A Looking Glass for Princes and Peoples Delivered, Book 1 · Part 3 · Part 4
Of Princes ruling of their owne Persons and of their Court.
THis princely governement is not to bee restrained to the people alone, but beginneth at the person of Kings ought to rule them selues.Princes, & goeth to their Families: So David who conceived this Prayer, wrote that Commentat on it, that hee would sing of Iustice and of Iudgement, not onelie exercised amongst his people, but also in governing himselfe and his Psal. 101. 1. vers. 2▪Familie. For the first hee sayth, I will behaue my selfe in the perfect way: That is a good government that beginneth at himselfe: Privat men are tolerablie called Kings, when byQuic…que proprium corpi… subegit, &c. Amb. in psal. 118. ser. 14. Gods grace they command their own passions: For whosoever subdues his owne bodie, neither suffereth his Soule to bee troubled with passions while hee refraineth himselfe by a kinglie power, is iustly called a King, because hee can rule himselfe: And if wee rule the earth, even this our earthly bodie, we are Rege terram & eris Rex terra, &c. Aug. Psal. 75.Kings of the earth. But this is more in Princes, who hauehave as much natiue corruption as privat men, and more power to vtter it.
The wise ruling of themselues is necessar to moderatSelfe-governement is a safe governement. their great power: The Heathen could say, If thou wilt subiect others to thee, subiect thy selfe to reason. And the Impyre agreeth to none, but to such as are better than any of their Subiects. bXenoph…n. Cyr.But the Divines spake more clearelie;(a) Seneca Ep. 37. by Kings, vnderstand these who direct the motions of their soule according to the will of God. cGreg psa. penit. 5.And they are good Kings who can proue themselues Governours of their Body. dAmbros. psal. 47.And iustly they are called Princes who exerce ever a principalitie, over their owne thoughts by sound Iudgement. eGreg. mor. lib. 11 cap. 12It is often seene that greatest power hath greatest righteousnesse joyned with it, and that for the good of Princes and people: If their passions were like their power, they would soone ruine their state, or persons, or both; but Pietie and Iustice ioyned to their power, moderateth their passions, and preserveth all, as the King of the Bees hath a sting, but never vseth it to revenge. fNam etsi ha bet aculeum, tamen eo non vtitur &c. Amb. Hexa mer. lib. 5 c, 21And where shall Iustice hauehave the owne worke, if not in the heart of Kings. It must first begin there, else it cannot hauehave the worke on other.
Iustice distributeth dueties to each one; and there mustIustice beginneth at Kings. bee in a iust man, a iust order, that the minde bee subiect to God, the body to the Soule, and both to God: If this bee not, there is no righteousnesse in vsus, and so there cannot be anAug. civ. 19. 4 externall governing righteousnesse. This is the glory of Kings, when their power is accompanied and sweyed with Iustice in their owne persons; when the living law liveth according to the written Law, and authoritatiue Iustice becommeth exemplar Iustice, their life by exampleTot Dominorum quot vi… tiorum servus civ. 4. 3. insinuating that to people, what the Law and authority commandeth them; then Iustice is not so much a gift annexed to their power, as a grace changing their persons: An evill King is a servant to as many masters as hee hath vices, but hee who commandeth his passions, is aMultae bestiae nobis sunt. Basil, exam. hom. 10. King indeede; because hee ruleth himselfe, and is neither taken captiue of sinne, nor caried violentlie of vice.
Man that ruleth over beasts, hath beastes within him: Qualiter alios corrigere. poterit. &c. Aug. Abus. grad. 2.anger barketh more fiercely than a Dog; he that is speedie to wrongs is a Serpent, and he that is set for revenge, is a Viper. Shall man hauehave Impyre over the outward beasts, and leaue the inward beasts loose? This is most necessary,Malus etiam si regnet ser▪ vus est. Aug. civit. 4 c, 3. that rulers of men rule themselues, least they fall in contempt: For how can hee correct the manners of others, who cannot correct his owne? An evill man though hee reigne, is a slaue to his passions.
The Kings example is a Law to his Subiects: TheirKings are examplers. mindes are lift vp to his Eminencie, and what hee doeth, hee seemeth to command: The peoples inclination to imitation is the greater, because of the greatnesse of his person: They passe the good or bad qualitie of the fact, and take his greatnesse for a reason: The faults of a King overwhelme a people, and hee hurteth more by example than by the sinne it selfe: And his good example is as forcible to make his people good: If they bee godly, chast, temperate, &c. they draw many of their Subiects to God; but if they bee profaine, or dissolute, &c. they draw multititudes to Hell.
Pharaoh, Herod, Nero, and such can tell what evill greatGreat power without grace is hurtfull. power ioyned with great wickednesse can doe: Therein Sathan exalted sinne, when hee vented it by so great persons, and disgraced Magistracie when he made it an instrument of monstruous sinnes. But God had his good worke therein to teach vsus, what men clothed with power are in themselues; and that principalitie without his Spirit is but a naked sword in a mad mans hand; and what a blessing good Princes are, who vse their power in such righteousnesse, that the world must say, They are as good men, as they are great Kings.
This is the Priviledge of Christian Kings; God givethChristian Kings are Kings over themselues. them a greater blessing than other Kings; hee maketh them by grace Kings over themselues as well as over their Subiects, as they giuegive Lawes to other, so they take Lawes of God, and vse their power, as they may bee best countable to him; they hauehave principality of authority as Kings, and they reigne by grace over themselues as Christians. There is no truely free King but a Christian King, andTune enim verè Regi Regum amplius placebit. &c. Gregor. lib. 5. Epst. 106. such as is neither captivat by the corruption of Nature, nor popish superstition, but set at libertie by the Law of the Spirit of life in Iesus Christ. Such a King is an Image of God, who governeth all in righteousnesse and wisedome, and then hee shall most please the King of kings, if restraining his power, hee thinke that lesse is leasome to him than hee may.
