The power of kings, and in particular of the King of England learnedly asserted by Sir Robert Filmer, Kt. ; with a preface of a friend, giving an account of the author and his works. Filmer, Robert, Sir, d. 1653. 1680 Approx. 33 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 9 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2006-06 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A41311 Wing F926 ESTC R19499 12043326 ocm 12043326 53029

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Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A41311) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 53029) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 67:21) The power of kings, and in particular of the King of England learnedly asserted by Sir Robert Filmer, Kt. ; with a preface of a friend, giving an account of the author and his works. Filmer, Robert, Sir, d. 1653. [4], 12 p. Printed for W.H. & T.F. and are to be sold by Walter Davis ..., London : 1680. Reproduction of original in Yale University Library.

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eng Monarchy. Monarchy -- Great Britain. Political science -- Early works to 1800. 2005-11 Assigned for keying and markup 2005-11 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2006-02 Sampled and proofread 2006-02 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-04 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion

THE POWER OF KINGS : And in Particular , OF THE King of ENGLAND . Learnedly Asserted , By Sir ROBERT FILMER , Kt. WITH A PREFACE of a Friend : Giving an Account Of the AUTHOR and his WORKS .

In Magnis voluisse sat est —

LONDON : Printed for W. H. & T. F. and are to be sold by Walter Davis in Amen-Corner , near Paternoster-row . 1680.

THE PREFACE .

WHoso would go about to speak Sir Robert Filmer's worth , hath no more to do but onely to Number and to Name his Writings , as they were written in the following Order .

Questio Quodlibetica , or a Discourse of Usury , written about 1630. and first published in the year 1656.

Patriarcha , or the Natural Right of Kings maintained , against the Unnatural Right of the People to Govern , or chuse themselves Governours . Written about the year 1642. and never Published till of late .

Of the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost . Published in the year 1656.

The Anarchy of a Limited and Mixed Monarchy , or Observations upon Mr. Hunton's Treatise on that Subject . First Published in the year 1646.

The Free-holders grand Inquest , touching our Soveraign Lord the King , and his Parliament . In the year 1648.

Of the Power of Kings : and in particular , of the King of England . First Published in the same year .

Observations upon Mr. Hobbes ' s Leviathan , Mr. Milton against Salmasius , and H. Grotius De Jure Belli & Pacis , concerning the Original of Government . To which those upon Mr. Huntons Book being re-printed , were annexed in the year 1652.

Observations upon Aristotle's Politicks , touching Forms of Government . Published in the same year .

And the Advertisement to the Jury-men of England touching Witches , with the difference between an English and an Hebrew Witch . In the year 1653.

Whoso would give his Writings their due , hath done it already , in saying that they are His. Of which , who reads any one , may have some cause to wonder how he came to be sufficiently furnished to write that ; but who proceeds yet farther to read them all , will have more abundant cause to wonder , should any else but he have wrote the rest .

His Political Writings are chiefly levell'd against a Doctrine but too generally embrac'd of late That , all men are born equal . To disprove which , though it might be sufficient to appeal to the Practice and Experience of Mankinde , whether all Nations have not still with one Consent mounted their Kings upon Thrones ; and whether all the Masters of Philosophies and Religions have not constantly appeared in their Chairs , and in their Pulpits , while their Disciples have humbly presented themselves at their Feet ? Not to speak of all the several Heights of Authority , or extents of Command , which either Popular Oratory have attained to by their Wit , or Conquerours have raised themselves to by their Arms. Our Author himself is an undeniable proof of his own Assertion , and has given us the best evidence that all men are not equal by Birth , while he himself hath no equal in Writing . So impossible is it for him to treat either of the means of Acquiring , or the Rights of exercising Soveraignty , without acquiring and exercising a new Soveraignty over his Readers . For does he overcome others ? even we at the same time are made Captives without resistance , and are his by right of Conquest . Or does he govern in their stead ? even then all Readers are insensibly under his Command , as much as if they were his Subjects , and are his by right of natural Soveraignty . A Reason so far exalted above ours as his , makes him appear like those Kings of old , who were in Stature much superiour to their Subjects , and seemed so far to overtop the rest , as if Nature it self had marked them out for Heads of all . To be short , no Power , whose Cause our Author pleads , can be so absolute , as what he obtains over us at the same time himself . And yet of so sweet a Tyranny , who that are under it can complain ? Arguments so prevailing , who is able to withstand ? And where the Mastery is gained over us by no other force than that of Perswasion , who would forego the pleasure of Obedience ? The Empire which Wit and Eloquence have over men , seems to be like that Command which Musick hath over the Wilde Beasts , that civilizes and subdues them at one and the same time . And we , while we read this Author , feel the highest of rational Pleasures , even then when we are made at once both Better Subjects , and Wiser Men.

