Balm from Gilead to Recover Conscience, Part 2
The second Part.
It teacheth you how to order and direct it by these foure markes following: which Ireckon as foure supporters of the throne of Iustice, not altogether vnlike to those foure in Christs throne, so often mētioned in the old and new Testament, which being properties of Angels, are symbolls both of Magistrates and Ministers.
These foure whosoeuer is compounded of, is a man after Gods own heart, and a starre in his right hand. Hee that wants any of them, is but a blazing comet, how high soeuer hee seemes to soare. These will not onelyonly serue for the triall of such as are Candidati, and to bee chosen: but also of such as are inuested and already in place to approoue or reprooue their condition. And for this end and purpose, let vsus vse them this day, as foure waights of the Sanctuary, whereunto whatsoeuer Officer heere present, from the Iudges to the Bayliffes, shall not answer: This Text (as the handwriting on the wall) shall say vntounto him from God; Thou art waighed in the ballance, & found too light, and thine Office (at least ought to be) taken from thee.
The first Character or weight Abilitie.
The first and prime marke is Abilitie (Anishi Chaijl). So our new translation expresseth it well in a comprehensiue word, and so I finde it in Scripture signifying and comprising all the seueralls that belong to facultie or abilitie: whereof I number first three complementall for conveniencie; secondly, three substantiall and of necessitie.
First Chaijl includes strength of body and manhood,Strength. such as inableth …hem for riding, going, sitting, watch…ng, & industrious execution of their …: Such as the scripture commends in Caleb at fourescore and fiue, …nd stories in Vespatian, our Alfred, Hardicanutus, Ironsides, &c.
Which our straight buttoned, carpet and effeminate Gentry,Wealth. wanting, …annot indure to hold out a forenoon … afternoone sitting without a To…acco baite, or a game at Bowles, or …ome such breathing to refresh their bodies and mindes, little acquainted with the tediousnes of wise and serious businesse: Woe to the people (saith Salomon) whose Princes are children and eate in the morning; and blessed are …he people whose Gouernors eate in time and for strength. Eccles. 10.
Secondly, neither is wealth to be excluded: That Diana of the world, which it onelyonly accounts Abilitie, and calls it opes & potentia, which yet is better called value then valour, yet may it concurre to make vp that which our Law terme calls mieulx vailiant; and though at the beame of the Sanctuary money makes not the man, yet it adds some mettall to the man.
And besides there is some vse of these …rappings to the common sort, Ad populum phaleras, which taught Agrippa to come to the Iudgement seat with pompe, state, and attendance like that of our Sheriffs not to be neglected, as that which procures some terror and awe in the people: which Alexander well aduised of, left his Gigantique armour behinde him among the Indians, and vsed more state then at Greece.
Yet remembring that these complements without the substance are but empty gulls and scarbuggs of maiestie,foreign … the Sophistry of gouernment, as one calls them: and as Zachary the Prophet saith, the instruments of a foolish Gouernour. And such as Ieremie derides in Shallum the sonne of Iosia,Ierem, 22. 14. Thinkest thou to rule because of thy large building, Cedar seeling, painted with vermilian, did not thy Father prosper when he did execute iudgment and Iustice? which is indeed the truth & substance, th'other but the flourish.
Thirdly, I exclude not birth and blood,Birth. which many times conveyes spirit & courage with it, Blessed is the Land whose Princes are the sonnes of Nobles. Eccles. 10. 17.Eagles produce Eagles, and Crowes Crauens, yet regeneration & education often corrects this rule: and experience tells vsus, That cottages and ploughs hauehave brought forth as able men for the gowne & sword, as Pallaces and Scepters.Iudg. 6. 19 Gideon came out of the poorest of the familie of Manasse, and he the least in his fathers house, a poore thresher. Dauid was taken from the sheepefold &c. yet both mighty men of valour, and speciall Sauiours of their people: and the wisdome of some of our neighbour Natiōs is much to be commended in this, that if they discerne an excellent spirit & facultie in any man, they respect not his wealth, or birth, or profession, but chuse him into their Magistracie and weighty imployments.
