RIGHT ought to be Our Soveraign Lord and Lady in and to whose Princely Persons the Royal State Crown and Dignity with all Honours Titles Prerogatives c. are most FULLY and RIGHTFULLY Invested So that in their Opinion they are King and Queen de jure and therefore Allegiance is payable to them in as large a degree as to any other whosoever of the Rightful Kings their Predecessors and as I remember thus that it should signifie no more than a Peaceable Behaviour â—…d an Acquiescence under the present Establishment But this Motion was rejected because it would thus give so great a Latitude to all Mens Consciences that it would oblige to and therefore signifie just nothing This is an express Declaration against our bold Interpretations of these Oaths to our selves And for the Truth of the Fact I Appeal to that House Take therefore Allegiance in your own Sense to be an Obedience according to Law Page 6. or to express it more fully All that Obedience and all that Duty which the Laws of the Land and the Constitution of this Government require from Subjects to our Kings take Allegiance I say in this sense which is that I always understood by it and it is impossible to be paid to the present Government under the Circumstances in your Argument supposed of Possession not of Right For Kings are like God in this respect that they are Supream which necessarily implies Vnity So that whatever Duty is proper to the Supreme and only so must be entire it must be whole and undivided Thus the Prophet Elijah tells us We must not halt between two Opinions 1 Kings 18.21 if the Lord be God we must follow him but if Baal him And a greater than he has said We cannot serve two Masters Mat. 6.24 nor can we for the same Reason pay the Duty of Allegiance to two Supremes or Soveraigns at the same time If then it appear that King James has still the Right of Soveraignty and this you here suppose we cannot without Robbery and a kind of Idolatry give this Worship much less Swear it to any other But I will bring this Matter home to our Case It is well known and declared by two Acts of Parliament under King Henry the Seventh to be the Natural Duty of All Subjects to Defend the Persons of their Kings to Fight their Battels The Words of the Statutes are these Subjects by reason of their Duty of ALLEGIANCE are bound to serve the Prince in his Wars in defence of HIM and the Land against EVERY Rebellion POWER and MIGHT Rear'd against Him 11 H. 7. c. 1. Again EVERY SUBJECT by the Duty of his ALLEGIANCE is bound to Serve and Assist his Prince c. at ALL SEASONS when need shall require and to Defend his Royal Person c. against his Rebels and ENEMIES for the SUBDUING of them 11 H. 7. c. 18. to Destroy ALL their Enemies and to do this at ALL Times as oft as occasion shall so require So that if this Duty of Allegiance be own'd as due and Sworn to an Usurperer Pardon the Expression All Possessors without Right are such and this is here in your Argument supposed Whenever the King shall attempt to Return to be restor'd to his own and shall demand our Assistance in order to it we must notwithstanding this Natural Allegiance confirm'd by our former Oaths to him Defend the unjust Possessor of his Throne against him And if occasion so requires as inevitably it must in some of our Cases even Sacrifice the King to the Interest of the Intruder and imbrue our hands in his Royal Blood to prevent the breach of those Oaths to one who has no right to exact them from us An Assertion so audauciously Impious that nothing can be suppos'd to surpass it but that alone which must justifie these daily Acts of the Clergy when in their Prayers where they should be sedate and well assur'd the Petitions they there offer to God are agreeable to his Will they dare be so hardy to call aloud for Vengeance upon the Head of the King whom they are expresly forbid to Curse even in their Hearts They do therefore little less than Blaspheme God as well as the King when they pray the Usurper may overcome ALL his Enemies even him But let them have a care least thâ—… 〈◊〉 return into their own Bosomes I tremble to think that this Consequence is unavoidable That he may vanquish and overcome All his Enemies Prayer for the King We beseech thee c. to give him Victory over All his Enemies Lit. Save and deliver us that is the whole Government as now Established from the hands of our ENEMIES who so much an ENEMY to an Usurper as the Rightful King Abate their Pride Asswage their Malice and CONFOVND their Devices Prayer in time of War and Tumults The Solemn Recognitions too are not easie to be overlook'd where the King de facto is