Ten Sermons, Sermon 2
THE SECOND SERMON.At the Assises at Lincolne 7. Mar. 1624.
Exod. 23. Ver. 1,—3.
1. Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous witnesse.
2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill: neither shalt thou speake in a cause, to decline after many to wrest iudgement.
3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poore man in his cause.
THere is no one thing,§. 1. The necessity of this Argument, Religion euer excepted, that more secureth and adorneth the State, than Iustice doth. It is both Columna, and Corona Reipubl. as a Prop, to make it subsist firme in it selfe; and as a Crowne, to render it glorious in the eyes of others. As the Cement in a building, that aIus & aequitas vincula civitatum. Cic. parad. 4.holdeth all together, so is Iustice to the publique Body: as whereunto it oweth a great part both of its strength, (for by it bProu. 16.12.the throne is established, in the 16th.) and of its height too, for it cProu. 14.34.exalteth a Nation, in the 14th. of the Prouerbs. As then in a Building, when for want of good looking to, the Morter getting wet dissolueth, and the walls dVentrosi parietes, Petr. Bles…ns. Epi. 85belly out; the house cannot but settle apace, and without speedy repaires fall to the ground: so there is not a more certaine symptome of a declyning, and decaying, and tottering State, than is the generall eforeign. Soph in Aiace, vbi non est pudor, nec cura iuris, Sanctitas. Pietas, Fides; Instabile regnum est. Sen. in Thyest. act. 2.dissolution of manners for want of the due execution and administration of Iustice.
§. 2. both in respect of the Magistrate.The more cause hauehave wee, that are Gods Ministers, by frequent exhortations, admonitions, obsecrations, expostulations, euen out of season sometimes, but especially vponupon such seasonable opportunities as this, to bee instant with all them that hauehave any thing to doe in matter of Iustice, but especially with you, who are aRom. 13.4.Gods Ministers too (though in another kinde) you who are in Commission to sit vponupon the bench of Iudicature, either for Sentence or Assistance: to doe your God and King seruice, to doe your Countrey and Calling honour, to doe your selues and others right, by aduancing to the vtmost of your powers the due course of Iustice. Wherein as I verily thinke none dare but the guilty, so I am well assured none can iustly mislike in vsus the choyce either of our Argument that we beat vponupon these things, or of our Method, that we begin first with you. For, as we cannot be perswaded on the one side, but that we are boūd for the discharge of our duties to put you in mind of yours: so we cannot bee perswaded on the other side, but that if there were generally in the bFrequenter culpa populi redundat in Principem, quasi de maiorum negligentiâ obueniant errata minorum. Pet Blesens. Ep. 95.greater ones that care and conscience & zeale there ought to be of the common good, a thousand corruptions rife among inferiours would be, if not wholly reformed, at least wise practisd with lesse conniuence from you, confidence in them, grieuance to others.
But right and reason will, that aGal. 6.5.eueryevery man beare his owne burthen. §. 3. and others.And therefore as wee may not make you innocent, if you be faulty, by transferring your faults vponupon others: so farre bee it from vsus to impute their faults to you, otherwise than as by not doing your best to bQui non vetat peccare, cum potest; iubet. Senec. in Tro. ad. In cuius mann est vt prohibeat, iubet agi, si non prohibet admitti. Salvian. 7. de prouid.hinder them, you make them yours. For Iustice wee know is an Engine, that turneth vponupon many hinges. And to the exercise of Iudicature, besides the Sentence, which is properly yours, there are diuers other things required; Informations, and Testimonies, and Arguings, and Inquests, and sundry Formalities, which I am neither able to name, nor yet couetous to learne: wherein you are to rest much vponupon the Faithfulnesse of other men. In any of whom if there be, as sometimes there will bee, foule and vnfaithfull dealing, such as you either cannot spie, or cannot helpe; wrong sentence may proceed from out your lips, cforeign. Arist. 8. Top. 11.1without your fault. As in a curious Watch or Clocke that moueth vponupon many wheeles, he finger may point a wrong houre, though the wheele that next moueth it bee most exactly true; if but some little pin, or notch, or spring bee out of order in or about any of the baser and inferiour wheeles. What hee said of old, dforeign. apud. Stobae. Ser. 44.Non fiere potest, quin Principes etiam valdè boni iniqua faciant; was then and euer since, and yet is, and euer will be most true. For say a Iudge be neuer so honestly minded, neuer so zealous of the truth, neuer so carefull to doe right: yet if there be a spitefull Accuser that will suggest any thing, or an audacious witnesse that will sweare any thing, or a crafty Pleader that will maintaine any thing, or a tame Iurie that will swallow any thing, or a crauing Clerke or Officer that for a bribe will foyst in any thing; the Iudge who is tyed (as it is meet he should) to proceed secundùm allegata & probata, cannot aIpsos Iustitiarios, quos vulgariter Err…ntes, vel Itinerantes dicimus, dum errata hominum diligenter explorant, frequenter errare contingit. Excessus namque hominum absconduntur, &c. Pet. Blesens. Epist. 95.with his best care and wisedome preuent it, but that sometimes Iustice shall bee peruerted, innocency oppressed, and guiltie ones iustified.
§. 4. The Fitnesse,Out of which consideration, I the rather desired for this Assise-Assembly, to choose a Text as neere as I could of equall latitude with the Assise-Businesse. For which purpose I could not readily thinke of any other portion of Scripture, so proper and full to meet with all sorts of persons and all sorts of abuses; as these three verses are. Is there either Calumny in the Accuser, or Periury in the Witnesse, or Supinity in the Iurer, or Sophistry in the Pleader, or Partiality in any Officer; or any close corruption any where lurking amid those many passages and conueyances that belong to a iudiciall proceeding? my Text searcheth it out, and enditeth the offender at the tribunall of that vnpartiall Iudge that keepeth a priuie Sessions in each mans brest.
§. 5. Diuision,The words are so laid downe distinctly in fiue Rules, or Precepts, or rather (being all negatiue) in so many Prohitions, that I may spare the labour of making other deuision of them. All that I shall need to doe about them, will be to set out the seuerall portions in such sort, as that eueryevery man who hath any part or fellowship in this businesse may hauehave his due share in them. Art thou first an Accuser in any kinde: either as a party in a iudiciall controuersie; or bound ouer to prosecute for the King in a criminall cause, or as a voluntary informer vponupon some penall Statute? here is something for thee, Thou shalt not raise a false report. Art thou secondly a Witnesse: either fetched in by Processe to giuegive publique testimony vponupon oath; or come of good or ill will, priuately to speake a good word for, or to cast out a shrewd word against any person? here is something for thee too; Put not thine band with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous Witnesse. Art thou thirdly returned to serue as a sworne man, in a matter of graund or petty inquest? here is something for thee too; Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill. Commest thou hither fourthly to aduocate the cause of thy Clyent, who flyeth to thy learning, experience, and authority for succour against his aduersary, and commendeth his state and suite to thy care and trust? here is something for thee too; Neither shalt thou speake in a cause to decline after many to wrest iudgement. Art thou lastly in any Office of trust, or place of seruice in or about the Courts, so as it may sometimes fall within thy power or opportunity to doe a suiter a fauour, or a spite? here is something for thee too; Thou shalt not countenance (no not) a poore man in his cause. The two first in the first, the two next in the second, this last in the third verse.
