Priests

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'Y^E°¥MHVJ!I&S2TY°

Gift of
The Yale Club of Boston
1916"

PRIESTS AND KINGS;

OR,

THE SCOURGES OF MANKIND EXPOSED,

% &t vmon*

BY POPHOS.

Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your priming-hooks into spears,
Joel iii. 10,
And King David brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under
saws, and under harrows of iro», and under axes of iron, and made them pass
through the brick-kiln. 2 Sam* xii. 31.
And the people shall curse their king and their (jod, and look upward. Isa. viii. ?1,

**¦*-

LONDON:
Printed in the Year 1794, and reprinted in 1819,
BY W. T. SHERWIN, LOWER SMITH STREET, NORTHAMPTON
SQUARE.

PRIESTS AND KINGS,
ire.

%* The figures between parentheses refer to Notes at the end.

The Trees went forth on a time to anoint a King over them, and they said
to the Olive-Tree, reign thou over us.
But the Olive-Tree said unto them, should I leave my fatness, wherewith
by me they honour God and Man, and go to be promoted over tht»
Trees ?
And the Trees said to the Fig-Tree, Come thou and reign over us ?
But the Fig-Tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my
good fruit, and go to be promoted over the Trees ?
Then said the Trees unto the Vine, Come thou and reign over us.
And the Vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheeretb
God and man, and go to be promoted over the Trees ?
Then said all tlie Trees unto the Bramble, Come thou and reign over us.
And tlie Bramble said unto the Trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over
you, then come and put your trust in my shadow ; and if not, let fire
come out ofthe Bramble, and destroy the Cedars of Lebanon.JUDGES IX. 8—15.
The allegory or parable contained in the verses which F
have chosen for my text, presents, it must be confessed, no
very favourable picture of monarchy. — All the trees of
worth and value declining the office of King, it is conferred
upon the Bramble, because it is of no value, but bears '
prickles and can do mischief. The Bramble not onl readily
accepts the crown, but seems to have been resolved at all
events to possess it. In the kingly strain it declares, that if
the trees" will subject themselves to it, they shall enjoy its
royal protection, they shall " put their trust in its shadow ;"
but, if they reject this gracious offer, which its majesty con
descends to make, then it proclaims its royal vengeance:
" Then shall fire come out of it, to destroy the cedars of
Lebanon ;" that is, trees of a thousand times its own value.
The fire here mentioned must have prophetically alluded to
the artillery and other fire-arms, of which kings were after
wards so liberally to avail themselves, for the benefit of
mankind. On this day, on which our. most gracious and virtuous
sovereign hath proclaimed his royal orders, that all his cler
gy do sound forth his praises, under the name of fasting and
humiliation; aud do at the same time, and under the same

i?oyal authority, incite his people to a continuance of the
Just and necessary war, in which this kingdom is by God's
blessing, now engaged, it may not be improper to take a
view of the actions of the kings, whose histories are recorded
In the books ofthe Old Testament: and, while we see the
vices and enormities,of these monarchs, we shall have reason
to congratulate ourselves, that this country hath been, by
God's providence, directed to search those nations where
good races df kirigfe were to be found; otherwise we should
not have been able to glory in our felicity, in having been
governed by princes of the illustrious houses of Normandy,
Stuart, Nassau, and Brunswick.
The Jews, who were a stubborn race, foolishly imagined,
that they ought not " to set a stranger over them, which
was not their brother." Had they, instead of that, chosen
their kings from foreign nations, such as France, Holland,
and Germany, they might still have- continued to enjoy
God's special favour and protection, as this kingdom does
in so eminent a degree at this present day.
Although this discourse ought strictly to be confined to
kings, yet it will also be necessary, occasionally, to take no
tice, not only of their ministers and royal families, but also
of priests, from the natural connection between church and
tyig. The first king we read. of in holy writ iS Nimrod, and all
the information we there receive of hjrn is, that (like our
most Gracious Sovereign) he was " a mighty one in the
earth*," and (like him' also) " a mighty hunter* (1) before'
the Lord." Profane history informs us, that he founded the
Assyrian monarchy, and give'g no very, favourable idea of
the manner in which that event took place; but as the
inspired writings alone are such as we can depend upon for
truth, (there being no Royal Gazettes published in those
days), them only shall I consult Upon the important subject
before us.
The next in order of kings mentioned in Scripture, is
Pharaoh, the first Egyptian monarch we read of, but who
boastedt of being the son of ancient kings. He happened
to sway the sceptre, at the time when Abraham, the Father
qf the Faithful, (2) went down into Egypt, with his wife
Sarah, on account of a great famine that prevailed in the
land of Canaan, where he dweltj. Abraham, with all his

* Gen. n. 9, f Isaiah xix. 11. J Gen. xii.

virtue, was but a man; and, thinking that it might be dan
gerous, and not so profitable to him, that his wife, who was
young and beautiful being only sixty-five years of age)
should be known as such, advised her in this manner*:
" Behold, now I know that thou art a fair woman to look
upon; say therefore, I pray thee, that thou art my sister, so
" that it may be well with me for thy sake." The decep
tion had the desired effect ; she " was taken into Pha-
" raoh's house ;t" and she so well pleased the king, thatj
" he entreated Abraham well for her sake ; and he had
" sheep, and oxen, aud he-asses, and men-servants, and
" she-asses and camels." (3) Pharaoh, however, found out,
(perhaps from Sarah herself in a tender moment) that she
was not Abraham's sister, but his wife. Whether he was by
this time cloyed with possession, or was more virtuously
inclined than King David in his affair with Uriah's wife,
does not appear. Certain it , is, however, that he did not,
kill the husband fof the sake of the wife, but let them both
depart, with all the treasure which he had conferred upon
Abraham, for his supposed fraternal acquiescence, only up
braiding them for their falsehood.
Abraham finding that he had made so profitable an ad
venture with the king of Egypt ; and thinking that the
same thing might again be tried with effect, as his wife was
still fair and young, being only ninety years of age, went to
live in Gerar §. " And Abraham said of Sarah his wife,
" she is my sister. And Abimelech King of Gerar sent
" and took Sarah." " God, however as a punishment to
" Abimelech[|, fast closed up the wombs of his house ;"
but'^f " Abimelech having taken sheep, and oxen, and
" men-servants, and women-servants, and given them to
" Abraham **, Abraham prayed unto God, ahd God
" healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid (4.) ser-
" vants, and'they bare children."
Sarah was not ungrateful for this condescension of her
husband, fortt " Sarai said unto Abram ; behold now
" the Lord hath restrained me from bearing; I pray thee
" go in unto my maid ; it may be that I may obtain chil-
" dren by her : and Abraham hearkened unto the voice of
" Sarah." Sarah, it is true, afterwards became jealous of

* Gen. xii. 11, 13. f Gen. xii. 15. % xii. 16.
§ Gen. xx. 2*. || Gen. xx. 18. % xx. 14.
*• Gen. xx. 17. ft xvi. 2.

G
this maid. — But this is a digression. Indeed I have been
particular in mentioning these pieces of sacred history, not
so much in respect of the kings,, Pharaoh and Abimelech ,
as of Abraham ; because, although that patriarch was not
a king himself, yet he was the progenitor ofthe kings of
Judah ; and soon after he and his virtuous lady had left the
court of Memphis, he received notice from God, that his
descendents should become kings.* " I will ihake thee
" exceeding fruitful, and kings shall come out of thee."
During the time of Abraham also we have an account of
a battle of four kings against five.t This being however
at the present day no wise extraordinary, I should not have
mentioned it, but to take notice of this circumstance, that
" Melchizedeck, king of Salem, (one of these kings)
" was priest of the Most High God ;"J which shews the
close connection between church and king at a very early
period.- There is another remarkable circumstance respect
ing this kkig-priest, (5) that Abraham " gave him
" tythes of all ;§" which the priests ever since have not
failed to'exact.
The next royal personage worthy of being mentioned is
Schechem the son of Hamor, king of the Hivites, who
having seen Dinah the daughter of Jacob, " took her, and
" lay with her, and denied her.[|"
We now come to a second Pharaoh king of Egypt. The
beautiful story of Joseph, who was in so great repute with
this monarch, (and both for his chastity, and, his attention
to- the interests of his master, was a perfect prototype- qf'
" the heaven-born youth," who for a long series of years
has successfully directed ihe councils of our most gracious
sovereign). Joseph's history (I say) is well known, and
being foreign to the purpose of this discourse, need not be
repeated, except just to mention, that for interpreting a
dream of King Pharaoh, he was appointed his prime mi
nister ; and a very grateful minister he proved to the king
his master. For, having monopolized all the corn in the
country, the people were,^]" by the famine occasioned
thereby (and which it was necessary for Joseph to increase
by artificial means, in order to keep up his credit as an in
terpreter of dreams) under the necessity of expending their
money, next disposing of their cattle, and afterwards of

