CASE OF THE POST-NATI OF SCOTLAND. Ill 



&quot; penes unum est rerum summa potestas : quod 

 &quot; regnum procurationem familia? imitatur.&quot; 



And therefore Lycurgus, when one counselled 

 him to dissolve the kingdom, and to establish another 

 form of estate, answered, &quot; Sir, begin to do that 

 &quot; which you advise first at home in your own house :&quot; 

 noting, that the chief of a family is as a king; and 

 that those that can least endure kings abroad, can 

 be content to be kings at home. And this is the first 

 platform, which we see is merely natural. 



The second is that of a shepherd and his flock, 

 which, Xenophon saith, Cyrus had ever in his mouth. 

 For shepherds are not owners of the sheep ; but 

 their office is to feed and govern : no more are kings 

 proprietaries or owners of the people : for God is 

 sole owner of people. &quot; The nations,&quot; as the Scrip 

 ture saith, &quot; are his inheritance :&quot; but the office of 

 kings is to govern, maintain, and protect people. 

 And that is not without a mystery, that the first 

 king that was instituted by God, David, for Saul was 

 but an untimely fruit, was translated from a 

 shepherd, as you have it in Psalm Ixxviii. &quot; Et 

 &quot; elegit David servum suum, de gregibus ovium sus- 

 &quot; tulit eum, pascere Jacob servum suum, et Israel 

 (t haereditatem suam.&quot; This is the second platform ; 

 a work likewise of nature. 



The third platform is the government of God 

 himself over the world, whereof lawful monarchies 

 are a shadow. And therefore both amongst the 

 Heathen, and amongst the Christians, the word, 

 sacred, hath been attributed unto kings, because 



