Augmented and Generally Improved Heavenly Love-Kiss

By rights, they should be more pious and holy than others, because they sit in God's place. When they sin, it often happens that the subjects, whether out of ignorance or malice, confuse the person with the office. Then the saying goes: Our Princes, Kings, etc. (which is the same as saying our Gods) sin in such and such a way. Thus, God and His holy Office must bear the shame of it. Furthermore, the high Heads The author uses "Heads" to refer to rulers or sovereigns. are not given to themselves, but to the whole land and its subjects. Their examples are the patterns for the subjects. If they sin, the mass of common people follows. It is then as it was written of Manasseh: He made the people sin. The Regents are the heart of the subjects. Just as the heart is a fountain of life, so the subjects receive from the rulers what belongs to the well-being of their lives. But the heart is a Duke and leader of all limbs. Wherever it turns, they follow, whether for evil or for good. In the same way, the examples of the Princes draw to themselves everything that comes before them. The Regents are the Head of the subjects. Just as water falls from the head onto the body, so the sins of the Princes fall upon their subjects. If the Head is not well guarded and cared for, no limb is out of danger. Therefore, the ungodly Regents must sink so many thousands of steps deeper into hell, as they have caused many thousands of souls to sin. Above this, God has put the sword into the hands of the Regents to execute vengeance over the wicked and ungodly. Since they are the Gods of the land, one of their

best qualities is Divine zeal. Since they are called Fathers of the Fatherland, the rod of discipline must not be far from their hand. But how can they have seriousness and boldness to punish those things in others of which they themselves are guilty? Here the common proverb applies: One raven does not pick out the eye of another. A proverb meaning that people of the same kind or profession—especially those involved in wrongdoing—do not harm one another.

But just as Princes must be pious for the sake of others, they also have more temptations to sin than others. The Devil attacks them with the three thorns of the world, namely: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. He does this as fiercely and angrily as he rarely does to another. High status brings great danger. The high trees are moved the most by the wind. What is high is unstable and inclined to fall. Even pious Princes are not exempt from Satan's cunning plots. The more strength they exert to walk before God, the more violent the means the enemy uses to tear them away from God. David, Solomon, and Hezekiah are striking proofs of this.

Nevertheless, one finds among the Princes those who walk in the brightness of Zion. Isaiah testifies of such: "Kings shall be your foster-fathers, and their queens your nursing-mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet." Isaiah 49:23. The Prophet compares the Kings to foster-fathers who physically maintain and protect them; the Queens and Princesses to nursing-mothers, who nourish and care for the tender child with their own breasts.