called our most Religious and Gracious King Prayer for the Parliament and own'd as God's chosen Servant and having his Authority from Him Coll. after the Com. Lastly in that most solemn part of all our Devotion the Communion we pray for a continuance of the Usurpation when we beseech God to save and defend in an especial manner above all other Christian Kings and Princes our Possessing King that under him we may continue to be Govern'd Prayer for the whole state of Christs Church Had the Prayers for the Fast been Publisht when these Papers were writ they had deserv'd a Paragraph by themselves since they are so warily contriv'd that there is no room left for any tolerable Evasion The Composer of them being resolv'd that whoever made use of that Form of Prayer should level them particularly against him which is here suppos'd the King de Jure and that we are by this means reduced to such straights that we must either absent our selves from the Publick Prayers of the Church or become hearers if not partakers of such bitter Curses against the Lord 's Anointed The force of all this is little abated by bringing in the Examples of those Miserable Wretches who live in the Frontiers upon the Continent What Allowances God will make to invincible Necessity in their Case I dare not determine But I think all Casuists agree that not only the Necessity must be apparently invincible but the means which lead to it must be unavoidable before we can lay hold of this Excuse or venture to do a thing otherwise unlawful and call upon Necessity to plead our Innocence Your Lordship would account it a very frivolous Argument against the Divine Institution of your Holy Order and would certainly laugh at a Conclusion against Episcopal Ordination where it may be had drawn from the Practice of the Reformed Gallic Churches whose Ordinations by the Presbytery alone are allow'd Good by some amongst us Page 6. §. 4 tho disputed by others where a fatal Necessity renders it
agreeable to the Maxims of Machiavelli then to the Doctrine of the Church of England And if Your Lordship do not well Limit the Judge of this Necessity I may safely Affirm that all the Vnnatural and Rebellious Principles of the Jesuits and our Democratists join'd together cannot be more pernitious to any State then this one of Your Lordship's For Instance Can there be any Grievance so intolerable and so necessary to be redrest in any Government as that of Suppressing the True Religion Is it not also most undoubtedly true that every man firmly believes the Religion he Professes to be the True and the Best If then any Sect whether Christians Turks or Jews find their Circumstances such that to support their True Religion the dearest thing on Earth and the Exercise thereof the greatest Priviledge and most desirable Happiness that can be secur'd by any Establishment it is absolutely Necessary or at least in this Extremity the safest way not only to Murther the Reigning King but perhaps even his whole Race and to Massacre all those who any ways set themselves in opposition to 'em This Maxim Justifies all it was absolutely Necessary and therefore upon that very account Just and Good Again Should a Combination of Men Deliberate thus Nothing can barr an aspiring English man from Disturbing the Government by Treasonous Attempts and Usurpations but an apparent Impossibility of Success Nothing concludes such an Impossibility but a perpetual want of Pretence and Title by placing an Hereditary Right in another if therefore the Succession be once interrupted there can be no Peace nor Happiness to the Nation till it falls again into the Right Line This Opinion they are Confirm'd in by considering the long Warrs between the two Houses of York and Lancaster till they were United by K. Henry the Seventh and of late the continued Convulsions and Changes of the very Forms of the Government after the Murther of K. Charles the First till the Happy Restauration of His Heir and Rightful Successor These Observations they apply to the Present Settlement and find it not unlike that under K. Henry the Fourth and fear the Consequences will be the same For His Majesty having a Just and a Legall Title to the Crown will never desist from all possible Endeavours to be Restor'd to his Own and K. William having obtain'd the Possession seems resolv'd tho by the Power of a Forreign Army to keep it If the King have Success he must return with such as are no Friends to the English and the Intollerable Affronts which have been put upon him will probably prompt him to a just Revenge And will be a very strong Temptation to him to Execute