An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

As the condition of kings and princes puts them in a station more obvious to the view and observation of the world, than that of other men, of whom, as Cicero observes, neither any word or action can be obscure; so are those kings, during whose appearance upon the stage of this world it pleaseth the Great King of kings singularly to make known unto men the wonderful steps of his unsearchable providence, more signally observed, and their lives and actions more diligently remarked, and enquired into by posterity; especially if those things be such as not only relate to the outward transactions of this world, but also are signalized by the manifestation or revelation of the knowledge of God in matters spiritual and religious. These are the things that rendered the lives of Cyrus, Augustus Ceasar, and Constantine the Great in former times, and of Charles the Fifth, and some other modern princes in these last ages, so considerable.