§. 6. and Extent of the Text.In which distribution of the offices of Iustice in my Text, let none imagine, because I hauehave shared out all among them, that are below the bench, that therefore there is nothing left for them, that sit vponupon it. Rather, as in diuiding the land of Canaan, Leui, who had aNum. 18.20.21. Deut. 18.1. &c.no distinct plot by himselfe, hauing yet (by reason of the bDeu…. 33.10.vniuersall vse of his office) in eueryevery Tribe something, had in the whole, all things considered, a cSee Numb. 35.2—8; and Ios. 21.1. &c.farre greater proportion, than any other Tribe had: So in this Scripture, the Iudge hath by so much a larger portion than any of the rest, by how much it is more diffused; Not concluded within the narrow bounds of any one, but, as the blood in the body, temperately spread throughout all the parts and members thereof. Which commeth to passe not so much from the immediate construction of the words (though there hauehave not wanted dLyran. hîc.Expositors to fit the words to such construction:) as from that generall inspection, and (if I may so speake) superintendency, which the Iudge or Magistrate ought to hauehave ouer the carryage of all those other inferiour ones. A great part of whose duty it is, to obserue how the rest doe theirs: and to finde them out, and checke and punish them as they deserue, when they transgresse. So that with your patience (Honourable, Worshipfull, and dearely Beloued) I hauehave allowance from my Text (if the time would as well allow it) to speake vntounto you of fiue things. Whereof the first concerneth the Accuser; the second, the Witnesse; the third, the Iurer; the fourth, the Lawyer; and the fift, the Officer: and eueryevery one of them the Magistrate, Iudge, and Iusticer. But hauing no purpose to exceed the houre, (as I must needs doe if I should speake to all these to any purpose;) whilest I speake to the first only, I shall desire the rest to make application to themselues, so farre as it may concerne them, of eueryevery materiall passage: which they may easily doe, and with very little change for the most part; only if they bee willing.
To our first Rule then, which concerneth the Accuser and the Iudge;§. 7. The Accusers duty; not to raise a false report. in the first words of the Text, Thou shalt not raise a false report. The Originall aforeignverbe signifieth to take vp; as if we should reade it, bH. A. hîc.Thou shalt not take vp a false report. And it is a word of larger comprehension, than most Translatours hauehave expressed it. The full meaning is, cOld English translation, hîc. Consentiendo vel loquendo. Gloss. Interlin. hîc. Ne falsi rumoris author, vela ad iutor esto. Iun. in annot.Thou shalt not hauehave to doe with any false report: neither by d raising it, as the Author, nor by spreading it, as the Reporter, nor by receiuing as an Approuer. But the first fault is in the Raiser: and therefore our translations hauehave done well to retaine that rather in the Text; yet allowing the Receiuer a place in the Margent. Now false reports may bee raised of our brethren, by vniust slaunders, detractions, bachbitings, whisperings, as well out of the course of iudgements, as in it. And the Equitie of this Rule reacheth euen to those extraiudiciall Calumnies also. But, for that I am not now to speake of extraiudiciall Calumny so much, as of that quae versatur in for… & in iudiciis, those false suggestions and informations which are giuen into the Courts, as more proper both to the scope of my Text, and the occasion of this present meeting: Conceiue the words for the present as spoken especially, or at least wise as not improperly applyable to the Accuser. But the Accuser taken eAccusatorem pro omni act…re & petitore appello. Cic. in partit. Orat.at large, for any person that impleadeth another in iure publico vel priuato, in causes either ciuill or criminall, and these againe either capitall or penall. No not the Accusee or Defendant excepted: who although hee cannot bee called in strict propriety of speech an Accuser; yet if when he is iustly accused, he seeke to defend himselfe by false, vniust, or impertinent allegations, he is in our present intendment to bee taken as an Accuser, and as the Raiser or Taker vp of a false Report.
§. 8. which may be done 1. by Fiction;But when is a Report false? or what is it to rayse such a report? and how is it done? As wee may conceiue of Falshood in a threefold notion; namely, as it is opposed, not onelyonly vntounto Truth first, but secondly also vntounto Ingenuitie, and thirdly vntounto Equitie also: accordingly false reports may bee raysed three wayes. The first and grossed way is, when we —Struunt de pro…rio calumnias innocentiae. Bern. lib. 1. de Consid. prope finem.faine & deuise something of our owne heads to lay against our brother, without any foundation at all, or ground of truth: creating (as it were) a tale ex nihilo. As it is in the Psalme, bPsal. 35.11.They layed to my charge things that I neuer did: and as Nehemiah sent word to Sanballat, cNehem, 6.8.There are no such things as thou sayest, but thou faignest them of thine owne heart. dCis. act 2. in Ver…. lib. 3.Crimen domesticum & vernaculum; a meere deucie: such as was that of Iezabels instruments against e3 King 21.10Naboth, which cost him his life; and that of Zibah against f2 Sam. 1….3.Mephibosheth, which had almost cost him all hee had. This first kinde of Report is false, as deuoyd of Truth.
The second way, (which was so frequently vsed among the Romane Accusers,§. 9. 2. by Aggrauation; that aNon vtar istâ acculatoriâ consue…udine, &c. Cic. Act. 2. in Verr. lib. 5.custome had made it not only excusable, but bquae quoniam accusatorio more & iure sunt facta reprehendere non puslumus. Cic. pro Flac…o.allowable; and is at this day of too frequent vse both in priuate and publicke calumniations) is, when vponupon some small ground of truth, we run descant at pleasure in our informations, interweaving manie vntruths among; or peruerting the speeches and actions of our aduersaries, to make their matters ill, when they are not; or otherwise aggrauating them, to make them seeme worse than they are. As tidings came to Dauid, when Amnon only was slaine, that c2. Sam. 13.30Absolon had killed all the Kings sonnes. It is an easie, and a common thing, by misconstruction to dThey dai…y wrest my words Psal 56.5. Nihil est, Quin mele narrando possit deprauarior. Terent. in Pho…mi.depraue whatsoeuer is most innocently done or spoken. The Ammonistish Courtiers dealt so with Dauid: when he sent e3 Sam. 10.2.Ambassadours to Hanun in kindnesse, they informed the King as if hee had indeed sent Spyes to discouer the strength of the Citie and Land. And the fNehe. 6.6.7. & Ezr. 4.12Iewes enemies dealt so with those that of deuotion repaired the Temple and the wall of Ierusalem: aduertising the State, as if their purpose had beene to fortifie themselues for a Rebellion. Yea and the malicious Iewes dealt so with Christ himselfe; taking hold of some words of his, about the destroying and building of the Temple, which he vnderstood of the gIoh. 2.19-21.Temple of his bodie, and so hMatth. 26.61wresting them to the fabricke of the Materiall Temple, as to make them serue to giuegive colour to one of the strongest accusations they had against them. This second kind of Report is false, as deuoid of Ingenuity.
