and not suffer any Fears or Apprehension of Danger to draw them aside from an honest Sentence or hinder the due Process of righteous Judgment between Man and Man Indeed a good Magistrate that uses the same Rule and Measure of acting indifferently towards all that determines his whole Affections to the Merit of things and not to any quality of Persons must needs by this equal Management create to himself many Adversaries There is a lofty Opinion and Esteem of themselves that commonly possesses the minds of rich Men. This is the proper Effect and Influence of Great Fortunes unless a true Christian Humility does rebate and qualifie it And therefore rich Men where this humble Temper of Religion is wanting always presume upon an Advantage above others which they also would have attend them in places of Judgment And this is the reason that so many foul Causes are commenced and managed by them which gives us the Account of that of St. James Cap. 2.6 Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the Judgment Seats And therefore when they find that severe Justice is preferr'd and takes place without any regard had to their Figure in the World we must needs imagine them passing angry with those honest Magistrates that dispense it And therefore there is need of Spirit and Resolution in a good Governour a mind prepared to meet with the greatest Dangers that can manfully bear up against all the Affronts and ill Treatment of offended Greatness and that will never desert a Righteous Action through any prospect of Terror or Threatning Circumstance whatsoever lest if otherwise Justice and Judgment God's own Cause in the World should suffer and be perverted by it But then Secondly supposing there be such a formidable Appearance against him upon this due performance of his Office that the most resolute Fortitude and Gallantry of mind seems not able to stand before it this ought not in the least to influence or terrifie him from that true Judgment that necessarily belongs to his high Station but still he ought to determine boldly according to the Justice of things and support himself with a firm Confidence in God and his special Providence about him that he will undoubtedly protect him in the just management of that Work and Office which he has committed to him It is impossible that God should forsake or desert any whilst they are observing his Special Commands to them Common Justice does oblige the contrary and we should set a Mark of Baseness upon that Man that should be guilty of such a Deportment And then if God be for us who can be against us He that behaves himself justly in his high Province and Government altho' there be never so strong a Combination upon this Account made against him yet he may boldly say The Lord is on my side or the Lord is my Helper and I will not fear what man can do unto me Psal 118.6 Heb. 13.6 In God's Word will I rejoyce in the Lord's Word will I comfort me in God have I put my Trust I will not be afraid what man can do unto me Psal 56.10 11. As the righteous King David triumphantly said when his Enemies compass'd him in on every side and may be used with the same assurance by all good Governors in their Times of Danger Indeed God does not always effect their Deliverance in this World he sometimes steps from them and as it were leaves them alone that they may so fall a Sacrifice to the Malice and Violence of unthankful People but this is no Interruption of his Defence and Safeguard over them he still affords them sufficient Graces for their Circumstance and Tryals and when he has perfected them through Sufferings which is his usual method with the best of Saints and by which indeed they are made so he will certainly confer a surer Reward upon them and take them into his more immediate Custody in his Kingdom And this Desertion in the time of Trouble as to present things makes no Abatement of Faith in a good Governour he knows most assuredly That it shall be well with those that fear God at the last Eccles 8.12 And if God does not work his Deliverance in this world from the hand of his Enemies but lets him fall by them yet he is most fully satisfied that he will effect this very thing in his Death and Sufferings and vindicate his Righteous Actions and afford a most plentiful recompence of them in the Region of Glory and therefore he can use those great words of Job with the same holy Confidence and Resignation Cap. 13.15 Though he slay me yet will I trust in him We come now to the last thing viz. That these Gods and Children of the Most High must die like Men that is altho they be promoted to this high Station and stand in a great eminency above others Yet it is only some external thing a difference of degree and order that distinguishes them from the rest of Men there is still the same Humane Nature with all the Infirmities and Attendants of it belonging to them and therefore they are only poor Mortals subject to the common Circumstance of Dying and returning to Dust as well as their meanest Vassals And this Consideration should secure the Humility of Great Men and Princes it should keep their thoughts within due compass That they think not of themselves above themselves but that they think soberly that they are only Men