proper way to make them amends If there be no other way to make reparation to their injured King but by engaging the Nation in Civil Wars they ought not to attempt making him reparation by such unlawful ways The not restoring a Person to the Crown that he is unjustly deprived of can only be considered when the publick is no longer concerned in his Actions and the Affairs of the Nation are managed by other hands as an injury to a single person and the greatness of the injury is to be judged not by the value of the thing it self but what he that is unjustly deprived of it suffers by the loss of it What is absolutely necessary for the subsistence of one person may be but superfluities to another and as the Widows Mites were greater Charity than what the Rich out of their Abundance gave so the Robbing her of them because she could less spare them would have been a greater injury and consequently a greater sin than Robbing a Rich man that could better spare it of a thousand times as much Tyrants it is true rob great numbers of the conveniences and very often of the necessaries of Life but Usurpers only hinder single persons from enjoying not the necessaries or conveniences of Life but Superfluities because all the necessaries and even conveniences of life can be had without a Crown Yet the Usurpers without all dispute if they can without any injury to the publick ought to restore the Government to those from whom they do unjustly wrest it but if they do not Subjects for the sake of Government to which Sacred Ordinance Obedience by God himself as well as man is annexed ought to submit Christ and his Apostles make no distinction but command Obedience to all in possession by annexing God's Authority to the Office of Governing CHAP. XIII Of Proofs of Scripture concerning Obedience to those that actually Administer Government CHRIST in the Directions he gave Mat. 23. to his Disciples and to the multitude about their Behaviour to the Scribes and Pharisees requires Obedience to be paid them only upon the account of Possession saying The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do and gives no other reason for this great Obedience in doing and observing whatever they command but because they sat in Moses's seat that is were possessed of Moses's Authority who in the Theocracy was the Chief Magistrate Not that the Scribes and Pharisees had so great a power as Moses but as far as they did enjoy his Seat Throne and Authority so far they were to be Obeyed They were then the greatest as well as chiefest part of the grand Sanhedrin which in all causes where the Romans had left the Jews to their Liberty had the Supreme Power both in Civil and Ecclesiastical matters There were not in the Jewish Republick two distinct independant Powers one for Civil another for Ecclesiastical Causes If the people were then obliged to pay so great Obedience barely upon the account of Possession why may not the same direction serve for a standing rule to the multitude in all times And not only to the Inferiors but even to the Supreme Magistrate himself Christ requires Obedience upon no other account but that of possession If Caesar be in possession of the Empire as it did appear by his Coining of Money and Stamping his Image upon it that being a mark of Sovereignty and Empire but not of any Legal Title to it then Caesar is to have Tribute and all other parts of Allegiance paid him And St. Paul in express terms requires Obedience to the powers that be and declares there is no Power but what is from God The Jews being influenced by the Priests and Pharisees who because they were obliged by their Law to place no Stranger over them scrupled to pay obedience to the Roman Emperors because they were Strangers and not capable of a Legal Right not considering the Law did not oblige them but when it was in their own choice and not when they were under the power of the Romans to whom for the sake of protection they were obliged to pay obedience St. Paul to take away these scruples assures them all Powers are from God If St. Paul had only meant Legal Powers since none but Jews were capable of being such he had confirmed the Jews in their Error But the reason why St. Paul obliges men to submit will demonstrate that all actual Rulers are meant and none but they because they alone are a Terror to evil works and a Praise to the good none but the actual Ruler is a Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil or a Minister of God for good What can more fully demonstrate that the reason of obedience is for the benefits men receive by Government And what makes the Crime of Resisting them so great is because men Oppose those by whom they receive so many advantages It is because they have the power of the Sword which includeth all manner of Punishment by which they secure and protect their Subjects from all manner of injury and violence of ill men and being Ministers of God for good includeth all the good they receive both to their Persons and Properties for which cause you pay tribute also for they are God's ministers continually attending upon this very thing It is their dispensing these advantages to Mankind that makes them God's Ministers and God's Ordinance the Scripture affirming those things that are necessary for the good of Mankind to come from God as plowing and sowing Isaiah 28. from Verse the 23d to the 29th If it once be known as the discovery cannot be difficult who it is that beareth the Sword who administers Justice who Rewards and who Punisheth if the Apostle's word is to be taken subjection is not only due to him for Wrath but for Conscience-sake and the same Apostle exhorts That prayers be made for Kings and all in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty These reasons can only concern those that have actual Power and Authority by whose protection those that live under them may lead such lives and if it be our duty to pray that we may lead such Lives it must be our duty to enable them that have Authority over us to secure us in the enjoyment of a quiet and peaceable Life Do the Principles or Practices of the Jacobites suit with this Doctrine who instead of Praying for those in Authority make it their business by opposing them to destroy not only our Quiet and Peace and even all Godliness and Honesty too by endeavouring to set up again a Popish Governor and by consequence to introduce a Religion whose Principles are destructive of true Godliness and Honesty as well as the Peace and Quiet of the Professors of them And St. Peter for the same reason requires people to submit to the Supream
