former Scripture our Adversaries would bind our hands and with this they would tye our tongues The one must deprive us of Self Defence and the other of the Liberty of Speech It is not Enough to Suffer unjustly and to be destroyed but it is a Crime to Complain or to represent our Grievances How unlike are some Earthly Gods to the God of Heaven whose Authority they have and whom they ought to Resemble He invites nay he Commands us to petition him for what we want They Cannot bear to be petition'd at all but call it Rebellion He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear They will take our Fields and Vineyards make us Slaves and Beggars and we may not enquire the reason En quo discordia Cives Perduxit miseros En queis consevimus agros Such was the Effect of Court Flattery that none must look into the Kings Measures nor dare to ask a Question None must admonish him of Danger reprove him of Evil nor advise him for Good for who may say unto him What doest thou Counsellors and Chaplains at this rate must all take their leave there 's no occasion or business for them This indeed was lately our Case and thus our Adversaries would have it still But by their Favour as the Case is now God be praised happily altered so neither is this the intent of the Text it being only an Emphatical Expression to shew the Greatness of a Kings Power and how insolent a thing it is to question him in the just Exercise of his Regal Authority whilst he is Executing the Laws of his Country for the punishment of Evil Doers and for the Praise of them that Do Well why should any one oppose him But if he be setting Fire to a City subverting his Government betraying his People or destroying himself One need not ask indeed what he is a doing for the thing speaks it self He is throwing off his Crown and Dignity and Resistance is the only way to keep it on This should be endeavoured with all the respect to a Crowned Head that the matter will bear but if Force be necessary it must be used They are good Subjects that prevent their King 's falling down a Precipice tho' it be by violent Hands but they are Traytors who out of Respect and Reverence will let him break his Neck And we have the Authority of King James the First and of the Learned Barclay That where a King has no Authority there he ceases to be King and returns to the state of a private Man But call him King still if you please it is however the Duty of his Council and those about him who have opportunity to admonish him of Danger and prevent his Ruine as far as they can before it be too late And perhaps the mis-applying of this very Text may have made some Men over-Cautious and deprived Kings of that free and wholesome Advice which might have been eatly serviceable to them Let us now look into the Scriptures and see whether what has been said to Kings in former times may not seem to counter-ballance this Interrogative What doest thou Samuel told King Saul he had done foolishly and charges him with Disobedience Stubbornness and Rebellion Elisah told King Ahab That he had sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord and that it was he and his fathers House that troubled Israel These are Reproofs to the purpose and certainly of no less importance than to say What doest thou Now it is to be supposed that God would inspire his Prophets to speak such words to their Kings as were not fit to be spoken by others upon the like Occasion So that I conclude this Text hinders not at all but that a King pulling down the Church and the Law and setting up Superstition Idolatry and Arbitrary Power may be questioned and gainsaid by his Council and resisted too by the Majority of the Nation Another Text which is wont to be urged for the Power and Sacredness of Kings is Prov. 8.15 By me Kings reign and Princes decree Justice But I never hear them read the Context by me Princes rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth And good reason for this would prove too much and more than they would have namely that Judges are Jure Divino as well as Kings for by the same Logick that the one is inferred from the 15th Verse the other will follow from the 16th Verse I challenge any one to shew me the difference This would have been strange Doctrine in the late Reign when Durante Beneplacito came into fashion and Judges were turn'd out for doing Right But I do not see how either of the two can be proved from this Scripture For who is this Me and this I mentioned here in my Text It is not Solomon for vers 23. I was set up from Everlasting Nor is it God himself for at Vers 22. he says The Lord possessed me in the beginning But it is Wisdom which is here spoken of and which Solomon personates all along speaking in the first Person from Verse the 12th to the end of the Chapter and setting forth the Nature and Excellency the Power and Advantages of Wisdom I Wisdom dwell with Prudence c. and a little after By me Kings reign c. So then the plain meaning of the Text is this That Kings reign by Wisdom and that Nobles and Judges who have the Administration of Publick Affairs are qualified by Wisdom to manage the great Concerns and Business of a Kingdom And tho' all Kings and Ministers of State are not thus qualified which is the Cause of many short and unfortunate Reigns yet here we are taught what it is that qualifies them for Government and that Wisdom is to be sought by them more than fine Silver and Knowledge rather than choice Gold If this Lesson had been well learned by our late Kings England had been a flourishing Nation at this day and might perhaps have given Laws to the Christian