conſonant to the hiſtory of the Bible, and natural reaſon, Obſervations, 210. And in his Pref. to his Obſervations on Ariſtotle, he ſays thus, The firſt government in the world was monarchical in the father of all fleſh, Adam being commanded to multiply and people the earth, and to ſubdue it, and having dominion given him over all creatures, was thereby the monarch of the whole world : none of his poſterity had any right to poſſeſs any thing, but by his grant or permiſſion, or by ſucceſſion from him : The earth, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, hath he given to the children of men, which ſhew the title comes from fatherhood.
§. 22. Before I examine this argument, and the text on which it is founded, it is neceſſary to deſire the reader to obſerve, that our author, according to his uſual method, begins in one ſenſe, and concludes in another ; he begins here with Adam's propriety, or private dominion, by donation ; and his concluſion is, which ſhew the title comes from fatherhood.
§. 23. But let us ſee the argument. The words of the text are theſe ; and God bleſſed them, and God ſaid unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and repleniſh the earth and ſubdue it, and have dominion over the fiſh of the ſea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, i. Gen. 28. from whence our author concludes, that Adam, having here dominion given him over all creatures, was thereby the monarch of the
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