ought to make him satisfaction and if he can without any damage to the Publick ought to place him in that condition he was in before he made him uncapable to Protect the People who then for the sake of Protection which they receive from him are obliged to pay him Obedience The having a Right to be restored by the Usurper is the only Right a Prince that is unjustly Deprived of his Regal Office can pretend to And when I speak of his Legal Right I mean nothing but this by it Amongst the Jews though none could have a Legal Right but one of their own Nation because they were obliged by God himself to chuse a King from amongst their Brethren and God afterward 2 Chron. 23. 3. entail'd the Crown upon the Posterity of David yet when these were disabled to Protect the people by their being in the Power of Strangers it was so far from being a Crime that it was their Duty notwithstanding the Divine Legal Right any of their Brethren could pretend to to pay Allegiance to them though for the most part they were Usurpers having no just Cause to conquer them CHAP. VIII Of Conquest IF the Supreme Powers upon the suddenness of the Attempt or by any other reason become uncapable of Defending or Securing to them the Lives and Goods of their Subjects they are as to those particular Cases in the state of Nature and by their own Authority may justly take away the Lives of any that Assault them There can be no reason why if in all other cases no Protection can be had from those they have consented to be Protected by they are not in the state of Nature and by consequence at Liberty to pay Allegiance to those who have a Power to Protect them And this is consonant to the sence and practice of Mankind ever since there has been Government in the world who when their former Governors had lost the Power of Protecting them thought themselves notwithstanding any Tyes Oaths or Laws that might be pretended to the contrary free from any Obligation as to them and because they could not subsist without Government they have always consented to pay them Allegiance who had the Power to Protect them And there are no Nations in the world but have seldomer or oftener practised it and this is perhaps the foundation of all the Governments which are now extant And this practice does not only obtain as to whole Nations but even to less places as to Towns and Castles which never scruple to pay Allegiance to their new Masters though they change them more than once in a Campaign I wonder what powerful Reasons never before discover'd to the world and for ought I can see by their Writings still undiscovered have now obliged private persons to deviate from the universal practice of Mankind in refusing to pay Allegiance to the present Government which alone has the power to protect them The answer to this is That Conquest gives the prevailing Powers a right and that people submit to them as to Conquerors but the English are no conquered Nation which though it is nothing to the purpose as I shall immediatly shew is I confess a great truth The King was so far from invading and conquering the Nation that it was to secure their Rights and Priviledges that he exposed his Sacred Person to such dangers But according to their own Principles one of these two they must grant for there is no medium That the Late King either freely parted with his Government and if so there can be no manner of pretence for paying him Allegiance or that he was driven out by a Superior Force which in other terms is being conquered So that then according to these Principles His Present Majesty must have a right to whatever King James possessed Conquest in it self and barely considered can give no manner of Right for what obligation can lye on a Nation to pay obedience to any one for battering down their Towns killing their Inhabitants destroying their Countrey and in short for doing all manner of Outrages Must a Nation as a grateful return for these kindnesses be obliged to pay him all manner of obedience Can any man in his senses think these Injuries can give the Actor of them a title to peoples obedience or that mere force can give a right for then every one that was stronger than another would have a right to govern him Conquest by destroying the power the former King had to protect his Subjects sets them at liberty from any obligation they owed him because they owed none to him but upon the account of being protected by him The Conqueror does not by this get a right to their Allegiance because to free people from the power of another and to have a right to command them himself are different things They being once free from Government and by consequence in the state of Nature nothing can give the Conqueror right to their Allegiance but their own Consent By which it appears that Mankind hath been often in the state of Nature and considering the often Changes and Revolutions there could be few or no legal Governments in the world if in such Circumstances all ties to their former Governors were not absolutely dissolved But here it may be objected That their Consent was not voluntary but forced and therefore could not obâ—ige them or give the Conquerors a right The conquered may in a sense be said to be forced to what they did because they are bound by a moral Necessity to act for their own preservation and happiness and for that reason they were obliged to leave the state of Nature and be governed by him that had the power to Protect them none are forced to be Protected against their own Wills they by the former Government 's dissolution were reduced to a state of Nature and if the Prince under whose Power they are will not afford them his Protection they would still remain in that state but they by claiming civil Rights which they can only enjoy by his Governing them and referring their common Differences to be decided and their Grievances to be redressed by him or those that Act by his Authority have put themselves out of the state of Nature and have freely owned his Government by their Actions which were voluntary for they were not forced to have recourse to him for Protection in their Natural Rights or obliged to claim any Civil ones and this is looked upon by Mankind as a free and voluntary consent the most part of whom have no otherways than by their actions owned any Government Though their consent was obtained by forcible means yet that would not destroy the validity of it It is true in a Civil Society all Contracts obtained by Force are void but then the Force ought to be proved for the presumption is against it and Judges declare for a validity of a Contract if the Forcible means which were used to obtain it are not
