His Discourses Concerning Government (the text for which Sidney lost his life) was written during the Exclusion Crisis, as a response to Robert Filmer's Patriarcha, a defence of divine right monarchy, first published in 1680. Sidney was strongly opposed to the principles espoused by Filmer and believed that the Sovereign's subjects had the right and duty to share in the government of the Realm by giving advice and counsel. It was Filmer's business, he wrote, "to overthrow liberty and truth." Sidnay wrote that patriarchal government was not 'God's will', as Filmer and others contended, because the "Civil powers are purely human ordinances."
- ISBN13 9781329454293
- Publish Date 10 August 2015
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook
- Language English