It would be more for the common good to submit to the cruellest tyrant, than to break out into open rebellion, obey no power, and put our last refuge… - Francis Atterbury

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is the very Basis, and ground Work, on which all the Super structure of this Pamphlet is rais'd; if therefore we shall prove that, the Voice of the People is the Cry of Hell, leading to Idolatry, Rebellion, Murder, and all the Wickedness the Devil can suggest, it will follow that all the Notions grounded, upon the false Principle of its being the Voice of God, must fall to the Ground, and that the Broacher of them has built upon Sand, and is himself guilty of promoting Irreligion, Profaneness, Sedition, Slaughter, and Confusion.

[W]e live in Evil Days, when the most important and confess'd Truths, such as by the Wisest and Best Men in all Ages have been rever'd, are by Licentious Tongues question'd, argued against, derided; and these things not only whisper'd in Corners, but proclaimed upon the House-tops; own'd and publish'd, in Defiance of the Common Persuasion, the Common Reason, and the Common Interest of Mankind, and of All Authority, both Sacred and Civil. Libertinism hath erected its Standard, hath declared War against Religion, and openly listed Men of its Side and Party.

The Law is as much a Rule to Her, as to the least of Those who obey her; the fixt Measure, not only of Her governing Power, but even of Her Will to govern; and She makes no other Use of that Power, with which the Laws have invested Her, than to give Life and Force to them.