Selected quad for the lemma: scripture_n
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A34269
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A Confutation of sundry errors in Dr. Sherlock's book concerning allegiance
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C5812; ESTC R20781
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14,713
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16
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A Confutation of sundry Errors in Dr. Sherlock's Book concerning Allegiance Error 1. THE Scripture hath given us no Directions in this Case but to submit and pay all the Obedience of Subjects to the present Powers It makes no distinction that ever I could find between rightful Kings and Usurpers pag. 18. Confut. Why then did you stand off so long from swearing Allegiance to their present Majesties out of scruple of Conscience And why do you condemn Oliver Cromwell and the Rump-Parliament and the late Inter-regnum as a Rebellion And why do you approve the Peoples Combination against and killing Athaliah as an Usurper and setting young Joash the right Heir in the Throne To say that there is no difference as to our Duty and Allegiance between a manifest Usurper and a manifest rightful Owner of the Crown is in effect to say that a manifest Usurper is not an Usurper which is a Contradiction The Scripture largely taken doth comprize the Principles of Natural Religion and all the Rules and Maxims of Order Government and Civil Society common to Christians and Heathens who all agree in this That there are two sorts of Kings a manifest Usurper and a manifest rightful Owner of the Crown and accordingly there are two kinds of Subjection one due to an Usurper and another due to a rightful Owner of the Crown for as these two Kings differ in specie in kind so the Subjection due to the one doth differ in specie in kind from what is due to the other If you abandon this Distinction you justify the Cause of traiterous Absolom and his Adherents against Innocent David and his Adherents and there can be no such thing as Usurpation of Crowns and Kingdoms Error 2. Joash was first anointed and proclaimed before any one stirred a Finger against Athaliah Now this is a very different Case from raising Rebellions against a Prince who is in the possession of the Throne to restore an ejected Prince p. 34. Confut. Though Joash was first anointed and proclaimed King before Athaliah was kill'd yet it is plain that the preparations to kill her and the full purpose of their Mind so to do were long before And were these not so much as the stirring of a Finger against Athaliah's Person Crown and Government If the same kind of Subjection was due to Athaliah a notorious Usurper which was due to Joash the rightful Owner as you all along assert then Jehoiada and all the Godly and true Loyalists in Judah were guilty of traiterous and wicked Conspiracy If not then the grand Principle of your Book falls and you shew your self a Betrayer rather than a Defender of true Loyalty and Allegiance Error 3. This of Athaliah was a peculiar Case for God himself had entailed the Kingdom of Judah on the Posterity of David and therefore nothing could justify their Submission to an Usurper when the King's Son was found to whom the Kingdom did belong by a Divine Entail But c. p. 35. Confut. It is plain from the Story that the Nobles Commons and Clergy of Judah did out of conscientious Prudence and Respect to the Common Quiet submit to the Government of Athaliah after they knew she was an Usurper and that Joash the right Heir was in being and preparation for the Crown until they had by innocent Policy made themselves strong and were sufficiently prepared to depose and kill her this their Submission was just and laudable And this Case doth strongly prove that a notorious Usurper is to be submitted to by all the People when he cannot be deposed and cut off without endangering the Common Quiet and Safety of the Realm but when it can with general Safety and Quiet to the Realm be effected it is lawful and laudable to effect and accomplish it For though the Kingdom of Judah was a Theocracy yet other Nations and Kingdoms are not without Order and Government agreeable to the general Rules of God's Word and in that respect are a kind of Theocracy though not in the strict sense And it was upon Grounds and Reasons common to other Nations and Kingdoms that Athaliah was deposed and killed viz. because she was a notorious Usurper and it was against the Common Quiet and Interest of the Realm to bear with and submit to her any longer Vbi eadem ratio ibi eadem lex It was never God's intention to continue the Crown in the Posterity of David let them live as they list but on supposition of their walking in God's Ways as David did Which because they did not therefore God made Jeroboam King over ten Tribes and afterward did alienate the Crown of Judah from the House of David to the Babylonians Persians Grecians and Romans Error 4. If the Choice and Consent of the People makes a Prince then no Man is a Subject but he who consents to be so for the major Vote cannot include my Consent unless I please that is the Effect of Law and Compact or Force not of Nature pag. 24. Confut. It was the Choice and Consent of the greater part of the People according to God's Word Deut. 17.14 15. which made Saul the first King of Israel Whose Election not being consented to by some therefore the Scripture brands them for Sons of Belial 1 Sam. 10.27 Here the major Vote did conclude the rest You cannot be a good Subject without your own Consent but a Subject you may be against your Will tho the King be made by consent of the People according to the general Rules of God's Word because it is pro bono Publico for the common good and absolutely necessary for the uphold of Order Unity and Government among Men that in such Cases the major Vote concludes all the rest the Light of Nature doth so dictate and common Sense allows it Error 5. If Subjects give their Prince Authority they may take it away again if they please there can be no irresistible Authority derived from the People for if the Authority be wholly derived from them who shall hinder them from taking it away when they see fit Upon these Principles there can be no Hereditary Monarchy one Generation can only chuse for themselves their Posterity having as much right to chuse as they had pag. 24. Confut. If indeed the People be the sole principal Cause of conferring Authority upon the King then they may take it away when they please even as God himself doth But this they are not they are only Causes instrumental and subservient yet so necessary to the Being of just and legal Monarchy that without their Consent Tacit or Express no just Monarchy can begin and be sounded Yet will it not hence follow that the People may at their pleasure recal the Authority which they have given for being only Causes instrumental and subordinate they can act nothing without the Concurence of God the supream Cause and Governor of the World But God doth oblige them to stick to and abide by their King whom