World By this time our Adversaries will be ready to demand after their scoffing manner When is it time for the People to Rebel And who must judge between them and their King To this I shall answer after I have made an Observation about the word Rebel or Rebellion It has been oft observed by Learned Men that the Scripture condescending to humane Capacity uses such Forms of Speech as are common among Men tho' the same are not to be taken in a strict and proper sence Thus it is said God made two great Lights the one to Rule the Day the other to Rule the Night whereas it is certain that the Moon has no more light in it self than a Stone-Wall only it shines by reflecting to us that borrowed Light it receives from the Sun So when a People Arm themselves against their King it is very obvious to call it Rebellion tho their Cause be never so just And
it seems to me that the Scripture in sundry places speaks after the same manner calling that Rebellion which strictly and properly is not so or which at least is not Rebellion in a Criminal Sense This perhaps may seem strange to some People but let them impartially consider 1 Kings 12.19 where it is said Israel rebelled against the House of David unto this Day And to this Day they were never reproved for it and good reason For this thing is from Me saith the Lord by the Prophet Shemaiah vers 24. Nor can we call this a bare Permission but it was Determined before-hand and a Prophet sent to Jeroboam to give him Notice of it Beheld I will rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give Ten Tribes to thee 1 Kings 11.31 And why should God do this Because says he they have for saken me and worshipped Idols c. So that here is a peremptory Decree for this Defection with the Reason annexed and God ordered seeond Causes so as to bring it about Learned Men may dispute if they please whether the Ten Tribes were free Agents in what they did it is evident from the Text That this Revolt of theirs was the Purpose and Design of God and was approved by him tho' it is called in Scripture Rebellion Another Instance of this kind we have in 2 Kings 18.7 where it is said of Hezekiah That he rebelled against the King of Assria Was Hezekiah an Offender in this No for the Lord was with him Whatever Promises or Covenants had passed between him and the King of Assyria we know not This is certain That King Hezekiah did well in throwing off the Assyrian Yoke tho' it hath the name of Rebellion for he clave to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments So that after him was none like him among all the Kings of Judah nor any that were before him Behold here a Sinless Rebellion which was the thing I aim'd at and now let the Jacobites call us Rebells or what Else they please I shall now proceed to give my Answer when it is time to Rebel having first declared when it is not time It is not to fly to Arms for some few private Injuries done to particular persons whilst Law has its due Course in the Main and the Vital parts of Government remain safe Indeed people are seldom forward to hazard their own Lives and Fortunes to Revenge private wrongs Nor yet ought they to Embroil a Kingdom for some publick Miscarriages of the King when it may be reasonably suppos'd that he hath Us'd his Prerogative for the good of his people to the best of his Judgment tho' in Effect it hath proved Contrary What is well meant and will afford a tollerable reason should be forgiven notwithstanding the ill Consequence when it is not wilfully persisted in There is a time for Prayers as well as for Self-defence and that should be try'd in the first place and so long as any hope remains it is a proper Season for Faith and Patience But when the Kings Illegal Proceedings have Extended one way or other to the Majority of the People and from particular injuries have advanced to an invasion upon all mens Liberties When the Violence that has affected many is of such a Nature and Consequence as to threaten All When High-Commission-Courts are set up to disseiz Men of their Free-holds and Charters call'd in for packing of Parliaments When honest Magistrates are every where turn'd out and sworn Enemies to the Establish'd Government fill their places When we are threatned like the Israelites to be Chastized with Scorpions and Foreign Cut-throats like to be let in among us When Religion and Property Life and Posterity are almost within the Jaws of a Gaping Monster When all the Foundations and the whole Frame of Government are so shaken that Dissolution must ensue When there is no hope left nor any Counsel can be heard but Jesuites and bigotted Papists And to compleat all when all Men are sensible and three quarters at least of the Nation are perswaded in their Consciences that all this is really so If ever Men will stand up for Self-Defence and to save Posterity This is the Time When Matters are brought to this pass to talk of Passive Obedience is the greatest Nonsense in the World and to tell the People of being subject to Authority when there is no Authority but Illegal Force and all the Rules and Measures of Government broken is to talk to the Wind and perswade Men to be tamely Murder'd in Obedience to Illegal Violence Rebellion in this Case as they please to call it becomes a Duty and to be Passive is to Betray the Nation And then for the other part of the Question about a Judge there is none upon Earth to determine this Matter but the Sword Every Man will Judge for himself and Consult as he can for his own Safety But there lies no Appeal but only to the Court of Heaven for the Success of the Cause and that Court God