A vindication of The case of allegiance due to soveraign powers, in reply to An answer to a late pamphlet, intituled, Obedience and submission to the present government, demonstrated from Bishop Overal's convocation-book, with a postscript in answer to Dr. Sherlock's Case of allegiance, &c. by William Sherlock. Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. 1691 Approx. 225 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 42 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-08 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A59904 Wing S3375 ESTC R11110 11910371 ocm 11910371 50779 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A59904) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 50779) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 512:11) A vindication of The case of allegiance due to soveraign powers, in reply to An answer to a late pamphlet, intituled, Obedience and submission to the present government, demonstrated from Bishop Overal's convocation-book, with a postscript in answer to Dr. Sherlock's Case of allegiance, &c. by William Sherlock. Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. [3], 80 p. Printed for W. Rogers ..., London : 1691. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712. -- Answer to a late pamphlet entituled Obedience and submission to the present government. Overall, John, 1560-1619. -- Bishop Overall's convocation book. Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707. -- Case of the allegiance due to soveraign powers. Allegiance -- Early works to 1800. 2003-11 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2003-12 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-04 Rina Kor Sampled and proofread 2004-04 Rina Kor Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Imprimatur , Jan. 14. 1690 / 1. Z. Isham , R.P.D. Henrico , Episc. Lond. à Sacris . A VINDICATION OF THE Case of Allegiance DUE TO Soveraign Powers , In REPLY to an ANSWER To a late Pamphlet , Intituled , Obedience and Submission to the Present Government , demonstrated from Bishop Overal's Convocation-Book ; with a Postscript in Answer to Dr. Sherlock's Case of Allegiance , &c. By WILLIAM SHERLOCK , D. D. Master of the TEMPLE . LONDON : Printed for W. Rogers , at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church , in Fleet-street , 1691. A VINDICATION OF THE Late CASE OF ALLEGIANCE , &c. IN a Postscript to an Answer to a late Pamphlet intituled , Obedience and Submission to the Present Government , demonstrated from Bishop Overal ' s Convocation Book , the Author is pleased to Examine what I have said relating to the said Subject , in my Case of Allegiance due to Soveraign Powers ; He writes with great triumph and assurance , which it seems Men may do , who are resolved never to own a Mistake ; though he thinks it unpardonable in me , who have been so weak , as to confess , that I am not Infallible , ever to believe my own Senses again . He threatens an Answer to my Arguments in due Time ; and I will patiently expect till his due Time comes , and apply myself at present to his Postscript , and Answer , as far as I am concerned in it ; but shall beg leave to follow my own Method , and justifie what I have said in the same Order , I have said it in , his altering of which has more Art than Honesty in it . The Mighty Place , as he truly calls it , is Chap. 28. Pag. 57. where the Convocation having given an Account of the Various and Irregular Revolutions of Government , brought about by the Providence of GOD , who for the Sins of any Nation or Country , altereth their Governments and Governours , transferreth , setteth up , and bestoweth Kingdoms , as it seemeth best to his heavenly Wisdom , they add these remarkable Words : And when having attained their Ungodly Desires , ( whether ambitious Kings by bringing any Country into their Subjection , or disloyal Subjects by their rebellious Rising against their natural Soveraigns ) they have established any of the same degenerate Forms of Government among their People ; the Authority either so Unjustly gotten , or wrung by Force from the true and lawful Possessor , being always GOD's Authority ( and therefore receiving no Impeachment by the Wickedness of those that have it ) is ever ( when any such Alterations are throughly settled ) to be Reverenced and Obeyed , and the People of all sorts ( as well of the Clergy , as of the Laity ) are to be subject unto it , not only for Wrath , but also for Conscience sake . This I then thought , and think so still ( though our Author thinks not ) a very plain Testimony , that all Usurped Powers , when throughly settled , have GOD's Authority , and must be Obeyed : And while I was transcribing this Passage , there came to my hand the New Observator of Friday , Dec. 5 , 1690 , Vol. 3. Numb . 12. containing a Letter written by King Iames the First , with relation to this very Convocation , which he says he transcribed Verbatim from the Original , communicated to him by an eminent Person , in whose hands it is ; the four last Lines of which are written with King Iames's own hand , and the rest , as he guesses , by the then Secretary of State. The Letter was written to Dr. Abbot ; I shall not transcribe the whole , but such Passages as may satisfie us , how King Iames himself understood the Convocation . You have dipt too deep in what all Kings reserve among the Arcana Imperii . And whatever Aversion you may profess against GOD's being the Author of Sin , you have stumbled upon the Threshold of that Opinion , in saying upon the matter , That even Tyranny is GOD's Authority , and should be reverenced as such . If the King of Spain should return to claim his old Pontifical Right to my Kingdom , you leave me to seek for others to Fight for it ; for you tell me upon the matter before hand , his Authority is GOD's Authority , if he prevail . This makes so much for our Author indeed , that King Iames did not like the Doctrine of the Convocation , no more than he does ; but then it proves against him , that K. Iames understood the Convocation not in his , but in my Sence : For when he charges them with saying upon the Matter , ( that is , in sence , tho' not in express words ) that Tyranny is God's Authority , and should be reverenced as such , it is the very Interpretation I there give of it , That those Princes , who have no legal Right to their Thrones , may yet have God's Authority : for by Tyranny the King meant such Princes as are Tyranni sine Titulo , or Illegal Kings ; for as for Tyrants Exercitio , who are Rightful Kings , but govern Tyrannically , neither K. Iames nor this Author would dispute , whether they have God's Authority . And if they may have God's Authority , whilst they are in the first sence Tyrants , or have no legal Right to their Thrones , then their Government may be thoroughly settled as the Convocation speaks , without a legal Right ; for till a thorough Settlement , according to the Doctrine of the Convocation , they have not God's Authority ; and when the King charges them with saying upon the matter , That Tyranny is God's Authority , he must conclude , that they taught , that such Tyrants might be throughly settled in their Government ; for if they cannot be settled till they obtain a legal Title , they must cease to be such Tyrants , before they have God's Authority : And it is evident , that K. Iames did not apprehend , that the Convocation meant by a thorough Settlement , ( as this Author expounds it ) a Settlement by the Death or Cession of the rightful King and all his Heirs , or by a long Prescription of an hundred Years , of which more presently ; for he was afraid , that by this Doctrine , the King of Spain , should he claim by his Pontifical Right , and prevail in it , might , while he himself lived , be so thoroughly setled in the Kingdom of England , as to have God's Authority , and then his Subjects must not Fight for him , their old rightful King , against the King of Spain , who by a thorough Settlement and Possession of the Throne of England , would be invested with God's Authority , and must not be opposed by the Subjects of England . The King disliked this Doctrine so much , that he thought fit to suppress it , and to reserve it among the Arcana Imperii ; which was a much wiser course then to palliate it with such forced Interpretations , as no impartial Reader can think to be the sence of the Convocation . If I have mistaken the sence of the Convocation , I have done no more then King Iames did , who was nearly concerned to know , what they meant : if I err in following the Convocation , I err with as great and learned Men , as any Age of the Church has bred ; I err with the Church of England , if we may learn the Sence of the Church from a Convocation . But let us set aside the King's Letter , and try if we can learn the sense of the Convocation from the Convocation itself . I observed in the first place , from the Words of the Convocation , That those Princes , who have no Legal Right to their Thrones , may yet have God's Authority : which I proved , because the Convocation speaks of Illegal and Usurped Powers , and yet affirms , that the Authority exercised by them , is God's Authority . To this our Author answers , The Doctor will not , but the Convocation distinguishes between the means of acquiring the Power , and the Power itself ; the means of acquiring Power may be very unjust and illegal , and yet the Power afterwards may be very Legal . But the Doctor resolves they must be all one ; and because the Convocation speaks of the Ambition of encroaching Kings , and the Rebellion of Subjects , as a means , whereby Governments have been altered ; therefore by a Government being throughly setled , they must mean usurped Powers . As if it were impossible for such beginnings afterwards to acquire a Right , and to terminate in a Legal Title ; and till that is , the Government is as unjust as the Rebellion and Encroachment . So that according to this Author , a Government , which is illegally and wickedly begun , when it is legally setled has God's Authority , and this is all , that the Convocation meant by it . As for what he says , That I will not distinguish between the means of acquiring Power , and the Power itself . I do not indeed distinguish as he does , but I distinguish as the Convocation does , that the Means are wicked ; but the Power and Authority is Gods ; which is all the distinction the Convocation makes ; and I desire him to shew me , where the Convocation says , that the Government which is illegally acquired , cannot be throughly setled , till it becomes Legal ; if this had been their meaning , it had been easily said , and had prevented all mistakes about it , which their words without this limitation are very apt to betray Men into . I believe all unbiassed Men who are not prepossed with other Notions , and concerned , that the Convocation should be on their side , would never dream of our Author's Sence of the Convocation . For 1. If the Convocation meant no more than our Author says , that a Government illegally begun , when it is legally setled , has God's Authority , what a wonderful discovery is this , that Legal Princes have God's Authority ! for who doubts of this ? What need was there to introduce this with such a long pompous Preface of the changes of Government , by the Ambition of Princes , and the Rebellion of Subjects ? For let Governments begin how they will , when they are once legally setled , no Man , that I know of , who owns the Authority of any Government to be from God , disputes theirs . Which makes me wonder at our Author's reason , viz. Left it should be thought , that wicked ways of obtaining this Right , was a prejudice to the Right itself , and people should from thence take occasion to rebel , and disturb all the Governments of the World , because they could not shew an express Order from God , or derive the Pedigree of their Government even from Adam and Noah ; to prevent the terrible Confusion that such a Notion would make in the World , they say , That the wicked ways of attaining it , or the wickedness of the persons that have it , is no impeachment of the Right itself ; but when it is attain'd it is God's Authority , and ought to be obeyed . That is to say , a wise and grave Convocation write a whole Chapter to confute a Notion , without naming it , or giving any hint at it , which if ever it entred into any mad Man's Head , yet never did , never can disturb any Government , till a Nation is fitter for Bedlam , than to be directed by a Convocation : whereas the Difficulties occasioned by the Changes and Revolutions of Government , especially when a rightful Prince is dispossessed , and another setled in his Throne , are very great , and worthy of the determination of a Convocation to direct Mens Consciences in such cases ; and which is the most probable account of this matter , let every one judge . 2dly , When the Convocation speaks of the Settlement of Illegal Powers , which began by Ambition and Rebellion , it is manifestly unreasonable , unless it had been expressed , to expound this of a Legal Settlement , by acquiring a new Legal Right . Settlement , I grant , as our Author says , is a Term of Law , and used by Lawyers of a Legal Settlement , and must always in reason be understood so in Law , when the contrary is not expressed ; but yet a firm and stable possession without Right , must be confessed , to be a Settlement too , though not a rightful Settlement : I suppose , our Author will not deny , but that the Government was setled in fact under the Three Heneries , tho' in his sense it was not a Legal Settlement . Now as it is reasonable in Law , to understand a Settlement of a Legal Settlement , when the contrary is not expressed , because the Law must speak of such Settlements as are according to Law ; so for the same reason , when the Convocation speaks of the Settlement of Powers , which are against Law , it must be understood of the Settlement of Possession , not of Right , unless this had been expressed ; for the only ordinary way of setling illegal Powers is by Possession , not by Right , and that ever such Powers be afterwards legally setled is a great accident , and therefore the natural and obvious exposition of Settlement in such Cases , is a Settlement of Possession ; and it argues great perverseness of mind to reject that sence of the Word , which is proper to the Subject to which it is applied , for such a Sence as is forreign and unnatural . It is plain , that the Right and Settlement of Government are two very different things , for they may be parted ; the first relates to the Title , the second to the setled Possession , and Exercise of Government : and whenever a rightful King is dispossessed , our Author must grant , that his Settlement is gone , tho' not his Right ; and if Right and Settlement may be parted , I desire to know , why there may not be a Settlement without Right ; and then it is ridiculous to conclude , that Settlement must always signifie Right . Nay , the Addition of Thorough plainly refers Settlement to Possession , and not to Right ; for there are no degrees of Right , no more than there are of Truth ; for all Right in this Case of a Legal Title is Thorough Rite ; but there are degrees of Settlement , as that signifies Possession ; for Princes may be more or less setled in the Possession and Exercise of Government ; which is reason enough to expound thoroughly setled of a thorough setled possession of Power , and Authority , or a compleat and perfect Administration of the Government . 3dly , Let us consider what our Author makes necessary to the thorough Settlement of such Powers as begin by Usurpation or Rebellion , and try what sense it will make of what the Convocation says . Now he tells us , That a Right to a Government may be acquired , by the death or cession of the Person in whom the Right was : and this ( he says ) is the case : In this Chapter the Convocation mentions several Variations of Government , as to the Forms , Aristocracy and Democracy ; and as to the ambitious encroaching of Kings upon their Neighbours ; and particularly the Four Monarchies , and the King of Babylon upon the Jews : All which respective Governments ; tho they were begun by Rebellion , Ambition , and unlawful means ( which the Convocation condemns ) yet afterwards they became lawful Governments , and had such a right to the respective Governments they did possess : and this is to be thoroughly setled . To the death and cession of the person in whom the Right was , he adds in another place , when the right to the Government is acquired by prescription , and that is a long and uninterrupted possession joyned with the consent of the people ; that is , a possession of an hundred Years , as he has learnt from Bishop Buckeridge . So that to make a legal settlement of a Government illegally begun , the rightful Prince , and all his Heirs , must die , or resign up their Government to the Usurper ; or the Usurper and his Heirs must reign about an hundred Years , and then he may come to be a legal King ; though this settlement by prescription I do not well understand . For suppose the Usurper should have an uninterrupted possession of an hundred Years , will this make him a rightful King without the death or cession of the whole Royal Family ? If it will , how does the Royal Family come to lose their right by an usurped possession of their Throne ? for how long soever it has been , it is an usurpation still , and the right is still in them : and if an usurpation will destroy their right , why not a short usurpation , as well as a long one ? for it is all but usurpation still : and how will our Author justifie the people in consenting , that such an usurper should reign , while their rightful King is living ? or how long must the usurper reign before the people must consent to it ? and how long must he reign afterwards with their consent , before he comes to be thoroughly setled as a lawful King ? or if the lawful King must die , or resign his Crown to settle the usurper , what need of so long a prescription ? since he tells us , that a possessory Right is something , and where there is no better , that ought to carry it ; and the conclusion from hence is this : That any person ( by what means soever ) gaining the possession of the Throne , if there be no better claims against him , then he hath a right to it , and then and not till then he is throughly setled . So that according to my understanding , this presciption signifies nothing . If there be no body , that has a better claim to the Crown , possession gives a right : if there be , I desire to know of our Author , whether an hundred years possession is a good right against a better claim ; or how this better claim comes to expire after an hundred years usurpation ? But however , we will take it all together , and see what can he made of it . Now I observe , 1. That all the Convocation says , relates to the visible and actual alterations of Governments and Governours , and translation of Kingdoms , brought about by the wickedness of men , but disposed by the divine foresight and providence to accomplish his own wise counsels . Now this is matter of fact , not of right , unless all alterations of Government are rightful and legal : and therefore the settlement of such alteratious is an actual not a legal settlement of them . And this brings the Dispute to matter of sense ; for if such alterations of Government and translation of Kingdoms may he made and setled without the death or cession of the rightful King , and without the prescription of an hundred years , then the death or cession of the King , or a long prescription cannot be necessary to the settlement , the Convocation speaks of ; for there may be an actual and visible settlement without it , which is all that is required to an actual and visible translation of Kingdoms ; and that is all the Convocation intended . And he who will venture to say , that a new Prince can't be actually and visibly setled in the Throne , while the old rightful King is living and makes his claim , shall dispute by himself for me . 2ly . The Convocation expresly teaches , that the Authority , which is God's Authority , and must be reverenced and obeyed , when such Alterations are throughly setled , is the Authority , which is unjustly gotten , or wrung by force from the true and lawful possessor : and then it is plain , it is not a legal Authority by the death or cession of the rightful King ; for we are to obey it , as God's Authority , though it be wrung by force from the true and lawful possessor ; and though the present possessor should have no other visible Title to it , but such unjust force . The words are these : The Authority either so unjustly gotten , or wrung by force from the true and lawful possessor , being always God's Authority ( and therefore receiving no impeachment by the wickedness of those that have it ) is ever ( when any such alterations are throughly setled ) to be reverenced and obeyed , &c. Now let any man , who understands Grammar , construe this otherwise , if he can . What Authority is that , which must be obeyed and reverenced ? It is ( says the Convocation ) the Authority unjustly gotten , or wrung by force , from the true and lawful possessor ; and therefore not a new legal Authority gained by death or cession , or a long prescription . What is God's Authority , which we must obey ? It is no other , than the Authority unjustly gotten , or wrung by force , &c. which can receive no impeachment by the wickedness of those , who have it . By what wickedness ? their wicked and ungodly and violent means of getting and having it : for the Convocation speaks of no other wickedness , but the wickedness of Usurpation : so that we must obey the Authority , because it is Gods , even when men have it wickedly , and therefore before they have acquired any new legal Title to it . And this I think plainly proves , that the settlement , the Convocation speaks of , is not a legal settlement , for that would make the Authority legal , whereas these Alterations may be throughly setled , whilest the Authority exercised in such new Governments is unjustly and wickedly got and possessed . This , I think , if our Author be not very unreasonable , is enough to justifie my first Assertion , That the Convocation speaks of illegal and usurped Powers , and yet affirms the Authority exercised by them is God's Authority , and therefore those Princes , who have no legal Right , may have God's Authority . I proceeded to prove the same thing from other testimonies out of the Convocation Book . For they teach , that the Lord ( in advancing Kings to their Thrones ) is not bound by those Laws which he prescribeth others to observe , and therefore commanded Iehu a subject to be anointed King over Israel to punish the sins of Ahab and Jezebel , ( p. 46. ) And the Lord both may and is able to overthrow any Kings or Emperors , notwithstanding any claim , Right , Title , or Interest , which they can challenge to their Countreys , Kingdoms , or Empires . These Passages our Author has thought fit to take no notice of ; for if they do not prove God's Sovereign Authority , to remove and pull down the most rightful Kings , and give his Authority to those , who have no right , and place them in the Thrones of those , who have the right , there is no sense to be made of them . Our Author's hypothesis is as direct a contradiction to this , as words can make it : for if no Prince can have God's Authority , nor must be obeyed , unless he have a legal Right , either an old Hereditary Right , or a new Acquired Right , by the death or cession of the Royal Family , or by a long prescription ; then God is bound to those Laws in advancing Kings , which he prescribes to others ; that is , to adhere to Humane Rights : then God may not overthrow any Kings or Emperors , who challenge their Countries , Kingdoms , or Empires , by any just Claim , Right , Title , or Interest . Then he cannot set up any Kings , or Emperors , who have no just right and claim . For he cannot unmake a rightful King , if he cannot absolve Subjects from their Allegiance ; nor make a King without a legal Right , if he cannot give him his Authority , and transfer the Allegiance of Subjects to him . God can remove the Man by death , but cannot unmake the King , unless he unmake himselfe by resigning his Crown ; He can set a Man upon the Throne , but cannot make a King of him , without the leave of the Right Heir , under an hundred years prescription : Whereever our Author learnt this Doctrine , I am sure , this Convocation never taught it him . To confirm this , I observed , that the Convocation teaches , that Obedience was due to such Kings , as never could have any legal Right to the Government of Israel ; as the Kings of the Moabites and Aramites , of Aegypt and Babylon , and yet says , that the Israelites knew , that it was not lawful for them of themselves , and by their own Authority , to take Arms against the Kings , whose Subjects they were , though indeed they were Tyrants . And that it had not been lawful for Ahud to have killed King Eglon , had he not first been made by God , the Iudge , Prince , and Ruler of the People . On the other hand our Author affirms , that all these Kings had a legal Right ; and were legal Powers ; and that it appears in all and every one of the Instances the Convocation gives of Government , to which they say obedience is due , that these Governments had such a Right . This is a bold Undertaker , unless he only play with equivocal words ; and that I believe is the truth of the matter ; for such legal Rights , as he has found for these Princes , will quickly transubstantiate all usurped Powers into legal Governments . But our first Inquiry is , What the Convocation thought of these Kings ; as for instance , the Kings of the Aramites and Moabites , who ruled over and oppressed Israel ; whether they thought them the legal and rightful Kings of Israel ; they call indeed the Israelites , their Subjects , as our Author observes ; and from thence proves , that these Kings had a legal power over Israel ; but the mischief is , that the Convocation in express words owns them to be only Kings de facto , to whom they were in subjection , and teaches , that if any man shall affirm , that any person , born a Subject , and affirming by all the Arguments , which Wit or Learning could devise , that God had called him to murther the King de facto , under whom he lived ; yea , though he should first have procured himself to be proclaimed