those Designs which have been so unreasonably Charg'd upon him If he dyes in the Attempt he entails all his Forces his Friends and the Justness of his Warr to his Son and that Line that may possibly Spring from him But should these fail and K. William remain without this Competition Yet the Government is Unhing'd the Crown is become Elective whereby every man may plead a Right who can get Voices and Hands enough to reach it and the natural sullen Complaints of the People and their Pretences of Grievances will successively reach out Hopes and Occasions to some Proud Aspiring Patriots to Attempt it From these Melancholly Reflections they come to this Conclusion That in this Extremity and to prevent this Continuance of Miseries and at last inevitable Ruine the safest way and therefore the best is to Restore the Succession to the Right Line by Removing the two Contending Kings and the Disputed Prince and leaving Q. Mary the Second the Rightful Heiress alone in the Throne whereby the Government will be sixt again upon the only firm and lasting Basis This they resolve and this they Execute Can your Lordship Condemn them The Resolution is necessary to the Peace and Happiness of the Nation and upon that very account Just and Good because 't is Necessary But I believe this will pass with very few for sound Doctrine and therefore your Lordship may find your self Oblig'd either to Retract the Maxim or at least to explain it so that it will signifie very little in the place where it stands And now my Lord I have laid before your Lordship my Exceptions to your Reasons Page 23. And till I meet with better Arguments or better Confirm'd I cannot but Conclude that the Settlement now made is sounded upon no Good Grounds and that the Convention had no Authority to make such a Decision and therefore tho' I am ready to submit and pay SOME Obedience to the Possessour of the Throne yet I cannot pay ALL that Obedience and Duty which I naturally owe the Rightful Soveraign And therefore cannot swear it in such words and such terms as imply ALL and are intended by the Imposers to do so There further remains to be Consider'd your Lordships Answer to an Objection from those Oaths and Engagements whereby we were and are bound to K. James Page 23. and his Heirs which is this that Allegiance and Protection are Duties Reciprocal So that if one fails the other ceases What the word Allegiance means in our Oaths and what we are Oblig'd to by it I presume we were agreed above Vid. Sap. P. 6 7. Page 24 25. and therefore no need of engaging in a new Enquiry into the Original of the word But as to the Obligation it self I shall ask your Lordship this easie Question Are you sure that we owe no Allegiance to a Prince whilst he remains under an incapacity to Protect us I never met with any so black Mouth'd but the Recicides themselves or their profest Adherents that they durst deny Allegiance to be due to K. Charles the First under his Confinement yet he was so far from being able to Protect his People that he could not secure himself from the Rude Insolence of his Keepers and the Horrid Barbarities of his Murtherens But are you sure no Allegiance was due to K. Charles the Second in his Exile tho' he could not Protect yet the Parliament has Declar'd and it is undeniable that he was King of England all that time and truly I cannot comprehend the Notion of a King without Subjects nor of Subjects who owe no Allegiance to their King These are too sublime Thoughts for me to understand Page 25. As to the word Heir 't is true No Man can be bound to him till the Inheritance he his Who affirms it do but give us leave to pay our Allegiance to the King and we will never ask to transfer it during his Life to any other But the force of the Objection from the word Heir is this That had you made it appear that K. James has actually ceas'd to be King it had been at least a Death in Law and the Crown being Haereditary by the Constitution of the Government at the same moment had devolv'd to the next of the Line For it