§. 10. 3. by pressing the letter of the Law with rigour.The third way is, when taking aduantage of the Law, wee prosecute the extremitie thereof against our brother, who perhaps hath done something contrary to the letter of the Law, but not violated the intent of the Lawgiuer, or offended either against common Equitie, which ought to bee the aforeign. Epictet. apud Stob. serm. 143. nos legē bonam â molâ, nullâ a…ia nisi naturali normâ diuidere possumus. Cic. lib. 1. de legib. Quod fit iniusiè, nec iure sieri potest. Non enim iura dicenda sunt, vel putanda iniqua hominum constituta. Aug. l. 9. de Ciuit 21.measure of iust Lawes, or against the common good, which is in some sort the bAtque ipsa vtilitas prope iusti mater, & aequi Horat. 1. serm. 3.— ex ae quo & bono ius consta…, quod ad veritatem & vtili tatem communom videtur pertinere. Cic. ad Herem. lib. 2.measure of Equitie. In that multitude of Lawes, which for the repressing of disorders, and for the maintenance of peace and tranquillitie among men, must needes be in eueryevery well gouerned Commonwealth, it cannot be auoyded, but that honest men, especially if they hauehave much dealings in the world, may hauehave sometimes iust and necessary cause to doe that, which in regard of the thing done may bring them within the compasse of some Statute or branch of a statute; yet such, as, circumstances duly considered, no wise and indifferent man, but would well approue of. Now, if in such cases alwayes rigour should bee vsed; Lawes intended for the benefite, should by such hard construction become the bane of humane societie. As Solomon saith, cPro. 30.33.Quitorquet nasum, elicit sanguinem; Hee that wringeth the nose too hard, forceth bloud. Guilty this way are not onelyonly those contentious spirits, whereof there are too many in the world; with whom there is no more adoe, but a Word and an Action, a Trespasse and a Processe: But most of our common Informers withall, Sycophants you may call them (for that was their old name) like Verres his dCanes venatici. Cic. in Verrinis saepè.bloud-hounds in Tully, that lye in the winde for gaine, and if they can but trip anie man vponupon anie breach of a penall Statute, there they fasten their teeth, and tugge him into the Courts without helpe; vnlesse he will dare offam Cerbero, (for that is it they looke for) give them a sop, and then they are charmed for that time. Zacheus, besides that he was a Publicane, was it seemeth such a kind of Informer, eLuk. 19.8. Si quid cuiper calumniam eripui. apud Tert. 4 cont. Marc. 37.foreign is the word Luke 19. if I have played the sycophant with anie man, if I hauehave wronged anie man by forged cauillation, or wrung anie thing from him by false accusation. A report of this third kind is false, as deuoid of equity.
But it may be thought I iniure these men, in making them raisers of false reports;§. 11. A Cauill remoued. and am my selfe a false accuser of them, whilest I seeke to make them false accusers of others: when as they dare appeale to the world, they report not anie thing but what is most true, and what they shall bee well able to proue so to be. At once to answer them, and cleare my selfe, know that in Gods estimation, and to common intendment in the language of Scripture, it is all one to speake an vntruth, and to speake a truth in vndue time, and place, and manner, and with vndue circumstances. One instance shall make all this most cleere. Doeg the Edomite, one of the a1. Sam. 21.7.seruants of the house of Saul, saw when Dauid went into the house of Ahimelech the Priest, and how Ahimelech there entertained him, & what kindnesse he did for him: of all which he b1. Sam. 22.9. &c.afterwards gaue Saul particular information, in euerie point according to what he had seene. Wherein, though he spake no more than what was true, and what he had seene with his owne eyes: yet because he did it with an intent to bring mischiefe vponupon Ahimelech, who had done nothing but what well became an honest man to doe, Dauid chargeth him with telling of lyes, and telleth him hee had a false tongue of his owne for it, Psal. 52. [cPsal. 52.2.—4 Thy tongue imagineth wickednesse, and with lyes thou cuttest like a sharpe rasour: Thou hast loued vnrighteousnesse more than goodnesse, and to talke of lyes more than righteousnesse: thou hast loued all words that may do hurt; O thou false tongue.] Conclude hence; hee that telleth the truth where it may do hurt, but especially if he tell it with that purpose & to that end that it may do hurt, he hath a false tongue, and he telleth a false lye, & he must pardon vsus if we take him for no better than the raiser of a false report.
§. 12. Reasons of the Prohibition; takenWe see what it is to raise a false report: let vsus now see what a fault it is. The first Accuser that euer was in the world, was a false Accuser: and that was the Diuell. Who as he began betimes, for hee was a aIoh 8.44.lyer from the beginning: so he began aloft; for the first false report he raised, was of the most Highest. Vniustly accusing God himselfe vntounto our mother Eue in a bGen. 3.1.4.5few words of no fewer than three great crimes at once, Falshood, Tyrannie, and Enuie. He was then a slanderous accuser of his Maker; and he hath continued euer since a malicious accuser of his cApoc. 12.9, 10.Brethren: Sathan, foreign &c. hee hath his name from it in most languages. Slanderers, and Backbiters, and false Accusers may herehence learn to take knowledge of the rock whence they were hewen: here they may behold the top of their pedigree. Wee may not denie them the ancientie of their descent; though they hauehave small cause to boast it: semen serpentis, the spawne of the old Serpent; dIoh. 8.44.children of their father the Diuell. And they doe not shame the store they come of; for the workes of their Father they readily doe. That Hellish Aphorisme they so faithfully practise, is one of his Principles: it was hee first instilled it into them, Calumniare fortiter, aliquid adhaerebit. eIer. 18.18.Smite with the tongue, and be sure to smite home, and then be sure, eyther the griefe, or the blemish of the stroake will sticke by it.
A Diuellish practice,§. 13. 1. from the Sinne; hatefull both to God and Man. And that most iustly; whether we consider the sinne, or the iniurie, or the mischiefe of it: the Sinne in the Doer, the Iniurie to the Sufferer, the Mischiefe to the Common-wealth. Euerie false report raised in iudgement, besides that it is a lye; and euerie lye is a sinne against the truth, aWisd. 1.11.slaying the soule of him that maketh it, and bApoc 22.15.excluding him from heauen, and binding him ouer vntounto cApoc. 21.8.the second death: it is also a pernicious lye, and that is the worst sort of lyes; and so a sinne both against Charitie and Iustice. Which who so committeth, let him neuer looke to dPsal. 15.1.3dwell in the Tabernacle of God, or to rest vponupon his holy Mountaine: God hauing threatned, Psal. 50. to take speciall knowledge of this sinne; and though hee seeme for a time to dissemble it, yet at last to reproue the bold offender to his face. [ePsal. 50.19.—21. Thou fatest and spakest against thy brother: yea and hast slandered thine owne mothers sonne. These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtest wickedly that I was euen such a one as thy selfe: but I will reproue thee, and set before thee the things that thou hast done.]
§. 14. 2. from the Wrong;And as for the Iniurie done hereby to the grieued partie, it is incomparable. If a man hauehave his house broken, or his purse taken from him by the high way, or sustaine anie wrong or losse in his person, goods, or state otherwise, by fraud, or violence, or casualtie: he may possibly eyther by good fortune heare of his owne againe and recouer it, or he may hauehave restitution and satisfaction made him by those that wronged him, or by his good industry and prouidence he may liue to see that losse repaired, and be in as good state as before. But hee that hath his Name, and Credite, and Reputation causlesly called into question, sustaineth a losse by so much greater than anie theft, by how much aPro. 21.1.a good name is better than great riches. A man may out-weare other iniuries, or out-liue them: but a defamed person no acquittall from the Iudge, no satisfaction from the Accuser, no following endeuours in himselfe can so restore in integrum, but that when the wound is healed, hee shall yet carrie the markes and the scarres of it to his dying day.
§. 15. 3. from the mischiefes.Great also are the mischiefes that hence redound to the Common-wealth. When no innocencie can protect an honest quiet man, but euerie busie base fellow that oweth him a spite shall be able to fetch him into the Courts, draw him from the necessary charge of his family and duties of his calling, to an vnnecessarie expence of money and time, torture him with endlesse delayes, and expose him to the pillage of euerie hungrie officer. It is one of the grieuances God had against Ierusalem, and as hee calleth them abhominations, for which hee threatneth to iudge her Ezek. 22. Viri detractores inte. aEzek. 22.9.In thee are men that carrie tales to shedde bloud.