Magistrate whom he calls the Ordinance of Man so that it is plain that God by approving this Human Ordinance approves it as Human and requires obedience to it for the same Reasons that men at first instituted it And it is the power Governors have to do Good that makes them to be not only God's Ordinance and God's Ministers but even Gods for since they are not Gods by nature tho by some peoples arguing one would suppose they though them such or at least Beings in themselves superior to the rest of Mankind it must be for the protection they afford that they are termed so who when they do no longer protect the people cease to be a Human Ordinance and then too they cease to be a Divine one And the same Reasons that obliges people to submit to them when they act for the good of the Society does as much oblige people to oppose them if they design to ruin and destroy them It cannot well be supposed that God who has obliged Mankind to preserve their lives and consequently to use the means that are necessary for that end should require People to suffer themselves to be destroyed to gratify the Lust or Barbarity of a single Person or a few who are by Nature but their Equals and only above them by being in an Office which they erected only for their Convenience Obj. St. Paul makes no manner of exception but declareth Whosoever resists shall receive damnation Ans. The Apostle requireth obedience to Parents in all things so he requireth obedience to Masters Husbands Pastors without mentioning any Exceptions so here the Apostle which was sufficient for his purpose declareth all people ought to obey the Supream Powers without mentioning this exception which from the nature end and design of Government and even from those Reasons which he gives for Obedience does necessarily flow It cannot be presumed that Christ gave Authority to his Apostles to make Slaves of Mankind by giving the Emperors a new Power who before by no Law of God or Nature had such a power over peoples lives All the Power the Roman Government had was immediatly from the people who as it is plain in History by their mutual Consent erected that Commonwealth and what power the Emperors had was given them too by the people who by the Lex Regia conferred it upon them All that can be deduced from Scripture is That obedience is due to those that protect the people and nothing can be plainet than those Texts which require it By which plain and ignorant people may know their duty as well as the learned and wise It would have been inconsistent with the Goodness of God to have required obedience on the greatest penalties and yet leave it so uncertain as the Jacobitish Principles would render it to whom obedience is to be paid What can be more uncertain than generally Titles are And are there not innumerable intricate difficulties about long Possession presumed Consent a just cause for a total Conquest c. If about these Points the Learned do so extreamly differ as any one may perceive that gives himself the trouble to examine what Authors have writ upon it who give good Reasons for destroying one another's Hypothesis but none for confirming their own but what are liable to equal Exceptions what means or possibility have almost all Mankind the unlearned and common people of knowing their duty But it may be objected Though the common people should be mistaken invincible Ignorance will excuse them Ans. Not to dispute how far such Ignorance will excuse them I am sure it is inconsistent with the Infinite Wisdom of God to give such Rules as almost all Mankind are utterly uncapable of understanding or guiding their Actions by But whoever considereth these Texts of Scripture will see the falseness of such impious Reflections and must admire the Goodness of God in laying down Rules so plain that a well-meaning man cannot mistake them But if men will be wiser than God himself and not be content with those Laws he prescribes them but will invent new Rules and new ways or by following the Tradition of the Jewish Priests will disturb the peace and quiet of Human Societies by opposing the Powers that be If by so doing they incur the severest Punishments here as well as Eternal Torments hereafter with those damned ill-natured Spirits the grand Enemies of Mankind who at first possessed men with these Maxims so pernicious to Human Societies they must thank themselves and their too great Subtilty The Primitive Christians all along complied with the Revolution of the Empire and whoever was in possession of it without examing his Title paid him allegiance and thought him invested with God's Authority And as the Goths and Vandals and other barbarous Nations on one hand and the Saracens Turks and Persians on the other without any just cause overturn'd the Roman Empire the Christians were so far from disputing their Titles or refusing to transfer their Allegiance to them that they never scrupled to own their Government If these Pharisaical Notions had then been believed or practised those Nations would have extirpated all the Professors of Christianity as Enemies to Government and Order instead of being converted to their Religion as most of the Northern Nations were Nor do the Christians that now live under the Dominions of the Infidels vary from this Primitive Practice or scruple to transfer their Allegiance to any that gets possession of the Sacred Office of Governing tho the Legal Prince be still alive Did not the Jews though they were commanded by a Divine Law to take a King from amongst their Brethren and God himself had intailed the Crown on the Posterity of David practice the same as they fell under the power of the four great Empires And did they not submit to Alexander without endeavouring to oppose him when Darius to whom they had sworn obedience could no longer protect them I shall add but one Instance more and that shall be of David who thought it not unlawful when Saul designed to take away his life to transfer his Allegiance and fly to Achish King of Gath for protection who made him Keeper of his Head or Captain of his Guard and whilst he was under his protection he thought it his duty to pay all manner of Allegiance to him and tho contrary to his Interest and the hopes he had of being King after Saul's death even to join with the Uncircumcised to invade his own Countrey and to sight against the Lord 's Anointed his late King and Father-in-law and as appeareth by the 1 Sam. 29. 8. was much grieved and humbly expostulateth with the King for not permitting him to attend him in the Battel But what have I done or what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee until this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my Lord the King Saul by designing to destroy David had