made up of the same perishing matter and brittle Ingredients with others and that they exercise their rule over Creatures of the same Nature and Dignity that they can pretend to they have that original Nobility of a Humane Soul and Reason equally with them and may possibly far surpass them in those great things that only make difference of worth in us viz. Holiness of Life and Vertue which alone gives the preferments and different Stations of another World And therefore those that are below them here may be advanced much above them in Bliss and Glory These things ought to influence Princes and invite them to a gentle treatment of those that are under them not to put on any unnecessary State or Lordship towards them but be of a free address easy to be intreated attentive to their Petitions and Requests from them patient of their rudeness and simplicity with whatsoever else may be the effect of unpolished nature in them and offer them all the measures of brotherly kindness in all instances as still being mindful of that near relation of Brethren and common equality that is between them that they also must make their Bed in the Grave and sleep among the clods with them And this very prospect is enough certainly to keep down all Pride and Loftiness of Man depress all the swelling resentment and overacted State of Worldly Glory and preserve the greatest Potentates on Earth in a constant habit of Humility and low notion of themselves Alas What can it
things sometimes setting up a good Prince for the Encouragement of Godliness and to bring Honor and Repute to Vertue and Religion and sometimes permitting an ill Governour and a Tyrant to possess the Throne for a Tryal of Constancy and to reclaim the Vices of a long Peace and Luxury Thus then Power and Dominion being a Derivative thing from God and a communicated Ray of that Eternal Empire whereby he governs all things both in Heaven and Earth and has the sole Right to do so it being a part of God's own Sovereignty invested in Man which places him in a Seat of Eminency above others it plainly follows that those may well enough be styl'd by the Name of Gods who have this Divine Authority committed to them The Second thing is to shew the Manner and Platform of their Government how they ought to deport themselves in the Management of it And that is seeing their Power is something from God a Beam and part of the Heavenly Majesty they ought so to behave themselves in all Cases as God himself would do if he should personally appear for that Action They ought to disingage themselves from all partial Affections and Interests and follow the free Dictates of Mind and Reason as they are farther assisted by the Spirit of God for the Holy Spirit of God adapting himself to the different Necessities of Men must needs be suppos'd to be more plentifully present with those that are in the more difficult Circumstances of a high Station they ought I say to acquit themselves from the Straitness of self and all private Suggestions and maintain a larger Sphere of Action only look upon the Justice of things and the Expediency of them to the Publick Good But to speak more particularly and in express Instances First then a good Governour upon this Divine Platform must be very careful and make it the main Scope of his Endeavors to promote the Wellfare of those that are under his Charge and Government And this is only a Transcript from the Heavenly Pattern if we consider the several Methods of Divine Providence the Actings and Process of it ever since the beginning we may plainly discern this That its perpetual Design was to advance the only Good of Mankind viz. To draw them off from their sinful practises and establish vertue and the right worship of God where vice and idolatry did reign before And that Governour that would be like God whose Power and Authority he is endued withal must have this end and project in all his Actions to carry on the publick Good and advance the Benefit of those that are committed to him He must have no particular Reserve of Self in any of his Proceedings but move in a larger Compass and intend his whole purpose and endeavors to a general Advantage or rather he may consult Self-Interest as much as he pleases if he determine Self aright not to the sensual as most men do but to the rational part of him and then apply Interest only to those things that bring Benefit and Advancement to that It is a great Mistake to think that the Good of the People can at any time clash and be inconsistent with the Good of the Governor And that Ruler that entertains this Notion is certainly an ill Man and sets up the Desires of Sence as the Rules of Action in Opposition to the free Results of Mind and Reason Good is a general thing and has no particular Confinement in it but is adapted and suitable to all Men. The same Good diffuses it self through Prince and People and if it be not for the Advantage of both it is but a false Notion and no real Good The true Interest of the Prince cannot be any seperate thing from that of the People The Advancement of Vertue and the true Religion which is the only universal Good is that alone which establishes the Throne and makes the Government facile and tenable This Good concerns Princes