Selected quad for the lemma: power_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
power_n	government_n	king_n	monarchy_n	2,757	5	9.5091	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A45694	Political aphorisms: or, The true maxims of government displayed Wherein is likewise proved, that paternal authority is no absolute authority, and that Adam had no such authority. That there neither is or can be any absolute government de jure, and that all such pretended government is void. That the children of Israel did often resist their evil princes without any appointment or foretelling thereof by God in scripture. That the primitive Christians did often resist their tyrannical emperors, and that Bishop Athanasius did approve of resistance. That the Protestants in all ages did resist their evil and destructive princes. Together with a historical account of the depriving of kings for their evil government, in Israel, France, Spain, Portugal, Scotland, and in England before and since the conquest.	Locke, John, 1632-1704. Two treatises of government.; Languet, Hubert, 1518-1581. Vindiciæ contra tyrannos.; Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731, attributed name.; Ferguson, Robert, d. 1714, attributed name.; Harrison, T. (Thomas), fl. 1683-1711.	1691 (1691)	Wing H917E; ESTC R216382	24,457	34

is not to an absolute Authority for there can be no absolute Authority where there is an Authority above it With what Folly and Ignorance do some assert That the Kings of England are Absolute as proceeding from William the Conqueror To which I answer That a Conqueror has no right of Dominion much less any Absolute Authority over the Wife and Children of the Conquered or over those who assisted not against him Conquest may claim such a Right as Thieves use over those whom they can master which is a Right of Tenure but no Tenure of Right Conquest may restore a Right Forfeiture may lose a Right but 't is Consent only that can transact or give a Right There is no other Absolute Power than over Captives taken in a just War If the Possession of the whole Earth was in one Person yet he would have no Power over the Life or Liberty of another or over that which another gets by his own Industry for Propriety in Land gives no Man Authority over another William the Conqueror made a League or Compact with the Nobles and Lords of the Land to the performance of which he takes an Oath to observe the ancient Laws of the Realm established by his Predecessors the Kings of England and especially of Edward the Confessor as likewise did Henry the First with the Emendations his Father had made to them Stephen who succeeded Henry made a Compact and promised a Meloration of their Laws according to their Minds William Rufus Henry the First and Stephen get the Consent of the People by promising to grant them their usual Laws and ancient Customs Henry the First Richard the First King John and Richard the Second oblige themselves at their Coronations to grant them and then the People consented to own them as their King and Richard the First and King John were conjured by the Arch-bishops not to take upon them the Crown unless they intended to perform their Oaths If any King refused so to do the Nobles thought it their Concern to hinder his Coronation till he had either made or promised this Engagement What can be more absurd than to say That there is an absolute Subjection due to a Prince whom the Laws of God Nature and the Country have not given such Authority as if Men were made as so many Herds of Cattel only for the Use Service and Pleasure of their Princes But some do object That the anointing of Kings at their Coronations makes their Persons Sacred Unquestionable and Irresistable for any Tyrannical or Exorbitant Actions whatsoever To which I answer That every Christian's Baptism is a Sacrament of Christ's Institution a Spiritual Unction and Sanctification which makes a Person as sacred yea more holy than the Anointing of Kings can or doth of it self that being no Sacrament a Truth which no Christian can without Blasphemy deny And yet no Christian is exempted from Resistance Censure or Punishments according to the nature of his Crime and therefore the Anointing of Kings at their Coronations cannot do it it being a Ceremony of the Jews not instituted by Christ or any ways commanded to be continued by the Apostles or their Successors it signifying only the chusing or preferring one before another and so became the Ceremony of consecrating to any special Office and so was ordinarily used in the enstalling Men to Offices of any Eminency The Reign of a good King resembles that of Heaven over which there is but one God for he is no less beloved of the Vertuous than feared of the Bad and if human Frailty could admit a Succession of good Kings there were no comparison Power being ever more glorious in one than when it is divided 'T is not the Title of a King but the Power which is the Laws which is invested