An inquiry into the constitutionalerrors
in the English form of government is at this time
highly necessary; for as we are never in a proper
condition of doing justice to others, while we continue
under the influence of some leading partiality, so
neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while
we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice.
And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted
to choose or judge a wife, so any prepossession in
favour of a rotten constitution of government will
disable us from discerning a good one.
OF MONARCHY AND HEREDITARY SUCCESSION
Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation,
the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent
circumstance; the distinctions of rich, and poor,
may in a great measure be accounted for, and that without
having recourse to the harsh, ill-sounding names of
oppression and avarice. Oppression is often the
consequence, but seldom or never the means
of riches; and though avarice will preserve a man
from being necessitously poor, it generally makes
him too timorous to be wealthy.
But there is another and greater distinction, for
which no truly natural or religious reason can be
assigned, and that is, the distinction of men into
kings and subjects. Male and female
are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions
of heaven; but how a race of men came into the world
so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some
new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether
they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture
chronology, there were no kings; the consequence of
which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of
kings which throw mankind into confusion. Holland
without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last
century than any of the monarchial governments in
Europe. Antiquity favours the same remark; for
the quiet and rural lives of the first patriarchs hath
a happy something in them, which vanishes away when
we come to the history of Jewish royalty.
Government by kings was first introduced into the
world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel
copied the custom. It was the most prosperous
invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion
of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours
to their deceased kings, and the Christian world hath
improved on the plan, by doing the same to their living
ones. How impious is the title of sacred majesty
applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor
is crumbling into dust!
