Qua arte et industria momentaneum regnum stabiliri potest.
The Wheel of Earthly Glory
Worldly kingdoms are transient and unstable, like a turning wheel or a fading rainbow, and war only deepens their uncertainty.
The wise have judged that the kingdom of this age is transient, like the turning of a spinning wheel. For just as every turn of a wheel throws down what was just at the top and lifts up what had just been cast down, so earthly glory in a kingdom now suddenly exalts risings and suddenly collapses them; and so it holds not true honors, but imagined ones that slip away even faster. That is the true kingdom which endures forever; this one, however, because it is transitory and fleeting, shows not the truth but only a faint likeness of a true and enduring kingdom. For just as the bow of heaven, painting its many adornments across its curved arch, swiftly passes away, so clearly does worldly glory: even though it is adorned for the present, it is all the more fleeting. By what skill, then, and by what kind of effort and by how great an anxiety is this instability restrained into some semblance of stability? Can an earthly kingdom really be made firm either by the violent strength of arms or by the peaceful harmony of tranquility? But again, even in the very arms and uproars of wars, a great instability is seen to dwell. For what is more uncertain and more unstable than the events of war, where there is no certain outcome to a hard-fought struggle, no certain victory, and often the higher are overcome by the lower, while at times equal evils fall on both sides, and those who expected to gain victory end up with nothing but calamitous misery?
Resting the Kingdom on God's Mercy
Because earthly peace is deceptive, a ruler must place his hope in God's mercy, remain a faithful steward, and cling to divine justice and commandments.
What countless evils arise under the false name of peace — who can spell them out, when even that peace which was believed to be firm and lasting among good people is sometimes, through the corrupt schemes of the wicked, whipped up into deadly storms of conflict, so that a monstrous instability seems to exist even in the midst of a fleeting peace! What else remains, then, except that the king's heart and all its confident hope should rest not on the strength of arms or of men, not on the deceptiveness of a passing peace, but on the mercy of the Almighty — who knows how to make firm the kingdom he has given, whether in hard times or in good ones? So the heart of a ruler — and devotion to the faithful steward of that office — should never abandon the one from whom so great a benefit and so glorious a ministry were given, lest that supreme ruler, angered, withdraw the gift he had bestowed when he appointed someone as his minister in the belief that he was faithful, only to find that person unfaithful. For if an earthly king can strip authority from any unfaithful man and give it to someone he finds more faithful, how much more can the supreme ruler of all — whom no cloud of treachery can deceive — take back his gifts from the wicked and bestow them on those he knows to be fit ministers of his will? And so that impious Saul, king of Israel, was stripped of his kingdom and his life, because he proved no faithful minister before the Lord; but the Almighty found David, a man chosen after his own heart, and for this reason raised him to the highest peak of royal power, because by his foreknowledge he chose David to be a faithful minister. Therefore a wise ruler should strive to anchor his heart in the grace of the Most High, if he wants the temporary kingdom entrusted to him to have any likeness of stability; and because the Lord is just and merciful — and it is him the heart's affection ought to cling to — let the ruler show forth every way, so as to win a great glory as his reward. Let him love justice and guard it at the same time, but reject unjust and harmful acts among those under his authority, and correct them with a praiseworthy zeal that is guided by knowledge. Whoever stands firm in the divine commandments — that ruler's kingdom is established more and more in this age, and is led on, by heavenly help, to the eternal joys of unshakable stability.
From Ruin to Renewed Praise
Israel's rise through covenant faithfulness and its subsequent ruin show that even great peoples must turn back to God, and earthly rulers are summoned to magnify the Lord.
Like wheels on a swiftly turning cycle, the kingdoms of the world roll from the highest down to the lowest, and back again through the rapid axle — they don't know they're falling, but they do know how to hold golden scepters. The flourishing kingdom of renowned Israel was the glory lifted up above the people, when it kept the sacred, mystical laws of the law. That's why it thrived through the Lord's triumphs and overcame cruel enemies, while the Thunderer's devotion glorified his own people. But again — alas! By how many ruins is Abraham's holy, chosen father pressed down, while his own bow their necks to the Creator in submission. Yet the one remedy for so great a people was now to entreat the One on high with vows — the One who is powerful and knows how to establish kingdoms forever with a single nod. Princes of the earth, bring joyful incense of your vow to the powerful Lord — the One whom the heavenly princes of the sky tremble before. Magnify him!