But these three are but of the by and well being,1 Wisdome and experience. the three following of the maine & essentiall to Magistracy, all comprised vnderunder the word Cha…l, as first wisdome and experience, which the Preacher tels vsus is better then strēgth,…ceies. 9. 16. either of body or estate. And of this abilitie Moses expounds this word in his practise, Deutr…. 1. 15. which is a good Commentary vponupon his fathers aduice.
And indeede without this what is a Magistrate,Monstrum cui lumen ademptum. but a blinde Polyphemus, or a monster without an eye. If hee want either skil in the lawes, or obseruation of his owne, must hee not bee tutored by his Clarke, as it often falls out? or shall hee not bee misled by some Counsellor, crossed & contradicted by eueryevery stander by, that shall tell him this you cannot do by Law, or I take it you are besids your book.
The second is strength of mind, to gouerne and manage passion and vnruly affections,2 Moderation of minde, or equanimity which he that weilds at will, is stronger then hee that subdues a city and conquers a Kingdom, to beare and forbeare, and to order the mutinous perturbations of the minde, is that abilitie which the Grecians call foreign.
Very requisite in a Iudge, who must not suffer his affection to disquiet his iudgement and vnderstanding, in rising at the first complaint; nor at any accident or present miscarriage of either party, suddenly occasioned, which is collaterall to the cause, and impertinent to the question, but hee must bee patient and meeke towards their personall weakenesse. Likewise long-minded, to endure the rusticity and homelinesse of common people in giuing euidence after their plaine fashion and faculty, in time, and multitude of words, happily with some absurdities of phraise or gesture, nor impatient towards their foolish affected eloquent termes, nor any thing else whereby the truth of their tale may be ghessed at.
Lastly and principally, I vnderstand with the Geneua translation,Courage or Magnanimity. that fortitude, valour and magnanimity, which we call courage and spirit; typified in Iudah the Law-giuing Tribe, whose emblem or scutchion was the Lyon Couchant, that sits or lies by the prey without feare of rescue, that turnes not his head at the sight of any other creature, Prou. 30. which Salomon symbolized in the steps of his throne adorned with Lyons: The Athenian Iudges by sitting in Mars-street. foreignSome thinke that from this vertue Constantine was termed Reucl. 12. the Churches male or manchild: others apply it to Luther: others to Christ, the true Lyon of Iuda
And though I regard not the Salick Law, because the God of spirits hath often put great spirits into that sex; yet I mislike not Theodorets obseruation vponupon that in Leuiticus, … foreign.where the Ruler for his sin is enioyned to offer an hee goat, the priuate man a sheegoat. The male suits the Ruler best, and the female the ruled.
This ability is so requisite, that it is often put for the onelyonly qualitie, as if this alone would serue, as in Moses charge to Ioshua, and Dauids to Salomon. And experience hath taught, that where this one hath abouuded, though the other hauehave been wanting in some Magistrates: they hauehave done more good seruice to their Country, then many others who hauehave had som tolerable measure of the rest, but hauehave failed onelyonly in this.
Had not the principall posts of an house need to be of hart of oake? are rulers & standarts that regulate othe… measures, to bee made of soft wood or of lead, that will bend and bow… pleasure? doe men chuse a startin… horse to leade the teeme? had no th… neede be of Dauids valour, and San…sons courage… that must take the … out of the Lyons mouth, and rescu… the oppressed from the man that … too mighty for him? had not he nee… to be of some spirit and resolution that must neglect the displeasure and …ownes, reiect the letters and suits o… great men and superiours?