and anointed King , as Adonijah did , and should afterwards have laid violent hands upon his Master , ought therefore to be believed of any that feared God , he doth greatly err . Which is spoke with reference to Ahud's killing King Eglon , who it seems , was but a King de Facto , in the judgment of the Convocation ; and , I suppose , our Author knows what a King de Facto signifies , in opposition to a King de Iure , one who is King without a legal Right : and yet the Convocation asserts that such Kings de Facto must not be murdered by their Subjects ; which is an express Determination against our Author . Let us now see what legal Right and Title our Author has found , for the Kings of the Aramites , and Moabites , and Babylonians over Israel ; and for all the four Monarchies , which were successively Erected with the most manifest Violence and Usurpation : And that is , the Submission both of Prince and People , which he says , I grant , gives a legal Right ; whereas I only said , That the Submission of the Prince might be thought necessary to transfer a legal Right ; which I think differs a little from granting it does so . The truth is , our Author is here blunder'd for want of clear and distinct Notions of what he writes , and imposes upon himself and others with ambiguous Terms ; which if they were truly stated , would clear all these Difficulties . Legal Powers signifie such Powers as are according to Law ; but then there are different kinds of Laws , and when we speak of legal Powers , unless we agree by what Law we call them Legal , we shall never understand one another . Now we may understand Legal , either with respect to the Laws of Nature , the Laws of Nations , or the Laws and Constitutions of a particular Nation or Kingdom ; and in this last sence Legal is understood by all Men , who understand themselves , in this Controversie of legal Powers ; that those only are legal Powers , who have the rightful Authority of Government according to the Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom which they govern : This is the reason of the Distinction between a King de Iure and de Facto , which relates to the particular Laws and Constitutions of the Kingdom ; a King de Iure is a rightful King by the Laws of the Land ; a King de Facto , whatever other Right he may have , is not rightfully and lawfully possessed of the Crown , by the Laws of Succession proper to that Kingdom . And if our Author will take the Controversie off of this Bottom , and dispute only about legal Powers in general , we will then admit his Plea of Submission , and joyn issue with him upon that Point . And this is all the Mystery I intended , when I affirmed , that the Moabites and Aramites , Aegyptians and Babylonians , could not have a legal and natural Right to Govern Israel ; that is , that by the Constitutions of the Iewish Commonwealth , they could not give the Power of the Government to a Stranger , nor set up a Prince over them , who was not of their Brethren ; and therefore no Strangers , neither Aramites nor Moabites , could be their legal Kings . As for their Submission , when under Force , it shall be considered presently . This made me smile to see how he was concerned to ward off a Blow , which was never intended him ; for since the Israelites did submit to the Aramites and Moabites , &c. and according to our Author , Submission gives a legal Right , he could not imagine why I said , that those Nations never could have a legal Right to the Government of Israel , unless it were , because God was at that time their Soveraign , and He did not submit ; and the Submission of the Soveraign , as well as of the People , is necessary to give a legal Right : And now he had started an Objection , which he knew not what to do with ; and his Answer is as extravagant as the Objection ; for he has found out something , which he thinks equivalent to God's Submission to the Aramites and Moabites , and that is , that God delivered them into their hands : What then ? did God resign his Government of Israel into the hands of the Aramites and Moabites , and quit his Right and Claim to the Government of them ? Spectatum admissi — But to proceed : I will grant this Author , that legal Powers may be understood in a larger Notion , as that may be said to be Legal , which is agreeable to the Laws of Nature or Nations ; and in this sence , Submission may make a legal King of him , who , according to the Laws of the Land , can be only a King de Facto . This is worth considering , and therefore I shall briefly explain it : In a State of Nature , wherein we must suppose all Men free from any Government , but that of Parents , and Heads of Families , ( which how far it extended before Civil Governments were formed , we cannot tell ) they were at liberty to give up the Government of themselves to whom they pleased ; and this made such Persons their legal and rightful Princes and Governours by the Law of Nature : For Men who are free , may give the Government of themselves to another , and if they may do this , their doing it is a Law to themselves . Especially Nature teaches this , When Men are over-powered by Force , and must either submit to the Government , or suffer the Vengeance and Fury of an Usurping Nimrod ; for Nature teaches us to preserve ourselves , and therefore justifies whatever may be lawfully done to preserve ourselves ; and in a State of Nature Men may part with their Liberty , and submit to be governed by another ; and such a Submission , with respect to themselves , gives a Right ; for it is a voluntary Consent , tho' extorted by Force , as all Moralists allow such a mixt Choice and Election to be . But it will be said , This is nothing to us , who are at such a distance from the first Original of Government : this can be done but once ; for when we have given up ourselves to the Government of another , we have given away our Liberty to chuse for ourselves . Right ! unless we fall into a State of Nature and Liberty again , or something like it ; which may be done many ways , but I shall name but one , and that is in case of a new prevailing Force ; that is , with respect to a Kingdom , when Prince and People are conquered , for then the Government is at an end , and they are as much at liberty to submit to a Conquering Prince , as they were in the State of Nature ; for every Dissolution of Government must so far restore us to the State and Liberties of Nature , as to provide for ourselves ; or if the Prince be conquered , and driven out of his Kingdom , and the People in the Power of the Conqueror , they are as perfectly at liberty to submit to the new Conqueror , as they were before to submit to their old Prince , or his Ancestors ; with respect to private Subjects , when their Prince or the Government of the Nation is violently Changed , and they are as much under the Force and Power of the new Prince , or new Government , as they could be under a conquering Prince , who had Conquered both King and People : for Force will justifie Submission , and then it is much the same thing from what quarter the Force comes : when a Man is under the power of a new Government , which he cannot resist , and which will not protect him , nay , which will undo and ruine him , if he will not submit , it is all one to him , with respect to his Submission , as if both his King and Country were absolutely conquered . Though we live under a settled Government , yet if we happen to fall into the hands of Thieves and Robbers , where the Government can't protect us , we may very innocently for our own preservation , promise and swear to them such things , as are against the Laws of the Land , and which it would be unlawful for us to do in other circumstances ; and then I think with greater reason , if the Government cannot protect itself , nor its Subjects , from a greater Force , Subjects are at liberty to shift for themselves , and to submit to the greater Power ; for our Obligations to human Government are reasonably supposed to except the case of a greater force , since such Obligations can last no longer than the Government lasts . Conquest is the death and dissolution of the Government , and dissolves the Contract , as the death of either Party does the Marriage-Vow . This is not as some vainly talk to justifie the breach of Oaths and Promises to save ourselves , and to make Self-preservation the only Supreme Rule of Good and Evil ; but the dissolution of the Government , or of the Power of the Prince to protect himself or his Subjects in his Government , puts an end to the Obligation of Oaths : for in matters of Government , it is an unalterable Right of Nature to submit to Force . All Men will grant , that no human Laws and Constitutions are so sacred as the positive Laws of God ; I mean that Government and Polity which God himself prescribed to the Children of Israel ; which they were religiously bound to observe by vertue of their Covenant with God ; which certainly was as sacred as any Oath . Now these Laws did not admit of the Authority and Government of Strangers , but expresly forbad it ; that had they chose to be governed by any Foreign Prince , they had greatly sinned in it ; but this very Law , as sacred as it was , gave way to necessity , and when they were conquered by the Aramites , or Moabites , or any other Nation , it was no fault to submit to them . And if Force would justifie this in the Israelites , who had God for their King , and were obliged by their Covenant with him to accept of no Forreign Prince to govern them ; it is hard if it will not justifie the Subjects of Human Governments , ( most of which were at first founded in meer Force ) whatever their Oaths or Obligations be , to submit to a new and greater Force . And this gives a sufficient Answer to what our Author adds in the place last quoted : That God's being the King of Israel , would be an argument against their submission ; for the Doctor tells us , That where God entails the Crown , ( he refers to what I say about Ioash and Athaliah , of which more anon ) the people were not to submit to an Usurper , if the right Heir was alive ; and therefore much more where God himself was their King , ( as if God were not the King of Israel , when he set Kings over them ) and then surely they might lawfully resist these Kings , whose Subjects they were not , nor could be , and they needed no especial Commission or Direction to destroy the Usurpers , as Ahud did Eglon ; but they might , nay they were bound to do it , as Jehoiada slew Athaliah . For I hope God s Entail is not of greater force than his own immediate Government . So that either their submission transferred a legal Right , or else their submission was a sin . This looks like something very deep , but it is so very a nothing , that I cannot devise what he would be at : Would he prove , that God was not the King of Israel , against the Scriptures , who say he was ? Or would he prove , that the Israelites ought not to have submitted to the Moabites , but have had all their Throats cut by a vain opposition ? Or would he prove against the Convocation , that they were not the Subjects of King Eglon , but any Israelite might have killed him without any such Commission from God , as Ahud had ? Whatever he intends to prove , if he knows that himself ; yet as far as I am concerned , it is no more but this : That while the Israelites were under no Forreign Force , but had liberty to live by their own Laws , they were bound to make him their Prince , on whom God had entailed the Crown ; while they were under Force , they might do as they could , and submit to the Conqueror , which submission could not give those Usurpers a Legal Right , according to the Laws and Constitutions of the Iewish Common-wealth , but according to the Laws of Nature , which allow submission unto a Conquerour , it did . Now if the Laws of Nature , when we are under the Protection of no Government , allow us to submit to Force and Power ; then call it Conquest , or what you will , when I am under no Protection , and under Force , I am at liberty to submit , whatever my former Obligations were ; and I become as firmly and entirely bound to such a new Power , as ever I was to the most Legal Prince . Thus far the Laws of Nature go towards making a Legal King , and this is confirmed by the Laws of Nations , which are nothing else but received Customs and Usages , agreeable to the Laws of Nature , and right Reason : Now though different Nations have different Laws of Succession to the Crown , yet they seem all to agree in this , That he is the King , who is in possession of the Throne , with the consent and submission of the People . The consent and submission of the People , turn that , which was originally no more but Force , into a Civil and Legal Authority , by giving themselves up to the Government of the Prince . By this means Kingdoms and Empires are transferred , and Princes gain a Right to those Thrones , to which they had no antecedent Right . When God intends to pull down one King , and set up another , he gives success to the rising Prince , puts the Nation into his hands , and so orders it , that by Force and Power , or other Arts , he obtains their consent and submission , and then he is their King , and is invested with God's Authority ; especially when he is visibly setled in the Throne by the united strength and power of the Kingdom . Upon these terms , I suppose , our Author and I may very well agree ; that the Convocation does allow such Governments , as were begun by wicked means , when they are throughly setled to become legal and rightful Powers , not by the Laws of the Land , but by the consent and submission of the People , and the Authority of God , wherewith they are invested : This I owned before , that the distinction between Kings de Iure , and de Facto , related only to the Laws of the Land , for upon other accounts , those Kings who are set up by God , and have his Authority , are rightful Kings ; that is , so rightful , that our Obedience is due to them . But this is all shuffling and playing with words ; for the single Question is , Whether the Convocation by , throughly setled , means , that such Governments as are begun by Usurpation or Rebellion , or other wicked means , cannot be throughly setled , till they acquire a legal Right by the Laws of the Land ; which he says must be by the death or cession of the rightful King , or by a long Prescription : now this I say , the Convocation could not mean , as appears by the Instances they give of such Powers . For the Aramites and Moabites could never , by the Constitution of the Iewish Commonwealth , be the legal and rightful Kings of Israel : and a Common-wealth where there is a perpetual Succession of Persons in whom the ordinary Power resides , can never die , nor lose their claim to that Power , which is given them by God , though they might submit when under Force ; so that here was neither Death nor Cession , and they were far from having such a Prescription , as our Author makes necessary to give such Powers a Legal Right , and this answers all his other instances , where he argues only from the term lawful . Now if submission in such Cases will give a Right to our Obedience in contradiction to the Laws of the Land ; that which justified the submission of Israel , will justifie the submission of any other People to a prevailing Power , and will give such Powers as good a Right , as the Aramites and Moabites could challenge to Israel . All that can be said here , I think , is this : That by submission , which gives a legal Right , our Author means the submission and acknowledgment of those in whom the Right is : That is to say , the submission of the People does not give a legal Right , but the submission of the King does . 1. But for answer to this , in the first place I desire to know , what submission of the King it is , that gives a legal Right ? Is swearing Allegiance a submission and acknowledgment ? What became then of the Right of the House of York , when the Duke of York swore Allegiance to Henry IV. ? is yielding to Force and Power , quitting the Administration of the Government , and leaving the Throne , tho' with an intention to recover it again , when he can , a submission ? If it be , does not a King so far submit , when he leaves his Country , without any legal Authority of Government , and leaves his People in the hands of a prevailing Prince ? Is not this as much a submission , as if he had stayed at home , and laid aside his Crown , and submitted to a private Life , without renouncing his Right and future Claim ; but if nothing be a submission , but renouncing his Right , and making a formal Resignation and Conveyance of Power , I desire to know , how our Author will prove , that the Israelites thus submitted to the Aramites and Moabites ? Or what other submission they made , but a bare yielding to Force and Power ? What other submission did the King , and Princes , and People of Iudah make to the King of Babylon , when they were carried away Captives to Babylon ? And yet their submission our Author confesses gave a legal Right . 2dly , Can the submission of the King give a legal Right to the Crown , without the submission of the People ? If not , it seems the People may have some right , if not to Government , yet to give away the Government of themselves . If the consent and submission of a People can make a King , when they have none , why can it not do so , when they are under a new Force and Power , which is the same state , as if they had no King ? for Power has an immediate effect , and will admit of no delays . 3ly , Cannot every private Man , or any City or Garrison , when they are overpowered , and cannot be relieved by their Prince , submit for themselves to the Conqueror , without the submission of their Kings ? and do they not by such a submission , according to the Laws of Nations , become the Subjects of the Conquerour , till they are retaken ? And why cannot a whole Nation in the same circumstances do the same thing , though the King has escaped , and does not , and will not submit to the Conqueror ? 4ly , For has a Nation no Right , when the King is gone , to preserve themselves by making the best terms they can with the new Powers ? Must they ask leave of their Prince , whether they shall continue a Nation , when he is gone ? Whether they shall submit to a new Prince , when he can protect them no longer ? All Mankind have this natural Right to submit for their own preservation , and need ask no Princes leave to do it . I urge all this onely to shew , that there are such Cases , wherein Subjects may submit without the submission of their Prince , and when they do so , it gives that Prince a Right to govern them ; for they have made themselves his Subjects , and if the Case is such , wherein they might lawfully do it , they confer a lawful Right , though they cannot extinguish their former King's Claim by it , who has not submitted . 5ly , For what will our Author say to the submission of Iaddus and the Iews to Alexander , while Darius was living , whose Subjects they were , and who had not submitted ? and yet they assert , that by this means Alexander gained a lawful Authority over them , and that they owed all the Duty and Obedience to Alexander , which they formerly had done to the Kings of Babylon and Persia , ( Can. 31. pag. 67. ) and then according to this Convocation the submission of Subjects , without the submission of the King , gives a lawful Authority . Our Author is much troubled about this Story of Iaddus and Alexander , and spends several Pages to confute Iosephus , who is the only Relator of it . I will not engage in this Quarrel , the Vindication of Iosephus as to this Story , being undertaken by a more learned Pen , as I suppose our Author will know , before he will see this . But this I must say , that if they part with this Story , they lose so glorious a Testimony ( as they used to account it ) to the indispensable obligation of an Oath of Allegiance , while the King to whom we have sworn Allegiance lives , whether he be in possession or out of it , that they will not find the like again in any Records of Time : but it seems they are sensible Iaddus confuted their sense of it himself , by submitting to Alexander , notwithstanding his Oath of Allegiance , while Darius was living , and now they are willing to part with it . Well , but as he himself observes ; the Dispute is not , whether the Story be true or false , but whether the Convocation believed it : for if they believed the Story true , by their Judgment on the case , we may know what their sense was about this matter . This he grants , but says likewise , That their sense is not to be extended beyond their words ; and this I grant : nor are they to be made parties to any more of the story , than they have inserted in their Book . But this I deny ; for if they believed any of the Story upon Iosephus's Authority , by the same reason they must believe all ; and if they pass their Judgment on a matter of fact , such wise Men ought to be presumed to judge upon the whole matter of fact ; especially when different circumstances will alter the nature of the Action . According to our Author's Opinion , it makes a great difference in Iaddus's submission to Alexander , whether Darius were living or dead : And can we think such wise Men as made up that Convocation , should not consider this ? though , as he says , they take no notice of it : And if they did consider it , and took their Story from Iosephus , ( and it seems by him , they could have it from no other Author ) it is plain , they must believe Darius to be living , when Iaddus , who was his Subject , and had sworn Allegiance to him , notwithstanding this submitted to Alexander : which shews what their Opinion was , That Subjects , who had sworn Allegiance to their Prince , might yet , when under Force , as Iaddus was , become the Subjects of another prevailing Prince . What he mentions concerning Iaddus's Answer to Alexander , I answered before in The Case of Allegiance , p. 8. and he has not thought fit to make any Reply to it . But he adds , Granting the Story true , it is not to the purpose , it is urged for : that is , it will not justifie a Subject under an Oath of Allegiance to submit to another Prince , while his own King is living ; and his reason for it is this : Josephus tells us , That God appeared to Jaddus in a Dream , and warned him to submit to Alexander , and to meet him in that solemn manner he did : so that this is a singular and exempt Case , and falls within the circumstances of Iehu and Ahud . — It was always the Custom in the Jewish Church , in Cases of great extremity and emergency , to have recourse to God for some express Revelation , what they should do . And here Josephus tells us , were all the Preparations to it : they fasted and prayed , and the next Night God appeared to Jaddus , ( however , as we have the Story from Josephus , so we must take all from him , and he tells expresly that God appeared to him ) and ordered him so to do , and God's appearing and Command stands upon the same Authority with all the rest of the Story . And then it is wholly besides the purpose it is alledged for : For there is a wide difference between acting by common and standing Rules , and by express Revelation . And if these Gentlemen will shew us any express Revelation for what they do , as Jaddus had , then they say something ; but till they can shew that , this Example of Jaddus , if it were true , will do them no service . We are now disputing about the sense of the Convocation , and therefore must remember , that the Convocation does not assign this reason , why Iaddus , after his Oath to Darius , submitted to Alexander ; for they make no doubt at all about the lawfulness of his submission , and therefore never inquire into the reason of it , which they thought visible enough in the force he was under . But I will take no advantage of this , if he will but remember it , when we come to the Case of Iehoiada and Athaliah . But the Answer to all this is plain : For as Iosephus tells the Story , Iaddus never questioned , whether it were lawful for him to submit to Alexander , when he was coming with a great Force to Ierusalem ; but his care was , how he might atone for his former contumacy , by an early submission ; and the Prayers and Sacrifices he commanded the People to offer , were not to beg God's direction , whether he should submit to Alexander or not , for that he was determined to do , but that God would be favourable to his People , and deliver them from the imminent danger they were in , from a provoked Conquerour ; and when God is said to appear to him in his Dream , he answered no question about the lawfulness of submitting to Alexander , but directed him , how to do it in such a manner , as should prevent the threatned danger : that he should appear in his Pontificial Attire , in which , it seems , God himself had formerly appeared to Alexander , and promised him success over the Persians , by which Alexander knew , that he was the Priest of that God , to whom he owed his Victories , and this made him worship the High Priest , and shew all kindness to the Iewish Nation . So that Iaddus had no Revelation of the lawfulness of submitting to Alexander , nor have we need of any ; but we have the Judgment of the Convocation upon this , which they intended as a common and standing Rule . But the great instance our Author depends on , and doubts not to carry the Cause by it , is the Case of Ioash and Athaliah . The Story as it is related by the Convocation is this : After the death of Abaziah King of Iudah , his Mother Athaliah finding his Children all to be very young , kill'd them all but the youngest , and reigned by Usurpation six Years over the Land. The said youngest Child ( whose name was Ioash ) was secretly conveyed away by his Aunt Iehosabeth , his Father's Sister , and Wife to Iehoiada the High-Priest ; who kept him so secretly in the Temple , as that Athaliah the Usurper could never hear of him . Now after the said six Years that Ioash , the true and natural Heir apparent to the Crown , had been so brought up , he the said Iehoiada , being the King's Uncle , and the chief Head or Prince of his Tribe , sent through Iudah for the Levites and chief Fathers both of Iudah and Benjamin , to come unto him to Ierusalem ; who accordingly repairing thither , and being made acquainted by him with the Preservation of their Prince , ( as is aforesaid ) and that it was the Lord's will that he should reign over them ; they altogether , by a Covenant , acknowledged their Allegiance unto him , as unto their lawful King ; and so disposed of things , as presently after he was Crowned and Anointed ; which dutiful Office of Subjects being performed , they apprehended the Usurper Athaliah and shew her , as before it was by the said States resolved . In all the Process of which Action nothing was done , either by Iehoiada the High-Priest , or by the rest of the Princes or People of Iudah and Benjamin , which God himself did not require at their hands . Ioash their late King's Son being then their only natural Lord and Soveraign , although Athaliah kept him six Years from the Possession of his Kingdom . This is the Story , and their Canon upon it is this : If any Man therefore shall affirm , either that Athaliah did well , in murthering her Son's Children , or that Jehoiada and his Wife did amiss in preserving the life of their King Joash ; or that Athaliah was not a Tyrannical Usurper , ( the right Heir of that Kingdom being alive ) or that it was neither lawful for Jehoiada , and the rest of the Princes and Levites and People to have yielded their Subjection to their lawful King ; nor having so done , and their King being in Possession of his Crown , to have joyned together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Usurper ; or that Jehoiada the High-Priest , was not bound as he was a Priest , both to inform the Princes and People of the Lord's Promise , that Joash should Reign over them , and likewise Anoint him , or that this Fact either of the Princes , Priests , or People was to be held for a lawful Warrant , for any afterward , either Princes , Priests or People to have deposed any of the Kings of Judah , who by right of Succession came to their Crowns , or to have killed them for any respect whatsoever , and to have set another in their places , according to their own Choice ; or that either this Example of Jehoiada , or any thing else in the Old Testament did give then to the High-Priest any Authority to Dispute , Determine , or Iudge , whether the Children of the Kings of Judah should either be kept from the Crown , because their Fathers were Idolators , or being in Possession of it , should be deposed from it in that respect , or in any other respect whatsoever , he doth greatly err . I have transcribed this , because we must have a little dispute about it , and it was fitting the Reader should have both the Story and the Canon before him . Our Author ' s Argument from this Story is this : It is plain the Convocation does not conceive , that the Enjoyment of the Crown with all its Dignities , &c. is that thorough Settlement , to which is due Subjection and Obedience as to God's Authority . Athaliah personally enjoyed the Crown with all its Dignities , &c. and all Places of Trust and Power , &c. were in her hands , and at her disposal , and this also for no less a time than six Years , and in as full and ample a manner , as any Usurper , or any rightful King ever enjoyed them : but for all that the Convocation is so far from urging Obedience to her , as to God's Authority , that they expresly justifie the resisting , nay , the slaying her . And this is a clear Demonstration , that by a thorough Settlement the Convocation does not mean a full Possession of Power meerly : for they say , when a Government is fully settled , it ought to be obeyed , as God's Authority , not only for Fear , but for Conscience sake : But they say also , that when Athaliah was fully possessed of the Throne , she ought not to be obeyed , but to be resisted and slain . And the Conclusion from these Premises is , That to be fully possessed of the Throne , is not of it self to be so throughly settled as to make it God's Authority , and Obedience to become a Duty . Now it were sufficient here to observe , that he has not given the true Notion of a full and settled Possession ; for he has left out the principal part of it , as I state it , viz. When the Estates of the Realm , and the Great Body of the Nation has submitted to such a Prince : Which in the Case of Antiochus is one thing , the Convocation expresly makes necessary to a thorough Settlement , The Government of that Tyrant ( Antiochus ) being not then either generally received by Submission , nor setled by Continuance : though I cannot blame him for this , because the Author , whom he answers , took no notice of it ; but I must blame him for affirming , that the Convocation say , That when Athaliah was fully possessed of the Throne , she ought not to be obeyed , but to be resisted and slain : for they say no such thing , and though he may imagine this to be the Consequence of what they say , he ought not therefore to affirm , that they said it , because he may mistake in his Consequence , and that he has done so , shall presently appear : The Convocation says not one word of the thorough Settlement of Athaliah in the Throne ; but if we may learn the Sence of the Convocation ( as this Author concludes we may ) from what Bishop Buckridge , a Member of that Convocation , has written in his Defence of Barclay , they did not think her settled in the Throne : for when Bellarmin had objected the quiet Possession of Athaliah for six Years , the Bishop , as this Author cites him , answers , How quiet soever it was , it was violent , for she was guarded with Souldiers ; and affirms , that Athaliah had not acquired a Right to the Crown , ( I suppose he means only such a Right as a thorough Settlement gives ) neither by the Consent of the People , nor by the Prescription of six Years : Six Years were not long enough for a Prescription , which he says must be a hundred Years ; and the Consent of the People , it seems , she had not , and therefore being a meer Usurper , and no Queen , she might be Deposed . And thus his whole Argument is lost . And here I must observe , that the Bishop allows , as the Convocation does , that either the Consent of the People , or a long Prescription gives a Right ; that is , such a Right as makes Obedience due to Princes thus settled without a legal Title : and therefore our Author greatly prevaricates , when he pretends to give the Bishop's sence of a thorough Settlement ; that is , when a Right to the Government is acquired by a Prescription , and that is a long and uninterrupted Possession , joyned with the Consent of the People . The Bishop distinguishes between the Consent of the People , and a long Prescription , and says that either of them will give a Right : And our Author , though he pretends to give the Bishop's sence , makes both of them together necessary to give a Right , a long and uninterrupted Possession , which is what the Bishop calls Prescription , joyned with the Consent of the People ; so that he leaves out neither and nor as insignificant Particles , and likes with better , as more agreeable to his Design : and at this rate he may make Convocations and Bishops speak his sence , when he pleases . But to gratifie our Author , let us suppose the Convocation did own Athaliah to have been as throughly settled on the Throne , as any Usurper can be , while the right Heir is living ; and then the Consequence is , That the Convocation teaches that Kings and Queens de Facto , who have all the Settlement that can be had without Right , may be Deposed and Murthered by their Subjects : And will this Author say , that this is the Doctrine of the Convocation ? Do they not expresly warn us against believing any Person who shall affirm by all the Arguments which Wit or Learning could devise , that God had called him to Murther the King de Facto , under whom he lived ? It seems then the Convocation made a great difference between the Case of Athaliah , and other Kings de Facto , who had no better Title , nor more thorough Settlement than she had , ( if they thought her settled in the Throne , without which Supposition our Author's Argument is lost ) for they justifie the killing Athaliah , and condemn the murder of a King de Facto ; and this I gave two accounts of in my Case of Allegiance . 1. All that this Story amounts to is no more than this : That when the legal and rightful Heir is actually possessed of his Throne , Subjects may return to their Allegiance , and by the Authority of their King prosecute the Usurper ; for Ioash was first Anointed and Proclaimed , before any one stirred a finger against Athaliah ; now this is a very different Case from raising a Rebellion against a Prince , who is in possession of the Throne , to restore an Ejected Prince . 2. But this was a peculiar Case ; for God himself had Entailed the Kingdom of Iudah on the Posterity of David ; and therefore nothing could justifie their Submission to an Usurper , when the King's Son was found , to whom the Kingdom did belong by a Divine Entail : and by this Iehoiada justifies what he did , Behold the King's son shall reign , as the Lord hath said of the sons of David . Now when God has Entailed the Crown by an express Declaration of his Will , and Nomination of the Person or Family that shall Reign , ( as it was in the Kingdom of Iudah ) Subjects are bound to adhere to their Prince of God's chusing , when he is known , and to persecute all Usurpers to the utmost , and never submit to their Government : But in other Kingdoms , where God makes Kings and Entailes the Crown , not by express Nomination , but by his Providence , the placing a Prince in the Throne , and settling him there in the full Administration of the Government , is a reason to submit to him , as to God's Ordinance . This our Author answers with great Triumph in his Postscript , ( p. 4 , 5. ) but with how much Reason , I shall now examine ; and I must begin with his Answer to the second : This Distinction , ( That God himself had Entailed the Kingdom of Iudah upon David's Posterity ) he says , is not in the Convocation Book , and so does not affect their Sence : I grant it , and therefore did not concern the Convocation-Book in the Story , nor make any mention of it ; but only raised this Objection from the Story , and gave that Answer to it , by which Iehoiada the High-Priest justified what he did : For tho' the Convocation takes notice of this Story , yet they neither make nor answer this Objection in direct Terms : They had another Design in mentioning it , and fitted their Answers wholly to that , viz. to prove against the Papists , That no Priest in the Old Testament did ever Depose from their Crowns any of their Kings , how wicked soever , or had any Authority so to do . And because this Example of Iehoiada used to be urged by them to this purpose , they shew that no such thing can be proved from it . But tho' the Convocation does not answer a Question which they never proposed , yet this is a good Answer to it , and agreeable to the Sence of the Convocation in that place : for they take notice , that Iehoiada , when he had sent to the Levites , and chief Fathers both of Judah and Benjamin , acquainted them with the Preservation of their Prince , and that it was the Lord's will , that he should Reign over them ; which plainly refers to that Divine Entail of the Crown upon David's Posterity ; as Iehoiada expresly told them , Behold the King's son shall reign , as the Lord hath said of the sons of David . So that it is evident , the Convocation itself answers the Difficulties of this Story by the Divine Entail ; and it is as true and proper an Answer to that Question , Whether we may Murther a King de Facto , to place the right Heir on his Throne , since Iohoiada anointed Ioash and slew Athaliah ? To say , That the Divine Entail of the Crown made a vast difference between the Case of Athaliah and other Kings de Facto , who are settled in their Thrones ; as it is to that Question , Whether the High-Priest have not Authority to Depose one King , and set up another , since Iehoiada actually did so , anointed Ioash and killed Athaliah ? To say , that this was done not by any ordinary Jurisdiction , which the High-Priest had over Kings , but in Obedience to God , who had Entailed the Crown on David's Posterity . He proceeds , They do no not speak of this , when they call Athaliah an Usurper , and justifie the Proceedings of Jehoiada and the People against her ; but the reason they give is general , The right Heir of the Kingdom being alive , which extends to all Kingdoms , that are Entailed , and go by Succession . This Author , who would confine me so strictly to the Sence of the Convocation , even where I don't appeal to it , makes very bold with the Convocation himself : For they do not offer to justifie the Proceedings of Iehoiada and the People against Athaliah , by saying , That the right Heir of the Kingdom was alive ; but only prove by this , that she was an Usurper who had no legal Right to the Throne , the right Heir being living : But if our Author will think again , I presume , he will own , that they are two very different Questions , Whether such a Prince be an Usurper ; and whether he may be Deposed and Murthered ? The Convocation I 'm sure makes them two Questions , when they will not allow of the Murder of a King de Facto . But on the other hand , the Convocation justifies Iehoiada from the express Command of God : In all the process of which Action nothing was done , either by Jehoiada the High-Priest , or by the rest of the Princes and People of Judah and Benjamin , which God himself did not require at their hands ; Joash their late King's Son being then their only natural Lord and Soveraign , although Athaliah kept him for six Years from the Possession of his Kingdom . How did God himself require this at their hands ? Was it only by the Principles of Reason and Natural Justice , in setting the right Heir upon the Throne ? No ; by its being God's Will , and God's requiring it at their hands , they plainly mean , GOD's entailing the Crown upon David's Posterity , which made it the Duty of Jehoiada , and the rest of the Princes , Levites and People , to yeild their Subjection to their lawful King ; and having done so , and their King being in possession of the Throne , to joyn together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Usurper ; and that Jehoiada , the High Priest , was bound as he was a Priest , to inform the Princes and People , of the Lord's purpose , ( which can refer only to this Entail ) that Jehoiada should Reign over them , and likewise to Anoint him . Which contains a particular Justification of all that was done ; and all resolved into the Will and Purpose of God , that Ioash should Reign ; which was no otherwise declared , but by God's Entailing the Kingdom upon the Posterity of David . It was the Duty of Jehoiada and the rest of the Princes , &c. to yeild Subjection to their lawful King , who was Heir by Succession ; for that they expresly make equivalent in the Kingdom of Iudah to being Elected and Named by God himself , ( Can. 17. p. 28. ) And therefore Ch. 19. p. 30. affirm , That they should receive such Kings as sent to them by God himself ; which proves , that this cannot extend to Heirs meerly by Humane Succession , which is not equivalent to God's Nomination . Iehoiada sent thro' Judah for the Levites , and chief Fathers both of Judah and Benjamin , to come to him to Jerusalem , ( Ch. 23. p. 41. ) and therehe discovers the King's Son to them . Thus the Convocation says by the Constitution of that Government it ought to be , that the Prince , whom God had appointed , should be made known to the People , and they should chearfully submit to him . ( Ch. 17. p. 27. ) and they add , Afterwards also the like course was held upon the Death of every King , to make his Successor known to the People . Iehoiada , who was High Priest , gave this notice to the People , and took a Covenant of them , and Anointed their King ; and this also the Convocation says was his Duty : As we have said of the People , That when the Kings of Judah were to succeed one another , their Duty was to come together with Ioy and Gladness , to receive them for their Kings , ( as sent to them by God himself ) and accordingly to submit themselves unto their Authority and Government : So at such times the Priests for the most part , besides their general Duties , as Subjects , had some further Service to be then by them performed ; the parts of which Service are all of them manifest in the Advancement of King Solomon to the Royal Throne of his Father David ; where the Priests , by King David's direction , did give Thanks to God , and prayer for King Solomon — and Zadock the High-Priest did himself Anoint him . I suppose our Author may by this time be satisfied , that the Convocation resolves all into the Authority of a Divine Entail , and makes a great difference between a Divine and Humane Entail . He adds , And it is plain , they thought of no such Difference as to this Matter ; but that a thorough Settlement of a Government ( and though attained by the same ill means ) was the same thing , and had God's Authority in Iudah as well as any other Nation ; as in the instances of the Babylonians , Macedonians , and Romans , whose Government over the Iews was not attained by honester Means than Athaliah's , and was as much contrary to the Entail upon David's House , as hers ; and yet they justifie and require Obedience to them , but justifie the slaying her : And therefore it is plain , that by a thorough Settlement they do not mean a full Possession of Power in the Kingdom of Iudah , as had the Babylonians , Macedonians , or Romans , nor do they reckon God's Entail upon David's Posterity any ground of difference in this Matter , for the Government of Iudah by the Babylonias , was as much contrary to that Entail , as the Government of Athaliah . Now all this is answered in one word , from what I have before discoursed : The Entail God made upon David's Posterity , did always oblige the Iews , when they were at their own Choice , and had Power enough to take the King , on whom God had entailed the Crown ; which was evidently their Case when Iehoiada anointed Ioash , and slew Athaliah ; but when they were under Force , ( as they were under the Babylonians , Macedonians , and Romans ) no Entail , tho' made by God himself could bind them ; and then I hope it will be granted , that no Humane Entails can bind any People , who are under Force , if a Divine Entail can't do it . And thus our way is prepared to answer what he objects against the first Account I gave of this Case of Athaliah , viz. That all that this Story amounts to , is no more than this , That when the legal and rightful Heir is actually possessed of his Throne , Subjects may return to their Allegiance , and by the Authority of their King prosecute the Usurper . Our Author answers , The Story amounts to a great deal more ; and that is , That Subjects may set the rightful Heir upon the Throne , altho' it be in the actual possession of the Usurper ; for so Iehoiada and the People did . It is true , it does signifie something more with reference to Ioash , but I had regard only to the Case of Athaliah ; but yet it does not signifie so generally , as he puts it ; but it signifies only this , That Subjects by the express Command and Authority of GOD ( as the Convocation teaches ) may place the rightful Prince upon his Throne , though it be possessed by an Usurper : And this will do our Author no service , for it will not reach to all Hereditary Kings , but to those only of God's Appointing and Nomination , or where God himself has made the Entail , as it was in the Kingdom of Iudah . I shewed this was the Case here , that the rightful Heir was actually possessed of the Throne ; for Joash was first anointed and proclaimed , before any one stirred a finger against Athaliah . To this he answers , But is the Doctor sure , that Joash was actually possessed of the Throne ? He was anointed indeed , but is anointing actual possession ? And it will not be easie to prove it according to the Doctor 's Notion of Possession , of having the whole Administration of Affairs , and all the Authority of the Kingdom in his hands . I reply : The Convocation arffims , That King Ioash was in possession of his Crown , before Athaliah was slain ; and I believe , if our Author thinks of it again , he will confess , that Anointing gives actual Possession to a rightful King , thô a thorough Settlement of his Government is necessary to the full Possession of an Usurper : and the reason of this difference is manifest ; for where there is Right , nothing more is necessary to give Possession , but that Subjects actually own and recognize that Right , and accept him for their King ; for his Right makes their Obedience a Duty , when he is in Possession , how weak and unsettled soever his Government be : But when a Prince has no legal Right to the Crown , nor consequently to the Obedience of his Subjects , it is only a thorough Settlement , which makes Obedience a necessary Duty . And yet if that will satisfie our Author , the whole Administration of Affairs , and all the Authority of the Kingdom was then in Ioash's hands , and Athaliah had none of it : for all the Princes , and Levites , and People , that is all who had the Administration of Affairs , and the Power of the Kingdom in their hands , yeilded their Subjection to Ioash as to their lawful King ; and that put the whole Authority and Administration into his hands : and what Authority Athaliah had left , appeared in her Tragical End. He proceeds : But howev●r , who Anointed ? and who Proclaimed him ? and who put him in Possession ? Why truly no body else , but his own Subjects , and those very Men that had lived six Years under the Usurper . And then I perceive , that Subjects may stand by the rightful Heir against an Usurper , though possessed of the Throne for some Years : But then where is that Fidelity , Allegiance , and Obedience , that the Doctor says , we are bound to pay to usurped Powers Answ. Truly just where it was before , in the Convocation Book , and in the Scriptures , which requires our Subjection to the present Powers , and in the reason and necessity of things ; but this was an exempt Case , upon account of a Divine Entail ; and where God himself has made the Entail , no Usurpation can cut it off , nor absolve Subjects from their Duty to him , whom God himself has made their King ; but it is not so with humane Entails , of which more presently . Now I said , that for Subjects to return to their Allegiance , and by the Authority of their King to prosecute the Usurper , when the rightful Heir is actually possessed of his Throne , is a very different Case from raising Rebellions against a Prince , who is in the possession of the Throne , to restore an ejected Prince . To this he answers : Was not Athaliah in possession of the Throne , when Jehoiada anointed Joash ? I answer as I have before done : She was in the actual and visible possession of the Throne , but against a Divine Entail , and therefore her possession was a nullity , and when they knew the King's Son was living , to whom by the Law of God they were to submit , they were bound to look upon it as a nullity , and not to consider her as their Queen ; but this is not the question ; the question is , Whether Athaliah were possessed of the Throne after Ioash was anointed , when Iehoiada gave Orders to kill her : and that I suppose our Author will not say , that she was in possession of the Throne , when the rightful Heir was actually possessed of it . But , he says , the question is concerning Allegiance to an Usurper in the possession of the Throne , and as to that there is no difference : For these pay as little Allegiance to an Usurper , who anoint a King , and then depose him , as those who do it to restore an ejected one : and I would fain know , what difference there is ( as to Allegiance to an Usurper ) between anointing a new King , and upon his Authority dispossessing an Usurper , and doing the same thing upon the Authority of one already anointed . Now I grant , there is no difference between anointing a King , and upon his Authority dispossessing an Usurper , and doing the same thing upon the Authority of one already anointed , in such Cases wherein it is the Duty of Subjects either to anoint a new King , or to restore an old anointed King , in opposition to the Usurper , who is setled in the Throne ; but this is a Duty only , where the Usurpations , how thoroughly setled soever it be , is against God's Entail , which was the peculiar Case of Ioash ; and yet even in this Case the Convocation thought it very considerable , that the Princes , Levites , and People , yielded Subjection to their lawful King , and having so done , and their King being in possession of his Throne , joyned together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Usurper ; if the Convocation had not thought , that there was some difference between killing Athaliah before or after the Anointing of Ioash , they would not have laid so much stress upon the time , when she was slain ; that having so done , and their King being in possession of his Throne , they joyned together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Usurper . And I wonder our Author should perceive no difference between these two : for though it had been the same thing to Athaliah , whether she had been killed , before or after the Anointing of Ioash , yet it greatly altered the nature of the fact ; and that upon two accounts , both with respect to the Authority , whereby it was done , and to the Character of the Person , who suffered . The Convocation will not allow a private Man to kill a King de Facto , and that was the Case of the Iews during Athaliah's Reign , before Ioash's Title was recognized , and he anointed , and placed on the Throne ; but when this was done , they had the visible and actual Authority of their King , to slay the Usurper , which is a parallel Case to that of Ahud and King Eglon. Before Ahud was made by God the Judge and Saviour of his People , they teach , that it was unlawful for him , or any one else , to have killed King Eglon ; but the Case was altered , when God himself immediately had made him Iudge , and had given him a full and absolute Authority , ( independent upon any , but upon him that gave it ) to undertake any thing , that by God's direction appertained to his place . Thus whatever Authority Athaliah had before , when Ioash was anointed , she sunk into the state of a Subject , and then to kill her , was not to kill a Queen de Facto , but a Subject who had been an Usurper , but now was a Subject again , and therefore no Fidelity , or Allegiance was due to her . This is the Case of Iehu , who