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<NAME>Megan Marion</NAME>
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<P>THE SERMON AT THE CORONATION OF K. WILLIAM and Q. MARY.</P>
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<P>A SERMON Preached at the CORONATION OF WILLIAM III. and MARY II.</P>
<P>King and Queen OF <HI>England,</HI> &mdash; <HI>France,</HI> and <HI>Ireland,</HI> DEFENDERS of the Faith; IN THE <HI>Abby Church</HI> of <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> April 11. 1689.</P>
<P>By <HI>GILBERT</HI> Lord Bi&s;hop of <HI>Salisbury.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Printed by Their Maje&s;ties Special Command.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>I. Starkey;</HI> and <HI>Ric. Chi&s;well,</HI> at the <HI>Ro&s;e</HI> and <HI>Crown</HI> in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-Yard. MDCLXXXIX.</P>
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<HEAD><Q><BIBL>2 SAM. XXIII. 3, 4.</BIBL>
<P>The God of I&s;rael &s;aid, The Rock of I&s;rael &s;pake to me: He that ruleth oven men, mu&s;t be ju&s;t, ruling in the fear of the Lord</P>
<P>And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the Sun ri&s;eth; even a morning without clouds; as the tender gra&s;s &s;tringing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.</P></Q></HEAD>
<P>_IT is the peculiar glory of Humane Nature, that Man is made after the Image of God: and therefore the di|&s;tinctions of Honour among Men, ought to be taken from the Characters of the Divine Nature and Perfecti|ons that appear in them. Higher degrees of Capacity bring men &s;o much the nearer to the Infinite Compa&s;s of that Eternal Mind. The Elevations of Greatne&s;s, are approaches to that unbounded Power to which all things are &s;ubject. Yet, though there is &s;omewhat in the&s;e which is apt to &s;trike the World with admira|tion, there is another re&s;emblance of the Divinity which has a more peculiar beauty in it, that con&s;i&s;ts in Ju&s;tice and Goodne&s;s. The other may &s;ubdue the World, but this only overcomes mens hearts, and triumphs over their Thoughts, as much as the Greate&s;t Monarch can do over their Per&s;ons. Power without Goodne&s;s is the ju&s;te&s;t Object of mens fear and aver&s;ion; and every man is on his guard again&s;t Wi&s;|dom, when it is not guided by Ju&s;tice. An Elevation of Condition, without a more real Dignity inherent in the mind, is only the expo|&s;ing of tho&s;e who are cloathed with that ill de&s;erved Greatne&s;s to a brigh|ter light, and more ob&s;ervation, by which their Defects, which might have pa&s;&s;ed without any unkind Comments made on them, if they had lived in a greater ob&s;curity, become the more Con&s;picuous, and are by con&s;equence the more cen&s;ured. Tho&s;e who are rai&s;ed up to a
<PB N="6" REF="4">high Eminence of Dignity, are &s;o much the more accountable both to God and man, not only for alle the Ill which either they them&s;elves, or others acting in their Name, or by their Example may have done, but likewi&s;e for all the Good which they might have done but did not. And as they have much to an&s;wer for to God, &s;o likewi&s;e men expect much from them; and will be &s;evere in exacting that, to which they think they have &s;o ju&s;t a right. God will indeed forgive their Errors, if they repent of them; but men will not be &s;o merciful. They will vent their Indignation, if they cannot on their Per&s;ons, yet at lea&s;t on their Memories. The Flatterers of the <HI>Roman</HI> Emperors were not more In|genious in Inventing new Rites of Divine Adoration to their Arrogant Ma&s;ters, during their lives, than their Oppre&s;&s;ed Subjects were to find out peculiar marks of Infamy for the loading their Memories after their death. And it is certain, That as the Memory of Good Princes &s;hall be in <HI>everla&s;ting remembrance;</HI> &s;o the Memory of Bad ones &s;hall either quite <HI>peri&s;h,</HI> or &s;hall <HI>rot;</HI> either they &s;hall be quite forgotten, or they &s;hall be remembred indeed, but it &s;hall be with all po&s;&s;ible &s;corn and horror.</P>
