King Charles the Second

ENGLANDS BEATITUDE

IT is the Desire of all Men to be blessed, but not the endeavors. And it is the endeavor of some to be blessed, but not by light means. And some be blessed without their endeavors, but will not rightly understand it. God blesses them, as he blesses all the Land, but they can hardly deem it a blessing, or dain to bless him for it, because not what their fanatic Cross-grain'd souls desired. Their minds were to bless themselves with that National •• rse, the want of a King. But God hath crossed their minds with a National bless, even this of my Text. And blessed be his Name forever. Let all that love the Lord say so, though others will 〈◊〉 We are bound to bless the Lord, and rejoice in his mercy, ••• ugh some repine and pine away to see God truly good to this ou • •• rael. We can do no less, to prove • ur selves true sons of the 〈◊〉 , and loyal subjects. Nor they much more to proclaim themselves right sons of Belial, very Malignants, whose eyes are therefore evil, because that God is good to England, and hath blessed it according to this Text, Blessed art thou, O Land, when thy King, &c.

Verbum dictum super rotis suis, as it is in the sacred Adage, • word in due season, and fit to season this, or any Assembly, a single assertion with a double condition. Blessed art thou, O Land, that's the assertion: when thy King is the son of Nobles there's the first condition, And thy Princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness, there's the second. On these two conditions hangs all the certainty of the assertion, and to ascertain the Land to be blessed, we need but ascertain these two conditions of a blessed Land, when it may be truly said, as truly it may, Rex tuus natus clarissimis: Thy King i • the son of Nobles, and thy Princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness. It may as truly be said, beata te •• blessed art thou, O Land, Any Land may be so styled, that i • so conditioned, and so may England now as well as any. I • stead of •• ata terra, blessed art thou, O Land, it may be said, beata Britannia, blessed art thou, O England, Thy King is th • son of Nobles, &c.

But before I discuss these conditions, that speak a Lan • blessed, let me disclose the blessedness bespoken on the • conditions. Beataterra, the sense of beata is hinted by terr • A blessed Land, the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , blessed of itself is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an • could it have stood by itself, had been dubious, but bei • adjected to the Substantive Land, hath singled out some certain significance, and can import none other Beati •• de, b • what befits a Land, blessed art thou, O Land, figuratively spoken, locus pro incolis, the Land for the Inhabitants, by a Mel • nymy of the subject; yet not intending 〈◊〉 , but National blessedness to them.

In Scriptures we read of a 〈◊〉 Land, of a blessed ma • and of God blessed ever, but must not think them blessed all one way, or with one kind of blessedness: they be three beatitudes, and all of several species; that of a Land very good, that of man much better, but that of God infinitely best. The blessedness of God is the greatest and highest good, that of men next, that of a Land in suo genere, least and lowest; for beatus homo is more in its proper sense then beata terra, but benedictus Dominus more then both. God is blessed of man, man of God, the Land of both: yea, God is blessed of man, and of himself too without man, and man is blessed, but not of himself without God, but of God, and not without himself, and the Land is blessed of God and man, or of God by man.

God's blessedness is first, and he is first blessed of himself, sibi sufficiens, saith S. Augustine, self sufficient. Blessedness itself, and the fountain of blessings: fons vivus, saith Anselmus, an ever flowing and an overflowing fountain, from him all blessedness flows to persons and Nations, and to him should all their blessings return as riverets and floods of water to the main, from whence, as Scaliger notes, they borrow beginnings. By him it is that man is beatus, and a Land beata, and by both should he be benedictus, blessed of man, and of men for being so of himself, and for blessing them. But he is not blessed of them, as they are of him. Mans blessing of God is merely Declarative, but his blessing of man is more. Man does not make, but only speak God blessed, and such a speaking of him so, adds nothing to his own self-blessedness. God is not the less blessed indeed, though man blesses him not: but man is, if God blesses not him. Man is not as God, of himseif blessed, nor can he be: but God blesses him by communicating blessedness unto him. God's mere speaking of any man blessed, makes him blessed: as Aquinas well observes, his fiat does it, nor can it be without him. He is vita beati hominiis, saith S. Augustine, the life of the blessed man, his blessed life. Summum bonum, that makes it life and blessed. Now the more man enjoys him, the more he joys in him, and his fullness of joy will be in his fullest enjoying of him, but so we shall not be blessed of him without ourselves. He that made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves, as St. Augustine well and truly. It is indeed by Grace we are saved, but not without cooperating Grace, as that ornament of Hippo calls it, we must be workers together with God, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith the Apostle, and so work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Though it be with respect to saving Graces, that men be styled beati, yet not so much to their having as their using of them: as beati immaculati, blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the Law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his Testimonies, that seek him with the whole heart. Psal. 119. 1, 2. where blessed is twice ascribed to the using of such graces, and that blessedness of another Nature, and higher worth then this in my Text, that spiritual, this temporal. Yet this is of worth too, yea of much worth, worth my pains in preaching, and yours in hearing, worth all men's prayers, when they want it, and all their thanks and praises when they have it, as, God be praised, now they have. This well inspired Preacher, Solomon himself, esteemed it an Argument worthy of himself, so did the Holy Ghost in putting it into the pen of such an Amanuensis. yet it is but terrene blessedness, a temporal benefit, the blessedness of a Land, Terra beata, blessed art thou, O Land.

Blessed of God and man, or of God by man, for God gives the man, and the men by whom it is blessed. By him Kings reign, and Princes have felicifying virtues, as that of Temperance, to eat in due season. When such are beati, the Land is beata, blessed in them, and blessed by them, or for them. Their blessedness spiritual conduceth much to that of the Land, which is but temporal, mere civil happiness, yet may help to render some more then civilly happy. But not to mention what may be, it is National blessedness, and must be answered with National thankfulness. We must acknowledge God's blessing in it, which is our way of blessing God, as saith Aquinas. Now to bless him so, let us reassume the consideration of the two conditions: the first concerns the King, as supreme: the second his ministers, here styled Princes, as subordinate. As touching the King, it is conditioned that he be the son of Nobles; as touching the Princes, that they eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness, In each condition observe twice two considerables, first, two and two ex parte Kegis, concerning the King, and then as many again ex parte Principum, four and four in both, all gradual Mediums to National blessedness, or to the perfection of it, see them in order, and first in reference to the King these four.

• 1. That the Land has a King.
• 2. That it has but one King, it is Rex, not Reges in the condition.
• 3. That it has its own King, Rex tuus, thy King.
• 4. That it has him by succession, as descended from the race of Kings, filius candidorum, the son of Nobles.

Secondly, in reference to the Judges and Magistrates, and other Worthies of the Land, here honored with the style of Princes, these four.