was a Subject , but commanded by God to be anointed King over Israel ; and accordingly Elizeus the Prophet caused Jehu to be anointed , and God's Message to be delivered unto him ; who presently upon the knowledge of God's Will , and the submission of the Princes and Captains of Israel to him , as to their lawful King , did put in execution the said Message , by killing Joram ( before that time his Soveraign , , but then his Subject ) , &c. Now , I suppose , our Author will confess , that there is a difference between killing with Authority , and without ; and between killing a Soveraign Prince , and killing a Subject by the Authority of the Prince ; and this was the Case of Athaliah , when Ioash was anointed . The Convocation was very careful not to encourage Subjects to rise up against their Prince , though he were but a King de Facto ; and therefore from these examples of Ahud and Iehu , expresly observe , that God foreseeing in his heavenly Wisdom , and Divine Providence , what mischief private Men , under the colour of these Examples , might otherwise have pretended , or attempted against their Soveraigns ( as being either discontented of themselves , or set into some fury by other malitious Persons ) he did so order and dispose of all things , in the execution of these such his extraordinary Iudgments ; as that thereby it might plainly appear to any ( that should not wilfully hood-wink himself ) never to be lawful for any Person whatsoever , upon pretence of any Revelation , Inspiration , or Commandment from his Divine Majesty , either to touch the Person of his Soveraign , or to bear Arms against him ; except God should first advance the said Person from his private Estate , and make him a King , or an absolute Prince , to succeed his late Master in his Kingdom or Principality . If our Author will not , yet I hope , all impartial Readers will think this a sufficient Answer to the Case of Ioash and Athaliah . But however he will not give it over thus ; but undertakes to prove , that my Arguments will equally justifie submission to Athaliah in the Kingdom of Judah , notwithstanding such Entail , as to any Usurper in any other Nation . Well! and suppose he can prove it ; what then ? Did I ever deny that it was lawful to submit to Athaliah , while she was possessed of the Throne , and Ioash , the true Heir , concealed ? Does he find in Scripture , that the Jews are condemned for submitting all this while to Athaliah ? If any one should have been condemned for it , Iehoiada the High-Priest was the Man , who knew that Ioash was living ; and yet for six Years together , while he thought fit to conceal this Secret , he submitted himself to Athaliah , and acted under her Authority , and neither blames himself , nor any of the Nation for doing so . Surely Iehoiada had not the same Notions of Loyalty , which our Author has , for then he durst not have submitted to Athaliah , when he knew Ioash was living , and was in his own keeping . For , ( says our Author ) while the Government is as unjust as the Rebellion and Encroachment , a Man cannot justly become a Party to the Government , no more than to the Rebellion , for they are both equally unjust ; unless the stealing of a Purse is very unjust ; but the keeping it after it is stolen is very just . — He that partakes with Injustice ( as he certainly does , that joyns with it ) partakes with the guilt too . And if the Power be unjust , then to abet , to defend , support and maintain that Power , must be unjust likewise . And I add , to do this for six Years is unjust likewise ; and yet this Iehoiada did , and is no where condemned for it . So that our Author mistakes the question : It is not enough for him to prove , that my Arguments will justifie submission to Athaliah , while she was in the possession of the Throne , and of the Power of the Kingdom ; for let the Entail be what it will , a Divine or Humane Entail , it is always lawful to submit to Power ; but the question is , whether my Arguments give as irresistible Authority to Athaliah , who usurped the Throne contrary to a Divine Entail , as they do to other Kings de Facto , who are throughly setled in their Thrones , contrary to meer legal Rights , and humane Entailes ; if they proved this , I should confess my Arguments were naught , as proving too much ; but if they only justifie the present submission of the Jews to Athaliah , while Ioash was concealed , and they thought all the King's Sons had been cut off , I see no hurt in this : The Scripture does not condemn them for it , and it is certain , they ought to be justified in it , and I desire to know , how our Author will justifie them according to his Principles . For we must observe , the Convocation does not meddle with that question , when it becomes lawful to submit to usurped Powers , but when it becomes our Duty : It is lawful to do it , when we are under a Power , which we can't resist , but when such Usurped and Illegal Powers are throughly setled , then it becomes our Duty to submit , and to pay all that Obedience , which Subjects owe even to the most rightful Powers . Now we know , the general submission of the People is necessary to a thorough settlement of such new Governments , and therefore if such Governments may be setled without the sin of the Subjects , it must be lawful in some Cases , to submit , before the Government be setled ; for the Government cannot be setled without their submission : but when the Government is setled by such submission , then submission , which necessity justified before , becomes a Duty ; and those who would not submit at first , or might have refused to do so without sin , when the Government is setled by a general submission , are then bound in Conscience to submit themselves . The Question then between us is , or ought to be this , if he intends to oppose me ; Not whether the Iews might lawfully submit to Athaliah , while she was possessed of the Throne , for this I grant they might lawfully do ; but whether they having sosubmitted , and she being thoroughly setled in her Throne ( for that our Author will suppose ) it were not as unlawful upon my Principles , for the Iews to set up Ioash , and to kill Athaliah , as it is for any other People to Depose and Murther a King de facto , whose Government is throughly setled among them . And here he takes notice of two Arguments I make use of , the Argument from Providence , and from the necessity of Government , for the preservation of human Societies , which , he says , will equally serve Athaliah , as any other King or Queen de facto ; and if they will , I will give them up for lost . 1. As for Providence ; the sum of all , he says , is this , That according to my Principles , Athaliah was placed in the Throne by God , by his Counsel , Decree , and Order , and peculiar Order ; Well! I must own it ; for I know none but God , who can advance to the Throne ; and I know no more hurt in owning , that God exalted Athaliah to the Throne , than that he exalted Baasha , who slew Nadab the Son of Ieroboam , and Reigned in his stead ; and yet God himself , by his Prophet , tells Baasha , I exalted thee out of the dust , and made thee Prince over my people Israel , 1 Kings 16. 2. And what does he prove from this ? Now Athaliah ( says he ) had the actual administration of Soveraign Power , and therefore according to the Doctor she was Queen by God's Authority , tho' not by the Law of the Land ; and Allegiance must be due to her , as well as to any other : And all the Doctor 's Arguments are as conclusive and valid for submission to Athaliah , as for submission to any body else . Grant all this , and what then ? Why then this justifies the submission of the Iews to Athaliah , while she was possessed of the Throne , and no rightful Heir appeared : And what hurt is there in this ? Will our Author condemn them for this submission ? or does the Scripture , or Convocation do it ? If he would have concluded any thing to the purpose , he should have said , And therefore it was unlawful for Jehoiada to have anointed Joash , and to have killed Athaliah . But this he knew did not follow from my Principles ; for I expresly distinguish between God's making Kings by a particular nomination , as he made Kings in Jewry , and entailed the Kingdom of Judah on David ' s Posterity , and his making Kings by his Providence , as he does in other Nations . Now what I say about the Rights and Prerogatives of Kings advanced to the Throne , and setled there by the Divine Providence , concerns only such Kingdoms , where God makes Kings only by his Providence ; not such Kingdoms where God ordinarily makes Kings by a particular nomination of the Person , or by a Divine entail , which is equivalent to a particular nomination : For this greatly alters the Case . To make this plain , let us consider the state of the Kingdom of Iudah , and of the Kingdom of Israel , after the Ten Tribes were divided from the House of David . God first made Kings by an express nomination of the Persons , as he did Soul and David , and afterwards entailed the Kingdom on David's Posterity ; when the Ten Tribes were divided from Iudah , he still reserved to himself the Prerogative of nominating their Kings when he pleased ; but yet he did not so strictly confine himself to nominate whom he would have to be King , or to an entail of his own making ; but that he sometimes set up Kings by his Providence , without a particular nomination , or any successive right , as he did in other Nations ; let us then consider what the right of these providential Kings was in Iudah and Israel . Now these Kings , when they were setled in their Thrones , had all the rights of other Soveraign Princes of Iudah or Israel , excepting this , that they were liable to be divested of their Kingdom by God's nomination of a new King , or by the revival of an old Entail . When God nominated any King , and gave command to his Prophets to anoint him , it was always for life ; and tho' during his Life he might nominate another to succeed him after his death , as he did David to succeed Saul , yet he never nominated another to take his Life and his Crown from him : and when he had made a perpetual Entail , tho' he might for a time interrupt the Succession , he did not cut it off ; but it was otherwise with meer providential Kings , as it must necessarily be in such Kingdoms which were under the immediate disposal and nomination of God : A new nomination , or the appearing of the right Heir , put an end to their Reign . As for example . Ieroboam was placed on the Throne of Israel by God's nomination , and Reigned as long as he lived , but for his sins God would not entail the Kingdom on his Family ; but Baasha slew his Son Nadab , and succeeded in the Kingdom , and was the first providential King of Israel without a Divine nomination or entail . Elah , Baasha's Son , was slain by Zimri , and the Children of Israel , without any Divine appointment , made Omri King ; Ahab his Son succeeded Omri , and Ioram Ahab , who were all advanced by the Divine Providence , without God's nomination ; but now their sins being very provoking , God commands his Prophet to anoint Iehu King over Israel , to destroy the Family of Ahab ; and Iehu as soon as he was anointed , immediately takes possession of the Kingdom , kills Ioram , and destroys the House of Ahab . For tho' Ioram was advanced by the Providence of God , and was the third successive King of his Family , and therefore had a good right against all human claims ; yet he could have no unalterable right in the Kingdom of Israel , because that Kingdom was at God's immediate disposal , when ever he pleased to nominate a King. And this is the Reason of the different behaviour of David and Iehu : David was anointed as well as Iehu , but he never pretended to the Crown while Saul lived , because there was then an anointed King on the Throne : But this was not Ioram's case ; He had no more than a Providential Right , which in the Kingdom of Israel must give place to God's anointing ; and therefore Iehu was King of Israel as soon as he was anointed , and Ioram was his Subject . And this was Athaliah's case ; She took possession of the Throne by very wicked means , but must be allowed to be placed there by the Providence of God ; and if she had as thorow a settlement , as other Usurpers can have , had a right to the submission and obedience of the Iews , while it was not known that the King's Son was living ; but Iudah was an Hereditary Kingdom by God's entail , and therefore as soon as the true Heir appeared , she fell from her Power , as much by the express Ordinance and Command of God , as Ioram did when Iehu was anointed ; for a Divine Entail , as the Convocation asserts , is equivalent to an express nomination . This shews a manifest difference between Kings set up by the Divine Providence in the Kingdoms of Iudah and Israel , which were subject to the Divine Nomination , or to a Divine Entail ; and King 's set up by the Providence of God in other Nations , where God makes Kings only by his Providence : The first may be , and are deposed when ever God nominates a new King , or the Right Heir appears ; tho' they had all the Rights and Settlement of the Regal Power before ; in other Nations , those Kings , who are placed in the Throne , and setled there , are , and continue Kings , till the Providence of God displace them again ; for where Kings are made only by the Providence of God , they can be unmade by Providence too . Had our Author considered this , he would not have said , That it is meer trifling to talk of God's entailing the Crown , as if God was tied any more to the entails of his own making , than he is to humane Entails , and his own Decrees and Orders would not cut off his own Entails as well as those of Men. For tho God may cut off his own Entails , if he pleases , yet Men can't , and the meer Events of Providence can never prove , that God has done it ; for we must never interpret providential Events to contradict an express Revelation : And therefore , tho the Providence of God in placing a King on the Throne in Iudah or Israel , who neither was anointed by God's Command , nor had an Hereditary Right by God's Entail , justified their Submission to him ; yet whenever God was pleased to anoint a new King , or to discover their Hereditary Prince , and to put it into their Power to place him on the Throne , the Right and Authority of these Providential Kings was at an end . And now there will be no great occasion to take much notice of what he answers to my second Argument , From the necessity of Government , to the Preservation of Humane Society ; for I readily grant what he contends for , That these Arguments will equally conclude for Submission to Athaliah , as to any other Vsurper ; and what then ? The Iews did actually submit to Athaliah , and this Argument from the necessity of Government justifies their Submission . But our Author disputes , as if it were manifest that the Iews did not submit to Athaliah ; but it is evident from the Story , that they did , and yet are not blamed in Scripture for so doing ; but I suppose his mistake is , that because they owned Ioash for their King , when he was anointed by Iehojada , and slew Athaliah , therefore they never submitted to Athaliah's Government ; as if they could not very innocently and lawfully submit to the Government of Athaliah , while they knew of no other King they had , and yet own their King , who was their King by a Divine Entail , when they knew him ; but indeed , here is the fundamental mistake of all , That he supposes the Iews all this while knew , that Ioash the true Heir to the Crown was living , and therefore out of Loyalty to their Prince , they did not all this while submit to Athaliah ; whereas it is evident from the Story , that they knew nothing of this matter , till Iehojada sent for the Princes and Levites , and discovered the King's Son to them ; and I would desire him to consider , how Athaliah should be ignorant of this for six years , when all the People of Israel knew it ; and yet , if he was not guilty of this mistake , I know not what sense to make of what he says , ( p. 8. ) about swearing an Oath of Fidelity to her , to defend her against all Men , even against him whom they owned and acknowledged had a Right to the Throne ; that is , against Ioash , who was their Rightful King , but they could not own and acknowledg him to be so , without believing him to be alive and safe : And yet , if they knew nothing of Ioash , and did believe that the Royal Line was extinct , I desire to know of our Author , by his own Principles , had it been customary in those Days , what should have hindred them to have sworn Allegiance to Athaliah ? for he allows possession to be something , when there is no better claim against it . And yet though they had sworn Allegiance to Athaliah , they might without Perjury have owned their lawful Prince , when Iehoiada had discovered him to them ; for no Oath can oblige against a Divine Entail ; and therefore such Cases are always supposed to be excepted . I asserted in the Case , That Government and Allegiance are such relatives , as do mutuò se ponere & tollere , the one cannot subsist without the other : if the Prince can't govern , the Subject can't obey ; and therefore as far as he quits his Government , he quits their Allegiance , and leaves his Subjects , as he does his Crown , to be possessed by another , and must recover them both together . This Our Author says , is as plain a fallacy , as ever he met with , and proves from the Example of Ioash , that it is so ; but I have said so much already to that case , that I will trouble my Reader no further with it . Divine and Humane Entails give very different rights to Princes ( as will appear more presently ) and yet even in Divine Entails , it was lawful for Subjects to submit to , and obey Usurped Powers , either when they were under force , or when they knew not their Rightful King ; that is , whenever their King could not govern them . He says , By Government , I mean the actual administration of it ; and then Government and Allegiance are so far from being such Relatives , that they are no Relatives at all ; they are only the Acts of Relatives ; and to say the Acts of Relatives , are Relatives , is so far from being as certain as any Proposition in Logic , that it is Logical Non-sense . Well! Logical Non-sense , I hope , is the best sort of Non-sense however . But my meaning is plain enough , and certainly true , which is as much , as any Proposition in Logic can be : By Government , I do mean the Actual Administration of Government , not as that signifies the particular Acts of Government ; but the actual possession of Power and Authority to govern : by Allegiance , I mean that Obedience and Subjection which is due to Government ; and if our Author will be so severe , as not to allow me to call these Relatives , yet they are the Relations which make the Relatives , and do mutuò se ponere & tollere ; for what is the relation of a King to a Subject ? His Dominion and Government : What is the relation of a Subject to a King ? His due Allegiance and Subjection : then Dominion and Government makes a King , and Allegiance a Subject ; and Allegiance has as necessary a relation to Dominion , as a Subject has to a King ; if there be no King , there can be no Subject ; if no Dominion and Government , there can be no Allegiance . Paternity is the relation that makes a Father , and Filiation a Son , and Paternity and Filiation have as mutual and necessary a respect to each other , as Father and Son ; these are called by Logicians , Relative Acts , and why then may not I call Government and Subjection Relative Duties , by which I explained what I meant by Relatives ; but this I 'm sure is only a Logical Banter , and so let it pass . But as to the matter in hand , since we are got into Logic , I desire to know of our Author , whether the Relative continues to be a Relative , when the relation is destroyed ; for we are told , that the whole nature of Relatives , relata secundum esse , ( for I must speak cautiously ) consists in their Relation : if the Relation then of a King to his Subjects be Dominion and Government , does he continue a King , when he has lost his Dominion and Government ? or do Subjects continue Subjects , when he ceases to be King ? do they owe him Allegiance , when he has lost his Dominion ? that is , can one Relative subsist by its self , without its Correlate ? He tells us indeed , that the relation is only between King and Subject , and the actual Administration of Government of the one hand , and paying Allegiance on the other , are but the acts of that Relation , and consequential to it , but are not Relatives themselves : But I desire to know , what he calls the relation between King and Subjects ; for King and Subjects are not the relation , but Relatives ; as Father and Son are Relatives , Paternity and Filiation the Relation ; now I desire to know what is the Relation between these Relatives , King and Subjects ? the particular Acts of Government , and the particular Acts of Allegiance , I grant , are but the Acts of that Relation , but still we want to know what the Relation is , to which these particular Acts are consequential , and let our Author think of anything else , wherein to place this Relation , if he can , besides actual Dominion , and Sovereign Power , on the one hand , to make a King , and the obligations to Subjection and Allegiance , on the other hand , to make a Subject : from whence flow the particular Acts of Government and Allegiance : now if the Relative ceases with the Relation , where actual Dominion and Government ceases , the Kingship is lost , and the obligations to Subjection and Allegiance with it . All that I know of , that can be said in this Cause ( and which those men must say , who make Allegiance inseparable from Right ) is only this , that the Relation continues , as long as the fundamentum relationis , that whereon the Relation is founded , continues ; and that being a Legal Right , while this Right remains , such a Legal King , though he be fallen from Power , is King still , and Subjects are Subjects still , and owe Allegiance to him . Now to shorten this Dispute , I shall only observe , That a Legal Hereditary Right is not the fundamentum relationis , the foundation of that relation , which is between Prince and Subjects , for then there would be no foundation of this relation between Prince and Subjects in any but Hereditary Kingdoms ; for the same relation can have but one foundation ; and yet there are a great many ways whereby Princes are advanced to the Throne ; An Hereditary Right , The Election of the People , The Nomination of God , A Divine Entail , And Conquest , Which very much differ from each other ; and if all these be different Foundations , there must be different Kinds and Species of Kingship ; whereas the Relation between King and Subjects is the same in all . And therefore we must find out such a foundation for this Relation , as will serve all Sovereign Princes , by what means soever they are setled in the Throne ; and that can be no other but the Authority of God , by which Kings reign , and to which Subjects owe obedience : the several ways of advancing Princes to the Throne , are but the several ways of investing them with God's Authority ; but the Authority of God with which they are invested , is the foundation of this Relation ; and this is not always annexed to a Legal Right , but is always annexed to a full and setled possession of the Throne . No man can have God's Authority , who has not the actual Power and Authority of Government ; for God's Authority is the Authority of Government ; and when Princes fall from Government , so far they lose God's Authority , whatever becomes of their Legal Right ; and all Logicians grant , that Relations are dissolved , when the foundation of such Relations cease . And therefore as in the nature of the thing , Subjects cannot obey a Prince , when he can't command , nor submit to him , when he can't govern ; so when he falls from his Government , and another Prince is setled in his Throne , the foundation of this Relation at present ceases ; for when God has taken away his Government , he has taken away his present Authority to govern ; for God never gives the Civil Authority ▪ without the Civil Sword. I grant in all other Relations , where the Relation it self does not consist in the Authority of Government , nor the foundation of the Relation cease by falling from the actual Authority of Government , the Case is different , as between Parents and Children , Masters and Servants , where the Relation is founded in Nature , or Purchase , or Civil Contracts , under the superior direction and government of the Civil Authority ; tho the Master of the Family , as he says , be spirited away , or taken captive , his Servants , and House , and Family , do not presently fall to the lot of the next Possessor , but must be disposed of by the Laws of the Countrey , and by the Authority of the Prince ; for such private and particular Interests are subject to publick Laws , and a Superior Authority . But the Authority of God is at his own disposal , and Sovereign Power and Dominion , to which the Divine Authority is annexed , is the Relation of a King to his Subjects ; and when his Sovereignty is lost , the Relation is so far dissolved , and there is no higher Tribunal to appeal to , but to that God who removeth Kings , and setteth up Kings . And this shews , how inconsequent his Argument is , from the incapacity of a Subject to pay Allegiance , and a King to govern . If ( says he ) a Subject be taken captive , or otherwise hindred from paying actual Allegiance , is the Relation lost , and does he therefore immediately cease to be a Subject ? And therefore neither doth a King , if he be hindred from the actual administration of Government , cease to be a King , but hath the same right to our Allegiance , in , and out of possession . Now to wave all other Answers ( though , I suppose , our Author will not deny , that such a Captive may become a Subject to another Prince ) these two Cases are not parallel ; in the first Case , tho the Subject is taken Captive , yet the foundation of the Relation is not destroyed , for his Prince is on his Throne still , in the actual administration of the Government , tho he be violently torn from him ; so that this Relation may continue , because he has a Prince to whom he is related : but when the Prince is fallen from his Kingdom and Power , the foundation of the Relation is at present destroyed ; the Kingdom is translated to another Prince , and the Subjects , and their Allegiance translated with it . Our Author proceeds to argue from the Case of Ioash . The Doctor 's distinction ( that is , about a Divine Entail ) is against him . 