Page:Two Treatises of Government.djvu/46

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32
Of Government.

things under his feet, all ſheep and oxen, and the beaſts of the field, and the fowls of the air, and fiſh of the ſea, and whatſover paſſeth thro' the paths of the ſea. In which words, if any one can find out, that there is meant any monarchical power of one man over another, but only the dominion of the whole ſpecies of mankind, over the inferior ſpecies of creatures, he may, for aught I know, deſerve to be one of Sir Robert's monarchs in habit, for the rareneſs of the diſcovery. And by this time, I hope it is evident, that he that gave dominion over every living thing that moveth on the earth, gave Adam no monarchical power over thoſe of his own ſpecies, which will yet appear more fully in the next thing I am to ſhew.

§. 29. 2. Whatever God gave by the words of this grant, i. Gen. 28. it was not to Adam in particular, excluſive of all other men : whatever dominion he had thereby, it was not a private dominion, but a dominion in common with the reſt of mankind. That this donation was not made in particular to Adam, appears evidently from the words of the text, it being made to more than one; for it was ſpoken in the plural number, God bleſſed them, and ſaid unto them, Have dominion. God ſays unto Adam and Eve, Have dominion ; thereby, ſays our author, Adam was monarch of the world : but the grant being to them, i. e. ſpoke to Eve alſo, as many

interpreters