* Gen. xvii. 16. t xiv. + xiv. IS.
§ Gen. xiv. 20. || xxxiv. 2. ^ xlvii. 14.

their lands, to purchase corn df the king, and last of all,
to establish his despotism, by selling themselves to, him as
slaves. In these abject terms do they address Joseph
the minister,* " Let us (say they) find grace in the
" sight of my Lord, and we will be Pharaoh's ser-
« vants."
Another Pharaoh now succeeds. His tyranny over the
Egyptians is not recorded ; but we have a pretty strong
picture of the cruelties he exercised over the Jews.
" He made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar
" and in brick, and all manner of service in the field ; all
" their service was with rigour."t It is farther stated, that
he ordered the midwives to put to death every son that
should be born of a Jewish woman ;J but the midwives,
daring to disobey so inhuman an order, Pharaoh
" charged all his people, saying, every son that is born
" ye shall cast into the river."§ After this, it would be un
necessary to recapitulate the additional tasks he imposed
upon the Israelites, his detention of them after his repeated
promises, the plagues he suffered for th'e same, (6.) and the
very wonderful manner in which he and his host were de
stroyed in the Red Sea.
The kings we have hitherto mentioned have generally
been heathens, and idolaters. We now come to God's
chosen people, the Jews, whose history the Lord himself
has condescended to write, or at least to dictate to the in
spired authors thereof. The Jewish nation, for a consider
ably time, and until they " added unto their sins this
" evil to ask a king,"|| enjoyed the blessing of being govern
ed by a theocracy, or government by God ; that is, by
God's ministers the priests. It is very true, that along with
Aaron the high-priest, Moses, a layman, was joined. But
Moses, it must be remembered, was Aaron's brother and
coadjutor, and he, as much as Aaron, received his instruc
tions immediately from God; as of course did his succes
sors to Samuel downwards. Of the transactions during
this period it will be unnecessary to take notice, except
ing so far as they are connected with the subject of mo
narchy. The Israelites, after their departure from Egypt, travelled

* Gen. xlvii. 25. f Exod. i. 14. t i. 15.
§ Exod. i. 22. || 1 Sam. xii. 19.

on, under the conduct of Moses and Aaron, towards the
land of Canaan, which had been promised them by God
Almighty. In the course qf this journey, they destroyed
many kings and their people, and took possession of their
lands ;* as ia later times the Spaniards did to those kings
and nations in America which they desired to possess ; with
this difference, that the Jews possessed the countries of the
East, after murdering their kings and massacring their inha
bitants, by the command of God, delivered by his then ser
vants, Moses and Aaron ; while the Spaniards exercised the
like cruelties in the West, under the authority of God's
more modern servant the Pope, hy whom America was
not promised, but actually given to his Most Catholic
Majesty. In the course of their journey through the desert, 23,000
Israelites w£re destroyed in one day for committing fornica
tion ;f a punishment which (were we not to reflect that the
ways of God are mysteries man is not permitted to investi
gate) might appear rather severe, when we consider' the
many instances of this crime, and the still more heinous sins
of adultery and incest, being committed, altogether, or
almost with impunity. Sarah, we have seen, connected
herself with the kings of Egypt and of Gerar, with the
knowledge, and even by the instigation of her husband, the
patriarch, Abraham, who again cohabited with his servant
Hagar by the desire of Sarah : King David murdered
Uriah that he might enjoy his wife, for which the only pu
nishment was a reprimand ; and at the same time this adul
terous intercourse was sanctioned, by its giving birth to So
lomon, the best and wisest of princes ; who again like his
father David, is represented as having walked in the way of
the Lord, notwithstanding the seraglios of wives and concu
bines which he kept.
In another partj we are told of a certain Levite having
kept a concubine, " there being then no king in Israel."
Commentators have puzzled themselves on this, thinking,
that after the many examples of the Jewish kings having
concubines, the presence of a prince would have been no
obstacle to the priest doing the like ; but the meaning clear
ly is, that if there had been a king in Israel, as Solomon,
for example, such would have been the royal monoply, that

* Numbers xxi. f 1 Corinth, x. 8. J Judges xix. 1,

the Levite would not have got a concubine to keep, after he
and his court- were served.
The next piece of Jewish history, which appears neces
sary to be taken notice of iu this place, is the copduct of
Joshua. He succeeded Moses in the chief command of
the Jews : and about the time of his vicegerency, it is pro
bable that the Jews began foolishly (as the Scripture autho
rises me to say) to wish for a king. Joshua, knowing well
that the beginning of the royal authority would be an end
of his (who acted as the prime minister of God, and under
that sacred character governed the people of Israel) did all
in his power to prevent this unwelcome revolution ; and as
the Jews had by this time become much superior in force
to the petty nations around them, he thought, that if he
could exterminate all the kings in the neighbourhood, the
theocracy would remain firm ; but when we consider the
barbarities he committed, every friend to monarchy, royalty,
and social order, must have great doubts of such deeds
having been commanded by that Almighty Being, who is
goodness i,tself, and the declared P rotector and Supporter of
Kings, his representatives upon earth.
Upon a scene so terrible, it would be painful to go into
full details ; but it is necessary shortly to mention the
losses monarchy sustained upon this occasion.
After the city of Jericho was taken, (in a very miracu**
lous manner indeed, namely, by marching round its walls
blowing rams horus) the Jews, by Joshua's orders*, " ut-
" terly destroyed (not only the king, but) all that was -in
" the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox,
" and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword ; and they
" burnt the city with rke, and all that was therein," only
they saved the silver and go-ld " to the treasury of the
" house of the Lord."
The brave are ever humane : but these men who could
thus cruelly murder a king and extirpate the inhabitants of
a city, were easily discomfited. Having been beat back
from the town of Ai, which they next attacked, Joshua, in
the most abject and dastardly manner, thus addresses the
Almighty t: " Alas! (.says he, rending his clothes and fall-
" ing upon the earth) O Lord God, Wherefore hast thou
brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the
" hands of the Amorites to destroy us ? Would to God

* Joshua, vi. 21, &c. - f vii. 7, &c-

u

10
" we had been content to dwell on the other side Jordan !
" O Lord, What shall I say, when Israel turneth their
" backs before their enemies, for the Canaanites and all the
" inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ
" us around, and cut off our name from the earth." God
having however reprimanded him for his cowardice, saying,
" Get thee up, wherefore liest thou upon thy face*?"'
Joshua plucked up a little courage, and again attacked Ai;
and having got the better of that city by a stratagem, he
put all the inhabitants to death, " both men and jwomen,
" being 12,000, even all the men of Ai ; only the cattle and
" spoil of the city Israel took for a prey to themselves,
" and (for the greater ignominy) the king of Ai he hanged
" upon a tree until even- tide t>"
Having become thus successful, Joshua next attacked five
other kings J: and having got the better of them, the five
kings ran and hid themselves in a cave. Hereupon he or
dered them to be inclosed in the cave, by rolling great
stones to the mouth of it, and then pursued their people till
he utterly destroyed them. "His behaviour to these kings,
as described in Holy Writ, exceeds in cruelty and ignominy
oven the ferocious regicides of France. " And they
" brought forth these five kings to Joshua out of the cave;
" and Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to
" the captains of the men of war that were wi.th him, Come
" near, put your feet upon the neck of those kings. And
" afterwards Joshua smote them and slew them, and hang-
" ed them upon five trees § ! ! !" It would be painful to detail
all the regicides of Joshua; suffice it to say, that we are
informed, in the 12th chapter of the book which bears the'
name of that hero, that he slew " in all thirty and one
" kings ||;" while the Sun forgot his course, and stood still
at his command. (7)
After Joshua's death, the Jews were defeated by Chushan-
rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia ; but after eight years sla
very, they successfully revolted under the conduct of Oth-
niel^T, (8) After this, Eglon, king of Moab, who was a
fat man, again conquered the Jews; but he was assassinated
by a left-handed man, named Ehud, who got himself intro
duced to his Majesty, on the pretence of delivering a mes
sage from God Almighty.** (9)

* Joshua vii. 10. f viii. 25 — 29. % x.
§ Joshua x, 23, 24, 26. || xii. 14.- If Judges iii. 8—10.
** Judges iii. 15, &c.