Beware then all you whose businesse or lot it is at this Assises, or hereafter may be, to be Plaintiffs, §. 16. An exhortation to auoid the fault;Accusers, Informers, or anie way Parties in anie Court of Iustice, this or other, Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall: that you suffer not the guilt of this prohibition to cleaue vntounto your consciences. If you shall hereafter be raisers of false reports, the words you hauehave heard this day shall make you inexcusable another. You are, by what hath beene presently spoken, disabled euerlastingly from pleading anie Ignorance eyther Facti or Iuris; as hauing been instructed both what it is, and how great a fault it is, to raise a false report. Resolue therefore, if you be free, neuer to enter into anie action or suite, wherein you cannot proceede with comfort, nor come off without iniustice: or if alreadie engaged, to make as good & speedie an end as you can of a bad matter, and to desist from farther prosecution. Let that golden rule, commended by the wisest aforeign. apud Stob. serm. 2. Idque per praeconem, cum aliquem emendavet, dici iubebat, Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris. Quam sententiam vsqueadeo dilexit, vt & in Palatio, & in publicis operibus praescribi iuberet. de Alex. severo Lamprid. in Alex.Heathens as a fundamentall Principle of morall and ciuill Iustice; yea and proposed by our blessed Sauiour himselfe as a full abridgement of thebMatt. 7.12. Law and Prophets, be euer in your eye, and euer before your thoughts, to measure out all your actions, and accusations, and proceedings thereby: euen to doe so to other men, and no otherwise, than as you could be content, or in right reason should be content, they should doe to you and yours, if their case were yours. Could anie of you take it well at your neighbours hand, should he seeke your life or liuelyhood by suggesting against you things which you neuer had so much as the thought to do? or bring you into a pecke of troubles, by wresting your wordes and actions wherein you meant nothing but well, to a dangerous construction? or follow the Law vponupon you, as if hee would not leaue you worth a groate for euerie pettie trespasse, scarce worth halfe the money? or fetch you ouer the hip vponupon a branch of some blinde, vncouth, and pretermitted Statute? He that should deale thus with you and yours, I know what would be said and thought: Griper, Knaue, Villaine, Diuell incarnate; all this & much more would be too little for him. Well, I say no more but this, Quod tibi fieri non vis, &c. Doe as you would be done too. There is your generall Rule.
§. 17. and the Causes thereof:But for more particular direction, if any man desire it, since in eueryevery euill one good step to soundnesse is, to hauehave discouered the right cause thereof: I know not what better course to prescribe for the preuenting of this sinne of sycophancy and false accusation, than for eueryevery man carefully to avoyd the inducing causes thereof, and the occasions of those causes. There are God knoweth in this present wicked world, to eueryevery kinde of euill, inducements but too too many. To this of false accusation therefore it is not vnlikely, but there may be more: yet we may obserue that there are foure things, which are the most ordinary and frequent causes thereof; viz. Malice, Obsequiousnesse, Couerture, and Couetousnesse.
The first is Malice. §. 18. which are, 1. Malice.Which in some men (if I may bee allowed to call them men, being indeede rather Monsters) is vniuersall. They louelove no body: glad when they can doe any man any mischiefe in any matter: neuer at so good quiet, as when they are most vnquiet. It seemeth Dauid met with some such; men that were aPsal. 120.6.7enemies to peace: when hee spake to them of peace; they made themselues ready to battell. Take one of these men, it is meate and drinke to him, which to a well-minded Christian is as gall and wormwood, to be in continuall suits. bVirg. Eclog. 3.Et si non aliquà nocuisset, mortuus esset: he could not hauehave kept himselfe in breath, but by keeping Termes; nor hauehave liued to this houre, if he had not bin in Law. Such cankered dispositions as these, without the more than ordinary mercy of God, there is little hope to reclaime: vnlesse very want, when they hauehave spent & vndone themselues with wrangling (for that is commonly their end, and the reward of all their toyle) make them hold off, and giuegive ouer. But there are besides these others also; in whom although this malice reigneth not so vniuersally, yet are they so farre carried with priuate spleene and hatred against some particular men for some personall respect or other, as to seek their vndoing by all meanes they can. Out of which hatred and enuy they raise false reports of them: that being in their iudgements, as it is indeed, the most speedy and the most speeding way to cQuare solent inimici mentiri? vt potentiam cuiusque minuant de quo mentiuntur. Aug. in Psal. 65doe mischiefe with safety. This made the Presidents and Princes of Persia to dDan. 6.3.4.seeke an accusation against Daniel; whom they enuied because the King had preferred him aboue them. And in all ages of the world wicked and prophane men hauehave been busie to suggest the worst they could, against those that hauehave beene faithfull in their callings; especially in the callings of the Magistracy or Ministery: that very faithfulnesse of theirs being to the other a sufficient ground of malice. To remedy this, take the Apostles rule, Heb. 12. eHeb. 12.15.Looke diligently lest any roote of bitternesse springing vp trouble you, and thereby many bee defiled. Submit your selues to the word and will of God in the Ministery; submit your selues to the power and ordinance of God in the Magistracy; submit your selues to the good pleasure and prouidence of God in disposing of yours and other mens estates: and you shall hauehave no cause by the grace of God, out of malice or enuy to any of your brethren, to raise false reports of them.
§. 19. 2 Obsequiousnesse;The second Inducement is Obsequiousnesse. When either out of a base feare of displeasing some that hauehave power to doe vsus a displeasure, or out of a baser Ambition to scrue our selues into the seruice or fauour of those that my aduance vsus; wee are content, though wee owe them no priuate grudge otherwise, yet to become officious accusers of those they hate, but would not be seene so to doe: so making our selues as it were baudes vntounto their lust, and open instruments of their secret malice. Out of that base feare, the a3 King. 21.11Elders of Iesrael, vponupon the Queenes letter, whom they durst not displease, caused an accusation to be framed against innocent Naboth. And out of this base Ambition, b2 Sam. 22.9.Doeg to picke a thanke with his Master, and to endeere himselfe farther into his good opinion, told tales of Dauid and Ahimelech. To remedy this, remember the seruices and offices you owe to the greatest Masters vponupon earth, hauehave their bounds set them which they may not passe. cforeign Pericles apud Agell. 1. Noct. 3.Vsque ad aras: the Altar-stone that is the Meere-stone; and Iustice hath her Altars too, as well as Religion hers. Goe as farre then as you can in offices of louelove and seruice to your friends and betters, saluis pietate & iustitia: but not a step farther for a world. If you seeke to dGal. 1.10.please men beyond this, you cannot bee the seruants of God.
Couerture is the third Inducement.§. 20. 3 Couerture; And that is, when either to make our owne cause the better, we seeke to bring enuy and preiudice vponupon our aduersarie's, by making his seeme worse: or when being our selues guilty, we thinke to aScelere velandum est scelus. Sen. in Hippol. Act. 2.couer our own crimes, and to preuent the accusations of others by getting the start of them, and accusing them first. As bGen. 39.17.Potiphars wife accused Ioseph, and the cDan. 13.Elders Susannah, of such crimes, as they were innocent of, and themselues guilty. An old tricke, by which C. Verres like a cunning Coult often holpe himself at a pinch, when he was Praetor of Sicily; as dCic. in Verrinis passim.Cicero declareth against him by many instances, and at large. For sithence the Lawes in most cases rather fauour the Plaintiffe; because it is presumed men should not complaine without grieuance: wee may thinke perhaps to get this aduantage to our selues, and so rather chuse to be Plaintiffes than Defendants, because (as Salomon saith) ePro. 18.17:hee that is first in his owne tale seemeth righteous. To remedy this; Doe nothing but what is iust, and iustifiable: be sure your matters be good and right: they wil then beare out themselues well enough, without standing need to such damned shifts for support.
