Form of Government was the same still And though a Prince now governs not by a Paternal Right as Adam and Noah did but by the Election of the People or by the Right of Conquest or by a Succession from ancient Kings who have been long possest of the Throne the Monarchy is the same though the claim to Soveraign Power varies Gods original institution of Monarchy in a Paternal Government justifies the Form whatever dispute there may be about the Right of Succession And therefore we find when this original Title of Paternal Authority failed either by force and usurpation or for want of knowing the true Heir yet Monarchy continued and all the World was governed by Kings and knew no other Government till Greece and Rome set the example who changed the Regal Power into Aristocracies and Common-wealths And to satisfie us that God still approved of Kingly Government even after the distinction made between Paternal and Regal Authority we may observe that by a positive institution God erected a Monarchy but never set up a Common-wealth The Jewish Government was properly a Theocracy God was their King in a more peculiar manner than he was the King of other Nations he dwelt among them in the Tabernacle or Temple gave them a body of Laws appointed Officers under him to administer the Affairs of his Kingdom and in all emergent difficulties gave immediate Orders and Directions what to do but yet he appointed a single person to be his Vice-roy and invested him with the Soveraign Power Thus Moses while he lived was King of Ieshurun and after him Ioshua and the Judges succeeded him whom God raised up in an extraordinary manner as occasion required to fight their Battels and to rescue them out of the hands of their Enemies and when there was no extraordinary Judge the High Priest was their ordinary Ruler who governed with a Soveraign Authority And when in time they grew weary of this and affected the external pomp and splendor of a Court and a visible Soveraign Prince like their Neighbour-Nations though God was angry with them for rejecting his Government yet he himself chose them a King and after Saul invested David with the Regal Power and entailed it on his Family All this was done by the immediate order and appointment of God which cannot be said of any other form of Government Aristocracies and Democracies were a defection from Regal Power occasioned by the ill government of Princes or by the giddiness and licentious humour of the People who are fond of Liberty Power and Innovations But though God by his Providence permitted such changes of Government he never by a visible Authority and Direction formed and modelled a Commonwealth as he did the Jewish Monarchy But whatever be determined as to the original of Monarchy that which I am at present concerned for are the advantages of it That it is the most happy Government we can live under Supposing our Prince to be Wise and Vertuous there can be no competition between the Government of one and of many Soveraign Power in one hand lies more ready for Action because it has but one Will and needs not number votes nor wait the Consent of different Inclinations and Interests which many times le ts slip the proper seasons of Action and defeats the best Designs A Soveraign Prince may have what Advice he pleases and follow what he likes best without delay he may have a multitude of Counsellours without danger of Faction while he judges for himself But in popular Governments where there is no one Soveraign Will and Reason but all have equal Authority how unequal soever their Skill and their Honesty be when Power is thus parcelled out into several hands it is usually divided against it self too and grows weak by intestine Factions Though there is great safety in a multitude of Counsellours when there is one Commanding and Soveraign Will yet there is no great likelihood of Agreement between a multitude of petty Soveraigns where every man has an equal Power and every man judges his own Reason the best or at least as good as his Neighbours This is just as if the same Body should be animated by several Souls which have all of them distinct Wills and Appetites and do not always consent in the same thing There is not a greater plague to humane Societies than State-Factions and it is hardly possible that a popular Government should be freed from them The ambition of some the jealousies and emulations of others private quarrels or private interests perfidiousness and treachery or an affection of popularity some or all of which are the natural and almost necessary effects of a popular Government are the very seeds of Faction and Sedition and though the major vote determines all yet the quarrel does not end there especially if the prevailing Counsels want success The people must be made Judges of what the Senators do and the Nation is presently divided into as many Parties and Factions as the Senate is The Roman Commonwealth it self though the most flourishing that we read of in any Story has too many examples of this witness Marius and Sylla Caesar and Pompey There is seldom any Peace and Order long preserved in such Governments but when some one or a few great men have got the Ascendant and by their Interest and Authority give Laws to all the rest that is where there is a kind of Regal Power under the name and