11
Some short time afterwards, we read, that Abimelech
king of the Shechemites slew 70 of hjs brothers upon one
stone*. It was upon occasion of this cruel and barbarous
act, that Jotham his 71st brother, (who fortunately had
escaped) related to the Shechemites the parable which I
have chosen for the subject of this discourse ; and I shall
therefore here take the opportunity, in passing, of making
two very short observations upon the words of the text.
In the first place, it is stated, that the trees went fprth to
chuse a king t; which shews that the Jews had at that time
an idea, that the monarchy was not divine or hereditary,
but elective. And 2dly, the sensual and gross ideas of the
Jews are here strongly depicted, God being in this parable
represented as a wiue-bibberj:. " And the] vine said unto
" them, should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and
man," &c.
To proceed in our history. We are informed that soon
afterwards, Jephtha, captain-general of the Israelites, sacri
ficed his daughter to fulfil a rash vow. Before her death,
she went two months to a mountain to lament that she was
to die a virgin §; a misfortune which a modern damsel
would have found means to prevent in a shorter space.
The same Jephtha slew 42,000 Ephraimites, who could not
pronounce the word Shibboleth \\.
I shall pass by the well-known stories of Samson and the
ass's jaw-bone, Jonas's three days residence in the belly of
a fish, and the dialogue between Balaam and his ass ; and
proceed to the time of Samuel.
And the first circumstance to be commemorated during
his vicegerence, is, that^T it having been found necessary
to carry the ark of the Lord from the country of the Phi
listines, as a trespass-offering, to avert the judgments of
God against the Jews.,, (as we at this day solemnly meet
together, to pray God to avert his judgments justly due to
this nation for permitting the manifold crimes of its rulers.)
That it might be the more acceptable, the ark was convey
ed upon a new <eart, drawn by two milch cows, and it car
ried in it .five golden mice. Unfortunajtely, the people not
being accustomed to see golden mice, very imprudently**
" looked into the ark of the Lord ;" but they did not go
unpunished for this great offence ; for the Lord " smote the

* Judges ix. 18. f «• 8. J ix. 13. § xi. 37.
|| Judges xii. 5, 6. ^f 1 Sum. vi. ** 1 Sam. vi. 19.

12
M men of Bethsheba, because they looked into the ark of
w the Lord ; even he smote of the People fifty thousand
" and three score and ten men."
During the^time that Samuel was commander of the peo
ple, (under God Almighty) the Jews became resolved to
have a king. Samuel" did every thing in his power to dis
suade them. In the name of God, he expostulated with
them on the evils of monarchy. " This (said he) will be
" the manner of the king that shall reign over you : he will
" take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his
" chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall run be-
" fore his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over
" thousands, and captains over fifties, and set them to ear
" his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his in-
" struments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And
" he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to
" be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields
" and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best
" of them, aud give- them to his officers, and to his ser-
" vants. And he will take your men-servants and your
" maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your
" asses, and put them to his, work ; he will take the tenth
" of your sheep ; and ye shall be his servants. And ye
" shall cry out in that day, because of the king which ye
" shall have chosen you ; and the Lord will not hear you
" on that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the
" voice .of Samuel, and they said, nay, but we wilLhave a
" king over us*."
As the people", when resolved, always must and will carry
their point, whether they desire liberty or slavery, Samuel
was obliged to give way ; but to make the best of a bad
bargain, he took care to have the appointment of the mo
narch, he declared to them that if they were determi
ned to submit themselves to a king, notwithstanding
the evils of monarchy which he had stated, the Lord
would grant their desire ; and he accordingly, by
God's orders, appointed for their king a young man
named Saul, whom he met seeking his father's asses, t
and who, he thought, would be a proper person to rule over
them ; the prophet telling the youth as he anointed him
king, that the asses he sought were found J. This first king
of the Jews therefore was appointed by the express orders

* I Sam. viii. 11,-20. f ix. % ix. 30. x. 16,

13
of God Almighty ; and thence I suppose is derived the
divine right of kings ; and he was anointed by the priest*,
to prove as well that divine right, as the connection between
church and king ; he was anointed with oil ; which sacred
operation continues to be used at the coronation of kings
unto this day ; and which is alluded to in the words of the
text, " and the olive-tree said unto them, should I leave
" my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and
" maraf."
To go thrqugh the history of Saul would take up longer
time than can be given at present for this purpose ; neither
would it be a very pleasant task to enumerate all the parti
culars of the reign of this heaven-appointed king.
His behaviour to David his successor, of whom he be
came jealous, after he himself had brought him in favour,
is nowise extraordinary, especially as he knew that Samuel
declared it to be God's orders that this young shepherd
should succeed him. But Saul had committed offences not
to be forgiven. In the first place, having a sacrifice to offer
to the Lord, which it was the business of Samuel to present,
Saul, finding that Samuel did not attend the sacrifice, pre
sumed (after having in vain waited for him seven days) to
offer it up himself, thus interfering with a business that be
longed to the priest}; and in the second place, Saul was or
dered by Samuel, in the name and by the command of
the Most Merciful God, to destroy the nation of the Ama
lekites in these express terms : " Now go and smite Ama-
" lek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them
" not : but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling,
" ox and sheep, camel and ass. Accordingly, he utterly
" destroyed all the people^ with the edge of the sword ;"
but he " spared Agag (the king) and the best of the sheep,
" and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and
" all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them :
" but every thing that was vile and refuse he destroyed ut*
" terly§." (10) Samuel, therefore, to make up for Saul's
mistaken tenderness for an idolatrous king, " hewed Agag
" in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal."
For these unpardonable crimes, God, by his servant Sa
muel, declared unto Saul, " For that thou hast rejected

* 1 Sam. x. 1. f Judges ix% 9. J 1 Sam. xiu. 8, &c.
§ 1 Sam. xv.

14
" the word of the Lord, the Lord hath rejected thee from
" being King over Israel*." (11)
Saul, thereupon, was succeeded by King David, who, in
like manner, to continue the connection between church and
king, was appointed by God, and anointed by Samuelf-
But before going into the history of ihe man after God's
own heart, I shall mention one circumstance of King Saul,
which is, that he seems to have been the first monarch who
instituted such national fasts as that which we now solem
nize. Inthe war with the Philistines J " Saul adjured the
" people, saying, cursed be the man that eateth any food
" until the evening, that I may be avenged upon mine ene-
" mies ; so none of the people tasted any food." The Jews
were all along a sensual race. They bad no idea of fasting
but abstinence from food; they knew nothing of that,
figurative fasting . observed by us Christians, which, like our
religion, is altogether spiritual; neither did they imagine
that they fasted, if, while they abstained from eating flesh,
they indulged in a profusion of the most delicate fish and
the richest wines, The Christian churches, however, know
better; " The good God, (said a reverend prelate upon a
Good Friday, as he smacked his lips after a copious draught
of generous Burgundy) " has put no fast upon the good
" liquor." (12)
The history of the good King David contains so many
momentous occurrences, that I can only just state some of
the principal.
The first act of his reign was his behaviour in respect of
the death of his predecessor. Saul § had long- been his
inveterate and revengeful enemy.; but when an Amalekite
(13) reports to him that be had slain Saul, although at
Saul's .own urgent request, such was David's respect for
monarchy, that be put to death this man, for having dared
*" to stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed ||."
The circumstances of David's murder of Uriah and adul
tery with his wife Bathsheba, and the forgiveness of those
(crimes, which mankind consider as the most atrocious, are
so well known as to make a particular recapitulation
unnecessary. The Lord certainly permitted his beloved
-servant David to commit these sins, to shew that men after
God's own hpart will receive his pardon for the greatest
crimes. (14)
* 1 Sam. xt. 23. f xvi. 1—13. % xiv. 24.
§2 Skra. i. || i. 14, 15.