§. 21. 4 CouetousnesBut the fourth thing is that, which causeth more mischief in this kinde, than all the rest. That which the Apostle calleth a1. Tim. 6.10. —scelerum mamatrem. Claudian. 2. de laud. Stillic. Inde fere scelerū causae—Iuuenal. Satyr. 11.the roote of all euill; and which were it not, there would not be the hundreth part of those suites and troubles and wrongs, which now there are, done vnderunder the Sunne: Euen the greedy worme of Couetousnesse, and the thirst after filthy lucre. For though men be wicked enough, and prone to mischiefe of themselues but too much: yet are there euen in corrupt nature such impressions of. the common principles of iustice and equitie, that men would not often doe great wrongs bMaximam partem ad iniuriam faciendam aggrediuntur nonnulli, vt adipiscantur ea quae cōcupiuerunt: In quo vitio latissime patet auaritia. Cic. l. 1. de offic. Sic vita hominum est, vt ad maleficium nemo conetur, sine spe atque emolumento accedere. Cic. pro Sex. Roscio. —pars vlcisima rerum, Certamen mouistis opes. Lucan. lib. 3. foreign. Diphilus apud Stob. serm. 8.gratis, and for nothing. If Zibah slaunder his Master falsely and treacherously; it is in a hope of getting the liuing from him. And it was Naboths Vineyeard, not blasphemy, that made him guilty. Those sinners that conspired against the innocent, Prou. 1. [cProu. 1.11. —13. Come let vsus lay waite for bloud, let vsus lurke priuily for the innocent without a cause: Let vsus swallow them vp, &c. they had their end in it: and what that was, the next following words discouer, We shall finde all precious substance, we shal fill our houses with spoyle. And most of our prouling Informers, like those old Sycophants in Athens, or the Quadruplatores in Rome; doe they aime thinke you so much at the execution of good Lawes, the punishment of offenders, and the reformation of abuses, as at the prey, and the booty, and to get a piece of money to themselues? For let the offence bee what it will, deale but with them: and then no more speech of Lawes or Abuses, but all is huisht vp in a calme silence, and no harme done. To remedy this; as Iohn Baptist said to the souldiers in Luk. 3. dLuke 3.14▪Accuse no man falsly (foreign is the word there too) and be content with your wages: so if you would bee sure not to accuse your neighbour falsly, content your selues with your owne estates, and couet not eExod 20.17.his oxe or his asse, his land or his money, or any thing that is his. Reckon nothing your own, that is not yours by faire and iust meanes: nor thinke that can prosper with you and yours, that was wrung from another by Cauill or Calumny.
I hauehave now done with you that are Accusers: §. 22. The Iudges duty; Not to receiue a false Report.whose care must be, according to the Text-reading, not to raise a false report. But the Margent remembers me, there are others whom this prohibition concerneth besides you, or rather aboue you; whose care it must be not to receiue a false report. A thing so weightie, and withall so pertinent to the generall argument of this Scripture; that some aforeign. Septuag. Non suscipies vo…em mendacii. Vulg. edit. Thou shalt not receiue a false report. Geneu. —hunc sensum sequitur Chaldaeus, Vatabl.Translations hauehave passed it in the Text. And the Originall word comprehendeth it. For albeit the Raiser indeed be the first taker vp; yet the Receiuer taketh it vp too, at the second hand. As it is commonly said of stolne goods, There would bee no theeues, if there were no receiuers; and therefore some Lawes hauehave made the bforeign. Phoc.Receiuer equal theefe with the Stealer, foreign: so certainly there would bee fewer false reports raised in iudgement, if they were more sparingly receiued. And therefore in this case also the Receiuer must goe pari passu with the Raiser: who, if he giuegive way or countenance to a false report when he may refuse or hinder it, by being an Accessarie maketh himselfe a Partie; and becommeth cNon solùm ille reus est, qui falsum de aliquo profert; sed & is, qui citò aurem criminibus praebet. Isid. lib. 3. de summo bono.guiltie of the same sinnes, the same wrongs, the same mischiefes with the first offender, the false Accuser. Dauid, as he inueigheth against Doeg in the dPsal 52.Psalme for telling: so hee e1. Sam. 24.9.elsewhere expostulateth with Saul for hearing vniust reports of him. The Raiser and Receiuer are both possessed with the same euill spirit; they hauehave the same fforeign. Thucid. apud Stob. serm. 40.Diuell, the same Familiar: Only here is the difference, The Raiser hath this Familiar in his tongue, the Receiuer in his eare. Whosoeuer then sitteth in the place of Magistracie and publike Iudicature in foro externo, or is by vertue of his calling otherwise inuested with anie iurisdiction or power to heare and examine the accusations of others: I know not how hee shall be able to discharge himselfe in foro interno from a kinde of Champertie (if my ignorance make mee not abuse the word) or at leastwise from misprision of Calumnie and vniust accusations; if he bee not reasonably carefull of three things.
First, let him beware how he taketh priuate informations. Men are partiall;§. 23. Whereunto a threefold care is requisite: 1. in receiuing informations; and will not tell their owne tales but with fauour, and vntounto aduantage. And it is so with most men; the aPro. 18.17. Est vitium, cuius si te i…munem sentis, inter omnes quos noui, ex his qui Cathedras ascendunt, sedebis me iudice solitarius. Facilitas credulitatis haec est: cuius callidissimae vulpeculae Magnorum neminem comperi satis cavisse versutias. Bern. 2. de consid. in fine.first tale possesseth them so, as they heare the next with preiudice: than which there is not a b—inde eis ipsis pro nihilo irae multae, inde innocentium frequens addictio, in de praeindiria in absentes. Bern. ib.sorer enemie to right and indifferent iudgement. A point so materiall, that some Expositors make it the thing principally intended in this first branch of my Text, cLyran. hîc.vt non audiatur vna pars sine aliâ, saith Lyra. Suiters will be impudent, to forestall the publicke hearing by priuate informations: euen to the Iudge himselfe, if the accesse be easie; or at leastwise (which indeed maketh lesse noise, but is nothing lesse pernicious) to his seruant or fauourite that hath his eare, if hee hauehave anie such noted seruant or fauourite. He therefore that would resolue not to receiue a false report, and be sure to hold his resolution, let him resolue (so farre as he can auoid it) to receiue no report in priuate; (for a thousand to one that is a false one) or, where he cannot well auoid it, to be readie to receiue the information of the aduerse part withall; eyther dforeign. Demost. de cor.both or neither, but indeed rather neither: to keepe himselfe by all meanes equall and entire for a publicke hearing. Thus much hee may assure himselfe; there is no man offereth to possesse him with a cause beforehand, be it right, be it wrong; who doth not eyther thinke him vniust, or would hauehave him so.
§. 24. 2. in examining causes;Secondly, let him hauehave the conscience first, & then the patience too (and yet if hee hauehave the aThe righteous considereth the cause of the poore: but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Prou. 29.7.conscience, certainly he will hauehave the patience) to make search into the truth of things: and not be daintie of his paines herein, though matters be intricate, and the labour like to be long and irksome, to finde out if it be possible the bottome of a businesse, and where indeed the fault lyeth first or most. It was a great ouersight in a good King, for b2. Sam. 16.4.Dauid to giuegive away Mephib…sheths liuing from him to his Accuser, and that vponupon the bare credite of his accusation. It had beene more for his honour, to hauehave done as cIob. 29.16.Iob did before him, to hauehave searched out the cause he knew not; and as his sonne d3. Kin. 3.23.Salomon did after him in the cause of the two Mothers. Salomon well knew, what hee hath also taught vsus, Prou. 25. that it was eProu. 25.2.the honour of Kings to search out a matter. God as he hath vouchsafed Princes and Magistrates his own fPsal. 82.6.name: so he hath vouchsafed them his owne example in this point. An example in the storie of the Law, Gen. 18. where hee did not presently giuegive iudgement against gGen. 18.20, 21. quo exemplo moniti, ne ad proferendam sententiam—aut temere indiligente… que in discussa quaeque quoquo modo iudicemus: sed exemp…o Domini descendamus, videamus, & iusto examine criminoso… diligenter perscrutemur. Concil. Trib. e. 22.Sodom vponupon the crie of their sinnes, that was come vp before him: but he would goe downe first and see whether they had done altogether according to that cry; and if not, that hee might know it. An Example also in the Gospell-story, Luke 16. vnderunder the parable of the rich man: whose first worke, when his Steward was accused to him for embezzeling his goods, was not to turne him out of doores, but to hLuk. 16.2.examine his accounts. What through Malice, Obsequiousnesse, Couerture, and Couetousnesse, counterfeit reports are daily raised: and there is much cunning vsed by those that raise them, much odde shuffling and packing and combining to giuegive them the colour and face of perfect truth. As then a plaine Countrie-man, that would not willingly be cousened in his pay, to take a slip for a currant piece, and brasse for siluer, leisurely turneth ouer eueryevery piece he receiueth; and if hee suspect any one more than the rest, vieweth it, and ringeth it, and smelleth to it, and bendeth it, and rubbeth it, so making vp of all his senses as it were one naturall touchstone, whereby to try it: such iealousie should the Magistrate vse, and such industry, especially where there appeareth cause of suspicion, by all meanes to sift and to boult out the truth, if hee would not bee cheated with a false report instead of a true.