Charter it must stand and fall with it So that upon the whole Matter notwithstanding any thing I can yet find to the contrary there might by the Ancient as well as Modern Constitution of England be such an irresistable Authority in our Kings as we have hitherto been enclin'd to Imagine But after all if what I have here given your Lordship the trouble of be not a satisfactory Answer to all your Arguments I hope you will at least allow me this that the Authorities and Reasons I have here produc'd are such Objections as deserve to be considered A just Vindication of my Dissent from the Imputation of a Preconceited Opinion And a good Instance how well I have observ'd your Lordship's Advice That I have examin'd the whole Matter with Care and Attention and weigh'd the Reasons I have met with Page 23. without Partiality As for Fasting and Prayer they being works of Retirement are not fit to be here mentioned but I am sure I have faithfully endeavour'd to find out the Truth And I am resolv'd by the Divine Assistance neither to be byass'd to the Affirmative by Interest nor to the Negative as to the receiv'd Opinion Page 29. But on the other hand I cannot think it Fair or Honest to Renounce an Opinion only because it is grown out of Fashion For I equally hate an Affected Singularity and an Unthinking throwing my self into the Croud Let therefore Reason and Convincing Arguments be produc'd and I do further profess I will lay down these Opinions without any Regret and will not be asham'd to Confess I have thus long been mistaken In the mean time give me leave to think that I need not UNDERMINE a Fabrique that has no Foundation for of it self it cannot stand long I do often seriously reflect upon the constant Fate of those Mighty Houses built by some men upon the Sand and this unavoidable Misery of them that their Falls are great and do not only involve the Vnskilful or Vnjust Builders but even all their Inhabitants and their Nearest Neighbours in one Common Ruine which that the Almighty God would avert and that he would remove those Impending Dangers that hourly threaten us by Establishing THIS Church and our Rightful Government upon such Foundations and by such means as are most agreeable to his Will and that Peace and Happiness Truth and Justice Religion and Piety may be our Portion for ever is the daily Prayer of My Lord Your Lordship 's most Dutiful and most faithful humble Servant August 30. 1689 POSTSCRIPT I Was just dispatching these Papers to your Lordship when a Gentleman in Railery started the following Questions 1. Since K. William and Q. Mary are by the present Establishment both equally in the Throne and together make up but one Soveraign thereby discovering a new sort of Vnion between a Husband and his Wife so that neither of them is a Subject to the other if it should so happen hereafter that the Affections of these two should by degrees be Alienated from one another and should that Coldness grow up to Dislike that Dislike to Hatred that Hatred to a violent desire of each others Destruction and in order to Revenge or even Self-Defence should they both fly to Arms to which of these two must our Allegiance be paid during the Contest and before either of them be the Conquerer 2 Since the Oaths are Sworn to both without any Reserve whether the foreknowledge of the Impossibility of paying the Duty of Allegiance entire to both in such a Case will not make the Breach of these Oaths Wilful Perjury 3. Since we meet with so frequent Examples in History that all the ties of Nature between every fort of Relations have been set aside when a Crown has happen'd into Competition and since we hear at this present of such daily Instances that the Bond of Marriage is insufficient to keep some Wives from leaving their Husbands and some Husbands from putting away their Wives with all the provoking Indignities imaginable And since those Two Persons we are Requir'd to Swear to have sufficiently shew'd that Filial Obedience is of no such great weight with them as to hinder their Joynt Ascent to a Father's Throne whether we may safely Swear to Both upon a bare Presumption that they will Faithfully Observe their Conjugal and Dilarchical Duties or that if One Vsurps the Other with Connive or Forgive Or in general whether Any Oath can be Lawful the observance whereof is not within a Man 's own Power but depends entirely upon the Good Agreement of others And whether all this be not in effect to Swear not only that a Man is and has been Just and Honest c. but that he will continue to be so all his Life when it is in the Power alone of the Holy Ghost to make him such These Questions at the first â—…ting and by the manner of doing it seem'd very Light and Ludicrous but upon second thoughts there being a Possibility if not a Probability or falling into such insuperable Difficulties by these double Oaths they appear'd to deserve a serious Answer I have therefore transmitted them to your Lordship to be Consider'd for I know of none so far concern'd in the Contrivance of the Present Establishment and upon that Account I presume the best skill'd in the Methods and Grounds of it And I humbly Request your Answer to 'em that the Gentleman who propo'd them may receive greater Satisfaction then I confess I am able to give him ERRATA Page 5. line 26 in the Margin read P. 5. § 3. p 10. l. 16. dele the before Examples p. 12. l. 6. in the marg f. 2. r. 12. ibid l. 7. r. 11 16. ib. l. 79. f. the r. your p. 14. l. 26. f. Priest-Hood r. High-Priesthood p. 15. l. 9 marg f. 3 4. r § 4. p. 20. l. 38 d. And. p. 24. l. 11. f. pretence r. sole pretence p. 26. l. 7. f. the â—… our p. 29. l. 27. f. actual r. actually p. 31. l. 26. marg f. non r. nos ib. l. 29. marg f. subordinat r. subordinata p. 33. l. 5. marg f. 23 r. 25. ib. l. 26. f. us r. upon us