15
David had a son named Amnon, who, to use a homely
expression, seems to have been a chip of the, old block*.
Lusting after his sister Tamar, he feigned sickness, and
begged that she might bring cakes to him as he lay in bed.
" And when she had brought them unto him, he took hold
" of her and said unto her, dome lie with me, my sister; and
" she answered him, nay, my brother, do not force me, for
" no such thing ought to be done in Israel; do not then this
" folly; and I, whether shall I cause my shame to go? and
" as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel:
" Now, therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king (our
"father) for he will not withhold me from thee. Howbeit
" he would not hearken unto her voice; but being stronger
" than she, forced herf." "When Tamar complained of
this outrage to her brother Absalom, he said to her, " Hold
" now thy peace, my sister; he is thy brother: regard not
" the thing}." This, behaviour, however, was but feigned
in Absalom ; for he had resolved to be revenged of Amnon ;
and he was so, but not in the most honourable way. Prince
Absalom invited the king and all his sons, among the rest
Prince Amnon, to a sheep-shearing feast. " Now Absalom
" had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now,
" when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say
" unto you, smite Amnon, then kill him; fear not, have not
" I commanded you9 be courageous, and be valiant§."
Such is the story of this part of the royal family, in which
it is not easy to say, whether the conduct of Absalom,
Amnon, or Tamar, is most to be admired, or shews most
their royal disposition.
Although David was a man after God's own heart, yet
he was perpetually getting into scrapes. The most unpar
donable thing, however, he did, was to number the people
under him||; an act, which in a Sovereign would appear to
be not only innocent, but meritorious; but in him it was a
crime, God being pleased to consider it so. To our weak
understandings it may appear hard, that the innocent people
should suffer for the crime oftheir king: but the ways of
God ave to us inconceivable; and we see on this occasion,
not David himself punished, but seventy thousand of the
people destroyed by a pestilence, on account of this sin of
their monarch. (15)

* 2 Sam. xiii. f xi«- 11—} 4. J xiii. 20.
§ 2 Sam. xiii. 28. || xxiv.

When David became stricken in years, he naturally not
only cooled of those violent passions, which had .excited
him to the sin he committed in respect of Uriah and his
wife, " but even the clothes, with which his servants covered
" him, could procure him no heat, wherefore his servants
" said unto him; let there be sought for my lord the king a
" young virgin, and let her stand before him, and let her
" cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, so that my lord
" the king may get heat. So they sought for a fair damsel
" throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a
" Shunamite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel
" was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered
" unto him, but (alas !) the king knew her not*."
King David's dying request to his successor, "not to let
" Joab's hoary head go down to the grave in peacet," has
been taken notice of as unchristian-like and revengeful; but
those who make such an objection to this great and good
king's character, do not recollect, that David was not a
Christian, but a Jew. And 2dly, that the charge which he
thus gave Solomon upon his death-bed, was by the inspira
tion of the Almighty, and therefore could not be wrong, in
whatever light it may appear to our weak understanding.
The ways of God we have no right to inquire into; it is *
our duty to believe whatever he does is right. The subjects
of King David clearly testified their belief in their monarch's
infallibility " for whatever the king did pleased all the
" people}." Upon David's death, he was succeeded by Solomon, his
son by Uriah's wife Bathsheba. " And Zadock the priest,
" and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
" and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, went down and
" caused Solomon to ride upon King Davjd.'s mule, and
" brought him to Gihon; and Zadock the priest took an
" horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon.
" And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, God
" save King Solomon^." (16)
The first wife|| that Solomon appears to have married,
was a daughter of Pharaoh king of Egypt, whereby he not
only healed the unhappy differences which had so long
subsisted between the Jews and Egyptians, but also made a
good family connection with a foreign race of kings: an

* 1 Kings i. f i>- 6. +2 Sam. iii. 36.
8 1 Kings i. 38. II iii. 1.

17
early proof of this monarch's wisdom, as the experience of
this realm daily proves to us. This, however, was not
King Solomon's only wife; he was a man of too liberal a
disposition to let one woman enjoy all the fruits of his wis
dom ; no, he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred
concubines*. Solomon's wisdom and his riches (17) are so well known,
that I need not detail them. And " he loved the Lord,
" walking in the statutes of David his fathert." But, to
wards the end of his reign, it must be confessed, that he
went after strange gods: " his heart was not perfect with
" the Lord, as was the heart of David his father}."
It would swell this discourse to too great length, to go
into the history of the numerous kings, who reigned in suc
cession after Solomon. Some of, them walked in the way
of the Lord, " as David and Solomon had done," but great
part of them lusted after strange gods, and " did evil in the
" sight of the Lord," and many of them were eminently
wicked. But, my brethren, although the character and conduct of
kings, as described in holy writ, be, in many instances, re
pugnant to our common ideas of morality and virtue, let
us consider with candour their situation, and we shall be
then convinced that their actions are not to be judged of as
the actions of their subjects.
Thus it is a great crime, both morally and legally, for an
individual to rob the innocent passenger; but it is no crime
for a king to ravage a neighbouring province. It is a great
offence for a gang of housebreakers to plunder a private
dwelling-house, and divide the spoil among them: but a
combination of princes may lawfully possess themselves of
a weaker and defenceless country, and partition it among
them. For one private man to murder another is the most
atrocious crime; but for a king to massacre thousands is
glorious, and stamps him a hero. Mildness and forgiveness.
of injuries are considered virtues in private life; but pride
and sanguinary revenge are the glory of kings. A simple
individual must, if he means to preserve his credit, faithfully
adhere to his promises; but it is often good policy in a
king to break his engagements. He may receive money
from an ally to assist in his own defence; he may after
wards insist upon keeping such subsidy, without bringing a
man into the field; nay, he may conclude a treaty with the
* 1 Kings xi. 3. f »»• 3. } xi. 4, &c.
c '

18
enemy, to attack the very power that subsidized him; or,
he may borrow millions from a nation in alliance with him,
for the purpose of carrying on a war against their common
enemy, and on receiving the money, enter into a treaty of
peace with the enemy; and lastly, he may assure such ally
of his resolution of using every exertion to carry on the
war, after he has actually made peace, if such deceits and
lies shall appear to him necessary to the glory and conve
nience of himself or his nation. A king, or a prince may,
by gaming, debauchery, and dissipation, plunge himself into
debt, notwithstanding an immense allowance from the
nation ; he may prevail upon that nation to pay his debts,
on a promise that no more shall be incurred; he may again
lawfully break his promise, again contract debts by the
same flagitious means, to an enormous amount, and again
shall the representatives of the kingdom burthen the people
with the payment! (18)
I make these observations, to extenuate in some degree
tbe (seeming) offences of the kings of the Old Testament,
both Jews and Gentiles. But when we turn our eyes to
this happy island, we behold a race of kings, paragons of
perfection, and whose virtues and wisdom mark their divine
appointment. r'
The kings of this nation have ever been eminently dis
tinguished for royal virtue. Time will not permit me to
go through them all; I shall therefore confine myself to
some observations on the monarchs who have swayed the
sceptre since the Union of the crowns of England and Scot
land. James I. was one of the most learned men of his
age, so as to be proverbially called a second Solomon ; and
had so much of the intuitive principles of royalty, that
not all the abominable doctrines endeavoured to be instilled
in him by his democratical tutor, George Buchanan, (19)
had influence to affect his kingly sentiments. t ,
The virtues of his amiable son and successor, Charles I.,
are too well known to need to be repeated by me. His
laudable endeavours to maintain the just rights of kings
against the usurpations of democracy were rewarded with
martyrdom; in consequence of which, he undoubtedly now
enjoys that supreme bliss promised to those who die in the
Lord. The shedding, however, of his innocent and sacred
blood, was a crime never to be washed out ; but, like our
first parents eating the forbidden fruit, is entailed upon this
nation fo all posterity. For this reason the" parliament of
Great Britain, namely, the king, lords, and commons, in

19
whom is concentred all the wisdom of the nation, have
enacted, that a solemn fast be held each 30th of January,
to implore the Almighty, to pardon us for the regicide com
mitted by our forefathers upon this holy martyr. (20)
The anarchy and confusion, and the democratical tyranny
which succeeded this unnatural deed, ought to be an awful
warning to this country *, " to fear God and the king, and
" not to meddle with, them that are given to change." For
the Lord by this means justly and severely punished the
people for the sin they had committed; the crime carried
" the punishment along with it."
But God ever executes^ justice in mercy; he heard the
cries of his chosen people, and again he sent them a king;
be restored to them the royal and sacred race of Stuart, in
the person of the second Charles, Of the excellence of this
king we have the most undoubted evidence, the joyful anni
versary of his restoration being still annually and solemnly
commemorated by order of an act of parliament. The pri
vate character of this monarch is no less amiable than his
public; and if he did not equal Solomon in wisdom, he
rivalled him in wit, and at least equalled him in the number
of his concubines.
It was tbe misfortune of James, his brother and successor,
to live in an age when too little respect was paid to the
prerogative of kings, and when the people were terrified at
the name of a Papist. His Majesty, being an enthusiast
both in the cause of monarchy and religion, found himself
under the necessity of abdicating his throne, as parliament
bas happily expressed it. Fortunately, however, the people
of this nation having been sufficiently cured of democracy,
during the usurpation of Cromwell, resolved to have a king;
which was the introduction of the House of Orange. (21)
William the Third, of glorious and immortal memory, con
descended to accept flie crown of this happy nation, ia
conjunction with the Royal Mary, which event formed a-ad
effected the admirable junction of that family and the royal
and illustrious race of Stuart. To this great monarch we
owe the full establishment of those liberties, civil and reli
gious, which makes Great Britain the envy and wonder of
the world. To him we are also indebted for the introduc
tion of our national debt, universally allowed to be the best
security we can have for the stability of our government;
and to him we owe, in a great measure, the formation of
our standing army, which is, in like manner, the best secu-
* Prov, xxiv. 21.

