Eu. There is a Similitude made Use of that explains it.  The Wrath of a King is impetuous and unruly, and not to be led this Way or that Way, but presses forward with a restless Fury:  As the Sea spreads itself over the Land, and flows sometimes this Way, and sometimes that Way, not sparing Pastures nor Palaces, and sometimes buries in its own Bowels all that stands in its Way; and if you should attempt to stop its Course, or to turn it another Way, you may e’en as well let it alone:  Whereas, let it but alone, and it will sink of itself, as it happens in many great Rivers, as is storied of Achelous. There is less Injury done by quietly yielding, than by violently resisting.

Ti. Is there no Remedy then against the Unruliness of wicked Kings?

Eu. The first will be, not to receive a Lion into the City:  The second, is to tie him up by parliamentary and municipal Laws, that he can’t easily break out into Tyranny:  But the best of all would be, to train him up from his Childhood, in the Principles of Piety and Virtue, and to form his Will, before he understands his Power.  Good Counsels and Persuasions go a great Way, provided they be seasonable and gentle.  But the last Resort must be to beg of God, to incline the King’s Heart to those Things that are becoming a Christian King.

Ti. Do you excuse yourself, because you are a Layman?  If I were a Batchelor in Divinity, I should value myself upon this Interpretation.

Eu. I can’t tell whether it is right or wrong, it is enough for me if it were not impious or heretical.  However, I have done what you required of me; and now, according to the Rules of Conversation, ’tis my Turn to hear your Opinion.

Ti. The Compliment you pass’d upon my grey Hairs, gives me some kind of Title to speak next to the Text, which will bear yet a more mysterious Meaning.

Eu. I believe it may, and I should be glad to hear it.

Ti. “By the Word King, may be meant, a Man so perfected, as to have wholly subdued his Lusts, and to be led by the Impulse of the Divine Spirit only.  Now perhaps it may not be proper to tie up such a Person to the Conditions of human Laws; but to leave him to his Master, by whom he is govern’d:  Nor is he to be judg’d according to the Measures by which the Frailty of imperfect Men advances towards true Holiness; but if he steers another Course, we ought to say with St. Paul, God hath accepted him, and to his own Master he stands or falls.  He that is spiritual, judgeth of all Things, but he himself is judged of no Man.”  To such, therefore, let no Man prescribe; for the Lord, who hath appointed Bounds to the Seas and Rivers, hath the Heart of the King in his Hand, and inclines it which Way soever it pleases him:  What need is there to prescribe to him, that does of his own accord better Things than human Laws oblige him to?  Or, how great a Rashness were it, to bind that Person by human Constitutions, who, it is manifest, by evident Tokens, is directed by the Inspirations of the Holy Spirit.