<P>Therefore it is that <HI>David</HI> being to leave the&s;e as his <HI>la&s;t words</HI> to all po&s;terity, as well as to <HI>Solomon,</HI> and &s;uch as &s;hould de&s;cend from him; and intending to put all the weight in them, that could be in words, he introduces them with much pomp, to give them the more authority. It is not only &s;aid, that the&s;e are <HI>his la&s;t words,</HI> tho that mu&s;t naturally create re&s;pect, e&s;pecially when it is a King that &s;peaks after long Expe|rience; and a Reign as full of all varieties of Accidents as any is in Hi&s;tory; But Attention is al&s;o here rai&s;ed by a Poetical redoubling of many lofty Expre&s;&s;ions. <HI>David, the Son of Je&s;se, &s;aid, the man that was rai&s;ed up on high the Anointed of the God of Jacob, and the &s;weet P&s;almi&s;t of I&s;rael, &s;aid.</HI> And becau&s;e the In&s;truction that was to be given, was too Im|portant to re&s;t upon a Human Authority, how eminent &s;oever it might be, another &s;et of Expre&s;&s;ions that are yet more &s;ublime, comes after the&s;e. <HI>The Spirit of the Lord &s;pake by me, and his word was in my tongue: The God of I&s;rael &s;aid, the Rock of I&s;rael &s;pake tot me: He that ruleth over men mu&s;t be iu&s;t, ruling in the fear of the Lord,</HI> Here are the true mea&s;ures of Government; it is a <HI>Rule,</HI> and not an Ab&s;olute Dominion; it is a <HI>Rule over men,</HI> and not a Power, like that which we have over Bea&s;ts. In a word, it is the Conduct of free and rea&s;onable
<PB N="7" REF="4">Beings, who need indeed to be governed, but ought not to be broken by the force and weight of Power.</P>
<P>Tho&s;e who manage this Power, and Rule over Men, <HI>mu&s;t be ju&s;t,</HI> and act according to tho&s;e Eternal and Unalterable Rules of Truth and Goodne&s;s, which are both included in the word <HI>Ju&s;t.</HI> This is Univer|&s;al, and binds all Princes equally; but &s;uch as have the advantages of a more particular Revelation of the Will of God, come under another Obligation, of <HI>Ruling in his fear,</HI> and of admini&s;tring that Authority which is put in their hands, according to that light with which he has ble&s;t them.</P>
<P>The&s;e words contain the Duty, and give the Character of a good Prince; and tho&s;e which follow, &s;et forth the Happine&s;s of &s;uch a Go|vernment, from two very natural Figures, which are apt to make great Impre&s;&s;ions on us: A temperate Air, and a clear Sky; a fair Morning, and an unclouded Sun, are things which do not only plea&s;e, but animate; they quicken and exhilarate our Spirits, and a kindly Spring, in which all the Productions of the Earth &s;hoot out abundantly upon the due in|termixtures of Rain and Sun, of Heat and Moi&s;ture, gives the Earth a new Face, and a new Life to all that dwell upon it.</P>
<P><HI>And he &s;hal be as the light of the morning, when the Sun ri&s;eth; even a morning without clouds; as the tender gra&s;s &s;pringing out of the earth by clear &s;hining after rain.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e being Ble&s;&s;ings which all Men feel, and in which every Man rejoices; it was a very natural Piece of Rhetorick, to &s;et forth the Happine&s;s of a good Government under &s;uch Figures.</P>
<P>This then which is &s;o Elegantly commended to us, is a <HI>Rule,</HI> and a <HI>Rule over men.</HI> It is a <HI>Rule,</HI> and not an Arbitrary Power, without Laws and Mea&s;ures. Man is indeed born free, and &s;o he has a Right to Liberty; but he is born likewi&s;e with &s;o much frailty in his Compo&s;ition, that he wants Conduct, and mu&s;t be kept under Rule. It is a Que&s;tion not ea&s;ily determined, whether a State of Liberty, without any re&s;traint, that leaves all Men to a full freedom of acting as they plea&s;e; or a State of Re|&s;traint, that &s;huts out all Liberty, is the more mi&s;erable of the two. The one &s;ubdues whole Nations to the Humours of one flattered and abu&s;ed Tyrant; and the other expo&s;es Men to the Frauds and Violences of all their Neighbours; this keeps all Men in a con&s;tant State of War, and