20
rity-for the maintenance of our liberties; lastly, while his
tory remains, Great Britain, and Scotland in particular,
will remember, with due gratitude, what it owes to this
Hero, for the affairs of Darien and Glencoe.
The brilliant successes of our armies, under the great
Duke of Marlborough, in the reign of Queen Anne, will
ever remain monuments of the glory of that illustrious queen,
and prove her the genuine descendant of royal blood,
¦ It is impossible for me, nor shall I attempt to do justice
to the Princes of the Royal House of Brunswick who suc
ceeded. The two first Georges proved to us anew the ad
vantages of a foreign race of kings, while our present most
gracious sovereign added to these advantages that of having
been (as he pathetically observed on his accession) born
and bred a Briton.
Were I to indulge myself in fully depicting the character
and virtues of this great and good monarch, I might be sus
pected of flattery. I shall, therefore, content myself with
observing, that he is the greatest, the wisest, the noblest, the
most heroic, the most victorious, the most religious, and the
best king, that ever swayed the sceptre of this or any other
kingdom. I may say with the psalmist, " My heart
," is inditing a good matter, I speak touching the king.
¦" Thou, art fairer than the children of men : grace is poured
" into thy lips. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O thou
*' most mighty; and in thy majesty ride prosperously, and
" thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine ar-
" rows are sharp in the heart of thine enemies, (the French)
^.whereby the people (of that nation) fall under thee. The
^ sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest
"righteousness, and hatest wickedness, therefore, (and
" therefore only) God, thy God, hath anointed thee with
" the oil of gladness above thy fellows.*" And farther, the
king " shall have dominion from sea to sea, they that dwell
" in the wilderness (the Americans) shall bow before him,
". and his enemies (the French) shall lick the dustrf yea,
" all kings shall fall before him, all nations shall serve him.
" To him shall be given the gold of Sheba. Prayer also
" shall be made for him continually, (by act of Parliament),
" and daily shall he be praised ; (by his courtiers and place-
" men) and the whole earth shall be filled with his praises!!!"
After these quotations respecting the royal David, equally
animated and applicable to our beloved sovereign, the man
of this day after God's own heart, it would be presumptu-
* Ps. xlv. f lxxii.

21
oas in me to add any thing on this glorious subject. I may,
however, just hint at the royal exertions made by the
greatest and best of monarchs, to curb democracy, and as
sert the rights of kings, against the rebels of America and
France, who dared to oppose thereto the absurd and ridi
culous ideas of the rights of man ; (22) the great addition
made by his Majesty to the stability of our government,
and the liberty of our country, by the increase ofthe national
debt, and of the standing army, occasioned by these his lau
dable and royal exertions: and above all, his attention to
the interests of religion, which has been so great, that, for
getting all former ill-blood, he has not only given an asylum,
in this free land, to the persecuted French Popish priests,
but warmly assisted the Pope himself to resist the impious
and irreligious banditti of France. (23)
Great and good as our monarch is, his royal family are
no less so; the transcendent qualities of his august consort
are the theme of universal admiration; and the domestic
virtues, particularly the ceconomy, of the royal pair, are
justly held forth as admirable objects of imitation to the
dissipated people of the present age. (24)
Their numerous offspring are all equally possessed of
royal virtues; an indispensable proof of the propriety of
his Majesty's late interference, to enforce that admirable
law, which prevents not only the swinish multitude, but
even aristocracy itself, from mixing its blood with that of
royalty. When all are so great and good, it would be improper
and invidious to dwell upon the character of any. Grati
tude, however, cannot let us forget what we owe to the
illustrious Duke of York, whose late glorious victories, and
above all his admirable retreats, stamp him the greatest
general and hero of the present day: and now having
returned borne, and laid his laurels at the feet of his royal
father, he is rewarded with the chief command of the army,
an office justly due to his exalted and royal merit, and in
the execution of which he will no doubt take care that the
troops under his command shall duly enforce the preserva
tion of the British Constitution in its present immaculate
state of purity and perfection. (25)
The brilliant and generous qualities of the illustrious heir
apparent, are too deeply imprinted in every true Briton's
heart to require detail. The late auspicious and happy
marriage of that magnificent prince with his amiable and
august cousin, the Princess of Rruns wick, must in this coun-

22
try diffuse the most universal joy, not only as the means of
continuing a royal race, so justly endeared to us,, but also,
as it will_ still more closely unite to our royal blood that of
the august and foreign House of Brunswick.
It is no doubt particularly gratifying to the people of this
kingdom, once more to pay the debts of our beloved, prince;
debts so much to the honour of the country, and which so
forcibly display some of the blessings we are to expect
under the king, whom God Almighty has appointed next to
fill the throne of the only free nation upon earth. (26)
I intended to have pointed out at large the superior ad
vantages and blessings of monarchy to those of any other
species of government: but. as our time will not permit, I
shall, for 'the present, confine myself to a few short obser
vations, reserving the subject at large to the future annual
national fasts, which may be held during the continuance
of the present just and necessary war.
In the first place, monarchy is the origin and spring of
glory and heroism. Kings are allowed to be the great pro
moters of war; and it is in war only that heroic actions
can be displayed. A man may, in a republic, be considered
a valuable citizen, who promotes the good of his country
and the useful arts, but he can never claim the name of hero,
who has not immolated thousands to the glory of a king.
Democracy may honour an individual for cultivating the
arts of peace; but monarchy and aristocracy nobly account
heroism the only means of arriving at true greatness.
One other strong argument in favour of monarchy is,
that the peers, the members of parliament, the place-holders,
the established clergy, the gentlemen of the army and navy,
and of the law, and of what is properly termed the landed
interest, are nearly unanimous in its favour, and enemies to
the anarchical and levelling systems of France, Holland,
and America, and to what is (improperly) called reform in
the government of this country ; while the only persons
who dare to have a contrary opinion, are those low people,
the mechanics, the citizens, cultivators of the ground, la
bourers, and such like. Indeed, the power which people of
that description have acquired in the lately formed demo
cracies, will,, to every gentleman, at least, of this happy
kingdom, be a sufficient antidote to republicanism.
I shall now, my brethren, lay before you some miscella
neous observations on the subject of monarchy, in order to
counteract the malicious detractions of that best, and only
¦ regular form of government. It has been alleged, that the

actions of kings are frequently contrary to the rules of com
mon morality ; but those who make this cavil seem to ima
gine, or at least, would wickedly insinuate, that kings are
subject to the same passions with their subjects. In answer
to these and other vile detractors from the rights and per
sons of kings, I shall demonstrate, in a few w^rds, that the
passions of kings are in nothing similar to that of men, if
we except appearances, which indeed a king is often obliged
to put on, in somewhat the same manner as God conde
scended to present himself before Moses in the burning bush
and elsewhere, because his infinite nature could not commu
nicate with the finite nature of man in any other way.
The great and universal passion, love, for example, can
not find a place in the breast of princes ; no, it is beneath
them, they marry for connections only, and to keep up the
dignity of their crown. It is not in nature that a man can
love a woman he is obliged to marry the moment he sees
her, and in whom the only virtue or quality required is, that
she be of blood royal. Friendship, and social intercourse
and connection of every kind, must, in like manner, yield to
the balance of power. Pity has no place in their hearts;
witness the many royal galas, hunting parties, shows and
amusements, held in the midst of a bloody war, where
thousands of subjects are immolated to satisfy the ambition
of monarchy. They can find no room for generosity ; no,
their subjects must be taxed to the last shilling, to support
tbe wars of kings, and subsidies to perfidious royal allies,
to pay the debts of profligate princes, while the king him
self is perhaps rolling in wealth, and While the poor have
not bread to eat. Paternal, filial, and brotherly love, they
are equally strangers to; as all history gives us numerous
examples of the cruelty and rebellion of these relatives
towards each other. Anger, even, is not their passion ; else
how could a king receive the ambassadors of a sovereign he
lately seemed to hate and detest, and load them with pro
testations of friendship to their master? How could our
great and good monarch receive into his arms, Burke,
Wilkes, Loughborough, and many others, after the marked
abuse and insulting indignities poured out against him by
these men? How could he affect sorrow, by putting his
Court into mourning on the event of the death of a Dowager
Queen of Denmark, who had been the catfse of the un
merited disgrace and sufferings of his Royal Sister? In a
word, glory, power, and dominion, as they are the preroga
tives of God, are, in like manner, in this world* the prero-

