Report Template - Jubilee Centre

THE POLITICAL USE OF THE BIBLE IN EARLY MODERN BRITAIN:
Principles of Ancient Government:
Power and Authority
Oceana’s most fundamental orders, power and
authority, are integral to Harrington’s intricate analysis
of his naturally derived popular commonwealth model.
Authority represents the internal “goods of the mind”
such as “natural or acquired virtues.” Power, which
Harrington equates with empire, represents the external
“goods of fortune” such as “riches,” the goods of the
“body, as health, beauty, strength,” as well as landed
property. 99 Domestic empire, or government, is
established upon dominion defined as property in land,
money, and goods. The proportioning of lands defines
the balance of dominion, and hence the nature or
structure of government. The balance of dominion, or
its structural role, is the foundation of an empire or
government.
The form of government or the superstructure is
dependent upon this division and distribution of
property. This property-balance leads to either an
“absolute monarchy” or a “government of servants,” an
“aristocratical monarchy,” which is a “government of
subjects,” or a “commonwealth,” which represents a
“government of citizens,” like “those of Israel, of Rome,
of Holland.” 100 Sole proprietorship of land, or its
possession consigned to a few, overbalances the people
in their ownership and defines the empire as either a
monarchy or mixed monarchy. Conversely, if the people
retain ownership of the land, the balance of dominion
is united with them, resulting in a commonwealth. 101
Government, which is most “natural” to the
foundations of any empire, rests entirely upon the
division and allocation of property or land distribution;
empire follows the “balance of property.” 102 Harrington
interpreted England’s balance of dominion as resting
with the people, leading him to conclude the need to
transition to a commonwealth arrangement.
Equality in the Foundation: The Balance
of Dominion and the Law of the
Agrarian
If an empire is to sustain its existence it must establish a
law fixing the balance in lands called an “agrarian.” The
agrarian’s primary power is to stabilise and secure the
frame of government.
Not just any sort of agrarian law was desirable.
Harrington advocated for Israel’s agrarian which was
99
Ibid., 163.
100
Harrington, Prerogative, 441.
101
Harrington, Oceana, 163-164.
102
Ibid., 164-165.
“first introduced by God himself, who divided the land
of Canaan unto his people by lots,” and secured
popular government. Israel’s agrarian was “of such
virtue that, wherever it hath held, that government hath
not altered, except by consent; as in that unparalleled
example of the people of Israel, when being in liberty
they would needs choose a king.” 103 Israel’s agrarian law
was also God inspired, administered by Him for His
own people, and secured the Hebrew Commonwealth
until the people’s remarkable request for a king. Israel’s
agrarian, which evidenced equality in her political
foundation, was incorporated into Oceana as a
fundamental constitutional pillar. 104 Harrington reads
1 Samuel 8:19 as evidence of a negative alteration in
Israel’s government, and nothing short of a civil
blunder.
Balance of Authority in the
Commonwealth Structure: Debate and
Result
Authority, like power, must also be balanced. Unity
between power and authority rests in the elevation of
the common interests of man over the private interests
of individuals and parties. Harrington divided man’s
soul into the rivals of passion, whose reign results in
“vice and the bondage of sin,” and reason, which “is
virtue and the freedom of soul.” 105 Man’s soul (any
man, not simply a saint) bears the image of God, 106
which resides as the empire of reason as opposed to
passion. Consequently, an empire of laws, or rule of
common reason, is to the liberty of a commonwealth as
the reign of reason is to the liberty of the individual.
Harrington now proceeds with his principles of debate
and result in the commonwealth, or how laws are
proposed, debated, and resolved. Only common reason
can issue forth in virtuous laws.
Harrington conceded a political difficulty: those
proposing, debating, and resolving are mere men, who
must overcome the tendency to prioritise their interests
above the common good. 107 Harrington never asserted
a doctrine of human depravity, commonly associated
with his republican counterparts, to overcome this
problem.
Mere persuasion will not rid man of this propensity
towards private interests or predispose him towards
103
Ibid., 164.
104
Harrington wrote a poem entitled “On the Political Balance,”
in his An essay upon two of virgil’s eclogues (London, 1658), where
he alludes to Israel’s rejection of God, and hence her original
balance.
105
Harrington, Oceana, 169-170.
106
Harrington, A system of politics (London, 1661?), 837.
107
Harrington, Oceana, 171.
24