<PB N="8" REF="5">that makes them langui&s;h under a ba&s;e depre&s;&s;ion of Spirit. In one word, the one makes Men Bea&s;ts of Prey, and the other makes them Bea&s;ts of Burden. The Mean between the&s;e two Extreams, is a Ju&s;t Government, that conducts tho&s;e who are under it, by con&s;tant and fixed Rules, that limits Men Rights, and re&s;trains their Pa&s;&s;ions; that &s;ubdues the Haughty, and protects the Humble; that a&s;&s;ures to every Man both his ju&s;t Birth-rights, and the fruits of his Indu&s;try; and, to &s;um up all, that renders every Man &s;afe, and that puts him in a way to make him&s;elf happy. Without this, Man-kind would grow into &s;o much di&s;order, that the World would become a De&s;ert, and Life it &s;elf would be a Mi&s;ery, if to live without all Rule over Men, were the Condition of living. A firm and &s;teady, an equal and uniform, but above all, a ju&s;t Government, changes the whole Scene; every man feels that he is &s;ecure, and &s;ees how he may be happy: and unle&s;s the whole Government falls under a Gene|ral Di&s;tre&s;s, no man can be mi&s;erable without Remedy, but through his own fault. This is the Sum of all the Happine&s;s that can be expected from Government: But as it is a Rule, and not a fallen Authority; &s;o it is a <HI>Rule over Men,</HI> &s;uitable to the Principles of Rea&s;on, to the Na|ture of Man, and to the Ends of Civil Society. To govern by Humour or Willfulne&s;s, either &s;hewing an unrea&s;onable Stiffne&s;s, in adhering too &s;ullenly to received Maxims, or an unfixed Levity, that has no mea&s;ures, to impo&s;e things meerly becau&s;e tho&s;e in Authority will &s;hew their Power, and will be obeyed; to put the Frailties of Men to trials in their Obedience, that are above Humane Patience; to exact of them that which is either impo&s;&s;ible or unrea&s;onable, and to carry this Rule too far into that which is God's Immediate Province, I mean, <HI>Mens Con&s;iences:</HI> All this is not the Ruling over Men, either as Men or as Chri&s;tians: God him&s;elf has made <HI>his Yoke ea&s;ie,</HI> and therefore tho&s;e who can pretend no higher than to be his Vicegerents, &s;hould not exceed tho&s;e Limits, within which the Author of our Being has re&s;trained him&s;elf. Undue Impo&s;itions, and unrelenting Severities; a Rigour in Command|ing, and a Cruelty in Puni&s;hing, mu&s;t find Patterns el&s;ewhere, then in Gods Governing the World, or in Chri&s;ts Governing the Church. Happy we, who are delivered from both Extreams; who neither lie under the Terror of a De&s;potick Power, nor are ca&s;t loo&s;e to the wildne&s;s of ungovern'd Multitudes; who neither groan under the Tyranny of Inqui|&s;itors,
<PB N="9" REF="5">nor the Madne&s;s of Lawle&s;s Men; and who&s;e Laws are neither writ on Sand, nor with blood; neither ea&s;ie to be defaced, nor cruel in their Execution.</P>
<P>But how well tempered &s;oever our Con&s;titution may be, nothing can compleat our happine&s;s, but the Ju&s;tice of tho&s;e who rule over us: Then may we reckon our &s;elves really happy, when they are truly <HI>Ju&s;t; Ju&s;t,</HI> I &s;ay, to their People, and to them&s;elves; to their Laws, and to their own Words and Promi&s;es, chiefly to &s;uch as is the Sacred Oath of this Great Day; and when they are &s;o exactly &s;crupulous in point of Truth, that all men &s;ee, that there is no part of the Government &s;o unalterable as their Faith is: <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> likewi&s;e to every one of their Subjects, &s;heltring them all under an Impartial Protection; neither perverting Ju&s;tice them|&s;elves, nor &s;uffering it to be perverted, as far as in them lies, by any that act in their Name; and re&s;olving to make &s;evere Examples of all that they can di&s;cover, who make them the Patrons of their Oppre&s;&s;ion: <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> to the whole