The foundations of power.
On what foundation does power rest? What will secure it to those who have gained it, or into whose hands it falls? We look at the foundations of—
I. HUMAN SOVEREIGNTY. The throne of Judah was to be restored, and it should be "established in mercy" or benignity. He that sat upon it should "sit in truth," "judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness;" i.e. engaged in the administration of justice, endeavoring to act justly, and acting, not with a troublesome delay, but with an appreciable promptitude. These are the two foundations on which sovereignty rests everywhere and always—benignity and justice. The throne may rely on centuries of unchallenged rule, may be fortified by venerable tradition and ancient laws, may be guarded by many thousands of muskets; but it does not stand on any secure basis, it is certain to be ultimately overthrown, if it is unjust in enactment or harsh in execution. Righteousness, justice between man and man, between class and class, between sect and sect—a broad and unbroken impartiality; this great virtue, and its most excellent handmaid, benignity—kindness in manner, sympathy shown to the unfortunate, consideration for the poor and unbefriended;—these are the pillars on which alone human sovereignty will be secure. It has been well said by an English statesman that "justice and mercy are the supreme attributes of Deity, but all men everywhere comprehend them; there is no speech nor language in which their voice is not heard, and they cannot be vainly exercised" with the millions of mankind.
II. THE RULE OF CHRIST. Jesus Christ claims to be Sovereign of the world. "Thou art a King, then?" said the astonished procurator. "Thou sayest that I am a King," replied the Son of man. And his word has been justified by the event, for he is ruling now over vast multitudes of human souls. On what does his power rest? On these foundations—righteousness and mercy.
1. He, the Lord of truth, of holiness, of love, has a right to the homage of our minds, to the assent of our conscience, to the unmeasured gratitude and devoted love of our hearts.
2. He, who is full of kindness, of forbearance, of tenderness, of beneficent bestowal and gracious purpose,—he will continue to reign over those who have willingly bowed beneath his spiritual sway. "In mercy shall" his "throne be established."
III. INDIVIDUAL INFLUENCE. Men covet power; they do well to do so. If they seek it in order that they may exert a precious and helpful influence on the minds and on the lives of others, their ambition is no other than an honorable and laudable aspiration. Its possession by any man must be according to "the ability which God giveth" (the original faculty with which his Creator has endowed him), and according to the favoring circumstances which God has thrown around him. But, these being taken into thought, the power which a man will wield and the duration of its exercise must depend on the measure of these two great moral qualities, benignity and righteousness. In mercy—in kindness, in breadth of beneficence, in readiness and reality of sympathy, in genuineness and greatness of self-forgetting love—shall every man's throne be established. But he that would sit long on the throne, he that would continue to exercise power with men, he that would retain his influence over men, must be a righteous as well as a genial and gracious man; he must "seek judgment,' must "haste to righteousness;" he must obviously endeavor to do that which is right between man and man; he must eagerly embrace the opportunity of making the crooked things straight, of restoring that which is wrong, of lifting up that which should no longer be abased.—C.