Thirdly, let him take heed he doe not giuegive countenance or encouragement,§. 25. 3. in repressing contentious persons and suites. more than right and reason requireth, to contentious persons, knowne Sycophants, and common Informers. If there should bee no Accusers to make complaints: Offenders would bee no offenders, for want of due Correction; and Lawes, would bee no Lawes, for want of due execution. Informers then are aAccusatores multos esse in ciuitate v…ile est, vt metu contineatur audacia: veruntamen hoc ita est vtile, vt non planè illudamur ab accusatoribus. Ibid.necessary in a Common-wealth as Dogs are about your houses and yardes. If any man mislike the comparison, let him know it is bNihil mali est, canes ibi quamplurim …s esse, vbi permulti obs…ruandi, multaque seruanda sunt. Cic. pro Sex. Roscio.Cicero's simily, and not mine. It is not amisse, saith that great and wise Oratour, there should be some store of Dogs about the house, where many goods are layed vp to be safe kept, and many false knaues haunt to doe mischiefe; to guard those, and to watch these the better. But if those cCanes aluntur in Capitolio, vt significent, si fures venerint- Quòd si luce quoque canes latrent, cùm Deos salutatum aliqui venerint: opinor jis crura suffringantur, &c. Ibid.Dogs should make at the throate of eueryevery man that commeth neere the house, at honest mens houres, and vponupon honest mens businesse: it is but needfull they of the house should sometimes rate them off, and if that will not serue the turne, welfauouredly beate them off, yea, and (if after all that they still continue mankeene) knocke out their teeth, or breake their legges, to preuent a worse mischiefe. Magistrates are petty Gods, God hath lent them his name, dPsal. 82.6.Dixi Dij, I hauehave said yee are Gods, Psal. 82. and false Accusers are petty Diuels; the Diuell hath borrowed their name, eApoc. 12.9.10. de ipso etiam nomine Diaboli delatorem. Tertullian de anima. c. 35.Sathan foreign, the accuser of his brethren. For a Ruler then or Magistrate to countenance a Sycophant, what is it else, but as it were to peruert the course of nature, and to make God take the Diuells part? And then besides, where such things are done; what is the common cry? People, as they are suspicious, will be talking parlously and after their manner: Sure, say they, the Magistrates are sharers with these fellowes in the aduenture; these are but their setters, to bring them in gaine, their instruments and Emissaries to toll gri…t to their milles for the increasing of their moulter. Heethen that in the place of Magistracie would decline both the fault and suspicion of such vnworthy Collusion: it standeth him vponupon with all his best endeauours by chaining and muzling these beasts to preuent them from biting where they should not; and, if they hauehave fastened already, then by deliuering the oppressed with Iob fIob 29.17.to plucke the prey from betweene their teeth, and by exercising iust seuerity vponupon them to breake their iawes for doing farther harme.
I am not able to prescribe (nor is it meete I should to my betters) by what meanes all this might best be done.§. 26. Whereunto some likely good helpes are For I know not how farre the subordinate Magistrates power, which must be bounded by his Commission and by the Lawes, may extend this way. Yet some few things there are, which I cannot but propose, as likely good helpes in all reason and in themselues, for the discountenancing of false Accusers, and the lessening both of their number and insolency. Let eueryevery good Magistrate take it into his proper consideration; whether his Commission and the Lawes giuegive him power to vse them all, or no, and how farre.
And First; for the auoyding of malicious suites,§. 27. 1. to respect informations tendred without Oath; and that men should not bee brought into trouble vponupon slight informations: I finde that among the aCael. ad Cicer. 8. fam. Epist. 8. vide l. 7. & l. 13. §▪ qui damni. ff. de damno infect. In omnibus causis, siue est, san…imus non. liter, &c. Nisi prius qui eas exposcunt, iuramentum de calumniâ praestiterint, quod non &c. …. Vinc. Cod de iureiurando propter calumn.Romans the Accuser in most cases might not bee admitted to put in his libell, vntill he had first taken his corporall oath before the Pretor, that hee was free from all malicious & Calumnious intent. Certaine it is, as daily experience sheweth, that many men who make no conscience of a Lye, doe yet take some bNam sacramenti timore contentiosa litigantium instantia compescitur. Ibid. foreign. Sopho…l.bogge at an Oath. And it cannot but open a wide gap to the raising and receiuing of false reports, and to many other abuses of very noysome consequence in the Common-weale; if the Magistrate when hee may helpe it, to enrich himselfe or his officers, or for any other indirect end, shall suffer men to be impleaded and brought into trouble vponupon Bills and Presentments tendred without oath.
§. 28. 2. to temper Iustice with Equity;Secondly, since Lawes cannot bee so conceiued, but that through the infinite variety of humane occurrences, they may sometimes fall heauie vponupon particular men; and yet for the preuenting of more generall inconueniences it is necessarie there should be Lawes (for better a mischiefe sometimes, than alwayes an Inconuenience): there hath beene left, for any thing I finde to the contrarie, in all well gouerned policies, a kinde of latitude more or lesse, and power in the Magistrates, euen in those Courts, that were strictissimi iuris, vponupon fit occasion to qualifie and to aSoleo audire in potestate esse iudicis mollire sententiam, & mitiùs vindicare quàm iubeant leges. Augustin. Epist. 158.mitigate something the rigour of the Lawes by the Rules of Equitie. For I know not any extremity of bSummum ius, summa iniuria. Ibid. foreign. Aristot. 5. Ethic. 10.Wrong beyond the extremity of Right: when lawes intended for Fences are made Snares, and are calumniously wrested to oppresse that innocencie which they should protect. And this is most properly cExistunt etiam saepè iniuriae calumniâ quadam, & nimis callidâ, sed malitiosâ iuris interpretatione. Cic. lib. 1. de Offic. Scriptum sequi, calumniatoris esse; boni iudicis, voluntatem scriptoris, authoritatemque defendere. Id pro A. Cecinna.Calumny in the prime notion of the word; for a man vponupon a meere tricke or quillet from the dAucupia verborum, & literarum t…ndiculae. Cic pro A. Cecinna.letters and syllables of the Law, or other writing, or euidence, pressed with aduantage, to bring his action or lay his accusation against another man; who yet bonâ fide, and in Equity and Conscience, hath done nothing worthy to bring him into such trouble. Now if the Magistrate of Iustice shall vse his full power, by interpreting the Law in rigour where he should not, to second the boldnesse of a calumnious Accuser: or if he shall not vse his full power, by affoording his lawful fauour in due time and place, to succour the innocencie of the so accused: hee shall thereby but giuegive encouragement to the Raysers, and hee must looke to answer for it one day, as the Receiuer of a false Report.
