Question

Select two locations in the following text where Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet describes factors that ensure absolute monarchs do not rule arbitrarily.

There are four characteristics or qualities essential to royal authority. "First, royal authority is sacred; Secondly it is paternal; Thirdly, it is absolute; Fourthly, it is subject to reason". … All power comes from God. &$8230; Thus princes act as ministers of God, and his lieutenants on earth. … "We have seen that kings hold the place of God, who is the true Father of the human race. We have also seen that the first idea of power that there was among men, is that of paternal power; and that kings were fashioned on the model of fathers. Moreover, all the world agrees that obedience, which is due to public power, is only found … in the precept which obliges one to honor his parents". From all this it appears that the name “king” is a father’s name, and that goodness is the most natural quality in kings … "Royal authority is absolute. In order to make this term odious and insupportable, many pretend to confuse absolute government and arbitrary government. But nothing is more distinct, as we shall make clear when we speak of justice". … "The prince need account to no one for what he ordains. … Without this absolute authority, he can neither do good nor suppress evil: his power must be such that no one can hope to escape him. … One must, then, obey princes as if they were justice itself, without which there is neither order nor justice in affairs. They are gods, and share in some way in divine independence…It follows from this that he who does not want to obey the prince … is condemned irremissibly to death as an enemy of public peace and of human society". …"The prince can correct himself when he knows that he has done badly; but against his authority there can be no remedy"…

Answer 1

1. First, royal authority is sacred; Secondly it is paternal; Thirdly, it is absolute; Fourthly, it is subject to reason
2. The prince can correct himself when he knows that he has done badly; but against his authority there can be no remedy

Answer 2

1) The phrase and surrounding passage beginning "Fourthly, it is subject to reason" — especially: "Royal authority is absolute. In order to make this term odious and insupportable, many pretend to confuse absolute government and arbitrary government. But nothing is more distinct, as we shall make clear when we speak of justice."
- Why: Bossuet here explicitly says absoluteness is restrained by reason and justice, distinguishing it from arbitrary rule.

2) The passage beginning "All power comes from God. … Thus princes act as ministers of God, and his lieutenants on earth." (and the immediately following lines about kings being fashioned on the model of fathers and "goodness is the most natural quality in kings")
- Why: this locates royal authority in divine and paternal responsibilities, implying moral and religious accountability (and an expectation of paternal goodness) that constrain arbitrary behavior.