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with a more efpecial Eye of Mercy and Tenderness regard thefe orphan Kingdoms, and hide them under the Shelter of his Wings, till the Danger be overpaft.

DISCOURSE IV.

2 SAM. xxiii. 3, 4.

The God of Ifrael faid, The Rock of Ifrael Spake to me; He that ruleth over Men must be juft, ruling in the Fear of God: And he shall be as the Light of the Morning when the Sun rifeth, even a Morning without Clouds; as the tender Grafs fpringing out of the Earth, by clear fhining after Rain.

T

HE Words read to you, are said to be the laft of David, and uttered by the Spirit of the Lord, whofe Word was in his Tongue. They are by fome Jewish Interpreters referred to the Days of the Meffiah, as foretelling the Righteoufnefs and Increase of his Kingdom for evermore: but in this Sense, they can no otherwise relate to the

Meffiab,

Meffiah, than as they are pointed at him through David, who was a Type of that Great Prince of Peace and of Righteoufnefs; and confequently, in their natural and literal Senfe, they regard the temporal Government of David, and ftand as a fit Inftruction for the Princes of the Earth.

There is likewife fome Doubt of the Time when these Words were first spoken: whether this Admonition and Promise were given David upon his first Entrance on his Kingdom, as a fure Direction to guide him through the Difficulties of Empire; and by him delivered as his laft Words, and the beft Legacy which he could bequeath, to those who were to fucceed him in the Throne of Ifrael: or whether they were first conceived and uttered by David in the laft Scene of his Life, and left with the Authority of a dying Father to his Sons, as containing the true Secret of governing happily; which he had learned, both from long Experience, and from the Influence of the Spirit of God. But in which foever of thefe Views we confider the Text, it comes to the fame Thing; and we have the true. Art of governing, by which a Prince may render himself and his People happy, de

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scribed to us by the Wisdom of the Divine Spirit. He that ruleth over Men must be juft, ruling in the Fear of the Lord.

It is an Happiness that we may juftly glory in, that thefe Words are a proper Theme for this Day, the Subject of which is the Acceffion of our Prince to the Throne. Such a Defcription of the Ruler's Duty produced on the like Occafion, would in many Places be efteemed a Reproach to the Prince; and could yield no Fruit to the People, but a Senfe of their Misfortune. Unhappy Countries! where even fuch Scriptures have the Sound of Treafon; but with us, the brighter Light they are placed in, the more Honour they reflect on the Throne, the greater Comfort and Confolation on the People: for though the Merit of good Government be the Prince's proper Praise, yet the Benefit of it is universal, and reaches even the meaneft of his Subjects.

The Prosperity of a Prince, who rules in the Fear of the Lord, is reprefented to us, in the latter Part of the Text, under very beautiful Similitudes: He shall be as the Light of the Morning, when the Sun rifeth, even a Morning without Clouds. The Sun is the great Spirit of the World, in the Light

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of which all Things are made to rejoice; perpetual Spring attends his Courfe; all Things revive at his Approach, and put on a new Face of Youth and Beauty Winter and Froft lag behind him; Nature grows deformed, and the World fickens at his Departure. What the Sun is to the World, the fame is a good Prince to his People: he is the Life and Soul of the Public; his Influence produces Beauty, Order, and Regularity, and fo animates every Member, that the whole Society is Harmony and Peace. This Difference there is, the Sun in his meridian Glory, ftrikes fome Parts with too fierce a Fire, and the Field fades under the Heat which should refresh it: but the juft Prince, like the rifing Sun in a clear Morning, fhines with kinder Rays, and his Juftice being always tempered with Love and Mercy, can never be destructive.

As this Similitude fets before us the Bleffings derived from a juft Prince to his People, fo does the next represent to us the Stability of Kingdoms fo happily directed. That Government is always in its Youth and Vigour that is under the Management of a wife Ruler; its inward Conftitution is healthful, and fo confirmed in Strength, that

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