• 1. That there be Princes in the Land.
• 2. That they be Princes of the Land, Principes tui, thy Princes.
• 3. That they be sober persons, such as eat in due season▪
• 4. That they be of public spirits, as public persons ought to be, and aim at strength, not drunkenness in eating. At strength to do their office, and serve their Country, not at Drunkenness to debauch their Honors, and serve the Devil.

In those articles which refer to the King, we may see what should be, and is in England, to make it blessed. In these which refer to the Princes, what is, or should be, to complete the blessing. To have a King, and but one King, and he both the right King, and a right King, is but what should be, and is, in England, the Lord be blessed, to make it blessed, and to have Princes in the Land, Peers, and persons of worth in Trust and Power, and they Princes of the Land, right English Worthies, to whom there belongeth jus imaginis, the Hōnours of ancient families, and they so qualified, as Princes should be, with Noble virtues, to do right honorable service to God, the King, the Country, eating in due season, and aiming at strength for public performances, like public persons, not Drunkenness, like sneaking sots in private Debaucheries, not serving their own lust, but the good of others; as it is, or should be, to make the blessedness complete. Now for certain we have all the first in esse, and all the last at least in fieri. We have a King now, God be blessed, and we have our own King, the good Lord bless him, and be blessed for him, and he Rex Nobilis, a right King indeed. The son of Nobles in Solomon's rightest sense. God's blessing therefore to the Land, for blessed art thou, O Land, when thy King is the son of Nobles.

And we have Princes too, for an Honorable House of Peers again, to redeem us from that other House, and they Princes of the Land, not subdititious Lord's of adulterine Editions, no Protectorian Mushromes, mere Nullities Ephemeral, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , of right Royal Creations: vere Patricii, the right English Nobility, of nobler minds then to come down to those unenglished Confederates in the Land, that would have it like to the Land of Confederates, a very Anarchy; Heroic persons, and of Princelike sobriety, to eat in tempo •• suo, and then but ad reficiendum; as St. Jerome renders it, to renew their strength, exhausted with public services. Publici boni amantes, as Corranus says they should be, lovers of public good. Such we have, God be thanked, though all, it may be, are not such. And so all the Articles be true, though not of all, and known so to be, though not to all. Certainly true of many, though not ascertained to the many. • ea all be such forought I know; but certain it is that his Sacred Majesty takes all due care to have all so, witness his several Proclamations against Debauchery, wherein he commands both Princes and people to be of sober Conversations, that he in them might be as blessed by that condition on their part, as they are in him by that and all conditions on his. O that Claudians, Regis ad exemplum, &c. were verified in this, as in matters of less concernment, that such as love, or pretend to love his Majesty, would show it in keeping those Royal Mandates as well as others. Rex vel • t honesta; Would to God Seneca could now make good what follows, 〈◊〉 non eadem volet. Were all the people, are but all Princes such as the King would have them, the Land would surely be as blessed, as Solomon can assert it by the Text.

But suppose some defects in some, and I do but suppose it, • suppositio nihil ponit; yet all being perfect ex parte Regis, •• Land may asself the title of blessed; for as there is a blessedness on both conditions together, so in either by itself. And they be not merely the joint conditions of one only blessedness: but the different advantages of divers, so the •• ginal intends it. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is plurale constructum, as well as •• gulare. As it may be rendered b • ata w • th St. Jerome, or be •• tu with Pagnine and Mercer: so • t may beatitudines tuae, 〈◊〉 Montanus latines it, thy blessednesses. And so much Bux •• f, a Master of that holy Language, likewise observeth, as Pagnine does with the Targum and Rabbinical Critics. Some of the French Translatours turn it by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . O how happy art thou, O Land? As w • ndring at the happiness or happiness; happy in having thy King the son of Nobles, and happy in having thy Princes, such as eat in due season, for strength and not for drunkenness: beata in that, and beata in this, blessed in either, but wonderful blessed in both together.

And not only so as by two single beatitudes, one by the one condition, another by the other, but by many in each; As 1. Blessed art thou, O Land, in having a King; and 2. blessed art thou in having but one King: and 3. blessed in having thine own King: and 4. blessed in having such a King as thine own, a King right Noble, the son of Nobles: and 5. blessed also in having Princes: and 7. blessed in having them temperate persons, such as eat in due season: and 8. blessed in having them aim at strength, not drunkenness in eating. And suppose them not all several blessednesses, yet be they several addi • ions to that so accumulate in the Text; and each addition is a blessing.

I cannot now review them all, but must take up with those of the King, or by him, which speak us blessed, and blessed, and blessed, exceedingly blessed. Shall I run them over again to open the palm of the Time with the Text? first, blessed art thou O Land, in having a King. But secondly, more blessed in having but one King. And thirdly, more and more blessed in having thine own King. But fourthly, most of all blessed in having such a King as thine own, a King most truly Noble, composed all of Nobleness, of Noble blood, and a Noble soul, Nobly descended, Nobly disposed, Nobly designed, filius candidorum, the son of Nobles, and Noblest of such sons, as maximus natu. A Noble Climax, the true Incrementum of England's blessedness. Let us pace the Gradation again, and with steps more deliberate.

And in the first place, let us well observe that our very first step towards National bliss is our having a King. The Text supposeth any blessed Land to have so. Nor does it pronounce a Land blessed without one. The Land of Canaan itself was very unhappy when it wanted a King, and was but merely miscalled the holy Land. It was indeed neither holy not happy: but therefore unhappy, because unholy, & therefore both because without a King. When there was no King is Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And when every man did so, but few or none did that which was right in the eyes of God. And when it was so in the Land, how could it be blessed? Great was the wickedness then, and great the wretchedness in Israel: witness those woeful stories towards the end of Judges, where all the evils both 〈◊〉 and poenae, of sin and suffering be often ascribed to the want of a King, non erat Rex, there was no King in Israel.

