Mr. Recorders speech to the Lord Protector upon VVednesday the eighth of Febru. 1653.: Being the day of His Highnesse entertainment in London.

Mr. Recorder's SPEECH To the Lord PROTECTOR, Upon VVednesday the eight of Fe∣bruary 1653. being the day of His High∣nesse Entertainment in LONDON.

MAy it please Your Highness, my Lord Protector, it hath been observed by some, That when Samuel offered Sacrifice, he therefore reser∣ved the Shoulders for Saul, that he might know what was the weight of Government: The consideration of which made Maximilian affirm, That none who knew how heavy Diadems were, would stoop to take them up. Governors are like the Heavenly Bodies, much in Ve∣neration, but never in rest; and how can it otherwise be expected, when they are not made for themselves, or their own glory, but for the safety and good of Mankinde? as in the Natural, so in the Civil World, great things being ordained to serve the less: We

see the Sun by its Beams, serving the eye of the meanest Flie, as well as of the greatest Potentate. The Supremacy of Salus Populi, was the conclusion of the Twelve Tables, and will be a Prevalent Maxime until the end of the World.

By thus much, My Lord, You may per∣ceive the dark side of this Leading Cloud of Government; but if God vouchsafe assist∣ance from those Shoulders, upon which the Government is laid, and put under his E∣verlasting Arms, You will see the bright side also, and thence receive Encouragement: This Support he is pleased to give, by letting Rulers know he is the Author of their Power, and that from him they are to ex∣pect their Rule. The Designation of Go∣vernment, as to Forms and Persons, is an Humane Institution, and mutable, as things that are made; but Government it self, ab∣stractively considered in its pure Original, is of a Divine Off-spring, and can with no less difficulty be shaken, then those Vestigia's which being as Relations tell us, upon the tops of some Mountains, above the Clouds, can be disordered by Wind and Tempest. And for the Rule, the Word, or Reason of

God in the Divine Understanding, is the Eternal Law of all things. But this being too deep a Well for Mans Bucket to draw out of, it pleased his infinite Goodness to let fall a Rivolet from this Source into the Creature; which leaving an impression in mans understanding, we call, The Law of Nature: But man having this honor, pre∣sently became of no understanding; his minde being clouded with passions and sins, had soon need of superadded helps, which God gave him, by those other Laws fit for Government, and still gives a Spirit for the framing such Municipal Laws, as are ac∣cording to his Will, and suitable to the good of the People. But when this was done, the best Laws without a Government, were no other then as the Sword behinde the E∣phod; and therefore Moses in his time, and other Governors in their time, must be as Walking Laws, and Administrators of Justice.

We may conclude, My Lord, Your High∣ness hath Experimented both these Encou∣ragements, as being the Spectator of some, and the Subject of other great Revolutions which have hapned in this Age, and Land

of Wonders: And not onely know, That the Most High rules in the Kingdoms of Men, disposing them to whom he pleaseth; but also, That its not sufficient with the Princes of the Nations, to exercise domini∣on, which is the common Image of God, except there be also a share in the peculiar Image of his Righteousness and Holiness; they being Gods indeed, and after a peculiar manner, to whom the Reason, or Word of God so comes.

My Lord, There is one help more in Government, which God is pleased often to add to the rest, which is the giving in of the Affections of the People. The solemnity of this day, wherein the Citizens of this great City appear in their several Companies, as so many Cities within the City, speaks much to this; they leave it to other Nations to salute their Rulers and Victorious Com∣manders with the names of Caesares and Im∣peratores; and after Triumphs, to erect for them their Arcus Triumphales: But if I mistake not, their end, this day, is not any such outward Pomp or Glory, but that those who have been delivered together, might rejoyce together; and to express their De∣sires,

That the Civil Sword might be as pro∣sperous for Publick Ends, in the Hand where it is placed, as the Military Sword hath been in the same Hand.

This City seldom goes alone in Publick Actions: it was anciently called by Stephani∣des, The heart of the Nation; and if the Heart be in a Politique consideration, as it is in the natural, it will communicate life and spirits into the other Members, by which means the whole Body may unanimously contribute their desires and endeavors to op∣pose the common Enemy, and after all our distractions, see the Nation established upon the firm Basis of Peace and Righteousnesse, which is the end of Government and shall be the end of my further troubling Your Highnesse.

FINIS.