ABSTRACT
Theabsolutistpositiononsovereigntythatcreatedthemoststirinthelater seventeenthcenturywasthatofFilmerratherthanHobbes\'politicallythe leastimportantofalltheabsolutistwriters',forPeterLaslett).Hobbes'unremittingpragmatismprovedtoomuchforeventhemostabsolutist-minded ofroyalists-includingFilmerhimself,whowentontoremarkofhisnotoriouscontemporary:'Iconsentwithhimabouttherightsofexercisinggovernment,butIcannotagreetohismeansofacquiringit'.2Thelackofany reallysignificantspiritualdimensioninHobbesprovestobethesticking pointforFilmer-andforsomanyothers,forwhomHobbeswaslittle betterthananatheistinconsequence.Certainly,thereisnomystiqueabout kingshipinLeviathanofthekindthatFilmerwishedtofoster;Hobbes having,asJ.P.Kenyonhassummeditup,'divorcedpoliticalobligation fromthesupernaturalaltogether'.3Althoughwrittenmuchearlier(partsas earlyas1628accordingtosomecommentators\Filmer'sPatriarchawas notpublisheduntil1680,andimmediatelydrewtheireoftheemerging Whigmovement,promptingrepliesfromseveralfigures,mostnotablyJohn LockeandAlgernonSidney.PeterLasletthasnotedthat'theTories, championsoftheMonarchyagainstShaftesburyandtheWhig Exclusionists,scoredanotablepropagandavictory',withthepublicationof Patriarcha.6TheWhigscertainlytookFilmer'sdefenceofthedivineright ofkingsveryseriouslyindeed,asSidney'sintroductoryremarkstohis DiscoursesConcerningGovernment(writtenbetween1681and1683, althoughnotpublisheduntil1698)makeclear:
Such 'universal and undistinguished right' was anathema to Whig theorists, especially to an unrepentant republican like Sidney, who had served as one of the commissioners at the trial of Charles I and had described the latter's execution as, 'the justest and bravest action that ever was done in England,
8 or anywhere'.