but Eternal Ruin So that I hope we shall agree in this Conclusion that as the apparent Blessings to be enjoy'd and the frightful Dangers to be avoided are sufficient Inducements to Swear Allegiance to the present Government if this Oath shall appear to be Lawful so if otherwise the Curse from God against wilful Sin is a reasonabl Consideration to deter us from it and that we must not be warp'd with the Alurements of Prosperity or the Fears of Adversity 't is an ill Cause a Good Man will be afraid to suffer for but that we must impartially consider the true state of the Controversie which I take to be this viz. Whether the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy be Lawful as they are now imposed on the Clergy at the Peril of Suspension ab Officio Beneficio Censures by the way not generally own'd within the Power of Temporal Judges under these our present Circumstances viz. Of knowing that King James the Second is our Rightful King till it be otherwise made appear that he has ceased to be King that he is endeavouring to be Restor'd to his Throne and Kingdoms and that he expects our Allegiance and is soliciting Assistance in order to it This is the true state of the Question And till the Affirmative be well prov'd all that can be said besides is only raising of a dust and as your Lordship well expresses it Page 4. a Pathetical aggravating of the matter This your Lordship has undertaken and accordngly offer'd these three Arguments drawn Page 4. S. 2. Page 16. S. 10. Page 19. S. 11. 1. From Possession of the Throne 2. From the Decision and Declaration of the Convention 3. From Conquest All which seem to me ineffectual Page 4. S. 2. 1. Possession of the Throne is indeed a sufficient Title to our Allegiance under these and such like Restrictions where 1. The Title of Right is disputable or 2. The Rightful Prince declines his Claim of Right or 3. Where the Throne is Vacant in an Hereditary Kingdom by the total failure of the Royal Line The Reasons whereof are plain 1. Because for the sake of Peace and Order we may be excus'd from paying Allegiance to the Rightful Prince if disputably such by a commendable Ignorance and Incuriousness of inquiring too nicely into those things that are so far above us 2. But tho the Rightful Prince be known if he declines or absolutely refuses to undertake the Government we are excus'd by this universally received Maxim that Volenti non fit injuria or rather by an impossibility of paying it to one who will not be brought to admit of it 3. Where the Throne is vacant by a total Failure of the Royal Line this Law of Nature is our Guide viz. That Possession gives a Right where none is dispossess'd of a preceeding Right And upon this Law it is that the original Right to all our Estates and Possessions is founded For every part of the World remaining under the Dispensation of the Laws of Nature is common to all all have an equal Right to it But when any Man takes the pains to possess it she allots it to him excluding all others for a Reward to his Industry Under these then and some other like Restrictions I may allow your Argument to be good But none of these Instances will reach us We know the Rightful King and we are assur'd notwithstanding all those Monstrous Insinuations to the contrary that he Claims his Right that he expects our actual Allegiance be paid him and is endeavouring to return to us to give us an opportunity for the performance of this Duty to him But if he were dead the Succession does not terminate in him We know he has Heirs and we know those Heirs Besides this Assertion taken at large as your Lordship delivers it lays a Foundation for this unavoidable Consequence as Mean and Ungenerous as it is Absurd that we at least thus far must turn Persians always to Worship the Rising Sun we must swim safely down the stream always adhere to those that are Fortunately however Unjustly uppermost and pay our Allegiance to all Prosperous Rebels and Usurpers This is indeed so harsh to any Man of Honour