Excerpt from The Works of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 3: History of England, New Impression The greatest Anglican doctors of that age had maintained that no breach Of law or contract, no excess Of cruelty, rapacity, or licentiousness, on the part of a rightful king, could justify his people in withstanding him by force. Some Of them had delighted to exhibit the doctrine Of nonresistance in a form so exaggerated as to Shock common sense and humanity. They frequently and emphatically remarked that Nero was at the head of the Roman government when Saint Paul inculcated the duty of obeying magistrates. The inference which they drew was that, if an English king should, without any law but his own pleasure, per secute his subjects for not worshipping idols, should fling them to the lions in the Tower, should wrap them up in pitched cloth and set them on fire to light up Saint James's Park, and should go on with these massacres till Whole towns and Shires were left Without one inhabitant, the survivors would still be bound meekly to submit, and to be torn in pieces or roasted alive without a struggle. The arguments in favour Of this proposition were futile indeed: but the place Of sound argument was amply supplied by the omnipotent sophistry of interest and Of passion. Many writers have expressed wonder that the highspirited Cavaliers Of England should have been zealous for the most slavish theory that has ever been known among men. The truth is that this theory at first presented itself to the Cavalier as the very Opposite Of slavish. Its tendency was to make him not a slave but a freeman and a master. It exalted him by exalting one whom be regarded as his protector, as his friend, as the head of his beloved party and of his more beloved Church. \vhen Republicans were dominant the Royalist had endured wrongs and insults which the restoration of the legitimate government had enabled him to retaliate. Rebellion was therefore associated in his imagination with subjection and degradation, and monarchical authority with liberty and ascendency. It had never crossed his imagination that a time might come when a King, a Stuart, would persecute the most loyal of the clergy and gentry with more than the animosity of the Rump or the Protector. That time had however arrived. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.