Wesley Corpus

But, suppose they had been the whole House of Commons, yea, or the whole Parliament, by what rule of logic will you prove that seven or eight hundred persons are the people of England? “Why, they are the delegates of the people; they are chosen by them.” No, not by one half, not by a quarter, not by a tenth part of them: So that the people, in the only proper sense of the word, were innocent of the whole affair. 29. “But you will allow, the people gave the supreme power to King Charles the Second at the Restoration.” I will allow no such thing, unless, by the people, you mean General Monk and ten thousand soldiers. “However, you will not deny that the people gave the power to King William at the Revolution.” I will; the Convention were not the people, neither elected by them: So that still we have not a single instance, in above seven hundred years, of the people of England’s conveying the supreme power either to one or more persons. 30. So much both for reason and matter of fact. But one single consideration will bring the question to a short issue. It is allowed, no man can dispose of another's life, but by his own consent: I add, No, nor with his consent; for no man has a right to dispose of his own life: The Creator of man has the sole right to take the life which he gave. Now, it is an indisputable truth, Nihil dat quod non habet,-“None gives what he has not.” It follows, that no man can give to another a right which he never had himself; a right which only the Governor of the world has, even the wiser Heathens being judges; but which no man upon the face of the earth either has or can have. No man, therefore, can give the power of the sword, any such power as gives a right to take away life: Wherever it is, it must descend from God alone, the sole disposer of life and death. 31. The supposition, then, that the people are the origin of power, or that “all government is the creature of the people,” though Mr. Locke himself should attempt to defend it, is utterly indefensible.