in him which makes the difference betwixt him and other Men in the executing of this Power his Person is sacred and not to be resisted he being above every Soul contained in the same Society and therefore cannot be resisted or deprived of his Office by any part or by the whole Community without the greatest Sin of Robbery and Injustice imaginable If a Government say some may be disturbed for any unlawful Proceedings of the Governour or his Ministers how can any Government be safe To which I answer That it is not lawful for every private Man to fly into the Bosom of his Prince for he is no competent Judg be he of never so great a Quality else a King was the most miserable Man living lying at the Mercy of every desperate Fellow's Censure It is impossible for one or a few oppressed Men to disturb the Government where the Body or the People do not think themselves concerned in it and that the Consequences seem not to threaten all yea when it does yet the People are not very forward to disturb the Government as in King Charles the Second's time when the Charters were condemned and seized upon in order to make us Slaves and the Laws perverted to the loss of many innocent Lives and many other Oppressions too many to insert and yet no body offered to disturb the Government I say till the Mischief be grown general and the Designs of the Rulers become notorious then and then only will the People be for righting themselves Whosoever either Ruler or Subject by Force goes about to invade the Rights of either Prince or People and lays the Foundation for overturning the Constitution and Frame of any just Government he is guilty of the greatest Crime I think a Man is capable of being to answer for all those Mischiefs of Blood Rapine and Desolation which the breaking to pieces of Governments brings on a Country and he who does it is justly to be esteemed the Common Enemy and Pest of Mankind and is so to be treated accordingly and how far the late King James was guilty of this I leave the World to judg FINIS The Author's Advertisement JUST as I had finished this Book I received a Reply to my former Book which I thought to have Answered but finding the Arguments to be Frivolous and Weak and my necessary Avocations allowing me but little time therefore I forbore answering it ADVERTISEMENTS THe Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Jure Divino disproved Price 1 d. The Letter which was sent to the Author of the Doctrine of Passive Obedience and Jure Divino disproved c. Answered and Refuted Wherein is proved That Monarchy was not Originally from GOD. That Kings are not by Divine Appointment but that all Government proceeds from the People That the Obedience required in Scripture is to the Laws of the Land and no otherwise That Resisting of Arbitrary Power is Lawful That the Oath of Allegiance to the late King James was dissolved before the Prince of Orange our present King landed That upon the non-performance of an Oath on one side the other becomes void is plainly prov'd from several Examples in Scripture That Protection is the only Cause of Allegiance and that Obedience or Allegiance is due to the present Government is proved from Scripture Law and Reason And those Texts of Scripture which relate to Government of Monarchy are Explained Price stitch'd 6 d. Both written by the same Author and printed for Tho. Harrison

God's Providence and Permission who suffered his own peculiar People the Jews to be under divers manner of Governments at divers times at first under Patriarchs Abraham Isaac and Jacob then under Captains as Moses Joshua and the like then under Judges as Othoniel Ebud and Gideon then under High Priests as Eli and Samuel then under Kings as Saul David and the rest then under Captains and High Priests again as Zorobbabel Judas Maccabeus and his Brethren until the Government was lastly taken from them and they brought under the Power of the Romans And last of all that God does concur with what Magistrate or Magistrates the Community thinks fit to appoint is plain by the Testimony of holy Scripture as when God said to Solomon By me Kings rule and Nobles even all the Judges of the Earth Prov. 8.16 that is by his Permission they govern tho chosen by the People and St. Paul to the Romans avoucheth that Authority is not but of God and therefore he that resisteth Authority resisteth God Rom. 13. which is to be understood of Authority Power and Jurisdiction in it self according to the Laws of every Country All Politick Societies began from a voluntary Union and mutual Agreement of Men freely acting in the choice of their Governours and Forms of Government All Kings receive their Royal Dignity from the Community by whom they are made the Superiour Minister and Ruler of the People Aristotle Cicero Augustin Fortescue and all other Politicians agree that Kingdoms and Common-wealths were existent before Kings for there must be a Kingdom and Society of Men to govern before there can be a