Thirty-Six Sermons, Collection of sermons 1 · Group of sermons 2 · Sermon 1

Thirty-Six Sermons · Collection of sermons 1 · Group of sermons 2 · Sermon 1

p. 97The First Sermon.

At a Publick Sessions at Grantham, Lincoln, Iune the 11th. 1623.

JOB. XXIX. ver. 14, 15, 16, 17.

14.

I put on righteousness, and it cloathed me: my judgment was a Robe and Diadem.

15.

I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

16.

I was a Father to the poor; and the cause which I knew not, I searched out.

17.

And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

WHere silence against foul and false imputations may be interpreted1. a aaSi, cùm mihi furta, largitiones—objiciuntur, ego respondere soleo meis—non tam sum existimandus de rebus gestis gloriari, quàm de objectis non confiteri. Cic. pro domo sua.Confession; there the Protestation of a mans own innocency as ever just, and sometimes bbMihi de memetipso tam multa dicendi necessitas quaedam imposita est ab illo. Cic. pro Syll.necessary. When others do us open wrong, it is not now Vanity, but Charity, to do our selves open right: and whatsoever appearance of folly or vain boasting there is in so doing; they are chargeable with all that compel us thereunto, and not we. (I am become a fool in glorying; but ye have compelled me, 2 Cor. 12. 11.) It was neither pride nor passion in Iob, but such a compulsion as this, that made him so often in this Book proclaim his own righteousness. Amongst whose many and grievous afflictions, as it is hard to say which was the greatest; so we are sure this was not the least, that he was to wrestle with the unjust and p. 96bitter upbraidings of unreasonable and incompassionate men. They came to visit him as friends; and as friends they should have comforted him. But sorry friends they were, and ccJob 16. 2.Job 16:2miserable comforters: indeed not comforters, but tormenters; and accusers rather than friends. Seeing Gods hand heavy upon him; for want of better or other proof, they charge him with Hypocrisie. And because they would not seem to deal all in generalities (for against this general accusation of hypocrisie, it was sufficient for him as generally to plead the truth and uprightness of his heart;) they therefore go on more particularly, (but as falsly) and as it were by way of instance, to charge him with Oppression. Thus Eliphaz by name taxeth him: Chap. 22. 6, &c. Thou hast taken a pledge from thy Brother for naught; and hast stripped the naked of their cloathing. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast witholden bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the Earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. Thou hast sent Widows away empty, and the Arms of the Fatherless hast thou broken.

Being thus shamefully, indeed shamelessly, upbraided to his face, without2. any desert of his, by those men, ddEtsi ego dignus hac contumelia, at tu indignus qui faceres tamen. Teren.who (if he had deserved it) should least of all have done it, his eePsal. 55 12▪ ▪ 14.Ps 55:12Ps 55:14neighbours and familiar friends; can you blame the good man, if to remove such false aspersions, he do with more than ordinary freedom insist upon his own integrity in this behalf? And that he doth in this Chapter something largely; wherein he declareth how he demeaned himself in the time of his prosperity in the administration of his Magistracy, far otherwise than was laid to his charge. [When the Ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cryed, and the Fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widows heart to sing for joy.] in the next immediate verses before these. And then he goeth on in the words of my Text, I put on righteousness, &c.

It seemeth Iob was a good man, as well as a great: and being good, he3. was by so much the better, by how much he was the greater. Nor was he ony Bonus vir, a good man; and yet if but so, his friends had done him much wrong to make him an Hypocrite: but he was Bonus Civis too, a good Common-wealths man; and therefore his friends did him yet more wrong to make him an Oppressor. Indeed he was neither the one, nor the other. But it is not so useful for us to know what manner of man Iob was, as to learn from him what manner of men we should be. The grieved Spirit of Iob indeed at first, uttered these words for his own Iustification: but the blessed Spirit of God hath since written them for our instruction. To teach us from Iob's example how to use that measure of greatness and power which he hath given us, be it more, be it less, to his glory, and the common good. So that in these words we have to consider, as laid down unto us under the person, and from the example of Iob, some of the main and principal duties which concern all those that live in any degree of Eminency or Authority, either in Church or Common-wealth; and more especially those that are in the Magistracy, or in any office appertaining to Iustice.

And those Duties are four. One, and the first, as a more transcendent 4.and fundamental duty: the other three, as accessary helps thereto, or subordinate parts thereof. The first is, a Care and Love, and Zeal of Iustice. 1.A good Magistrate should so make account of the administration of Iustice, as of his chiefest business; making it his greatest glory and delight, Ver. 14. p. 97[I put on righteousness, and it cloathed me: my judgment was a robe and a diadem.] The second is a forwardness unto the works of Mercy, and Charity, 2.and Compassion. A good Magistrate should have compassion of those that stand in need of his help, and be helpful unto them, ver. 15. and part of 16. [I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame, I was a father to the poor.] The third is Diligence in Examination. A good Magistrate3. should not be hasty to credit the first tale, or be carried away with light Informations: but he should hear, and examine, and scan and sift matters as narrowly as may be for the finding out of the truth, in the remainder of ver. 16. [And the cause which I knew not, I searched out.] The4. Fourth is Courage and Resolution in executing. A good Magistrate, when he goeth upon sure grounds, should not fear the faces of men, be they never so mighty or many; but without respect of persons execute that which is equal and right even upon the greatest Offender, Ver. 17. [And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth:] Of these four in their order: of the first first; in these words, I put on righteousness, &c.

This Metaphor of cloathing is much used in the Scriptures in this notion5. as it is applyed to the soul, and things appertaining to the soul. In Psalm 109. David useth this imprecation against his enemies; [ffPsal. 109. 29.Ps 109:29 Let mine adversaries be cloathed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a Cloak.] And the Prophet Esay speaking of Christ and his Kingdom, and the righteousness thereof, Chap. 11. thus describeth it, [ggEsay 11. 5.Isa 11:5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.] Likewise in the New Testament, Saint Paul in one place biddeth us hhRom. 13. 14.Rom 13:14put on the Lord Iesus Christ: in another exhorteth women to ii1 Tim. 2. 9, 10.1 Tim 2:91 Tim 2:10adorn themselves, instead of broidered hair, and gold, and pearls, and costly aray, with shamefac'dness and sobriety, and (as becoming women professing godliness) with good works: in a third, furnisheth the spiritual Souldier with kkEph. 6. 14, &c.Eph 6:14Shooes, Girdle, Breastplate, Helmet, and all necessary accoutrements from top to toe. In all which, and other places where the like Metaphor is used; it is ever to be understood with allusion to one of the three special ends and uses of Apparel. For we cloath our selves, either1. first, for necessity, and common decency, to cover our nakedness; or secondly, 2.for security, and defence against enemies; or thirdly, for state and solemnity, 3.and for distinction of Offices and Degrees. Our Cloaks, and Coats, and ordinary suits, we all wear to cover our nakedness: and these are Indumenta, known by no other, but by the general name of Cloathing or Apparel. Souldiers in the wars wear Morions, and Cuiraces, and Targets, and other habiliments for defence: and these are called Arma, Arms or Armour. Kings and Princes wear Crowns and Diadems; inferiour Nobles, and Judges, and Magistrates, and Officers, their Robes, and Furrs, and Hoods, and other Ornaments fitting to their several Degrees and Offices, for solemnity of state, and as ensigns or marks of those places and stations wherein God hath set them: and these are Infulae, Ornaments or Robes. It is true; Iustice, and Iudgment, and every other good vertue and grace is all this unto the soul; serving her both for covert, and for protection, and for ornament: and so stand both for the garments, and for the Armour, and for the Robes of the soul. But here I take it, Iob alludeth especially to the third use. The propriety of the very words themselves give it so: for he saith he put righteousness and judgment upon him as a Robe and a Diadem; and such things as there are worn, not for necessity, but state. Iob was certainly a Magistrate, a Iudge at the least; It is evident from the seventh Verse, p. 96duplicate page p. 97duplicate page p. 98and to me it seemeth not improbable that he was a llNon dubito quin Iob fuerit Rex. Didac. Stan▪ in Job. 2. 3.Job 2:3King; though not like such as the Kings of the earth now are (whose dominions are wider, and power more absolute,) yet possible such as in those ancient times, and in those Eastern parts of the World were called Kings, viz. a kind of petty Monarch, and supreme Governour within his own Territories, though perhaps but of one single City with the Suburbs, and some few neighbouring Villages. In the first Chapter it is said that he was mmJob 1. 3.Job 1:3the greatest man of all the East: and in this Chapter he saith of himself, that nnJob 29. 9.Job 29:9When he came in presence, the Princes and the Nobles held their tongues: and that ooIbid. ver. 25.He sate as chief, and dwelt as a King in the Army, and in this verse he speaketh as one that wore a Diadem, or Ornament ppforeign, Suid. in foreign.proper to Kings. Now Kings, we know, and other Magistrates, place much of their outward glory and state in their Diadems, and Robes, and peculiar Vestments: these things striking a kind of qqCultus magnificus addit hominibus authoritatem. Quintil. 8. Inst. foreign. Hom. foreign. Odyss.reverence into the Subjects towards their Superiour; and adding in the estimation of the people, both glory and honour, and Majesty to the person, and withal pomp and state, and solemnity to the actions of the wearer. By this speech then of putting on Iustice and Iudgment as a Robe and Diadem, Iob sheweth that the glory and pride which Kings and Potentates are wont to take in their Crowns, and Scepters, and Royal Vestments, is not more, than the glory and honour which he19. Hoc Priami gestamen erat, cùm jura vocatis More dabat populis. Virgil. Aen. 7. See Franc. Pollet. 3. Hist. fori. Rom. 6.Rom 6 placed in doing justice and judgment. He thought that was true honour, not which reflected from these empty marks and ensigns of Dignity, but which sprang from those vertues, whereof these are but dumb remembrances. If we desire yet more light into the Metaphor, we may borrow some from David, rrPsal. 109. 16, 17.Ps 109:16Ps 109:17Psal. 109. where speaking of the wicked, he saith ver. 17. that he cloathed himself with cursing like a garment: and by that he meaneth no other than what he had spoken in the next verse before, plainly and without a Metaphor, His delight was in Cursing. By the Analogy of which place we may not unfitly understand these words of Iob, as intimating the great love he had unto Iustice, and the great pleasure and ssIt is joy to the just to do judgment, Prov. 21. 15.Prov 21:15delight he took therein. Joyn this to the former; and they give us a full meaning. Never ambitious usurper took more pride in his new gotten Crown or Scepter, never proud Minion took more pleasure in her new and gorgeous Apparel, than Iob did true ttIuris & aequitatis quae virum principem ornant, studiosissimus eram. Vatabl. hic.glory and delight in doing Justice and Judgment. He put on Righteousness, and it cloathed him; and Iudgment was to him what to others a Robe and a Diadem is: honourable and delightful.

