Abstract
Analogies have played an important part in political rhetoric and among the most persistent and powerful has been the analogy between divine and human government. Many sixteenth and seventeenth century defenders of political absolutism employed the image of an absolute God as the model for civil domination. Donne, while vindicating monarchy by analogy to the divine kingship, rejected the notion of arbitrary or tyrannical rule which was becoming increasingly popular as civil war approached. Furthermore the trinitarian image of God was seen by the preacher as a model for the pluralist state. Donne insisted that both divine and civil rule should be seen in the context of law and that ultimately the analogical relationship between the two should be governed by the univocal—the king is in the last resort but a creature of God.
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