{"product_id":"2940012472748","title":"SECOND TREATISE OF GOVERNMENT","description":"PREFACE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReader, thou hast here the beginning and end of a discourse concerning\u003cbr\u003egovernment; what fate has otherwise disposed of the papers that should\u003cbr\u003ehave filled up the middle, and were more than all the rest, it is not\u003cbr\u003eworth while to tell thee. These, which remain, I hope are sufficient to\u003cbr\u003eestablish the throne of our great restorer, our present King William; to\u003cbr\u003emake good his title, in the consent of the people, which being the only\u003cbr\u003eone of all lawful governments, he has more fully and clearly, than any\u003cbr\u003eprince in Christendom; and to justify to the world the people of\u003cbr\u003eEngland, whose love of their just and natural rights, with their\u003cbr\u003eresolution to preserve them, saved the nation when it was on the very\u003cbr\u003ebrink of slavery and ruin. If these papers have that evidence, I flatter\u003cbr\u003emyself is to be found in them, there will be no great miss of those\u003cbr\u003ewhich are lost, and my reader may be satisfied without them: for I\u003cbr\u003eimagine, I shall have neither the time, nor inclination to repeat my\u003cbr\u003epains, and fill up the wanting part of my answer, by tracing Sir Robert\u003cbr\u003eagain, through all the windings and obscurities, which are to be met\u003cbr\u003ewith in the several branches of his wonderful system. The king, and body\u003cbr\u003eof the nation, have since so thoroughly confuted his Hypothesis, that I\u003cbr\u003esuppose no body hereafter will have either the confidence to appear\u003cbr\u003eagainst our common safety, and be again an advocate for slavery; or the\u003cbr\u003eweakness to be deceived with contradictions dressed up in a popular\u003cbr\u003estile, and well-turned periods: for if any one will be at the pains,\u003cbr\u003ehimself, in those parts, which are here untouched, to strip Sir Robert's\u003cbr\u003ediscourses of the flourish of doubtful expressions, and endeavour to\u003cbr\u003ereduce his words to direct, positive, intelligible propositions, and\u003cbr\u003ethen compare them one with another, he will quickly be satisfied, there\u003cbr\u003ewas never so much glib nonsense put together in well-sounding English.\u003cbr\u003eIf he think it not worth while to examine his works all thro', let him\u003cbr\u003emake an experiment in that part, where he treats of usurpation; and let\u003cbr\u003ehim try, whether he can, with all his skill, make Sir Robert\u003cbr\u003eintelligible, and consistent with himself, or common sense. I should not\u003cbr\u003espeak so plainly of a gentleman, long since past answering, had not the\u003cbr\u003epulpit, of late years, publicly owned his doctrine, and made it the\u003cbr\u003ecurrent divinity of the times. It is necessary those men, who taking on\u003cbr\u003ethem to be teachers, have so dangerously misled others, should be openly\u003cbr\u003eshewed of what authority this their Patriarch is, whom they have so\u003cbr\u003eblindly followed, that so they may either retract what upon so ill\u003cbr\u003egrounds they have vented, and cannot be maintained; or else justify\u003cbr\u003ethose principles which they preached up for gospel; though they had no\u003cbr\u003ebetter an author than an English courtier: for I should not have writ\u003cbr\u003eagainst Sir Robert, or taken the pains to shew his mistakes,\u003cbr\u003einconsistencies, and want of (what he so much boasts of, and pretends\u003cbr\u003ewholly to build on) scripture-proofs, were there not men amongst us,\u003cbr\u003ewho, by crying up his books, and espousing his doctrine, save me from\u003cbr\u003ethe reproach of writing against a dead adversary. They have been so\u003cbr\u003ezealous in this point, that, if I have done him any wrong, I cannot hope\u003cbr\u003ethey should spare me. I wish, where they have done the truth and the\u003cbr\u003epublic wrong, they would be as ready to redress it, and allow its just\u003cbr\u003eweight to this reflection, viz. that there cannot be done a greater\u003cbr\u003emischief to prince and people, than the propagating wrong notions\u003cbr\u003econcerning government; that so at last all times might not have reason\u003cbr\u003eto complain of the Drum Ecclesiastic. If any one, concerned really for\u003cbr\u003etruth, undertake the confutation of my Hypothesis, I promise him either\u003cbr\u003eto recant my mistake, upon fair conviction; or to answer his\u003cbr\u003edifficulties. But he must remember two things.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst, That cavilling here and there, at some expression, or little\u003cbr\u003eincident of my discourse, is not an answer to my book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSecondly, That I shall not take railing for arguments, nor think either\u003cbr\u003eof these worth my notice, though I shall always look on myself as bound\u003cbr\u003eto give satisfaction to any one, who shall appear to be conscientiously\u003cbr\u003escrupulous in the point, and shall shew any just grounds for his\u003cbr\u003escruples.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have nothing more, but to advertise the reader, that Observations\u003cbr\u003estands for Observations on Hobbs, Milton, \u0026amp;c. and that a bare quotation\u003cbr\u003eof pages always means pages of his Patriarcha, Edition 1680.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47177740583152,"sku":"2940012472748","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012472748_p0.jpg?v=1763569459","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012472748","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}