Here then the Magistrate and every Officer of Justice may learn his first 6.principle, and (if I may so speak) his Master-Duty, (and let that be the first Observation:) namely, to do Iustice and Iudgment with delight, and zeal, and cheerfulness. I call it his Master-duty; because where this is once rightly and soundly rooted in the Conscience, the rest will come on easily and of themselves. This must be his primum, and his ultimum; the foremost of his desires, and the utmost of his endeavours, to do Justice and Judgment. He must make it his chiefest business; and yet count it his lightsom Recreation: and make it the first and lowest step of his care; and yet withal count it the last and highest rise of his honour. The first thing we do in the morning before we either eat or drink, or buckle about any worldly business, is to put our clothes about us: we say, we are not ready till we have done that. Even thus should every good Magistrate do: before his private, he should think of the publick Affairs; and not count himself ready to go about his own profits, his shop, his ship, his lands, his reckonings, much less about his vain Pleasures, his jades, his currs, p. 99his kites, his any thing else, till first with Iob, he had put on righteousness as a garment, and clothed himself with judgment as with a Robe and a Diadem.

Nor let any man think his affection to justice to have been singular in7. Iob: much less impute it to simplicity in him. For behold another like affectioned; and he a greater, and I may say too a wiser than Iob, for God himself hath witnessed of him, that for tt3 Kings 3. 12.wisdom there was never his like before him, nor should come after him, Solomon the King. Who so much manifested his love and affection to justice and judgment, that when God put him to his choice to ask what he would, and he should have it; he asked uu3 Kings 3. 5-11.not long life, or riches, or victory, or any other thing, but only Wisdom; and that in this kind, Prudentiam regitivam, Wisdom xxIbid. ver. 9. to discern judgment, ver. 11.to discern between good and bad, that he might go in and out before the people with skill, and rule them prudently with all his might in righteousness and equity: And the Text saith, yyIbid ver▪ 10.The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. Magistrates should subscribe to Solomon's judgment, who is wiser than the wisest of them: and yet for farther conviction, behold a wiser than Solomon is here, even Iesus Christ the righteous, the God of Solomon, and the Saviour of Solomon, zzCol. 2. 3.Col 2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Of whom David having said in Psal. 45. that the Scepter of his kingdom is a righteous Scepter, he proceedeth immediately to shew, wherein especially consisted the righteousness of the Scepter of his Kingdom: Not so much in doing righteousness, and punishing iniquity, (though that also,) as in loving righteousness, and hating iniquity. [aaPsal. 45. 6, 7.Ps 45:6Ps 45:7 The Scepter of thy Kingdom is a righteous Scepter: thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, &c.] and you heard already out of the Eleventh of Esay, that bbEsay 11. 5.Isa 11:5righteousness was the girdle of his loyns, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Magistrates from the examples of Iob, of Solomon, of Iesus Christ himself, should learn to make justice and judgment their greatest both glory and delight.

To bad things Examples will draw us on fast enough; without, yea,8. many times against Reason: but in good things, it is well if Examples, and Reasons together, can any thing at all prevail with us. And here if Reason may rule us; surely good Reason there is we should be thus affectioned to justice, as hath been said: whether we respect the thing it self, or God, or our selves or others. The thing it self, Iustice both in the common1. consideration of it, as it is a vertue, is, as every other vertue is, honourable and lovely, and to be desired for its own sake: and in the special nature of it, as it is Justice, is a vertue so necessary and profitable to humane society, and withal so ccforeign. Aristot. Et…. Nicom. 3. ex Theogn.comprehensive of all other vertues, as that those men who labour to pervert it do yet honour it, and even those men ddforeign. Philop. in Prior. Arist.who themselves will not use it, cannot yet but love it, at leastwise commend it in others. Iudgment, Mercy and Faithfulness our Saviour Christ reckoneth as the eeMatt. 23. 23.Matt 23:23weightiest matters of the Law, Matt. 23. And ffProv. 24. 26.Prov 24:26every man (saith Solomon, Prov. 24.) will kiss his lips that giveth a right answer: that is, Every man will love and honour him that loveth and honoureth Iustice. Ought you to delight in any thing more than Vertue; or in any Vertue more than the best? and such is Iustice. Again, by due administration of Iustice and judgment God is much glorified. Glorified in the encouragement of2. his servants; when for well-doing they are rewarded: glorified in the destruction of the wicked, when for offending they are punished: glorified in the encrease, and in the Peace and Prosperity of his Kingdom, p. 100which hereby is both preserved and enlarged: glorified in the expression and imitation of his infinite perfections, when they who are his Ministers and Deputies for this very thing, for the execution of Iustice, do labour to resemble him, whose Ministers and Deputies they are, in this very thing, in being just, even as he is just. Ought you not to count it your greatest glory to seek His? And can you do that more readily and effectually, than3. by doing justice and judgment? And as for our selves; What ggQuid est suavius quam bene rem gerere beno publico? Plaut. in Capt. 3. 2.comfort will it be to our Souls, when they can witness with us that we have even set our selves to do good, in those Callings wherein God hath set us? Every man that hath a Calling, must hhRom. 12. 7.Rom 12:7wait thereon, and do the duties belonging thereto, at his peril: and it will be much for his ease to be lightsom and cheerful therein. So shall he make of a iiFaxis ut libea… quod est necesse.Necessity a Vertue; and do that with pleasure, which he must do howsoever, or answer for the neglect:Auson. in Sent. Periand. whereas otherwise, his Calling will be a continual burden and weariness unto him, and make his whole life no better nor other than a long and lasting affliction. And besides, we much deceive our selves, if we think our own private good to be severed from the publick; and so neglect the publick Employments to follow our own private affairs. For the private is not distinguish'd from the publick; but kkforeign. Xenoph. de venatione, apud Stobaeum.included in it: and no man knoweth what mischiefs unaware… he prepareth for his private estate in the end; whilst thinking to provide well enough for himself, he cherisheth in the mean time, or suffereth abuses in the publick. Ought we not by making justice and judgment our glory and delight, to reap the comfort of it in our Consciences, to llQuapropter edulcorare convenit vitam. Cn. Marius in Mimiambis. apud A. Gell. 15. 25.sweeten the miseries and travails of our Lives and Callings, and to secure our private in the common safety: rather than by or not doing justice, or doing it heavily and heartlesly, wound our own Consciences, make the Afflictions of this life yet more afflictive, and in the decay of the publick, insensibly promote the ruine of our private state and prosperity? And lastly, if we respect others; what can be more glorious for us, than by our zeal and forwardness, first to shame, and then to quicken up the backwardness of others; that with joynt-hearts and hands they and we together may aim at the4. peace and prosperity, and good of the Commonwealth? It is not easie to say what manifold benefits redound to the Commonwealth from the due execution of Iustice: or from the slacking thereof, what a world of mischiefs! How honourable are we and glorious, if by our zeal we have been the happy instruments of those so many, so great benefits? How inglorious and vile, if by our negligence we have made our selves guilty of these so many, so great mischiefs! if we neglect justice, we countenance disorders, which by Justice are repressed; we disarm innocency, which by Justice is protected; we banish Peace, which by Justice is maintained; we are Traitors to the King and his Throne, which by Justice are mmProv. 16. 12.Prov 16:12Established; we pull upon us Gods Plagues and Iudgments, which by Justice are averted. Ought we not much rather by our forwardness in doing Justice to repress disorders, protect innocency, maintain peace, secure the King and State, and turn away Gods judgments from our selves and others? See now if we have not reason to love Justice and Judgment, and to make it our delight; to put Righteousness upon us, and to cloath us with judgment as with a Robe and a Diadem: being a thing in it self so excellent; and being from it there redoundeth so much glory to God, to our selves so much comfort, and so much benefit unto others. The Inferences of use from this first Duty, as also from the rest, I omit for the present: reserving them all to the latter end: partly, because I would handle them all together; partly also, and especially, for that I desire to leave them fresh in your memory, when you p. 101depart the Congregation. And therefore without farther adoe, I proceed forth with to the next duty, contained in these words, [I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; I was a father to the poor.]