24
gatives and only passions of kings, who are an order of
beings infinitely superior to common men; and, should the
latter ever pretend to equal them, it is right they should
share the punishment inflicted on Lucifer, and our first
fallen parents, for similar offences.
One proof of the divine origin of kings is, that however
they may differ in ceremonies or religious opinions, whether
they be Catholics, or Protestants, or Heathens, or Mahome-
dans, still their general conduct is the same; still do we see
King forcibly written in all their actions. The Turkish
monarchs consider it a mark of charity to kill all the Chris
tians; so did the Jewish the heathens; andi so did the
Christians tbe infidels in the holy crusades; so, in later
times, have alternately the Catholic and Protestant princes.
of this and other nations exterminated, as far as possible,
those of the contrary religions; and lastly, so have the
kings of all persuasions, forgetting personal animosity,
joined in a meritorious attempt to annihilate the French
atheists, as appears from the declarations of Mr. Pitt, the
Pope, and the Duke of Brunswick. All kings fight the
cause of God, as all kings derive their power from God
only. (27)
Again, the King of Morocco occasionally cuts the throats
of his subjects for amusement. His Royal Majesty does
not, however, accord this grace to his people so often as
could be wished. The Grand Seignior is more prodigal of
bis green ribbands; and the obedience of his vassals should
be a model to the rebellious subjects of our most gracious
monarch. He makes too little use of the supreme power
vested in him. The honours he bestows are however some
times pretty numerous and extensive, although distributed
in a different way. Instead of the sabre or the bow-string,
he gives to his subjects every few years an honourable op
portunity of sacrificing nobly their life for his glory, in the
field; and those who fall in these just, necessary, and bene
volent wars, may look with confidence for a participation
(although in a humbler degree) of glory and happiness in a
future state, with St. Louis, St. Bernard, Dionysius, Frede
rick the Great, David, and the Empress of Russia.
In all kingdoms there is a necessary connection between
church and king; and, in most, the king is in some degree
under the dominion of the church. The power of tbe Pope
over the Catholic princes is well known; we also find, that
the Mufti has a power over the Grand Seignior; the brah
mins over the Indian kings; and even the bronzes over the

25
Emperor of China. But, in this favoured island, God has'
manifested the ne plus ultra of holiness and greatness of its
king, he being the only monarch (except the Bishop of
Osnaburgh) who is at once the head of the Church and
State. Is it not then, my brethren, our duty as men and
Christians, humbly to prostrate ourselves before our great
kingj and in our obedience as far exceed the Chinese and
Mahometans, as our king's excellence, perfection, and
power is superior to theirs?
The Eastern monarchs owe much of their glory to the
dignified distance which they keep from their slaves. The
Chinese never see their king but twice in the year; and
then they behold him in all the glory of royal and imperial
majesty; while our noble monarch, through an excess of
goodness, allows his sacred person to be too familiar to his
subjects; and as Shakspeare observes of the second Richard, ,
" surfeits them with sweetness." But the tumultuous dis
obedient, rebellious, and sacrilegious actions of this wicked
people, and particularly the late outrage on his Majesty and
his Coach, will, we hope, point out to our most gracious,
mighty, and wise king, the necessity of a different and more
reserved and severe conduct, and shew, that the only busi
ness of the swinish multitude is to obey and to work, like
the last of the four casts of Indians, while the two first of
these casts are united in our most virtuous king ; and the
third h£ has graciously vested in his nobles and servants,
whom he entrusts with the power of executing his supreme
and infallible will.
Before I conclude, I shall present you with some obser
vations on the subject of monarchy from the holy scrip
tures. The power of a king is thus described by the prophet
Esdras. " O ye men, do not men excel in strength, that bear rule
" over sea and land, and all things in them? but yet the
" king is more mighty: for he is lord of all these things,
" and hath dominion over them ; and whatsoever he com-
" mandeth them, they do. If he bid them make war the
" one against the other, they do it; if he send them out
" against the enemies, they go and break down mountains,
" walls, and towers. They slay and are slain, and trans-
" gress not the -king's commandments: if they get the vic-
" tory, they bring all to the king, as well the spoil as all
"things else. Likewise for those that are no soldiers, and
" have not to do with wars, but use husbandry, when they
D

26
" have) reaped again that which they had sown, they bring
** it to the king, and compel one another to pay tribute to
" the king. And yet he is but-one man: if he command to
" kill, they kill; if he command to spare, they spare; if he
" command to smite, they smite ; if he command to make
" desolate, they make desolate ; if he command to build,
" they build; if he command to cut down, they cut down ;
" if he command to plant, they plant. So all his people
" and his armies obey him. Furthermore he lieth down ;
" he eateth and drinketb, and taketh his rest: and these
" keep watch about him ; neither may any one depart and
" So his own business, neither disobey they him in any
" thing.* And the inspired Solomon, himself a king, thus expresses
himself: — ,
" Many will entreat the favour of the prince, and every
" man is a friend to him that giveth gifts : all the brethren
" of the poor do bate him." — Prov. xix. 6, 7.
" The wrath of the king is as the roaring of a lion ; whoso
" provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul." —
Prov. xx. 2.
" It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the
" honour of kings is to search out a matter." — Prov. xxv. 2.
" Put not thyself in the presence of tbe king; and stand
" not in the presence of great men." — Prov. xxv. 6.
" As a roaring lion and a raging bear, so is a wicked
" ruler of the poor people." — Prov. xxviii. 15.. *
" The prince that wanteth understanding is a great op
pressor." — Prov. xxviii. 16.
" The locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them
" by bands."— Prov. xxx. 27. (28)
" It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong
" drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the
" judgment of any of the afflicted." — Prov. xxxi. 4, 5. (29)
" Better is a poor and wise child than an old and foolish
" king who will not be admonished." — Eccles. iv. J 3.
" I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, for he
" doth whatever pleaseth him. Where the word of a king
" is, there is power, and who may say unto him what dost
" thou?"— Eccles. viii. 2, 3, 4.
i( For the transgression of a land many are the princes
" thereof." — Prov. xxviii. 2.

* 1 Esdras iv. 2—21.

27
" Woe be to thee, O land, when thy princes eat in the
" morning. Blessed art thou, O land," alluding prophetic
ally to Great Britain, " when thy king is the son of nobles,
" and thy princes eat in due season, for strength and not
" for drunkenness." — Eccles. x. 16, 17.
Sons of treason and sedition, attend to the following
counsel :
" Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse
" not the rich in thy bed-chamber. For a bird of the air
" shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell
" the matter."— Eccles. x. 20.
Let me add, that according to- the wise King Solomon,
" There be three things which go well ; a grey-hound, an
" he-goat also, and a king!!!" — Prov. xxx. 29, 31.
To conclude, let us, my brethren, in imitation of the
Jews of old, cry out with a loud voice, of our most excel
lent sovereign, that " there is none like him among all the
" people*;" — and let all the people shout and say,
"GOD SAVE THE KING*."

* 1 Sam. x. 24.

28

A SOLEMN PRAYER FOR THIS OCCASION.
" O Lord, our heavenly Father, high and mighty, King of
" kings, Lord of lords, the only Ruler of princes t," we
adore thee, the Lord of hosts, the God of battles, and the
Origin, Patron, and Protector of kings, We humbly bow
before thee, and with the most sincere and heartfelt contri
tion and repentance confess, that we have gone astray from'
thy ways, in as much as we have contemned thy anointed,'
and wickedly, seditiously, and rebelliously, opposed and
disobeyed his infallible will. Arid, O Lord! as our repen
tance is sincere, do thou inspire with thy Holy Spirit, the
heart of our most gracious sovereign, to receive us into his
royal favour, and suffer us to be his slaves. We pray, O
God! for our sovereign lord the king, and the Rest of the
royal family. Mayest thou speedily reward their royal
actions with crowns of glory ; so that they may sit in thy
presence, and in the presence of thy Son, our blessed Saviour
and Redeemer Jesus Christ, in that superior degree of bliss
which thou hast promised to good kings, and to the holy
martyrs. O Lord, we humbly and devoutly pray, that
thou mayest establish universal monarchy and religion
throughout the world. And, as formerly the seed of Noah
was, by thy good providence, sent over all the earth to
govern them ; so, may the numerous and princely offspring
of thy faithful servant, our most gracious king and governor,
be through thee, the means of disseminating the blessings of
monarchy, in its most pure and immaculate state, among all
nations. We intreat thee, O most gracious Father Al
mighty, that thou wilt bring back to their duty, to their God,
and their king, the atheistical and rebellious sons of France ;
and that thou wilt re-establish the throne and the altar in
that deluded nation, upon a firm and lasting foundation. Or
otherwise, if it be thy good pleasure to harden their hearts,
go forth with our fleets and armies, and deliver up that
wicked and perverse nation to the avenging sword of our
invincible and infallible monarch, as of old thou didst, of
thine infinite mercy and goodness, deliver up the heathen
and idolatrous nations, into the hand of thy chosen people
the Jews, to be cut off by the edge of the sword. " Scatter-

t See the daily prayer used by the Church for the Kin£
Majesty.