Thirdly, since that Iustice which especially supporteth the Common-weale,§. 29. 3. to punish partiality and Collusion in the Informer; consisteth in nothing more, than in the right distribution of rewards and punishments: many Law-giuers hauehave beene carefull, by proposing rewards, to encourage men to giuegive in true and needfull informations, and on the contrary to suppresse those that are false or idle by proposing punishments. For the informers office, though it bee (as wee heard) a necessary, yet it is in truth a very thanklesse office: and men would be loath, without speciall grieuance, to vndergoe the hatred and e…uy, which commonly attendeth such as are officious that way; vnlesse there were some profit mixt withall to sweeten that hatred, & to counteruaile that enuy. For which cause in most Penall Statutes, a moi…y, or a third, or aQuartam accusatoribus secundum necessitudinem legis. Tacit. lib. 4. Annal.fourth (which was the vsuall proportion in Rome, whence the name of bQuadruplatores, accusatores seu delatores criminum Publicorum, sub poena quadrupli: siue quòd ipsi ex damnatorum bonis quos accusauerant, quartam partem consequebantur. Ascon. in Verr. See Fest. in Quadruplatore, Turneb. 3. Aduers. 9. Lips. in lib. 4. Ann. Taciti. Bisciol. 14. subces. 13.quadruplatores came) or some other greater or lesser part of the fi…e, penalty, or forfeiture expressed in the Law, is by the said Law allowed to the Informer, by way of recompence for the seruice hee hath done the State by his information. And if hee bee faithfull and conscionable in his office, good reason hee should hauehave it. For hee that hath an Office in any Lawfull calling (and the Informers calling is such; howsoeuer through the iniquity of those that hauehave vsually exercised it, it hath long laboured of an cQuadruplator, vt breuiter describam, capitalis est. Est enim improbus & pestifer ciuis. Cic. lib. 2. ad Her.ill name:) but hee that hath such an office; as it is meet hee should attend it, so it is meet it should maintaine him: for d1 Cor. 9.7.who goeth to warrefare at any time of his owne cost? But if such an Informer shall endite one man for an offence, pretending it to bee done to the great hurt of the Common-weale, and yet for fauour, feare, or a fee b…lke eaequitas in paribus causis paria iura desiderat. Cic. in Top. Quis hoc statuit, quod aequum sit in Quintium, id iniquum esse in p…tuit▪ Id pro. Quiq.another man whom he knoweth to hauehave committed the same offence, or a greater; or if hauing entred his complaint in the open Court, he shall afterwards let the suite fall, and take vp the matter in a priuate chamber: this is fPraeuaris … satoris corruptela ab reo. Cic. in partit. orat. —Praeuaricatorem …um …sse ostendimus, … colludit cum reo, & translatitie munere accusand desungitur. Mar, in l. 1. ff ad Senatus. Turpil.Collusion; and so farre forth a false report, as eueryevery thing may bee called false when it is partiall, and should be entire. And the Magistrate, if hee hauehave power to chastice such an Informer some semblance whereof there was in that gV. Pli… ▪ Epist. … ▪ l …. ff. … Rosin. 9. Antiqu. Rom. 25.Iudicium▪ Praeuari…tionis in Rome, hee shall doe the Common-wealth good seruice, and himselfe much honour, now and then to vse it.
Fourthly, since nothing is so powerfull to represse audacious Accusers, as seuere Punishment is;§. 30. 4. to allow the wronged party large satisfaction; it is obseruable what care and caution was vsed among the Romanes whilst that State flourished, to deterre men from vniust Calumniations. In priuate and ciuill Controuersies, for triall of right betweene party and party, they had their av. Ascon. in Verrin. 3.sponsiones: which was a summe of money in some proportionable rate to the value of the thing in Question; which the Plaintiffe entred bond to pay to the Defendant in case hee should not be able to proue his Action; the Defendant also making the like sponsion and entring the like bond, in case he should be cast. But in publicke and criminall matters, whether Capitall or Penall, if for want of due proofe on the Accusers part, the party accused were quit in iudgement; there went a triall vponupon the Accuser, at the suite of the Accusee, which they called bv. l. 1. §. 2. &c. ff. ad senatusc. Turpil; Rosin. 9. Antiqu. Rom. 25.Iudicium Calumniae: wherein they examined the originall ground and foundation of the Accusation. Which if it appeared to hauehave proceeded from some iust errour or mistake bona fide, it excused him: but if it should appeare the accusation to hauehave proceeded from some left-handed respect, as Malice, Enuy, Gaine, &c. hee was then condemned of Calumny. And his ordinary punishment then was, whereunto he had virtually bound himselfe by subscribing his libell, Poena talionis, the same kinde of punishment whatsoeuer it was, which by the Lawes had been due to the party accused, if the libell had bin proued against him. Yea and for his farther shame it was prouided by clege Remmiâ. v. l. 1. §. 2. ff. ad senatusc. Turpil; & Gothifred. in annot. ibi; Rosin. 8. Antiqu. Rom. part. 2. cap. 22.one Law, that hee should bee burnt in the forehead with the Letter K. to proclaime him a Calumniator to the world; that, in old Orthography, being the first letter of the word Kalumnia. The same letter would serue, the turne very well with vsus also, though we vse it to signifi… another thing; and yet not so much another thing, as a thing more generall, but comprehending this as one species of it. But as I said, I may not prescribe; especially beyond Law. The thing for which I mention all this, is this: If all that care and seueritie in them, could not preuent it, but that still vniust actions would bee brought, and false acc…sations raised: what a world of vnconscionable suites and wrongfull informations may we thinke there would be; if contentious Plaintiffes and calumnious Sycophants when they hauehave failed their proofe, should yet get off easily; and escape out of the Courts without Censure or Punishment, or at the most but with some light checke? and the poor iniured innocent the while bee held-in as in a prison, till hee hauehave paied the vtmost farthing, I say not of what is due, but of what shall be demanded by eueryevery man that hath but a piece of an office about the Courts. It is a strong hartening to Accusers, and multiplieth false report, beyond beliefe; when they that are wrongfully accused, though the cause goe with them, shall yet hauehave the worst of the day: and shall hauehave cause to answer the congratulations of their friends, as dforeign. Plutarch in Pyrrho.Pyrrhus did his after he had gotten two famous victories ouer the Romanes, that if they should get a few more such victories, it would be to their vtter vndoing. If the Magistrate had power to make the wronged party full restitution, allowing him all costs and damages to a halfe peny; nay if hee had power to allow him double or treble out of his vniust aduersaries estate: it were all little enough, and but too little. Zacheus tooke himselfe bound to doe more: when for this very sinne of false accusation hee imposed vponupon himselfe, as a kinde of satisfactory penance, eLuke 19.8.a fourefold restitution, Luke 19. Here was a right Quadruplator indeed; and in the best sense: you shall not lightly reade of such another.