or Integrity that it needs to be supported by far better Arguments than those you have here produced For the next Paragraph is so weak that I much wonder how it could fall from your Lordship's Pen. You first suppose that all allow it Lawful to Obey a Possessing King without taking notice of any Restrictions and then you confound the words and make Allegiance and Obedience to be the same thing 'T is true Self-preservation and common Prudence as well as a Duty in all to study Peaee may be granted does oblige us to such an Obedience as we owe to Foreign Princes whilst we Travail or otherwise remain not Naturalized in their Dominions That is All such Obedience as is consistent with that which is by Nature indispensibly due to our own Soveraign And I think no Man of Sense who makes a difficulty of Swearing the required Oaths can ever be thought to allow any other For my own part I profess if nothing more than such an Obedience as this be meant by the Obeence which is expected and the True Faith and Allegiance we are to Swear so soon as this Interpretation shall receive the sufficient Approbation of Publick Authority I will satisfie all my other Scruples without further Assistance But your Lordship must not take it ill if I add withal that should this Explanation be given by you it would be of very small moment with me Because all Laws are only to be Interpreted by the Legislators or such as are appointed by them to do it And all Oaths according to the common Acceptation of the Words and the known meaning of the Imposers Your Lordship therefore has no Right to do it Since you were not then a Bishop and had no share in the framing of them I do not say this with any disrespect to your Ability or Integrity Nor do I think you will ever enter upon this Province My design is hereby to shut the door against such Fallacies of a Temporary Allegiance to be revok'd at pleasure as I find the generality of Men that they may secure their Interest are tempted to admit Whereby they cheat themselves into great straits to their Consciences and Swear with Reservation they know not what I have this Exception further to make against this wandering Interpretation of the Words I was told by one of the Right Reverend the Bishops at the time when the Oaths were brought into the Convention of Lords and therefore while the Debates were fresh in Memory that it was moved among other things to have the word Allegiance Explain'd N. B. Since the writing of these Papers the Parliament hath put this Matter beyond Dispute For in their late Act of Recognition they declare King William and Queen Mary are and of
impracticable The Parallell is too apparent to need more words We ought therefore to give our continual Thanks to Almighty God for his great Mercy as well in this as in the other Case that he has plac'd us in a Countrey whose Happy Situation has exempted us so long from falling under any such difficulties Page 6. rather then wilfully to apply these Instances of forbearance in such Cases of Necessity to our careless Negligence and plead the Examples of our Neighbours Miseries in justification of our own Wantoness Before I proceed to the next Paragraph give me leave to Condole with your Lordship the decay of your Memory I Remember in your Enquiry into the Measures of Submission to the Supream Authority about a year ago you tell us 't is unreasonable to Conclude Measures of Submission §. 6. from the Possession of a Supream Power by any Person or Family that it is the Will of God it should be so because this would justifie all Vsurpers when they became successful But to pass this over you will not there allow of any Conclusions to be made with Relation to any particular Government from the Examples either in the Old or New Testaments but say Ibid. §. 8. It is clear that all the Passages in the Old Testament are not to be made use of in this matter of neither side and as for the New Testament all that is in it upon this Subject Ibid. §. 10. imports no more then that all Christians are bound to Acquiesce in the Government and submit to it according to the Constitution that is setled by Law so that no general Considerations from any Passages Ibid. §. 