29
" them ly th^ wrath, and bring them down, O Lord our
" shield. Consume them by thy wrath ; consume them that
" they may not be*." — " Pour out thy indignation against
" them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them; let
" their habitation be desolate, and let none dwell in their
" tents: add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them be
" blotted out of the book of the living t." So that all men
may know that thou art the Lord, and that all the earth
may with one accord worship thee and their kings. And
all this we beg through the merits and mediation of our
most blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to whom be all
honour, and glory, might, majesty, and dominion, now and
for evermore. Amen.

* Psalm lix. 11. 13. t Psalm Ixix. 24, 25, 27, 28.

END OF THE SERMON.

NOTES.

(1) Dr. Geddes, in his. Translation of the Bible, renders this passage
" a great plunderer."
(2) Faith is the chief pillar and support of all religions. " Without faith
" no man can be saved." Faith is, by theologians, defined to be " a be-
" lief in that which is contrary to reason." Thus, it is not faith to believe
"that a tree is a tree : but if I am told that a tree is a horse, or that this
tree was produced from nothing, it will require faith to make me ac
quiesce. (3) " This," says a modern author, " is a proof that Egypt even then
" was a very powerful and well policed, and consequently a very ancient
" kingdom ; and that brothers coming to make a tender of their.sisters to
" the kings of Memphis, were magnificently rewarded."
(4) The circumstance of the maids of honour of King Abimelech having
children, shews/ that it was nowise uncommon in these times, for virgins
to procreate ; and even in our days it is well known that maids of honour
often have children, although it be not announced in the Royal Gazette.
This is a complete answer to those cavillers at the Christian religion, who
dispute the possibility of a virgin conceiving a son. Virgil, certainly an
author of authority, informs us of certain mares having been impregnated
by the west wind, which is equally against the common course of nature as
a spirit begetting a child upon a woman. There is another fact still more
analogous, and for which we have the very best evidence. So lately as
within the present century, many women were convicted, upon their own
positive avowal and confession, of having had carnal connection with the
devil. Such persons were all burnt, as well to give them a foretaste of the
treatment they were to meet with from their infernal lover, as to prevent
tlie propagation of young devils. Such was the policy of these times, but
Parliament has since made a law to abolish these penalties, so that the
women of the present day may, without any punishment, in this world at
least, connect themselves with Beelzebub as much as they please, and
bring forth young imps with impunity. This act was probably passed under
the influence ofthe clergy, who well knew that if the race of devils should
be extirpated, it would put an end to their trade ; in this respect they foU
lowed the example of the blessed founder of our holy religion, who did uot
destroy devils, but transferred them from the bodies of men to those of
swine ; and it is undoubtedly the seed of these infernal spirits, still lurking
in the breasts of the swinish multitude, that prompts them to treason and
rebellion, against the sovereigns set over them by God.
(5) Odd as the name of king-priest may sound, it is pretty similar to
that of prince-bishop, which is perfectly familial- at this time in Greai
Britain.

31
The following passage is taken from Mail hind's History of Edinburgh :
" The antiquity of crowns is by writers allowed to be very great. At first
" they were only used by the gods ; and, being a religious ornament, it
" appertains to Mie pontificalia, rather than the regalia, and came to be
" used by kings, by virtue of their being priests as well as princes."
(6) All the plagues sent upon King Pharaoh and his people were punish
ments, because he would not suffer the Children of Israel to depart ; but
we are always told that " God hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would
" not let the people go," in order, say the ungodly, to have pretence for
executing his vengeance.
(7) Of the many miracles in the Old Testament, none have puzzled
commentators so much, as that of the sun standing still at the command of
Joshua. The infidels of all ages have triumphed in the idea of its being so
contradictory to the natural laws of the universe, as to be altogether impossi
ble, and not only to destroy its own authenticity, but the credibility of the
other miracles, handed down to us from the same authority. I rejoice
therefore that I am enabled from an authentic MS. most satisfactorily to
rescue this passage of holy writ from suspicion : and if I shall shew, to the
conviction of the greatest sceptics, not only the possibility, but the proba
bility of this circumstance, I have no doubt but they will give implicit faith
to all the other Bible miracles. The fact is this, in the kingdom of Ai, (or
Aye, as it is written by some historians) the Sub-treasurer, published under
the Rose, a newspaper called the Sun, which, as it related the most bare
faced and palpable lies, to support the monarchy and tyranny of the king
of Aye, as well as the neighbouring princes, who combined with him to
oppose the religion of truth, Joshua, when he destroyed those kings, very
prpperly suppressed the seditious newspaper, or, as it is expressed in the
more sublime language of the East, commanded the Sun to stand stilt.
This explanation is at once so simple and so satisfactory, that I trust it
-will carry general conviction, that the fact is -most correctly and faithfully
recorded in scripture : and every other miracle, both of the Old and New
Testament, can undoubtedly be as well explained.
(8) Othneil, who delivered the Israelites from bondage, is supposed to
have been the progenitor of the Irish O'Neils.
(9) Our monarchs are now more prudent than King Ejglon. If any per
son were to offer his Majesty a1" message from God, he would be treated
either as a traitor or a madman, as Mr. Brothers can teifiiy.
(10) The correctness of this passage is admirable. Saul destroyed all
that was vile and refuse, among which are iucluded all the people ; he
spared all that was good, among which was the king.
(11) Upon the same occasion Samuel made use of an expression, which,
taken literally as it is written in our Bibles, may be of dangerous tendency,
" Rebellion," says he, 1 Sam. xv. 23, " is as the sin of witchcraft." Now,
as we are commanded by an act of Parliament to believe, that there is no
such sin as the sin of witchcraft, people may, by a natural train of reason
ing, imagine, that there is no such sin as the sin of rebellion, and then
what terrible consequences might ensue! The wholesome examples which
have lately been made, it is true, ought to satisfy us that undoubtedly
there is such a crime as rebellion. But in order more effectually to con
vince men's understandings, I think it necessary to mention, that the

32
passage above quoted has been improperly translated. The literal reading
in the original Hebrew is, that " rebellion is a most bewitching sin."
(12) On the day succeeding one of the national fasts, the following para
graph appeared in a newspaper called the True Briton : " Yesterday his
" Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury gave a grand entertainment to Mr.
" Pitt and the Cabinet Ministers, and others of the nobility and clergy."
Contrast this with the following passage from Jonah iii. 4, &c. " So the
" people of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on
" Sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least. , And he," the
King " caused it to be published through Nineveh, by the decree of the
**" King and his nobles,- saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock,
" taste any thing, let them not feed nor drink water."
(13) All the Amalekites having been destroyed by Saul, it does not
appear from whence the Amalekite came, who informed King David that
he put Saul to death, unless it was like the story, where
" Three children sliding on the ice,
" Upon a summer day,
" It so fell out they all fell in,—
" Tlie rest they ran away."
(14) Among the acts of the man after God's own heart, the systematic
coolness with which he put to death two-thirds of the people of Moab de
serves notice. In 2 Samuel, chap. viii. we are informed, that he made
them prostrate themselves upon the ground, and measured them by lines,
" even with two lines measured to put to death, and' with one full line to
" keep alive ;" neither ought his putting all the Ammonites under saws,
harrows, and axes, (1 Chron. xx. 3) to be forgotten.
(15) There ifc something seemingly inexplicable in this piece of Sacred
history. The people are punished by a pestilence for the sin committed by
their king in numbering his subjects, and to which David was incited by
God himself. Nay, farther, from the words of holy writ, scoffers are apt
to represent the whole as a piece of pettishness and bad humour in God
Almighty against his chosen people ; for thus ft is written (2 Sam. xxiv. 1)
" And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel," for what
reason is not said, " and he (the Lord) moved David against them, to say,
" Go number Israel and Judah." But the difficulty does not end here ;
for the same event in the First Book of Chronicles, xxi. 1, is thus recorded :
" And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number
" Israel." Now, as all good Christians, as well as Jews, agree, that the
Books of Samuel and of Chronicles, are both the work of divine inspira
tion *, it follows, that both the foregoing statements must be true and infal
libly correct. To human reason, however, it appears extraordinary that
the instigation of God, and the temptation of the devil, should be one alid
the same thing. We must therefore conclude, that this is one of the many
sublime mysteries to be explained by faith alone.
Let us however consider, whether this, instead of being as infidels repre
sent it a piece of wanton and unprovoked cruelty against the innocent

* Bishop Watson; in his celebrated Apology, allows, that in some historical
passages, there may be inaccuracies in the Bib.e, but as to any matter of revela
tion, or what is professed to be delivered by divine inspiration, he denies the po«-
sibility of error or fallibility.

