THE KING'S MIRROR 



249 



words that(D avid/had spoken: " TheJLpjx^ruleth in the 

 Heavens, but verily he hath given an earthly fcjngHom 

 to the sons of men." * Now God, while He was on earth, 

 wished to honor earthly kings and kingdoms rather 

 than disparage them in any way;for He would not 

 deprive the earthly kingship of what He had formerly 

 given into the control of earthly lords; but God showed 

 a perfect obedience to Caesar. You should also observe 

 that, just as God commanded His apostle Peter to ex- 

 amine the first fish that he drew and take a penny from 

 its mouth (and God did not want him to examine the 

 second fish or the third, but the first only), similarly 

 every man should in all things first honor the king and 

 the royal dignity. For God Himself calls the king His 

 anointed, and every king who possesses the full honors 

 of royalty is rightly called the Lord's anointed. ")tn like 

 manner one of God's apostles said in a sermon while 

 instructing the people in the true faith: " Fear God and 

 honor your king," | which is almost as if he had 

 literally said thathe who does not show perfect honor 

 to the king does not fear God, j 



Every king, as you have said, ought, indeed, to be 

 wise, well-informed, and above everything upright, that 

 he may be able to realize fully that he is after all merely 

 a servant of God, though he is honored and exalted so 

 highly in the supreme service of God, that all bow down 



* The reference is evidently to Psalms, cxv, 16: " The heavens, even the 

 heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men " 

 (King James' version). The Vulgate reads (cxiii, 16), "Caelum caeli Domino; 

 terrain autem dedit filiis hominum." In neither case is the idea of an earthly 

 kingship implied. It is evident that the author is quoting and translating 

 from memory, 

 t / Peter, ii, 17. 



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