King elected by them to govern them and those Kingdoms and Societies of Men had for the most part some Common Laws of their own free Choice by which they were governed before they had Kings which Laws they swore their Kings to observe before they would crown or admit them to the Government as is evident by the Coronation-Oaths of all Christian and Pagan Kings continued to this Day The Safety of the People is the Supreamest Law and what they by common Consent have Enacted only for the Publick Safety they may without any Obstacle alter when things require it by the like common Consent The lawful Power of making Laws to command whose Politick Societies of Men belongeth so properly unto the same intire Societies that for any Prince or Potentate of what kind soever upon Earth to exercise the same of himself and not by express Commission immediately and personally received from God or else by Authority derived at first from their Consent upon whose Persons they impose Laws it is no better than meer Tyranny Laws they are not therefore which Publick Approbation hath not made so Hooker's Eccl. Pol. l. 1. § 10. Whosoever says Aristotle is governed by a Man without a Law is governed by a Man and by a Beast As every Man in the delivery of the Gift of his own Goods may impose what Covenant or Condition he pleases and every Man is Moderator and Disposer of his own Estate So in the voluntary Institution of a King and Royal Power it is lawful for the People submitting themselves to prescribe the King and his Successors what Law they please so as it be not Unreasonable and Unjust and directly against the Rights of a Supream Governour No Man can be born an Absolute King no Man can be a King by himself no King can Reign without the People Whereas on the contrary the People may both be and are by themselves and are in Time before a King By which it appears that all Kings were and are constituted by the People because by the Law of Nature there is no Superiority one above another and God has no where commanded the World or any part thereof to be governed by this or that Form or by this or that Person therefore all Superiority and Authority must and does proceed from the People since by the Law of God and Nature there is no Superiority one above another Aristotle saith That the whole Kingdom City or Family is more excellent and to be preferred before any Part or Member thereof Succession was tolerated and appointed in the World to avoid Competition and Inter-regnum and other Inconveniences of Election 'T is plain from what hath been said that all Government proceeds from the People Now I will prove that they have Authority to put back the next Inheritors to Government when unfit or uncapable to Govern And also to dispossess them that are in lawful Possession if they fulfil not the Laws and Conditions by which and for which their Dignities were given them and when it is done upon just and urgent Causes and by Publick Authority of the whole Body the Justice thereof is plain as when the Prince shall endeavour to establish Idolatry contrary to the Laws of the Land or any Religion which is repugnant to the Scripture as Popery c. or to destroy the People or make them Slaves to his Tyrannical Will and Pleasure For as the whole Body is of more Authority than the Head and may cure it when out of order so may the Weal-Publick cure or purge their Heads when they are pernitious or destructive to the Body Politick seeing that a Body Civil may have divers Heads by Succession or Election and cannot be bound to one as a Body Natural is which Body Natural if it had Ability to cut off its aking or sickly Head and take another I doubt not but it would do it and that all Men would confess it had Authority sufficient and Reason so to do rather than the other Parts should perish or live in Pain and continual Torment So may the Body Politick chuse another Head and Governour in the room of its destructive One which hath been done for many Ages and God hath wonderfully concurred therein for the most part with such Judicial Acts of the Common-Wealth against their Evil Princes not only prospering the same but by giving them commonly some notable Successor in Place of the Deprived thereby both to justify the Fact and remedy the Fault of him that went before First King Saul was slain by the Philistines by God's Appointment for not fulfilling the Law and Limits prescribed unto him Ammon was lawful King also yet was he slain for that he walked not in the way prescribed him by God 2 King 21. and David and Josiah were made Kings in their rooms who were two most excellent Princes Shalum Pekahiah and Pekah three wicked and idolatrous Kings of Israel were by God's just Judgment slain one after another And all the Kings of Israel who violated the Covenant and Conditions annexed to their Crowns did for the most part lose their Lives and underwent the utter Extirpation of their Posterities from the Crown Rehoboham for only threatning to oppress the People was deserted by them who chose Jeroboham his Servant in his stead which was approved on by God If I should instance all

