John Ponet — A Short Treatise of Politike Power (1556; modernized edition)

It is further to be considered, that the general practice of religion and virtue is of great importance to their happiness… And God having in the constitution of nature made religion and virtue conducive, and even necess…

They must be such as fear God. The fear of God, in the language of scripture, does not intend a slavish, superstitious dread, as of an almighty, arbitrary and cruel Being; but that just reverence and awe of him, which na…

And this is, to promote and secure the happiness of the whole community. For this end only they are invested with power, and only for this end it ought to be employed. The apostle tells us, that the magistrate is God's m…

The magistrate is properly the trustee of the people: He can have no just power but what he receives from them. To them he ought to be accountable for the use he makes of this power. But if a man may be invested with the…

No man is born a magistrate, or with a right to rule over his brethren. If this were the case, there must be some natural mark by which it might be known to whom this right belongs, or it could answer no end: But no man…

To conclude: This whole assembly will bear in mind, that there is another and more valuable kind of liberty, than that to which the foregoing discourse more immediately relates… a liberty, which consists in being free fr…