It is incredible to those that kne… it not, what strength great men wil… put to (especially if once interested for the vpholding of a 'rotten Ale… house, countenancing of a disordere… retainer, &c, the resistance whereof … quires it not some spirit? had not th… braine neede to be of a strong constitution, that must dispell and dispers… the fumes ascending from a corrup…liuer, stomacke, or spleene? I mean the clamorous, rumours, and sometimes the flatteries of the vulgar, which often intoxicate able men, and make them as weake as water, yeelding and giuing as Pilate, when hee heard but a buze that he was not Caesars friend, and saw that in dismissing Christ, he should displease the Iewes.
What heroycal spirit had he neede hauehave, that must encounter the Hydra of sinne, oppose the current of times, and the torrent of vice, that must …urne the wheele ouer the wicked; especially such roaring monsters, and rebellious Chora's such lawlesse sons of Belial; wherwith our times swarm, who sticke not to oppose with crest and brest, whosoeuer stand in the way of their humours a…d lusts? Surely, if lethro called for courage in those modest primitiue times, and among a people newly tamed with Aegyptian …okes: what doe our a…dacious and fore-headlesse Swaggerers require? our lees and dregs of time; not vnlike to those wherein God was faine to raise vp extraordinary Iudges, to smi… hip and thigh, &c. What Atlas shall support the state of the ruinous and tottering world, in these perilous ends of time?
For all these fore-named purposes, how vnapt is a man of a soft, timorous, and flexible nature? for whom it is as possible to steere a right course without sweruing to the left hand or right, for feare or fauour, as it is for a cock-boat to keep head against wind and tide, without helpe of oares or sailes: experience euer making this good, that cowards are slaues to their superiours, follow-fooles to their equals, tyrants to their inferiours, and winde-mills to popular breath, not being able to any of these to say so much as no.
Wherfore this text proclames and speakes, as Gedeon in the eares o… all the faint-hearted. Whosoeuer i… fearefull and timorous, let him depart from mount Gilead, and there departed twenty thousand;Iudg. 7. 3. and yet God the second time, out of the remnant, viz. ten thousand, defaulks all the lazie persons, and reduced that huge army to three hundred able persons.
It were excellent for the Cōmon-wealth, if such a substraction might bee made: and the weake-hearted would resigne their roomes to able men. For what hauehave seruile cowards to doe with the sword of the Lord, and Gedeon, with God and the Kings offices.
On the contrary, it sayth to all men of ablity, as the Angell to Gedeon, The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour, goe on in this thy might to saue Israel, &c. What is our office that are Ministers, but as Gods Trumpetters and Drummers to encourage, hearten & put life in those that fight his battles and doe his worke. By the vertue then of this my text, I say to eueryevery good-hearted Magistrate, proceede and goe on from strength to strength.
And if any aske mee, who then is sufficient for these things? or where shall we get this strength, that are but flesh and bloud, and men as others? I answere with Iob,Iob 28. Siluer hath his veine, and gold his mine where it is found, i… … is taken out of the earth, and brasse moulte… out of the stone, but the place of this ability is not to be found in the land of the liuing. Nature saith it is not to be found in me, Wealth and Honor sayes not in me: It is fals ly said of Cato and Fabricius, that the Sun might sooner be stayed or altered in his race then they in the course of Iustice. The stou…est …nd the richest wil yeeld. But Dauid t…lls his sonne Salomon on his death-bed, where hee shall finde it. Th…e O …, is greatnesse and power, … the head of all riches; honor and … hands,… it is in thee to …, &c. This God hath taught Dauid to breake a bow of steele with his hands: It is hee that looseth the coller of Princes, girdeth their loines, & vngirdeth them again, befooles the Counsellor, the Iudge & the spokesman: He it was that made the shooes of Ioseph as strong as brasse, Ieremiah as a wall of brasse, Calch as strong at fourescore and fiue as at forty; if Sampsons haire be off, and God depar…ed from him, he is …s other men, and …he can strengthen him againe without his lockes at his pleasure.
If any man want wisdome or strength, let him pray, and hee can make him wiser then the children of the East, and stronger then the Anakins: wherefore bee strong in the Lord, faint not, be not weary of well-doing, for feare of opposition and crossing: though in rowing this ship, the windes blow, and the seas rage, Christ can straight send and Halcion, and set it on shore.