'T is true , God did entail the Kingdom of Judah on the Family of David , and for that reason they ought not to submit to an Vsurper . But this is so far from being a reason , why they may submit to one in other Kingdoms , where Entails are made by Laws that it is a reason , and a very good one , why they ought not . But before we hear his Reason , I must observe that he mistakes the use of my Distinction ; which was not to prove , That because God had entailed the Kingdom of Iudah on the Posterity of David , and had reserved to himself a right in the Kingdom of Israel , to nominate their King , and entail the Crown , when he pleased ; that therefore the Subjects of those Kingdoms might not submit to any other Kings , whom the Providence of God placed in the Throne , without such a Divine Nomination and Entail ; for it appears from what I have already discoursed , that they both actually did , and lawfully might submit to such providential Kings , when either there was no King by God's Nomination or Entail , or no such King was known ; but the use of the Distinction was to shew , that in such Theocratical Kingdoms , where God challenged a peculiar right to make Kings by his express Nomination or Entail , though God may see fit sometimes to set a providential King upon the Throne , yet whenever he nominates a new King , or discovers the right Heir to whom the Crown belongs by a Divine Entail , the Reign of such Providential Kings is at an end , and the Subjects may and ought to depose or kill them , and own the King of God's nomination : so that if he will prove any thing from my Distinction with reference to other entailed Kingdoms , he must shew , that my Distinction proves , that in such Kingdoms , where God makes Kings only by his Providence , a Humane Entail of the Crown will justifie Subjects in deposing and murthering a new King who is placed and setled in the Throne by Providence , while the Legal King , or Legal Heir is Living , as much as God's express Nomination or Entail would justifie the deposing a Providential King in the Kingdoms of Iudah and Israel . And now let us hear his Reason : For ( says he ) God's entailing the Crown of Judah , was the Law of that Kingdom in that respect ; and the people of other Kingdoms are as much bound to observe their own Laws , as the people of Iudah were theirs . All Humane Laws that are just , bind in Conscience , and ( according to the Doctor 's own Principles ) these Laws were made by God's Authority . So that the Doctor mistakes the Question ; we do not oppose Humane Laws to God's Authority , but we oppose Laws which are made by God's Authority , and which are Rules to us , to Providence , which is no Rule . When God entailed the Crown upon David's Posterity , they had then a Legal Right to it , and so hath every Family in other Kingdoms , upon which an Entail is made by the respective Laws of the Countrey . But what would our Author prove from this ? That in every Hereditary Kingdom the Legal Heir has a Legal right to the Crown , as well as in Iudah ? and did I ever deny it ? or that the standing Laws of every Countrey are the Rule for Subjects in setting up Kings , when it is their own free Act and Choice ; and who denies this too ? There is a Dispute indeed whether the Laws of England do oblige Subjects in all cases to make the next Lineal Heir to the Crown their King ; but no man ever denied , but that in making Kings , Subjects are bound by the Laws of the Land , when it is their own free and voluntary Act. I am sure my Hypothesis is not concerned in this Question , and therefore be it how it will , it can prove nothing against me . Or would he prove , that when an Entail is setled either by Divine or Humane Laws , God never interposes by his Providence to set up a King , who has not this Entailed Legal Right ? This was manifestly false , both in the Kingdom of Iudah and Israel , which God had reserved for his own Nomination , or Entail , and yet He set up several providential Kings , Athaliah in Iudah , and Baasha , and Omri , and Ahab , and Ioram and others in Israel ; and in all other Kingdoms , at one time or other . Or would he prove , that when God by his Providence has setled a Prince in the Throne without a Legal Right , Subjects ought not to obey him , and submit to him as their King ? This is confuted by the Examples of Iudah and Israel , who submitted to Athaliah , and their providential Kings , who had no Legal Right , by a Divine Nomination , or Entail , and are yet never blamed for it . Or would he prove , that a Human Entail of the Crown does as much oblige Subjects in Conscience to pull down a King , who is setled in his Throne by God's Providence , with a National Consent and Submission , but without a Legal Right , to set the Legal Heir on his Throne again , as Iehoiada was , by virtue of the Divine Entail , to anoint Ioash , and slay Athaliah ? This is the single Point he ought to prove ; but I do not see that he offers any thing like a proof of it . The sum of his Argument is this ; That a Human Entail of the Crown , made by the Laws of any Countrey , does in all Cases , and to all intents and purposes , as much oblige Subjects , as a Divine Entail , which is only the Law of the Kingdom too . For the people of other Kingdoms are as much bound to observe their own Laws , as the people of Judah were theirs . The Dispute in general about the Authority and obligation of Humane Laws , is very impertinent to this purpose ; for no man denies it ; But yet we think Divine Political Laws much more sacred , and universally obligatory than any meer Human Laws , tho they are made by men , who have their Authority of Government , and consequently of making Laws from God ; and I believe our Author is the first man who has equalled Humane Laws , with those Laws which are immediately given by God. But the Dispute between Divine and Humane Laws , and a Divine and Humane Entail of the Crown , are of a very different nature , though they be both the Laws of the Countrey for which they are made , as will easily appear , if we compare God's making Kings by a providential settlement of them in the Throne , with a Divine and with a Humane Entail A Divine Entail is God's setling the Crown on such a Family by the express Revelation of his Will ; and though God should after this , settle a Prince in the Throne by his Providence , to whom the Crown did not belong by this Entail , such a Providence would not justifie Subjects in submitting to such a providential King , when it is in their power to set the right Heir upon the Throne ; for this would be to expound Providence against the express Revelation of God's Will : But a Human Entail is only a providential settlement of the Crown on such a Family ; and what is setled only by Providence , may be unsetled by Providence again ; for where God makes Kings only by his Providence , he can unmake them by his Providence also , and make new ones . This discovers the fallacy of what he adds ; We do not oppose Human Laws to God's Authority , but we oppose Laws that are made by God's Authority , and which are a Rule to us , to Providence , which is no Rule . Now I would ask our Author , Whether the Laws of England , which entail the Crown , are not Humane Laws ? If they be , I ask , Whether they do not oppose these Humane Laws to the Authority of God in making Kings by his Providence ? for do they not refuse to obey a King , whom the providence of God has placed and setled in the Throne , upon a pretence that he is not King by Law ? And then I think , they give greater Authority to the Laws of the Land , than to God in making Kings , which is to oppose Humane Laws to God's Authority . To avoid this , he will not call them Humane Laws , but Laws made by Gods Authority ; but the Question is , Whether they are Humane or Divine Laws ? It is a childish piece of Sophistry , and argues a great contempt of his Readers , to call Humane Laws , Laws made by God's Authority , because Sovereign Power , which makes these Laws , is God's Authority ; as if there were no difference between Humane and Divine Laws , because they are both made by God's Authority ; though the one are made by the immediate Authority of God , the other are made by men , who receive their Authority from God ; whereas in the first Case the Authority of God gives an immediate Divine Authority to the Laws made by God , which therefore are said to be made by God's Authority ; in the other case the Authority of God terminates on the Person , and does not immediately affect his Laws ; Sovereign Princes have their Authority from God , but their Laws are the Laws of Men ; and the difference between them is this , that Divine Laws , which are made by God himself , have a Superior Authority to Men , and to all Humane Laws , though made by a delegated Authority from God ; for God grants Authority to Men only in subordination to himself , and the Authority of his own Laws : He might as well have said , That all the By-laws of a Corporation are the King's Laws , because made by his Authority granted to them by Charter ; and therefore there is no difference between the private Laws of the City , and the Laws of the Kingdom , as being both made by the Authority of the King. This may satisfy our Author , That though Humane Laws in some sense may be said to be made by God's Authority , yet when men oppose a legal Entail of the Crown to the Authority of God in making Kings , they oppose Humane Laws to the Authority of God. Well! but these Law are our Rule ; they are are so , when they are not over-ruled by a Superior Authority ; but that they may be by the Authority of God : And the Providence of God is no Rule to us ; If by this he means , that we must not make Providence the Rule of Good and Evil to us , i. e. that we must not think it lawful for us to do whatever the Providence of God does , I grant it ; for the Laws of God are the Rules of Good and Evil , not his Providence : but if he means , the Providence of God cannot direct our Duty cannot lay some new Obligations on us , and discharge our old ones , this is manifestly false in a thousand Instances ; every new Condition Providence puts us in , every new Relation it creates , it requires some new Duties , and lays some new Obligations on us . I shall instance only in the Case before us : If the Providence of God can remove one King , and set up another , tho this does not alter the Duty of Subjects to their Prince , yet it changes the Object of their Allegiance , as it changes their Prince : the Laws of God prescribe the Duty of Subjects to their Prince , but the Providence of God makes him . And now let us consider the opposition he makes between Humane Laws of Entail , and Providence ; for he confesses , they do oppose Laws made by the Divine Authority , that is , the Laws of the Land , which entail the Crown , to Providence , or to the Providence of God in making Kings : that is , they think themselves bound in Conscience to adhere to that King , tho out of possession , who by the Laws of the Land has a legal Right to the Crown , against that King , who is actually setled in the Throne by the Providence of God : Now if we will consider the sense of things , and not the words , this is no more than to say , that they oppose the Providence of God against Providence ; his former Providence against his later Providence ; that is , they will not allow the Providence of God to change and alter , whatever Reasons the Divine Wisdom sees for it ; but what God has once done , that they are resolved to abide by , whatever he thinks fit to do afterwards , which is to oppose God's Authority , and to shackle and confine Providence , that it shall not alter its usual methods in the Government of the World ; or when it has disposed of the Crown once , shall never be at liberty , while that Family lasts , to dispose of it again to any other . For what are these Laws , which , he says , are made by the Divine Authority , and are our Rule ? They are the Laws of Succession , which entail the Crown . And how does God settle the Crown on any Family by such Laws ? No otherwise but by his Providence , so over-ruling the hearts and counsels of Men , as to consent to such an Entail , which gives a humane Right to the Crown , and bars all other humane Claim . So that an Hereditary King , by a humane entail of the Crown , with respect to God , is only a Providential King ; as much a Providential King as the first of the Family was , who obtain'd it by Election , or Conquest , or worse Arts , not by God's express nomination of the Person : So that to opppose the Laws of Entail made , not by God's immediate Authority , as they were in the Kingdom of Iudah , but by the over-ruling influence of Providence , against God's setting up a new King on the Throne , by other Acts of his Providence , is to oppose Providence against Providence ; God's Providenee in setling the Crown in such a Family by a legal Entail , against his Providence in setling a new King upon the Throne : It is all but Providence still , and I desire to know why the Providence of an Entail is more Sacred and Obligatory than any other Act of Providence , which gives a Setled possession of the Throne ? What follows is pretty , and nothing more : The Land of Canaan was divided among the Twelve Tribes by God's express Command , and this answers to God's Entail of the Crown on David ' s Family ; the possession in all other Countries is only by Providence , and this answers to a humane Right and Title to the Crown : Well! there is something of likeness between them , and what then ? And therefore according to the Doctor 's way of reasoning , every Man who wrongfully possessed himself of another Man's Estate in that Land ( Canaan ) must be made to restore it ; for God had expresly given it to the other , and to his Family . But in all other Countries , if a Man by Providence get his Neighbour's Estate , he must have it ; for the event is God's Act , and it is his evident Decree and Counsel that he should have it . Now the fundamental mistake , which runs through all these kind of Arguments , is this ; That they make the events of Providence in private injuries , Thefts , Robberies , Encroachments of one Subject on another Subject's Rights , to be the very same with God's disposal of Kingdoms , and to have the same effects ; whereas all private injuries are reserved by God himself to the correction and redress of Publick Government , and Humane Courts of Justice ; and therefore his Providence has no effect at all on such personal Rights ; but the very nature of the thing proves , that such disputes , which are too big for a legal decision , or any humane Courts , for the decision of which , God has erected no universal Tribunal on Earth , he has reserved to his own judgment , such as the Correction of Sovereign Princes , and the transferring Kingdoms and Empires ; and here the final determinations of Providence in setling Princes on their Thrones , draws the Allegiance and Submission of Subjects after it ; and in such Cases God does not confine himself to determine on the side of Humane Right , but acts with a Soveraign Authority , and gives the Kingdoms of the World to whom he pleases , as he can best serve the Wise , and many times the unsearchable designs of his Providence by it ; which shows how much our Author is out , in applying what I said of God's making Kings , to God's disposal of private Estates . It is to say , that God , as well as Men , is confined to humane Laws ; In making Kings , I said ; In disposing of Estates , saith our Author ; as if disposing of Estates , and making Kings , were the very same thing ; whereas God has erected humane Judicatures to Judge of the first , but has reserved the second to his own judgment ; and when God himself judges , he judges with Authority , with Wisdom , with Justice , superior to all humane Laws . Our Author might as well have said , That we must not resist private Men , or Inferior Officers , when they are injurious , because we must not resist a Sovereign Prince , when he illegally oppresses us , as that we must not dispossess a private Subject , who has injuriously possessed himself of our Estates , because Subjects must not pull down a Prince , who is setled in the Throne without a legal Right . The Poet would have taught him the difference between these two Cases . Regum timendorum in proprios Greges . Reges in ipsos Imperium est Iovis . Subjects are under the Government and Correction of Princes ; Princes under the Government of God. And besides this , according to my Principles , Kings must be thoroughly setled in their Government before it becomes unlawful for Subjects to dispossess them ; and then if he will make the Cases parallel , He who unjustly seizes another Man's Estate , must be throughly setled in it , before it becomes unlawful to dispossess him ; but that no private Man can be , who is under the Government of Laws , and has not the possession of his Estate given him by Law ; and when he has , whether right or wrong , he must not be violently dispossessed again ; but in Causes superior to Laws , as the revolutions of Government , and the translations of Kingdoms are , there may be a thorow settlement by a setled possession without Law ; and must be so , where Laws cannot determine the controversy , that is , where there is no superior Tribunal to take cognizance of it . So , that as our Author has stated the Case , it signifies nothing to the present purpose ; for whether private Mens Estates be setled by a Divine or Humane Entail , it is the same case ; if they suffer any Injury from their Fellow-Subjects , they must seek for Redress from publick Government ; but I could have told him a way , how to have applied this case to the purpose ; but then it would not have been to his purpose , but to mine . In Canaan , where God allotted every Tribe and Family their Inheritance , none could pretend a Right to any Portion of Land , but what was allotted them : but in other Countries , which were left in common , Possession and Occupation gave a Right . Thus in Iudah , none had an ordinary Right to the Crown , but those who were nominated by God , or had the Crown descended on them by a Divine Entail ; but in other Countries , Possession and Occupation gave a Right to the Allegiance of Subjects . In Canaan , when God had setled such an Inheritance in a Family , it could never be perpetually alienated ; but tho it were sold , it could be sold for no longer time than till the year of Iubilee , when all Estates were to return to their old Proprietors again ; but in other Countries , Men may part with their Estates for ever . Thus in the Kingdom of Iudah , tho God by his Sovereign Authority might set up a Providential King , yet this did not cut off the Entail , but when ever the true Heir appeared , Subjects , if they were at liberty , were bound to make him King , and dispossess the Usurper ; but in other Kingdoms , a Kingdom may be lost , as well as an Inheritance sold for ever . In Answer to that Objection , That the Laws of the Land in such Cases as these , are the measure of our Duty , and the Rule of Conscience ; and therefore we must own no King , but whom the Laws of the Land own to be King , that is , in an H●reditary Monarchy , the right Heir ; I granted . That the Laws of the Land are the Rule of Conscience , when they do not contradict the Laws of God ; but when they do , they are no Rule to us , but their Obligation must give place to a Divine Authority . Suppose then there were an express Law , that the Subjects of England should own no King but the Right Heir ; and notwithstanding this Law , ( as it will sometimes happen , and has often happened in England ) a Prince , who is not the right Heir , should get into the Throne , and settle himself there ; if the Divine Law in such a Case commands us to pay all the Obedience and Duty of Subjects to a Prince in the actual Possession of the Throne , and the Law of the Land forbids it , which must we obey , the Law of God , or the Law of the Land ? To this our Author answers , Where is this Law of God , that commands us to obey Vsurpers ? Where is it ever affirmed in Scripture in express Terms , or deduced from thence by evident Consequence ? This I had shewed before , and it is in my Boek still , and there he may see it . But this Law had need be very clear and evident , and the Doctor had need be very sure of it , when he builds not only his Book , but his Practice upon it , in plain Contradiction ( by his own confession ) to the Laws of the Land. But I never confessed , this was contrary to the Laws of the Land ; but on the contrary , that the Laws of the Land , if we will believe Learned Judges and Lawyers , do allow and justify it ; and I think the Scripture is very plain in the case ; and if he would give me leave to be sure of any thing , I think I am pretty sure of it . But he proves the Scriptures cannot be clear in the point , from the Controversies about it , in the late dismal Times of Vsurpation ; that is to say , nothing can be clear in Scripture , which is matter of Controversy ; and thus we must either be Scepticks in Religion , or seek for an Infallible Interpreter . Thus Hereticks oppose the Articles of Faith ; thus Papists dispute against the Scriptures being the Rule of Faith ; and whither these Arguments will carry our Author , I cannot tell , but they look very kindly towards Rome ; and if that be his Inclination , I can pardon his Zeal in this Cause . But no Learned Men could ever espy this Law before the time of John Goodwin . What then does he think of Mr. Calvin and Grotius , who have both passed for learned Men ? And they espied this Law before the time of Iohn Goodwin , as he may see , if he pleases , in their Commentaries on Daniel , and the Romans ; or that he may not seek for it , I have given him a tast of their Judgment in the Margin . What thinks he of Bishop Overal's Convocation ? Were there no Learned Men in it ? And yet they espied this Doctrine , before Iohn Goodwin was thought of ; what Iohn Goodwin thought of this matter I cannot tell , for I am not much versed in his Writings ; but if some Men abused a true Doctrine to wicked purposes , must we therefore deny the Doctrine , or rather vindicate it from such Abuses ? But what thinks he of the Primitive Christians , whose Sense he may guess at , from what Grotius has cited ; and their practice in all the Revolutions of the Empire does more fully declare it ; for they always submitted to the Reigning Emperor , by what means soever they gained the Throne ; and that is an argument , that they owned the Doctrine , because they practiced it ; as our Author will quickly be informed by a Learned Pen. I grant indeed , That the Resolution of Conscience ought not to depend on such Nicties of Law and History , as Learned Men cannot agree about ; and that is a reason , why Legal Rights and Titles should not be the Rule and Measure of our Obedience to Princes , who are possessed of the Throne ; but is this a reason to reject the Directions of Scripture too , because some Men will dispute the plainest Texts ? This has nothing but either Scepticism or Infallibility at the bottom . Our Author proceeds to consider the Scripture-Testimonies , which I cite in this Cause . And First , from the Old Testament , That God giveth Kingdoms to whomsoever he will ; that he removeth Kings , and setteth up Kings , 4. Dan. 17. 2. 21 , 37. Now the whole of his Answer to this , is , That Usurpers are no Kings ; and therefore , tho God removes Kings , and sets up Kings , he does not set up Usurpers ; and the whole of his proof is , that Athaliah , who was an Usurper , was no Queen . As for Athaliah , I suppose our Author has enough of her already ; She was God's Providential Queen , tho an Usurper , as much as Baasha was God's King. And to say , That a King without a Legal Title , or an Usurper , who has a setled Possession of the Regal Power , is no King , is Nonsense . For Regal Power and Authority makes a King , as St. Austin tells us , Regnum à Regibus , Reges à Regendo ; that a Kingdom is so called from Kings , and Kings from Governing ; it is certain , he who has the Exercise of the Regal Power and Authority , is King , whether we will call him so or no ; and he is no King , who has no Regal Power , whatever his Title be . If this be not so , our Laws are Nonsense , which distinguish between a King de jure and de facto , if a King de facto be no King , tho it signifies one who is actually King. But pray , what Sense does this make of what the Prophet Daniel says , That God changeth times and seasons , removeth Kings , and setteth up Kings ? By Kings here , according to our Author , the Prophet means not Usurpers , but Rightful and Lawful Kings ; and then the meaning is , that God removeth , or pulleth down Rightful Kings , and that he setteth up Rightful Kings . Now , as for setting up Rightful Kings , our Author likes it very well ; but how does he like pulling down Rightful Kings , which is as much against Law and Right , as to set up Kings without Right ? And that it seems God does . He will not allow us to pay Allegiance to a King , who is set up without Right ; will he then allow us to withdraw our Allegiance from a Rightful King , whom God has removed and pulled down ? If he won't , as it is plain he won't , then God can no more remove a Rightful King , than he can set up an Illegal Usurper ; but when the Prophet says , God removeth Kings , and setteth up Kings , to reconcile it to our Author's Hypothesis , the removed King must signifie an Usurper , and the King set up , a Rightful and Legal King. I doubt not but our Author would be ashamed to say this ; but whether he be or no , he dares not say it ; for then he must allow , that King may signify an Usurper , as well as a Rightful King , which overthrows all he says , for then it is reasonable to expound the Text of all Kings , whatever they be , who are removed or set up . And this is evidently the Prophet's meaning , to attribute all the changes and revolutions of Government , when ever they happened , not to Chance or Fate , but to the Divine Providence , that whenever we see one King removed , and another set up , whoever they be , they are removed and set up by God , who ruleth in the kingdom of Men , and giveth it to whomsoever he will ; Does whomsoever signifie those only who have a legal Right ? Does giving suppose an antecedent right in him to whom it is given ? Does giving to whomsoever he will , signifie , giving it only to those to whom the Law gives it ? Do we use to say , a Man may give his Estate to whom he will , when his Estate is entailed , and he cannot alienate it from the Right Heir ? We should think this a very absurd way of speaking among Men ; and yet thus our Author must expound God's giving a Kingdom to whomsoever he will , to signify his giving the Kingdom to the Right Heir . He may , if he please , call this Expounding Scripture ; but I doubt every body else will give it some other name , and I hope he himself upon second thoughts will be ashamed of it . But it is more absurd still , if we apply it to the occasion , viz. those great Revolutions and Changes of Empires , which the Prophet foretold , and which he attributes to God ; and when Kingdoms and Empires are overturned by violence , it is nonsence to talk of God's setting up only Rightful Kings , not Usurpers ; when all those Revolutions were nothing else but force and Usurpation : Men may talk of Law and Right of Succession in a setled Government , but Kingdoms are not transferred , nor Kings removed , nor set up by Law ; and therefore when the Prophet tells us with respect to such violent Revolutions , That God changes times and seasons , that he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings , an ingenious Man must be hard put to it , to say , This is not meant of Usurpers , but of Rightful and Legal Kings ; whereas if but one of these must be meant , we must expound it of such Kings , who ascend the Throne by Force and Usurpation ; and if when God is said to remove Kings , he will allow this to be meant of Rightful Kings , who were legally possessed , I wonder how he should fancy , that those Kings who dispossess the rightful Kings , and place themselves in their Thrones , should in his sense be legal and rightful Kings too . My Testimony from the New-Testament is , Rom. 13. 