Society, and the Con&s;titution of the Government, as wel as to every Individual Member of it; not breaking through the Limits of their Power, nor invading the Rights of their People; neither inven|ting new Preten&s;ions of Prerogative, nor &s;tretching tho&s;e that do belong to them, to the Ruine of their Subjects: <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> in di&s;tributing the Pu|blick Rewards, with a due regard to mens Capacities and Merits; and even <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> in that which to Good Kings is always the lea&s;t acceptable Exer|ci&s;e of their Power; I mean, in puni&s;hing the froward and disobedient, when the ill Effects of their Lenity are vi&s;ible; for there are Ca&s;es in which Gentlene&s;s to particular per&s;ons, becomes an Inju&s;tice to the whole Body. When Blood is &s;hed, it cries again&s;t the Murderer, till it is pardoned; but then the Cry turns upon tho&s;e that pardon it, and upon the Land that is <HI>defiled with Blood.</HI> There is after all, a Ju&s;tice in &s;hewing Mercy, as well as in puni&s;hing; otherwi&s;e Princes may fall into the Er|ror of being <HI>righteous overmuch:</HI> And when the Motives for Mercy are brought near an Equality to tho&s;e of the other Extream, the Ballane &s;hould ever turn to the merciful &s;ide. He under&s;tood Government well, that &s;aid, <HI>Mercy and truth pre&s;erve the King, and his Throne is upheld by mercy,</HI> Prov. 20: 28.</P>
<P>This is the Character of a <HI>Ju&s;t Prince, who &s;itteth on the Throne of Judgment, and &s;cattereth away all evil with his eyes,</HI> Prov. 20: 8. There
<PB N="10" REF="6">is a Maje&s;ty in Ju&s;tice that makes all unrighteou&s;ne&s;s fly, and hide its face before it: It is <HI>by righteou&s;ne&s;s that the Throne is established,</HI> Proverb. 16: 12. When every man feels the Ble&s;&s;ings of &s;uch a Ruler, all men are ea&s;ie, and pur&s;ue their Indu&s;try, becau&s;e they know they &s;hall reap the Fruit of their Labour; and every man becomes a Guard to the Go|vernment, that finds him&s;elf guarded by it. It is neither the Di&s;con|tents of a few ambitious and re&s;tle&s;s Spirits, nor the Practices of tho&s;e who are corrupted by the Enemies of a State, that can throw it into Convul&s;ions, as long as Ju&s;tice and Righteou&s;ne&s;s i&s;&s;ue out from the Throne in &s;o free a cour&s;e, that they run down like a River.</P>
<P>When <HI>righteous lips are the delight of Kings,</HI> Prov. 16.13. and when the <HI>wicked are put away from before them,</HI> Prov. 25.5. and when they e&s;teem it <HI>their honour to &s;earch out matters,</HI> not being abu&s;ed by bold Calum|nies, or unju&s;t Repre&s;entations: When they relieve the Poor, and pro|tect the Oppre&s;&s;ed, then by a noble &s;ort of Conque&s;t and Enlargement of Empire and Prerogative, they become the ab&s;olute Ma&s;ters of the Hearts and Hands of their Subjects: When in&s;tead of making their Will the Mea&s;ure of the Law, they make the Law the Mea&s;ure of their Will they will then feel the ea&s;ine&s;s of Ruling ju&s;tly, as &s;en&s;ibly as their People will the happine&s;s of it; for here they will &s;ee their way very plain be|fore them, whereas in all other paths they mu&s;t be often divided between an irreconciliable variety of Intere&s;ts and Pa&s;&s;ions.</P>
<P>But after all, though it is a great happine&s;s when Rulers &s;eem to have Ju&s;tice &s;o deeply rooted in their natures, that every act of Inju|&s;tice is as a Violence done them; yet unle&s;s thsre is a more la&s;ting Principle formed in them, their Noble and Vertuous Inclinations will be &s;o often cro&s;&s;ed by prevailing Intere&s;ts, and they will find them|&s;elves &s;o often be&s;et with corrupt Men, who court forbidden Gain, and love the <HI>wages of unrighteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> that it will not be po&s;&s;ible for them to maintain their Integrity, if they have not a Principle within them of &s;uch force, that it bears all things down before it; and that is the <HI>fear of God:</HI> This will po&s;&s;e&s;s their minds with a &s;ecret awe of that Supreme Being, which &s;ees <HI>all things,</HI> and di&s;covers even <HI>the hidden things of dishone&s;ty:</HI> This will accu&s;tom Princes to con&s;ider, that how much &s;oever they may be rai&s;ed above their Subjects, yet they are as nothing before that God, who as he &s;et them up by his Providence, &s;o
