ENGLISH Liberty and Property Asserted In pursuance of the Statute Laws of this Commonwealth.  
Discovering Israel's Sin in choosing a KING, BY SEVERAL QUESTIONS humbly propounded to the grave Senators at WESTMINSTER.  
And to all others, who have the Power of this Nation in their hands.  
That which is highly esteemed amongst men, is an abomination in the sight of God,  Luk. 16.15. 
I gave thee a King in my anger, and took him away in my wrath,  Hos. 13.11. 
Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord,  2 Chron. 19.6. 
Now let them put away their Whoredoms, and the carcases of their Kings far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever,  Ezek. 43.9. 
march LONDON, Printed for Livewell Chapman at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley. 1657.   

English Liberty and Property Asserted.  
Qu. 1 WHether any King can possibly at any time be chosen with greater consent and approbation of the people, than was the first King of Israel, Saul? for it is said, 1 Sam. 10.24. That all the people shouted and said God save the King, and chap. 11.15. That Saul and all the People of Israel rejoiced greatly.  
Qu. 2 Whether notwithstanding the said free election and universal approbation, the Lord did not from Heaven manifest this choice to be a horrible wickedness in his sight, by sending thunder and rain in wheat harvest, 1 Sam. 12.17. And did not the People acknowledge as much, saying (vers. 19) we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask us a King?  
Qu. 3 Whether Gods severe punishment of Saul in rending the kingdom from him, for one sinful act (which man would take to be an act of mercy at first sight, in sparing Agag, and zeal in preserving the fatlings for sacrifice) doth not evidently declare God's indignation against King-ship, 1 Sam. 15.23.  
Qu. 4 Whether did not the Lord reckon with the People of Israel for their Kingly Government; and for this their great sin of making themselves rather Beasts than men, by submitting the reason of the whole Nation to one man, when he destroyed seventy thousand of them by the Pestilence in three days, for David's one sin of numbering the people 2 Sam. 24.15. the Heathen could say, delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.  
Qu. 5 Whether the Lord by permitting Solomon (the wisest of the mere sons of men) to become a Fool by leaving the true God, who had twice appeared to him, and turning aside to Idols, and going after the abominations of the Heathens, 1 Kin. 11.5. did not point (as it were) with the finger at this beastly folly of Israel, in advancing one man to so great a height, as to put him above man, and to make him a King, that so they might even fall down, and worship the great Idol which they had set up?  
Qu. 6. Whether though the People of Israel had thus rejected the Lord in setting up a King, upon the revolting of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam, when they cried what portion have we in David, to your Tents O Israel, because he harkened not to the counsel of the old men, 1 King. 12.8. having all this time well smarted for their folly, and the Government of Kingship proving very burdensome and tyrannical (as appears 1 King. 12.9, 10) doth the Lord either blame or condemn the said ten Tribes for their defection, or in any kind testify his displeasure against them? nay, doth he not plainly justify them therein, by sending Shemaiah the Prophet, to their brethren, that would have gone out to war against them, saying, Ye shall not go up to sight against your brethren, return every man to his own house; for this thing is from me, saith the Lord, 1 King. 12.24.  
Qu. 7. Whether is it not probable that the Lord would give as good Kings to his own peculiar people, whom he loved as the apple of his eye, as to any other people whatsoever, and yet what horrid murders and cruel bloodshed, were there continually among the said Kings of Israel to obtain the Crown; and how were the people vexed with wars continually, by reason of those cursed Kings, and how few of the said Kings have died in their beds, like other men. See the books of the Kings and Chronicles.  
Qu. 8. Whether doth not the Office of King-ship in the very nature and being thereof, tend directly by advancing prerogative to the enslaving of the people, by whom it is established, and by magnifying its own power and grandeur perpetually to prey upon the people's liberty, and property, according to the description given thereof, 1 Sam. 8. from 11. to 19 v. It being as diametrically opposite to the People's Liberty, as darkness is to light, Prerogative, and Freedom, being like two balances, when one is up, the other is down, and hath not the experience of all ages in other Nations, and in our own, very lately given sad and bleeding testimonies to the truth hereof?  