were put in the place of the aforementioned deprived by the Common-Wealth And this is and hath been the Custom and Practice of all Kingdoms and Common-Wealths to deprive their Princes for their Evil Government and that God hath and does concur with the same is plain from the Examples before-mentioned of the Prosperity and Happiness that hath attended those Acts. The Barons Prelates and Commons took a solemn Oath That if King John should refuse to grant and confirm their Laws and Liberties they would wage War against him so long and withdraw themselves from their Allegiance to him until he should confirm to them by a Charter ratified with his Seal all things which they required and that if the King should afterwards peradventure recede from his Oath as they verily believed he would by reason of his double-dealing they would forthwith by seizing on his Castles compel him to give Satisfaction He afterwards breaking his Oath and Promise the Barons said What shall we do with this wicked King if we let him thus alone he will destroy us and our People it is expedient therefore that he should be expelled the Throne we will not have him any longer to reign over us and accordingly they sent for Lewis the Prince of France to be their King and swore Fealty to him but they afterwards discovering that he had sworn that he would oppress them and extirpate all their Kindred they rejected him and set up Henry the Third The Bishops of Hereford Lincoln and several Earls Barons and Knights for each County being deputed to go to Edward II and demand a Surrender of the Crown said to him That unless he did of himself renounce his Crown and Scepter the People would neither endure him or any of his Children as their Soveraign but disclaiming all Homage and Fealty would elect some other for King who should not be of the Blood upon which the King resigned his Crown c. By the common Usage of England which is the common Law of England Kings may be deprived for evil Government and others set up in their stead is plain from the afore-going Examples Richard the First being taken Prisoner by the Emperor in his Return from the Holy Land it was decreed that the fourth part of all that Year's Rents and of all the Moveables as well of the Clergy as of the Laity and all the Woolls of the Abbots of the Order of Cistersians and of Semphringham and all the Gold and Silver Chalices and Treasure of all Churches should be paid in towards the Ransom of the King which was done accordingly If all this was given for the Liberty of one Man certainly much more ought to be given now when all our Liberties and Properties and even our Religion too lies at stake if Necessity required it which God forbid By the Law of Nature Salus Populi the Welfare of the People is both the supream and first Law in Government and the scope and end of all other Laws and of Government it self because the Safety of the Body Politick is ever to be preferred before any one Person whatsoever No Human Law is binding which is contrary to the Scripture or the general Laws of Nature Religion doth not overthrow Nature whose chiefest Principle is to preserve her self and God doth not countenance Sin in the greatest but rewards the Punisher witness Jehu c. The end for which Men enter into Society is not barely to live but to live happily answerable to the Excellency of their Kind which Happiness is not to be had out of Society All Common-wealths are in a State of Nature one with another As Magistrates were designed for a general Good so the Obligation to them must be understood so as to be still in Subordination to the main End for the reason of all Law and Government is the Publick Good Government being for the benefit of the Governed and not for the sole advantage of the Governours but only for theirs with the rest as they make a part of that Politick Body each of whose Parts and Members are taken care of and directed in their peculiar Function for the good of the whole by the Laws of the Society The end of Government being the Preservation of all as much as may be even the Guilty are to be spared where it can prove no prejudice to the Innocent The publick Power of all Society is above every Soul contained in the same Society and the Principal use of that Power is to give Laws unto all that are under it which Laws in such cases we must obey unless there be reason shewed which may necessarily inforce that the Law of Reason or of God doth injoyn the contrary Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 1. § 10. T. Cicero saith there is one Nature of all Men that even Nature it self prescribes this that a Man ought to take care of a Man who ever he be even for this very cause that he is a Man If otherwise all human Consociation must necessarily be dissolved therefore as there are two Foundations of Justice First that no hurt