Thus, notwithstanding whatever
title the kings of Assyria had over Judah, by the sword, God
assisted Hezekiah to throw off the dominion of that conquering
empire. And the lord was with Hezekiah, and he prospered;
wherefore he went forth, and he rebelled against the king of
Assyria, and served him not, 2 Kings xviii. 7. Whence it is
plain, that shaking off a power, which force, and not right, hath
set over any one, though it hath the name of rebellion, yet is no
offence before God, but is that which he allows and countenances,
though even promises and covenants, when obtained by force, have
intervened: for it is very probable, to any one that reads the
story of Ahaz and Hezekiah attentively, that the Assyrians
subdued Ahaz, and deposed him, and made Hezekiah king in his
father's lifetime; and that Hezekiah by agreement had done him
homage, and paid him tribute all this time.
CHAP. XVII.
Of USURPATION.
Sec. 197. AS conquest may be called a foreign usurpation,
so usurpation is a kind of domestic conquest, with this
difference, that an usurper can never have right on his side, it
being no usurpation, but where one is got into the possession of
what another has right to. This, so far as it is usurpation, is
a change only of persons, but not of the forms and rules of the
government: for if the usurper extend his power beyond what of
right belonged to the lawful princes, or governors of the
commonwealth, it is tyranny added to usurpation.
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