The other taske of his governement is his Familie: I The Governement of his Familie.will walke within mine house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes, &c. And in all that Psa. hePsal. 101. setteth down the dyet of his house or court-governemēt, a fit patern for Princes to follow. The court of Kings is an abridgement of their Kingdomes, and the circle of the Subjects neerest to them: It is a proofe of the Governement of their persons & an Image of the ruling of their Estates. If every house be a beginning and part of a citie, and every beginning Civit. 19. 16ought to bee referred to the owne end; much more the Families of Princes, which are not simplie parts but rather compends & extracts of their Kingdomes. People cannot alwayes see the person of their Kings, but they may guesse at their disposition by the manners of their Court: As is the Prince so is his Court, because they seeke by his imitation to procure and keepe his favour; and as the Court is, so will the Countrie bee. Such as his servants are, such is hee counted: For men can hardly thinke but they are such by his command, or connivence, or example. If therefore they bee godly and righteous, they win the hearts of people to the King: But if they bee profaine and godlesse, they procure his contempt. This care ought not onelyonly to be of his neerest Attendents, but also of these whom he intrusteth with his affaires abroad: If they minister Iustice, defend the people, exact no more than is due, then the people ascryue all that goodnesse to the King, commanding his Officers to handle his people tenderly: But if they be violent and outragious, the contrare followeth, as if all that severity were commanded of the King. A good king by doing good, maketh his Subjects good, & is as eminet in example before them as in dignity aboue them.
The Roman Impyre had a great proofe of the force ofKings are as helmes sweying their Kingdomes. their example both in their Court and people, when in fiftie foure yeeres space it found fiue changes: First, Diocletiā like his Predecessours was a Pagan: Next, Constantine turned himselfe & the Impyre to Christianity: 3. Constantius his sonne turned all Arrian: 4. Iulian the Apostate went backe to Paganisme: And fiftlie, Iovinian following Constantines zeale brought them back againe to Christianitie. So important is the example of Princes either in good or evill, 2. Chro. 28. Ibid. 29. Ibid. 33. Ibid. 34.and so changeable are the people to follow them. The Kings of Iudah were not vn…k: Achaz an idolater, Ezekiah a zealous worshipper of God, Amon and Manasseh restorers of idolatrie: Iosiah a destroyer of idolatrie &c. And their Courts and Countries followed their steppes.
Constantius the father of Constantine tryed his CourteoursConstantius wise try all of his Court. wisely; hee offered preferment to such as would worship Pagan gods, and when some for feare, and desire of honour did so, others layed downe their honour, rather than that they would quite Christ; h…ereby hee saw the ground of his Courtiers hearts; he degraded such as had forsaken Christ, and said, They would never bee true to him that were false to God; but he honoured such as were readie to losse all for adhering to God; he made them his Guard and Governours of his Kingdome, saying, That such men were to bee numbered as his speciall Friends, and Familiars.. aItlos tan. quam Dei proditores imperatoris servitio indignos censuit; &c. E…seb. in Vit. Constan. lib. 1 cap 9. & 10. Baron Anno. 304 num. 18.And Theodoricke the Goth, an Arrian King, had some like practise, but with a more summar censure; for when one of his Court willing to please him forsooke the faith of Christ, and turned Arrian, hee was so offended that hee killed him with his owne hand, affirming, that hee would not bee trusty to him that was a traytour to Christ.
To close this point, the fruite of Davids prayer is manifest in Solomons extraordinary wisedome; and that both in speculation and practice. For the first, hee knew all mysteries, and wrote of the nature of all things from the Cedar of Lebanon to the Hysope on the wall: Beside his heavenly Doctrine in his Song (whereof none of all the wise men of the earth could so much as dreame) in his moralities in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes he passed them all: Thogh they came long after him, and had the benefite of his Writs by some two Greeke translations before the Septuagints, yet they are no more to his wisedome, than a aram of vnfined silver-vre to a talent of pure gold.
As for his practice, his first tryall proved an excellentProofe of Solomons. wisedome. 1 King. 3▪ 16 17. &c. practicall gift: It was a plea betwixt two Harlots; both of them clamed the living Child, & no doubt, with the like boldnes, & cursing, & execration the vsuall companions of passionat pleading: Heere God offred a fit purpose, to proue the truth of his promise to Solomon. The question was not of civill things, but naturall: to finde out the mother of the living Childe; and there was no witnesse, but both parties alike peremptory in their alledgeance. His wisedome leadeth him to find out the truth by naturall affection: Hee layed this sure ground, that the Mothers affection is tender, and the bowels that bredde the Child, would never agree to see him killed: On the other part, that the cruell affection agreeing to the division of the Childe, was but a strange and stepmotherly affection: On these grounds hee pronounceth, That the living Babe shall bee cut in two: It might seeme a cruell sentence to kill the Babe, but some equitie in the just division; but the truth was, hee found the decision of the matter Maternus affectus parcens affectus, sed novercalis affectus crudelis.in the show of division, and adiudged the living Babe to her, who in a sparing affection choosed rather to want her Babe, than the Babe should want his life. Hee saw in the tender affection of the one, the equity of her cause, and in crueltie of the other, the iniquity of her clame. This was a proofe of deepe wisedome: The people heard of it, and were both glad of such a King, because the wisedome of 1. King. 3. 28God was in him; and yet feared him, because they saw hee was such a one as could discover the secrets of their hearts, and counter-mine their deeepest policies.