<PB N="11" REF="6">he can pull them down at his plea&s;ure. <HI>He poureth contempt upon Prin|ces;</HI> P&s;alm. 107.40. and when he bla&s;ts the Coun&s;els, and intends to defeat the De&s;igns of the Greate&s;t and Loftie&s;t Monarchs, how ea&s;tly do Crowns fall and Thrones &s;hake? This <HI>fear of God</HI> will make Princes often remember, even in the Pride of all their Glory, that though then they look <HI>like Gods,</HI> yet they mu&s;t <HI>die like Men;</HI> P&s;al. 82.6, 7. this Pro&s;pect will make them think &s;ometimes on the melancholy Reflections which the approaches of Death will probably rai&s;e within them, if they at any time for the encrea&s;e of their Trea|&s;ure, or their Power: or for any ambitious or il De&s;ign, have perverted Judgment, or denied Ju&s;tice; if they have &s;hed Innocent Blood, or &s;hut their Ears again&s;t the Cries of the mi&s;erable: The remembrance of the&s;e things will then rai&s;e Agonies in their Minds, which they will not be able to &s;often by any of all the&s;e Diver&s;ions with which they entertained them &s;elves in their Health and flouri&s;hing Conditi|on. The Violences that they have committed, and the Blood which they have &s;hed, will then &s;tick too clo&s;e to their Thoughts to be ea&s;tly &s;haken off by them: Or if they could be &s;o charmed with the &s;weetne&s;s of Empire, that it &s;hould make them deaf to all Clamours in this World; yet as &s;oon as their Souls pa&s;s out of their Bodies, they mu&s;t leave their Crowns and all their Glory behind them, and go into a &s;tate where all the Di&s;tinctions that now look &s;o gay and &s;o &s;hining will &s;ignifie nothing, unle&s;s it be to add to their Account, to encrea&s;e their Guilt, and to heighten their Condemnation. Then they mu&s;t appear at a Tribunal, where there is no re&s;pect of Per&s;ons; where the Cries of tho&s;e Widows and Orphans whom they either made, or oppre&s;&s;ed, or at lea&s;t refu&s;ed to relieve, will be heard; and every one of tho&s;e Complaints again&s;t which their Greatne&s;s &s;ecured them when on Earth, will be weighed in the Scales of Impartial Ju|&s;tice. Then tho&s;e Princes who have hardned them&s;elves again&s;t the Mi&s;eries of Mankind, again&s;t all that effu&s;ion of Blood and De&s;olation which their de&s;ire of Glory, their Ambition, or their Revenge occa|&s;ioned in the inju&s;t Wars which they have made, will find that they have a ju&s;t and righteous God to deal with, that <HI>accepteth not the Per&s;ons of Princes,</HI> Job 34.19. that <HI>revengeth Innocent Blood,</HI> e&s;pecially the <HI>Blood of his Saints,</HI> and that will <HI>reward every man
<PB N="12" REF="7">according to his works.</HI> Mat. 16.27. The&s;e are all Con&s;iderations of &s;uch mighty force, which ri&s;e out of the <HI>fear of God,</HI> that if Prin|ces do not &s;hut them quite out of their minds, they will certainly make all their Maxims of Ju&s;tice &s;o much the firmer, as they are graffed upon this &s;tock, and nouri&s;hed with the&s;e and &s;uch like Re|flections.</P>