Wherein Iob declareth his own readiness in his Place and Calling to be9. helpful to those that were any way distressed, or stood in need of him, by affording them such supply to his power, as their several necessities required. And like him should every Magistrate be in this also; which I propose as the second Duty of the good Magistrate: he must be forward to nnforeign. Sophocl.succour those that are distressed and oppressed; and to help and relieve them to his power. Mens necessities are many, and of great variety: but most of them spring from one of these two defects, ignorance, or want of skill; and impotence, or want of power: here signified by Blindness, and Lameness. The blind man perhaps hath his limbs and strength to walk in the way, if he could see it: but because he wanteth his Eyes, he can neither find the right way, nor spy the rubs that are in it; and therefore he must either sit still, or put himself upon the necessity of a double hazard, of stumbling, and of going wrong. The lame man perhaps hath his Eyes and sight perfect, and knoweth which way he should go, and seeth it well enough; but because he wanteth his limbs, he is not able to stir a foot forward; and therefore he must have patience perforce, and be content to sit still, because he cannot go withal. Both the one and the other may perish, unless some good body help them: and become a Guide to the blind, a Staff to the lame; leading the one, and supporting the other. Abroad in the World there are many; in every Society, Corporation, and Congregation, there are some of both sorts: some Blind, some Lame. Some that stand in need of Counsel, and Advice, and Direction; as the Blind: others that stand in need of Help, and assistance, and support; as the Lame. If there be any other besides these, whose case deserveth pity, in what kind soever it be; the word Poor comprehendeth him, and maketh him a fit object for the care and compassion of the Magistrate. To each of these the Magistrate must be a succourer to his power. He must be, as here Iob was, an Eye to the blind, ooLyran. hic.ignorantem dirigendo; by giving sound and honest counsel the best he can to them that are simple, or might without his help be easily overseen. And he must be, as here Iob was, feet to the lame, impotentem adjuvando; by giving countenance and assistance in just and honest Causes the best he can to them that are of meaner ability or might without his help be easily overborn. If there be either of these, or any other defect, which standeth in need of a supply in any other man; he must be, as here Iob was, a ppSee Syrac. 4. 10.Father to the poor, indigentem sublevando; 10.by giving convenient safety and protection the best he can to them that are destitute of help, and fly unto him as to a Sanctuary for shelter and for refuge in any misery, grievance, or distress. Upon these he must both have compassion inwardly, and he must shew it too outwardly; Affectu, and Effectu; pitying them in his heart, and helping them with his hand. It is not enough for him to see the Blind, and the Lame, and the Poor, and to be sorry for them: but his compassion must be real. He must lend his Eyes to the Blind to direct them; and he must lend his feet to the Lame to support them; and he must pity the Poor as a father doth his children, so pity them, that he do something for them.

Princes, and Iudges, and Magistrates were not qqNon mihi sed populo. Ae. Adrianus Imp.—foreign. Arist. in Epist. ad Alex.ordained altogether, nor yet so much for their own sakes, that they might have over whom to bear rule and to rrIta magnae vires gloriae decorique sunt, si illis salutaris potentia est. Nam pestifera vis est, valere ad noc…ndum. Seneca 1. de clem. 3.domineer at pleasure; as for the peoples sakes, that the people might have to whom to resort, and upon whom to depend for help and succour, p. 102and relief in their necessities. And they ought to remember, that for this end God hath endued them with that power which others want; that they might by their power help them to right, who have not power to right themselves. [ssSenec. in Medea, 2. 2. Hoc reges habent magnificum & ingens, &c. Prodesse miseris, supplices fido lare protegere, &c.] This is the very thing wherein the Preheminence of Princes, and Magistrates, and great ones, above the ordinary sort singularly consisteth, and wherein specially they have the advantage, and whereby they hold the title of ttPsal. 82. 6. Hoc tecum commune Deis, quod utrique rogati Supplicicibus vestris ferre soletis opem. Ovid. 2. de Ponto. 9.Ps 82:6Gods, that they are able to do good, and to help the distressed, more than others are. For which ability how they have used it, they stand accountable to him from whom they have received it: and woe unto them if the Accounts they bring in be not in some reasonable proportion answerable to the Receipts, uuWisd. 6. 6.Wis 6:6Potentes▪ potenter: into whose hand xxLuk. 12. 48.Luke 12:48much hath been given, from their hands much will be required; and the mighty ones, if they have not done a mighty deal of good withal, shall be mightily tormented. And as they have received power from God; so they do receive honours, and service, and tributes from their people for the maintenance of that power: and these as wages by Gods righteous Ordinance for their care and pains for the peoples good. God hath imprinted in the natural Conscience of every man notions of fear, and honour, and reverence, and obedience, and subjection, and contribution, and other Duties to be performed towards Kings and Magistrate, and other Superiours, yyRom. 13. 5.Rom 13:5not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake: and all this for the maintenance of that power in them, by the right use whereof themselves are again maintained. Now the same Conscience which bindeth us who are under Authority, to the performance; bindeth you who are in Authority to the requital, of these Duties: I say, the same Conscience, though not the same Wrath: for here is the difference: Both Wrath and Conscience bind us to our duties; so that if we withdraw our subjection, we both wound our own Consciences, and incur your just Wrath: but only Conscience bindeth you to yours, and not Wrath: so that if ye withdraw your help, we may not use wrath, but must suffer it with patience, and permit all to the judgments of your own Consciences, and of God the Judg of all mens Consciences. But yet still in Conscience the obligation lyeth equally upon you and us: As we are bound to give you honour, so are you to give us safety; as we to fear you, so you to help us; as we to fight for you, so you to care for us; as we to pay you tribute, so you to do us right. For, zzRom. 13. 6.Rom 13:6For this cause pay we tribute and other duties, unto you who are Gods Ministers; even because you ought to be attending continually upon this very thing, to approve your selves as aaRom. 13. 4 foreign. Luke 22. 25.Rom 13:4Luke 22:25the Ministers of God to us for good. Oh that we could all, superiours and inferiours, both one and other, remember what we owed to each other; and by mutual striving to pay it to the utmost, so endeavour our selves to bbRom. 13. 8.Rom 13:8fulfil the Law of God? But in the mean time, we are still injurious▪ if either we withdraw our subjection, or you your help; if either we cast off the duty of Children, or you the care of Fathers. Time was, when Iudges, and Nobles, and Princes delighted to be called by the name of Fathers. The Philistines called their King by a peculiar appellative, ccGen. 2…. 2. & 26. …. & Psal. 34. in titulo.Gen 2:2Gen 2:26Ps 34Abimelech; as who say, The King my Father. In dd—sed Roma parentem, Roma patrem patriae Ciceronem libera dixit. Juven. Satyr. 8.—patrem patriae appellavimus, ut s…iret da…am sibi potestatem patriam; quae est, temperatissima, liberis consulens, suáque post illos ponens. Senec. 1. de Clem. 14.Rome the Senators were of old time called Patres, Fathers: and it was afterwards accounted among the Romans the greatest title of honour that could be bestowed upon their Consuls, Generals, Emperors, or whosoever had deserved best of the Commonwealth, to have this addition to the rest of his stile, Pater Patriae, a Father to his Country. Naaman's p. 103servants in 4 King. 5. 13. call him Father, ee4 King. 5. 13.My Father, if the Prophet had commanded thee, &c. And on the other side, David the King speaketh unto his Subjects, as a Father to his Children in Psal. 34. ffPsal. 34. 11.Ps 34:11Come ye children, &c. and Solomon in the Proverbs every where, My Son: even as Iob here accounteth himself a Father to the poor. Certainly to shew that some of these had, and that all good Kings and Governours should have, a ggUt eos quasi filios cerneret per amorem, quibus pater pr…erat per protectionem. Gloss. interlin. hic foreign, &c. Philo, de creat. Principis.fatherly care over, and bear a fatherly affection unto those that are under them.

