In the next place , Let all your Dealings be measured by the golden Rule , of doing to others as you would be done by . For as without this you cannot be a good Christian , so he that is void of it cannot be a truly moral man . It is much to be lamented , that amongst us it is not more seriously considered , and faithfully practised : For the want of it is the root , from whence most of our mischiefs and troubles do spring . And whenever men do entertain a just opinion of it , then will the World be truly said to enjoy the golden Age : For next to the Gospel of Jesus Christ , nothing can procure so much peace on Earth . True it is , that seeming Advantages may frequently offer themselves to induce us to go beside this Rule ; but indeed they have only an out-side , and no more : for what a man gains thereby , is but of a short duration , and seldom ends but in trouble and vexation ; for being out of Gods way , it cannot be expected that his Blessing should attend it , and without that nothing can prosper . And besides , he that in a great measure does not practice this Rule , cannot go out of the World with the name of an honest man ; and he that is not solicitous to leave behind him that character , is fitter to herd with Brutes , than to be admitted into any civil Society .

And now let me recommend to you the Duty and Affection which you owe to your Country : For next to God's Glory , there is nothing that ought to be so dear to you as the common good ; it is to be preferred to your Life , Estate or Family . To this you are strongly perswaded as Man is a sociable Creature , for it is by the mutual assistance of each other that Mankind subsists . Let every Man seek only himself , and have no regard to the common good , nothing but an universal disorder and confusion would thereupon ensue ; and then what profit can we expect of all the labour that Man takes under the Sun ? True it is , that fishing in troubled Waters may be a gainful to some people ; yet all their attempts are done in expectation that there will be a settlement in the Publick , as without which their Undertakings will prove ineffectual ; So that not only Nature , but Self-Interest argue irrefragably for it . Besides , as we owe the happiness of our Age to the care that our Fore-fathers had of the Publick ; so it lays a duty upon us to transmit to Posterity what was bequeathed to us : No man is more ignoble , than he who throws off all thought for the Publick , the very Heathens could say , how pleasant and delightful is it to dye for their Countrey ? It is by reason of this concern for the Publick that we render such honour to the King ; who if the Common-wealth did not receive great Advantage by his Care and due administration of Justice , would be regarded no more than another man . There never yet was any good Man who had not an ardent zeal for his Countrey ; And to all men of true honour and worth , it is a more pleasant reflection to think how useful they have been in their Generation , than how wealthy they are grown .

Though we are bound to do all the good we can , yet you ought not to be over-forward in taking upon you any publick Imployment , save with these two Cautions , First , that you be in some good measure qualified for it . Secondly , that you undertake it for the sake of Gods Glory and the good of your Country , and not to gratifie your Ambition : For as by reason of Insufficiency , you will certainly come off with shame ; so by desiring it for a wrong end , God will not prosper it . Perhaps the activeness of your temper may push you on to business ; in that case you have no more to do but to make your self fit for it ; and then a man of your quality and condition need not hunt after imployment , for it will seek him out .

Now as good esteem and popular applause are the general returns to good service done for the publick , so such as deserve it , seldom fail of it : And you will find that this Nation is more steady in the first and the more valuable , I mean their good esteem and affection , than in the latter , for that is bestowed upon every occasion , and so being become common is of less value . If then you have done your Countrey good service , be not disturbed when you may think the merits of your service is forgotten and drowned in the applauses that are given to some popular action : For you will often see that though a Man has been the greatest Villain to his Country , yet upon doing any one popular thing , he shall for the present be cryed up as the best and bravest man alive ; but as this has no foundation , so it will prove but a nine days wonder , and when that time is expired , they will return to their Wits , and remember those to whom they are obliged . When you are got into imployment , be it never so agreeable to you , let not the fear of being turned out prevail with you to do the least Injustice , or to act irregularly , neither for the serving of a turn , nor for any other Consideration : For upright behaviour in regular times , is the surest way to keep you in your Seat : And in times of disorder you must resolve to do every ill thing that is put upon you , if by such means you will keep your place , for the doing of one will not secure you . Now though you lose your Place by refusing to do what you think is not just , yet you retain your Honour and Conscience , and all the odium your Enemies would cast upon you will then prove only malitious aspersions , and turn with shame upon the head of your Accusers : And by your Integrity you will give your Family so great a Reputation , as sooner or later will turn more to the advantage of it , than the holding of your Place longer could have been .

When you are in a very high Station , be sure to behave your self with the like familiarity to all sorts of Persons , as you did before your promotion : For by this you will not only gain the esteem of every body ; But if you are displaced , you will lose nothing of the respect that was paid you .

Besides this , be sure to be easie of access to every one that has business with you , and give them all the dispatch you can : For as in common charity you are bound to do it , that no man may be tyred out in attending his just concerns , so it is an honest policy to keep friends in store against an evil time ; whereas they who practice the contrary , not only procure themselves hatred whilest they are in Place , but when turned out ( for such don't stand long ) none are so much despised and contemned as they .

But an Imployment at Court , I mean such as is purely within the Court abstracted from the Publick , is seriously to be thought on before you ingage in it : For nothing but the pure profit can incline a man of a generous and noble Spirit to accept of it . For though Princes should be examples of Piety as well as administers of Justice ; yet there is so much looseness and disorder in their Families , that a man who lives there must be very well fortified with Religion and Morality , or he will be in great danger of losing his Integrity : For how often will he be necessitated to neglect his Devotion both in publick and private , and at best hand postpone the worshipping of God to the attendance on his Prince , and serve God only in the second place : And then it is no strange thing if the mist occasion'd by the arbitrary vapours of the Court do so far mislead him as to fall down and worship him who is but his fellow-creature ; yet great respect is due to him , because placed in some degrees above him for his good and advantage .

