Selected quad for the lemma: nation_n
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A84018
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English liberty and property asserted in pursuance of the statute laws of this common-wealth. Discovering Israels sin in chusing a king, by several questions humbly propounded to the grave senators at Westminster. And to all others, who have the power of this nation in their hands.
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1657
(1657)
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Wing E3095; Thomason E905_2; ESTC R207439
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3,672
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8
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ENGLISH Liberty and Property Asserted In pursuance of the Statute Laws of this Common-wealth Discovering Israels Sin in chusing a KING BY SEVERAL QUESTIONS humbly propounded to the grave Senators at WESTMINSTER And to all others who have the Power of this Nation in their hands That which is highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God Luk. 16.15 I gave thee a King in my anger and took him away in my wrath Hos 13.11 Take heed what yee do for yee judge not for man but for the Lord 2 Chron. 19.6 Now let them put away their Whoredomes and the carkasses of their Kings far from mee and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever Ezek. 43.9 march LONDON Printed for Livewell Chapman at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley 1657. English Liberty and Property Asserted Qu. 1 WHether any King can possibly at any time bee chosen with greater consent and approbation of the people than was the first King of Israel Saul for it is said 1 Sam. 10.24 That all the people shouted and said God save the King and chap. 11.15 That Saul and all the People of Israel rejoyced greatly Qu. 2 Whether notwithstanding the said free election and universal approbation the Lord did not from Heaven manifest this choice to bee a horrible wickedness in his sight by sending thunder and rain in wheat harvest 1 Sam. 12.17 And did not the People acknowledge as much saying vers 19. wee have added to all our sinnes this evill to ask us a King Qu. 3 Whether Gods severe punishment of Saul in rending the kingdome from him for one sinfull act which man would take to bee an act of mercy at first sight in sparing Agag and zeal in preserving the fatlings for sacrifice doth not evidently declare Gods indignation against King-ship 1 Sam. 15.23 Qu. 4 Whether did not the Lord reckon with the People of Israel for their Kingly Government and for this their great sinne of making themselves rather Beasts than men by submitting the reason of the whole Nation to one man when hee destroyed seventy thousand of them by the Pestilence in three days for Davids one sinne of numbring the people 2 Sam. 24.15 the Heathen could say delirant reges plectuntur Achivi Qu. 5 Whether the Lord by permitting Salomon the wisest of the meer sonnes of men to become a Fool by leaving the true God who had twice appeared to him and turning aside to Idols and going after the abominations of the Heathens 1 Kin. 11.5 did not point as it were with the finger at this beastly folly of Israel in advancing one man to so great a height as to put him above man and to make him a King that so they might even fall down and worship the great Idol which they had set up Qu. 6. Whether though the People of Israell had thus rejected the Lord in setting up a King upon the revolting of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam when they cryed what portion have wee in David to your Tents O Israel because he hearkned not to the counsel of the old men 1 King 12.8 having all this time well smarted for their folly and the Government of Kingship proving very burdensome and tyrannical as appears 1 King 12.9 10 doth the Lord either blame or condemn the said ten Tribes for their defection or in any kind testifye his displeasure against them nay doth hee not plainly justify them therein by sending Shemaiah the Prophet to their brethren that would have gone out to warre against them saying Yee shall not go up to sight against your brethren return every man to his own house for this thing is from mee saith the Lord 1 King 12.24 Qu. 7. Whether is it not probable that the Lord would give as good Kings to his own peculiar people whom hee loved as the apple of his eye as to any other people whatsoever and yet what horrid murders and cruel bloodshed were there continually among the said Kings of Israel to obtain the Crown and how were the people vexed with warres continually by reason of those cursed Kings and how few of the said Kings have dyed in their beds like other men See the books of the Kings and Chronicles Qu. 8. Whether doth not the Office of King-ship in the very nature and being thereof tend directly by advancing prerogative to the enslaving of the people by whom it is establisht and by magnifying its own power and grandeur perpetually to prey upon the peoples liberty and property according to the description given thereof 1 Sam. 8. from 11. to 19. v. It being as diametrically opposite to the Peoples Liberty as darkness is to light Prerogative and Freedome being like two ballances when one is up the other is down and hath not the experience of all ages in other Nations and in our own very lately given sad and bleeding testimonies to the truth hereof Qu. 