And as Israel's woes in diebus illis were for want of a King: so were England's of late. Non erat Rex in Anglia, we had not our King in England. But almost every man plaid Rex, and did what seemed good in his own eyes. Yea every man but those good English Protestants that were true Royal • ists • , and had the fear of God before their eyes. Alas! they only might not do what seemed right to them, and was right indeed; or not without dangers of censure and suffering. They might not do right to their God, nor right to their King, nor to their Country, nor to their own souls, except in secret. They might not serve God as they ought, nor pray for this blessedness of my Text, without hazzarding liberties, livelyhoods, lives and all. Indeed much tender pity was then pretended towards tender Consciences; but none intended indeed for any but those erroneous. No kind of pi • tymight be extended to any good conscience that obliged to Loyalty, nor to any pious soul that would not renounce the right English Protestancy. The mercies designed for such were cruelties: unless sequestrations, proscriptions and trucidations 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 〈1 page duplicate〉 were Acts of mercy; or unless the forcing of men from conscience with Covenants, and trappaning their souls with snares were mercies. All sorts of Apostates might be indulged: but no true sons of the Church of England; as in Greece of old and in old Rome, men might have worshipped any God, but only the God of Israel, the only true God; or might have worshipped him with any but his own true worship: so in England of late men might have been anything but only what they should have been, they might have been of any new Religion they listed, or of no Religion at all, if they listed, as too many were. But might not be for that good old way they had been, and ever should have been: any but the Divine service of our Church might have been used, toleration for any besides might have been purchased. The Jews might have a Synagogue, and had in England's Metropolis to deny our Savior, and contradicted his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . But English Protestants might not be protected. Many were ruined, Religi • nis ergo, and others ran the hazard. Theirs was the saddest condition of any, because there was no King in England.

We then were like to Israel for want of a King, and should not be unlike the better Israelites, now we have one. When God had blessed them with a King, they loved him as their lives; and styled him the Breath of their nostrils, and the Light of Israel. We have now as just cause, as I conjecture: for the Light and Life of this our Israel went and came with our Sovereign. The whole Land without him was but Corpus sine Anima, a Body without a Soul; as Q • Curtius said of an Army without a General. We could not then look upon England, as on Job's, or David's, or Isaiah's, or Jeremiah's, or Ezekiel's Land of the Living. It was a dying Life, we living; or a living Death we endured; a state worse then Death indeed. When this Preacher, Solomon, in his days had considered the oppressions done under the Sun, and beheld the tears of such as were oppressed, and had no Comforter. On the side of their Oppressors there was power: but they had no Comforter. He praised the dead more then the living, Eccles. 4. 1, 2. No • could he have done otherwise of late, had he considered the Oppressions done in England, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and had no comforter. Proh dolor! non erat Rex in Anglia, there was no King in England to relieve the oppressed; or to enliven those that were even worse than dead. The Natural Body wanteth Life, when it wants a Soul; so did the Body of this Land, when that Civil Soul, King was parted from it. And Carkess-like, it corrupted apace, and bred devouring Vermin, which lived like themselves, upon the Bodies of other Men's Estates; while others, their betters did not, could not live as otherwise they might. Alas! good Subjects did not live, but suffer; for, simplex vita non est vivere, sed valere, It is not to live, merely to have life, but to enjoy it. But that we did not, could not, when the Civil Soul of our Nation; and religious Soul of our National Church was forced to a sorrowful state of separation. Most heavy oppressions were all abroad. Such as made some wise men mad, and some mad men Wise. So wise, as to see their want of a King; yea so wise, as to understand, that England 's real Comfort is only in a Royal Comforter. It was merely by Antiphrasis, that some would needs be miscalled Conservators, and others Protectors; when P • ety and Loyaltie could find no Protection, because no King in England. But blessed be the King of kings, we have one now, to do us right; one that hath already enlivened, and enlightened the Land, as holy Job has it, Luce viventium, with the Light of the living. And nothing now can seem more seasonable than Acts of Oblivion, in reference to the late Oppressors, and to the Powers on their side. Yet nothing can be less suitable than present forgetfulness of such Oppressions, in reference to God our Savior, who hath so redeemed us from them. It is indeed 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , as S. Chrysostom says of Sadness, to retrive any thoughts of those injurious Times. Yet must they be thought of: not to corroborate Animosities; nor yet renovare dolores, to rub old sores; much less to beget Resolves, cruorem cruore reponere (if noble Tertullian 's phrase may be so taken) to recompense evil for evil. But for more pious purposes.

As first, to perpetuate due Thankfulness to God, for so memorable a Deliverance. That House of Bondage, our English Egypt, may not be forgotten, nor the Bondage of that House; least we forget our Obligations to thank our Redeemer. He hath raised the Land from National death, by reuniting it's Soul unto it. A blessfull Resurrection! we are blessed by it, a Blessed Land.

And secondly, those Miseries must be remembered, to make our present Mercies appear the more like themselves. Contraria juxta se opposita, magis clucescunt. By looking back to the Cursednesse of those merciless times, wherein we wanted a King, we may the better heed the blessedness of these, wherein we have one.

And thirdly, we must keep those Times in mind, to keep us from the like. To think of them may make men afraid to sin as they did, by un Kinging the Land, or suffering it so to be un-Kinged. Let it never be forgotten, that for England to be un-Kinged, is to be un-Churched, to be un-blessed, to be undone. Let us so remember that shadow of Death wherein we sat, when the Light of the Land was so put out, as never to suffer it again to be so extinguished. Yea let us ever beware of those ill kinds of men, that be for Opposing, Deposing, and Killing of Kings, such be all Puritanizing Jesuits, and Iesuitizing Puritans; fratres in malo, both for Coertion, and Deposition of Kings, and for Decollation too, Herod and P • late reconciled. They differ de modis, but speak de rebus so like each other, that there is hardly the difference of Shibboleth and Sibboleth in their speeches. And as near an agreement, if not a nearer of late, there hath been in their Actions. Unless some followers of Lesley have quite ont-gone all those of Loyola, in the Hardinesse of resisting, and affronting Royal Majesty; and out-done them in their Boldness of Murdering their Sovereign. Indeed they have set such a President of Kingkilling, as have put down a Ravilliack himself; yea and Chastel, and Clement the Iacobin too, or James Clement. Yea all those Treasons of Stueley, and Sanders, and Somervil, and Crighton, and Parry, and Savage, and Babington, and Stafford, and Squire, and Lopez were modest to that of the late Iesuitizing Puritans; and so was that of Catesby, and Piercy, and Winter, and Faux; the Gun-powder Treason itself, though horrid and hellish, even to astonishment, as is storied by that right reverend Bishop of Chichester, and others. And let it be remembered, as it deserves, that those late Regicides were of two several fraternities: but both such active Fanatics, as if they had been Jesuited Romists; or as if the souls of Bristoe, and Garnet, and Oldcorn, and Wa • son; yea of Varade, and Verona, and Heureux, and Immanuel Sa had all broke Purgatory, and by a kind of Mazarinean 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 were organized by Traskites and Hethering tonians, and Bareboneans; yea by Smectymnuans, and Hendersonians, and were acting them all in that Work for Rome, their King killing Reformation. And if Causa caus • be causa causati, as certainly it is, then by the Fanatics, who began that Work, as Wicked Regicides as any others: yea the prime Agitatours. And re vera, they gave the first fatal blow, though others gave the last. They took the King's Crown off his head, though others took his Head off his shoulders. Had not those first Fanatics so murdered his Royal Power; the others had never so murdered his Royal Person. The younger enemies of his Religious Protestancy could not have taken away his Life, had not the elder taken away his friends in Church and State. Though the fatal Axe had an Independent Handle; yet had it a Presbyterian Back, and Edge, as well as a Jesuitical Head. Alas! the new modeled Factions were all but off sets of that first wild Root of Bitterness. Their own eggs hatchit by themselves into such Cockatrices, to verify that Proverb, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . They were laid in the nest of the Scottish League, and hatchit into what they have been. Let all therefore that value the Blessedness of my Text, take heed of Fanatics, of that ring leading faction, as much as of others. Let all that would keep their good King in just Power, keep such out of Power. Ictus piscator sapit; The burned child the fire dreads. Trust not Fanatics of either faction. In neither Barrel b • tter Herring. Sero sapiunt Phryges. Though Christian piety may well forget to punish them, yet Christian Polici • should not forget to prevent them. And I mind you of them, but only for Prevention; wishing there might be a Pr • terition at least, if not a Reprob • tion of all Fanatick R • gicid • s in all Elections for Trust and Power. And I only call them so, that will see no evil in being so. But as touching any true Convert, I shall say, as it was of S. Augustine after his Conversion; ' It is Tyranny to trample on him that prostrates himself; and as that Tragoedian,