be praised has determin'd the Matter by sending us a King that Maintains our Laws and Ancient Government PART II. A DEFENCE OF THE Foregoing DISCOURSE AGAINST Certain Exceptions Communicated in Writing SIR I Received your Paper of Exceptions against what I have been saying hitherto in behalf of the present Government and in Defence of the late Happy Revolution But I am sorry you should trouble your self and me with so many trite and common things which have had full and sufficient Answers usque ad Nauseam However since you seem to expect it I shall go thro' them all and doubt not to satisfie any indifferent Person But such as are or seem to be under Judicial Blindness and Infatuation may seek for Conviction by Miracle if they please and 't is a question whether that would do it For they do not appear to be capable of any Satisfaction till they find it in the smart of the Misery and Slavery which they have long been Courting and Admiring and are now grown Impatient of Delay But of you I hoped better things and shall be sorry to find my self mistaken The first thing I meet with is this But what I pray if Kings misdemean themselves in their Government must they presently cease to be Kings You put this Question as if you had not read what you are pretending to Answer without taking any notice of what I quoted you from K. James and Mr. Barclay and so you go on as if nothing at all had been said in this Matter Therefore I proceed to The next thing God Almighty made them Kings and how can less Authority Dethrone them This is no better than pure Sophistry as if Kings were not of Hunane Race but made in Heaven and sent down upon Earth to devour Mortals like so many Frogs to be eaten up by a Stork without any hopes of Deliverance What would you think if I should advance
more than to meet him fairly in the Field Now what is there in a Bailiff to bear up the Credit of such a Comparison He is indeed a Lawful and Necessary Officer but I know not how it comes to pass that he should not only be a Rogue but the Common Pest of the Nation If this be a mean Character of a Bailiff as I think it is what must it be of the King of England who because he is not Arbitrary is in a far worse State and Condition This is a vile Reflection upon the English Frame of Government which many Wise Men think is the best Constitution in the World But here comes the Old Killing Question as briskly as if it had never yet been Answered Who must be Judge when the King has a Design to Subvert the Government And 't is brought in with these Triumphant words You see Sir what a goodly thing you have made of your so much boasted Cause and Demonstration of Nothing To this I Answer First That some People thro' Blindness and others thro' Prejudice are not capable of a Demonstration Secondly I will venture my Paper and yours before any Learned Men even tho' he be a Jacobite and will for once be Judged by him whether your Cause or mine is better Managed Thirdly You have in my Paper a full Answer to this very Question but you do so abound in your own Sense that you could not see it or perhaps indeed you have not read it for haste to get my Paper Answered I shall therefore Answer it once more with some small Improvement I say then these very Three Parties you mention namely the King the People and a Forreigner are all of them Comperent Judges in this Matter For First Cannot the King easily tell what he himself Designs to do Certainly he is a Competent Judge of his own Mind and Intention whether he declare it or not K. James said in his First Council he would Maintain the Church of England and many well-meaning People were so simple as to believe him Yet not long after it was declared in a private Letter said to be his That he would Reduce the Kingdom to the Catholick Religion or Die a Martyr But whether this be true or no every Man certainly is a proper Judge of his own Intention but he is not like to discover the same when such Discovery may be a Means to prevent his Design Secondly The People too are Judges in this Case For cannot every Man tell what he feels and what he fears When a Man's Head is broken or his Goods taken from him he has reason to know that it is so and his Neighbour that is a Spectator to Day may be a Sufferer to Morrow Jam proximus ardet is Scarborough Warning If a Charter be taken from a Corporation are the People no Judges as to Matter of Fact If the Master and Fellows of the Colledge are turn'd out of their Freehold must some body else Judge for them and inform them that they want Lodgings If a Protestant Justice of Peace be turn'd out of Commission and a Papist put in his room he certainly knows that he is not on the Bench and is capable of making a Rational Judgment not only of the Matter of Fact but of the Consequence If I see a Cut-throat Murdering my Neighbour and then making towards me with his long Knife you would have me to stay till my Throat be cut before I must judge what his meaning is In short your whole drist is to make the King an Idol and the People Sots And then Thirdly As to a Forreigner or Neighbouring Prince 't is very possible that he may make as true a Judgment as any other A By stander sees how the Game goes better sometimes than he that plays it And it is well that it was so in our Case of late else you and I might have been Disputing in a Dungeon or a worse place for which all Protestant and true Englishmen ought to give Thanks to God and next to Him to our Gracious Deliverer K. William Thus you may see if Prejudice will permit that after all your flourishing each of the three Parties you except against are