Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	king_n	read_v	write_v	2,895	5	5.5794	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51394	A sermon preached at the magnificent coronation of the most high and mighty King Charles the IId King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. : at the Collegiate Church of S. Peter Westminster the 23d of April, being S. George's Day, 1661 / by George Lord Bishop of Worcester.	Morley, George, 1597-1684.	1661 (1661)	Wing M2794; ESTC R204353	35,240	71

Necessary for the acquiring of it and for the making of himself perfect in it I remember Xenophon in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 observing that all kind of Cattel are ordinarily and easily govern'd by those that have the charge of them without Rebelling against them or Revolting from them and yet that Societies of men who are reasonable Creatures and for that Reason one would think much more Governable are rarely and difficultly kept in order by their Princes seems very much to wonder at it But then considering likewise that Cyrus of whom he writ did govern infinite multitudes of men of several Nations Languages and Manners as easily and quietly as ever any Herd of Cattel was govern'd by their Herdsman he concludes it is neither impossible nor very difficult to do as he did if Princes would study the Art of Governing and apply themselves to it and were as well qualified for it as He was So that in order to Governing well a Prince must First be qualified for it and Secondly he must mind it and make it his business by applying himself to it To Qualifie him for it many things are necessary especially these two First the knowledge of Humane Nature in General how it works and how it is wrought upon and Secondly the knowledge of the particular Genius and Disposition of the People he is to govern In order to the former it is a great felicity when a Prince before he begins to govern at home hath seen much of the World abroad especially those parts of the World with which he is likely to have most to do when he hath learn'd their Languages observ'd their Manners by conversing with them in their Camps and in their Courts and hath considered their Interests both as they relate to his own and to other Nations This is a great advantage I say in order to his future Government when a Prince happens to have such an Education And hence it is that both Homer and Virgil the one in his Ulysses and the other in his Aeneas meaning to give us the pattern or Idea of a perfect Prince they make them both to be long abroad amongst foreign Nations before they settle at home and so was our HENRY the seventh one of our ablest Princes Neither is it amiss for a Prince in order to the felicity of his future Government to be for a time under a Cloud and to be Hardned both in his Body and his Mind by suffering Affliction and thereby to know his Friends from his Enemies both at home and abroad an important advantage which no Prince that never was in Adversity can have or make use of Besides Princes that are bred up in that School of Affliction are commonly much more prudent and pat●ent and wary and thrifty and more inclinable to Piety to Charity to Clemency to Modesty and Moderation in time of Prosperity and to all other Moral and Religious Vertues then they would be otherwise And therefore we see that God thought fit to breed up the man after his own heart in this School of Affliction and perhaps it was his breeding in this School that made him to be so However it is evident that even after he was King God would not admit him to the Exercise of his Kingly Power till he had spent some years under this Discipline which is the very case of our present SOVERAIGN as well as it was Davids and therefore I doubt not but God had the same Design in the breeding of them both namely to make them as Glorious afterwards by their Actions as they had been formerly by their Sufferings Neither do I doubt but our David will do as that other David tells us He did He will rule us prudently with all his power Psal. 78.71 But Ars longa vita brevis No one Princes own experience is sufficient to make him a Master of this Art He must take in therefore the experience of former Ages as well as of his own and consequently he must spend some time in Books as well as in business especially in Histories whereby he shall be truly and impartially inform'd how and by what means some Princes in all Ages have made themselves happy and glorious and others have made themselves miserable and infamous And considering that ordinarily the same Causes produce the same Effects a wise Prince will imitate them in his Actions to whom he desires to be most like in his Fortune and Reputation More especially he ought to acquaint himself with the Histories of his own Nation that he may not be a stranger at home but may know the particular temper and humour of his own People and how he is to apply himself to them to make himself honour'd and obeyed and beloved by them carefully observing which of his Predecessors were so and which of them were not so and what difference it was in their Actions which produced that difference in their Subjects Affections and in their own Fortunes· But of all other Books let him especially acquaint himself with the BOOK of God which David though no Prince had less time to spare from Action made his daily study nay he studied it night and day as himself tels us And good reason had he to do so for by reading this Book he came to have more understanding then all his Teachers as he tels us in one place nay to have more wisdome then all the Ancients when he was yet Young as he tels us in another place and to be wiser then all his Enemies not excepting Achitophel himself as he tels us in a third place But though all that is written in Gods Book was written for our Instruction yet because all of it was not written for the Instruction of Kings as they are Kings I wish Kings would find leisure to read so much of it at least as was written of Kings or by Kings I mean the Books of the Kings and Chronicles wherein they will find the Best Direction they can have in point of Government by way of example together with the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon wherein they will find the best Instruction that can be given them in order to the same end by way of Precept and Counsel Or if this be still too much that they would but read once a week the Votum Davidis that Vow of David as I may so call it I mean the 101. Psalm which though it be but a very short one yet as I conceive what most concerns a King in order to the governing of Himself his Family and his Kingdomes is either expresly or virtually conteined in it And now when a lawfull Hereditary Soveraign Prince is thus Qualified when he is of as Ancient and as Royal an Extraction as any Prince can be as having all the Royal Bloud of Europe concentred in his Veins when he is Comely in his ●erson Healthfull and Vigorous in his Constitution Graceful and Obliging in his Behaviour of a