All which yet, seeing it is intended to be done in bonum universitatis, must be so understood as that it may stand cum bono universitatis, with equity and justice, and with the common good. For hhProv. 3. 3. Matth 23. 23. Non auferat veritas misericordiam, nec misericordia impediat veritatem. August. sent. 110. apud Prosperum.Prov 3:3Matt 23:23Mercy and Iustice must go together, and help to temper the one the other. The Magistrate and Governour must be a Father to the poor, to protect him from injuries,II. and to relieve his necessities; but not to maintain him in idleness. All that the Father oweth to the Child is not love and maintenance: he oweth him too Education; and he oweth him Correction. A Father may love his Child too fondly, and make him a Wanton; he may maintain him too highly, and make him a Prodigal: but he must give him nurture too, as well as maintenance: lest he be better fed than taught; and correct him too, as well as love him; lest he bring him most grief when he should reap most comfort from him. Such a fatherly care ought the civil Magistrate to have over the poor. He must carefully defend them from wrongs and oppressions: he must providently take order for their convenient relief and maintenance: But that is not all; he must as well make provision to set them on work, and see that they follow it; and he must give them sharp Correction when they grow idle, stubborn, dissolute, or any way out of order. This he should do, and not leave the other undone. There is not any speech more frequent in the mouths of Beggars and Wanderers, wherewith the Country now swarmeth, than that men would be good to the poor: and yet scarce any thing so much mistaken as that speech in both the terms of it: most men neither understanding aright who are the poor, nor yet what it is to be good to them. Not he only is good to the poor that delivereth him when he is oppressed: nor is he only good to the poor, that relieveth him when he is distressed: but he also is good to the poor, that punisheth him when he is idle. He is good to the poor, that helpeth him when he wanteth: and he is no less good to the poor, that whippeth him when he deserveth. This is indeed to be good to the poor; to give him that Alms first which he wanteth most; if he be hungry, it is Alms to feed him; but if he be idle and untoward, it is iiNon solum qu… dat esurienti cibum, sitienti potum—verùm etiam & qui emendat verbere in quem potestas datur, vel coercet aliquâ disciplinâ in eo quod corripit, & aliquâ emendatoriâ poenâ plectit, eleemosynam dat, quia misericordiam praestat. Aug. in Euchir. c. 72.Alms to whip him. This is to be good to the poor: But who then are the poor we should be good to, as they interpret goodness? Saint Paul would have kk1 Tim. …. 3.Widows honoured; but yet those that are Widows indeed: so it is meet the poor should be relieved, but yet those that are poor indeed. Not every one that begs is poor; not every one that wanteth is poor, not every one that is poor is poor indeed. They are the poor, whom we private men in Charity, and you that are Magistrates in Iustice stand bound to relieve, who are old, or impotent, or unable to work; or in these hard and depopulating times are willing, but cannot be set on work; or have a greater charge upon them than can be maintained by their work. These, and such as these, are the poor indeed: let us all be good to such as these. Be we that are private men as brethren to these poor ones, and shew them mercy: be you that are Magistrates as Fathers to these poor ones, and do them justice: But as for those idle stubborn professed wanderers, that can and may, and will not work, and under the name p. 104and habit of poverty rob the poor indeed of our Alms and their Maintenance: let us harden our hearts against them, and not give them; do you execute the severity of the Law upon them, and not spare them. It is Saint Paul's Order; nay, it is the Ordinance of the Holy Ghost, and we should all put to our helping hands to see it kept, ll2 Thes. 3. 10.2 Thess 3:10He that will not labour, let him not eat. These Ulcers and Drones of the Commonwealth are ill worthy of any honest man's Alms, of any good Magistrates protection. Hitherto of the Magistrates second Duty, with the reasons and extent thereof, I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame: I was a Father to the poor. Followeth next the third Duty, in these words, The cause which I knew not, I searched out.12.

Of which words some frame the Coherence with the former, as if Iob had meant to clear his Mercy to the poor from suspicion of partiality and injustice: and as if he had said, I was a Father indeed to the poor; pitiful and merciful to him; and ready to shew him any lawful favour: but yet not so, as mmNe crederetur quod faveret eis nimis in praejudicium justitiae; subditur (& causam) Lyran. hic.in pity to him, to forget or pervert justice. I was ever careful before I would either speak or do for him, to be first assured his cause was right and good: for that purpose, if it were doubtful, nnNe forte motu pietatis indiscretae condescenderem ei in praejudicium justitiae. Lyran. hic.I searched it out, and examined it, before I would countenance either him or it. Certainly, thus to do is agreeable to the rule of Iustice; yea and of Mercy too: for it is one Rule in shewing Mercy, that it be ever done salvis pietate & justitiâ, without prejudice done to piety and justice. And as to this particular, the commandment of God is express for it in Exod. 23. ooExod. 23. 3.Exod 23:3Thou shalt not countenance no not a poor man in his cause. Now if we should thus understand the coherence of the words; the special duty which Magistrates should hence learn, would be indifferency: in the administration of Justice not to make difference of rich or poor, far or near, friend or foe, one or other; but to consider only and barely the equity and right of the cause, without any respect of persons, or partial inclination this way or that way.13.

This is a very necessary duty indeed in a Magistrate of Justice; and I deny not but it may be gathered without any violence from these very words of my Text: though to my apprehension not so much by way of immediate observation from the necessity of any such coherence; as by way of consequence from the words themselves otherwise. For what need all that care, and pains, and diligence in searching out the cause, if the condition of the person might over-rule the cause after all that search; and were not the judgment to be given meerly according to the goodness or badness of the cause, without respect had to the person? But the special duty, which these words seem most naturally and immediately to impose upon the Magistrate, (and let that be the third Observation) is diligence, and patience, and care to hear, and examine, and enquire into the truth of things; and into the equity of mens causes. As the Physician, before he prescribe receipt or diet to his patient, will first feel the pulse, and view the urine, and observe the temper and changes in the body, and be inquisitive how the disease began, and when, and what sits it hath, and where and in what manner it holdeth him, and inform himself every other way as fully as he can in the true state of his body, that so he may proportion the remedies accordingly without error: so ought every Magistrate, in causes of Justice, before he pronounce sentence, or give his determination, whether in matters ppOmnia judicia aut distrahendarum controversiarum, aut puniendorum maleficiorum causà reperta sunt. Cic. pro Cecin.judicial or criminal, to hear both parties with equal patience, to examine witnesses and other evidences advisedly and throughly, to consider and wisely lay together all Allegations and Circumstances, to put in quaeries and doubts upon the by, and use all possible expedient means for the boulting out of the truth; that so he may do that which is equal and right without error.

p. 105A duty not without both Precept and President in holy Scripture. Moses 14.prescribeth it in Deut. 17. in the case of Idolatry, qqDeut. 17. 2, &c. See also Deut. 13. 14.Deut 17:2Deut 13:14If there be found among you one that hath done thus or thus, &c. And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold it to be true, and the thing certain that such abomination is wrought in Israel, Then thou shalt bring forth that man, &c. The offender must be stoned to death, and no eye pity him: but it must be done orderly, and in a legal course; not upon a bare hear-say, but upon diligent examination and inquisition, and upon such full evidence given in, as may render the fact certain, so far as such cases ordinarily are capable of rr—foreign. Arist. 2. Ethic. 1.certainty. And the like is again ordered in Deut. 19. in the case of false witness, ssDeut. 19. 17, &c.Deut 19:17Both the men, between whom the controversie is, shall stand before the Iudges, and the Iudges shall make diligent inquisition, &c. And in ttJudg. 19. 30.Judg 19:30Iudg. 19. in the wronged Levites case, whose Concubine was abused to death at Gibeah; the Tribes of Israel stirred up one another to do justice upon the inhabitants thereof; and the method they proposed was this, first to consider and consult of it, and then to give their opinions. But the most famous example in this kind is that of King Solomon in 3 Kings 3. in the difficult case of the uu3 Kings 3. 16. ▪28.two Mothers: Either of them challenged the living Child with a like eagerness; either of them accused other of the same wrong, and with the same allegations: neither was there witness or other evidence on either part to give light unto the matter: yet Solomon by that wisdom which he had obtained from God found a means to search out the truth in this difficulty, by making as if he would cut the child into halfs, and give either of them one half; at the mentioning whereof the compassion of the right mother betrayed the falshood of her clamorous competitor. And we read in the Apocryphal Story of Susanna, how Daniel by (x) examiningu Dan. 13. 16. the two Elders, severally and apart, found them to differ in one circumstance of their relation, and thereby discovered the whole accusation to be false. Iudges for this reason were anciently called Cognitores, and in approved Authors yySi judicas, cognosce. Sen. in Med. 2.Cognoscere is as much as to do the office of a Judge: to teach Iudges, that one chief point of there care should be to know the Truth. For if of private men, and in things of ordinary discourse, that of Solomon be true, zzProv. 18. 13. See Syrac. 11. 7, 8.Prov 18:13He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him; certainly much more is it true of publick Magistrates, and in matters of Justice and Judgment: by how much both the men are of better note, and the things of greater moment. But in difficult and intricate businesses, covered with darkness and obscurity, and perplexed with many windings and turnings, and cunning and crafty conveyances, to find a fair issue out, and to spy light at a narrow hole, and by wisdom and diligence to rip up a foul matter, and search a cause to the bottom, and make a discovery of all: is a thing worthy the labour, and a thing that will add to the honour, I say not only of inferiour governours, but even of the Supreme Magistrate, the King. aaProv. 25. 2.Prov 25:2It is the glory of God to conceal a thing; but the honour of Kings, is to search out the matter.15.

