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Article ESSAY ON A KING. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On A King.
wear it every day ; but he that thinks it too light knows not of what metal it is made . A king must make religion the rule of government , arid not the balance of state ; for the monarch that shall cast reli g ion into the scale to make it even , shall himself be judged and weig hed in these charactersTekel Peres ; he is found too lihthis kingdom shall be
di-, g , vided and g iven to another : and that king who holds not religion the best reason of state , is void of piety and justice , the only sure supporters of a crown . —A king , in matters of consequence , should be able to give his advice , but not to rely intirely thereupon ; for though happy events always justify their counsellors , yet . it is much better that the ill success of good advice be imputed to a subject than a
sovereign . ^—A king is the chief fountain of honour , which should not run to waste by too large a pipe , lest courtiers sell the water , and then , as the Popish priests say of their holy fluid , it Joses the virtue . A king is also the life of the law , not only as he is Lex Loquens himself , butbecause he animates that dead L— making it active towards all his subjects ; and as a wise king must do less in altering the laws ,
for new governments are dangerous , it being in the body politic as in the natural , that omnis subita mutatis est periculosa , and though it be for the better , yet it is not without fearful apprehensions ; for the king that changeth the fundamental laws of his kingdom , openly declares , that there is no good title to a crown but by conquest . A king that sets to sale seats of judicature oppressed ! the people ,
for he teaches the judges to sell justice . —Bounty and magnificence are great virtues , but a prodigal king is nearer to a tyrant than a parsimonious one ; for plenty at lionie draws his contemplations abroad , and want supplies itself of what is next ; and herein a good king ought to be wise and prudent , that he do not exceed what he has a rig ht to do . —A king that is not feared consequently is not loved , his studythereforeought to behow to be feared as well as loved ;
, , , not loved from fear , but feared from love ; therefore , as he must always endeavour to resemble him whose great name-he bears , and that in manifesting the sweet influence of his mercy over the severe strokes of his justice , but not to suffer a man of death to liVe ; for , besides that the land will mourn the restraint of justice , some doth more retard the affection of love , than the extent of mercy to others
doth inflame it ; and surely where love is so lessened , their fears are quite lost . —A king ' s greatest enemies are his flatterers , who-, though they always speak on his side , yet their words make against him . The love that a king owes to the public should not be confined to any particular , yet , that his more special favour reflect upon some worthy one is certainly necessary , because he knows but few deserving that
character ; but also he must know , that by concealing that man ' s faults ( for where is the person free from faults ) he injureth the commonwealth more than he could in paying his debts at the expence of the public .-r-A good king ought to love his queen above all women , and to keep her from jealousy he must persuade her to love his mistress the commonwealth , which the more they both do , the better
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essay On A King.
wear it every day ; but he that thinks it too light knows not of what metal it is made . A king must make religion the rule of government , arid not the balance of state ; for the monarch that shall cast reli g ion into the scale to make it even , shall himself be judged and weig hed in these charactersTekel Peres ; he is found too lihthis kingdom shall be
di-, g , vided and g iven to another : and that king who holds not religion the best reason of state , is void of piety and justice , the only sure supporters of a crown . —A king , in matters of consequence , should be able to give his advice , but not to rely intirely thereupon ; for though happy events always justify their counsellors , yet . it is much better that the ill success of good advice be imputed to a subject than a
sovereign . ^—A king is the chief fountain of honour , which should not run to waste by too large a pipe , lest courtiers sell the water , and then , as the Popish priests say of their holy fluid , it Joses the virtue . A king is also the life of the law , not only as he is Lex Loquens himself , butbecause he animates that dead L— making it active towards all his subjects ; and as a wise king must do less in altering the laws ,
for new governments are dangerous , it being in the body politic as in the natural , that omnis subita mutatis est periculosa , and though it be for the better , yet it is not without fearful apprehensions ; for the king that changeth the fundamental laws of his kingdom , openly declares , that there is no good title to a crown but by conquest . A king that sets to sale seats of judicature oppressed ! the people ,
for he teaches the judges to sell justice . —Bounty and magnificence are great virtues , but a prodigal king is nearer to a tyrant than a parsimonious one ; for plenty at lionie draws his contemplations abroad , and want supplies itself of what is next ; and herein a good king ought to be wise and prudent , that he do not exceed what he has a rig ht to do . —A king that is not feared consequently is not loved , his studythereforeought to behow to be feared as well as loved ;
, , , not loved from fear , but feared from love ; therefore , as he must always endeavour to resemble him whose great name-he bears , and that in manifesting the sweet influence of his mercy over the severe strokes of his justice , but not to suffer a man of death to liVe ; for , besides that the land will mourn the restraint of justice , some doth more retard the affection of love , than the extent of mercy to others
doth inflame it ; and surely where love is so lessened , their fears are quite lost . —A king ' s greatest enemies are his flatterers , who-, though they always speak on his side , yet their words make against him . The love that a king owes to the public should not be confined to any particular , yet , that his more special favour reflect upon some worthy one is certainly necessary , because he knows but few deserving that
character ; but also he must know , that by concealing that man ' s faults ( for where is the person free from faults ) he injureth the commonwealth more than he could in paying his debts at the expence of the public .-r-A good king ought to love his queen above all women , and to keep her from jealousy he must persuade her to love his mistress the commonwealth , which the more they both do , the better