John Barnard
The Presence of Great God in the Assembly of Political
Rulers
(Boston, 1746)
For one person alone to have the Government of a people
in his hands, would be too great a Temptation. It tends to excite and draw
forth the Pride of man, to make him unsufferably haughty; it gives him
too much libery to exert his corruptionsl and it encourages him to become
a Tyrantand an oppressor, to dispense with Laws and break the most solemn
oaths. To proceed so far in his unrighteous Practices, that his Subjects
weary of the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance, are necessitated
to plead their own cause and vindicate Their Rights by Measures which for
a long time they were loth to make use of... [The English people] armed
themselves in defense of their Religion and Liberties; the Consequence
of which was the Kings' abdicating the Throne.