1 , 2. Let every Soul be subject to the higher powers , for all power is of God. Now by Powers , our Author says , I understand Vsurped as well as Lawful Powers : I do so ; by Powers I understand the Powers in a setled Government , whatever their Claim and Title be : He says , this is contrary to the current of all good Interpreters ; That I deny : I have shewn him already , that I have Mr. Calvin and Grotius on my side , and the Convocation ; and if that will not satisfy him , it is no hard matter to produce more . My Reason , he says , is , Because the Scripture makes no distinction between Kings , and Vsurpers . One of my Reasons is , That the Scripture has 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 Vsurpers , between Kings whom we must , and whom we must not obey . These last words he conceals , because they Spoil all his Argument : For he adds , I thought the Case of Athaliah had been a distinction ; and had this precept been given in those days , I wonder whether any body would have doubted of whom it ought to be understood , of Athaliah or Joash . But the Answer is plain , There was a distinction between Athaliah and Ioash , That She was an Usurper , and He the Rightful King ; and I hope our Author had not that mean opinion of me , to think that I made no distinction between an Usurper and a Rightful King , with respect to their Usurpation and their Right ; but I say , the Scripture makes no distinction between a Rightful King and an Usurper , with respect to the Obedience of Subjects , while they are setled in the Throne ; the Scripture does not tell us , that there are some Kings whom we must obey , and other Kings , viz. Kings by Usurpation , whom we must not obey : And with reference to this , the Case of Athaliah is no example of such a Distinction ; for the Iews were not forbid either by the standing Law of the Kingdom , or by Iehoiada , to submit to Athaliah , while she was possessed of the Throne , and Ioash was concealed ; but they actually submitted to her , and are no where blamed for it : That Iehoiada afterwards anointed Ioash , and slew Athaliah , was owing to the Divine Entail of the Crown , and was peculiar to Iudah , and affects no other Providential Kings , who are setled in their Thrones . So that had this Law been given to the Iews at that time , while Ioash was concealed , it must have been expounded of Athaliah , who had possession of the Throne ; when Ioash was known , and anointed , it must have been expounded of him , as having a Divine Right to the Throne of Iudah . He proceeds ; But ( saith the Doctor ) if the Apostle had intended such a distinction ; he ought to have said it in express words ; and why so , I pray ? I gave him a reason for it , which he is pleased to conceal ; Why should we think the Apostle here intends a distinction unknown to Scripture ? had there been any such Rule before given , to submit to Lawful Powers , but not to submit to Vsurpers , there had been some pretence of understanding St. Paul's All Power , of all Legal Power ; but there being nothing like this any where else in Scripture , if he had intended any such distinction , he ought to have said it in express words , or else no body could reasonably have understood him to intend this Precept of subjection to the Higher Powers , only of Powers that had a Legal Right . This I thought a very good reason , and did not expect to have been asked for more , till this had been answered . But , says our Author , does not the nature of the thing sufficiently distinguish it ? The nature of the thing distinguishes between a Legal King , and a Usurper , but the nature of the thing does not prove , that Usurped Powers are not the Higher Powers , and ought not to be obeyed ; but , I think , proves the quite contrary . But are there not several Rules about Right and Wrong , which extend to all Persons and Cases ? Yes , there are ; such is the Apostle's Rule in this Chapter , to give to every one their due ; but then the Question returns , What is their due ? Whether Obedience and Subjection be not due to the Prince , who governs , not to the Prince who does not , and cannot govern , whatever his Legal Right to the Government be ? But because this Argument of Right , and our obligations to do right to every man , especially to Princes , is that whereon this Controversie turns , I shall particularly , but briefly consider it . The Argument is this . He who by the Laws of the Land has a right to the Crown , has a right to our Allegiance ; and whether he be in or out of possession , to own any other King , to submit and pay Allegiance to any other , though actually possessed of , and setled in the Throne , is great injustice to our natural Prince , and a violation of that precept , To give to every one their due . And whatever force and necessity we are under , we must not do so wicked and unjust a thing , to preserve our selves , nay , to preserve the Nation from ruine . This Objection has been answered more than once in my Case of Allegiance ; but because I find some men very unwilling to understand it , I will try whether I can set it in a clearer light . Now here are two things to be considerred . 1. The Right to the Crown . 2. The Right to Allegiance . As for the first , the fundamental prejudice and mistake seems to be this , That men make no difference between a Legal Right to the Crown , and the Legal Right of Subjects to their Estates : and therefore think it as wicked and unjust , for Subjects , whatever their Circumstances are , to own any other Prince , but the Legal Heir , as it would be for Tenants to pay their Rent to any but their true Legal Lord. But I apprehend a great difference between these two Cases , and it is this ; That in setling an Estate , there is nothing more required but a meer Humane Right ; but to make a Legal King , besides an Humane Right to the Crown , he must have God's Authority . There is nothing but a Legal Descent , and a Legal Possession , that gives Right to a Legal Estate , and therefore the Law must have its effect , and is the only adequate Rule of Right and Wrong in such Cases . And though the Providence of God allots mens private Fortunes ; though he makes rich , and makes poor ; yet he gives no man a Right to an Estate , which he has got by Fraud , Injustice and Violence ; nor exempts them from Legal Punishments and Prosecutions ; but leaves all such meer Legal Rights , under the general influence of his Providence , to the care of publick Government . But now if a meer Humane Right cannot make a King , but it is God's Authority which makes a King ; if God reserves this Authority in his own hands , to the free disposal of his own Sovereign Will and Counsel , and does not inseparably annex it to Humane Entails of the Crown ; if God's Authority , without a Humane Right , can make a King , but Humane Laws cannot make a King without God's Authority ; this may satisfy us , that when God thinks fit to interpose his Authority , a meer Legal Right is not a sufficient reason to adhere to a Prince whom God has removed from the Throne , nor the meer want of a Legal Right , a sufficient reason to disown a Prince , whom God has set upon the Throne : If meer Law made a King , as it makes an Heir to an Estate , it were very unjust in Subjects to own any but a Legal King ; but if the Sovereign Authority of God can remove a King , who has the Legal Right , and set up a King , who has no Legal Right , then meer Humane Laws are not the only Rules of Right and Wrong in this matter : and there is no reason to charge any man , who upon these Terms submits to a new Prince , with the least injustice , either in disowning his old Legal Prince , or in submitting to a new one . Secondly , As for the Right to Allegiance , it was the great design of my Book to prove , that Allegiance is not immediately due to a Legal Right to the Crown , but to Government ; and therefore a Prince , who has a Legal Right to the Throne , but has it not , cannot have a Right to my Allegiance , till he gains the Throne ; and I deny him no Right which he can justly claim , tho I deny my Allegiance to him , while he is out of the Throne : And methinks our Author should have answered all that I said upon this Argument , before he had so dogmatically told us , That the general Rules about Right and Wrong , which extend to all Persons and Cases , made it needless for St. Paul to have told us , That by the higher powers , and the powers that are , he meant only Legal Powers ; for if Illegal Powers , in his Sense , may be the highter Powers , and the Powers , that at present are , who have the actual administration of Government , and Allegiance be immediately due only to the Governing Powers ; then notwithstanding the General Rules of Right and Wrong , the Apostle might mean our Author 's Illegal Powers . I am sure the Reason of things does not prove the contrary ; for when the Allegiance and Obedience of Subjects , is a Duty only for the sake of Government , for the ease and safety of it , it is very strange that it should not be due to a setled Government , but due to a Prince who does not , and cannot Govern. And if I may have liberty to dispute with this Author upon his own Principles , I desire to know of him , Whether Allegiance be due to any Prince upon any other account , than his being invested with God's Authority ? let him say it is at the utmost peril of his Cause . How then does God invest any Prince with his Authority of Government , whom he does not immediately nominate , as he did in the Kingdom of Iudah ? it must be either by annexing his Authority to the Legal Office , or by placing such a Person on the Throne , by what means soever he does it , or by both : And then it is certain no Prince can have God's Authority , who is not in possession of the Throne , and then no Allegiance can be due to him . If God's Authority be annexed to the Regal Office , a Prince must be in the actual Administration of the Regal Office and Power , before he can have God's Authority : as a man must be actually married , before he can have the Authority which the Divine Laws give to a Husband . If God's setling a Prince in the Throne , gives him this Authority , then no Prince who is removed from the Throne , can have God's Authority : And this is agreeable to the Language of Scripture , when God is said , to remove Kings , and set up Kings , which when it does not signifie the express Revelation of his Will , but the Acts of his Providence , can mean no more , than the removing one King from the Throne , and placing another in it ; as it is elsewhere expressed , He pulleth down the mighty from their seat , and exalteth the humble and meek . The truth is , The Authority of Government is always God's Authority ; and that is the Reason Bishop Overal's Convocation Book gives , why any degenerate Forms of Government , when throughly setled , must be reverenced and obeyed ; because the Authority so unjustly gotten , or wrung by force from the true and lawful Possessor , is always God's Authority ; which they offer no proof at all of , but what is supposed in their Reason , that the Authority of Government , when it is once setled , is God's Authority ; and then how those Princes , who , whatever their Right be , have no Authority of Government , should have God's Authority , I cannot guess : For to call a Right to the Crown , the Authority of Government , is contrary to the Sense of Mankind , when they speak of Sovereign Princes : for he has the Actual Authority , who actually administers the Government ; and it is Actual Authority , which is God's Authority , not Authority in Fancy and Idea ; for God does not give Authority to govern , without the Power of Government , which is a very fruitless and insignificant Authority . But to proceed , our Author proves by a parallel Case , that St. Paul by the Higher Powers could mean only Lawful Powers , for the Apostle exhorts ( 13. Hebr. 17. ) Obey them that have rule over you , meaning the Ministers of the Gospel ; now the Apostle makes no distintion between lawful Ministers and Intruders , and yet we must understand it of lawful Ministers ; and by the same reason , though St. Paul makes no distinction between lawful and unlawful Powers , yet he means only lawful Powers ; for this is the force of his Argument , though he has not expressed it . But these Cases are by no means parallel . For the Apostle to the Hebrews had no reason to make any such distinction , which yet was necessary for St. Paul to have done , had he intended his Precept of Obedience , should be understood only of lawful Powers . The Apostle to the Hebrews knew , who had the rule over them at that time , that they were lawful Ministers , and exhorts the Hebrews to obey them ; and had he added such a distinction , it would have insinuated , that he knew some among them , who were not lawful Ministers , and such a Suggestion without naming the Persons , would have made them jealous of them all , and spoiled his Exhortation of obeying them : The Hebrews knew whom St. Paul meant by those , who had the Rule over them , St. Paul knew , they were such as ought to be obeyed ; and therefore there was no need here of any distinction between lawful Pastors , and Intruders . But St. Paul gives a general Charge to be subject to the higher Powers , and generally affirms , that all power is of God , and therefore if he had not intended , that we should understand this as universally as he expresses it , of all Powers , however they came by their Power , he should have limited it to legal and rightful Powers . He adds , In short , the Dr's Reason is against him . There has ever been a distinction in the World between Legal and Usurped Powers , and 't is probable enough that St. Paul ( who was so learned a Man ) knew it , and if he had intended to enjoin Obedience to Usurped Powers , 't is probable he would have said so in express terms , but since be never said so , we have reason to conclude he never intended it . Now I doubt not but St. Paul did know this distinction between Legal and Usurped Powers , and knew also , that the Pharisees made this Objection against their Submission to the Romans , and for that reason he affirms , that all power is of God , and that they must be subject to the Higher Powers , without any distinction ; which he would not have done , if any distinction ought to have been made ; when he knew the dispute was about the Romans , whom they looked upon as Usurpers over Israel , who were God's peculiar People and Inheritance : and yet though there was a distinction between Legal and Usurped Powers , there was no distinction made in point of Obedience to them , but only by the Pharisees ; and therefore with respect to the rest of the World , he ought to have made this distinction in express words , if he intended any distinction should have been made . I have insisted the longer on this , because it gives a full Answer to his next Objection ; that the Interpretation I give of the Convocation Book , justifies an unreasonable and impious Doctrine , by making the Acts or Permissions of Providence a Rule for practice , against Right and Iustice. Now this , I confess , is a very unreasonable and impious Doctrine , and were I sensible , that any thing I have said , would justifie this Doctrine , I would immediately renounce it ; but I hope when our Author considers again , that I have evidently proved , that the Interpretation I have given , is the true Sense of the Convocation , he will be more favorable to it , for their sakes . But I have already stated this matter about Right and Justice , and have shewn the difference between the Right of private Men to their Estates , and of Princes to their Thrones , and to the Allegiance of Subjects ; between a Thief 's taking a Purse , and an Usurper a Crown , by the Providence of God ; between the Providence of God in such matters , as he refers to the Correction and Redress of publick Laws , and publick Government , and what he reserves to his own cognizance and disposal , as he does the Revolutions of Government , the removing Kings , and the setting up Kings . The truth is , our Author writes at that rate , that it is to be feared , some People will suspect , that he does not believe a Providence , or does not understand it , or has a mind to ridicule it . For let me ask him , does God make Kings in England , or not ? if he does ( which I hope our Author will grant , or he renounces the jure divino with a witness ) how does he make Kings ? He sends no Prophets among us to anoint Kings , and to tell us , whom he has nominated to Reign over us , and therefore he can make Kings no other way among us , but by the Events of Providence : and how does God make Kings by his Providence ? truly this can be done no other way , but by placing them in the Throne , and setling them there with the general Consent and Submission of the People : does then this Providential Settlement in the Throne , which makes a King , invest such a King with God's Anthority ? if it does not , then it seems God makes a King without giving him his Authority , makes a King without any Authority to govern , which is a Contradiction ; if he does , does not this make it the duty of Subjects to obey such a King ? Are not Subjects bound to obey such Kings , as have God's Authority ? Again , suppose a Prince ascends the Throne , and obtains the Consent and Submission of the People , by the most unjust force , and the most ungodly Arts , that can be thought on , who places such a Prince on the Throne , if God don't ? Our Author according to his Principles must answer , that by God's Permission he Usurps the Throne , but is no King , much less a King of God's making . Well , let him call him King , or Usurper , or what he pleases , but it seems a Prince may ascend the Throne , and govern a Kingdom for many years ( it may be a hundred years , for so long a Prescription our Author requires to give a Just Title to an Usurper ) without God's Authority ; and then I desire to know , whether God Rules in such a Kingdom , while an Usurper fills the Throne ; The reason of the question is plain , because the Prophet Daniel pronounces universally , that God ruleth in the Kingdom of men , and as a proof of it adds , and giveth it to whomsoever he will , and then it should seem , that God does not Rule in these Kingdoms , which he does not dispose of by his own Will and Counsel , which he does not give to whom he will , but suffers Usurpers to take the Government of them . For indeed will any Man say , that God governs such a Kingdom , as is not governed by his Authority , or Minister ? Does Providence and Government signifie only his Permission ? that God looks on , and sees Men snatch at Crowns , and take them , and keep them , and exercise an Authority , which he , who is the universal Lord of the World , never gave them ? To resolve Providence into a bare Permission , especially in matters of such vast Consequence , as the disposal of Crowns , is to deny God's Government of the World. But it is objected , that to say , that Prosperous Usurpers , when they are setled in the Throne , are placed there by God , and have his Authority , is to make God a Party to their Wickedness . Now this is another Argument , not merely against God's making Kings , but in general against God's Providence and Government of the World : for if God cannot direct and over-rule the Wickedness of Men to accomplish his own Wise Counsels and Purposes , without being the Author of those Sins , whereby such Events are brought to pass , there is an end of the Providence of God , or of his Holiness and Justice ; for the most glorious designs of God's Grace and Providence , have been accomplished by very wicked means , even the Crucifixion of our Saviour himself . But to confine my self to our present Case of transferring Kingdoms and Empires , as it was in the four Monarchies . It is possible this may sometimes be done by very honest means , but it is commonly done by great Injustice and Violence in Men , and yet God very just and righteous in doing it . No Man , I suppose , will deny , but that God , as the Supreme Lord and Sovereign of the World , may give the Kingdoms of the World to whom he pleases , without doing Injustice to any Prince , who can have no Right but by his Gift : No Man will deny , but that God may be very just and righteous in removing some Princes from their Thrones , and in setting up others : And then the Translation of Kingdoms , the pulling down one Prince , and setting up another , is no act of Injustice with God ; but is his Prerogative as the King of Kings , and when it is done for wise , and holy , and just Reasons , ( as we ought always to presume of what God does ) is a plain Demonstration of the Wisdom , and Holiness , and Justice of his Providence . The only dispute then can be , about God's bringing such Events to pass by the Wickedness of Men ; and what hurt is there in this , if God can so over-rule the Ambition of Princes , or the Faction and Rebellion of Subjects , as to do that in pursuit of their own lusts , which God for wise and holy Reasons , thinks fit to have done : It cannot be denied , but that God does permit Men to do very wickedly , and if he can permit the Wickedness of Men without being guilty of their Sins , I hope to direct and over-rule their Wickedness to wise purposes , to bring Good out of Evil , and Order out of Confusion , can be no blemish to Providence . indeed I should be much puzzled to justifie the Divine Providence , in permitting the Sins of Men , especially such Sins , as do great mischief to the World , were I not very well satisfied , that God over-rules all to wise and good Ends. Let us suppose an Ambitious Prince spurred on with Fame and Glory to grasp at an Universal Empire ; our Author will not say , but that God may permit this Man , to ravage and depopulate Countries , to pull Princes from their Thrones , and to bring their Kingdoms into Subjection to himself : such Men there are in all Ages , did not God think fit to restrain them , and to fling Difficulties in their ways to make them tame and quiet . Now I would ask any Man , which most becomes the Divine Wisdom , to suffer such Men when they please to overturn Kingdoms , and to bring horrible Desolations on the World , only to gratifie their own Lusts ; or to give the Reigns , and to give prosperous Success to them , when he sees fit to new model the World , to pull down such a Prince , or to chastise and correct such a Nation : I am sure this much more becomes the Wisdom and Justice of Providence , than a bare permission of such Violence , without any farther design , which does not become the Wise Governor of the World. And if God may permit such Wickedness and Violence without contributing to their Sin , or being a Party to their Wickedness ; much more may he over-rule their Wickedness for wise Ends , make them the Executioners of his Justice in punishing a wicked Age , and transferring Kingdoms ; and then why may not God give them those Kingdoms , which he has overturned by them ? for I suppose , it is as agreeable to the Sovereignty , Wisdom and Justice of God , to give a Kingdom to a violent Usurper , as to suffer a wicked , impious , tyrannical Prince to ascend the Throne , with a legal Title : and yet this God often does , witness many of the Roman Emperors , whom I know our Author will have to be legal Princes ; and those who will not allow them to be legal Princes , need not want Examples of this nature in Hereditary Kingdoms . But our Author says , that to own an Usurper , who is setled in the Throne by Providence , and to obey and submit to him as our King , justifies an unreasonable and wicked Doctrine , by making the Acts or Permissions of Providence , a Rule for practice against Right and Justice ; as for his Right and Iustice , it has been considered already , let us now consider how far the Providence of God may be the Rule for practice . It is indeed an impious Doctrine to justifie every Action , and every Cause which has success ; God many times prospers very evil Designs , when he can serve a good End by them ; and therefore to measure the good or evil of things by external success , to conclude , that is God's Cause , which the Providence of God prospers , confounds the difference of good and evil , and destroys all the standing Rules of Right and Justice : but yet it is so far from being an impious Doctrine , that it is a necessary Duty , to conform