The Power of Kings : And in Particular , Of the KING of ENGLAND .

TO Majestie or Soveraignty belongeth an Absolute Power not subject to any Law. It behoveth him that is a Soveraign , not to be in any sort Subject to the Command of Another ; whose Office is to give Laws unto his Subjects , to Abrogate Laws unprofitable , and in their stead to Establish other ; which he cannot do , that is himself Subject to Laws , or to Others which have Command over him : And this is that which the Law saith , that The Prince is acquitted from the Power of the Laws .

The Laws , Ordinances , Letters-Patents , Priviledges , and Grants of Princes , have no force but during their Life ; if they be not ratified by the express Consent , or at least by Sufferance of the Prince following , who had knowledge thereof .

If the Soveraign Prince be exempted from the Laws of his Predecessors , much less shall he be bound unto the Laws he maketh Himself ; for a man may well receive a Law from Another man , but impossible it is in Nature for to give a Law unto Himself , no more than it is to Command a mans self in a matter depending of his Own Will : There can be no Obligation which taketh State from the meer Will of him that promiseth the same ; which is a necessary Reason to prove evidently , that a King cannot binde his Own Hands , albeit that he would : We see also in the end of all Laws these words , Because it hath so Pleased us ; to give us to understand , that the Laws of a Sovereign Prince , although they be grounded upon Reason , yet depend upon nothing but his meer and frank good Will. But as for the Laws of God , all Princes and People are unto them subject ; neither is it in their power to impugne them , if they will not be guilty of High Treason against God ; under the greatness of whom , all Monarchs of the world ought to bow their Heads , in all fear and reverence .

A Question may be , Whether a Prince be subject to the Laws of his Countrey that he hath sworn to keep , or not ? If a Soveraign Prince promise by Oath to his Subjects to keep the Laws , he is bound to keep them ; not for that a Prince is bound to keep his Laws by himself or by his Predecessors , but by the just Conventions and Promises which he hath made himself ; be it by Oath , or without any Oath at all , as should a private man be : and for the same causes that a Private man may be relieved from his unjust and unreasonable Promise , as for that it was so grievous , or for that he was by deceit or fraud Circumvented , or induced thereunto by Errour , or Force , or just Fear , or by some great Hurt ; even for the same causes the Prince may be restored in that which toucheth the diminishing of his Majesty : And so our Maxime resteth , That the Prince is not subject to His Laws , nor to the Laws of his Predecessors , but well to his Own just and reasonable Conventions .

The Soveraign Prince may derogate from the Laws that he hath promised and sworn to keep , if the Equity thereof cease , and that of himself , without Consent of his Subjects ; which his Subjects cannot do among Themselves , if they be not by the Prince relieved .

The Forraign Princes well-advised , will never take Oath to keep the Laws of their Predecessors ; for otherwise they are not Sovereigns .

Notwithstanding all Oaths , the Prince may Derogate from the Laws , or Frustrate or Disanul the same , the Reason and Equity of them ceasing .

There is not any Bond for the Soveraign Prince to keep the Laws , more than so far as Right and Justice requireth .

Neither is it to be found , that the Antient Kings of the Hebrews took any Oaths , no not they which were Anointed by Samuel , Elias , and others .

As for General and Particular , which concern the Right of men in Private , they have not used to be otherwise Changed , but after General Assemblies of the Three Estates in France ; not for that it is necessary for the Kings to rest on their Advice , or that he may not do the Contrary to that they demand , if natural Reason and Justice do so require . And in that the Greatness and Majesty of a true Soveraign Prince is to be known , when the Estates of all the People assembled together in all Humility present their Requests and Supplications to their Prince , without having any Power in any thing to Command , or Determine , or to give Voice ; but that that which it pleaseth the King to Like or Dislike , to Command or Forbid , is holden for Law. Wherein they which have written of the Duty of Magistrates , have deceived themselves , in maintaining that the Power of the People is greater than the Prince ; a thing which oft-times causeth the true Subjects to revolt from the Obedience which they owe unto their Soveraign Prince , aud ministreth matter of great Troubles in Commonwealths ; of which their Opinion , there is neither reason nor ground .