as well as private Men and if at any time they carry on things that have not this Tendency in them they manage a Project against themselves and 't is some sensual Appetite and mistaken Self that is the Cause of it This then ought to be a strong Motive to Princes to intend the publick Good seeing by this means alone they can obtain and secure that which is truly so to themselves and they ought to design this in all their proceedings if they will imitate him who conferr'd their Power upon them And as God Almighty often carries on that which his infinite Wisdom discerns to be the Good of Mankind by Methods contrary to the Carnal Desires and Will of Man as by several kinds of Afflictions and the like So a good Prince when he meets with an ill inclined People that have not their Minds set upon Good he ought to make use of his Authority from Heaven and even contrary to their Will and Inclination force them to the Observance of right things such as he sees expedient for them although never so great Troubles attend the Enterprize This then is the First Divine Character of a good Governour That he ought by all means to carry on and endeavour the universal Good of the People under him A 2d duty that belongs to Magistrates in Imitation of him from whom their Power cometh is an Universal Justice both as it relates to God and Man And 1st as to that part of Justice that relates to God we must endeavour with all Diligence to maintain the great Respect and Honor that is due unto him And this God himself takes care to vindicate Isai 42.8 I am the Lord that is my Name and my Glory will I not give to another neither my Praise to Graven Images And 't is very observable in the whole Complex of the Prophets that the many Methods of Providence that have been made use of in the World have all of them tended to this viz. To draw men off from Idolatry and Superstition to the Worship of the only true God And that they should also worship him in Spirit and in Truth This is his Glory that has always been the great Exercise of his Wisdom to keep up and maintain in the World viz. the true profession of his Name and the practice of Vertue that is consequent to it And this is indeed the Glory of God and that alone which brings Honour to him when Men by their manner of Living express the Divine Perfections and make them confess'd and believ'd in the World when by their Conformity to the Laws of God they declare his infinite Wisdom and Goodness in proposing such Heavenly Rules of Action When by their careful declining all Sin both in Thought and Deed and the exact Holiness of their Lives they plainly signifie the Omniscience of God that he sees the most secret Designs of Man together with the spotless Purity of his Nature That Holiness only becometh the Righteous Lord and is acceptable to him
not such a one as is only the Impression of their present Circumstance but a constant temper of Spirit that will manfully stand out against the like Temptations for the time to come I say these things being to be considered which are not discernable to Humane Wisdom 't is safer to omit these Instances of Pitty and leave them to God's Infallible Judgment in the due Process of Law lest otherwise they bring the Sins of others upon themselves and moreover occasion much mischief in the World by pardoning and affording farther opportunity to one that will return to his former Wickedness And besides this ought to be taken notice of in this action the Incouragement and Presumption that it gives to the like Offences This then is another mark of a good Governour one that copies out the Author of his Power and Dominion to exercise an Impartial Justice and use the same measure of proceeding indifferently towards all But 4thly Another Divine Character that he is to express is meekness and gentleness towards such Offences as only concern himself and his own Particular For altho' he is obliged to distribute these measures of Justice to others without any defect or abatement yet if he will truly imitate the Original of his Power he ought to be patient and long suffering in respect of personal abuses to be inclinable to Mercy and Pardon and always forgive as often as the State of things and the reason of Government will permit it God thus proclaims himself and our own experience will sufficiently convince us of the truth of it Exod. 34.6 And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord God merciful and Gracious Long-Suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin Thus Holy David expresles him The Lord is full of Compassion and Mercy Long-Suffering and of great goodness he will not always be chiding and so on And the Prophet Joel declares him to be slow to anger and of great kindness and repenteth him of the evil Cap. 2.13 And Nehemiah in the same words Cap. 9.17 Thou art a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful slow to anger c. This is the proper result of his Nature and therefore this as all actions proceeding from an inward form and principle must needs do affords him the most affecting pleasure and satisfaction Micah 7.18 He pardoneth Iniquity He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy And St. James the 2.13 Mercy rejoyceth against Judgment Indeed