They, who remove, or change the legislative,
take away this decisive power, which no body can have, but by the
appointment and consent of the people; and so destroying the
authority which the people did, and no body else can set up, and
introducing a power which the people hath not authorized, they
actually introduce a state of war, which is that of force without
authority: and thus, by removing the legislative established by
the society, (in whose decisions the people acquiesced and
united, as to that of their own will) they untie the knot, and
expose the people a-new to the state of war, And if those, who by
force take away the legislative, are rebels, the legislators
themselves, as has been shewn, can be no less esteemed so; when
they, who were set up for the protection, and preservation of the
people, their liberties and properties, shall by force invade and
endeavour to take them away; and so they putting themselves into
a state of war with those who made them the protectors and
guardians of their peace, are properly, and with the greatest
aggravation, rebellantes, rebels.
Sec. 228. But if they, who say it lays a foundation for
rebellion, mean that it may occasion civil wars, or intestine
broils, to tell the people they are absolved from obedience when
illegal attempts are made upon their liberties or properties, and
may oppose the unlawful violence of those who were their
magistrates, when they invade their properties contrary to the
trust put in them; and that therefore this doctrine is not to be
allowed, being so destructive to the peace of the world: they may
as well say, upon the same ground, that honest men may not oppose
robbers or pirates, because this may occasion disorder or
bloodshed.
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