The Oceana of James Harrington and his other works, som [sic] wherof are now first publish'd from his own manuscripts : the whole collected, methodiz'd, and review'd, with an exact account of his life prefix'd / by John Toland.

CHAP. IV.

Of the Form of Government.

1. THAT which gives the being, the action, and the deno∣mination to a Creature or Thing, is the Form of that Creature or Thing.

2. THERE is in Form somthing that is not Elementary but Di∣vine.

3. THE contemplation of Form is astonishing to Man, and has a kind of trouble or impulse accompanying it, that exalts his Soul to God.

4. AS the Form of a Man is the Image of God, so the Form of a Government is the Image of Man.

5. MAN is both a sensual and a philosophical Creature.

6. SENSUALITY in a Man is when he is led only as are the Beasts, that is, no otherwise than by Appetit.

7. PHILOSOPHY is the knowlege of Divine and Human Things.

8. TO preserve and defend himself against Violence, is natural to Man as he is a sensual Creature.

9. TO have an impulse, or to be rais'd upon contemplation of natural things to the Adoration or Worship of God, is natural to Man as he is a Philosophical Creature.

10. FORMATION of Government is the creation of a Po∣litical Creature after the Image of a Philosophical Creature; or it is an infusion of the Soul or Facultys of a Man into the body of a Mul∣titude.

11. THE more the Soul or Facultys of a Man (in the manner of their being infus'd into the body of a Multitude) are refin'd or made incapable of Passion, the more perfect is the Form of Govern∣ment.

12. NOT the refin'd Spirit of a Man, or of som Men, is a good Form of Government; but a good Form of Government is the refin'd Spirit of a Nation.

[Chap. IV] 13. THE Spirit of a Nation (whether refin'd or not refin'd) can neither be wholly Saint nor Atheist: Not Saint, because the far great∣er part of the People is never able in matters of Religion to be their own Leaders; nor Atheists, because Religion is every whit as inde∣lible a Character in man's Nature as Reason.

14. LANGUAGE is not a more natural intercourse between the Soul of one man and another, than Religion is between God and the Soul of a man.

15. AS not this Language, nor that Language, but som Language; so not this Religion, nor that Religion, yet som Religion is natural to every Nation.

16. THE Soul of Government, as the true and perfect Image of the Soul of Man, is every whit as necessarily religious as rational.

17. THE Body of a Government, as consisting of the sensual part of Man, is every whit as preservative and defensive of it self as sensual Creatures are of themselves.

18. THE Body of a Man, not actuated or led by the Soul, is a dead thing out of pain and misery; but the Body of a People, not actuated or led by the Soul of Government, is a living thing in pain and misery.

19. THE Body of a People, not led by the reason of the Go∣vernment, is not a People, but a Herd; not led by the Religion of the Government, is at an inquiet and an uncomfortable loss in it self; not disciplin'd by the conduct of the Government, is not an Army for de∣fence of it self, but a Rout; not directed by the Laws of the Govern∣ment, has not any rule of right; and without recourse to the Justice or Judicatorys of the Government, has no remedy of wrongs.

20. IN contemplation of, and in conformity to the Soul of man, as also for supply of those his Necessitys which are not otherwise supply'd, or to be supply'd by Nature, Form of Government consists necessarily of these five parts: The Civil, which is the Reason of the People; the Religious, which is the Comfort of the People; the Military, which is the Captain of the People; the Laws, which are the Rights of the People; and the Judicatorys, which are the Avengers of their Wrongs.

21. THE parts of Form in Government are as the Offices in a House; and the Orders of a Form of Government are as the Orders of a House or Family.

22. GOOD Orders make evil men good, and bad Orders make good men evil.

23. OLIGARCHISTS (to the end they may keep all others out of the Government) pretending themselves to be Saints, do also pretend that they in whom Lust reigns, are not fit for Reign or for Government. But Libido dominandi, the Lust of Government, is the greatest Lust, which also reigns most in those that have least right, as in Oligarchists: for many a King and many a People have and had un∣questionable Right, but an Oligarchist never; whence from their own argument, the Lust of Government reigning most in Oligarchists, it undeniably follows that Oligarchists of all men are least fit for Govern∣ment.

24. AS in Houses not differing in the kinds of their Offices, the Orders of the Familys differ much; so the difference of Form in dif∣ferent Governments consists not in the kinds or number of the Parts,

which in every one is alike, but in the different ways of ordering [Chap. V] hose parts. And as the different Orders of a House arise for the most part from the quantity and quality of the Estate by which it is de∣fray'd or maintain'd, according as it is in one or more of the Family as Proprietors, so is it also in a Government.

25. THE Orders of the Form, which are the manners of the mind of the Government, follow the temperament of the Body, or the di∣stribution of the Lands or Territorys, and the Interests thence ari∣sing.

26. THE Interest of Arbitrary Monarchy is the absoluteness of the Monarch; the Interest of Regulated Monarchy is the greatness of the Nobility; the Interest of Democracy is the felicity of the Peo∣ple: for in Democracy the Government is for the use of the People, and in Monarchy the People are for the use of the Government, that is, of one Lord or more.

27. THE use of a Horse without his Provender, or of the Peo∣ple without som regard had to the necessitys of Human Nature, can be none at all: nor are those necessitys of Nature in any Form what∣soever to be otherwise provided for than by those five parts already mention'd; for which cause every Government consists of five parts▪ the Civil, the Religious, the Military, the Laws, and the Judicatorys.