Qu. 9 Whether would it not make the heart and bowels of any Christian to yern, tremble, and bleed within him, to consider how the poor people of Israel, were punished from time to time, for the wickedness of their Kings, insomuch as it is said, 2 King. 14.26. The Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, and have not war, and the plague been (as it were) entailed upon our own Nation on the account of Kingship from Generation to Generation, and doth not the mercy of God in freeing the great City and Nation, both from the one and the other, since Kingship was abolished, give clear testimony hereunto?  
Que. 10 Whether did not judgement and justice run down like a might stream, whilst the people of Israel in a free Commonwealth were under the government of their good Moses, Joshuas and samuel's; but when they would have Kings like the Heathens round about them; were not men made offenders for a word (though it were the Word of the Lord) to the imprisoning of their persons, witness the Prophet Jeremy, etc. Jer. 32.3. And many others; nay, were they not causelessly stripped of their lives and properties, through the base lusts of their Kings, (though some of them good ones;) do we not find Naboth, 1 King. 21. in a solemn way of fasting, had his life taken away, that so his Vineyard might be obtained by King Ahab; and Uriah, with many others lost their lives, most treacherously, that so the Adultery with Bathsheba his wife might be covered and concealed from the people, though it could not from the Lord, 2 Sam. 11. and 12. ch. And for the pride of Hezekiahs' heart were not the children of Israel carried captive into Babylon, 2 King. 20.17, 18. And did not the Lord for the wickedness of Manasseh, bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever should hear thereof, both his ears should tingle, 2 Kings 21.12.  
Que. 11 Whether doth it not appear as clear as the Sun at noonday, from the Scriptures already quoted, that God did never institute or approve the office of a King, or Kingly government, but that it is directly opposite to the mind and will of God? On the contrary, did not the Lord himself ordain a free Commonwealth for his own people, whom he chose from all the Nations of the world, and then gave them a Government, not like to theirs, (which was King-ship) and when they rejected this, doth he not plainly say, 1 Sam. 8.5. they had rejected him, that he should not reign over them, 1 Sam. 8.7. and doth not God farther say, Hos. 8.3. Israel hath cast off the thing that is good, and verse 4. They have set up Kings, but not by me, they have made Princes, and I knew it not.  
Que. 12 Whether will this new modelled Kingship be the government of Jesus Christ so much spoken of in Scripture, as also in the Remonstrances, Declarations, and Papers of the Army, particularly in that Declaration from Muscleborrough in Scotland, 1650. wherein they profess themselves not to be Soldiers of fortune, nor merely the servants of men, but have proclaimed Jesus Christ (the King of Saints) to be their King? Or will it be the New Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven, mentioned, Rev. 21.2. or the new Heavens, and new Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness, promised and spoken of by the Prophets, and in the New Testament, 2 Pet. 3.13. Or rather is not this thrust on to prevent, keep out, and stand in the way of the said Government of Jesus Christ, and will not that which is spoken of by Ezekiel the Prophet, be applicable hereunto; Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the Diadem, and take off the Crown; This shall not be the same, exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come, whose right it is, and I will give it him.  
Qu. 13 Is not Kingship one of the ten horns of the Beast mentioned, Rev. 17.12, And hath it not given its strength and power to the Beast for these many hundred years past, and made war with the Lamb in this Nation from time to time, to the pouring out of much innocent blood of the Saints, Rev. 17.13.14. And hath not the Lord broken this horn in pieces here amongst us, and sufficiently poured forth contempt, upon this Kingship? And shall we yet again make war with Jesus Christ the Lamb, and desert his cause and work, which he hath so miraculously carried on to the wonder and astonishment of all Spectators; so that we could truly say whilst we were pursuing that, there was no Rock like unto our Rock, even our enemies being Judges; Deut. 32.31. And did not England's Army once rejoice to see this horn of the Beast cut off, and encourage Scotland thereunto, that they might become one in the Lord's hand, and join together in the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, and to trample down the Seat of the Beast, to hate the Whore, and burn her flesh with fire? See the Declaration of the English Army in Scotland, 1650. p. 7. Army's Declaration. Aug. 1. 1650.  
Qu. 14 Whether the Lord doth not by all these punishments of his inflicted upon his own people, sufficiently threaten anger against any others, that being once free, shall upon any account whatsoever give up their liberties into the hands of any one man, to be a King over them? And whether these things where not done as Types and Precedents for after ages; for saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 10.6. These things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted, and Rom. 15.4. Whatsoever things were written afore-time, were written for our learning.   
FINIS.