506 SiTRENGTn AND WEAHNE9S or IIn3IAN REASON. of its royalty and authority. Yet the children being rebels still, May he still justly continued in their banishment, for their own and their parents rebellion, if they do not comply with the ap- pointed method in the act of grace which Was published in their great grandfather's days. It is not a commón case among mankind, that when any king makes a law with a penalty, and publishes it once through his whole nation, he doth not think himself bound to publish this anew, as often as new subjects are born in his dominions? And yet not only all the present subjects, but their posterity also, who break this law, are, in the common sense of mankind, liable to the penalty, because it is supposed, that natureobliges men to còmmunicate such necessary knowledge to their own off- spring. Much less would any king who freely publised an act of grace to rebels, think himself obliged in justice to re- peat the publication of this act to every new generation of rebels who should arise, and continue in the known and wilful rebellion of theirfathers ; for since he was not obliged to make any such act of grace at first, he can never be to repeat the pro- clamation of it. But let it be supposed yet further-, that the king of the coun- try should hear of the continued rebellion of those subjects, and that they had persisted in the violation of his laws, and despised and rejected, forgotten and lost the proclamations of his grace ; arid suppose he should send his army to destroy all that race of rebels, except a few families, in order to manifest his just indig- nation agr,inst their crimes, and thereby awaken those that were left, to a more awful sense of the majesty and justice of their king, and of their own duties to him : Yet further, we will sup- pose he should send another proclamation of mercy to these few families that he had spared out of the general slaughter, with some plainer discoveries of his royal goodness in it, and re- peat afresh to them what duties they should perform, in order to partake of this mercy : Now if after all this discovery both of his justice and;his grace; this race of rebels in two or three generations, should so abandon themselves to all manner of disobedience, should despise this new proclamation of mercy, and giving themselves up to riot and folly, should lose the know- ledge of the laws, and grace of their sovereign ; what possible apology could be made for this wretched race of rebels, why they should not be continued in their 'banishment, and under the displeasureof their king ? The rebellious children of these rebel subjects may com- plain indeed, that they were never told, nor did they know the, general laws of the kingdom, nor were they acquainted with the particular acts of grace,' and these special appointed methods of obtaining pardon and favour. But if the general laws of tlte,
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