To understand the necessity of this duty; consider, First, that as sometimes1. Democritus said, the truth lyeth bbCic. 1. Acad. quaest. in fine. Involuta veritas in alto latet. en. 7. de benefic. 1.in profundo, and in abdito, dark and deep as in the bottom of a pit; and it will ask some time, yea and cunning too, to find it out and to bring it to light. Secondly, that through favour, faction, envy, greediness, ambition, and otherwise, innocency it self is often laden with false accusations: You may observe in the Scriptures how cc3 Kings 21. 13.Naboth, 2.ddJer. 37. 13.Jer 37:13Ieremy, eeActs 24. 5. & 25. 7.Acts 24:5Acts 25:7S. Paul, and others; and you may see by too much experience in these wretched times, how many men of fair and honest conversation have been accused and troubled without cause: which if the Magistrate p. 106by diligent inquisition do not either prevent or help to the utmost of his endeavour, he may soon unawares wrap himself in the guilt of innocent3. blood. Thirdly, that informations are for the most part partial, every man making the best of his own tale: and he cannot but often ffforeign. Menand. apnd Stob. Ser. 44.erre in judgment, that is easily carried away with the first tale, and doth not suspend till he have heard both parties alike. Herein gg2 Sam. 16. 34.2 Sam 16:34David failed, when upon Ziba's false information he passed a hasty and injurious decree against Mephibosheth. Solomon saith, hhProv. 18. 17.Prov 18:17He that is first in his own tale seemeth righteous; but then his neighbour cometh and searcheth him out, Prov. 18. as we say commonly, One tale is good, till another be told. Fourthly, that if in all other things hastiness and precipitancy be hurtful, then especially4. matters of justice would not be huddled up hand over head, but handled with mature iiTake head what you do, 2 Chr. 19. 5.2 Chr 19:5deliberation, and just diligent disquisition. kkSenec. lib. 2. de ira, cap. 23.Cunctari judicantem decet; imo oportet, saith Seneca: he that is to judge, it is fit he should, nay it is necessary he should proceed with convenient leisure. Who judgeth otherwise, and without this due search, he doth not judge, but guess. The good Magistrate had need of patience to hear, and of diligence to search, and of prudence to search out, whatsoever may make for the discovery of the truth in an intricate and difficult cause. The cause which I knew not, I searched out. That is the Magistrates third duty. There yet remaineth a fourth in these words, I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

Wherein Iob alludeth to ravenous and savage beasts; beasts of prey, that16. lie in wait for the smaller Cattel, and when they once catch them in their paws, fasten their teeth upon them, and tear them in pieces and devour them. Such▪ Lyons, and Wolfs, and Bears, and Tygres, are the greedy llQuipote plus urget: pisces ut saepe minutos magnus comest, ut aves enecat accipeter. Varro in Margopoli.—factus praeda majori minor. Sen. in Hippol. act. 2.great ones of this world, who are ever ravening after the estates and the livelihoods of their meaner neighbours, snatching, and biting, and devouring, and at length eating them up and consuming them. Iob here speaketh of Dentes and Molares; Teeth and Iaws: and he meaneth the same thing by both, Power abused to oppression. But if any will be so curiously subtil, as to distinguish them, thus he may do it. Dentes, they are the long mmforeign of foreign acuere.sharp teeth, the fore teeth; nnPsal. 37. 4. foreign. Arist. 2. Phys. tex. 76.Ps 37:4Dentes eorum arma & sagittae, saith David, Their teeth are spears and arrows. Molares à molendo; so called from grinding; they are the great double teeth, the jaw-teeth. Those are the Biters, these the Grinders: these and those together Oppressors of all sorts, Usurers, and prouling Officers, and sly Merchants, and errant Informers, and such kind of Extortioners as sell time, and truck for expedition, and snatch and catch at petty advantages; these use their teeth most, these are Biters. The first, I know not whether or no the worst sort of them, in the holy Hebrew tongue hath his name from biting. foreign Naschack, that is to bite; and foreign Nescheck, that is Usury. Besides these Biters they are Grinders too; men whose teeth are Lapides Molares, as the over and neither mill-stone: depopulators, and racking Landlords, and such great ones, as by heavy pressures and burdens, and sore bargains break the backs of those they deal withal. Those first by little and little ooEsay 3. 15.Isa 3:15grind the faces of the poor, as small as dust and powder; and when they have done, at length ppPsal. 14. 4.Ps 14:4eat them up one after another, as it were bread: as the Holy Ghost hath painted them out under those very phrases. Now how the Magistrate should deal with those grinders and biters, Iob here teacheth him: he should break their jaws, and pluck the spoil out of their teeth: that is, quell and crush the mighty Oppressor, and qqEripite nos ex fancibus eorum, quoram crudelit as, &c. Cra…. apud. Cic. 1. de O. ratore.deliver the oppressed from his injuries. For, to break the jaw, or the cheek bone, or the teeth, is in Scripture phrase as much as to abate the pride, and suppress p. 107the power, and curb the insolency of those that use their might to overbear right. So David saith in the third Psalm, that God had saved him by rrPsal. 3. 7.Ps 3:7smiting his enemies upon the cheek bone, and breaking the teeth of the ungodly. And in Psalm 58. he desireth God to ssPsal. 58. 6. See also Prov. 30. 14. & Joel 1. 6.Ps 58:6Prov 30:14Joel 1:6break the teeth of the wicked in their mouths, and to break out the great teeth of those young Lions. In which place it is observable, that, as Iob here, he speaketh both of Dentes and Molares, teeth and great teeth: and those wicked great ones, according as Iob also here alludeth, he expresly compareth unto young Lions; lusty and strong and greedy after the prey.

Now to the doing of this, to the breaking of the jaws of the wicked, and17. plucking the spoil out of his teeth; there is required a stout heart, and an undaunted ttSee Syrac. 4. 9.Courage, not fearing the faces of men, should their faces be as the faces of Lions and their visages never so terrible. And this is the good Magistrate's last Duty in my Text; without fear to execute justice boldly upon the stoutest offender, and so to curb the power of great and wicked men, that the poor may live in peace, and keep their own by them. It was one part of Iethro's Character of a good Magistrate in Exod. 18. that he should be uuExod. 18. 21.Exod 18:21a man of courage. And it was not for nothing that every xx3 King. 10. 20.step up Solomon's Throne for judgment was supported with Lions: to teach Kings and all Magistrates, that a Lion like courage and resolution is necessary for all those that sit upon the Throne or Bench for Justice and for Judgment. When yy1 Sam. 17. 34, &c.1 Sam 17:34David kept his Fathers sheep, and there came a Lion and a Bear, and took a Lamb out of the flock; he went out after the Lion and smote him, and took the Lamb out of his Mouth, and when the Lion rose against him, he took him by the beard, and smote him again, and slew him: and so he did with the Bear also. Every Magistrate is a kind of zzEsay 44. 28. foreign, saepe apud Homer.Isa 44:28shepherd: and the people they are his flock. He must do that then in the behalf of his flock, that David did. Those that begin to make a spoyl; though but of the poorest Lamb of the flock, be they as terrible as the Lion and the Bear, he must after them, and smite them, and pluck the spoil out of their teeth: and though they shew their spleen, and turn again at it, yet he must not shrink for that; but rather take fresh courage, and to them again, and take them by the beard, and shake them, and never leave them till he have brought them under, and broken their jaws, and in spite of their teeth made them past biting or grinding again in hast. He is a bare aaJohn 10. 12.John 10:12hireling, and not worthy the name of a Shepherd, who when he seeth the Wolf coming, thrusteth his head in abush, and leaveth the poor cattel to the spoil. The good Magistrate must put on his resolution, to go on in this course, and without fear of one or other to do justice upon whosoever dareth do injustice, and to suppress oppression even in the greatest.