by Kings as is evident from the whole Book of God in general and from 1 Pet. 2. v. 13 14. in particular And indeed till the world was above 3000. years old there was no other Government in it but Monarchy only For in Homers time all Greece had Kings and they were the Graecians from whom the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristocracy and Democracy had their beginning For the Greeks being men of subtle wits and unquiet spirits finding Monarchy to be a curb to their Ambition they devised such forms of Government wherein the Soveraignty being not Confin'd unto one but Shar'd amongst many Every man might hope to have his turn and his part in it From the Grecians by their Colonies were these Heresies and Innovations in Government derived to some few other Nations but as they spread not farr so they continued not long for at the coming of Christ there was nothing but Monarchy in the World so that Monarchy as it was Instituted by God at the Creation so it seems to be restored by Christ at the Redemption of Mankind and to be recommended both by the Father and the Son as the best and onely form of Government for all Nations And indeed nature it self doth seem to recommend it and that not onely because every Species of all Creatures whatsoever seems to have a subordination to some one of the same kind but likewise because amongst men also those that have no other Rule but the light of nature to live by I mean those of America and other lately discovered Nations as there be none of them without some Government so none of them have any other form of Government but Monarchy Now as Monarchy is more natural and more according to Divine Institution and consequently a better form of government then any other so of Monarchies that which is by Succession is much more natural and much more according to Divine Institution then any other kind of Monarchy I mean then that which either is by Vsurpation or by Election And first it is better then Monarchy by Vsurpation for as no man can take to himself the honour or office of a Priest so much less can any man take to himself the honour or office of a King but he must have it from God himself either by Gods own Immediate designation as Moses and the Judges had for the Judges were Kings and as Saul and David had or by Gods Ordinary way of Dispensation which was by succession of Children unto their Fathers According unto which Method as Families grew into Nations so Paternal government grew into Regal and consequently an Vsurper as he hath no claim to Divine Institution so he hath no title to Divine benediction or protection And besides because what is Gotten by the sword must be Maintained by the sword an Vsurper must be a Tyrant whether he will or no. Lastly a Monarchy by Vsurpation is Res sine titulo a Possession without a Title which seldome lasts Long or ends Well for he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword saith our Saviour Mat. 26.52 Again as Monarchy by Vsurpation is Res sine titulo so Monarchy by Election is titulus sine re a Title without the Thing for Elective Kings are but Conditional Kings and Conditional Kings are no Kings Besides a King is to have the Power of Life and Death which none that have it not themselves can give unto Him And therefore how He that is Elected by those that have not the power of Life and Death comes to have the power of life and death and consequently how he comes to be a King is as I conceive not easie to imagine But supposing an Elective King to be indeed a King yet considering first the Dangers and Inconveniences of Inter-regnum's or Cessations of Government betwixt the Death of one King and the Election of another Secondly the Factiousness and partiality of the Electors together with the envie and emulation of the Competitors Thirdly the necessity of Him that is chosen to gratifie those that Chose him with the prejudice of those that were against him And lastly considering that every Elective King hath a Particular Interest of his own divided from that of the Publick and consequently that it is more then probable that he will have more respect to the interest of his Family wherein he is to be Succeeded by his Children then to that of the Kingdome wherein he may be Succeeded by a Stranger Considering all these things I say we may well conclude that as Monarchy is the best form of Government so successive hereditary Monarchy is the best form of Monarchy because where there is an undoubted right there is no Need of Tyranny to support it as there is in an Vsurpation and because where the Princes and the Publick Interest is the same as it is in Hereditary Monarchy there is no need of Defrauding the one to Provide for the other as there is in Elective Kingdomes But yet even of Hereditary Monarchies one may be more desirable then another as a Political rather then a Despotical for a Despotical Monarch governs his Subjects as a Master doth his Servants arbitrarily according to his own will and pleasure whether it be Right or Wrong But a Political Monarch governs his Subjects as a Father doth his Children by Equal and Just Lawes made with their own consent to them The former is the Government of the Turk and Muscovite the later is or ought to be the Government of all Christian Kings I am sure it is of Ours and therefore such a kind of Monarchy as Ours is not onely the most just and reasonable but the most plausible and popular Government of all others Especially if the Supream Governour be so Qualified as he ought to be and that is saith Solomon if he be a man of understanding and knowledge And first he would have him to be a Man for Woe unto thee O Land saith the same Wiseman when thy King is a child Ecclesiastes 10.16 But blessed art thou O Land saith he in the very next words when thy King is the son of Nobles so that it seems Solomon would have his Prince neither to be a Child nor an Vpstart or a Man meanely born not a Child because even then his Authority though it may be Abused is to be Obeyed not an Vpstart or a man of mean birth because such a One being to govern better men then himself he thinks there is no way to ●revent their Contempt of him but by making himself by his Cruelty to be feared by them And hence it is that Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum Mean persons when they are mightily Exalted become Cruel and Insolent and Imperious in their Own Defence whereas Those that are born great need not venture the being hated for fear of not being Reverenc'd by their Subjects who have alwayes an inbred reverence to the Royal Blood and