It is the fault of many Christian Magistrates, euer to be complaining and groning vnderunder the burthen: as if ease and dilicacie were to be sought for in gouernment. What if there be a Lyon in the way? the righteous is bolder then the Lyon: what if thou bee weake? is not God strength? and doth not hee perfect his strength in our weaknesse? what if there be many opposites in the way? true courage is strong as death,Cant. … and will trample all vnderunder feete without resistance.
Yea, but what if an host come against thee, and as Bees encompasse thee? true faith sees more on Gods side then against him, euen guards of Angels, as plainely as men doe the Sheriffs halberts, and doubts not, but in the name of the Lord to vanquish them all.
One concluding place for all, out of a Preachers mouth,Eccles 7. 14. that knew what he said, wisdome strengthens one man more then twenty mighty Potentats that are in a city, he that feareth God shall come foorth of all dangers. Whence by way of passage, note that the next point of the feare of God, is that which giueth life to the fore-going, and to the two following also: and is placed in the text, as the heart in the body, for conueying life to al the parts; or as a dram of muske, perfuming the whole box of oyntment.
Fearing God.
Iethro must be vnderstood not of the poore bastardly slauish feare,The second Character. which depraued nature hath left in all: nor of any s…dden flash of feare wrought by word or workes, such as Foelix, Balshazzar & Caligula were not voyd of, and yet neuer the better Magistrates: But such a filiall feare, as faith and the assurance of Gods louelove and saluation breeds; such as awed Ioseph, Cornelius, Dauid, &c. This is the feare required by Iethro, foreign quae parit foreign, godlines which breedeth an heedfulnesse in all our wayes and actions.
Without this feare of God, what is ability but the Diuels anuile, wheron he forgeth & hammereth mischiefe? what is wisdome but subtilty? what is courage vnsanctified, but iniustice? wherin is such skill in the lawes commonly employed, but in colouring and couering bad causes and persons, & in making the lawes a nose of wax to priuate ends? other men hauehave other bits and restraints, but men in authority, if they feare not God, hauehave nothing else to feare. Wherefore Christ ioynes thē well in the vnrighteous Iudge, that hee feared neither God nor man. If hee be a simple coward, he feares all men, if a man of ability, he feares none at all.
What are the nerues and sinewes of all gouernment, the bondes and cōmands of obedience, but an oath? and what are oaths to prophāe men, but as Sampsons cords, which he… snapt asunder, as fast as they were offered him. The common sort of our people count the oaths that men take when they take offices, no other then formall: so they distinguish them (a strange distinction) from other oaths of contract, and dally with them accordingly.
They discerne God no more in oaths, then Christ in the Sacramēts: and therefore take them, and breake them rashly and regardlesly, which when they hauehave done, the Diuell enters into them, as into Iudas; & runs them headlong into all periurd courses: which makes the land to mourne for the contempt of oathes, and neglect of duties. What is the ground of all fidelity to King & Countrey, but religiō? welfare Constantinus his maxime, He cannot be faithfull to mee, that is vnfaithfull to God. Why then, what are oathes for Athests and Papists, other then collers for monkies neckes, which …lip thē at their pleasure? such neither are nor can be good subiects: muchlesse good Magistrates.foreign. Papists wil keepe no faith with Protestants, let Protestants giuegive no trust to papists though they swear vponupon al the books in the World.Nulla sides haben da papistis …
Finally, what is the principal scope of Magistracy in Gods intention, whose creature and ordinance it is; but to promote his glory, countenancing the Gospell & the Professours of it, safe-gard of the Church and Common-wealth, the first & second table, & principally the two former. Now for all these, cheefly for the cheefest, what cares a Cato or a Gallio, who beares the sword in vaine for God and his ends; who neuer minds any thing but his owne Cabinet, or the ship of the Common-wealth at the best: for the other, sincke they swim they, all is one to him, he tooke no charge, nor will he take notice of them.