<P><HI>Ruling in the fear of te Lord,</HI> does not only import, that this is the Prince's &s;ecret Motive and con&s;tant Remembrancer, but that the <HI>Fear of God</HI> becomes the Rule of the Government, as well as the Principle of him that governs. Few Princes are &s;o bad as to own that they have no regard to Religion in any thing they doe: It is a &s;trong temptation to their Subjects to &s;hake off their Yoke, when they openly &s;hake off God's: but as many as make a pretence of their Religion, do with it, as they do who wear Masks, which rather hide than di&s;gui&s;e them; for none take the Vizar for the true Face, though it covers it: They u&s;e Religion for the hiding &s;ome &s;ecret de|formities; but the Mask is &s;o cour&s;e, that though all Men cannot &s;ee what is under it, yet they plainly di&s;cern that it is but a Mask. Hypo|cri&s;ie, as all other things that we wear, is capable of new Fa&s;hions, and of different Modes; and the Skill of tho&s;e who u&s;e it, is to find out that which is mo&s;t likely to take, and to &s;uit it with the pre&s;ent oc|ca&s;ion. In one Age, the endowing of Mona&s;teries, and the building of Churches, could &s;anctifie the greate&s;t Mon&s;ters: The Devotion of another Age, was the carrying over va&s;t Armies to be de&s;troyed in the <HI>Holy Land:</HI> At another time, a Zeal for &s;ome new Doctrine, or controverted piece of Wor&s;hip was te Holine&s;s in Vogue: The being given up blindly to a Confe&s;&s;or, the breaking of Faith, and the per|&s;ecting of Hereticks, to &s;ignifie a zeal for Holy Church, can &s;erve with &s;ome to cover a multitude of Sins. At &s;ome times the Praying and Prea|ching with Appearances of Fervour and Devotion, has a Charm that carries Nations after it: And a Rigour in &s;upporting E&s;tabli&s;hed Forms, and the ruining of &s;uch as do not comply with them, will al&s;o draw to it &s;elfs great Applau&s;es. After all the&s;e Mi&s;takes or Im|po&s;tures, the true Notion of <HI>ruling in the fear of the Lord,</HI> is when Princes make that Religion which God has revealed, the chief mark and mea&s;ure of their whole Government: When the encouraging and pro|moting
<PB N="13" REF="7">of a vigorous Piety, and the maintaining of True Religion, by ways and means &s;uitable to it, is the chief de&s;ign of their Rule: When Impiety and vice are puni&s;hed, and Error is repre&s;&s;ed, but without the ruine of &s;uch as are involved in it: When the decency of the Wor&s;hip of God is kept up, without adulterating it with Super&s;tition: When Order is carried on in the Curch of God, without Tyranny: And above all, when Princes are in their own deportment, Examples of the <HI>Fear of God,</HI> but without Affectation? and when it is vi&s;ible that they <HI>honour tho&s;e that fear te Lord,</HI> and that <HI>vile men are de&s;pi&s;ed by them,</HI> P&s;al. 5.4. then do they truly Rule in the <HI>Fear of God.</HI> When we &s;ee Kings become thus truly Chri&s;tian Philo&s;ophers, then we may expect to &s;ee the City of God, the <HI>New Jeru&s;alem,</HI> quickly come down from Heaven to &s;ettle among us; and if we may look for a glorious Thou&s;and Years on Earth, we may reckon that it is not far from us, when we &s;ee Kings fall down before him that is the <HI>King of Kings,</HI> and offer up their Crowns to him by whom they Reign. Kings have one Prerogative which few of them are indeed wil|ling to u&s;e much, and that is, the Converting the World, not by Dragoons, Sanguinary Laws, or Cruel Edicts; but by Examples of true Religion, and good Life. Kings Examples have an Efficacy which few can re&s;i&s;t, and none will affect to do it. If Events that happen &s;eldom, may be called <HI>Miracles,</HI> this may well de&s;erve that Na|me; and indeed con&s;idering that as Princes carry the Frailties of Human Nature about them, &s;o they have Temptations ever near them to work on the&s;e, that the con&s;tant di&s;traction of Affairs di&s;&s;ipates their Thoughts, and exhau&s;ts their Spirits, that they are always encompa&s;&s;ed with Flatte|rers, who are on all Occa&s;ions contriving how they may plea&s;e them, even when it is by deceiving them, and that plea&s;ures of all &s;orts wait on them and follow them; when all this is laid together, the Miracle of a truly Religious Prince is perhaps none of the &s;malle&s;t effects of Omnipo|tence, and it runs not the hazard of lo&s;ing its Value by being &s;hewed too often.</P>
<P>But when there is a &s;olid Morality and genuine Piety, wel tempered and mixed together, and that Princes are both <HI>Ju&s;t</HI> and <HI>Fearing</HI> God, and that they govern Them&s;elves and their People by tho&s;e mea&s;ures, then we mu&s;t acknowledg that not only the Figures which are here made