11. either of the Old or New Testaments ought to determine us in this matter But you here forget your own Maxim Examples of this kind I perceive are fashionable Arguments and Passive Obedience is again Orthodox provided always it be Extensive enough and carry'd to reach Vsurpers and Conquerors in prejudice to the Rightful Kings These My Lord are dangerous Passages which an ill-man may improve to such a Scandal as this that you square your Doctrine by the Rule of Convenience and draw a Scheme of Divinity according to a Model of Politiques which may be Vary'd and Chang'd as the Circumstances of publique Affairs and Interest require Accordingly he may urge That when you Writ your Measures of Submission you foresaw it convenient to Explode the Bible because it would be difficult to draw us into the necessary intended Rebellion whilst we had the Word of God to guide us The Scriptures teach us by Example as well as Precept That Kings are God's Vice-Gerents on Earth and therefore to be Honour'd and Obey'd in all things Lawful But that Rebellion in any case is like the sin of Witchcraft but now when the Turn is serv'd and the Case alter'd you here direct us again to them with this necessary Caution That we wholly forget we have still a King and apply all the Instances of Obedience to an Unjust Possessor as if we had been Laps'd into a state of Nature and every man had had an equal Right to Ascend the Vacant Throne If this be not playing with and wresting the Scriptures he prays God it be not to your Destruction he knows not what is All this may be said and more But I will return to your Argument where the only business will be to enquire whether any Example you here produce will reach to the Case of Possession only under our Circumstances In order to this I must remind you of the Restrictions I above Noted under which and such like Possession may be allow'd a Title of Right We must also consider that the Jewish Government was a Theocracy as well as a Monarchy so that in all doubtful Junctures of publique Affairs they might have recourse to God himself for advice by means of the Prophets and of the Vrim and Thummim Whenever therefore we find in that state any Unaccountable Revolutious not reprov'd we may reasonably Conclude that God had fore-signify'd his Approbation of it and this the rather because we generally may Observe that a Priest or a Prophet chiefly promotes it There is this further difference between the Constitution of Our Government and that of the Jews whereby the Examples from them are not conclusive to us That whereas this Crown descends by an Haereditary Right That did not For sometimes the Aged King declar'd his Successor before his Death Thus David gave his Kingdom to Solomon 1 Kings 1.34 2 Chron. 21.3 and Jehoshaphat to Jehoram But more usually the Jews Elected that Person to be their King whom God by his Prophets had destin'd to that High Office pursuant to His Express Command by Moses Deut. 17.15 that they shall in any wise set him King over them whom the Lord their God shall Choose Accordingly in the first great Rupture in the Government Pag. 8. where the ten Tribes wholly Revolt from Judah the Prophet Ahijah gives ten of the twelve pieces of his new Garment to Jeroboam with this assurance that the LORD would rend the Kingdom from Solomon 1 Kings 11.31 tho not in his yet in his Son's Reign and give ten Tribes to him and thus when Rehoboam took violent Counsel and Answer'd the People of Israel roughly 1 Kings 12.13,15 we are told that the Cause thereof was from the LORD in performance of his word by this Prophet and afterwards he expresly forbids the Subjects of Rehoboam to fight against their Brethren the Children of Israel 1 Kings 12.24 because this thing was from HIM The like is remarkable in other Instances So that in all the Revolutions that happen'd there Possession without doubt might be presum'd to give a just Right And indeed this is not only true in Relation to the Jews but is in it self Universally so as appears from the Nature and Reason of the thing for wherever a Monarchy is Elective if the Throne be fill'd whether by Force or Cunning Allegiance may be due because tho some of the Community may be said to be injur'd by the Usurpation yet none is dispossess'd of a Preceding Right where none is Dethron'd Where therefore none had a preceding Right to Allegiance it is payable to any but to whom so properly as to him who has given the greatest Evidence at least of the Majority of Electors since they had strength and Interest enough to Seat him in the Throne beyond the Reach of his Opposers But all this is nothing to our Case we know the Person who is Dispossess'd to whom our Allegiance as is confess'd by all was once due and that he is still in being and calls upon us for the performance of this Duty the only Objection you here offer against him is that he is unfortunately Dispossess'd by the force of a violent Intruder but who was ever yet adjudg'd punishable for a meer Misfortune These Considerations alone well apply'd would be