our selves to the Divine Providence , and to discharge those Duties and Obligations , which the Providence of God lays on us , according to the Nature and Intention of the Providence : and thus the Providence of God in some sense may be the Rule of our Practice , and may make that our Duty , which was not , and that cease to be our Duty , which was our Duty before : and thus it always is when the Providence of God changes our Relations , or Condition of Life ; as to mention only our present Case , when he removes one King , and sets up another ; for he must transfer my Allegiance , when he changes my King. The truth is , as far as I can perceive , the great , if not the only fault of my Case of Allegiance , is this unreasonable and impious Doctrine of Providence : for some Men cannot endure to hear , that God makes Kings by his Providence , for that argues there is a God ; others cannot bear the thoughts , that Kings Reign by God's Authority , for then they cannot make and unmake Kings , as they please ; others will by no means allow , that the Providence of God can make a King against the Laws of the Land , can remove a rightful King , and set up a King without a legal Title , at least not without the death or cession of the rightful King , or a hundred years Prescription ; but to say , that the Providence of God gives his Authority to a King de facto , who is setled in the Throne ; this is an impious Doctrine . So that had I left out Providence , I might have had fairer quarter on all hands , though in effect the thing had been the same , and I had taught the same thing , viz. that when a rightful King is dispossessed , Subjects may own and submit to the King , who is setled in the possession of the Throne , which is all I undertook to prove . Had I only said , that Conquest in a just War , by the Law of Nations , gives a Right to the Conqueror , though the former King be alive , and has made his Escape . Had I only said , that unjust Force and Violence makes it lawful for Subjects to submit , when the Prince cannot protect them , and such Submission and Consent of the People settles a Prince in the Kingdom , I might have escaped very well , as others have done . Or had I only said , that the Laws of the Land allow and require Subjects to pay Allegiance to a King de facto in possession of the Crown , most of our Non-swearers themselves would have allow'd this a good Plea , could I have persuaded them it was true ; for the Laws of the Land they must allow to be the rules and measures of our Allegiance . But now to add , that God by all these ways and means makes Kings , and settles them on their Thrones , and gives his Authority to them , this spoils all , and is an impious Doctrine : that is , any of these waies will make very good Kings without God ; but it is a very wicked thing to say , that God makes them Kings , or gives his Authority to them : For it is a dangerous thing to allow , that God makes Kings , or that Kings have his Authority , or that the Providence of God does not barely permit , but Govern all the Changes and Revolutions of the World. But I had learnt from Scripture ( and B. Overal ' s Convocation Book proves , that those learned Men were of the same mind ) that Kings are made only by God , and that it is God's Authority , which makes them Kings ; and therefore I could not think it enough to say by what visible means Princes are advanced to the Throne , without adding , that the Providence of God by these means settles them in the Throne , and gives his Authority to them , on which the true resolution of Conscience depends in all such Revolutions : And if this be my only fault , that I assert the Right and Prerogative of God in making Kings , and the Wisdom and government of Providence in all the Revolutions of States and Empires , I am contented to suffer obloquy and reproach for maintaining such Impious Doctrines . Our Author in his Answer has another Argument to prove , that we misrepresent the Sense of the Convocation , which he has thought fit to leave out in his Postscript , viz. That the Interpretation we give of it , is inconsistent with the main and Fundamental Doctrines of the Convocation Book , viz. Passive Obedience and Non-resistance . But if the Convocation taught both ( as they certainly did ) it is a sign , that whatever our Author thinks , or whatever he can prove , the Convocation did not apprehend any inconsistency between them . I observed in the Case , that the Doctrine of Obedience and Allegiance to the Present Powers , is founded on the same Principle with the Doctrine of Non-resistance and Passive Obedience , viz. That God makes Kings and Invests them with his Authority , which equally proves , that all Kings who have received a Sovereign Authority from God , must be Obeyed , and must not be Resisted : And therefore all setled Governments , as the Convocation asserts , having their Authority from God , must be obeyed , for the same reason , for which we must not resist Sovereign Princes , viz. because they have their Authority from God ; but this our Author thought fit to pass over . For it is a plain Case , that Non-resistance and Passive Obedience , can be due only to him who is our King , and if God can remove one King , and set up another , Non-resistance must be Due , not to the King , whom God has pulled down , but to the King whom God has set up ; and therefore he may harangue as long as he pleases upon this Argument to no purpose , unless he can prove , that God hath not pulled down one King and set up another . His next Argument against this Interpretation of the Convocation Book is this : That it reproaches the Virtue and Loyalty of those admirable Men , who Suffered between the Years 42. and 60. And therefore this cannot be the Sense of the Convocation ; for no doubt the Convocation in 603. had great regard to the Loyalty of those who Suffered between 42. and 60 ; by a Spirit of Prophesie I suppose . And here our Author grows very angry , both in his Answer and Postscript , and gives many hard and spightful Words to his Adversaries , but be that to himself , I am resolved not to be angry . This I answered at large in the Case of Allegiance , ( p. 46. &c. ) and shall now take a brief review of it . I said , it is a great Prejudice but no Argument ; for if these Principles be true , and according to these Principles they might have complied with those Usurpations , that they did not , is no confutation of the Principles . He answers , I thought an Argument from Example had been an Argument , though not always a very good one ; Right ! but Example is only a Prejudice , not an Argument against plain Reasons , which cannot otherwise be answered ; let Reasons be first answered , and then when there is no Reason against a thing , the Examples of great and wise Men without any other Reason carry some Authority with them : especially when we have other good Reasons for doing any thing , Example gives some new strength to them ; and thus the Example of Iaddus may be an Argument , when other Examples are none : though he knows the Example of Iaddus was alledged by me only to prove the sense of the Convocation , and how Iaddus himself understood his Oath of Allegiance to Darius , which is a very different Case from what he urges . But to let pass his transport of Zeal , and to forgive the froth and folly of it , when he urges the Examples of these great Men , there are many things he ought to have considered . As 1. He should have considered whom he reproach'd in all this as well as whom he commended . He reproaches all those , who in those times of Confusion submitted to the Usurped Powers , and lived quietly and peaceably under them , and yet the King found a great many true Friends , and Loyal Persons , at his return among those Men : He reproaches all those Loyal Persons both of the Nobility , Gentry , and Clergy , who suffered chearfully under those Usurpations , and as chearfully comply with the present Revolution , which , as I observed before , is an Argument , that they make a great difference between these two Cases : But if as our Authour argues , to justifie our present Submission and Compliance be to reproach those Worthies , who suffered for their King in that horrid Rebellion and Usurpation ; then he must upon his Principles accuse those Worthies , who suffered for their King then , with falling from their Loyalty , by their present Compliance . He reproaches all the Nobility , Gentry , and Clergy , who have now Sworn Allegiance to their present Majesties ; and tho the Clergy , he says , are only a Company of Weather-Cock Divines , and therefore it is no great matter for them , yet I doubt the Nobility and Genty will not take it well from him , to be thought Weather-Cocks , or less Loyal , than those who suffered for K. Charles were . And if it moves our Author's Indignation to see the Worthies of the World , and of our Church mocked and diminished , and represented as Fools and Knaves ( which no body has done but himself ) a much cooler Man than he is , may be a little moved , if not with Indignation , yet with Contempt , to see all our present Worthies in Church and State so maliciously libelled . 2ly . If our Authour will argue from Examples , he ought not only to consider what was done , but upon what Principles they did it , whether they were all of our Authour's mind , that it is absolutely unlawful in any Case whatsoever , to submit to a Prince , who is possessed of the Throne , while the legal King , or his true Heir is living , tho dispossessed . It is probable some few might be of this mind ; but that this was their general sense , can never be proved ; and that it was , is very improbable ; for it was neither the Doctrine of the Church , nor the Law of the Land : And yet if our Authour cannot prove this , he proves nothing to his purpose ; if they did not act upon his Principles , though they suffered for their King then , they might have complied now , as some of them have done , and yet don't think they have recounced the true Principles of Loyalty by it . 3ly . When he resolved to argue from Example , he should have carefully considered , whether there are not more and greater Examples on the other side , whether supposing the Case to be as he represents it , there be any thing like it in all Story , either sacred or profane , whether both Iews and Christians did not always submit to the present Powers , when the Government was settled by what wicked means soever it began : But I shall not enter upon this Argument now , which will be managed by a more learned Pen. I shewed what a vast difference there was between the late times of Rebellion and Usurpation , and this present Revolution ; this he cannot deny , but says , it makes no difference in the Argument ; let us then try that . But to state the matter so plain , that our Authour himself , had he never so much mind to it , shall not be able to mistake or misrepresent it , I must first premise , that they are two very different Questions , as I have observed above , When it is lawful to submit to Usurping Powers ? and , When it becomes a Duty to do it ? It is lawful to submit , when we are under such force as can compell us ; it is our Duty to submit , when , as the Convocation says , the Government is throughly settled ; now while we are in this state , that we are under mere force , but the Government not setled , we may either submit or not submit without Sin ; and then that which must turn the Scale , are Arguments from Interest . Now , what I said upon this occasion in the Case of Allegiance , had reference to both these , viz. That Subjects were not in those days bound in Conscience to submit to these usurped Powers , and not being bound in Conscience to do it , there were many reasons which might move the Royal Party not to do it . Now this is so far from lessening and reproaching their Loyalty , that it is greatly for the Commendation of it ; that when they were not bound in Conscience to submit to those Usurpations , tho by Submission , our Authour intimates , they might have made better Terms for themselves , yet they rather chose to venture their Lives and Fortunes to restore the King , which is not , as our Authour insinuates , to prefer their Interest to their Conscience in serving the King ; but where Conscience was not concerned to the contrary , to venture their Interest ▪ their Lives and Fortunes , to restore the King. Tho Men are but Men , and if what I said be true , that there were many Reasons which touched their Interests , why they should not submit to those Usurpations ; I cannot see what Dishonour it is to them , to say that it may be supposed , that the utmost Despair under a violent Usurpation , and the only possible prospect of bettering their Condition by the return of the King , might , not influence their Consciences , but inspire and quicken their Loyalty . Now that they were not bound in Conscience to submit to those Usurpers , I proved , because their Government was never setled ; and tho the Convocation does not deny the lawfulness of submitting to Power before a Settlement , yet they do not make it a necessary Duty , and matter of Conscience to submit , till the Government is throughly setled . The Convocation alledges two ways , whereby a Government wickedly and unjustly begun , may be throughly setled , viz. By a general Submission , or by Continuance ; that they had not continuance enough to make a Settlement , I proved , because the Government was frequently changed and new moddelled , which was no Argument of Settlement ; and as for Settlement by a general Submission , they could not pretend to that , for they never had a National Consent and Submission . That they had no such National consent , needs not be proved to any Man , who remembers the story of those days . I suppose no man will pretend such a consent to the Government of the Rump-Parliament , when all the Representatives of the Nation were flung out of the House , excepting those few Rumpers , because they would not consent . Nor will it be pretended that Cromwells Dissolving the Rump-Parliament , and summoning some select Persons out of every County , nominated by himself and his Council of Officers , without any Election of the People , to be the Representative of the Nation , had a National consent : Nor had the Council of State chosen by this Mock-House of Parliament , any greater Authority than their Masters ; nor did their Resignation of their Power to Cromwell again give any Authority to him , or carry a National Consent with it . Nor will it be pretended , that the Instrument of Government , agreed on by Cromwell and his Officers , which made Cromwell Lord Protector of the Three Nations , had any National Consent : It is plain , it had no National Consent in framing it , and it is as plain , that it was never afterwards confirmed by any National Consent and Submission . The Parliaments called according to the directions of this Instrument , never could make a National Consent or Submission ; for they were not chosen according to the ancient Customs and Usages of the Nation , nor were they the Representatives of the Nation , but only of a prevailing Party and Faction in it ; for by Article 14. it is provided , That all and every Person and Persons , who have aided , advised , assisted , or abetted in any War against the Parliament , since the first day of Jan. 1641. ( unless they have been since in the Service of the Parliament , and given signal Testimonies of their good Affections thereunto ) shall be disabled , and be uncapable to be elected , or to give any Vote in the Election of any Members to serve in the new Parliament , or in the three succeeding Triennial Parliaments . So that a great part of the Nation were hereby wholly excluded from choosing , or being chosen Members of Parliament : When they were thus chosen , this Election did not make them Parliament-Men , unless they were approved of by the major part of the Council , to be Persons not disabled , but qualified as aforesaid . Artic. 21. When they were thus chosen and approved , they had no Authority to reject this new Model , but it is provided , Art. 12. That the Persons elected shall not have power to alter the Government , as it is hereby setled in one single Person and a Parliament . The first Parliament met Sept. 3. 54. and began to be very busie about the new Government , but the Protector sent for them to the Painted Chamber , and taught them better , that the same Government that made them a Parliament , made him Protector , and that as they are intrusted with some things , so is he with other things . That there were some thing in the Government fundamental , and could not be altered ( tho this Instrument had no other Authority but his own , and his Council of Officers ) as 1. That the Government should be in one Person , and a Parliament , — and therefore he was sorry to understand that any of them should go about to overthrow what was so setled , ( it seems then this Parliament at the beginning was so far from giving their Submission and Consent , that they were about to overthrow this new Settlement ) and to prevent such great Inconveniences , he was necessitated to appoint a Test , or Recognition of the Government , which was to be signed by them , before they went any more into the House , and it was this , I A. B. do hereby freely promise and engage my self to be true and faithful to the Lord Protector , and to the Common-wealth of England , Scotland , and Ireland , and shall not ( according to the tenor of the Indenture whereby I am returned to serve in this present Parliament ) propose or give any Consent to alter the Government , as it is setled in one single Person and a Parliament . That day 130 Members subscribed it , and took their Places in the House , how many more did afterwards is not said . And yet this very Parliament spent near five Months in their debates about the new Government , and the Protector was glad to dissolve them at last ; and this does not look like a National Submission and Consent : especially considering the Plot , which was ready to break out upon it , and the Declaration of the free and well-affected People of England , now in Arms against the Tyrant Oliver Cromwell . In the second Parliament Sept. 1656. many Persons who were returned by the Country for Members were not admitted into the House , as not approved by the Council , which occasioned their publishing a Remonstrance , subscribed by near one hundred of them , the reading of which will satisfie any man , how far that new Government was from having a National Consent and Submission . But this is enough for my present purpose , to shew that those Usurpations were never setled by a National Submission and Consent , but all the settlement they had was mere force : and now let us hear what our Author says to this . As for the Government being frequently changed , he says , every one of these changes was a settlement , if the Dr's notion of a settlement be right : but it is plain according to my notion none of them were settlements ; for none of them had the general Consent and Submission of the People ; and though the Power of the Nation was for some time in their hands , the continuance of none of these changes was long enough to make a Settlement by Prescription without Consent . He adds . But as the National Consent in Parliament , that is indeed part of our Constitution , but what is that to Usurpation , which may Usurp as well upon all Branches of the Constitution as upon one . But I do not urge a National Consent in Parliament , considered as part of our Constitution , but barely considered as a National Consent , for a National Consent and Submission is necessary to the settlement of any new Government , and this must be declared by one means or other . The Consent of a Parliament freely chosen by the Body of the People , must be allowed to be a National Consent , and that Consent the present Government has : but where there is no Consent in Parliament , in a Nation which never gives their consent any other way but by their Representatives , when a Government dares not call such a Parliament , nor ask their consent , or if they do ask , are denied it ; it is evident there is no National Consent . What he says indeed is true , that had Cromwell possessed himself of the Authority of Kings , Lords and Commons ; had he been setled in this Possession by the general Consent and Submission of the People ; he had had God's Authority in all those respects , and ought to have been obeyed ; but without such a Consent , though the People might for a while have silently submitted to Power , they were at liberty to cast off the Yoke , when they had power and opportunity to do it . This is my Notion of a thorough Settlement , to which he appeals ; and let any Man try , whether ( as he says ) it will fit Cromwell in all respects , just as if it had been made for him , viz. When the whole Administration of Government , and the whole Power of the Nation is in the hands of the Prince , when every thing is done in his Name , and by his Authority ; had I added no more , the Author might have pretended , that the Government of the Rump-Parliament , and of Oliver Cromwell had this Settlement , but what follows spoils this Conceit , when the Estates of the Realm , and the great Body of the Nation has submitted to him . So that here was no such Settlement of these Usurpations , as could oblige Subjects in Conscience to obey them and to submit to them ; and when it was not matter of Duty and Conscience to submit , I shewed that there were other very great Reasons , why they should not submit ; not such Reasons as ought to have over-ruled their Consciences , had it been matter of Duty , for there are no such Reasons to be had , but such as were very reasonable and almost invincible Prejudices against Submission , when Conscience was not concerned ; and this answers all his little Objections . As , 1. The great Villanies of those days in an open and bare-fac'd Rebellion — and in the barbarous Murder of one of the best Princes in the World — this , he says , makes no difference in my Arguments . What! not to prejudice wise and good Men against all Compliances ? For who that could possibly avoid it , ( that is , where strict Duty does not oblige , nor irresistible Force constrain ) would submit to such Men ? 2. The barbarous usage the Kings Friends met with . This he confesses makes some difference in point of Interest , but none in point of Conscience ; nor did I say it did , but it justly created a great Aversion to those Usurpations , and was a reason not to submit , when they were not obliged in Conscience to do it , since all the Interest they had in the World engaged them , not to settle by their Submissions , but to do all they could to overturn those Usurpations . 3. The Church of England was overturned , Bishops , Deans , &c. turned out , and their Lands and Revenues sold ; the Loyal Clergy were Malignants for what they had done , and had no way to keep their Livings , but by renouncing the Church of England . To this he answers ; the Case is concerning Civil Government , not Ecclesiastical . But yet whoever loves the Church , will not chuse to submit ( when they are not obliged in Conscience ) to such Usurpations on the State , as overthrow the Church : Whether they were obliged to renounce Episcopacy or not , they saw it destroyed , and not so much as an Indulgence allowed to the Worship or Government of the Church of England . What he adds , I would desire him carefully to consider , for it did not concern them ; that to be disabled to keep a Living , though a very good one , is no reason to rebel against a settled Government . 