or at least may be proper Judges in the Case before us But indeed I thought at first your Question had been this When a difference breaks out between the King and his People who is a proper Judge to determine the matter between them For it is one thing to judge Rationally and almost infallibly when ill Designs are on foot and another thing to judge between the Parties at odds and to determine the Difference As to the former I believe that even your self did once judge that we were in an evil Case and so I am sure did most of the Jacobites and now you long to be so again or in a worse But in the latter Case there is no Judge upon Earth and this I also told you before There lies no Appeal but to the Court of Heaven nor any way to plead the Cause but with the Sword and the God of Battel that gives Victory must Judge and Determine the Controversie But this is always to be understood when all other means have been tried For if the Case will admit of Intreaties sober Counsels or Legal Appeals they are to be used But if there be no room for these or if they take no place but illegal force be used that force may nay must be resisted or Evil is consented to For he that will not serve the Publick by that means when there is no other does actually consent to the ruine of it and is a Betrayer of his Country They are Rebels says a Learned Author who Arm against the Government and not they who Arm to defend it In the next place you say That if a King do give Authority to Rogues and that too under his Broad Seal to cut any of his Subjects Throats be they more or fewer such Persons may resist such illegal force in defence of their Lives and kill their Assailants too if they be able and justify the same by the Establish'd Laws of the Nation Admirably well Right every Word See here the force of Truth that cannot be stifled under the greatest prejudice This is all the Resistance I contend for Did ever any one plead for the Resistance of Lawful Authority No sure It is only the Kings Unlawful Commands that may be resisted not his Lawful Ones Yet you conclude this Point with the most Comical Fancy in the world you say I have brought my Hogs to a fair Market when on the contrary you do here justify all that I have said or can say upon this Argument and you have given up your Cause to all intents Since I was born did I never see such a Conclusion from such Premises You seem to take exception that I should say The King is King by Law but you do not well explain your self nor tell me where your
him Honour and Reverence And at the same time in taking care of his own Life and Security I agree with you that all possible Respect should be paid to the Persons of Kings But I would not have them flattered nor taught to be Arbitrary I would not have them told that Subjects have nothing of their own not so much as their Souls that they are only the Kings Vassals and Slaves and that he may take their Lives and seiz their Fortunes at his pleasure that God made Kings and no body can unmake them nor ought to oppose them whatever they do such Flattery and Sycophantry makes Kings first aspire and then tumble I come now to a Greek Word which is here employ'd to no purpose but only to shew that you are a Learn'd Man which I knew before And here you affront the plain Letter of the Scripture being in such hast that you could not turn to the place I quoted I shall wonder no more at your insulting over me when the Word of God can not be quiet for you The business was this Whereas the Jacobites love to call us Rebels I undertook to shew that there was a sinless Rebellion and that the word was not always taken in an ill sence for this I quoted 2 Kings 18.7 where it was said the Lord was with him viz. Hezekiah and he Rebelled against the King of Assyria and served him not and you say it was not certainly Rebellion Now whether must Your Authority or the Scripture carry it If you had said this is not to be taken strictly then you had come to an Agreement with me as to that matter and there needed no words about it but that you cannot endure I am to be run down at any rate and that with Triumph when you have not said one word to refute me And all along I observe that when you have the least to say you are the most confident I conclude this in the Style which you except against So the People of England Rebelled against K. James for God was with them I now draw near to the Conclusion of your Paper where after many Windings and Doubles like a Hare run almost to Death I had you where we started namely at the Act forbidding to Arm against the King upon any pretence whatsoever I gave you four Reasons at large to shew that these words could not possibly be understood without a tacit Reservation Nor have you offer'd ought that looks like an Answer to any of them The First you have quite omitted To the Second you have only brought a Comparison between an English Monarch and a Bayliff shewing that the King is by great odds the worse Man of the two The Third you have fairly yielded and therein given up your Cause To the Fourth you take Exception that I should say The King is King by Law and yet you own the Maxim That the King can do no Wrong And now after all suspecting perhaps your Weakness and Inconsistence hitherto you come to offer something that looks at first sight like a Dilemma but unfortunately it wants one of its Members which it seems you have dropt in great precipitation The substance of the matter is this Either the Parliament did consider the Consequence of making such a Law or they did not If not say you they were a Club of Blockheads and meer Loggerheads