ABSTRACT
Seventeenth century England sees the emergence of a new attitude to religion. The victory is for utilitarianism in morals, for toleration in religion, for constitutional government in the sphere of politics. English political thought in the seventeenth century passes through certain distinct phases. From the accession of James I until the outbreak of the Civil War, its main theme is the limits of monarchical power. The philosophic thought of the seventeenth century makes it plain that the human mind had largely freed itself from dependence upon theological authority. The Revolution of the seventeenth century was not an attack on the institution of Kingship as such; it was directed, as Dryden said, against Kings who were felt to be 'a clog on trade'. A conception of nature had been evolved of which the major premiss was the convenient one that the operations of the state must correspond to the will of those who owned economic power.
