing of it. This of eldest parents leaving us more in the dark, who by divine inftitution has a right to civil power, than those who never heard any thing at all of heir, or descent, of which our author is fo full. And though the chief matter of his writing be to teach obedience to thofe, who have a right to it, which he tells us is conveyed by defcent, yet who those are, to whom this right by descent belongs, he leaves, like the philofophers stone in politics, out of the reach of any one to difcover from his writings. §. 110. This obscurity cannot be imputed to want of language in fo great a master of style as Sir Robert is, when he is refolved with himself what he would fay: and therefore, I fear, finding how hard it would be to fettle rules of defcent by divine inftitution, and how little it would be to his purpose, or conduce to the clearing and establishing the titles of princes, if such rules of descent were fettled, he chofe rather to content himself with doubtful and general terms, which might make no ill found in mens ears, who were willing to be pleased with them, rather than offer any clear rules of defcent of this fatherhood of Adam, by which men's confciences might be fatisfied to whom it defcended, and know the perfons who had a right to regal power, and with it to their obedience. §. 111. How elfe is it poffible, that laying fo much stress, as he does, upon defcent, and Adam's heir, next heir, true beir, he fhould never tell us what heir means, nor the way to know who the next or true heir is? This, I do not remember, he does any where ex prefly |