A resolution necessary; whether we consider the Law, the Magistrate, 18.or the offender. Necessary, First, inrespect of the Laws: which, as all experience sheweth, are far better unmade, than unkept. bbHorat. 3. Od. 24.Quid vanae sine moribus leges proficiunt? The life of the Law is the Execution; without which the Law is but a dead letter: of less use and regard than scar-crows are in the corn-fields; whereof the birds are a little afraid at the first, but anon after a little use they grow so bold with them, as to sit upon their heads and defile them. We see the experience hereof but too much, in the too much suffered insolency of two sorts of people, [than against whom never were Laws either better made, or worse executed] Rogues and Recusants. Now we know the Laws are general in their intents, and include as well the great as the small. The Magistrate therefore who is ccforeign. Arist. 5. Ethic. 7.Lex loquens, and whose duty it is to see the Laws executed, must proceed as generally, and p. 108punish transgressors of the Laws, the great as well as the small. It is an old complaint, yet groweth out of date but slowly; that, Laws are like ddAnach arsi, apud Plutarch. in Solone: nonn u…i Zaleuco tribuunt.Cobwebs, wherein the smaller flies are caught, but great ones break through. Surely, Laws should not be such; good Laws are; not such of themselves; they do or should intend an eeInde latae leges, ne fortior omnia posset. Ovid. 3. Fast.universal reformation: it is the abuse of bad men, together with the baseness or cowardice of sordid or sluggish Magistrates, that maketh them such. And I verily perswade my self, there is no one thing that maketh good Laws so much contemned, even by mean ones too at the last, as the not executing them upon the great ones in the mean time. Let a Magistrate but take to himself that courage which he should do, and now and then make a great man an example of Iustice; he shall find that a few such examples will breath more life into the Laws, and strike more awe into the people, than the punishment of an hundred underlings and inferiour persons.

Again, in respect of the Magistrate himself, this courage and resolution19. is necessary; for the maintenance of that dignity and respect which is due to him in his place and calling. Which he cannot more shamefully betray, than by fearing the faces of men. Imagine you saw a goodly tall fellow, trick'd up with fe…thers and ribbands, and a glittering sword in his hand, enter the lists like a Champion, and challenge all comers: by and by steppeth in another man perhaps much of his own size, but without either sword or staff, and doth but shew his teeth and stare upon him: whereat my gay Champion first trembleth, and anon for very fear letteth his sword fall, and shrinketh himself into the croud. Think what a ridiculous sight this would be: and just such another thing as this, is a fearful Magistrate. He is adorned with ffConsidera qualia de te praestes, qui tantâ authoritate subveheris. Cassiod. 6. Epist. 15.Robes, the marks and ensigns of his power. God hath armed him with a ggRom. 13. 4.Rom 13:4sword; indeed as well to put courage into his heart, as awe into the people. And thus adorned and armed, he standeth in the eye of the World, and as it were upon the stage; and raiseth an expectation of himself, as if sure this man would do something: his very appearance threatneth destruction to whosoever dareth come within his reach. Now if after all this braving, he should be out-dared with big looks and bug words of those that could do him no harm: how justly should he draw upon himself scorn and contempt, hhHorat. de art Poet.parturiunt montes! iiProv. 17. 16.Prov 17:16Wherefore is there a price, saith Solomon of the sluggard, in the hands of a fool to buy Wisdom, and he hath no heart? So, wheréfore is there a Sword, may we say of the fearful Magistrate, in the hands of a Coward to do justice, and he hath no heart? You that are Magistrates, remember the promise God hath made you, and the Title he hath given you. You have an honourable promise; [kk2▪ Chro. 19. 6.2 Chr 19:6 GOD will be with you in the cause and in the judgment, 2 Chronicles 19.] If God be with you, what need you fear who shall be against you? You have an honourable Tittle too [llPsal. 82. 6.Ps 82:6 I have said, ye are Gods, Psalm 82.] If you be Gods, why should you fear the faces of men? This is Gods fashion: he mm1 Pet. 5. 5.1 Pet 5:5giveth grace to the humble, but he resisteth the proud; he nnLuke 1. 52.Luke 1:52exalteth the meek and lowly, but he putteth the Mighty out of their seats. If you will deal answerably to that high name he hath put upon you, and be indeed as Gods; follow the example of God: lift up the poor oppressed out of the mire, and tumble down the confidence of the mighty and proud oppressour; when you ooPsal. 75. 2. 4.Ps 75:2Ps 75:4receive the Congregation, judge uprightly, and fear not to say to the wicked, be they never so great, Lift not up your horn. So shall you vindicate your selves from contempt; so shall you preserve your persons and places from being baffled and blurted by every lewd companion.

p. 109Courage in the Magistrate, against these great Ones especially, is thirdly 20.necessary in respect of the Offenders. These wicked ones of whom Iob speaketh, the longer teeth they have, the deeper they bite; and the stronger jaws they have, the sorer they grind; and the greater power they have, the more mischief they do. And therefore these great ones of all other would be well hampered; and have their teeth filed, their jaws broken, their power curbed. I say not, the poor and the small should be spared when they offend: good reason they should be punished with severity. But you must remember I now speak of Courage; and a little Courage will serve to bring those under that are under already. So that if mean men scape unpunished when they transgress, it is oftner for want of care or conscience in the Magistrate, than of Courage. But here is the true trial of your Courage, when you are to deal with these great Ones: men not inferiour to your selves, perhaps your equals; yea, and it may be too, your Magistracy set aside, men much greater than your selves: men great in place, great in wealth, in great favour, that have great friends; but withal that do great harm. Let it be your honour, that you dare be just, when these dare be unjust; and when they dare smite others ppEsay 58. 4.Isa 58:4with the fist of violence, that you dare smite them with qqRom. 13. 4.Rom 13:4the sword of Iustice; and that you dare use your power, when they dare abuse theirs. All Transgressours should be looked unto; but more, the greater, and the greatest, most: as a Shepherd should watch his Sheep even from Flies and Maukes; but much more from Foxes; most of all from Wolves. Sure, he is a sorry Shepherd, that is busie to kill Flies and Maukes in his Sheep, but letteth the Wolf worry at pleasure: Why, one Wolf will do more mischief in a night, than a thousand of them in a twelve-month. And as sure, he is a sorry Magistrate, that stocketh, and whippeth, and hangeth poor Sneaks when they offend (though that is to be done too) but letteth the great Thieves do what they list, and dareth not meddle with them: like Saul, who, when God commanded him to kill all the Amalekites both man and beast, slew indeed the rascality of both, but spared the rrSam. 15. 3—9.greatest of the men, and the fattest of the Cattel, and slew them not. The good Magistrate should rather with Iob here, break the jaws of the wicked, and in the spight of his heart, pluck the spoil out of his teeth.

Thus have you heard the four duties or properties of a good Magistrate21. contained in this Scripture, with the grounds and reasons of most of them, opened. They are, 1. A Love and Zeal to justice. 2. Compassion to the poor and distressed. 3. Pains and Patience in examination of causes. 4. Stoutness and Courage in execution of justice. The Uses and Inferences of all these yet remain to be handled now in the last place, and altogether. All which for order and brevities sake, we will reduce unto three heads: accordingly as from each of the four mentioned Duties, or Properties, or Rules (call them which you will) there arise Inferences of three sorts. First, 1.of Direction; for the choice and appointment of Magistrates according to these four properties. Secondly, of Reproof, for a just rebuke of such2. Magistrates as fail in any of these four Duties. Thirdly, of Exhortation, 3.to those that are, or shall be Magistrates, to carry themselves therein according to these four Rules. Wherein what I shall speak of Magistrates, ought also to be extended and applied (the due proportion ever observed) to all kinds of Offices whatsoever, any way appertaining unto Iustice. And first for directions.

