the Sin of Judah begets in him a just Indignation So that whilst he bewails the Wound he justifies the Hand that strikes and laments the Sins of the People with deeper Groans than their Punishment Wo unto us that we have sinned These Words together with the occasion upon which they were spoke suggest to us these two Considerations I. The Loss of a Good King gives just Cause of Lamentation to a People The Crown is fallen from our Head II. In the Day of our Lamentation we should lay to Heart those Sins which brought this Judgment upon us in order to prevent the like for the future Wo unto us that we have sinned The first of these Propositions appropriates our Lamentation to the Loss of a good King such as was Josiah of whom the Prophet so pathetically speaks The breath of our nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord Lam. 4.20 was taken in their Pits of whom we said under his shadow we shall live among the Heathen Or as Grotius renders the last words In spite of the Heathen The Fresh Air through the Nostrils makes its way to the Lungs and with them fans the Heart by its nitrous Spirit advancing and by its Coolness adjusting the Circulation of the Blood and thereby imparts new Vigour to each Member of the Body Thus good Josiah 2 Chron 34 3â— by reading the Book of the Law to the People and renewing the Covenant with the Lord restrained those Feuds and Quarrels which the variety of their Idolatries produc'd and united the different Sects into the Worship of one God By this he gave new Strength to Judah and Benjamin for their Support against their Enemies What Streams of Tear did the Loss of such a Prince call for But had they liv'd under a King who by ans open Example and Encouragement of Debauchery should have drawn the People from their Covenant with the Lord and by secret Favours bestow'd on Idolaters should have tempted Judah from worshiping the God of Jacob If he should have prepar'd the way for Pharo Necho by crumbling his People into Factions and by turns wheting the Anger of Judah against Benjamin and Benjamin against Judah it would be hard to perswade Men to call such a King the Breath of their Nostrils And when they were in so much Danger of Ruine by his Life they would be apt not to be very passionately concern'd for his Death From what has been said the Reason of the first Proposition will appear viz. Why the loss of a good King gives such cause of Lamentation 'T is because he has no Interest separate from that of his People This is plainly implied in the Words of the Text The Crown is fallen from our Head That is as the People have no Head but their King so the King has no Body but his People and that there can be no more separate Interest of a Sovereign from his People than of the Head from the Body And that this is the true Notion of that relation which is between Prince and People appears from all those Characters by which Supreme Magistrates are describ'd to us in the Book of Go which are these Five viz. Fathers Captains Judges Shepherds Gods 1. Fathers so God promiseth to a good People suitable Governours Kings shall be thy Nursing fathers Isa 49.23 and Queens thy Nursing-mothers Now what interest can a Father have separate from that of his Family Or can a Mother divide her Assection from her Children the pretended Mother who appear'd before Solomon would have divided a Living Child that she might have had part of it to her self 1 Kings 3.26 while the true Mother could not separate her Bowels of Compassion from the Fruit of her Womb. This Title of Father expresses justly the nature of that Love which is owing by the Prince to his People It has indeed been made use of by some to a very different purpose to prove that Regal Authority is founded in Paternal although whoever considers the Relation between Father and Son will see how absurd this Notion is For 1. Nature gives to all Parents equal power over their Families so as to exclude the Unkles power over his Nephews Family and the Grandfathers nay Fathers over the respective Families of Son and Grandson 2. The Mother has to Filial Obedience equal Right with the Father 3. Execution of Vindictive Power whereby a Father shall pass Sentence of Death upon his Son seems unnatural Nor do we find it came into the Thoughts of Adam to avenge the Murther of Abel by adjudging Cain to death nor can I perceive that the imaginary Patriarchal Authority has any Foundation in Nature so as to render the younger Brother upon the Father's death subject to the Elder For 1. Brotherhood bespeaks equality as appears by what God saith to the Elder Brother of all Mankind when he had conceiv'd Wrath against his younger Gen. 4.6,7 And the Lord said unto Cain why art thou wrath And why is thy countenance fallen If thou dost well shalt thou not be accepted If thou dost not well sin lyeth at the door that is the punishment of thy sin draws near the following words of the Verse want only a point of Interrogation to make 'em understood for instead of Vnto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him The Learned P. Fagius thus renders it Num Abelis desiderium ad te erit num tu eris ejus dominus Shall his desire be to thee Shalt thou rule over him Such an Interrogation is a strong denial of any Authority the Elder Brother can by nature claim over the Younger But 2dly How can we conceive that Nature gives the Nephew Authority over his Unkle and Great Unkle Which the Notion of Patriarchal Power does necessarily infer And 3dly To found Kingly Power in Patriarchal Primogeniture seems as Impolitick as 't is Unnatural because it shakes the Thrones of all Kings there being no Throne at this time fill'd with the true Patriarch Lineally descended from the Eldest Son of Noah Or at least who is able to derive and prove such a Pedigree But to return from this digression We are sure that we can justly say of a good King He is a Father of his Countrey 'T is Fatherly Care he expresses in the Administration of his High Office he provides for the Education of his People in good Living he restrains the publishing of Bad Principles he checks ill Tempers and chastiseth those wicked Servants who by their ill Examples would endanger the corrupting of his Family he bears an equal Affection to all his Dutiful Subjects not suffering himself through any unaccountable fondness to distinguish some of his Children from others so long as all join in an equal respect to him But if there be any such in his Family who have the impudence to own another Father either Spiritual or Civil 't is a just provocation for him to disown them and look upon them as the Children of