be done to any next that the Profit of all if it can be done be advanced That all Magistates and Governours do proceed from the People is plain from the following Examples in Scripture Deut. 16.18 19. the Children of Israel are commanded to make Judges and Officers throughout their Tribes Deut. 17.14 15. When thou art come into the Land c. and shalt say I will set a King over we like as all the Nations that are about me Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose One from among thy Brethren shalt thou set over thee thou mayst not set a Stranger over thee So God did only reserve to himself the Nomination of their King by which he designed to make his People more happy than they could expect by their own peculiar Choice he knowing the Heart of Man and Corruption of his Nature would be sure to nominate such who was most fit to govern his People God did not require the Jews to accept of him for King whom he should chuse but left it to their own free Will whether they would accept him or no is plain from the following Examples Upon the Death of Saul David was set up by the Appointment of Almighty God yet there was only the Tribe of Judah that followed David and made him King eleven Tribes following Ishbosheth Saul's Son whom they made King and though David had a long War against the House of Saul yet he calls them not Rebels neither do we find that God punished them or sent any Judgment upon them for not accepting of David as King and when Rechab and Banah had slain Ishbosheth and brought his Head to David at Hebron saying Behold the Head of thine Enemy yet David instead of rewarding them caused them to be slain for killing of Ishbosheth whom he calls a righteous Person not a Rebel After whose

my Liberty Life and Religion which are mine by the Laws of God and Man may I not secure them with a good Conscience Every Man has a Right to preserve himself his Rights and Priviledges against him who has no Authority to invade them And this was the Case of Moses who seeing an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew he slew him And Samson made War upon the Philistines for burning his Wife and her Father who were both but private Persons who knew they could have no other kind of Justice against them but what the Law of Nature gives every Man We ought saith the Learned Junius Brutus in his Discourse of Government to consider that all Princes are born Men. We cannot therefore expect to have only perfect Princes but rather we ought to think it well with us if we have gained but indifferent ones therefore the Prince shall not presently be a Tyrant if he keep not measure in some things if now and then he obey not Reason if he more slowly seek the Publick Good if he be less diligent in administring Justice For seeing a Man is not set over Men as if he were some God as he is over Beasts but as he is a Man born in the same Condition with them as that Prince shall be proud who will abuse Men like Beasts so that People shall be unjust who shall seek a God in a Prince and a Divinity in this frail Nature But truly if he shall wilfully subvert the Republick if he shall wilfully pervert the Laws if he shall have no care of his Faith none of his Promises none of Justice none of Piety if himself become an Enemy of his People or shall use all or the chiefest Notes we have mentioned then verily he may be judged a Tyrant that is an Enemy of God and Men And by how much longer he is tolerated the more intolerable he becomes and they may act against him whatever they may use against a Tyrant either by Law or just Force Tyranny is not only a Crime but the Head and as it were the heap of all Crimes therefore is he so much the more wicked than any Thief Murtherer or sacrilegious Person by how much it is more grievous to offend many and all than particular Persons Now if all these be reputed Enemies if they be capitally punished if they suffer pains of Death can any invent a Punishment worthy so horrid a Crime The Laws are the Nerves and Sinews of Society and as the Magistrate is above the People so is the Law above the Magistrate or else there can be no Civil Society He who makes himself above all Law is no Member of a Common wealth but a meer Tyrant If a Magistrate notwithstanding all Laws made for the well-governing a Community will act plainly destructive to that Community they are discharged either from Active or Passive Obedience and indispensibly obliged by the Law of Nature to Resistance Is it not reasonable and just I should have a right to destroy him who threatens me with Destruction for by the Fundamental Law of Nature Man being to be preserved as much as possible when all cannot be preserved the Safety of the Innocent is to be preferred I say he who having renounced his Reason the common Rule and Measure God hath given to Mankind by endeavouring to destroy me is thereby become as a Beast of Prey and ought to be treated accordingly The Laws says Tully are above the Magistrates as the