Read the original Latin
Regnum huius saeculi momentaneum volubilis rotae vertigini sapientes esse consimile iudicaverunt. Nam sicut omnis rotae vertigo, quae superiora habet modo deicit et quae deiecta sunt modo superius extollit, ita subito erectiones, subito elisiones terrestris gloria regni sustinet; unde nec veros, sed imaginarios et citius fugitivos honores habet. Illud enim verum regnum est, quod in sempiternum perdurat, hoc autem, quia transitorium est et caducum, non veritatem, sed quandam mediocriter similitudinem veri et permanentis semper regni ostendit. Sicut enim arcus caeli varios pingens ornatus arcuato curvamine celeriter refugit, ita nimirum saecularis gloriae dignitas, quamvis ad praesens ornata, tamen est citius fugitiva. Qua itaque arte et quali industria quantaque sollicitudine haec instabilitas ad aliquam stabilitatis effigiem refrenatur? Forte vero aut armorum violenta fortitudine aut pacifica tranquillitatis concordia terrestre regnum stabilitatur? Sed rursus in ipsis armis bellorumque fragoribus grandis instabilitas inesse cernitur. Quid enim incertius est magisque instabile bellicis eventibus, ubi nullus est certus laboriosi certaminis exitus, nulla certa victoria, et saepe ab inferioribus sublimiores superantur, nonnunquam vero in alterutros vergentia mala eveniunt coaequalia et, qui se praesumebant habituros esse victoriam, utrique in fine non habent nisi calamitosam miseriam?
Quanta quoque mala sub ficto nomine pacis proveniunt, quis explicare potest, cum etiam illa pax, quae stabilis ac firma inter bonos esse credebatur, interdum per prava malorum consilia in exitiosas discordiarum tempestates transfertur, unde et inormis instabilitas in pace transitoria videtur! Quid ergo aliud restat, nisi ut cor regis ac tota spei fiducia non in armorum hominumque fortitudine neque in pacis transitoriae fallacia, sed in Omnipotentis clementia figatur, qui regnum quod donavit, sive in adversis, sive in prosperis stabilire novit? Cor itaque principis et fidelis in ministerii regimine devotio ipsum non deserat, a quo tantum beneficium et gloriosum ministerium donatum fuit, ne forte ille summus rector indignatus ab eo abstrahat beneficium quod dederat, si infidelem esse senserit, quem tamquam fidelem ministrum ordinavit. Nam si rex terrenus a quolibet sibi infideli homine datam auferre valet potestatem aliique tribuit quem fideliorem esse comperit, quanto magis supernus universorum dominator, quem nullius perfidiae nubila fallere possunt, potens est a reprobis sua abstrahere beneficia aliisque praestare, quos idoneos suae voluntatis ministros noverit esse? Unde et impius ille Saul rex Israhel privatus fuit regno et vita, quoniam neque fidelis minister extitit coram Domino; at vero David virum electum secundum cor suum Omnipotens invenit, quem ob hoc in apicem regiae potestatis sublimavit, quia illum fidelem fore ministrum praesciendo elegit. Itaque prudens rector cor suum in Excelsi gratia stabilire studeat, si transitorium regnum quod est ei commissum aliquam stabilitatis habere similitudinem desiderat, et quoniam iustus et misericors est Dominus, cui cordis affectu debet inhaerere, opera misericordiae multipliciter exhibeat, ut multam mercedis gloriam metat. Iustitiam diligat simul atque custodiat, iniusta vero atque maligna opera in subiectis repudiet ac laudabili zelo, qui est secundum scientiam, corrigat. Qui dum sit in divinis praeceptis stabilis, illius regnum magis magisque in hoc saeculo stabilitur et ad aeterna stabilitatis gaudia superno iuvamine perducitur.
Ceu rotae cyclus celeri recursu Volvitur summas reprimitque ad ima, Quas rotat partes rapidum per axem, Mobilitate, Regna sic mundi trifidum per orbem Gloriae celsum stabilire culmen Nesciunt lapsum, sed habere norunt Aurea sceptra. Inclitae plebis fuit Israhelis Floridum regni decus adlevatum, Quando servabat sacrosancta legis Mystica iura; Unde pollebat Domini triumphis Atque crudeles superabat hostes, Dum suam plebem pietas Tonantis Glorificabat. Rursus, heu! quantis premitur ruinis Abrahae sanctum speciale patris, Dum creatori sua prona tempsit Subdere colla. Una sed tantae medicina gentis Iam fuit votis rogitare Celsum, Qui potens noscit stabilire regna Perpete nutu. Principes terrae, Domino potenti Ferte gaudentes thymiama voti, Quem tremunt caeli proceres superni, Magnificate!
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