Wherefore I conclude, that the feare of God is the principall part, as of my Text, so of a good Magistrate, whom Christ calls a Ruler in Israel, Paul Gods Minister and sword-bearer:Io… 3. Rom. 13. yea, the very forme and soule of such an one: yea, it troubles mee to make it, but a part which Salomon cals the whole of a man,Eccles 12. 13. especially such a man who is sent of God,1 Pet. 2. for the praise of the godly, and the punishment of euill doers. In which respect being the maine of my Text, giuegive me leaue to giuegive you a short character of such a Magistrate, as this quality will make him, where euer it is found in any good latitude.
Hee is one that came into his place by Gods doore, and not by the Diuels window: when he is in, he eyes him that is inuisible, euen God in the assembly of Gods: and therefore sits on the Iudgement seat in as great, though not in so slauish a feare of offending, as Olanes vponupon the flead skin of his father Sylannes, nayled by Cambyses on the Tribunall: or as a Russian Iudge that feares the boiling caldron, or open battocking: or the Turkish Senate, when they think the great Turke to stand behind the Arras, at the dangerous doore.
Who hath alwaies, (as God enioyneth, Deutro. …. 18.) a copy of the law of his God before him, and reads it all the dayes of his life, that he may learne to feare the Lord his God, and to keep the Cōmandement without turning aside, either to the right hand or left.
If at all he be glad of his place, it is not as a chaire of honour, or frame of commodity, nor sword of reueng: but only as a meane of furthering his reckoning, and pleasuring his Countrey. For his oath, he remembers it, and trembles, lest if carlesly he transgresse it, the winged flying booke ouertake him before he get home: if he cut but the skirt or lap of Iustice, his heart smites him with a priuy pinch, till he sets all right againe with God and man. Hee dares not so much as by countenance offend any of Gods little ones, nor afford a good looke to a varlet, nor yet so to respect their persons, …s to wrong their cause, for he knowes all these to be abhomination to his Lord, into whose hands he dreads to fall as knowing him a consuming fire, and one that hath prouided Tophet for Princes. When an vnlawfull suit is commenced by power or by friendship, his heart answers (if not his tongue) with Iob: How shal I doe this, and answer God when hee comes to iudgement.
As for bribes, hee dares not looke on them, lest they blinde his eyes before he beware: such pitch he dares not touch, nor receiue into his bosome, lest it defile him in the open sunne, if tendered in closet or chamber, he feares the timber & stones in the wall would be witnesses against him
When he comes in court, he fixeth his ey…, neither before him on that person, nor about him on the beholders, nor behind him for bribes,Summ…boni Iudicis est ne… respicere, ne que circumspicere. sed su…picere. Ferus in Iob. 5. 30. but vpward on God: generally considering that Christ is Lord Paramont of all courts of iustice, and that now his father hath resigned all iudgement into his hands. Hee stewards all to his content, promotes his profits without wrong to the Tennant. Looks so to the Church, that the Common-weale receiue no detriment: and so to the Common-wealth, as the Church shall surely flourish: so countenancing the seruants of God, that hee wrong not the worst worldling: maintaines piety, and neglects not equity: keepes his house well, but his Church better: in frequenting whereof, he with his family are presidents to all the hundreds where hee dwells: And in a word, doth as much good by his example, as by his authoritie.
This is the godly man, whom the Lord chuseth and guideth, whose praise and reward is of God: which Dauid hauing found true in his life, a little before his death, recordeth to al ages. 1 Sam. 23. 2. 3. 4.The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel spake to me, the strength of Israel sayd, thou shalt beare rule ouer men, being iust, and ruling in the feare of God. Euen as the morning light when the sunne riseth, the morning, I say, without clowds, so shall mine house be, and not as the grasse of the earth is by the bright raine. For God hath made with mee an euerlasting couenant, perfect in all poynts and sure.
