A92147:296
A treatise of civil policy
A treatise of civil policy: being a resolution of forty three questions concerning prerogative, right and privilege, in reference to the supreme prince and the people. / By Samuel Rutherford professor of divinity of St Andrews in Scotland.A treatise of civil policy: being a resolution of forty three questions concerning prerogative, right and priviledge, in reference to the supream prince and the people. / By Samuel Rutherford professor of divintiy of St Andrews in Scotland.
London, : Printed and are to be sold by Simon Miller at the Star in St Pauls Church-yard near the West end., 1657 i.e. 1656
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
yet the people doth freely choose, not only the first man to be King, but also the whole race of the first born of this mans Family to be Kings. All here ⟨p. 77⟩must be resolved in the free will of the Community; now since we have no immediate and prophetical enthroning of men: it is evident, That the lineal deduction of the Crown from father to son, through the whole line, is from the people, not from the parent.
yet the people doth freely choose, not only the first man to be King, but also the whole race of the first born of this mans Family to be Kings. All here ⟨p. 77⟩must be resolved in the free will of the Communitie; now since we have no immediate and propheticall enthroning of men: it is evident, That the lineall deduction of the Crown from father to son, through the whole line, is from the people, not from the parent.
Hence I add this, as my sixth Argument, That which taketh1 away that natural aptitude, and natures birth-right, in a Community given to them by God and nature, to provide the most efficacious, and prevalent mean for their own preservation and peace in the fittest Government, that is not to be holden, but to make birth the best title to the Crown, and better then free election, taketh away and impedeth that natural aptitude, and natures birth-right of choosing, not simply a Governor, but the best, the justest, the more righteous, and tieth, and fettereth their choice to one of a house, whether he be a wise man, and righteous, and just, or a fool and an unjust man; therefore to make birth the best title to the Crown, is not to be holden.
Hence I adde this, as my sixth Argument, That which taketh1 away that naturall aptitude, and natures birth-right, in a Communitie given to them by God and nature, to provide the most efficacious, and prevalent mean for their own preservation and peace in the fittest Government, that is not to be holden, but to make birth the best title to the Crown, and better then free election, taketh away and impedeth that naturall aptitude, and natures birth-right of chosing, not simply a Governour, but the best, the justest, the more righteous, and tyeth, and fettereth their choice to one of a house, whether he be a wise man, and righteous, and just, or a fool and an unjust man; therefore to make birth the best title to the Crown, is not to be holden.