.83
Jews, was not an awful signalization of God's justice, and a just pAiish-
ment for their perverse disobedience of his will. The Lord had lately, by
his prophet Samuel, declared to the Children of Israel the evils of monar
chy, and the curses that would attend them, if they should persist in desir
ing to be governed by a king ; but the stubborn people refused to listen to
the voice of the Almighty. Still, however, God, ever merciful and long-
suflering, suspended the punishment of his people for tliis disobedience, in
hopes of their repentance. But, alas ! their hearts were hardened, and
after the death of King Saul, they still persisted in their blind and wicked
desire. God, therefore, finding that lenient measures were ineffectual, thus
punished them iii his wrath, and gave this first manifestation of the cur9e
of monarchy, a curse which ev^ry kingdom upon earth, this favoured nation
excepted, has felt in all ages.
(16) As we are informed (1 Kings iv, 26) that " Solomon had forty
" thousand stalls of horses' for his chariots !" it appears odd to us at this
day, that he should have made his coronation procession upon David's bid
inule; but perhaps it was the custom. It is not so in the time of the
present Solomon.
(17) From the First Book of Chronicles, xxii. 14, we learn that David
left Solomon " for the House of the Lord, one hundred thousand talents
" of gold, and one thousand thousand talents of silver," a quantity of spe
cie infinitely more than ever was, now is, or probably ever will be in the
whole world. David's amassing such a sum, therefore, especially as he is
said to have " prepared it in his poverty," is a miracle equal to that of the
loaves and fishes.
.(18) " Conscience and truth "are silly things, ,
" To shackle up the will of kings ;
" They may inferior people bind,
" But kings their checks must never mind ;
" But by the force of powerful will
" Make conscience stoop to any ill.
" 111? nothing's ill that princes do,
" 'Tis to the people things are so :
" For what the King forbid* or wills,
" To do the contrary are ills,
" When subjects therefore disobey ;
" 'Tis sin in them ; but kings, I say,
" Are subject to no power, whereby
" They are obliged ^to any tie."
(19) Buchanan wrote a tract, entitled " De Jure Regni, apud Scotos,"
to prove that the kings of Scotland derived their right from the people, and
not immediately from God.. The propagation of a doctrine equally sedi
tious and blasphemous, brought upon him the just vengeance of Parliament,
That venerable body (by their Act, James VI. Parliament 8. chap. 134.
intitled ' Act anent slandering the king, his progenitors," &c. still unne-
pealed) ordered the obnoxious pamphlet to be burnt by the Hangman, and
that all persons possessed of copies of that wicked and abominable ijbel,
should bring them in to the Secretary of State, under the penalty of 200/.
The following will shew the little respect Buchanan shewed to the
divine right of kings : When James was uftder tuition, he found it neces
sary one day, for some improper behawour, to give his most sacred
Majesty & whipping. An fijd lady of quality happening to be in the next
E

34
room, and to overhear what was passing, rari in and catcheft, the young
monarch in her arms, and asked Buchanan hpw he direct to lift his hand
against the King's anointed ? He answered with the greatest sang froiil,
" Madam, I have whipped his ar-e; you may kiss it if yojij please."
Being reproached for making James a pedant, he saidj he thought be had
done a great deal to make so much of him.
(20) The title ofthe Service ofthe Church of England upon the annual
fast, is- in the following words : "A Form of Prayer and ^,aStjng> to be
" used yearly upon the, 30th of January, being the day of the Martyrdom
"ofthe blessed King Charles the First, to implore the mercy qfQo.fl* that
" neither ^ie guilt of that sacred blood,, nor those other sins by which God
" was provoked to deliver both us and our king unto the bands of cru*?l
" and unreasonable men, may at any time hereafter be visited ujfon us and
" our posterity." •,-¦_,'
This solemn annual devotional exercise was beginning to belittle, Observ
ed, till the martyrdom ai*id shedding of the sacred and innocent blood, of
the blessed King, Louis XVL of glorious and immortal memory- That
event, however, has forcibly brought back to our minds the tragical death
of King Charles, and so much excited the devotion of the nation, that not
only our bishops, but ' even a number of the lay-members of both Houses
of Parliament : now attend divinfe service regularly thrice in th© year, viz'.
on the 30th of January, the 29th of May, and the Annual War-Fast held
this day. .
{iX) The democratical madness o( the , Elutchjapd, French, h-a$ now sent
over to this country another Prince bf tHe illustrious House of Orange and
hi« Royal Family, so that should the present race of monarchs become
extinct, which God forbid, we have happily, a supply within Ourselves of
the genuine Blood Royal.
(22) It may to some persons appear extraordinary to term the rights of
man absurd and ridiculous ideas; but such, ignorant cavillers will be
silenced when they are informed^ that I make use of this expression under
no less -authority than that of the present immaculate minister of our vir
tuous monarch.
(23) See the Speech of the Viceroy of our King's lately acquired King
dom of Corsica to his Fit st Parliarneht^ where he delivers the recommen-.
dation of his Royal Master, that the Parliament, wifh the concurrence of
his Holiness the Pope, Should form the religious establishment of that
kingdom. (24) In this censorious world the most perfect characters will find ca*-
Jumniators, and the most virtuous and praise-worthy actions be blamed b^
some. Thus, the laudable attention of'o'ur excellent King and his illustrious
Consort to their farm and dairy, and sending theif produce to market, has
been ridiculed and found fault With. What! is it not better, that by their
industry and economy they should save a little for their numerous, family,
than to spend their time and substance in debauchery, extravagance, and
-gaming, and become bankrupt, as even* the Princes of some countries have
been known to do ?
(25) AH the world acknowledges the excellence of the British Constitu*?
tion. We have the very best (authority that the Old Constitution of France
was likewise the perfection 6f wisdom'. Hi* present Most Christian Ma-

35
£s«yi " Louis the Eighteenth, by the grace of God, King of France ttpd
" Navarre," in his most gracious proclamation, (dated No-where> '* in the
''month of July, in the year of Grace, 1795, and the first of our Reign,"
thus addresses all his subjects : " You must restore that government, which
" during fourteen centuries constituted the glory of France, and the delight
" of her inhabitants, which rendered our country the most flourishing of
" States, and yourselves tlie happiest of peoplis The existence of the
" Constitution of France is as ancient as the monarchy of the Franks. It
" is the produce of genius, the master-piece of wisdom, and the fruit of
" experience."
_ (26) The nation has hitherto, out of delicacy, been prevented from pay-
nig the debts of our most gracious monarcli's father, the late Prince of
Wales. The king's private property, however, being too small to enable
him to discharge that -filial duty, the country ought certainly to pay those
•as much as those of the present Prince. Could the king, our common
Father, afford it, he would no doubt relieve the nation of both, but he is
too virtuous, too patriotic, to be rich.
(27) The late treaties of many of the confederated Princes, and even the
Pope and the Elector of Hanover With the French Republic, are no excepi-
tions to this ; as it is well known, that they have been all entered into from
compulsion and necessity, and will be broken by the Royal Treatyists the
moment they have it in their power ; (some of them indeed have already
been broken) and their cause being good, they will, no doubt, in the end
be triumphant, although God, as a judgement for the sins of their people,
forces them, for the present,- to submit to the superior power of the
infidels. (28) This verse has been, by Messrs. Brothers and Halhed, interpreted
as prophetical of the invasion by the French people of the neighbouring
countries. (29) The temperance of our beloved king is well known. Tlie sobriety
ofthe Royal offspring, particularly the Heir Apparent and the Duke of
York, is sufficiently notorious.

THE ENC

W. T. SHerwin, Printer, Lower Smith Street, Northampton Square,