God pardons none but upon the necessary qualification of a true Repentance but he applies his Long-Suffering to many Sins unrepented of and passes them by without any remarkable displeasure declared upon them and perhaps seeing he has appointed a day in the which he will Judge the World he might defer the due punishment of all Sin till that dreadful day come and inflict nothing upon it besides its own inseparable evils those which it carries in its own Bosom unless there were some important Reason to determine him otherwise For our Sins do not force him to any immediate revenge they being not possibly able to disturb him or intermit his Repose and Happiness for the least moment If we sin what do we against him If our Transgressions be Multiplyed what do we unto him Our Wickedness may hurt a Man as we are Job 35.6.8 Now therefore in this case to be more satisfied or at least to think probably concerning the ways of God what Sins he will immediately punish and what he will pass by we must consider God not only as a Seperate Being from his Creatures but as the Just and wise Governor of them and observe what he is obliged to from this Relation And hence we may discern that sin not terminating upon God only but also reflecting upon men and deriving a certain Malignity among them There are several instances of it which having a more spreading contagion in them cannot be conniv'd at in any single Person without doing injury and prejudice to the whole which is not competent with God's Government And therefore all open and bold wickedness because this being permitted does by degrees lessen and destroy the notions of the Divine Purity and Holiness in the World and so more forceably invites Men to the same Practices upon this ill Conclusion from Impunity that either God approves them or is not greatly offended at them Malach. 2.17 Isay all open and bold-wickedness is commonly followed with more remarkable Judgments upon it especially in those that stand in a nearer Relation to God as the Jews above the Heathens and perhaps the Ministers of the Altar above other Christians And this whole thing is set down by David Psal 50. where after he had mentioned the many Enormities of that People that were in Special Covenant with him ver 18. When thou sawest a Thief thou consentedst unto him and hast been Partaker with the Adulterers He adds These things hast thou done and thou thoughtest wickedly that I am even such an one as thy self thou thoughtest by this Connivance and delay of Punishment that I was no more Holy nor Righteous than thou but I will reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done And perhaps Hypocrisy when Iniquity is concealed and dissembled under a specious appearance this not affording such an example and influence in the World is not upon this account so obnoxious to God's Immediate Punishment indeed this we may observe for the truth of this notion that in the whole complex of Scripture Punishments are not so frequently denounced upon this as upon open Impieties And I am apt to believe that God never inflicts any open and immediate Punishment upon Sin in this World he allowing his Creatures all the enjoyments that can be altho many of them chuse them in an ill kind and still patiently affording them space of Repentance most likely till their Disposition for it be quite destroyed through Vitious Habits I say I am apt to believe that God never inflicts any open and Immediate Punishment upon Sin in this World but when it is necessary for the Publick good to reclaim others by such an Example from the like Offences Now a good Prince that observes the pattern that God gives him in this Respect must not be over Critical to revenge Injuries but always signifie a Disposition that is apt to Pardon and generously pass by all personal Affronts and Reflections upon himself unless only such as being of that high Aggravation takes away his necessary esteem among the People and so renders him incapable of promoting any good or advantage to them And this Clemency exprest to less offences will be the most effectual means to prevent and escape them for the time to come it will be accounted such a base action to abuse a Prince of this Heavenly Temper that it must needs raise the Resentment and Odium of all Men upon the Authors of it
of the Holy Scriptures upon which Faith is founded and in which he was very expert and ready both as to the Letter and best Paraphrase of them so he was very careful to maintain the Honor and Respect that was due to them both He could not endure any loose Expressions of God and Christ or any profane Treatment of the Holy Spirit but like one possest of a true Apprehension and Reverence of the Blessed Trinity He was a great Despiser of such indecent Language and of those trivial Spirits that were guilty of it nor would he suffer it to escape in Triumph without some Reproof or Mark of dislike in any Person of what Quality soever No Honor of Men could advocate for that wicked Freedom or make him neglect the Honour of his Maker He abhorr'd to use his own Expression that Impudence to the blessed Deity There was no such ornamental Discourse as Swearing is now stil'd by a degenerate Age in his Company the Influence of his Presence