government theory

Chapter 17 On the Successors of Adam's Sovereignty

104．Our author tells us: "Any group of people, whether large or small, even if gathered together from all over the world or from the ends of the earth, in itself, there must be such a person among them-because he is the descendant of Adam. Heir, and therefore by birth the right to be king over all others, and all others are subordinate to him. It is an undeniable truth that a man is either king or subject at birth." He added: "If Adam Alive, and now about to die, there must be a man, the only man in the world, who is his heir, there can be no doubt about it." If our author likes, suppose that this "group of people" all is the prince of the world, then, according to his law, "there must be one of them who has a natural right to be king over all the others, simply because he is the heir of Adam."This is really a wonderful way, by establishing hundreds of monarchs (if there are so many monarchs in the world) to establish a large number of people who have the qualifications of monarchs and are obeyed by their subjects, so that they can be compared with the people who rule the world now. Monarchs are against each other.

In our author's opinion, the monarchy of these men is as valid as that of the prince who is now ruling.If the right of "heir" were to work, if it were "God's will," as our author seems to say, would not all be his subjects, from the highest to the lowest?And those who have the title of prince, but do not have the right to be "sons of Adam," can by virtue of this position demand obedience from his subjects, while they themselves are not bound by the same law, and thus do not obey others?Therefore, there are only two possibilities: either one cannot claim or possess dominion in the world as an heir of Adam.If this were the case, there would be little point in advocating the reason, and being an heir of Adam would have nothing to do with eligibility for dominion.Or, as our author says, an heir of Adam is indeed the true condition of government and dominion, and the first thing we must do is to find the true heir of Adam, and make him king, and then all the world All the kings came and returned to Adam's heirs their crowns and their wats, for they belonged no more to them than to their subjects.

105．For either the heir of Adam has the right to be king over all men (who together form a "flock"), but this right is not a necessary right for the establishment of a legitimate prince, nor That is to say, even if there were no such right, there would be a legitimate prince--neither the prince, nor the throne, nor the power of the prince depended on it; Therefore it has no right to obey.Either the position of Adam's heir is the basis for retaining the throne, and having the right to make the people obey, so that only one person can have this title, and the rest are only and can only be subjects, and have no right to be subjects like themselves. or else this qualification does not constitute a basis for the sovereign to rule and have a right to require the obedience of the people, so that the prince is still a prince without this qualification, either.And for obedience and domination, this dream of the natural dominion of the heir of Adam is useless.

For if princes, who are not, and cannot be, the heirs of Adam, have the right to rule and the obedience of their subjects, what is the use of a title if we must obey them if they have no such title Woolen cloth?Since they have no such title, we naturally have no duty of obedience--certainly no duty of obedience to a man who has no power to command me.In this way, we are no longer bound by anything, but are all free, unless our author, or his relative spokesman, can show us who are the true heirs of Adam.

If there is only one heir of Adam, then there can only be one legal monarch in this world. Before the question of who is the real heir of Adam is clarified, no one can be forced to obey wholeheartedly, because maybe Among the unknown younger generation there were those who were direct descendants of Adam, and all the others were equal to each other.If Adam had more than one heir, each would be his heir, and each would have kingship—for if two sons could be heirs at the same time, all sons could be heirs alike.Thus, since all men in the world are either sons of Adam or sons of his sons, all are heirs, one or the other.The rights of heirs could not be intermediate between these two, for on this account either only one man would be sovereign, or all mankind would be sovereign, and in either case the bond of dominion and obedience would thus be broken.For, if all were heirs, they were under no obligation of obedience to any other.If there is only one heir, no one is obliged to obey him until he is known and his status is established.

(End of this chapter)