Page:Common sense - addressed to the inhabitants of America.djvu/20

12 " the people refued to obey the voice of Samuel, and they aid nay but we will have a King over us, that we may be like all the nations, and that our King may judge us, and go out before us and fight our battles." Samuel continued to reaon with them, but to no purpoe; he et before them their ingratitude, but all would not avail, and eeing them fully bent on their folly, he cried out, "I will call unto the Lord, and he hall end thunder and rain (which then was a punihment, being in the time of wheat harvet) that ye may perceive and ee that your wickednes is great which you have done in the ight of the Lord, . So Samuel called unto the Lord, and the Lord ent thunder and rain that day, and all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all the people aid unto Samuel, pray for thy ervants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not; for ." Thee portions of cripture are direct and poitive. They admit of no equivocal contruction. That the Almighty hath here entered his protet againt Monarchical government is true, or the cripture is fale. And a man hath good reaon to believe, that there is as much King-craft as Priet-craft in with-holding the cripture from the public in Popih countries; for Monarchy in every intance is the Popery of Government.

To the evil of Monarchy we have added that of Hereditary Succeion; and as the firt is a degradation and leening of ourelves, o the econd, claimed as a matter of right, is an inult and impoition on poterity. For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to et up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever; and though himelf might deerve ome decent degree of honors of his cotemporaries, yet his decendents might be far too unworthy to inherit them. One of the tronget natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings is, that nature diapproves it, otherwie he would not o frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an As for a Lion.

Secondly, as no man at firt could poes any other public honors than were betowed upon him, o the givers of thoe honors could have no power to give away the right of poterity; and though they might ay "we chooe you for our head," they could not, without manifet injutice to their children, ay that "your children and your children's children hall reign over ours for ever;" becaue uch an unwie, unjut, unnatural compact might (perhaps) in the next ucceion, put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Mot wie men, in their private entiments, have ever treated hereditary right with contempt; yet it was one of thoe evils, which when once etablihed is not eaily removed; many ubmit from fear, others from upertition, and the more powerful part hares with the King the plunder of the ret.

This is uppoing the preent race of Kings in the world to have had an honorable origin; whereas it is more than probable, that could we take off the dark