appearance of a Commonwealth As for the Publick Good I cannot but think it more secure in one hand than in many A Soveraign Prince is the Father of his Country and can reasonably have no distinct interest from the Publick for his Kingdom is his Inheritance and his Glory and Power consists in the happy and flourishing State of his People When his Kingdom is well govern'd his Subjects pleased and easie this makes him beloved at home and feared abroad The Glory is intirely his own as the Shame and Dishonour of a Misgovernment is which are very powerful Passions in great Minds but lose their effect in Popular Governments where the Glory and the Shame is divided among so many that it is despised by all We may expect a more impartial administration of Justice from a Soveraign Prince who is equally concerned in all his Subjects than when the Power is divided among a great many who have their several Friends Relations and Dependants to serve and whose Fortune does not set them above the Temptations of Bribery and Injustice There is more apparent danger of Oppression when there are so many to raise their Fortunes by the Government who have private Interests and Designes and must be paid well for their publick Service Whereas no Prince ought to think himself poor while his Subjects are rich and nothing can reasonably tempt an Hereditary Monarch to drain his Subjects to fill his own Exchequer but their Factious or Sparing Humour then indeed it concerns a Prince to get and
to keep Money by him when he finds so much Occasion for it and sees it so hard to come by But this is the fault of the Subject not of the Prince for were Subjects dutiful and obedient quiet and peaceable and ready at all times to grant Supplies as the support of the Government needed without difficulty or dishonourable Terms he must be a strange Prince who would oppress his Subjects when he knows he may have what he can reasonably desire without oppression when his Subjects pockets are as open and a more increasing Exchequer than his own But the most fatal Cheat in Popular Governments is the name of Liberty though the Power be as absolute and dispotical as can be exercised by any Prince and the onely pretence of Liberty is this that they are Slaves to their Equals and enslave one another by turns But I shall say nothing to this since our late dear-bought Experience has taught us the difference between the new-modelled Government of our fellow-Subjects and of a natural Prince So that though we can have no Mathematical certainty in these cases yet all the fair appearances of Reason give the advantages for a happy Government on the side of Monarchy the onely danger is if our Prince should happen to prove a Tyrant and then he may do almost as much mischief as a Tyrannical Commonwealth for it is probable that five hundred Tyrants would do more mischief than one But that which may equally happen under all Forms of Government is an Argument against none The Divine Providence will rectifie such Miscarriages as cannot be prevented by any humane care And yet this which is the onely possible Objection against Monarchy is in a great measure prevented by the Noble Extraction and the generous Education of Princes which is the second thing observable in my Text. 2. That the Noble Descent and Extraction of a King is a great Blessing to a Nation Blessed art thou O Land when thy King is the Son of Nobles And there are two things wherein this Blessedness consists 1. That the Sons of Nobles are usually better qualified for government than mean Persons 2. That Nobility of Birth gives Lustre and Authority to their Government 1. That the Sons of Nobles especially the Sons of Kings not to meddle at present with other Nobles are usually better qualified for Government than meaner Persons I say usually for in Moral Causes and Free Agents there can be no Rule without exception Persons nobly descended may degenerate from the Vertues of their Ancestors and men of mean Birth and Fortune may have great and generous Minds as if they had been made for Rule and Empire but usually the fortune of mens Birth and Education fashions their Minds and fits them for a peculiar state of life above or below which they are out of their natural Sphere and cannot observe a just Decorum in acting a Part which does not properly belong to them There are some Princely Vertues which are necessary to a Happy Government which cannot be easily learnt by mean Persons A certain inbred Greatness and Generosity of Mind a Sense of Honour without Pride or Insolence a Love of Justice without Cruelty or Revenge a just Esteem for Riches without Covetousness a natural Care of the publick Good and a delight and pleasure in generous actions a steadiness of mind which does not grow giddy with its own height courage and boldness in danger prudence in Council dexterity in Business and a peculiar art and skill in knowing and governing men These are God-like dispositions of Mind which in that perfection which is necessary to Government seem to be originally owing to Nature though they may be cultivated by the happy circumstances of a Noble Birth and Education It has been often observed both of Men and Beasts That they beget their like not only as to their Kind and Species but as to their peculiar Qualities and natural Vertues A Child very often