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DISCOURSES
* ON
GOVERNMENT.
BY ALGERNON SIDNEY.
PUBLISHED FROM AN ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT OF THE AUTHOR.
TO WHICH IS ADDED,
AN ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR'S LIFE,
AND
A COPIOUS INDEX.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
Dew-Bork:
PRINTED FOR RICHARD LEE,
BY DEARE AND ANDREWS.
1805.
THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY
158993
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
1889.
A
SECT. 1. The common notions of liberty are not from
school divines, but from nature
• 313
11. Implicit faith belongs to fools, and truth is com-
prehended by examining principles
III. The rights of particular nations cannot subsist
if general principles, contrary to them, are re-
ceived as true
Iv. To depend on the will of a man is slavery
• 326
• 327
v. God leaves to man the choice of forms in govern-
ment, and those who constitute one form may
abrogate it
332
PAGE
339
VI. Abraham and the Patriarchs were not kings
VII. Nimrod was the first king during the life of
Chush, Ham, Shem, and Noah
342
VIII. The power of a father belongs only to a father 349
Ix. Such as enter into society, must in some degree
diminish their liberty . .
x. No man comes to command many, unless by
.
351
353
consent or by force
XI. The pretended paternal right is divisible or indi-
visible, if divisible, it is extinguished, if indi-
XII. There was no shadow of a paternal kingdom
356
amongst the Hebrews, nor precept for it. . 360
XIII. If the paternal right had included dominion
and was to be transferred to a single heir, it
must perish if he were not known, and could
be applied to no other person
• 366
XIV. The ancients chose those to be kings who ex-
celled in the virtues that are most beneficial to
civil societies
xv. God having given the government of the world
to no one man, nor declared how it should be
divided, left it to the will of man
XVI. If a right of dominion were esteemed heredi-
tary according to the law of nature, a multitude
of destructive and inextricable controversies
would thereupon arise
XVII. Kings cannot convey the right of father upon
princes, nor princes upon kings
XVIII. All just magisterial power is from the people
378
390
398
406
• 418
CHAPTER II
SECT. I. That it is natural for nations to govern, or to
choose governors; and that virtue only gives a
natural preference of one man above another,
or reason why one should be chosen rather
than another
11. Every man that hath children hath the right of
a father, and is capable of preferment in a
society composed of many.
111. Government is not instituted for the good of
the governor but of the governed, and power is
not an advantage, but a burthen
428
446
• 451