Consider besides the servile compliances to which he must submit , even to pretend to love the man he hates , and crouch and bend to the man that he does despise ; And as Courts are always in Factions and Parties , so he cannot avoid falling in with some side ; and whatever they drive at , he must implicitely pursue it , though to the destruction of some Person who never injured him , or any other thing as base as that .

Add to this , how unsetled he must be , always in a hurry , and shifting from place to place at an hours warning , and pay such slavish attendance as we don't expect from the meanest of our Servants : And in the mean while his Estate in the Country is left to the honesty of Servants , in which as he cannot fail to be a loser , so must he also in the interest and affection of his Neighbours : Whereas he that lives at his own house , has daily opportunities of doing good , and is still gaining upon the good will and esteem of his Countrey , so that when any of them see him , they do not fail to pay him respect , and at the same time wish him well from their heart .

Though this is not intended as a discourse upon the Politicks , but as some directions in your passage through this World ; yet I conceive it not improper to say something of Government in general , and therein of a King , since the want of a right notion herein has been the occasion that many a one of honest intentions has gone out of the World with the character of an ill Man .

Government then in general is necessary , as well because of Gods express Command , as also that no Society of men can subsist without it : And that particular form of Government is necessary , which best suits the temper and inclination of the People , and thereby becomes to be Gods Ordinance ; But no particular model of Government is such in it self , save so far as it effects the true end of Government : For nothing can be God's Ordinance , but what he has expresly declared to be such . And if he had thought any sort of Government to have been better , or more necessary than another , he would not have left the World so much in the dark in a matter of so high importance ; but he would either have expresly declared it in his Written Word , or discovered it to us by the instinct of Nature ; But we cannot find any such thing in Holy Writ , neither does Nature prompt it , because there are so many several sorts of Government in the World , no two of them agreeing in every point , but differing in something that is very material . And even the Jews , Gods peculiar People , who received their Statutes and Judgments immediately from him , yet therein he did not prescribe or limit them to any particular form ; but what he did command were only rules in general for the executing of Judgment and Justice amongst themselves ; for we find that the form of their Government was changed no less than five times , If not more often : 1. Under Patriarchs , 2 Under Moses , 3. Under Judges , 4. Under the High Priest , 5. Under Kings . So that nothing can be more clear , than that God has not appointed the World any form of Government , but left every Nation and People to chuse such a Model as best liked them : And I have often thought , that God Almighty did on purpose permit the Jewish constitution to be changed so often , to let the World understand that every form of Government was alike indifferent to him , and that if any People found theirs to be out of order , the blame rested at their doors if it was not reformed .

The true original of Government being thus discovered , it gives us plainly to understand whence Kings receive their Power , and what is the natural and lawful measure of their power : For if God Almighty did permit every people to model their own Government , from whence can the Kings Prerogative flow , save out of that constitution ? Unless it be supposed , which is ridiculous to imagine , that Kings are sent down immediately from Heaven with their Commission in their hands , or else that they begat all their Subjects . If then their power does flow from the Constitution , the natural extent of it does seem to be limited within the rules of doing equal right to rich and poor , to relieve the oppressed , and to punish the guilty , unless it can be supposed that cruelty and oppression is more eligible than Justice and Peace . And therefore it is more than to be supposed , that when any People conferred so great a trust upon their King , it was with this condition , either expressed or implied , that as much as in him lay he should lay out that power to the good and advantage of the People : For though several Kings have taken upon them to govern by their Will , and this practice has prevailed for many Successions and Ages , yet this cannot give them a good title to their arbitrary Rule , because the body of the People have an earlier claim , and a younger title must give place to the elder , and a title or power gained either by force or fraud can never be good , and by one of these two arbitrary Power can only be gained : For the measure of Power , which by the institution of the Government was assigned to the King , cannot in reason be supposed to be any other , than such as men of sound understandings and without constraint should judge to be most behoveful to the common good . Now if Kings may of right exercise a power beyond this , then is the condition of every Subject much worse than the Brutes ; for Brutes , though chaced from their usual abode , yet can they in any other place find food and lodging , as well as where they used to frequent ; and whenever they are killed or pursued , it is because they are hurtful , or that the seising of them is useful to men : But when Subjects , by reason of the cruelty and oppression of an arbitrary King , are necessitated to fly for their Lives , they are under a certainty of perishing for want of food and lodging , if not relieved by the charity of others ; and their destruction is resolved on , not that they have offended against the Laws of nature or reason , but because the intentions and thoughts of their King are evil . A King that lays out himself for the good of his people , is to be obeyed for Conscience sake , for he is God's Ordinance ; and such a King can never be too highly esteemed , nor the loss of him sufficiently lamented . But when a King forsakes the guidance of the Law , and rules only by his Will , to call such an one God's Ordinance is very absurd , unless we can suppose God to be the Authour of confusion and oppression .

All that have written of Government agree in this , that Kings were created or set up that Justice may be had , which does plainly intimate these things , First , That every King is such by reason of the constitution of the Government . 2. That he is admitted to that trust upon condition . 3. That when he does not administer Justice , much more when he oppresses the People , he exceeds the limits of his lawful power ; and both this Doctrine and Exposition is not denyed by any , save some ignorant Ambitious Clergy , who in hopes of preferment have turned Bawds to Arbitrary Power . And the Coronation Oath , or Solemn Ingagement which every King takes before he is crowned , confirms the foregoing Observations ; and what can oblige the taking of that Oath , but the constitution of the Government ? For since Mankind is so greedy of Power , and prone to incroach upon anothers right , can it be supposed that Kings would clog themselves with the Coronation Oath , if they could avoid it , much less that they would on their own accord so shackle themselves ?