He that is such, will surely wish, that all due care may everywhere be taken, to purge out that old leaven, that the next Parliament may be a new Lump. That what the Healing Blessed Parliament hath so well farthered, may by the next be as happily finished. And blessed be the Memory of that Healing Parliament, that hath so piously, and so prudently helped us to the Blessedness of my Text; a joyous Blessing, the Blessing specifical of Heaven itself. And Heaven were not itself without the Blessing of a King: it could not be the place of Happiness, were it not a Kingdom. I never knew it styled the Commonwealth of Heav • n, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of Glory; and the Glory of it is merely from the King of Glory: without the King of Heaven, there could be no such Glory, no such Happiness, no such Joy, as there is in Heaven. The Saints and Angels there may thank their King for all their Glory, all their Happiness, all their Joy; and so they do with joyous Acclamations, incessant H • llelujah 's.

Yet some Fanatics dream of an Earthly Heave • without a King; or would make Heaven itself without one for a thousand years, while the King of Glory should Personally • ign on Earth so long. Others would have an EnglishCommonwealth▪ Heaven, for no less time, by levelling all • o an absolute Parity. A fanatic Dream, or monstrous • ancy begotten by two Misconceits.

First, that all Subjection in the Family of Adam was mere • y caused by the fall of Adam.

Secondly, that they be as free from sin as Adam before his • ll; which is no less than the giving of Scripture itself the • e: for that has con • luded all under sin, and that by a general 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And if we say we have no sin, we dec • ive ourselves, • aith S John) and the truth is not in us.

But suppose there were no self-deceit quoad hoc in self-admiring Adamites. Suppose them as free from sin as they bo • st themselves. Yet are they a • isse in that other conceit. For Superior • ty and Subord • nation were rather corrupted than caused by the sin of the Protoplast; and Sovereign Power was not brought in, but broken by his fall. It fell in him, and was as much impaired by the fall as he himself. God made him at first in his own likeness, with absolute Dominion, in omnem terram, over all the earth; and as the Donation ran over all the earth, it surely took in all Inhabitants by a Metonymi of the Subject; and could not include all the Rational Creatures that were to replenish the earth, as well as those Irrational. And that Dominion over Rationalls was first Martial, and so Paternal, and so Imperial.

First, Martial, for ab initio the Husband was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the head of the Wife. And it was as much the duty of Eve to Adam, as of Sarah to Abraham, to obey him and • ell him Lord. The husband is the head of the wife, as Christ i • the head of the Church. And therefore (saith St. Paul) as the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in all things, Ephes. 5. 23, 24. Where wives ar • commanded to be subject to their husbands natural • l • g • ; saith St. Ambrose, by the law of Nature, because woman ha • beginning from man. Husbands are Types of Christ; so was Adam. And wives be Types of Christ's Spouse the Church; so was Eve. And the Church is really the Mother • f all living, as Eve was Nominally. And as ou • Mother the Church has a Royal Husband of the Second Ad • m▪ • rom whom she had her being: so had our Grand mother Eve of the first, from whom she had hers. Nor wa • he the less her King for being her husband. Nor she mo • exempted from being a subject by being a wife; but subject • even • o nomine, though of an higher form than other subjects. So evident it is, that subjection was not brought into his family by his fall: but was there before, brought in with that Honorable estate of holy Matrimony, instituted of God in • aradice, in the time of man's innocence. So his first Dominion over rationals was Marital.

And so Secondly, Paternal, for this second was potentially and virtually in that first. By being an husband, and with that benediction too, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth; he was a father eminenter; God made him in his ••• likeness, as he made him a man: and so he did, as he made him a father; but his likeness to God in both, was his right of Dominion by both. He had the likeness of his Maker, as he had 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . the likeness of God's Principality: as St. Chrysostom well observes; By his Man • ood he was God's Representative in having Dominion over other Creatures. By his fatherhood, in having Domi • ion over all his offspring, and Eve was one of them, • hough not naturali modo. And so quatenus homo, he had • uperiority over other Creatures: quatenus maritus, over • is wife; qua pat • r, over his children; and quatalis pater, •• such a father, that had no father but God, he had supre •• y over all mankind.

And so Thirdly, his power was fontaliter Imperial. So that • d he not sinned, to shorten his days, and l • ss • n his Do •• ions, he had surely been at last the father of many •• tions, actually, as at first he was Potentially. • d he lived to see the whole World peopled with •• Progeny; he had seen his Paternal Power spread • o Imperial; and his Empire greater then any since •• fall. Yea greater than the Eastern and the Western • oth together. It had surely been over all the earth, ac • ording to that first Donation. Other Kingdoms there • ight have been, and should: but none like his. And other Kings; but none like him. But all inferior and subordinate to him and his. His, like God's own Kingdom, had ruled over all: and he, like God, had surely been, not merely a King; but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . King of Kings, and Lord of lords. Though some of his Sons, and of his Sons Sons might have multiplied so, as to have turned potestates patrias into Regias. Yet all their Multiplications must needs have been Descents from him by gradual filiations, and so subordinate to the Primacy of his Fatherhood, and that Imperial Power belonging to it. Nor could any Regified Sons in that state of Innocence, have refused to reverence that singular likeness of God's Paternity and Power in him. The light of Nature, in that state of better knowledge, would surely have shown them the duty of Sons to such a Father; and the Power of such a Father over his Sons. Nor could any have been like fanatic Adamites, in seeking to level his Power. And so indeed there had been a kind of Heaven upon Earth, as all had been blessed, like those in Heaven, with such a King, as by S. Chrysostom is defined 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . the highest and head of all But by the fall of Adam that Universality of Kingly Power was broken; and the World's universal blessedness lost thereby. And but some parts have been blessed since with smaller Kingships; and but sometimes. So Canaan was; and England is. Blessed be God, he hath blessed the Land with a King. That's the first.