p. 110S. Paul saith, ssRom. 13. 1.Rom 13:1The powers that are, are ordained of God: and yet S. Peter, 22.calleth the Magistracy an tt1 Pet. 2. 13.1 Pet 2:13humane ordinance. Certainly the holy Spirit of God, which speaketh in these two great Apostles, is not contrary to it self. The truth is, the substance of the power of every Magistrate is the Ordinance of God; and that is S. Paul's meaning: but the Specification of the circumstances thereto belonging; as in regard of places, persons, titles, continuance, jurisdiction, subordination and the rest, is (as S. Peter termeth it) an humane ordinance, introduced by Custom, or positive▪ Law. And therefore some kinds of Magistracy are higher, some lower, some annual or for a set time, some during life; some after one manner, some after another, according to the several Laws or Customs whereon they are grounded. As in other circumstances, so in this concerning the deputation of the Magistrates person, there is great difference: some having their power by Succession, others by Nomination, and other some by Election. As amongst us, the Supreme Magistrate, the King, hath his power by Succession; some inferiour Magistrates theirs, by Nomination, or special appointment, either immediately, or mediately from the King; as most of our Iudges and Iustices: some again by the elections and voices of the multitude; as most Officers and Governours in our Cities, Corporations, or Colleges. The Directions which I would infer from my Text, cannot reach the first kind; because such Magistrates are born to us, not chosen by us. They do concern, in some sort, the second; but most nearly the third kind, viz. Those that are chosen by suffrages and voices: and therefore unto this third kind only I will apply them. We may not think, because our voices are our own, that therefore we may bestow them as we list: neither must we suffer our selves in a matter of this nature to be carried by favour, faction, spite, hope, fear, importunity, or any other corrupt and partial respect, from those rules which ought to level our choice. But we must confer our voices, and our best furtherance otherwise, upon those whom, all things duly considered, we conceive to be the fittest: and the greater the place is, and the more the power is we give unto them, and from our selves; the greater ought our care in voycing to be. It is true indeed when we have used all our best care, and proceeded with the greatest caution we can; we may be deceived, and make an unworthy choice. For we cannot judge of mens fitness by any demonstrative certainty: all we can do is to go upon probabilities, which can yield at the most but a conjectural certainty, full of uncertainty. Men uu…fere maxima pars morem hunc homines habent: quod sibi volunt, Dum id impetrant, boni sant; sed id ubi jam penes sese habent, ex bonis pessimi & fraudulent issimi sant. Plant. in Capt. 2. 1. Omnes candidatos, bon…s …iros dicimus. Senec. Epist. 3.ambitious▪ and in appetite, till they have obtained their desires, use to dissemble those vices which might make a stop in their preferments; which, having once gotten what they fished for, they bewray with greater freedom: and they use likewise to make a shew of that zeal and forwardness in them to do good, which afterwards cometh to just nothing. Absalom to steal away the hearts of the people (though he were even then most unnaturally unjust in his purposes, against a farther and such a farther; yet he) made shew of much compassion to the injured, and of a great desire to do justice. xx2 Sam. 15. 4.2 Sam 15:4O, saith he, that I were made a Iudge in the Land, that every man that hath either suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him Iustice. And yet I doubt not, but if things had so come to pass, he would have been as bad as the worst. When the Roman Soldiers had in a tumult proclaimed Galba Emperor, they thought they had done a good days work; every man promised himself so much good of the new Emperor: But when he was in, he proved no better than those that had been before him. One giveth this censure of him, yyTacit. lib. 1. Histor.Omnium consensu capax imperii, nisi imperasset: he had been a man in every mans judgment p. 111worthy to have been Emperor, if he had not been Emperor, and so shewed himself unworthy. zzforeign. dictum Biantis apud Arist. 5. Ethic.Magistratus indicat virum, is a common saying, and a true. We may guess upon likelihoods what they will be when we choose them: but the thing it self after they are chosen aaforeign. Plutarch. in Cicerone.sheweth the certainty what they are. But this uncertainty should be so far from making us careless in our choice; that it should rather add so much the more to our care, to put things so hazardous as near as we can out of hazard.

Now those very Rules, that must direct them to Govern, must direct us also to choose. And namely an eye would be had to the four Properties specified in my Text. The first, a zeal of justice, and a delight therein. Seest thou a man careless of the common good; one that palpably preferreth his own before the publick weal; one that loveth his bb—Nec vulgi cura tyranni, Dum sua sit modo tuta salus. Valer. Flacc. 5. Argonaut.ease so well, that he careth not which way things go, backward or forward, so he may sit22. still and not be troubled; one that would divide honorem ab onere, be1. proud of the honour and Title, and yet loth to undergo the envy and burthen that attendeth him; set him aside. Never think that mans robes will do well upon him. A Iusticeship, or other Office would sit upon such a mans back as handsomly as cc1 Sam. 17. 39.1 Sam 17:39Saul's armour did upon David's: unweildly, and sagging about his shoulders; so as he could not tell how to stir and turn himself under it. He is a fit man to make a Magistrate of, that will put on righteousness as a garment, and cloth himself with Iudgment as with a Robe and a Diadem. The second property is, Compassion on the poor. Seest thou2. a man distitute of counsel and understanding; a man of forlorn hopes or estate, and in whom there is no help; or one that having either counsel or help in him, is yet a Churl of either; but especially one that is sore in his bargains, cruel in his dealings, hard to his Tenants, or an Oppressor in any kind? Take none of him. Sooner commit a flock of Sheep to a ddO pr…clarum custodem ovium, ut ait, lupum! custosne urbis, an direptor & vexator esset Antonius? Cic. Philip. 3.Phil 3Wolf, than a Magistracy or Office of justice to an eeforeign. Iamblich. apud Stob. Serm. 14.Oppressor. Such a man is more likely to put out the eyes of him that seeth, than to be eyes to the blind; and to break the bones of the strong, than to be legs to the lame; and to turn the fatherless a begging▪ than to be a Father to the poor. The third property is Diligence to search out the truth. Seest thou a man hasty, and rash, and heady in his own business; a man impatient of delay or pains; one that cannot ffProv. 29. 11.Prov 29:11conceal what is meet till it be seasonable to utter it, but poureth out all his heart at once, and before the time; one that is easily possest with what is first told him, or being once possest, will not with any reason be perswaded to the contrary; one that lendeth ear so much to some particular friend or follower, as to believe any information from him, not any but from him; one that, to be counted a man of dispatch, loveth3. to make an end of a business before it be ripe; suspect him. He will scarce have the Conscience▪ or if that, yet not the wit, or not the patience, to search out the cause which he knoweth not. The last Property is, Courage to 4.execute. Seest thou a man first, of a ggDegeneres animos timor arguit. Virgil… 3. Aeneid.timorous nature, and cowardly disposition? or secondly, of a wavering and fickle mind: as we say of children; won with an apple, and lost with a nut? or thirdly, that is apt to be wrought upon, or moulded into any form, with fair words, friendly invitations, or complemental glozes? or fourthly, that dependeth upon some great man, whose vassal or creature he is? or fifthly, a taker, and one that may be dealt withal (for that is now the periphrasis of bribery?) or sixthly, guilty of the same transgressions he should punish, or of other as foul? Never a man of these is for the turn: not one of these will venture to break the jaws or tusks of an oppressing Tygre or Boar, and to pluck p. 112the spoil out of his teeth. The timorous man is afraid of every shadow, and if he do but hear of teeth, he thinketh it is good sleeping in a whole skin, and so keepeth a loof-off, for fear of biting. hhJames 1. 8.Jas 1:8The double minded man, as S. Iames saith, is unstable in all his ways: he beginneth to do something in a sudden heat, when the fit taketh him; but before one jaw can be halfbroken, he is not the man he was, he is sorry for what is done; and instead of breaking the rest, falleth a binding up that which he hath broken; and so seeketh to salve up the matter as well as he can, and no hurt done. The vain man, that will be flattered, so he get fair words himself, he careth not who getteth foul blows: and so the beast will but now and then give him a lick with the tongue, he letteth him use his teeth upon others at his pleasure. The depending creature is charmed with a letter or message from his Lord, or his honourable friend; which to him is as good as a Supersedeas or Prohibition. The taker hath his fingers so oyled, that his hand slippeth off, when he should pluck away the spoil, and so he leaveth it undone. The guilty man by no means liketh this breaking of jaws: he thinketh it may be his own case another day.

You see, when you are to choose Magistrates, here is refuse enough, to24. be cast by. But by that all these be discarded, and thrown out of the bunch; possibly the whole lump will be near spent, and there will be little or no choice left. Indeed if we should look for absolute perfection, there would be absolutely no choice at all: iiPsal. 14. 3.Ps 14:3There is none▪ that doth good, no not one. We must not be so dainty in our choice then, as to find one in every respect such as hath been charactered. We live not kk—dicit enim tanquam in Platonis foreign, non tanquam in Romuli face, sententiam, de Catone, Cic 2. ad Artic. 1.in Republica Platonis, but in faece seculi; and it is well, if we can find one in some good mediocrity so qualified. Amid the common corruptions of mankind, he is to be accounted a tolerably good man, that it not intolerably bad: and among so many infirmities and defects, as I have now reckoned, we may well voice him for a Magistrate, not that is free from them all, but that hath the llVitiis nemo sine nascitur, optimus ille est, qui minimis urgetur. Hor. 1 Serm. Sat. 3.fewest and least. And we make a happy choice, if from among those we have to choose of, we take such a one as is likely to prove in some reasonable mediocrity zealous of Justice, sensible of the wrongs of poor men, careful to search out the truth of causes, and resolute to execute what he knoweth is just.