make us instead of judging condemning upbraiding and hating one another to judge condemn and abhorre our selves and consequently to justifie God in his Judgements upon us all so the consideration of the later namely that the having of many Princes hath been the cause of all our late many and great miseries will First Convince us of our former folly in believing so easily as we did those that upon false pretences of bettering our condition by a change did perswade us as the Serpent did Eve out of the Paradise we were in because something or other which perhaps we had a mind to was wanting to us Secondl● it will arm us against the like Temptation for the future with a resolution never to meddle any more with those that are given to change And Lastly it will make us the more thankfully sensible of Gods infinite goodness and mercy in Delivering us from the slavery we were in under the Tyranny of many which is as we have found it to be the greatest of National Judgements and Restoring us again to our former freedome and happiness under one Lawful Hereditary Soveraign Prince which is and I hope we shall find to be so the greatest of National blessings ANd this was my second Conclusion deduced from these words in my Text. But by a man of understanding and knowledge the State thereof shall be prolonged where as I told you before by a man of understanding and knowledge as there must needs be meant one single Person in opposition to those Many which the former Clause of My Text speaks of so by That one single Person must needs be meant such an one as is a Prince a Soveraign Prince because the man here spoken of is opposed not to many simply and indefinitely but to many Princes And indeed no private person though a man of never so much understanding and knowledge is able to prolong a State because that is a work which requires not onely Wisdome and Prudence to conduct it but Soveraign Power and authority to Perform it And yet I will not deny but that it may be sometimes in the power even of a private man to do much towards the recovery and preservation and consequently the prolonging of a State as we read Epaminondas the Thebane did when being but a Private man he rescued his Country from the bondage of the Lacedemonians The like did Thrasibulus a private man also when he delivered his Country of Athens from the Thirty Tyrants And so did Camillus who was not onely a Private but a Banished man when he recovered Rome from the Gauls But what need we Instances out of Foreign Antiquity when we have a Modern example of our own to the honour of our Nation be it spoken which equals and exceeds all I have named or can name in deserving from his Prince and from his Country by his Courage in attempting his Prudence in conducting and his Felicity in effecting that generous glorious and Heroicall design whereby he hath at once redeemed his Country both from slavery and infamy by restoring the King to His People and the People to their King and withall hath purchased unto himself Honour without Envie Greatness with Safety and which is the best reward of virtue in this world a perpetual satisfaction and complacency in himself for having so nobly performed his duty And this was indeed to be a man of understanding Whereas others who being private men would needs be Princes though they thought themselves men of understanding have proved themselves fools their heads being lifted up indeed but so as they little thought they would be and themselves after they had blazed and blustered for a while going out like a snuff and have left nothing but a stink behinde them But to return to what we have in hand though it be true as I have said before that any private man may do something at least by his prayers and some private men may do much towards the preserving and prolonging of a State if they be men of understanding and knowledge that is if they understand and know how to serve their Countrey by serving of their Prince either in Peace by their Counsels or in War by their Courages yet it is the Prince himself who understanding and knowing how to serve himself of several mens abilities in their several professions doth indeed preserve and prolong the State of his Countrey And such a Prince say I is the greatest blessing of God upon a Nation because the state or flourishing condition of a Nation saith Solomon is preserved and prolonged by Him So that according to the judgement of Solomon that is according to the judgement of the wisest Statesman that ever was or will be in the world In order to the prolonging of a State there must 1. Be one Soveraign Prince 2. That Soveraign Prince must be a man of understanding and knowledge And then 3ly He must so make use of that understanding and knowledge as that his own and his peoples happiness may be procured and preserved and prolonged by him And first in order to the procuring and prolonging the happiness of a Nation it must have one Soveraign Prince that is the Government of it must be Monarchical And of this there needs little more to be said for the proof of it then what hath been said already for proof of my former conclusion and what we our selves have felt already by the late tryal we have made of all other formes of Government together with the uneasiness we found under them and the miseries we have drawn upon our selves by them from whence we may undoubtingly conclude that at least for us of this Nation there is no other form of Government but Monarchy under which we ever were or ever can be happy Whether all other forms of Government be Always and Absolutely Unlawful I will not take upon me to determine Stent aut cadant Domino suo Let them stand or fall to their own master But as Christ when he was ask'd whether it were lawful for a man to put away his wife answer'd A principio non fuit sic so may I say of all other forms of Government except Monarchy A Principio non fuit sic from the beginning there was no such Government For as God made man upright at first because he made him after his own Image so he made the Government of mankind upright at first also because he made it after the Image of his own Government which surely is Monarchical And no doubt it was Gods intention it should always continue to be so because as we find no example of any other Government of his approving so we finde no rule of direction for any other Government nor no precept of subjection to any other Government of his prescribing Those we are commanded to submit to by Gods word being either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Kings as Supream or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as are sent and set over us