Magistrates are above the People He who is destructive to the Being of another hath quitted the Reason which God hath given to be the Rule betwixt Man and Man of Justice and Equity hath put himself into the State of War with the other and is as noxious as any savage Beast that seeks his Destruction No Man in Civil Society can be exempted from the Laws of it for if there be no Appeal on Earth for Redress or Security against any Mischief the Prince may do then every Man in that Society is in a State of Nature with him in respect of him Thucidides l. 2. saith Not only those are Tyrants who reduce others into Servitude but much rather those who when they may repulse that Violence take no care to do it but especially those who will be called the Defenders of Greece and the Common Country but yet help not their oppressed Country If a Man may be a Wolf to a Man nothing forbids but that a Man may be a God to a Man as it is in the Proverb Therefore Antiquity hath enrolled Hercules amongst the number of the Gods because he punished and tamed Procrustes Busyris and other Tyrants the Pests of Mankind and Monsters of the World So also the Roman Empire as long as it stood free was often called the Patrocine against the Robberies of Tyrants because the Senate was the Haven and Refuge of Kings People and Nations It is as lawful and more reasonable to prevent the overthrowing of our Religion Laws Rights and Priviledges from any Man or Men whatsoever amongst our selves as from a foreign Power because one acts contrary to the Laws of God and the Country and the other being not subject to the Laws of the Country can be no ways bound by it It was thought no Injustice in the Ship to cast out the Prophet when they found he was likely to prove the Wrack of them all and the Almighty shewed he approved of their Act by quieting the Storm when he was gone The Scripture that hath set us none but good Examples tells us That some Princes should not have one of their Race left that pisseth against the Wall Now what were their Faults but Idolatry and Oppression of their People Then how can it be a Sin in a Nation to free themselves from an idolatrous and oppressing King When it is done by the greatest and most considerable part thereof it does silently imply a Consent of God for it cannot be Covetousness or Ambition that moves such a Multitude When once the Christian Religion is become a part of the Subjects Property by the Laws and Constitutions of the Country then it is to be considered as one of their principal Rights and so may be defended as well as any other Civil Right since that those different Forms of Government that the Jews were under is no Rule for the Government of any Nation or People whatsoever The Principles of Natural Religion give those who are in Authority no Power at all but only secure them in the Possession of that which is theirs by the Laws of the Country That Cause is just which defends the Laws which protects the Common Good which shall preserve the Realm And that Cause is unjust which violates the Laws defends the Breakers of the Laws protects the Subverters of the Country That is just which will destroy Tyrannical Government that unjust which would abolish just Government that lawful which tends to the Publick Good that unlawful which tends to the Private

escaping fights Simon and kills him The Historians of those Times calls him not a Rebel or a Traytor but a Martyr for the Liberties of Church and State If Resistance be unlawful upon any Account whatsoever then were all those People guilty of Rebellion who in all Ages have resisted or turned out their Evil and Destructive Kings and Governours and then the Jews were guilty of this Sin for slaying and turning out several of their Kings without any appointment from God in Scripture So likewise the Primitive Christians did involve themselves under the Guilt of St. Paul's Damnation for resisting of their Kings and Emperors and likewise the Christians in all Ages since who have resisted their Princes by turning them out c. And then Bishop Athanasius Author of our Creed and those Christians with him did also come under the Guilt of St. Paul's Damnation for approving of Calaritanus's Book which according to the Doctrine of Passive Obedience was a Treasonable and Rebellious Book for the Incendiaries to Rebellion are as guilty as they that are actually in it And then all those Princes that have been set up by the People in the room of those whom they have turned out for their Evil Government were Usurpers and consequently all those who have succeeded them where the Descent of the Blood is altered are Intruders Usurpers and no lawful Kings Were the Doctrine of Passive Obedience without reserve a True Doctrine no doubt but we should have had a better Account thereof than from a few Court-Divines who have most learnedly interpreted the Will and Pleasure of the Prince against the Laws of Nature or of the Country to be the Powers which St. Paul