<PB N="14" REF="8">u&s;e of, tho with never &s;o much Beauty, but all that the Riche&s;t Fancy can invent, come far &s;hort of &s;etting forth the Happine&s;s of being under &s;uch a Government. The Inju&s;t Vexations of Law-Suits would cea&s;e, if it appeared that <HI>Righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;ate in the place of Judgment,</HI> and that the <HI>Per&s;ons of the Rich were not Regarded,</HI> nor their Pre&s;ents accepted: Men dur&s;t not offend, if they &s;aw that nothing could redeem them from de&s;erved puni&s;hments: Factions and Animo&s;ities could not be kept up in Cities and Communities, if tho&s;e indirect Arts by which they might hope to bia&s;s the Prince were cut off; When true Merit is the &s;ure way to high Dignities, then Men wil take to the long, tho &s;low Method of hone&s;t Indu&s;try, in&s;tead of the &s;horter way of Flattery and Importunity. When Men are put out of countenance that will be vicious, and are denied alle tho&s;e Favours that the Prince will have to be the portion of the Vertuoust When the Decencies of Vertue are more nece&s;&s;ary to make a Man look well at Court, than the wearing Cloaths in Fa&s;hion; when Athei&s;m and Impiety are Things which Princes cannot bear; when a drunken Man is a mo&s;t loath&s;om &s;ight, and Oaths and Cur&s;es are the mo&s;t offen&s;ive &s;ounds to them; when Slanders, Lies and Calumnies can only hurt tho&s;e that make them, and next to the Authors, tho&s;e that &s;cat|ter them about. When alle the&s;e, or if that is too much to be hoped for, when but &s;ome of them appear in the conduct of Government. Men will be tempted to doubt whether they &s;hould wi&s;h to tarry &s;till here on Earth, or not: How many of our Pa&s;&s;ions would then fall off, when we &s;hould have no more occa&s;ion for them, nor provocations to them: Fears and Jealou&s;ies Di&s;content and Ill nature could not thrive, as they do, if all that Nouri&s;hment which the Errours of Government afford them, were withdrawn.</P>
<P>But to compleat the Picture, I &s;hall only &s;et before you the different State of the <HI>Romans,</HI> when they pa&s;&s;ed from the Vicious Reigns of &s;uch Execrable Mon&s;ters as <HI>Tiberius, Caligula, Nero,</HI> and <HI>Domitian,</HI> to the happy times of <HI>Trajan, Hadrian, Antonine,</HI> but above all, of that mo&s;t &s;ublime pattern of Vertue and Philo&s;ophy, <HI>Marcus Aurelius.</HI> In the former, nothing was &s;tudied but Vice and plea&s;ure: Nothing could rai&s;e a Man but &s;ordid Flattery, and an ob&s;equious courting of every Creature of Fortune and Favour. The whole bu&s;ine&s;s of the Court was to corrupt and deba&s;e the Senate; and to de&s;troy tho&s;e who &s;till retained
<PB N="15" REF="8">&s;uch a Tincture of their ancient Liberty, that nothing could &s;ubdue it: Spies and Informers where every where imployed, to engage Men into Di&s;|cour&s;es and Plots, which were to be betrayed, while corrupt Judges and fal&s;e Witne&s;&s;es were &s;ure to carry all things before them. And theit very Religion, fal&s;e as it was, was vitiated by the impudent mixures of the mo&s;t &s;hameful Idolatry, while their Emperours that were the reproaches of Humane Nature, had divine Adorations payed them, and that with all the refinings and profu&s;ion of Pomp in it, that nau&s;eous Flattery could invent. Their great City was laid in A&s;hes, only to gratify the wild Frolicks of an extravagant Tyrant; the Warlike Spirit of the <HI>Romans</HI> was enervated by Luxury and di&s;&s;olutene&s;s; and the Empire it &s;elf was expo&s;ed, fir&s;t to the contempt, and then to the Inroads of their former|ly &s;ubdued Provinces, while a publick Spectacle, an Entertainment, or a Play, were the only cares of a Court that hated the very appearances of Vertue, and yet &s;till fancied it &s;elf to be the Terrour and Wonder of the World, till a fatal Revolution, or a deadly &s;troke awakened Men out of their Lethargy.</P>