If the King should be Subject unto the Assemblies and Decrees of the People , he should neither be King nor Soveraign , and the Commonwealth neither Realm nor Monarchy ; but a meer Aristocracy of many Lords in Power equal , where the Greater part commandeth the less ; and whereon the Laws are not to be published in the Name of him that Ruleth , but in the Name and Authority of the Estates ; as in an Aristocratical Seignory , where he that is Chief hath no Power , but oweth Obeisance to the Seignory ; unto whom yet they every one of them feign themselves to owe their Faith and Obedience : which are all things so absurd , as hard it is to see which is furthest from Reason .

When Charles the eighth , the French King , then but Fourteen years old , held a Parliament at Tours , although the Power of the Parliament was never Before nor After so great , as in those Times ; yet Relli then the Speaker for the People , turning himself to the King , thus beginneth : Most High , most Mighty , and most Christian King , our Natural and Onely Lord ; we poor , humble , and obedient Subjects , &c. which are come hither by your Command , in all Humility , Reverence , and Subjection , present our selves before you , &c. And have given me in charge from all this Noble Assembly to declare unto You , the good Will and hearty desire they have , with a most fervent Resolution to Serve , Obey , and Aid You in all your Affairs , Commandments , and Pleasures . All this Speech is nothing else but a Declaration of their good Will towards the King , and of their humble Obedience and Loyalty .

The like Speech was used in the Parliament at Orleans to Charles the 9th , when he was scarce Eleven Years old .

Neither are the Parliaments in Spain otherwise holden , but that even a greater Obedience of all the People is given to the King ; as is to be seen in the Acts of the Parliament at Toledo by King Philip , 1552. when he yet was scarce Twenty Five Years old . The Answers also of the King of Spain unto the Requests and humble Supplications of his People , are given in these words : We will , or else , We Decree or Ordain ; yea , the Subsidies that the Subjects pay unto the King of Spain , they call Service .

In the Parliaments of England , which have commonly been holden every Third Year , the Estates seem to have a great Liberty , ( as the Northern People almost all breathe thereafter ) yet so it is , that in effect they proceed not , but by way of Supplications and Requests to the King. As in the Parliament holden in Octob. 1566. when the Estates by a common Consent had resolved ( as they gave the Queen to understand ) not to Treat of any thing , until She had first Appointed who should Succeed Her in the Crown ; She gave them no other Answer , but That they were not to make her Grave before she were Dead . All whose Resolutions were to no purpose without Her good liking , neither did She in that any thing that they requested .

Albeit by the Sufferance of the King of England , Controversies between the King and his People are sometimes determined by the High Court of Parliament ; yet all the Estates remain in full subjection to the King , who is no way bound to follow their Advice , neither to consent to their Requests .

The Estates of England are never otherwise Assembled , no more than they are in France or Spain , than by Parliament-Writs and express Commandments , proceeding from the King ; which sheweth very well , that the Estates have no Power of themselves to Determine , Command , or Decree any thing ; seeing they cannot so much as Assemble themselves , neither being Assembled , Depart without express Commandment from the King.

Yet this may seem one special thing , that the Laws made by the King of England , at the Request of the Estates , cannot be again repealed , but by calling a Parliament ; though we see Henry the eighth to have always used his Soveraign Power , and with his only word to have disannulled the Decrees of Parliament .

We conclude the Majesty of a Prince to be nothing altered or diminished by the Calling together , or Presence of the Estates : But to the contrary , His Majesty thereby to be much the Greater and the more Honourable , seeing all His People to acknowledge Him for their Soveraign .

We see the principal Point of Soveraign Majesty and Absolute Power to consist principally in giving Laws unto the Subjects without their Consent . It behoveth , that the Soveraign Prince should have the Laws in his Power , to Change and Amend them according as Occasion shall require .

In a Monarchy , every one in particular must swear to the Observation of the Laws , and their Allegiance to One Soveraign Monarch ; who , next unto God , ( of whom he holds his Scepter and Power ) is bound to No Man : For an Oath carrieth always with it Reverence unto whom , and in whose Name it is made , as still given to a Superiour ; and therefore the Vassal gives such Oath unto his Lord , but receives None from Him again , though they be mutually Bound , the One of them to the Other .