4. The whole Government in Church and State was overturned , which was the fundamental Constitution of the Nation ; but this , he says , is only changing the form of Government , as the Dr. knows the Convocation says , when such degenerate forms of Government are throughly settled . I grant it , but when such degenerate forms of Government are not throughly settled , the subversion of the fundamental Constitution of the Nation , is a reasonable prejudice against submission , when it is not a duty . His parting Objection is so very ridiculous , that had he begun with it , I should have thought he had only intended it for a jest , but I am now so well acquainted with his way of reasoning , that I am satisfied , he is capable of thinking it an argument ; and it is this . If possession of Sovereign Power contary to Law , be God's Authority , and ought to be obeyed , then whatever Sovereign Power a Prince possesses himself of , is likewise God's Authority , and ought to be obeyed . — If therefore a Prince in a limited Monarchy resolves eo be arbitrary — to make his will the Law , and to exercise an Illegal Power , he must be obeyed as Gods Authority . But where do I say , that possession of Sovereign Power contrary to Law is Gods Authority ? He does not pretend , that I say it in express words , but this he supposes is the sense of what I say : But I desire he would keep to my words , for I will answer for none of his senses , unless I were better satisfied both of his understanding and honesty . I say indeed , that a Prince who is settled in the possession of Sovereign Power , though he have no legal Title to the Crown , has God's Authority ; and what then ? therefore the possession of Sovereign power contrary to Law is God's Authority ; how does this follow ? cannot God settle a King upon the Throne without a legal Title , but he must be presumed to give him Authority , when ever he has power , to govern by an Arbitrary will , against the Laws of the Land ? cannot God make a King , without giving him Authority to do all that he has power to do ? But the formal reason of obedience to such a Prince is because he hath God's Authority , and the evidence that he hath God's Authority , is because he is possessed of Sovereign Power . Suppose this , though God's Authority be the formal reason of our obedience to a Prince , yet it is not the Rule of our obedience , and therefore we are not bound to obey every thing he commands , though he have God's Authority . The Authority of God is only an Authority to govern according to the Laws of God and Nature , or the Laws of the Land ; and tho Sovereign Princes may have such an Authority , as must not be resisted , yet in a limited Monarchy they have no more Authority from God to transgress the Laws of the Land , than in an absolute Monarchy they have to transgress the Laws of God and Nature . Indeed Arbitrary Government is not the possession of Sovereign Power , which is God's Authority , but the arbitrary Exercise of it : And tho we must obey God's Authority , it does not hence follow , that we must obey the Exercise of Arbitrary Power . And yet I do not attribute Gods Authority ( which we must obey in Conscience ) to the bare possession of Power , but to the setled possession of it ; that is , with the Consent and Submission of the People ; and could any Prince change a limited into an absolute Monarchy by a National Consent , Subjects were then as much bound in Conscience to submit to an arbitrary Power in all matters , which have no moral evil in them , as they are now to obey the Laws ; but then this would not be an Authority against Law , but the Law would be changed : Thus it is not yet , and we are in no danger now it should be so ; and therefore the Case of the Declaration , and of Magdalen-Colledge , &c. are very impertinently alledged by our Authour , and he had better reserve them , till he can bring us under the Government of a French Power . But do not I say , That when the Laws of the Land contradict the Laws of God , they are no Rule to us , but their Obligation must give place to Divine Authority . He should have cited the whole , That the Laws of the Land are the Rule of Conscience , when they do not contradict the Laws of God ; but when they do , they are no Rule to us . So that the Laws of the Land must be the Rule of our Obedience to Princes , unless they contradict the Laws of God , and I do not know that any of our Laws do that , and then there is no danger in a limited Monarchy , that we should be obliged by God's Authority to obey Arbitrary Will and Power . It is a certain truth , as our Authour must confess , that if the Laws of the Land contradict the Laws of God , they are no Rule to us . But this proves nothing in particular , without proving what Laws of the Land are contrary to the Laws of God : If then he can prove , that by the Law of God , we are bound to obey the Arbitrary Will of the Prince against the Laws of the Land , whenever he will command things against Law , and has power to crush us , if we will not obey , I will readily grant , and so must he , that it is our duty to do it ; but till he prove this , he must not take it for granted there is such a Law , and then we need dispute this matter no further at present . But what he means by this Argument I cannot tell ; if he does think , there is such a Law of God , I suppose he intended in good earnest to prove , that we must submit to the Arbitrary Will of our Prince against Law , and to condemn the opposition that was made in the late Reign to such Arbitrary Proceedings ; if he did not believe there was any such Law of God , how ridiculous was it to pretend , that we must submit to Arbitrary Will and Power against Law , because when the Laws of the Land contradict the Laws of God , they are no Rule to us . I shall only observe farther , that our Authour charges me with saying in the Case of Resistance , that this may easily be ( that a Prince in a limited Monarchy should resolve to be arbitrary ) when he has all the Power of the Kingdom in his hands , and must not be resisted . Whereas I bring this in by way of objection against Non-Resistance , and only say , it is possible , but shew by several Arguments how difficult it is , and that the Doctrine of Non-Resistance does not destroy the distinction between a limited and absolute Monarchy : But at this rate he uses to cite Authours , that unwary Readers will easily be imposed on , if they give too much credit to him . Thus I have particularly answered all the little appearances of Reason and Argument in the Postscript , and made it appear , that according to the Sense of the Convocation , those Princes who have no legal Right , may yet have God's Authority , and have so , when their Government is thoroughly setled . And now had been the proper time to enquire what the Convocation meant by a thorough Settlement , but he did not like this order , and therefore chose to begin with the Notion of thorough Settlement ; for when once it had appeared , that the Convocation spoke of the settlement of illegal Powers , he must have been ashamed to have pretended , that they meant a legal Settlement , by acquiring a new legal Title , either by the death or cession of the right Heirs , or by a long Prescription . I shall only add , that when the Convocation speaks of a Settlement , they mean the Settlement of the Government within it self , not with respect to foreign Force and Power ; for so they express it , when they have established any of the said degenerate Forms of Government amongst their own People , and then the Government may be throughly setled within it self , before it have a peaceable Possession and Settlement ; so Alexander's Authority was setled at Ierusalem , before Darius was finally conquered ; and so are K. William and Q. Mary setled on the Throne , notwithstanding all the expectations some have of a French Invasion and Conquest . And since our Authour insists so much upon a legal Settlement , Possession of the Throne , with the Consent and Submission of the Estates of the Realm , gives a legal Settlement in England , if we will believe our best Iudges and Lawyers , as I shall be inclined to do , till I see a fair Answer to what I have said in this Cause , in the Case of Allelegiance ; and then we have the opinion of our Lawyers for a Settlement , and of the Convocation for Obedience to a setled Government . For the Conclusion of his Answer , he alledges the Authority of Bishop Andrews and Bishop Buckeridge , two Members of this Convocation , and of Dr. Iackson , a very learned Divine , against that sense we give of the Convocation . The thing then he is to prove from these reverend and learned Men against our sense of the Convocation is this , that those who ascend the Throne by Usurpation without a legal Right have not God's Authority , and must not be obeyed ; and that such Princes can never , in the sense of the Convocation , be setled in their Thrones , or have God's Authority , till they gain some new legal Right , by the Death or Cession of the rightful Prince , or by a long Prescription : Let us see then , how he proves this to be the judgment of these Learned Men. Now what he quotes from B. Andrews has not one word of this matter . The whole of it is no more but this ; that the Bishop will not allow the Name of King to any but Kings of lawful and true descent ; they are Kings , the they reign not , as Ioash was ; others are no Kings , but Usurpers , tho they reign , as Athaliah did ; and what is this to the purpose ? Does not the Convocation allow Ioash to be the true Heir , while he was kept from the Crown , and Athaliah an Usurper , tho she reigned Six Years ? Does not the Convocation call such Kings , Kings de facto , which is a little softer Name than Vsurper , but signifies much the same thing , viz. One who is possessed of the Throne without a legal Right ? And yet what the Convocation's Doctrin was about Obedience to such Kings , I have already proved ; and Bishop Andrews might be of the same mind , tho he would not allow them the Name of Kings . But the Bishop will not allow , that such Kings reigned by God. Right ; but then he does not mean , that such Kings do not exercise God's Authority ; but that God did not by his antecedent Will and Appointment place them on the Throne . Thus S. Chrysostom , on the 13. Rom. allows all Power and Authority to be of God , and to be ordained by God , and therefore not to be resisted , whoever has it ; but yet will not say , that all Princes , who exercise this Power wickedly and tyrannically , whatever their Title be , are ordained of God : He thought it a Reproach and Blemish to the goodness and justice of Providence , to say , that wicked , impious , tyrannical Princes were ordained by God , but yet granted that the Authority they exercised was Gods , and must be obeyed : The Bishop and others will allow what S. Chrysostom would not , That the most wicked Tyrants , who have a legal Title to their Thrones , are ordained by God , but are afraid to own , that Princes who ascend their Thrones by unjust and wicked means , are set up by God ; but it does not hence follow , that they denyed their Power and Authority to be Gods , or that Subjects ought to obey it . The Convocation it self affirms no more , in that mighty place , as our Authour calls it , than that the Authority which is exercised in those Governments , which begun by the Ambition of Princes , or the Rebellion of Subjects , is always God's Authority , and therefore can receive no impeachment by the wickedness of those who have it , and therefore must be obeyed . So that Learned Men may differ in this Point , whether illegal Usurpers are placed on the Throne by the over-ruling Counsels and Appointment of God , or only by his permissive Providence , and yet agree in the main Conclusion , That the Authority they exercise , when setled in their Thrones , is God's Authority , and must be obeyed . We have a very express Determination of this matter by Doctor Iackson , ( to whom our Authour appeals ) in that very Sermon to which he refers ; and tho the Passage be long , it is worth transcribing , and it is this : But doth this Rule of our Apostle hold as punctually of the Magistrate , as of the Magistracy ? Doth every one which resists the Magistrate , or Men invested with the power of Jurisdiction resist the Ordinance of God as directly , or in as high a degree , as he that resists the Power it self wherewith he is invested ; as he that seeks to overthrow the Magistracy ? It is the Observation of S. Chrysostom , and Oecumenius upon this place , that S. Paul does not say , There is no Magistrate but from God , or that the Magistrates that be , be ordained of God , but that there is no power which is not from God , and that the powers that be , are ordained of God : That he purposely speaks not of this or that Magistrate in particular , or of the Person to whom the Power is annexed , sed de re ipsa , but of the Power it self . But here a Man might well demand of them ; is there any Power here meant by the Apostle , which is not inherent in some Mens Persons ? Is there any Magistracy without a Magistrate ? Or how can the Power be resisted , unless the Party be resisted in whom it is seated ? And so he goes on to prove that S. Paul meant the Magistrate , even Nero himself , not merely the Magistracy : So that as Magistracy , or the power of jurisdiction is from God , and must be obeyed , so must the Magistrate who has this Power . And yet in the next Section he makes a great difference between the Power it self , and the Acquisition or Exercise of Power , That our Apostle's Rule doth not so punctually hold of the means or acquisition of Power , or of the exercise of it , as it doth of the Power or Magistracy it self . Albeit the Power or Magistracy be always God's positive and primary Ordinance , always an effect of his gracious Providence , always a Blessing towards any Land or People , or the Award of his antecedent Will : Yet the manner of acquiring this Power , or the annexing it to this or that Person , one or more , is not always the positive Ordinance of God , no effect of his Bounty and Benignity , no consequent of his antecedent Will , but sometimes rather the Award of his consequent Will , and an Act at least permissive of his punitive Iustice. So that all Princes are not from God , in the same sense that all Power is , but all Princes have that Power , which is from God , and must be obeyed . His next Testimony is from Bishop Buckeridge , and he speaks exactly the sense of the Convocation , that Athaliah had not acquired a Right to the Crown , neither by the consent of the People , nor by the Prescription of six years , which shews what his judgment was , that such an Usurper as Athaliah , might acquire a Right to the Crown , either by the consent of the People , or by long continuance , as the Convocation asserts in the case of Autiochus , the Bishop I think not with the same reason in the Case of Athaliah ; but whether his Application be proper or not , his Doctrine is the same with the Convocation's . Our Author did well to cite this passage honestly , but he did not well to corrupt it with his Comment , as I observed before ; for he turns a Disjunctive into a Conjunctive : the Bishop says neither by the consent of the People , nor by the Prescription of six years ; which supposes , that either the consent of the People , or a long Prescription would give a Right , and he expounds it of both together , that a right to the Government is acquired by a Prescription , and that is a long and uninterrupted Possession , joyned with the consent of the People . His last Appeal is to Dr. Iaekson , and I allow the Doctor does say what he quotes from him , that a mere Vsurper or a Tyrant by Title may be resisted by violence even to Deposition or Death — Our Author Confesses Dr. Iackson will not allow resistance to be made by every body , but he says it with this qualification , save in the right and interest of the Right Heir , Or by his Commission and Command ; where he has turned the Tables , and made a Conjunctive a Disjunctive , Or for And , little Particles , which make no difference with our Author : But since he has not thought fit to give us this entire Paragraph , I will do it for him , and let the Reader judge , on which side Dr. Iachson is : it is this . So then a Tyrant or Vsurper may be Deposed or Resisted ; but thus Resisted or Deposed he may not be by every Man , who knows him to be an Vsurper . For a Man may trangress this Rule of the Apostle , and resist Gods Ordinance , by resisting the Power , wherewith he is invested , though not simply by resisting him ( so that an Usurper has that power which is Gods Ordinance , and must not be resisted by every body ) Aliud est Magistratum esse , aliud est in Magistratu esse , aut Magistratum gerere : it is one thing to be a ture and lawful Magistrate , another thing to bear or execute the Office of a true Magistrate . The Acts of a false Magistrate or Intruder , whilst he is in Magistratu in the Office it self , are of validity ( let our Author remember this too . ) His Person is to be obeyed , not resisted by every Man , until he be declared to be an Vsurper or Intruder by some higher Power or Authority . Few Tyrants have gotten Investiture or admission to Royal Power by more indirect means , thou Richard the third in this Kingdom did , yet many Acts and Exercises of Royal Power , though proceeding from him , were legal and of validity . Nor did they resist the Ordinance of God that bore Office under him , that obeyed his Summons , whether for Parliament , or other business of State. ( This confutes great part of our Author's Book , and undermines the Fundamental Principles of it . ) It had been a sin for any man of his own private head to have killed him , albeit all the space of his Reign he did resist the Ordinance of God : for every man is not an Avenger of such as resist the Ordinance of God : this belongs to the Higher Powers only , or unto them to whom the Supreme Power is by right annexed . And so Henry of Richmond was Authorized by Gods Ordinance to execute vengeance , or to bring condemnation on this Tyrant , which every one might not have done , which perhaps no other might have done save only in his Right and Interest , and by his Commission and Command . Now who ever doubted , but that a rightful Prince , when dispossessed unjustly , may recover his Throne again if he can , and dispossess the Usurper , or that those who lawfully receive Commission from him , may lawfully fight in his quarrel : but the great question still remains , whether Subjects may lawfully take Commissions from the dispossessed Prince , to fight against the Prince , who is settled in the Possession of the Throne ; this Dr. Iackson does not say , and therefore he can do our Author no service . His next citation from Dr. Iackson is the case of Jehoiada ' s Deposing of Athaliah , urged by the Papists for the power of the Pope to depose Kings . But this he has so shamefully mangled , that a little discretion would have taught him rather to have left it out , than to have betrayed so much dishonestly in his quotations , I shall give the Reader the entire passage . First , Jehoiada in that he was High-Priest , was a prime Peer in the Realm of Judah , and invested with the power of Iurisdiction next in order and dignity to the Higher Power . This our Author leaves out , though very material , because it shews by what Authority he did it , as the Ordinary Supreme Magistrate in the vacancy of the Throne ; that is , not merely in right of his Priesthood , as the Papists pretended , nor merely as a Subject , but as being the Higher Power and Authority , to whom the judgment of such matters belonged , as he had observed before . And this is the very account the Convocation gives of it , that Iehoiada did this being the Kings Vncle , and the chief Head and Prince of his Tribe , that is , not a private Subject , but a chief Prince in the Kingdom of Iudah . The Doctor proceeds . Secondly , The Power Royal , or Supreme , was by right , by the express Ordinance and positive Law of God , annexed unto the Infant Prince , whom Jehoiada ' s Wife had saved from the Tyranny of Athaliah , as being next Heir now alive unto David . In the right of this Prince , and for the actual annexion of the Supreme Power to his person ( unto whom it was de jure annexed ) Jehoiada , being the chief Magistrate in the vacancy , did by force and violence Depose her , who had Usurpt the Royal Scepter by violence , and cruel Murder of her Seed Royal. All these words , in a different Character , are left out by our Author , and some of them very material ones , especially those , by the express Ordinance , and positive Law of God , and the next Heir now alive to David , which plainly refers to the Divine entail on David's Family , and distinguishes this from the case of other Usurpers , which is the very account the Convocation gave of it , as I shewed before , and overthrows all that our Author has said about the case of Athaliah , and for that reason he suppressed them , as any one will easily guess . Thus he leaves out , Jehoiada being the chief Magistrate in the vacancy , which shews this was an Act of Authority and Jurisdiction , which private Subjects must not pretend to ; and therefore would not serve his purpose , and I believe by this time , he thinks he had better have let it all alone . He concludes his Postscript with rage aud venom , and I have no answer to that . I have indeed changed my Opinion about the Authority of Usurpers , who are setled in the Throne by the general consent and submission of the People , and of the Estates of the Realm , and I have Scripture and Reason , the Authority of the Church of England , and the Laws of the Land ( for any thing our Author has said to the contrary ) to justifie this change ; and I assure him , I will change my Opinion in any thing else upon the same terms , and despise his censures of my Honesty for doing so ; and as for Authority , I never pretended to any my self , and will never own any mans Authority , much less my own Opinions , in opposition to Scripture and Reason , the Church of England , and the Laws of the Land. But what a charitable Opinion our Author has of the present Government , and of all that comply with it , we may see in the Parallel he makes between my case and that of Hazael : as if swearing Allegiance to King William and Queen Mary were as great , as notorious , as self evident an impiety and wickedness , as all the villanies , which the Prophet Elisha foretold Hazael , that he would be guilty of : I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the Children of Israel , their strong holds wilt thou set on fire , and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword , and wilt dash their children , and rip up their women woth child . But let our Author consider , who are most likely to be guilty of these Villanies , those who quietly submit to the Government , which is now setled among us , or those who are for overturning all by bringing in a French Power , to devour and consume with Fire and Sword , and to enslave their Native Country : if this be Allegiance and Passive Obedience , I am sure , what our Author calls Perjury and Rebellion are the greater vertues . As for his parting Request , I do affirm it again , That I never was factious against taking the Oaths , nor made it my business to dissuade men from it ; when my Opinion was asked , I declared my own thoughts , but never sought out men to make Proselytes : and in this Profession I am not afraid of his or any other mens memories so much as of their inventions , for there are some great Wits among them . Let them produce the man , if they can , whom I endeavoured to dissuade by word or writing from taking the Oaths , where my Opinion was not first asked ; and if my Opinion had any Authority with them then , our Author knows , it is more than it ought to have had , and that was none of my fault ; unless he means , that my Authority was considerable against taking the Oath , but none for it ; which is the way , that all Parties and Factions judge of mens Authorities . But though our Author seems very well acquainted with the thing called Faction , yet he is not willing to understand the word ; and therefore I must tell him , that when I say , I was never factious against the Oath , I do not mean , that I was never hearty and zealous against taking the Oath ; for I hope there may be Zeal without Faction ; or that when I was pressed to discourse the matter , I did not talk with as much Warmth and Concernment as other Men. But Faction is quite another thing , it shews it self in Separations , and Schisms , in Rancour and Bitterness , Envyings and Emulations , in violent Oppositions to Government , in changing and confining Friendships with a Party , in Censures and Reproaches , in stigmatizing all Persons of another Perswasion , as perjur'd Knaves ; whereas tho there had been a material Perjury , a different Opinion may excuse from formal Perjury ; for no Man is formally perjured , who does not know it : I shall not explain this by Instances ; for if our Author is for writing Secret Histories , I am not so at present . And now I am at leisure to attend his motions , and to consider his threatned examination of all my arguments , whenever his due time for it comes ; and if he will promise to examine them well , before he answers , I shall expect to hear no more from him . THE END . BOOKS Published by the Revered Dr. SHERLOCK , and Printed for William Rogers . AN Answer to a Discourse Entituled , Papists Protesting against Protestant Popery . An Answer to the Amicable Accommodation of the Differences between the Representer and the Answerer , 4 o. A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Benjamin Calamy . D. D. A Vindication of some Protestant Principles of Church Unity and Catholick Communion , from the Charge of Agreement with the Church of Rome . A Preservative against Popery : Being some plain Directions to unlearned Protestants how to Dispute with Romish Priests , First Part , 4 o 5th Edition . A Second Part of the Preservative against Popery . A Vindication of both Parts of the Preservative against Popery , in Answer to the Cavils of Lewis Sabran , Jesuite , 4 o. A Discourse concerning the Nature , Vnity , and Communion of the Catholick Church . First Part. 4 o. A Sermon before the Right Honorable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London , on Sunday , Nov. 4. 1688. 4 o. A Practical Discourse concerning Death . Fifth Edition . 8 o. A Vindication of the Doctrine of the Holy and ever Blessed Trinity , and the Incarnation of the Son of God. Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A59904-e250 Cast of Alleg . p. 5. Case of Alleg . p. 5. Postcript , p. 3. Answer , pag. 21. Answer , pag. 19. Ibid. p. 27. Ibid. p. 19. Case of Alleg . p. 6. Ibid. Postscript , p. 3. Ans. p. 19. Postscript , p. 2. Postscript , p. 3. Answ. p. 5. Answer , p. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , &c. Ibid. p. 11. Ibid. p. 12. Ioseph . l. 11. cap. 8. Convocat . ch . 23. p. 41. Answer , p. 17. Convocat . p. 69. Answer , p. 27. Convocat . Car. 27 ▪ 26 p. 55. Case of Allegiance , p. 34 , 35. 1 Chr. 23. 5. Convocat . ch . 23. p. 41. p. 24 , 25. Postscript , p. 4. Convocat . ch . 27. p. 52. Ibid. ch . 25. p. 46. Ch. 27. p. 53. Postscript , p. 5. Ibid. p. 3. Postscript , p. 7. Case of Allegiance , p. 11. Case of Allegiance , p. 42. Postcript . p. 7. Postscript . p. 10. Postscript ▪ p. 11. Case of Alleg. p. 51 , 52. Postscript , p. 11. Imperia omnia post vocationem gentium Deus regit & mutat non communi tantùm illâ providentiâ , per quam multa relinquit naturali ordine ; sed sapientiâ attemperatâ subditorum utilitatibus , aut si ita meruerint poenis . Fecit hoc & olim Deus aliquoties , Psalm . 75. 6 , 7. Prov. 28. 2. Dan. 2. 21 , 37. At Christus hoc Universaliter à Christianis credi , & pro certo haberi voluit . Joh. 19. 11. quem sequens hoc loco Paulus , nullum ait imperium nunc contingere , nisi Deo Authoritatem ei suam dante , sicut Rex dat praesidibus . Quod ut rectius intelligatur , addit , omnia imperia quae sunt , i. e. quam diu manent ac durant , à Deo constitui , i. e. Authoritatem suam accipere , non minus quàm si Reges illi per Prophetas uncti essent , ut quidam Syriae Reges . In Clem. Const. habemus , Tòv 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Iren. 5. 24. Cujus enim jussu homines nascuntur , hujus jussu , & reges constituuntur , apti illis , qui illis temporibus ab ipsis regnantur . Tert. Apol. Nos judicium Dei suspicimus in Imperatoribus , qui gentibus illos praefecit , Grot. in 13. Rom. 1. Ac sanè hoc verbo mihi videtur Apostolus voluisse tollere frivolam hominum curiositatem , qui sape solent inquirere quo jure adepti fuerint potestatem qui rerum potiuntur ; satis autem nobis esse debet quod praesunt : non enim conscenderunt suâ ipsi virtute in hoc fastigium , sed manu Dei sunt impositi , Calv. in 13. Rom. 1. Postscript , p. 12. Aug. de Civitate Dei , l. 5. c. 12. Case of . Alleg. p. 18. Convocat . Chap. 28 p. 57. Postscripe P. 13. Ans. p 21 , 22. Case of Alleg . p. 36. Post. p. 14. Whitlock's Memorials , p. 555. Ibid. p. 587. Ibid. p. 600. Ibid. p. 640. Postscript p. 15. Postscript . p. 15. Answer , p. 27. Iackson , Vol. 3. p. 963 , &c. Pag. 965. Convoc . c. 23. p. 41. 2 Kings 8. 12.