The Second is, to have but one King. Two are too many for one Kingdom; Non capit regnum duos, saith Sen • ca: One Head is meetest for one Body. The Holy one • Israel is so much for one, and for but one, that for all Isr • he appointed but one Moses, and but one Joshua, and bu • one of them at once, to order both the sword of Justice an • that of the Militia too. The Camp, and Congregation o • Israel were both commanded by Moses first, and then by Joshua, when Moses died. God knew, I believe, much better then any Common wealth's man, what number was fittest for managing supreme Power. Two heads may be better than one for Counsels, but not for Commands: see it so in Bodies Polemical, and Bodies Political too.

First, in those Polemical, where there must be leading soldiers, and leading Leaders too, that one may lead another, and all be lead by one in order. One over all makes all as one. One Captain Commander of an Army was ever as needful as many in it; yea many General Captains are apt, through emulation, to quarrel one another. But one Captain General takes only the common Enemy for the object of his Quarrels. The Romans for a while sent their Consuls to war with joint Commands, and for a while their Military Tribunes; but after a while, they found that error of dividing such Commands by the fatal Division of such Commanders; and so would have but one at once in absolute Power, whose Dictates all were to obey, from whence his Title was Dictator. And in that singular Number they found more safety, and better success than in their Plurals. The Body of an Army is ever in danger to be pulled in pieces, when, like the serpent 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , which Pliny writes of, it hath two heads, one pulling one way, the other another. And more Heads may be more dangerous. The Athenians had surely been ruined, when many were equal Commanders with Mil • iades, had not wise Aristides foreseen and prevented it, by persuading all the Commissioners to resign their conjoined Powers to the sole management of Miltiades. And that ill success of Eumenes was thought to happen to him, because the silver Shields were joined with him. Such Commanders together can hardly agree to command as one. Al • ibiades and Niceas were ever divided about the carrying on of their conjoined Powers: so were Fabius and Minutius: nor would Varr • and Paulus Amilius have agreed as one, had they been never so long conjoined. The like may be said for others: but I need not look back to Ancient Times; nor into the Tacticks of Lacedemonians or Athenians, nor into the • eats of War taken out of Paternus, Frontinus, Trajanus, Hadrianus, Cornelius Celsus, and Cato Censorius, by Flavius Vegetius, commanded by Valentianus Augustus. Nor need I ramble to Forreign Wars to note the ill of many, or the good of one good General: our days afford an Instance at home most notable. One good Albemarle has done that General good of Restoring the Land to the blessedness of my Text; more good than many would, or could have done. Committees of Safety were but miscalled so: the only safety was in his secrecy, and that in his sole General Captain-ship; for whose sake, let us forever think the better of one Polemic • l Head, and best of him: and be, as he therein, for one Political.

And so Secondly, See one head best for one body Politick 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith the Prince of Poets; Government by many is not good. God would have but one David, and but one Solomon, and but one of them at once, to be King of Israel. Nor is there more than one God to be King of Heaven. Nor can any Levelling Common-wealths Man, without blaspheming God's own way of Governing, affirm Popularity to be so good as Monarchy. Monarchy by general vote has gone for the best of States. And Lupanu • might well say, quid melius unius principatu? Whats better then Supremacy in one? It is enough that one be Magister Populi. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith St. James: Be not many Masters. Many may do more hurt than good; as many did of late. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 says the Proverb: Many Rulers ruined Caria. And by many Masters of Misrule this Land was near its utter Ruin. When Adrianus Caesar had found his error of having many Physicians, he alluded to that Greek Proverb saying, Turba medicorum perdidit Caesarem: A Committee of Doctors have killed Caesar. So did our many State Physicians, and worse; for they murdered CHARLES the First, our English Caesar. God keep the Land forever from such Physicians of State. Let their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 be strongly detested of all: cruel Phlebotomie! Who but such a College would have cut off the Head to cure the Body? for their sakes let us ever beware of many Tyrants. The poor Athenians smarted, when Thirty domineered. Oligarchical Powers were never safe; but oft times grievous to be born. So Rome • ound it, when that Triumvirate of Caesar, and Pompey, and Crassus, acted most like itself. Then Lucan could say, Nulla fides regni sociis. There is no faith in fellowships of a Kingdom; for every supreme Power is ever impatient of a Partner.

Nec fert Pompeiusve parem, Caesarve priorem. Proud Pompey could not endure an Equal; nor Caesar a Superior; yet Pompey was Popular, and seemed to act by a self-denying Ordinance, as Statists do, when their designs be merely selfish: But his ambition was too great to content himself with the style of Pompey the Great. Pompeius Maximus was his least and lowest aim: He liked no Caesar besides himself; nor could Caesar abide to be less than himself. Aut Caesar, aut nullus, was each of their aims; and so into factions they parted, a • Supremacy-partners use to do. Rome might have known the cruel impatience of such Partnerships, by that of Romulus and Rh • mus. And • L •• can needed not to ramble from Rome for Instances; nor • thither. Our own Chronicles abound, and I need there in to look no farther than the Race of King Brutus, from whom this Island took the Name of Britany, for that of Albion. There I have read more than once those memorable Instances of Manlius, and Mempritius; and of Morgan, and Cunidagius; and of Ferrer and Porrer, who fell from Ruling together, to ruining one another for sole Supremacy, till Ferrer ended his days, and Porrer that Royal Race of Brutus soon after. So fatal it has been to have the Kingly Power of this Land divided. Nor has it been less fatal to have this Kingdom divided into many, as by the Saxons into Seven. The Land was never so blessed, as since that Heptarchy was turned to a Monarchy. Not many, but one Supreme felicifies a Land. Homer 's advice to Greece was ever as apt for England, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Let their be one Lord Paramount, one King. One puts by emulations; as Dubrelius truly says. And for the Peace of the Land, now blessed be the Author of Kingship, we have a King, and but one now. It is again a Monarchy, as it should be; and so terra beata. That's the Second.