being derived from his known Displeasure in those Cases did effectually restrain such Misdemeanours in all persons of his Converse He was a most hearty Opposer both of Atheism and Profaneness I never heard any speak against Hobbes's Doctrines with more Concern and Spirit than he used to do and that not at Randome but in proper Argument as one that had well perused his pernicious Writings and thereby had gain'd that Zeal according to Knowledge and Abhorrence of them And thus upon a certain Knowledge of a Deity he easily discerned that a necessary reverence was belonging to him which he always maintained as sacred and inviolable And this excellent temper exprest it self towards all things that were related to God he ever most religiously asserted the sacred honour of the Scriptures and would not suffer them in the least to be reflected upon or any Jest or Drollery to be promoted from them his Passion did never more sensibly appear then when it was so truly necessary to vindicate those inspired Writings Neither can those mean Ingenioso's of our time that jest upon the Bible urge that it was want of wit in him that put him upon this severity indeed 't is want of wit in them and only irreligious boldness when they can find nothing to say upon the many lawful Themes in extensive nature that makes them invade the heavenly Oracles I say they cannot urge that it was want of Wit that put him upon this severity for he was as pleasant as any and would raise as much Mirth and Diversion from Innocent Subjects but 't was only a pious respect to the things of God that thus influenced him and made him so concerned that his Name and his Word should not suffer any prophane usage This he was in himself and thus he behaved himself let Fame represent him as it will which indeed he was very regardless of his great Spirit thought it below his concern and looking after Rather deferring the Reward of his Piety till he came to another World then receiving any part of it here in those empty things of popular praise and the vain-Applauses of the Multitude Now such a private Man as this How much be intended the good of the Crown and Episcopal Church See his Acts of Parli in Scotland Parl. 2. Caroll 2. Acts 1 5 6. par 2 Sess 2. Acts 4 5 7. Par. 2. Sess 3. Acts 9.17 what may one expect from him when he becomes publick Or rather what may one not expect from him that tends to the right establishment of the Christian Faith and the Peace and Uniformity of the Professors of it His utmost endeavours must needs run this way which indeed they did as will appear from a due reflection upon them and had been more effectual to these ends if blind Zeal and Prejudice had not deprived Men of the free use of Reason and hindred all sober deliberation of things in our times If the true Protestant Religion as it is now applyed which in its real self is so gentle and Peaceful had not almost quite abolished the true Temper and Charity of Christians among us And he had another Character of a good Governor one that is to engage with the Tumults of the People and that is Courage and Magnanimity which were his in a high measure He was not to be bafled and daunted in any of his Proceedings how threatning soever the event of them He made Truth and Justice the ground-work of all his Actions and then he was most resolute and stedfast in them no representation of Fear or Danger could by any means remove him from them His Arms and Motto did extreamly befit him Council was the bottom of his Enterprises and he had the Heart of a Lyon to go through with them I verily believe that he would have suffered Martyrdom not only upon the account of his Religion but even in a State Cause where the good of the King and Government was concerned before he could have been prevailed upon to desert it But this I durst not affirm of any Man in respect of his sole Humane Valour which alone is not sufficient for such Tryals Nor should I have said it of him unless I had often observed one eminent Vertue in him which is indeed the Eternal and only support of Fortitude and that is an assured trust in God and belief in Providence He looked upon himself but as an underworker of things and as he was careful to do Justice and so act under the special Influence and direction of Providence So he always in a quiet Resignation most stedfastly depended upon it for the Event and Issue I must confess I never took notice of any that was so firmly bottom'd upon this Confidence He would frequently say God rules the World the People imagine but a vain thing 't was in the very Habit of his Soul that of Holy David Psal 99.1.2 The Lord is King be the People never so impatient he sitteth between the Cherubims be the Earth never so inquiet He stilleth the raging of the Sea the noise of his Waves and the madness of the People Psal 65.7 And he was not only Couragious in respect of the many Dangers and troublesom Encounters of Life but he retain'd his wonted valour when he was to engage with Death and saw that advancing to him this was the effect of his most resolute Faith which as it was the invincible support of his Life in all the Varieties of a Mortal Condition so he undauntedly travelled through the Gates of Death into the unchangeable State of Immortality in the strength of it I saw his last Instances of Life which had no appearance of fear or apprehension in them but were managed with that unconcernedness and serenity of mind as became one that was firmly possest with the hopes of Heaven and thought himself just then apassing into it 'T was an expression of one of his last days which I heard before his case was desperate or look't upon
