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that which is his own, and so again it is injustice. Besides, if
he that attempteth to depose his Soveraign, be killed, or
punished by him for such attempt, he is author of his own
punishment, as being by the Institution, Author of all his
Soveraign shall do: And because it is injustice for a man to do
any thing, for which he may be punished by his own authority,
he is also upon that title, unjust. And whereas some men
have pretended for their disobedience to their Soveraign, a new
Covenant, made, not with men, but with God; this also is
unjust: for there is no Covenant with God, but by mediation
of some body that representeth Gods Person; which none doth
but Gods Lieutenant, who hath the Soveraignty under God.
But this pretence of Covenant with God, is so evident a lye,
even in the pretenders own consciences, that it is not onely an
act of an unjust, but also of a vile, and unmanly disposition.

Secondly, Because the Right of bearing the Person of them
all, is given to him they make Soveraigne, by
Covenant onely of one to another, and not of
him to any of them; there can happen no breach
of Covenant on the part of the Soveraigne; and
consequently none of his Subjects, by any pretence of forfeiture,
can be freed from his Subjection. That he which is made
Soveraigne maketh no Covenant with his Subjects before-hand,
is manifest; because either he must make it with the whole
multitude, as one party to the Covenant; or he must make
a severall Covenant with every man. With the whole, as one
party, it is impossible; because as yet they are not one Person:
and if he make so many severall Covenants as there be men,
those Covenants after he hath the Soveraignty are voyd, be-
cause what act soever can be pretended by any one of them for
breach thereof, is the act both of himselfe, and of all the rest,
because done in the Person, and by the Right of every one of
them in particular. Besides, if any one, or more of them,
pretend a breach of the Covenant made by the Soveraigne at
his Institution; and others, or one other of his Subjects, or
himselfe alone, pretend there was no such breach, there is in
this case, no Judge to decide the controversie: it returns there-
fore to the Sword again; and every man recovereth the right
of Protecting himselfe by his own strength, contrary to the
designe they had in the Institution. It is therefore in vain to

2. Sove-
raigne Power
cannot be
forfeited.

-121-

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Publication Information: Book Title: Leviathan: Or, the Matter, Forme & Power of a Commonwealth, Ecclesiasticall and Civill. Contributors: Thomas Hobbes - author, A. R. Waller - editor. Publisher: Cambridge University Press. Place of Publication: Cambridge, England. Publication Year: 1904. Page Number: 121.
    
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