And Thirdly, to bless us more and more, God hath restored our right King to us. We have our own King once again; not an Intruder, but the lawful Heir, given us by him, who made him for us. One born for England: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 as Homer styled his Agamemnon; The Shepherd of the People; appointed of God without doubt, to lead his people like a flock. And like the good Shepherd his entrance into his sheepfold was by the right way of Royal Right: that's 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , by the door. Not like that late Intruder, who climbed up some other way: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the same was a thief and a robber. But thanks to him who is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 Our rightest leader is returned in peace; though that Intruder was fetched away in a bluster. Long may our welcome Shepherd lead the flock; Whose own the sheep are, and he careth for the sheep. No Protector to an own King, An own King takes the good of his Kingdom for his own; and minds rem populi as his own. But own advantage, own interest is the aim of Intruders and of Tyrants; as Freigius notes, with Aristotle. And what was it but proprium commodum, that the late self-minders miscalled The Good old Cause. No Tyrants to such intruding Saint seemers: They commonly blasphemed our Noble Sovereign with the nick name of Young Tarquin; but were themselves the proud Ravishers. They ravished the Body of his Pol • tical Lucretia: they ravished his Kingdom, his Royal Palace, and his Princely Revenues. And those Intruding Pulpiteers, who Pimping for them (as some serving men use to do, to debauch Young Masters ) were Ravishers too, and taught them first the way by ravishing all the fairest Personages in the Land with violent and adulterate sequestrations; embracing filthy Lu • re, if not fair Lucretia too; and taking to themselves the Bodies of other men's Estates, without taking care for the estates of those other men's bodies; quite forgetting the time of Restitution of all things; and as little dreaming of such a time as this for the Restitution of some things. But blessed be that Ancient of days for restoring these days so like to those of old. The Land begins to be like itself again, by it's own King, beata terra. That's the Third.

The Fourth is the Crown of all the former • and most of all felicifies the Land. It is that we have a Royal Sovereign, a right King; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the son of Nobles. Here the Preacher puts the Emphasis; Blessed art thou, O Land, when thy King is the son of Nobles. Some take it literally, as Montanus renders it, filius Heroum, and filius Nobilium; the same with our English, and Vatablus means the same by filius Candidorum; and so does Tremellius by natus clarissimis. Others take it for a figurative Phrase: the son of Nobles, for truly Noble. So S. Jerome has it, beata terra, cujus Rex nobilis est. But I must not dilate upon the Grammar of the words. Two things, I conceive, come under the sense.

• 1. That he be Rex Nobilis, a Noble King.
• 2. That he be Rex Natu, a King by succession, as son of Nobles.

First, a Noble King: and a King may be so, by Extraction, or Education, or Disposition. Nobly born, nobly bred, nobly minded. He is most truly noble, that is so all three ways. And thats the Noblenesse that so felicifies this Land. See it in all three severally.

First, by Extraction; the primary meaning of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Son of Nobles: such a son ship is an Happiness to a kingdom, and an Honor to a King; although Malvezzi, to magnify his Romulus, and vilify his Tarquin affirms, that he is not glorious, that is born a Prince, but he that becomes one. By his good leave, and without it too, we must needs honor Noble Birth, and deem it glorious to be nobly born; most glorious to be born a Prince. We must give honor, to whom honor is due, and unto Caesar the things that are Caesar' s; and honor is his, even from his Birth: the prime part of Royal Birth-right. The Text asserteth the Land's blessedness according to the King's Noblenesse, and this according to his Birth; the Son of Nobles. And it is remarkable, that it says not Herois, in the Singular Number; but Heroum, in the Plural; of Nobles. Which may be several ways.

First, in respect of both the immediate Parents. He that was of an Hebrew father, or an Hebrew mother, was accounted an Hebrew. But he that was of such a Father and such a Mother, was called an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as S. Paul writes himself, Philip. 3 5. so he that is of a Noble Father, or a Noble Mother may be deemed some way Noble; but he that is of both Noble, is Noble of Nobles filius Nobil • um. That's the first, but the least.

Secondly, Son of Nobles may be in respect of several descents on either side, or of several descents on both. The last is far most Honorable; and that's the Noblenesse of our Charles the 2. the Son of Nobles by many and many descents on both sides.

First, on his Royal Fathers side, descended from many and many most Noble Kings of several Kingdoms, and of all the most Noble Races in this. When the Race of King Henry the 8. was ended with Queen Elizabeth, Pretences were made by divers to the Crown of England: but after due enquiries made, they were all found in the Royal Grandfather of our most noble Charles the 2. And when the Business of Recognition was on foot in the Parliament Tertio Iacobi, it was made evident by that Renowned Earl of Northampton, that the Pretences of the Britain's from King Brutus, were in King James, as from Cadwallo. Those of the Scots by Fergus; those of the Picts, by the daughter of Hengist; those of the Saxons, by the sister of Edgar; those of the Danes, by the daughter of King Christian; and those of the Normans, by Margaret, eldest daughter to King Henry the 7. in whom the Red and White Roses were most sweetly damasked: York and Lancaster well united, by that happy Match of Henry the 7. Son to the Noble Earl of Richmond, and Elizabeth eldest daughter to Edward the 4. from whom came Prince Arthur, who died young; and Henry the 8. whose Race ended in Queen Elizabeth, and left the Royal Dignities to the Race of Princesse Margaret by James the 4. of Scotland; and so they became the Royal Birthrights to King James the first of England, and sixth of Scotland; and so to our most Royal Sovereign, Charles the 2. the rightest Lineal Descendant. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 by many most noble Descents on that side of his Royal Father.

Secondly, the Son of Nobles also, as descended from many Races of French Kings, by that most Noble Daughter of France, his Royal Queen Mother. An Honor of no little estimate; but so highly valued, as there is almost no Nation, saith Lupanus, quae non ad francos Reges originem referat, adeo magnum • st fortibus nasci: which derives not some honor from French Kings, so much it is to be of such consanguinity. Were it feasible in a Sermon to show you all the streams of Royal Blood, that have flowed into the Noblest Veines of our most Noble Charles the 2. from all the high born Kings and Queens on all sides in all descents, you could not but most highly honor his Nobleness by Extraction; and think it no Hyperbole, but his Birth-right, to be styled the Noblest King in Christendom, as that Herald honors him; and worthiest of all the Honors that Loyal Subjects can do a Sovereign, who is in Solomon 's rightest sense, The Son of Nobles.