9. Whether would it not make the heart and bowels of any Christian to yern tremble and bleed within him to consider how the poor people of Israel were punished from time to time for the wickednesse of their Kings insomuch as it is said 2 King 14.26 The Lord saw the affliction of Israel that it was very bitter and have not war and the plague been as it were entailed upon our own Nation on the account of Kingship from Generation to Generation and doth not the mercy of God in freeing the great City and Nation both from the one and the other since Kingship was abolished give clear testimony hereunto Que. 10 Whether did not judgement and justice run down like a might stream whilst the people of Israel in a free Commonwealth were under the government of their good Moses Joshuas and Samuels but when they would have Kings like the Heathens round about them were not men made offenders for a word though it were the Word of the Lord to the imprisoning of their persons witnesse the Prophet Jeremy c. Jer. 32.3 And many others nay were they not causelesly stript of their lives and properties through the base lusts of their Kings though some of them good ones do wee not finde Naboth 1 King 21. in a solemn way of fasting had his life taken away that so his Vineyard might bee obtained by King Ahab and Uriah with many others lost their lives most trecherously that so the Adultery with Bathsheba his wife might bee covered and concealed from the people though it could not from the Lord 2 Sam. 11. and 12. ch And for the pride of Hezekiahs heart were not the children of Israel carried captive into Babylon 2 King 20.17 18. And did not the Lord for the wickednesse of Manasseh bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whoever should hear thereof both his ears should tingle 2 Kings 21.12 Que. 11 Whether doth it not appear as clear as the Sun at noon-day from the Scriptures already quoted that God did never institute or approve the office of a King or
Kingly government but that it is directly opposite to the minde and will of God On the contrary did not the Lord himself ordain a free Common-wealth for his own people whom hee chose from all the Nations of the world and then gave them a Government not like to theirs which was King-ship and when they rejected this doth hee not plainly say 1 Sam. 8.5 they had rejected him that hee should not raign over them 1 Sam. 8.7 and doth not God farther say Hos 8.3 Israel hath cast off the thing that is good and verse 4. They have set up Kings but not by mee they have made Princes and I knew it not Que. 12 Whether will this new modell'd Kingship bee the government of Jesus Christ so much spoken of in Scripture as also in the Remonstrances Declarations and Papers of the Army particularly in that Declaration from Muscleborrough in Scotland 1650. wherein they professe themselves not to bee Souldiers of fortune nor merely the servants of men but have proclaimed Jesus Christ the King of Saints to bee their King Or will it bee the New Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven mentioned Rev. 21.2 or the new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwells Righteousnesse promised and spoken of by the Prophets and in the New Testament 2 Pet. 3.13 Or rather is not this thrust on to prevent keep out and stand in the way of the said Government of Jesus Christ and will not that which is spoken of by Ezekiel the Prophet bee applicable hereunto Thus saith the Lord God Remove the Diadem and take off the Crown This shall not bee the same exalt him that is low and abase him that is high I will overturn overturn overturn it and it shall bee no more until hee come whose right it is and I will give it him Qu. 13 Is not Kingship one of the ten horns of the Beast mentioned Rev. 17.12 And hath it not given its strength and power to the Beast for these many hundred years past and made warre with the Lambe in this Nation from time to time to the pouring out of much innocent bood of the Saints Rev. 17.13.14 And hath not the Lord broken this horn in peeces here amongst us and sufficiently poured forth contempt upon this Kingship And shall wee yet again make warre with Jesus Christ the Lamb and desert his cause and work which hee hath so miraculously carried on to the wonder and astonishment of all Spectators so that wee could truly say whilest wee were pursuing that there was no Rock like unto our Rock even our enemies being Judges Deut. 32.31 And did not Englands Army once rejoyce to see this horn of the Beast cut off and encourage Scotland thereunto that they might become one in the Lords hand and joyn together in the advancement of the Kingdome of Jesus Christ and to trample down the Seat of the Beast to hate the Whore and burn her flesh with fire See the Declaration of the English Army in Scotland 1650. p. 7. Armies Declaration Aug. 1. 1650. Qu. 14 Whether the Lord doth not by all these punishments of his inflicted upon his own people sufficiently threaten anger against any others that being once free shall upon any account whatsoever give up their liberties into the hands of any one man to bee a King over them And whether these things where not done as Types and Precedents for after ages for saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10.6 These things were our examples to the intent wee should not lust after evil things as they also lusted and Rom. 15.4 Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning FINIS