Let the Diuell & the world storm and burst with enuy, one of these is worth a thousand of the common sort, though men will see no difference, but say; Are not all honest and sufficient men? Let men talke of their quiet and peaceable neighbours, and good house-keepers, good Common-wealths men: though these be good things, yet if religion com not in, as a number to make them of some value, they are but all as cyphers in Gods account
Now if God thinke so meanely of these, who are either meere ciuil and politique men, or idle pleasurable Gentlemen, what reckoning doe we thinke hee makes of such prophane vncircumcised vice-gods (as I may in the worst-sense best terme them) that sell themselues to work wickednesse? that giuegive themselues to all good fellowship (as they call it) and to all excesse of riot (as the Apostle calls it) and that hate to be reformed: such I meane as hold religion a disparagement to Gentry, and feare nothing more, then to hauehave a name that they feare God, who thinke when they hauehave gotten an office, they may swear by authority, oppresse by licence, drinke and swill without controll.
What shall I say of such? are these Gods, and children of the most high, or the charracters of his most holy Image? Diuels are they rather, then Deputies for him, Imps of his Kingdome, farre better becomming an Ale-bench, then a Shire-bench, and the barre, then … Iudgement seat.
But what shall I say to such mock-god-like Esau's… shall I take vp the words of Moses: if thou wilt not feare this glorious name, The Lord thy God, I will make thy plagues wonderfull, and of great continuance: Or those of Dauid, which perhaps will fit them better and these times of imminent changes, They know not, and vnderstand nothing, they walke in darknes, albeit the foundations of the earth be mooued: I hauehave sayd ye are Gods, but yee shall die like men, and fall like others. Or wil they suffer the Prophets exhortation,Isa. 52. 8. 12. 13. who art thou that dreadest a mortall man, whose breath is in his nostrils, whom the moth shall eat like a garment, and the worme like wooll: And forgettest thy maker, that hath spred the heauens, laid the foundations of the earth, that giueth the first and latter raine, that hath set the bounds to the sea,Ier. 5. 22. 24 &c. Or will they heare Salomons end of all? Feare God, that will bring eueryevery secret to iudgement: or a greater yet then Salomon, Feare him that is able when he hath killed the body, to destroy the soule also in hell fire for euermore.
Well, the Lord cause them to heare, that hath planted the eare: and plant his feare in their hearts where it is not, increase it where it is, that there may bee more holy Magistrates, and that the holy may yet be more holy. And then we hope the other two properties following will more abound, and we shall spend the lesse time and labour about them: For men fearing God truely, will be also
Men of truth.
Without which,The third Character shew of religion is but lying vanity: a glorious profession, but plaine hypocrisie: And courage, if it bee not for the truth and in the truth, is but either Thrasonicall audacity, or wicked impudency. And therefore this character added to the former, ioynes those which are in the forme of Iurates, and ought to bee in all Offices, good men and true.
This stile, men of truth, admits two interpretations, both compatible with the text and theme. A man of truth is either a true Israelite, a true Nathaniel voyd of guile, as truth is opposed to hypocrisie,foreign. or else a louer of the truth, as truth is opposed vntounto falshood. One that in particular cases, suites, & controuersies betweene man & man, counts it his honour to sift out the truth, maintaine the truth, stick to it, not suffering himselfe to be misinformed by Tale bearers, Prompters and Sycophants: nor misled and peruerted by the false pleading and colouring of consciencelesse Counsellors: But brings iudgement to the ballance and rule of righteousnesse, & delights (as the hound doth naturally in senting out the hare) to search and trace out the truth, out of all the thickets and dens of iuggling & conueyance, labouring as much to boult it out by examination in Hypothesi, as the philosophers by disputations in Thes…: being of his temper that worthily sayd, Plato is my friend, Socrates my friend, but the truth is my dearest friend. Or like Iob, Iob 29. 26who couered himselfe with Iustice▪ & to whom Iudgement was as a robe & crowne, who when he knew not the cause, sought it out diligently.