it and therefore when I observe actions to proceed in a continual series without any uncouth step or contradiction in them I cannot but conclude both in the exercise of Charity and Judgment that what they manifest is the very spirit and temper of such a Person Thus I have made a short Application of my Discourse and must in all reason beg Excuse for this mean Representation of so much Greatness especially before some in this Presence who best knew him and are best able to express him in the same Stile with his high Performances I did what I have done merely to please my self in dwelling a little and entertaining my Thoughts upon such an excellent Object and that from the present View of so much Worth in him I might found an Argument of Eternal Comfort to all those that were related to him Not to be sorry as those without hope for those that die in the Lord. And this we may conclude of that excellent Spirit departed from us that he died in this happy Circumstance as being possest of all those Vertues that are proper and requisite both for a Christian and a Governour And now to add a word of Comfort as to the common Condition of Men although Death be here denounced as a threatning yet it is the exceeding happiness and advantage of a good Man What a sad thing would it be to spend an Eternity in this Life altho we should be always in our full Vigour and never have any of the Infirmities of Age or Desease upon us to live in a continual Warfare always fighting against the ill Inclinations and Lusts of Flesh and the more florid and vigorous we are the more shall we experience these evils to be ever concerned in that Impertinent Imployment of a Reasonable Soul to manage and think of the trifling Objects of this World things that are so unsuitable to it to be continually at the mercy of a dull Body that is so often indisposed whether we shall freely meditate or no and then when we are in a fit posture of thinking we must beg the favour of our outward Affairs that they would be quiet and offer no disturbance or of some Anxiety of Spirit that it would intermit a little or of a degenerate habit of mind that it would suspend its wordly concernments or else we shall use this great faculty of thinking only upon vile and abject things such as are most unworthy of it but never be able to raise it up to any suitable Contemplation Now to be thus eternally detain'd by these low Entertainments and the ineptitude of Body from any free converse with the great object of our Happiness that Almighty Spirit that made us always to have our Felicities such an accidental thing depending upon so many hits and chances of Temper that it seldom happens not to recompence the thousandth part of our other Miseries and when it does happen is in such a Poor Muddy and Imperfect manner What a sad thing would it be to be for ever in this State and Circumstance or indeed for any considerable length of time 'T was certainly no Punishment upon Mankind but rather an Instance of Divine Love and Mercy to us that God should contract our Days and Abode in this World from well nigh a Thousand Years to Threescore and Ten a sufficient time still in such dull Enjoyments and if we had but the True Faith and Hope of Christians in us we should thank God for it Little reason have we therefore to lament for those that God has removed from such a World of Troubles but rather lament for our selves that are still left in it and want those Improved Felicities that they are instated in to all Eternity To which God Almighty in his due time bring us all to a second Enjoyment and happy Communion with our Pious Friends gone before us to whom with his Blessed Son and his Eternal Spirit three Persons and one God be ascribed all Honour Thanks-giving and Praise for evermore FINIS In chartula hac vacuâ Lector qui possit cupiat haec habeto à Typographo vel Errata vel praetermissa Ad. pag. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zenoph ed Steph. pag. 444. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Ad. pag. 12. lin 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Item Ad pag. 12. pro Plato de Repub. lege Plato Polit. ed Serran 294. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Ad. pag. 17. pro de legibus 18 19. lege 28 29. Hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dyon Cas Ed. Steph. p. 559. Idem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad. pag. 24. St. Chrysost Tom. 6. p. 694. Item Tom. 7. p. 755. Ed. Savil. Item Basil Ed. Basil p. 220. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad. pag. 37. Plato De Repub. Lib. 1. p. 3. 330. Ed. Serran 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. ERRATA PAge 8. Line 15. for we read he Pag. 29. lin 21. for convinced read convince Pag. 38. lin 23 24. for I do none any injury in it read I do none any Injustice in it