Very good Here 's the Consequence of that But what if the Parliament did consider what then Why then you say you have in a few words run through all I have said in this Cause An admirable Consequence and a rare Dilemma The one is lame of a side and the other is false unless you have run through my Papers with some small Needle which I cannot perceive But let us Come once more to the Merits of the Cause I grant the Parliament might and I believe they did consider the Consequences of both sides that is with respect to the King and the People And tho' t is possible they might compute amiss yet I rather incline to thinke they did not For Either they must Speak in General terms or else they must make some Limitation or Exception Now there is no Exception to be made but only this In case the King should become a Tyrant and Endeavour to Subvert the Government But how shameful and dangerous a thing must it have been to mention such a thing in an Act of Parliament It might have provoked the King to Dissolve them or it might have prepared the people for a new Rebellion So that supposing it necessary to pass such an Act it must of Necessity pass in general Terms tho' it may seem hard upon the people But it is not hard upon them at all being understood in such a Sense as to be Consistent with other Laws And either it must be so understood or it does Actually change the Government and gives the King a despotick Power which that the Parliament did ever design is Nonsense to Imagine I am now at the foot of the Account and you think you have given me a full Answer desiring me to look once more over my Papers and tell you if you are not Mistaken in your Answers I have told you already and now I tell you again that you are mightily mistaken and I shall never be made to think otherwise I have looks over my Papers and yours too several times which you I believe have not done once or if at all I am sure without due Consideration But you were so Ambitious to answer my Papers all at one Sitting that you had far better have let it alone Many things you have left Untoucht and those you have are no worse for your handling Amongst the rest I wonder you have taken no Notice of what I quoted you out of the famous Barclay so great an Asserter of Monarchy that he is Reckoned the head of your party And yet no writing that I have seen has determined this point more directly against you You have Ruffled the Memory of his Royal Master with a witness and 't is strange that he also should not come in for a Cast of your Office To conclude Sir If I were worthy to advise you I should desire that you would forbear idle company and not spend your Money on those that poison and corrupt you that you would think more and talk less and read with consideration such Books as are written on this subject by Men of the greatest Learning and Piety and particularly that which you lent me that you would scribble no more in this manner quicquid in Buccam venerit and think with your self whether you be fit to cope with the greatest Men in England For I have said nothing here but what such have said before me tho not in the same words yet in far better However being Challeng'd at first and now again Vrg'd with so much Confidence and Triumph I would not wholly decline the Argument and doubt not to defend it against the best of your Party I call it your Party but I hope I shall have occasion to retract that expression for I remember the time you were of another Opinion and do expect to find you so again For I am perswaded it is not of your own proper Genius that you are what you are or what you seem to be at present but by having sometimes your Conversation amongst Men of Slavish Debauch'd and Pernicious Principles And this is the Case of a great many more that were once well-affected to the present Government But you have had the Advantage of a Generous Education and your Learning is beyond many of your Profession which also is one of the most Honourable and most Loyal For but few of your Brethren Comparatively are Jacobites Be not you I beseech you toss'd to and fro with every wind of Doctrine nor led away with the prating Confidence of Pragmatick Fellows Consider what a parcel of Atheists and Profligates weigh being laid in the Ballance against the Church of England and other Reformed Churches together with that vast Body of Nobility Gentry Lawyers and Substantial Commoners of the Kingdom They are but like the Vermine in the Fable that would needs swell to the bigness of an OX And they may burst themselves with their own Poison if they please the Government does not care a Straw for 'em nor do I fear that ever they will be able to hurt it And so Fare you well FINIS
Obedience with a Reserve it would have implied that Husbands and Parents might prove so wicked as to command them sinful things which ought not to be supposed And then ill-disposed Children might disobey upon slight occasions and fancy all such Commands to be unjust as they had not a mind to observe If Marriage did oblige the Parties to live together till Death or Adultery should make a Separation and that it were so expressed in the Office this would be an odious and shameful Insinuation that one or both of them might prove so wicked as to give occasion of Divorce And if the Law had said Thou shalt not steal without extream Necessity this would have been taken for little less than a License tosteal every one judging for himself of his own Necessity Thus we may see how natural it is for General Words to carry along with them a reserved Condition or Limitation which yet ought by no means to be