Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-swr86 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T14:28:02.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Of subjection in general, and the subjects of a civil state

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Conal Condren
Affiliation:
University of New South Wales, Sydney
Get access

Summary

In the former part I have, according to my poor ability, declared, […] what the act of government is. […] That the subject of it being a commonwealth both civil and ecclesiastical, it hath two parts: […] the constitution [and] the administration of the same. [I have argued] that the matter of a commonwealth is the community, and the form, an order of superiority and subjection; […] that there are two integral parts of a commonwealth, […] pars imperans, the sovereign, [and] pars subdita, the subject. [I have declared] what the power of a sovereign is, how it is acquired, how disposed, and that both in a civil state and church. Now according to order comes in pars subdita, to be considered both in a civil and an ecclesiastical notion. What a subject in a civil state is cannot be known in particular, except we know the nature of subjection in general. The word in Greek, which signifies to be subject is [hypotassesthai] to be subordinate. For subjection presupposeth order, not physical and local, but moral of superior and inferior. That which makes a superior is power, and power over another, which is not invested with it; in which respect he is inferior in relation to him that hath power over him. And so soon as God hath made one superior to another instantly, the party inferior is bound to subjection, which is a thing due unto this superior.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×