Trajan swore to keep the Laws , although he under the name of a Soveraign Prince was exempted ; but never any of the Emperours before him so sware : Therefore Pliny the Younger , in a Panegyrical Oration , speaking of the Oath of Trajan , gives out , A great Novelty , saith he , and never before heard of , He sweareth , by whom we swear .

Of these two things the one must come to pass , to wit , the Prince that swears to keep the Laws of his Country , must either not have the Soveraignty , or else become a Perjur'd Man , if he should but Abrogate but one Law contrary to his Oath ; whereas it is not only Profitable that a Prince should sometimes Abrogate some such Laws , but also Necessary for him to Alter or Correct them , as the infinite Variety of Places , Times and Persons shall require : Or if we shall say , the Prince to be still a Soveraign , and yet nevertheless with such conditions , that he can make no Law without the Advice of his Councel or People ; He must also be Dispensed with by his Subjects , for the Oath which he hath made for the Observation of the Laws ; and the Subjects again which are obliged to the Laws , have also need to be Dispensed withal by their Prince , for fear they should be Perjur'd : So shall it come to pass , that the Majesty of the Commonweal enclining now to this side , now to that side ; sometimes the Prince , sometimes the People bearing sway , shall have no Certainty to rest upon ; which are notable Absurdities , and altogether incompatible with the Majesty of Absolute Soveraignty , and contrary both to Law and Reason . And yet we see many men , that think they see more in the matter than others , will maintain it to be most Necessary , that Princes should be bound by Oath , to keep the Laws and Customs of their Countreys : In which doing , they weaken and overthrow all the Rights of Soveraign Majesty , which ought to be most Sacred and Holy , and confound the Soveraignty of One Soveraign Monarch , with an Aristocracy or Democracy .

Publication , or Approbation of Laws , in the Assembly of the Estates or Parliament , is with us of great importance for the keeping of the Laws ; not that the Prince cannot of himself make a Law , without the Consent of the Estates or People ( for even all his Declarations of War , Treaties of Peace , Valuations of the Coin , Charters to enable Towns to send Burgesses to Parliament , and his Writ of Summons to both Houses to Assemble , are Laws , though made without the Consent of the Estates or People ; ) but it is a Courteous part to do it by the good liking of the Senate .

What if a Prince by Law forbid to Kill or Steal , is he not Bound to obey his own Laws ? I say , that this Law is not His , but the Law of God , whereunto all Princes are more straitly bound than their Subjects ; God taketh a stricter account of Princes than others , as Solomon a King hath said ; whereto agreeth Marcus Aurelius , saying , The Magistrates are Judges over private men , Princes judge the Magistrates , and God the Princes .

It is not only a Law of Nature , but also oftentimes repeated among the Laws of God , that we should be Obedient unto the Laws of such Princes , as it hath pleased God to set to Rule and Reign over us ; if their Laws be not directly Repugnant unto the Laws of God , whereunto all Princes are as well bound as their Subjects : For as the Vassal oweth his Oath of Fidelity unto his Lord , towards and against all men , except his Soveraign Prince : So the Subject oweth his Obedience to his Soveraign Prince , towards and against all , the Majesty of God excepted , who is the Absolute Soveraign of All the Princes in the World.

To confound the state of Monarchy , with the Popular or Aristocratical estate , is a thing impossible , and in effect incompatible , and such as cannot be imagined : For Soveraignty being of it self Indivisible , How can it at one and the same time be Divided betwixt One Prince , the Nobility , and the People in common ? The first Mark of Sovereign Majesty is , to be of Power to give Laws , and to Command over them unto the Subjects : And who should those Subjects be that should yield their Obedience to the Law , if they should have also Power to make the Laws ? Who should He be that could Give the Law , being he himself constrain'd to Receive it of them , unto whom he himself Gave it ? So that of necessity we must conclude , that as no One in particular hath the Power to make the Law in such a State , that there the State must needs be Popular .

Never any Commonwealth hath been made of an Aristocracy and Popular Estate , much less of all the Three Estates of a Commonwealth .

Such States , wherein the Right of Soveraignty is Divided are not rightly to be called Commonweals , but rather the Corruption of Commonweals ; as Herodotus hath most briefly but truely written .

Commonweals which change their State , the Soveraign Right and Power of them being Divided , finde no rest from Civil Wars .

