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
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
signifie to walk always as it were in Procession to be attended with continual throngs of Guards and Admirers wheresoever they go to have Trumpets always before them to sound out their Greatness and to imprint a just terror and sence of it upon the astonished Multitude to fit in a seat of Majesty and dictate their Will to a whole Nation What can all this signify to found any lofty conceit upon when one reflects on himself that he is still no more than a Man and must be subject to all the Fatalities and Circumstances of that poor Creature And doubtless if we could hear him speak that is lately gone from us to another Kingdom who was once instated in all this greatness and now sees the better enjoyments of a second World and is a Possessor of them he would confirm these very words to us and make them more affecting by his heavenly Eloquence Indeed we may take his word beforehand he always entertain'd the same Opinion of this Worlds greatness and often spoke the same things whilst he was living and to prove the unfeigned sincerity of his words he voluntarily retired from it A Second Influence that this should have upon Magistrates viz. That they must die like Men is to make them Just and Honest in all their Proceedings The reason why Men manage such Self-designs and Unrighteous Judgment in the World is because they do not advert to the business of dying or else they remove the evil day far from them they find their bodies hail and vigorous as having no sensible Distemper in them and so conclude that they are out of all present danger of Death and have made a Covenant and an Agreement with the Grave in the Phrase of the Prophet Isaiah 28.15 for a long Season if they should but attend to the condition of Men that some time or other Death will have the Dominion over them and then contract the distance that this may happen immediately after such an action in the very next succeeding moment For Death has a thousand ways to vanquish poor Man and the stronger and more lusty the Constitiuton is the more lyable is it to violent Distempers and these if they once begin in a Vigorous Body the more they inflame the Blood and Spirits and the more they fortify Death against us So that there is no presuming upon any condition of body against the present Approaches of Death nay often Health it self is the most effectual means of a sudden Dissolution if Men had but this Apprehension upon them that they were then acting the last Scene of Life as indeed it may be for any thing they can tell what demure Creatures would they be and how would they start from the very first motions and thoughts of Sin and I am confident with St. Chrysostom that 't was one Reason why God made the Term of our Life unknown and uncertain to us that so by this means we might have the terrour and influence of our last moment upon all our actions This then is another effect that the necessity of dying should have upon us to make us Holy and Righteous in our whole Demeanour But Thirdly we may hence observe this Lesson of Comfort That those who have managed themselves well in this high Station altho they dye after the common manner of Men yet they leave a sure hope behind them that even through the Gates of Death they are entered into a better Life and more perfect Happiness and so preclude all the reason of Immoderate grief for them And I think this Inference and great truth does exactly hit the case before us There was not one Character of a good Governour that I mentioned before but was transcribed from the just Original of all Power by this great Person now with him in his Heavenly Kingdom and made the Measure of his Actions and although I had not the happiness of his Converse for so it truly was to a wonderful degree for any long time nor then when he was in his high Province and so could not observe from his actual management of things yet I have heard such occasional Sayings from him that did so plainly discover the Immovable Temper and Habit of his Soul that I am very confident I do know how he did transact his Publick Affairs and how he would always have done if he had been concerned in them to the Worlds end One might easily discern a great and generous Spirit in him that mov'd always towards the proportionable Object of a publick good He often manifested a strange disregard of self or any private interest indeed there was nothing to give him any Temptation to this he being by Temper as well as Improvement of Mind much above those Trifles that are called the goods of Fortune certainly none ever slighted them more these little things could not answer his large Capacity and therefore he passed them by as inconsiderable and unworthy of his Thoughts that indeed were design'd for higher entertainments I remember I heard him once say that Judicious Truth That none but mean Spirits could be covetous and he urged the Observation of his whole Life for the proof of it that he never saw it otherways Now this being inverted he dis-respecting the things of the World to such a high degree will give us a sure Argument of the greatness of his mind Indeed others might more profusely throw them away as many do upon some Lust or other but then this is no Slight or want of Value for the things themselves that being always founded upon a just Opinion of the meanness of them it is rather a Trade and Merchandize managed upon them they having no Dis-esteem properly to them but only they are under the Dominion and Slavery of a more darling Inclination which they would by all means excite and gratifie And if that once chance to fail they may possibly appear as covetous and nigardly as any others And now we may well imagine how such a Spirit as this that had no private Intrigues of its own would behave it self in a publick Station How it would design a General Advantage in the whole Compass of its Proceedings I shall not give any Instances of this kind let his Enemies prove it and produce the Example of one Action that had not a publick Respect in it or was only a narrow Reserve for his own particular He had a strange Apprehension to discern Good not only present but in the remote Consequence of things and the long effects of them Whereas others could not look so far And this I am perswaded was one great Reason why so many were dissatisfied with his Proceedings and turned Adversaries to him because he understood better than they and would have forc'd them into their own Good which they apprehended not This is the only Account that can be given of those loud Clamors against him as one that was bringing in Popery and Arbitrary Government He wisely saw that such