(seq. 12)

[upper lefthand corner] 11

their children be found [crossed out words] to operate
equally strong in favor of a right in some
indiviuals among mankind to exerise any
degrees of authority over others, the exercise
of such authority must be acknowledged just,
that is, agreeable to the law of nature. And
now to determine this question, it is necessary to
enquire in what the right of authority in the
cases abovementioned is founded And here the
answer is obvious, in the greatest good of the
whole. For since the Governor of the universe
is possessed of power, wisdom, and goodness [crossed out word]
in perfection of degree, it is impossible but that
the greatest [crossed out word] happiness to the creation
should be the result of his exercise of the most
absolute sovereignty. And tho' this right of
absolute authority in the creator over his crea-
tures be inseperable from the relations between
creator & creature, yet it is not founded sim-
ply in that relation, that is in the idea of derived existence, but in the natural imperfec-
tion & dependence of the creature, & the natu-
ral perfection of the creator; and the reason
of the necessarily absolute subjection of the crea-
ture does not consist merely in his having
received existence, but in his having received
it from such[underlined] a being; a being by the perfection
of his nature qualified for the most perfect