If the Prince be an Absolute Soveraign , as are the true Monarchs of France , of Spain , of England , Scotland , Turkey , Moscovy , Tartary , Persia , Aethiopia , India , and almost of all the Kingdoms of Africk and Asia ; where the Kings themselves have the Soveraignty , without all doubt or question , not Divided with their Subjects : In this case it is not lawful for any One of the Subjects in particular , or all of them in general , to attempt any thing , either by way of Fact or of Justice , against the Honour , Life , or Dignity of the Soveraign , albeit he had committed all the Wickedness , Impiety , and Cruelty that could be spoke . For as to proceed against Him by way of Justice , the Subject hath not such Jurisdiction over his Soveraign Prince , of whom dependeth all Power to Command , and who may not only Revoke all the Power of his Magistrates , but even in whose Presence the Power of all Magistrates , Corporations , Estates and Communities cease .

Now if it be not l●wful for the Subject by the way of Justice to proceed against a King , How should it then be lawful to proceed against him by way of Fact or Force ? For question is not here what men are able to do by Strength and Force , but what they ought of Right to do ; as not whether the Subject have Power and Strength , but whether they have lawful Power to Condemn their Soveraign Prince .

The Subject is not only guilty of Treason in the highest Degree , who hath Slain his Soveraign Prince , but even he also which hath Attempted the same , who hath given Counsel or Consent thereto ; yea , if he have Concealed the same , or but so much as Thought it : Which Fact the Laws have in such Detestation , as that when a man guilty of any Offence or Crime , dyeth before he be condemned thereof , he is deemed to have died in whole and perfect Estate , except he have conspired against the Life and Dignity of his Soveraign Prince . This only thing they have thought to be such , as that for which he may worthily seem to have been now already Judged and Condemned ; yea , even before he was thereof Accused . And albeit the Laws inflict no Punishment upon the Evil Thoughts of men , but on those only which by Word or Deed break out into some Enormity ; yet if any man shall so much as conceit a Thought for the Violating of the Person of his Soveraign Prince , although he have Attempted nothing , they have yet Judged this same Thought worthy of Death , notwithstanding what Repentance soever he have had thereof .

Lest any men should think [ Kings or Princes ] themselves to have been the Authors of these Laws , so the more straitly to provide for their own Safety and Honour ; let us fee the Laws and Examples of Holy Scripture .

Nabuchodonosor King of Assyria , with Fire and Sword destroyed all the Country of Palestina , besieged Jerusalem , took it , rob'd and razed it down to the ground , burnt the Temple , and defiled the Sanctuary of God , slew the King , with the greatest part of the people , carrying away the rest into Captivity into Babylon , caused the Image of himself made in Gold to be set up in Publick place , commanding all men to Adore and Worship the same , upon pain of being Burnt alive , and caused them that refused so to do , to be cast into a burning Furnace . And yet for all that , the holy Prophets [ Baruch 1. Jeremy 29. ] directing their Letters unto their Brethren the Jews , then in Captivity in Babylon , will them to pray unto God for the good and happy Life of Nabuchodonosor and his Children , and that they might so long Rule and Reign over them , as the Heavens should endure : Yea even God himself doubted not to call Nabuchodonosor his Servant , saying , That he would make him the most Mighty Prince of the world ; and yet was there never a more detestable Tyrant than he : who not contented to be Himself Worshipped , but caused his Image also to be Adored , and that upon pain of being burnt quick .

We have another rare Example of Saul , who possessed with an evil Spirit , caused the Priests of the Lord to be without iust Cause slain , for that one of them had received David flying from him ; and did what in his power was to kill , or cause to be kill'd , the same David , a most innocent Prince , by whom he had got so many Victories ; at which time he fell twice himself into David's Hands : who blamed of his Souldiers for that he would not suffer his so mortal Enemy , then in his power , to be Slain , being in assured Hope to have enjoyed the Kingdom after his Death ; he detested their Counsel , saying , God forbid that I should suffer the Person of a King , the Lords Anointed , to be violated . Yea , he himself defended the same King persecuting of him , when as he commanded the Souldiers of his Guard , overcome by Wine and Sleep , to be wakened .

And at such time as Saul was slain , and that a Souldier , thinking to do David a pleasure , presented him with Saul's Head ; David caused the same Souldier to be Slain , which had brought him the Head , saying , Go thou Wicked ; How durst thou lay thy impure Hands upon the Lords Anointed ? Thou shalt surely Die therefore .