And for this purpose, a man of truth keeps men of truth about him: and with Dauid, Psal 101. 7.abandons all lyers out of his houshold: whereas of a Prince that harkneth to lies, all his seruants are Liers. And of such Iustice, which is in truth and for truth, I say (as of old it was sayd) neither the euening nor the morning star equalls it in brightnesse.…
But withall, I must complaine as o… old, that truth is fallen in the streets, and vtterly perished from among men,Isa 54. 4. Iudgement failes and stands a farre off, equity enters not. The cō mon trade of the times, being to weaue hes in all cases, esepecially against the true seruants of God. And the common weaknesse of the times, to receiue the slāders which are broa…hed and bruited by tongues set on fire from hell: so that he that refraines from cunning, makes himselfe a prey, the Latin whereof was all that Lewis the eleuenth would hauehave his sonne to learne:Qui nescit dissimulare nescit …i…ere. and is al… the policy that most …udy and practise: Insomuch that the common by words are, that when men sweare by faith and truth, they swea…e by Idols that are not, names they are and notions, things they are not, nor substances: Iewels they are but such as vse them 'die beggers: honourable Ladies and Mestresses they are, but such as follow them close at the heeles, may hauehave their teeth dashed out of their heads.
Well, let deceiuers thus deceiue themselues, let cunning heads and glozing tōgues make as much as they wil of Tiberius his Art, or the Diuels rather, the father of the Art, of dissimulation. In the end they shall proue it to bee most pernicious to the Students and Masters of it. Let the children of truth iustifie their mother, which hath the reward of honour in her right hand, and of wealth in the left. And if it should be attended with hatred and crosses for a time, yet hee that is Amen, the true witnesse, yea truth it selfe, will reward them in th… end: when he shall shut out with the dogs, all such as louelove and make lies; with whose exhortation I close vp this lincke, and knit with the following, Buy the truth and sell it not, which hee that meanes to doe must be
A true hater of couetousnesse,
The fourth Character. Prou. 17. 4Else will Salomans seuerall prouerbs meet in him. The wicked giues heed… to the false lip, & the lier to a naughty tongue. He taketh the gift out of the bosome to wrest iudgement.Acceptatio …uneris est pr…aricatio veritatis. Acceptation of gifts proue commonly preuaricatiō to the truth. It is impossible to be a champion to Truth, & a slaue to Mammon: but hee must louelove the one and hate the other. It is best therfore to hate the worst, yea the worst of al vices incident to magistracy: the root of all euil, which if it be not rootod out of the Magistrates heart, it alone will poyson all the three former qualities required in him. Neither strength, nor religion, nor louelove of the truth, shall bee able to preserue him from enchauntments of couetousnes.
Which being an inordinate louelove of money,foreign. an euill concupiscence of hauing more then God hath alotted, or a lawfull course affoordeth: is such a kinde of Idolatry, as transformeth the worshippers of this golden calfe into Idolls themselues,Ex…d 27. making them to hauehave eyes that see not, eares that heare not: only leauing them hands to handle that which peruerteth the eyes of the wise.Deut. …6 19. It bores out their eyes, and maketh them as blind as euer was Sampson and Zede…iah.
Eyes you know are tender things, and small motes annoy them, euen handfulls of barley and morsels of bread make such men to transgresse:Ezek… 3 8. And a drams waight iniected, encline the golden scales of Iustice to win… side they please.
There is such a strange bewitching power in Bul…ams deceiptfull wages, that he that will admit them for Iustice,… shall soone take them for iniustice, if the right hand be full of bribs the left hād must be full of mischiefe. The Diuell as well as the Briber laieth his hookes in this sharp, whereof he that is greedy, & will needs be rich, falleth into his snare, and many other …oysome lusts,1 Tim. 6. which sinck men into perdition, peirceth their soules with sorrow, their names with reproach … cause them to swerue from the truth▪ and make shipwracke of a good conscience: Eue… the most precious things are vile and cheap in his eyes: to whom money is deare, he will not sticke with Ahab to sell euen himselfe to worke wickednesse for the compassing of that his soule loueth and longeth after.