resembles his Father as much in the natural endowments and perfections of Mind as in external shape which is so certainly true what ever the Philosophy of it be That upon this account the Sons of Nobles have the advantage of meaner Births A great and generous Prince begets Princes qualified to sway the Scepter and born with a kind of natural instinct of Government And besides this the glory of their Birth does early inspire them with great Thoughts and they are trained up betimes in the Arts of Government Those universal Courtships and Addresses they receive teach them greatness of Mind mixt with affability and a decent respect to Inferiors for those who have been always accustomed to be treated with Ceremony and awful Regards have a due sense of Honour but are not proud For Honour seldom swells mens minds but when it is new A plentiful Fortune to which they are born without their care and industry is the best preservative against Covetousness which is an ignoble Vice and seldom possesses any Man but him who has known what it is to want and what it is to get an estate And those who stand almost upon an even Level with the Throne as the Sons of Kings do have so easie an ascent thither That it does not turn their Heads with an unusual height which is the Common Effect that a great and sudden advancement has upon mean men that they forget themselves and their just Respects to Mankind which makes them proud and insolen Tyrants when they are possest of Sovereign Power which shows us what a Happiness it is to live under the Government of a Prince who is Nobly descended for such Persons whatever other faults they may have have such Royal Vertues as qualify them for excellent Governours 2. Nobility of Birth gives a Luster and Authority to such a Prince's Government Men do not love to submit to their Equals or Inferiors when such ascend the Throne they are despised and envied and nothing but Force and Power can keep them there But a High-born Prince is the Pride and the desire of a Nation he inherits the Glory of his Ancestors and the World presages great things of him who descends from a race of Kings no man thinks much to submit to him who was born to govern but those who are impatient of any Government or ambitious of Government themselves We are contented to yield to those whose Glory we cannot rival for Competition is only among equals and since the Government must be in some hand it is most reasonable to consent in him who by Birth and Fortune is advanced above all and that must make any Government happy which makes Subjects willing to obey and nothing can so universally dispose people to a chearful Obedience as this 3. And this shows us the advantages of an Hereditary Monarchy For the Royal Family is certainly the most Noble a King who is the Son of Kings to be sure is the Son of Nobles And it is the highest and greatest Nobility
of which Solomon speaks to be sure what he says must be eminently true of the most Noble Bloud A King's Son especially if he descend from an Ancient race of Kings has as much the advantage of Inferiour Nobles as they have of the Gentry or the Gentry of meaner People It is Royal Bloud which inspires a Princely Mind which is more Noble still the further it is removed from its Original I cannot now discourse to you concerning the Right of Succession it seems most Natural for a Son to be Heir to his Father and therefore to succeed to the Crown of which he dyed possessed for Power descends as well as an Estate as the Government of the Family was the Birth-right of the Eldest Son as his Fathers Heir But however that be if it be so great a Happiness to a Nation to have a King the Son of Nobles there is no such way to secure this as by a Succession of Kings of the same Royal Stock and Family whose Glory and Nobility increases with every Succession and gives a New Greatness and Authority to its Government But to hasten to a Conclusion the proper use of this discourse consists of two parts 1. To bless God for the Mercy of this Day 2. To be Loyal to our King 1. To bless God for the Mercy of this Day It would be too melancholy a Thought at this time to reflect on the sad face of things in these Kingdoms when an Excellent Prince was murdered by his own Subjects the Natural Heir of the Crown and the whole Royal Family forced into Banishment the Ancient and Loyal Nobility and Gentry under Imprisonments and Sequestrations the Church of England robbed of its Bishops and Clergy its Worship and Revenues while some mean and ignoble persons trampled upon Crowns and Mitres enriched themselves with the Spoils of Church and State usurped the Royal Power but governed like Slaves But this blessed Day put an end to all these Miseries and Confusions God by a wonderful Providence restored to us our King and Royal Family in Peace and Triumph without the noise and alarms of War without drawing the Sword or shedding English Blood He was driven out by Victorious Rebels at the expence of a vast Treasure and more Blood but was invited home again by a wearied and distracted People who now felt the difference between the Government of mean Usurpers and of a natural and High-born Prince And thus the Nation recovered its ancient Glory and every Subject their Just Rights and which is more valuable than all Civil Rights the free Profession and Exercise