Mentioned or Expressed And thus it is in the Case before us For if the Law had Said Thou shalt not take Arms against the King upon any pretence whatsoever Except the King designes to Subvert the Government This would have been a Disloyal Intimation that the King might prove a Tyrant and would have given Incouragment to the people to Suspect his Intentions and many times without any Cause to Censure his Actions Yet that thus it must be Understood will Appear by the Reasons Following 1. The first is this That if it be Understood in the Utmost Force and Latitude that the words will bear it makes Void all other Laws nay even the Law of God-cannot stand in its way If you take it by the wrong handle it will be so ill Condition'd as to Suffer no Law but it Self The design of the Law is to secure to Every Man his Right It is by Law that we attend our Callings that we Eat and Sleep in quietness that we Enjoy what we Call our Own that we can serve God in Peace and that our Churches are not turned into Idol-Temples But now if we must upon no account whatsoever defend these Rights when they are Invaded what benefit have we by the Law Or to what End serves it If we must upon no pretence whatsoever even at the utmost Extremity resist the Illegal Proceedings of the Prince then is the whole Law of England no more but Sham and whatsoever we have we enjoy it only at the Kings discretion and during his pleasure Nay all the Societies of men in England are no more but as so many Herds of Cattel to Labour for the Use and to be slaughtered at the pleasure of the King So that either we must qualifie that Article of the Law or give up all the rest 2. There is a difference as all men know between the power of Making Laws and the power of Executing the same the latter rests intirely in the King but not the former Now with respect to the Executive power we yield if that will please our Adversaries That the King is not to be resisted upon any pretence whatsoever Whilst he is Executing the Law no man may say unto him What doest thou Whatever colour there may be of male-administration that can be no Just ground of Resistance because the Law provides a remedy and the Ministers must Answer for it But then this can never be Extended to the Legislative Power unless you will suppose that the Parliment when they made that Law intended not only to Cancel all the rest but never to make any more This had been a final Dissolution of all Parliaments and of the Goverment it self It had put all into the Kings hands and made him Arbitrary by a Law As if they had Enacted Let the King henceforward make Laws without a Parliament Let him pull down the Church and set up an Idol Let him Alienate his Kingdom and sell his People for Slaves or any thing else what he pleases Nay if he be seiz'd with a Phrenzy and Kill the People about him he is not to be resisted upon any pretence whatsoever And if he should Attempt to kill himself there is no means of prevention no touching him no laying hands upon him tho' it be for his Safety See what Extremity and Absurdity this Doctrine of our Adversaries leads to But if they will admitt of an Accommodation we are Content to Divide the Truth and let them take one half but we will never yield the other The King then in Executing the Laws made according to the Constitution of the Government is not to be resisted on any Account whatsoever But if they will have the King to make Laws by himself and do what he pleases without Resistance they talk without book and will never be Convinced till they are going to the Gallows or to a Stake 3. The King being no more than a Man cannot do much harm by his own proper strength so that supposing him to be a Tyrant I never can fear that he will come in Person and take away my Life or Estate He must then act by Commissioners Now these Commissioners must be duly qualified persons and rightly Commissioned according to Law to do some legal Act. Coming then under these Circumstances they are God's Ministers to me for my Good in resisting them I resist the Ordinance of God and must expect Damnation and Judgment for so doing And here again I suppose the Jacobites and I are perfectly Agreed But what if these pretended Commissioners should happen to be Papists French Dragoons or Rapparees and came without any legal Commission to Robb me by vertue of a Writing which they call a Commission under the Kings Hand and Seal what then Why truly then I might happen to be Robb'd or Murdered And what say our Self-denying Adversaries to this They say I must patiently suffer and submit for tho' these persons be not qualified according to Law yet they Act according to the King's pleasure and I must lie at their Feet Yes so I would if I could not help it But so would I do at the Feet of High-way-men and from them I should find more Mercy Thieves and Robbers spoil some particular persons But these are the Villains that destroy Government Were it not for these the King could do no harm They are Devouring Beasts and Savage Monsters broken loose and ought to be treated accordingly 4. I shall add in the 4th place That the King of England is King by Law it is by Law that he wears a Crown and is cloathed with Royal Power But if he Subverts the Foundation of the Goverment he takes away the Foot he stands upon he destroys his own Authority and Ceases to be a King He is then but like Robin-hood an Out-law For a King without Law Implies a Contradiction The Matter then in short is this The King Executing the Law is not to be resisted upon any pretence whatsoever but if he lay aside the Law and become Arbitrary he divests