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. If any mischief come in such cases, it is not
to be charged upon him who defends his own right, but on him that
invades his neighbour's. If the innocent honest man must quietly
quit all he has for peace sake to him who will lay violent hands
upon it, I desire it may be considered what kind of a peace there will
be in the world which consists only in violence and rapine, and
which is to be maintained only for the benefit of robbers and
oppressors. Who would not think it an admirable peace betwixt the
mighty and the mean, when the lamb, without resistance, yielded his
throat to be torn by the imperious wolf? Polyphemus's den gives us a
perfect pattern of such a peace.
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