And afterwards , without all Distimulation , mourned Himself for the dead King. All which is worth good consideration : for David was by Saul prosecuted to Death , and yet wanted not Power to have revenged Himself , being become Stronger than the King ; besides , he was the Chosen of God , and Anointed by Samuel to be King , and had Married the King's Daughter : And yet for all that , he abhorred to take upon him the Title of a King , and much more to Attempt any thing against the Life or Honour of Saul , or to Rebel against him ; but chose rather to Banish himself out of the Realm , than in any sort to seek the Kings Destruction .

We doubt not but David , a King and a Prophet , led by the Spirit of God , had always before his Eyes the Law of God , Exod. 22. 28. Thou shalt not speak Evil of thy Prince , nor detract the Magistrate ; neither is there any thing more common in Holy Scripture , than the forbidding not only to Kill or Attempt the Life or Honour of a Prince , but even for the very Magistrates , although , saith the Scripture , They be Wicked and Naught .

The Protestant Princes of Germany , before they entred into Arms against Charles the Emperour , demanded of Martin Luther , if it were Lawful for them so to do , or not ; who frankly told them , That it was not Lawful , whatsoever Tyranny or Impiety were pretended ; yet was he not therein by them Believed ; so , thereof , ensued a Deadly and most Lamentable War , the End whereof was most Miserable ; drawing with in , the Ruine of many great and noble Houses of Germany , with exceeding slaughter of the Subjects .

The Prince , whom you may justly call the Father of the Country , ought to be to every man Dearer and more Reverend than any Father , as one Ordained and Sent unto us by God. The Subject is never to be suffered to Attempt any thing against the Prince , how Naughty and Cruel soever he be : lawful it is , not to obey him in things contrary to the Laws of God , to Flie and Hide our selves from him ; but yet to suffer Stripes , yea , and Death also , rather than to Attempt any thing against his Life and Honour . O how many Tyrants should there be , if it should be lawful for Subjects to kill Tyrants ? How many good and innocent Princes should as Tyrants perish by the Conspiracy of their Subjects against them ? He that should of his Subjects but exact Subsidies , should be then , as the Vulgar People esteem him , a Tyrant : He that should Rule and Command contrary to the good Liking of the People , should be a Tyrant : He that should keep strong Guards and Garrisons for the safety of his Person , should be a Tyrant : He that should put to death Traitors and Conspirators against his State , should be also counted a Tyrant . How should good Princes be assured of their Lives , if under colour of Tyranny they might be Slain by their Subjects , by whom they ought to be Defended ?

In a well-ordered State , the Soveraign Power must remain in One onely , without Communicating any part thereof unto the State , ( for in that case it should be a Popular Government , and no Monarchy . ) Wise Polititians , Philosophers , Divines , and Historiographers , have highly commended a Monarchy above all other Common-weals . It is not to please the Prince , that they hold this Opinion ; but for the Safety and Happiness of the Subjects . And contrarywise , when as they shall Limit and Restrain the Soveraign Power of a Monarch , to Subject him to the General Estates , or to the Council ; the Soveraignty hath no firm Foundation , but they frame a Popular Confusion , or a miserable Anarchy , which is the Plague of all Estates and Commonweals : The which must be duely considered , not giving credit to their goodly Discourses , which perswade Subjects , that it is necessary to subject Monarchs , and to give their Prince a Law ; for that is not only the Ruine of the Monarch , but also of the Subjects . It is yet more strange , that many hold Opinion , that the Prince is subject to his Laws , that is to say , subject to his Will , whereon the Laws which he hath made depend ; a thing impossible in Nature . And under this Colour , and ill-digested Opinion , they make a mixture and confusion of Civil Laws , with the Laws of Nature and of God.

A pure Absolute Monarchy is the surest Commonweal , and without Comparison , the Best of all . Wherein many are abused , who maintain that an Optimacy is the best kinde of Government ; for that many Commanders have more Judgment , Wisdome , and Counsel , than One alone . For there is a great difference betwixt Councel and Commandment .

The Councel of Many wise men may be better than of One ; But to Resolve , Determine , and to Command , One will always perform it better than Many : He which hath advisedly digested All their Opinions , will soon Resolve without Contention ; the which Many cannot easily perform : It is necessary to have a Soveraign Prince , which may have Power to Resolve and Determine of the Opinions of his Council .

FINIS .