of their Religion according to the Doctrine and Worship of the Apostolick Church of England though some possibly may think it too late to glory in this now and it would be too late indeed and would lessen the Glory of this day were the most Holy Religion of the Church of England in any danger But next to having our King of the Communion of the Church of England we can desire no more than to have a King who will defend it which I am sure the Primitive Christians would have thought a great Blessing and therefore this is a joyful day still which brought back one Prince to restore the Church of England and another to protect it for far be it from me and from all Loyal Subjects to distrust those solemn and repeated assurances which our King has given us of this Matter A Prince whose Mind is as Great and Noble as his Birth who abhors all mean Arts and Equivocal Reserves and scorns either to dissemble what he believes himself or to speak what be does not think 2. As for Loyalty were it decent to conclude a discourse of Kingly Government without an Exhortation to Loyalty and Obedience it might be very well spared at this time in such a Presence whose Example preaches Loyalty to the whole Nation And therefore I shall not run over all the Topicks of Obedience but only urge some few things which are proper to this argument and to this present solemnity It is a great Happiness to a Nation to have a King who is the Son of Nobles This Happiness we at this day enjoy we live under the Government of a King who has Royal Bloud in his Veins and discovers a Great and Princely Mind in all his Actions and this secures us of as much Happiness as we can expect under any Government but it is not meerly the wise Conduct of a Prince but the governable temper of Subjects too which is necessary to make a Nation happy No Government neither of God nor men can make those happy who will not be governed Discontents and Jealousies and Seditions turn the Court into a Camp and exchange the Civil Government for Military Force and Power and the best Prince in the World can never govern to so great advantage who is forced to govern by the Sword But when Subjects love and reverence their King and always believe well of him when they obey his Laws and comply with all reasonable Intimations of his will that is when they may be governed like Subjects not like Slaves then a King has a fair occasion to exercise all the Princely Vertues and peaceful arts of Government to make his Reign prosperous and his Subjects happy I know no Prince in any age under whom an Obedient and Governable People might have lived more happily than our late Martyred Sovereign and yet what miseries and confusions did a Factious and Turbulent Zeal create which ended in as doleful a Tragedy as ever the Sun saw And when we remember those times and consider how little a Nation gains by Seditions and Rebellions unless men love Rebellion for Rebellions Sake there can be no great temptation in it though it were no Sin Nay we may observe that as an ungovernable temper will disturb the best and Wisest Governments so Loyalty and Obedience is a powerful Obligation on Princes to rule well for Princes must value Obedience and Subjection as they do their Crowns To this we owe the present Security and Protection of the Church of England for if there were nothing else to be liked in it yet a generous Prince cannot but like and reward its Loyalty and it would seem very harsh for any Prince to desire that Religion should be turned out of the Church which secures him in a quiet possession of his Throne And therefore to conclude I would desire you to observe that it is a Church of England-Loyalty I perswade you to This our King approves commends relies on as a tried and experienced Loyalty which has suffered with its Prince but never yet rebelled against him a Loyalty upon firm and steady Principles and without reserve And therefore to keep us true to our Prince we must be true to our Church and to our Religion It is no Act of Loyalty to accommodate or complement away our Religion and its legal Securities for if we change our Religion we must change the Principles of our Loyalty too and I am sure the King and the Crown will gain nothing by that for there is no such lasting and immoveable Loyalty as that of the Church of England I deny not but some who are Papists in some Junctures of Affairs may and have been very Loyal but I am sure the Popish Religion is not the English man may be Loyal but not the Papist and yet there can be no security of those mens Loyalty whose Religion in any case teaches them to rebel God grant the whole Nation may follow the Example of this Honourable Senate to be Loyal to their Prince Zealous for the Service of the Crown and true to the Religion of the Church of England as dearer to them than their Lives To God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost three Persons and one Eternal God be Honour Glory and Power now and ever Amen FINIS Sabbati 30 die Maii 1685. Ordered THat the Thanks of this House be given to Dr. SHERLOCK for His Excellent SERMON yesterday Preached before this House And that he be desired by this House to Print the same And that Mr. Dolben do present him with the Thanks and acquaint him with the Desire of the House Paul Iodrell Cler. Dom. Com. 126 Psal. 1 2.