requires Obedience unto under the pain of Damnation So by consequence the Law ceaseth to be the Powers then we are in a worse condition than in the State of Nature With what Face can any Man assert that Passive Obedience without reserve is the Doctrine of the Gospel which is charging God with as palpable a Contradiction as any two things can be it being diametrically opposite to the Law of Self-preservation which is the Law of Nature and the Decree of the Almighty which Law is Sacred and not to be infringed by any Man God never commanded any thing contrary to the Law of Nature unless it were in the Case of Abraham in commanding of him as a tryal of his Faith to offer up his Son Isaac Protection is the only cause of Allegiance and Obedience is plain from the Example of David and his six hundred Men who were protected from Saul and his Army by Achish King of the Philistines who gave them Ziklag to live in and David and his Men fought for the Philistines against the Geshurites Gezrites and the Amalekites and subdued them David owed no Allegiance to Saul who sought his destruction is plain for when Achish told David that he and his Men should go with him to fight against the Children of Israel David offered his service and said to Achish Surely thou shalt know what thy Servant can do Then Achish said unto David Therefore I will make thee keeper of my Head for ever So David and his Men went in the rear of the Army and when the Lords of the Philistines would not let David and his Men fight for them lest they should betray them into the hands of Saul and his Army then David expostulated with Achish and said What have I done and what hast thou found in thy Servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day that I may not go fight against the Enemies of my Lord the King 1 Sam. Chap. 27 28 29. This is a plain case that David intended to fight Saul and his Army Now the Intention of the Mind is as bad as the Act and yet it is no ways said that David repented thereof or of his arming the six hundred Men before mentioned with design to fight his lawful Soveraign King Saul The Primitive Christians took Protection to be the only cause of Allegiance For when Julian the Apostate was chosen Emperor of the Romans not by the free Consent of the People but by the Souldiers during the Life of Constantius the lawful Possessor of the Throne The Christians did not reckon themselves obliged to fight for Constantius against Julian for they troubled not their Heads with the Rights of Princes Augustus tho he had violently usurped the Throne yet he was confirmed in it by the People and Senate of Rome who established it in his Family by a long Prescription when St. Paul's and St. Peter's Epistles were wrote of Obedience to the Laws to Kings and Magistrates so that we see that Obedience was required to an Usurper under the pain of Damnation when the Government was confirmed to him by the People that is by the Majority for it cannot be thought by every Body consented thereto Apolonius Thyanaeus writing to the Emperor Domitian saith These things have I spoken concerning Laws which if thou shalt not think to reign over thee then thy self shalt not reign In Matrimony which is the nearest and strictest Obligation of all others by which those who were two are made one Flesh if one Party forsakes the other the Apostle pronounceth the Party forsaked to be free from all Obligation because the Party deserting violates the chief Conditions of Marriage c. 1 Cor. 7.15 And shall not the People be much more absolved from their Allegiance to that King who has violated his Oath and the Laws of the Land the very cause for which they swear Allegiance to him Absolute Monarchy is inconsistent with Civil Society and therefore can be no Form of Civil Government which is to remedy the Inconveniencies of the State of Nature No Man or Society of Men have Power to deliver up their Preservation or the Means of it to the absolute Will of any Man and they will have always a right to preserve what they have not Power to part with No power can exempt Princes from the Obligation to the Eternal Laws of God and Nature As no Body can transfer to another more Power than he has in himself and no Body has an Absolute Arbitrary Power over himself or over any other to destroy his own Life or take away the Life and Property of another therefore a Man cannot give such Authority to any or subject himself to the Arbitrary Power of another for the Law of Nature is an Eternal Rule to all Men whose Actions must be conformable to that Law which is the Will of God For the Fundamental Law of Nature being the Preservation of Mankind no human Law can be good or valid against it and much less the Will and Pleasure of a Prince against the Law and Custom of the Country which shall be prejudicial to the Subject As the Happiness and Prosperity of Kingdoms depend upon the Conservation of their Laws if the Laws depend upon the Lust of one Man would not the Kingdom