The Second way of Noblenesse is by Education, or Institution; a Noblenesse that God himself looks after. For when he designed Moses to be Ruler of his People Israel, he preordained his Education to be in the Court of Egypt; and not as a servant there, but as the son of a Noble Princesse, who nourished him, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 saith St. Luke, as her own Son; and so he was learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians. A Prince-like Institution, and merely by Divine appointment, as Macarius well observeth. Nor would God have David to be a King, before he had been a Courtier, and that not merely as one of King Saul 's Retinue; but as of Royal Affinity, Son in Law to the King; no light matter; as David himself hinted to the servants of Saul, 1 Sam. 18. 23. But so he was to prepossess him with a Noble Spirit, by Noblenesse of Institution. Such regard has God himself to Noble Education. Nothing more needful for improving innate Inclinations to Noble Mindednesse. And such Inclinations use to be in Noble Extractions; seminals of right Noblenesse. When Noble Birth and Noble Breeding meet, as they should, they make right Noble indeed; as Lyra notes: s • inv • cem ornant, says Dionysius Carthusianus, they mutually adorn each other; like a precious Gem in an Ornament of gold. The Gold of Noble Extraction is ever fitly adorned with the Gem of Noble Education; and right it is for both to be deemed precious. Gold is so even from the very Mine, and so Nobility from the Wombe; for as Chassanaeus says, Nobilitas transit in filios in infinitum. The honor of Noble Birth forever descends, and that of Noble Breeding should ever ascend. Noble Temperaments be in Noble Extractions, and Noble Tendencies in such Temperaments; and such tendencies be easily heightened with right Institutions. Well therefore might the Preacher bestow the Honor of the Text upon 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The son-ship of Nobility has the start of others to be bettered by Noble Breeding. And Nobleness of Breeding should ever follow that of Birth. And it is not unlikely, but Solomon might have an Eye to Nobleness of Breeding, in asserting what he does of the Son of Nobles: who so eyes the Education of our right a Solomon, may see him heightened by it to the Zenith of right Nobleness, advantaged by Institutions, by Afflictions, and by Intercessions.

First of Institutions, both Civil and Sacred; these by such a Church-Discipline, those by such a Court-Discipline, as could not but season him rightly for Court and ChurchConcernments. His Tutors in both were more than Ordinary; and his Institutions by more than Tutors. No Vives, no Coxe, no Ascham could have instilled better Principles into his Noble soul, then have been by Tutors, nor any Bachanan so good. Much less could Aristotle, or Pl • to, or Sen •• a, have bettered the same: though famous Tutors to great Princes. And I may tell you, that his Noblenesse of Education derives not all advantages, nor most, from Tutors, though most able; but from a most Royal and most Religious Father, of ever blessed Memory, in quo instar omnium auxiliorum erat; who could do, and did as much as all besides, and much more. His Moods and Methods were like himself, most truly Noble: witness that part of his Royal Likeness, entitled, To the Prince of Wales. And witness those Effects which verify S. Austin • touching Discipline, who says, it is Magistra Religions & verae pietatis, the Tutoress of Religion, and real Piety. What pious and prudent Counsels were given viva vo • e, I presume not to turn into Traditions. But my thoughts are of what, being dead, he yet speaketh, by his even inspir • d Pen. That 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is still pictural quens, and will forever speak most Royal Institutions, and other Oraculous Enunciations; such as have conduced to the making of his Majesty CHARLES le Bon, and CHARLES le Grand; * Great in Goodness, and Good in Greatness. The Mirrour of Noblenesse by right Institutions.

And secondly, his Noblenesse of Education has been bettered much in the School of Afflictions; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 God himself, for divers years, was pleased to School him with the Severer Discipline of sad Providences. And with his Rod and Ferula hath surely beaten in the best of Wisdom, even that which is Experimental: For Tribulation worketh patience, and patience Expertence, saith the Apostle. And to that his royal Father might allude in saying to him, He had the advantage of wisdom above most Princes, in that he had spent some years of discretion in the experience of Troubles, and exercise of Patience.

And thirdly, his Nobleness of Education was also advantaged much by Intercessions to God for him. Some by Loyal people in private Devotions well watered with tears; and others in public, by Loyal Pulpits, consigned and sealed with earnest Amens of the like Congregations; besides the Prayers and Tears of such a father as surely availed much. Well might the seeds of his Pious Nobility, and Noble Piety thrive, being so well watered. It was rightly said to M • nica, as touching her Son Augustine, that the son of so many Prayers and Tears, in all probability could not be forever lost. And who could expect any less, than, that God, in his due time, should bless our Sovereign on better means; and make him a blessing? A right noble soul he has made him, by such right means.

Now the last kind of Noblenesse is that of disposition, Noble Mindednesse; the very 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of Royal Dignity, and Crown of both the former. By this a King makes good the Nobility of his Birth, and Honors of his Royal Progenitors; and proves the Text most true. By this he becomes a Blessing indeed unto his Subjects. Hugo Cardinalis expounds the Text of this, as the only right felicifying Noblenesse. And Diodate takes him only for the Son of Nobles in Solomon 's sense, who bears a Noble Mind. But Dionysius Carthusianus rightly thinks him most truly so, that is Noble by Noblenesse of stock, and also by a stock of Noblenesse in himself, a Noble stock of Heroic Virtues. Now this it is that beautifies our King, and beautifies his Kingdoms Yea this has crowned him already, and rendered him most worthy of that Royal Diadem • ow ready for for him. It is this Noblenesse that inclines him so to Acts of Grace, as the like did Philip of Macedon; and makes him resolute with Alexander the Great, that nothing can be more Noble than to do well to them that have deserved ill S. Ambrose thought it grande inventum in King David so to bear the bitter words of one bold railing Shimei. What is it then in our Sovereign, to forgive both the Lying Tongues and Libelling Pens of many Shime •• s, and many Shebaes, and many •• bshakehs, guilty of Crimes no less than Capital by Imperial Laws; and not only to forgive them, but to practice the Art of Forgetting them too. Blessed all thou, O Land, in a King so Nobly disposed, as to bury ten thousand Acts of Rebellion in one Royal Act of Obliv • o • . Out acting that Aristides himself, so renowned for not remembering his malignant enemies that had exlled him. Indeed his exilement was only by an Ostracisme; and that ever was pro • erto tempore, and commonly cum honor; a Relegation to some certain place for ten or fifteen years at most But our Sovereigns profligation, or proscription, or cru • ller persecution, was on worse terms, yet pardoned on better Principles. His greater indignities born, not only animo civili, with that Worthy in Su •• oni • s; but animo •• lesti, with that Worthy of Worthies in St. Peter, Who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. And it is not only Noble mindedness, but Heavenly mindedness too in his Sacred Majesty to have men live and mend. A disposition that proves him both the Son of Nobles, according to his first Birth, and the Son of God according to his Second. Of Civil and Sacred Noblenesse too. It is his great Honor; and our great Happiness that by N • ture he is satus sanguine Diûûm; the Son of England's Mort • l God's: but his greater Noblenesse, and England's greater Happiness, that by Grace he is renatus sanguine Christi; a Son of God Immortal, every way right Noble, according to that first acceptance of the Son of Nobles.