Lastly, men hauehave not aLucian in Hermot.fenestrata pectora, §. 31. 5. to look well to his owne seruants and officers.that we can see them throughly and within: yet there want not meanes of probable discouery. Of ordinary priuate men we make coniecture, by their gestures, by their speeches, by their companions. But Magistrates and great ones, who liue more in the eye of the world, and are euer as it were vponupon the stage, and so doe personati incedere, walke vnderunder a continuall disguise in respect of their outward deportment; are not so well discouerable by those meanes. They are best knowne by their bSirac. 10.2.seruants and retinue, by their fauourites and officers, by those they keepe about them, or employ vnderunder them. If these bee plaine and downeright, if these bee iust and vpright, if these bee free and conscionable: Sycophants will plucke in their hornes, and be out of heart and hope to finde the Masters of such seruants facill to giuegive way to their false calumniations. But if these bee insolent and hungry companions, if these bee impudent and shamelesse exactors: it is presently cforeign. Isoc. apud Stob. serm. 44. Si innocentes existimari velumus, no… solùm nos abstinentes, sedetiam nostros comites praestare debemus. Cic. 2. in Verr. 2.thought they are then but brokers for the Master; and there is no question then made, but that false reports will bee receiued as fast as they can bee raised, and entertained with both armes. Wee hauehave learned from dPro. 29.12.Salomon, Prou. 29. that if a ruler hearken to lies, then all his seruants are wicked: They durst not be so openly wicked, if they were not first sure of him. It was but a eNemo vnquā tàm reus, tàm nocens adducetur, qui istâ defensione non possit vti. Cic. 2 in Verr. 2.sory one, when it was at best, but is now withall growne a stale excuse; for great ones to impute their owne wilfull ouersights to the fault or negligence of their seruants. Caius Verres, (whom I cannot but now and then mention, because there is scarce to be found such another compleate Exemplar of a wicked Magistrate;) would vsually faiunt eum queri solere nonnunquam, se miserum, quòd non suis, sed suorum comitum peccatis & criminibus praematur. Cic. ibid.complaine, that he was vniustly oppressed, not with his owne, but with the crimes of his followers. But why then did hee keepe such a kennell of sharkes about him? why did he not either speedily reforme them or vtterly discard them? It were indeed an vnrighteous thing to condemne the Master for the seruants fault; and an vncharitable inference, because the seruant is naught, to conclude straight the Master is little better. For a iust Master may hauehave an vnconscionable seruant; and if he hauehave a gin tantâ felicitate nemo potest esse in magnâ familiâ, qui neminem neque servum neque libertum improbum habeat. Cic. pr… Sec. Roscio.numerous Family, and keepe many, it is a rare thing if he hauehave not some bad: as in a great heard there will be some rascall Deene. But then it is but one or a few; and they play their prises closely, without their Masters priuitie; and they are not a little sollicitous to carry matters so fairely outward, that their Master shall be the hDedecus ille domus sciet vltimus. Iuuenal. Satyr. 10.last man shall heare of their false dealing, and when hee heareth of it shall scarce beleeue it for the good opinion he hath of them. But when in the generality they are such, when they are openly & impudently such, when eueryevery body seeth and saieth the Master cannot chuse but know they are such: it cannot bee thought, but the Master is well enough content they should be such. iNehem. 5.15.Euen their seruants bare rule ouer the people, saith good Nehemiah of the Gouernours that were before him: but so did not I, because of the feare of God. Nehem. 5. What? did not Nehemiah beare rule ouer the people? Yes that he did: there is nothing surer. His meaning then must be; so did not I; that is, I did not suffer my seruants so to doe as they did theirs: implying, that, when the seruants of the former gouernours oppressed the people, it was their Masters doing, at leastwise their Masters suffering; [Euen their seruants bare rule ouer the People: but so did not I, because of the feare of God.] The Magistrate therfore that would speedily smoake away these g…ats that swarme about the Courts of Iustice, and wilbe offering at his eare, to buzze false reports therinto: he shall do well to begin his reformation at home; and if hee hauehave a seruant that heareth not well deseruedly, to packe him away out of hand, and to get an honester in his roome. Say he bee of neuer so seruiceable qualities, and vsefull abilities otherwise, so as the Master might almost as well spare his right eye or his right hand, as forgoe his seruice: yet in this case hee must not spare him. Our Sauiours speech is peremptory kMat. 5.29, 30Erue, Abscinde, Projice; if either eye or hand cause or tempt thee to offend, pull out that eye, cut off that hand, cast them both from thee with indignation? rather want both, than suffer corruption in either. Dauids resolution was excellent in Psalme 101. and worthy thy imitation. lPsal. 101.5. &c.Who so priuily slaundereth his neighbour, him will I destroy: who so hath a proud looke, and high stomacke, I will not suffer him. Mine eyes looke to such as be faithfull in the Land, that they may dwell with mee: who so leadeth a godly life hee shall bee my seruant. There shall no deceitfull person dwell in my house: hee that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. Hee that will thus resolue, and thus doe, it may bee presumed hee will not knowingly giuegive either way to a false report, or countenance to the reporter. And so much for our first Rule; Thou shalt not raise a false Report.
§. 32. The summe and Conclusion of all.My first purpose I confesse was to hauehave spoken also to the Witnesse, and to the Iurer, and to the Pleader, and to the Officer from the other foure Rules in my Text, as punctually & particularly as to the Accuser from this first; for I therefore made choyce of a Text that taketh them all in, that I might speake to them all alike. But if I should enlarge my selfe vponupon the rest, as I hauehave done in this; my meditations would swell to the proportion rather of a Treatise, than a Sermon: and what patience were able to sit them out? Therefore I must not doe it. And indeed, if what I hauehave spoken to this first point were duly considered, and conscionably practised; I should the lesse need to doe it. For it is the Accuser that layeth the first stone: the rest doe but build vponupon his foundation. And if there were no false reports raised or receiued: there would be the lesse vse of, and the lesse worke for, false and suborned Witnesses; ignorant, or packt Iuries; crafty and sly Pleaders; cogging and extorting Officers. But vntounto these I hauehave no more to say at this time; but only to desire each of them to lay that portion of my Text to their hearts, which in the first diuision was allotted them as their proper share: and withall to make application (mutatis mutandis) vntounto themselues, of whatsoeuer hath beene presently spoken to the Accuser, and to the Magistrate from this first rule. Whereof, (for the better furtherance of their Application, and reliefe of all our Memories) the summe in briefe, is thus. First concerning the Accuser, (and that is eueryevery party in a cause or tryall,) he must take heed hee doe not raise a false report: which is done, first, by forging a meere vntruth; and secondly, by peruerting or aggrauating a truth; and thirdly, by taking aduantage of strict Law against Equity. Any of which who euer doth; hee first committeth a heynous sinne himselfe, and secondly grieuously wrongeth his neighbour, and thirdly bringeth a great deale of mischiefe to the Common-weale. All which euils are best auoyded: first, by considering how wee would others should deale with vsus, and resoluing so to deale with them, and secondly by auoyding, as all other inducements and occasions, so especially those foure things, which ordinarily engage men in vniust quarrels; Malice, Obsequiousnesse, Couerture, and Greedinesse. Next, concerning the Iudge, or Magistrate; hee must take heed hee doe not receiue a false report. Which he shall hardly auoide, vnlesse he beware, first, of taking priuate informations; secondly, of passing ouer causes slightly without mature disquisition; and thirdly of countenancing Accusers more than is meet. For whose discountenancing and deterring, hee may consider, whether or no these fiue may not be good helpes: so farre as it lyeth in his power, and the Lawes will permit, first, to reiect informations tendred without Oath; secondly, to giuegive such interpretations, as may stand with Equity as well as Law; thirdly, to chastice Informers that vse partiality or collusion; fourthly, to allow the wronged party a liberall satisfaction from his aduersary; fifthly, to carry a sharpe eye, and a straite hand, ouer his owne seruants, followers, and officers. Now what remaineth, but that the seuerall premises earnestly recommended to the godly consideration, and conscionable practice of eueryevery one of you whom they may concerne; and all your persons and affaires both in the present waighty businesses, and euer hereafter, to the good guidance and prouidence of Almighty God: wee should humbly beseech him of his gracious goodnesse to giuegive a blessing to that which hath beene spoken agreeably to his word, that it may bring forth in vsus the fruites of Godlinesse, Charity, and Iustice; to the glory of his grace, the good of our brethren, and the comfort of our owne soules; euen for his blessed Sonnes sake, our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ. To whom with, &c.