But thou oh man of God flie these things, and hate couetousnes with a perfect harred. Hate … as Ammon did Thamar, first thrust it out of thy hart, and shut & locke the doore after it. Secondly,Heb. 13. 5. let thy behauiour and conuersation be auerse and strange from the louelove of money.foreign. Let all sordid and ff…hy…u…re he abhominable: all ill gotten goods exeerable▪ let them stincke in thy nostrils, as ill as Vespatians tribute of vrine.
Shake thy lap of bribes with Nehe… miah Consider as Bernard … Eugenius, Trees vt de sub … cres… ai… neq… qum, sed vt ipsi de …e.How the …eople may grow rich vnderunder thee, & not thou by them. Remēber the end of B…b…ms wages, and of Iudas his bag. And wish with Damianus rather to hauehave Gehazies lepry, then his curse intailed to thee and thy posterity, & inheritance after thee: fretting thine estate as a canker and moth, consuming your flesh as fire, and crying in the eares of the Lord of hosts for vengeance.
But what doe I making my selfe ridiculous to this olde doting couetous age of the world: this thame only made the Pharisies laugh at Christ his w…es, because they were couetous: And so doe they serue all our cauears against couetousnesse, applauding themselues and laughing in their sleeues, when they behold their bag… in the chest, and their lands from of their Turrets, saying to themselues, What is a man but his wealth? What is an office but the fees?
There is a text in Esay, Esay. 33. 14.that if Paul had the preaching of it, hee would make eueryevery groping and griping Falix to tremble, I meane such as the Scripture termeth roring Lyons, ranging Beares, Horse-leeches, Wolues, deuouring all in the euening, and leauing none till the morning: as well Iudges that iudge for reward, and say with shame, Bring you; such as the Country calls Capon-Iustices: as also such mercenary Lawyers, as sell both their tongues and their silence, their clients causes and their owne consciences: who only keep life in the law, so long as there is money in the purse; & when this golden streame ceaseth, the mill stands still, and the case is altred: such extorting Officers of Iustice, as inuent pullies and winches for extraordinary fees, to the miserable vndoing of poore suitors: such false periurd Sheriffs, Stewards of liberties and their Deputies, as for money falsifie their charges: such corrupted Iurates and witnesses of the post, which are as hammers and swords, and sharpe arrowes in their bretherens hearts: such cheese-bayliffs and lamb-bayliffs, as vex the poore Countrey-men with vn…ist summons to the Assises & Sessions, with the rest of that Rabble.
These Muck-wormes of the world, which like the Gentles breede of p… trefaction, & Beetles fed in the dung, relishing nothing else but earthly things: thinke there is no other godlinesse but gaine, no happines but to scrape and gather, to hauehave and to hold. Let such consult shame to their houses: let such make their offices as easting nets for all fish that come: till they get the Diuell and all: Let them heape vp treasures of wickednesse & treasures of wrath withall.
But where there is any feare of God and louelove of the truth, let Iohns counsell preuaile with them, to bee content with their due wages: Let Paul perswade them, that godlinesse is ga…e with contentation: Salomon, that Gods blessing maketh rich, and adds no sorrow therewith: So shall they follow …ethro's aduice the better, and proue compleat Magistrates & Officers: Men of courage, men of religion, men of truth, hating couetousnesse,
These are the foure Cardinall vertues of Magistrates, of which if all were compounded; and were as ominent for them as for their place: and did (as the great Dictator of reason speakes in his Politicks) as far exceede the vulgar sort in those heroycall vertues, as the statues of the gods, the statues of men: then would people become voluntary subiects, put the scepters into their hands, and the law of commanding and obeying become easie, things thought irreparable would easily be reformed.