The Second is, that a King be so by succession; born a King. A point that merits more Observance, and a more deliberate Treatise, that can be ministered in a breath or two at the very last gasp of a Sermon. Yet I must be at a very point with it: otherwise I might at large have related how I • stus Lipsius treating of Kings by El • ction, and Kings by Succession, upon just reason, rejected Election, and electeth Succession. And so must all that will yield to Reason, or to Religion. The Word of God ascribes the Blessedness of a Land to a King by succession, or a King by Birth, the Son of Nobles. And the common Course of Go hath ever been to annex the Administration of National Blessedness to some Princely Tr • be ennobled for that purpose or to some certain Race of Kings. So he appointed the Noble Tribe of Judah, with a promise that the Scepter should not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet till Shiloh came. So he likewise named the Race of David, saying, His seed will I make to endure forever, and his Throne as the days of Heaven▪ Psal. 89. 29. and farther declaring himself there so much for Kingship by Royal Birth-right, as that he vows to have it so. But so he would not have done, had he seen election of Kings to be better than succession; and he must needs have seen it, if it had been so. And as in Israel, so in other Kingdoms, he hath raised some certain Families nearest to himself for the better management of his Public business with the people; and for the conduct of Civil Blessedness unto them; Denying to bless them by Common Hands. When Azarias and that Joseph son to Zacharias, in the time of the Mac • abees, would needs undertake the procuring of some blessing of God's people; God would not bless their undertakings, nor his people by them: Because they were not of the seed of those by whose hand deliverance was given to Israel; as it is given for a Reason. 1 Maccab. 5. 62. Quia non erant de s • min • illorum, &c. Such emulous Undertakers were of late in England, who intended, or at least pretended, to seek the welfare of the Land: But God would not let the Land fare well by their pretences; they were not of his approved Tribe. The son of Nobles was not amongst them. Nor was it his Political Capacity in a Notional separation, but his Personal in a National Conjunction, that God would bless his people by: God would have the Redeemer of Israel to be born a King; and so the R • deemer of England too. It is not for nothing, that the Holy Ghost would the world take notice, that ou • Savior's Kingship was by succession: 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Born the King of the Jews. A King by Royal Birthright: Born with a right to sit upon the Throne of his Father David, Isa. 9. 7. And so in God's ordinary way, his Instruments of National Blessedness be born with right to be inthroned. When such be, their People be blessed.

I shall only hint Two Reasons of Solomon 's assertion, and so thank you for your Noble Patience. The first inferred from the Common Infelicities that arise with Ignoble Upstarts; such as be d • vili loco assumpti, exhaled from low Parentages to high Powers, ut pluries laedunt, saith Aquinas: for the most part prove destructive.

Asperius nihil est humili cum surgit in altum.

None to the beggar on horseback. Rome was never worse hacknied, then when Ignoble Vpstarts mounted the saddle of Imperial Command. When Op • lius Macrinus had compassed the Death of the Emperor Caracalla, and caused the Soldiers of his faction, Oliver like, to choose him, though of ignoble Birth, to be Emperor, that is, Stilo novo, Lord Protectour, he soon became of that Oliverian Pride and Cruelty, that he plotted the ruin of all that were not of his faction; or that would not comply with all his wicked purposes. So when Maximinus of ignoble birth too, was made Emp • rour by his Army Officers, he also sought the destruction of the friends of his late Sovereign, Alexander Severus; and as O. C. did, overawed the Senate, and persecuted Christians, as English Protestants were of late▪ Such be the common evils, when such evil Commons aspire to Monarchize. Well therefore might Solomon say by the rule of Contraries. Blessed art thou, O Land, when thy King is the son of Nobles.

The Second Reason may be from the National felicities that succeed with Noble Sovereigns. ▪o 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Menander; A good man is a common good: true of every good man; but most certainly so of every good King: Whose greatest Noblenesse cannot but be the Royal Prerogative of greatest goodness: yea most notable Blessings to Places and People, have mostly attended most Noble Births. I may instance in Caesar Augustus, descended from the Noble Octavians; whose public Designes reformed his State with good Laws, repaired the Cities di • apidations; so modelled public Elections, that honest Trustees might be impowered, (as our good Sovereign does with Religious Care, to have such Burgesses chosen) and labored so for a General Peace, that he caused the Temple of Ianus to be shut up, as it was that Third Time, when the Prince of Peace, our Blessed Savior came into the world, and was honored with that Anglical Birth. Song, Glory to God in the high • st, on earth peace, &c. In honor of whose Birth, that Noble Augustus erected an Altar of Noble structure in the Roman Capitol with this Inscription; THE ALTAR OF GOD THE FIRST BORN: yea such a Lover of public good he was noted to be, that he was worthily styled Pater Patriae. I may likewise instance in that Noble Emperor Antoninus Pius, which Sir-name was given him, for pardoning many Delinquents at his first coming to Imperial Dignity. A branch of Royal Piety which has no less flourished in our most pious Sovereign; for which Clemency, and other Noble Qualities, that Antoninus was likewise called the Father of th • Virtues; for Placabilitie, Clemency, Sanctitie, as faith Volateran, he was reputed another Numa. I could instance also in the noble Emperor Gratianus, who did the public good of Banishing turbulent Heretics, of reducing others to the true Religion, and of repairing Churches for the public▪ Worship of God. The time fails me to tell you of Noble Theodosius, and his Noble son Arcadius, and others that have been Public Blessings to their subjects. I must end with that Noble Emperor Iovinianus, a famous Defender of the true Faith, and of such as were faithful to it; as our most gracious Sovereign shows himself to be. Not mistaking faction for faith, nor fanaticks for the faithful; but taking such to do, by curbing their Contentious spirits, and countenancing those that were Orthodox and Orderly, such as that holy Father Athanasius, whom he restored to his Bishopric of Alexandria, as he did also others to theirs from which they had been unjustly sequestered. And by the leading example of that good Emperor, many were induced to be Christened; and by his Christianity many were redeemed from Barbarian Slavery. Such a memorable Benefit, and public good; as our good Sovereign brought with him • o this Land, where his most Loyal Subjects were most barbarously enslaved by their fellow Subjects, of all slaveries the most insufferable. But by his most happy coming again to the Land, the Land is most happily coming again to itself. Terra Beata, a blessed Land: Blessed in having a King; and blessed in having but one King; and blessed in having our own King; and blessed in having such a King as our own, a King right Noble in right acceptation of the Son of Nobles. Now the KING of Heaven bless him, and be forever blessed for him.

And so let us Pray.