1! IG It 8o Of Natural, Moral, and Civil Liberty: S E R M. dence. It is not every fmall inconveniency III. of this fort, or which very (lightly affeeteth ` the fociety, that ought to be oppofed by methods of violence, which might be at- tended with confequences much more detri- mental to the publick : But when general diforders and invafions of liberty become infupportable, and all other means prove ineffetual, the lait remedy is employing that force of the fociety againft the arbitrary and tyrannical domination of men, which was originally intended to fupport the juif authority of laws. The only reafonable and eligible civil conftitutions, are thofe which fettle the meafure of power and fubmiflion by agreement, and it is the duty of every man in his Ration, and according to his abi- lity, to preferve them unviolated : But when attempts are made to violate them, which may happen, and experience íheweth hath often happened, through the ambition, and other vices of men, then a warm zeal for their defence is one of the moft laudable difpofitions in the human mind, becaufe it is a zeal for virtue, and for the moft im- portant intereft of mankind ; I fay a zeal for virtue; for civil liberty itfelf and virtue are conneted, mutually affifting and fupporting each other, and the hiftories of all nations, thew
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