<P>But this &s;ide of the Picture, is not more hideous than the other is Glo|rious; the return of good Princes put a New Face on the whole Empire: Their Ancient Sen&s;e of Liberty was revived, which mu&s;t ever carry with it, all that is Great, or Noble in humane Nature; with it Learning and good Sen&s;e, wit and Eloquence, were again recovered, Frugality and So|briety were again honoured, and a Mode&s;ty and Simplicity of living &s;hined afre&s;h: Truth and Vertue, and Philo&s;ophy it &s;elf began to reign. <HI>Tacitus</HI> and <HI>Plutarch, Epictetus,</HI> and beyond them all <HI>Marcus Aurelius</HI> Him&s;elf, were &s;uch Men, that one would ble&s;s a whole Age, if it &s;hould but produce one of that force. <HI>Marcus</HI> in a Reign of almo&s;t twenty Years continuance, is repre&s;ented by all the writers of the &s;ucceeding as well as of his own Age, as &s;o perfect a Pattern, that there never appeared either in his private Deportment, or in his Government, one &s;ingle Blemi&s;h. He was never once &s;een either tran&s;ported with Anger or with Joy. He was never charged with one Light Word, or any one Ra&s;h Action. He lived in a perpetual Application to the Affairs of the Empire, and in the intervals of bu&s;ine&s;s, even in his Expeditions and Camps, he was imployed in tho&s;e profound Meditations of Philo&s;ophy which carry this Noble Title <HI>Of Him&s;elf to Him&s;elf,</HI> and in which we &s;ee the mo&s;t natural and unaffected
<PB N="16" REF="9">contempt of all things, be&s;ides Vertue and Goodne&s;s, expre&s;&s;ed with the greate&s;t force, and yet with the true&s;t &s;implicity of any thing that Anti|quity has left us.</P>
<P>Under &s;uch Princes, the <HI>Romans</HI> could not but recover their an|cient Di&s;cipline, and their wonted Valour, and the Empire was again rai&s;ed to its former Lu&s;tre, and regained its lo&s;t Authority; but which was much more, in them the World &s;aw patterns of Vertue, that were too high for that corrupt Religion which then prevailed; and this perhaps di&s;po&s;ed it not a little for Chri&s;tianity, that could not only con&s;i&s;t with &s;uch Morals, but carry them far higher.</P>
<P>If the opposition of the&s;e two different Scenes of Government affect this Auditory, and if the change &s;eems &s;en&s;ible, when &s;et out in Words, it is You, GREAT SOVERAIGNS, that mu&s;t give this its be&s;t Light and utmo&s;t Force. It is from you that we expect the Glorious Rever&s;e of all cloudy days. You have been hitherto our Hope and our De&s;ire: You mu&s;t now become <HI>our Glory and Crown of rejoicing,</HI> Ordi|nary Vertues in You, will fall to far &s;hort of our hopes, that we &s;hall be tempted almo&s;t to think them <HI>Vices.</HI> It is in Your Per&s;ons, and under Your Reign, that we hope to &s;ee an opening to a Glorious Scene, which &s;eems approaching. May You not only accompli&s;h, but exceed even our wi&s;hes. May You be long happy in one another. May You Reign long in jour Per&s;ons, and much longer in a glorious po&s;terity. May You be long the Support of the Church of God, and the Terrour of all its Enemies. May jou be ever happy in obedient Subjects, in wi&s;e Coun|cellours, and faithful Allies: May your Fleets be pro&s;perous, and your Armies Victorious. But may You &s;oon have cau&s;e to u&s;e neither; by &s;etling both at Home and Abroad, a firm and ju&s;t Peace, and by &s;ecuring the Quiet of <HI>Europe</HI> from tho&s;e who have &s;o often, with &s;o little regard to the Faith of Treaties, and now at la&s;t beyond all former Examples, di&s;turbed it. In order to the obtaining all the&s;e Ble&s;&s;ings, and in Con|clu&s;ion a &s;ure, tho a late admittance to te Kingdom Above, where you &s;hall exchange the&s;e Crowns with a more la&s;ting, as well as a more glorious One, May not only this Auditory, but the whole Nation join with united Voices, and inflamed Hearts, in &s;aying</P>
<CLOSER>God Save King <HI>William</HI> and Queen <HI>Mary.</HI></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
