They pretended not
to knowledge or abilities; they were but humble individuals, to whom God
had given reason for their guide, and whose duty it was to act as that
reason dictated. Hence they called themselves Rationalists, a name which
was soon exchanged for the more expressive appellation of Levellers. In
religion they rejected all coercive authority; men might establish a public
worship at their pleasure, but, if it were compulsory, it became unlawful
by forcing conscience, and leading to wilful sin: in politics they taught
that it was the duty of the people to vindicate their own rights and do
justice to their own claims. Hitherto the public good had been sacrificed
to private interest; by the king, whose sole object was the recovery of
arbitrary power; by the officers, who looked forward to commands, and
titles, and emoluments; and by the parliament, which sought chiefly the
permanence of its own authority. It was now time for the oppressed to
arise, to take the cause into their own hands, and to resolve "to part with
their lives, before they would part with their freedom."[2] These doctrines
[Footnote 1: Clarendon, iii. 70-72-75. Ashburnham, ii. 94. Of the
disposition of the Scottish parliament, we have this account from Baillie:
"If the king be willing to ratify our covenant, we are all as one man to
restore him to all his rights, or die by the way; if he continue resolute
to reject our covenant, and only to give us some parts of the matter of it,
many here will be for him, even on these terms; but divers of the best and
wisest are irresolute, and wait till God give more light.
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