A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian PoliticsBaxter, Richard
Religion
A Christian Directory, Part 4: Christian Politics
Baxter, Richard
Casuistry; Christian sociology
_Answ._ If you had included himself, it is certain that he cannot be
greater than the whole, because he cannot be greater than himself.
But seeing you speak of the whole in contradistinction from him, I
answer, that indeed _in genere causæ finalis_, the sovereign is
_universis minor_, that is, the whole kingdom is naturally more worth
than one, and their felicity a greater good; or else the _bonum
publicum_, or _salus populi_, could not be the end of government;
but this is nothing to our case; for we are speaking of governing power
as a means to this end; and so _in genere causæ efficientis_, the
sovereign (yea, and his lowest officer) hath more authority or _jus
regendi_ than all the people as such (for they all as such have
none at all); even as the church is of more worth than the pastor, and
yet the pastor alone hath more authority to administer the sacraments,
and to govern the people, than all the flock hath; for they have none
either to use or give, (whatever some say to the contrary,) but only
choose him to whom God will give it.[43]
_Object._ V. Saith the reverend author, lib. viii. p. 194, "Neither
can any man with reason think, but that the first institution of
kings, (a sufficient consideration wherefore their power should always
depend on that from which it did always flow,) by original influence
of power from the body into the king, is the cause of kings'
dependency in power upon the body: by dependency we mean subordination
and subjection."
_Answ._ 1. But if their institution _in genere_ was of God, and that
give them their power, and it never flowed from the body at all, then
all your superstructure falleth with your ground-work. 2. And here you
seem plainly to confound all kingdoms by turning the _pars imperans_
into the _pars subdita_, and _vice versa_; if the king be subject,
how are they his subjects? I will not infer what this will lead them
to do, when they are taught that kings are in subordination and
subjection to them. Sad experience hath showed us what this very
principle would effect.
_Object._ VI. Ibid.[44] "A manifest token of which dependency may be
this; as there is no more certain argument, that lands are held under
any as lords, than if we see that such lands in defect of heirs fall
unto them by escheat; in like manner it doth follow rightly that
seeing dominion when there is none to inherit it, returneth unto the
body, therefore they which before were inheritors of it, did hold it
in dependence on the body; so that by comparing the body with the head
as touching power, it seemeth always to reside in both; fundamentally
and radically in one, in the other derivatively; in one the habit, in
the other the act of power."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account