That for Direction. I am next to infer from the four duties in my Text, a25. just reproof, and withal a complaint of the common iniquity of these times; wherein men in the Magistracy and in Offices of Iustice, are generally so faulty and delinquent in some, or all of these duties. And first, as for zeal to justice: alas that there were not too much cause to complain. It is grief to speak it (and yet we all see it and know it) there is grown among us of this Land, within the space of not many years, a general and sensible declination in our zeal both to Religion and justice; the two main Pillars and Supporters of Church and State. And it seemeth to be with us in these regards, as with decaying Merchants almost become desperate; who when Creditors call fast upon them, being hopeless of paying all, grow careless of all, and pay none: so abuses and disorders encrease so fast among us; that hopeless to reform all, our Magistrates begin to neglect all, and in a manner reform nothing. How few are there of them that sit in the seat of Iustice, whose Consciences can prompt them a comfortable answer to that Question of David, Psal. 58. mmPsal. 58. 1.Ps 58:1Are your minds set on rightousness, O ye congregation? Rather are they not almost all of Gallio's temper, Acts 18. who, though there were a foul outrage committed even under his nose, and in the sight of the Bench, yet the Text saith, nnActs 18. 17.Acts 18:17he cared for none of those things? p. 113as if they had their names given them by an Antiphrasis: like Diogenes his man; manes à manendo, because he would be now and then running away; so these Iustices à justitia, because they neither do nor care to do Iustice. Peradventure here and there one or two in a whole side of a Country to be found, that make a Conscience of their duty more than the rest, and are forward to do the best good they can: Gods blessing rest upon their heads for it. But what cometh of it? The rest, glad of their forwardness, make only this use of it to themselves; even to slip their own necks out of the yoke, and leave all the burthen upon them: and so at length even tire out them too, by making common pack horses of them. A little it may be is done by the rest, for fashion, but to little purpose; sometimes more to shew their Iusticeship, than to do Iustice: and a little more may be is wrung from them by importunity; as the poor ooLuke 18. 4, ….Luke 18:4widow in the parable by her clamorousness wrung a piece of Iustice with much ado from the Iudge that neither feared God, nor regarded man. Alas, Beloved, if all were right within, if there were generally that zeal that should be in Magistrates, good Laws would not thus languish as they do for want of execution; there would not be that insolency of Popish rescuants, that licence of Rogues and Wanderers, that prouling of Officers, that inhancing of sees, that delay of suits, that countenancing of abuses, those carcases of depopulated Towns, infinite other mischiefs; which are (the sins shall I say, or the Plagues? it is hard to say whether more, they are indeed both) the sins and the Plagues of this Land. And as for Compassion to the distressed; is there not now just2. cause, if ever, to complain? If in these hard times, wherein nothing aboundeth but poverty and sin; when the greater ones of the earth should most of all enlarge their bowels, and reach out the hand to relieve the extreme necessity of thousands that are ready to starve: if (I say) in these times, great men, yea and men of Iustice, are as throng▪ as ever in pulling down houses, and setting up hedges; in unpeopleing Towns and creating beggars; in racking the backs, and grinding the faces of the poor; how dwelleth the love of God, how dwelleth the spirit of compassion in these men? Are these eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and fathers to the poor, as Iob was? I know your hearts cannot but rise in detestation of these things, at the very mentioning of them. But what would you say, if as it was said to Ezekiel, so I should bid you ppEzek. 8. 6 13, 1…Ezek 8:6turn again, and behold yet greater, and yet greater abominations; of the lamentable oppressions of the poor by them and their instruments, who stand bound in all conscience, and in regard of their places, to protect them from the injuries and oppressions of others? But I forbear to do that; and choose rather out of one passage in the Prophet Amos, to give you some short intimation both of the faults, and of the reason of my forbearance. It is in Amos▪ 5. v. 12, 13. I know your manifold transgressions, and your qqAmos 5. 12, 13.Amos 5:12Amos 5:13mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their fortia peccata vulg. ibid.right: Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. And as for searching out the truth in mens causes which is the third 3.Duty: First, those Sycophants deserve a rebuke, who by false accusations, and cunningly devised tales, (rrPindar Olymp. 1. foreign) of purpose involve the truth of things to set a fair colour upon a bad matter, or to take away the righteousness of the innocent from him. And yet how many are there such as these in most of our Courts of justice? informing, and promoting, and pettifogging make-bates. Now it were a lamentable thing if these men should be known, and yet suffered, but what if countenanced, and encouraged, and under hand maintained by the Magistrates p. 114of those Courts, of purpose to bring Moulter to their own Mills? Secondly, since Magistrates must be content (for they are but men, and cannot be every where at once) in many things to see with other mens eyes, and to hear with other mens ears, and to proceed upon information: those men deserve a rebuke, who being by their office to ripen causes for judgment, and to facilitate the Magistrates care and pains for inquisition; do yet either for fear, or favour, or negligence, or a fee, keep back true and necessary informations, or else for spight or gain, clog the Courts with false or trifling ones. But most of all the Magistrates themselves deserve a rebuke, if either they be hasty to acquit a man upon his own bare denial or protestation (for, si inficiari sufficiet, ecquis erit nocens? as the ssDelphidius Orator contra Numerium; apud Ammian. Marcell. l. 18.Orator pleaded before Iulian the Emperour; if a denial may serve the turn, none shall be guilty,) or if hasty to condemn a man upon anothers bare accusation (for, si accusasse sufficiet, ecquis erit innocens? as the Emperour excellently replied upon that Orator; if an accusation may serve the turn, none shall be innocent;) or if they suffer themselves to be possessed with prejudice and not keep one ear open (as they write of Alexander the great) for the contrary party that they may stand indifferent till the truth be throughly canvassed; or if to keep causes long in their hands, they either delay to search the truth out, that they may know it, or to decide the cause according to the truth, when they have found it. And as for Courage to 4.execute Iustice, which is the last Duty: what need we trouble our selves to seek out the causes, when we see the effects so daily and plainly before our eyes? whether it be through his own cowardice or inconstancy, that he keepeth off; or that a fair word whistleth him off; or that a greater mans letter staveth him off; or that his own guilty conscience doggeth him off; or that his hands are manacled with a bribe, that he cannot fasten; or whatsoever other matter there is in it; sure we are, the Magistrate too often letteth the wicked carry away the spoil, without breaking a jaw of him, or so much as offering to pick his teeth. It was not well in David's time, (and yet David a Godly King) when complaining he asked the Question, ttPsal. 94. 16.Ps 94:16Who will stand up with me against the evil doers? It was not well in Solomon's time, (and yet Solomon a peaceable King) when, uuEccles. 4. 1.Eccl 4:1considering the Oppressions that were done under the Sun, he saw that on the side of the oppressors there was power; but as for the oppressed, they had no comforter. We live under the happy government of a godly and peaceable King; Gods holy name be blessed for it: and yet God knoweth, and we all know, it is not much better now; nay, God grant, it be not generally even much worse.

Receive now in the last place, and as the third and last inference, a word26. of Exhortation; and it shall be but a word. You whom God hath called to any honour, or office appertaining to justice; as you tender the glory of God, and the good of the Commonwealth; as you tender the honour of the King, and the prosperity of the Kingdom; as you tender the peace and tranquillity of your selves and neighbours; as you tender the comfort of your own consciences, and the salvation of your own souls: set your selves throughly, and cheerfully and constantly, and conscionably, to discharge with faithfulness all those duties which belong unto you in your several stations and callings, and to advance to the utmost of your power1. the due administration and execution of justice. Do not decline those burdens which cleave to the honours you sustain. Do not post off those businesses from your selves to others, which you should rather do than they, or at least may as well do as they. Stand up with the zeal p. 115of xxPsal. 106. 30.Ps 106:30Phinees, and by executing judgment, help to turn away those heavy plagues, which God hath already begun to bring upon us; and to prevent those yet heavier ones, which having so rightly deserved, we have all just cause to fear. Breathe fresh life into the languishing laws by mature, and severe, and discreet execution: Put on righteousness as a Garment, and cloath your selves with Iudgment, as with a Robe and Diadem. Among so many Oppressions, 2.as in these evil days are done under the Sun; to whom should the fatherless, and the Widow, and the wronged complain but to you? whence seek for relief but from you? Be not you wanting to their necessities. Let your eyes be open unto their miseries, and your ears open unto their cries, and your hands open unto their wants. Give friendly Counsel to those that stand3. need of your Direction: afford convenient help to those that stand need of your assistance: carry a Fatherly affection to all those that stand in need of any comfort, protection, or relief from you. Be eyes to the Blind, and feet to the lame: and be you instead of Fathers to the poor. But yet do not countenance, no not yyExod. 23. 3.Exod 23:3a poor man in his cause, farther than he hath equity on his side. Remember one point of zzforeign. Nervus est sapientiae, non cito credere. dictum Epicharmi, apud Cic. 1. ad Artic. 16. foreign. Eurip. in Hel. The simple believe every word. Prov. 14. 15.Prov 14:15wisdom, not to be too credulous of every suggestion and information. But do your best to spie out the chinks, and starting holes, and secret conveyances and packings of cunning and crafty companions: and when you have found them out, bring them to light, and do exemplary justice upon them. Sell not your ears to your servants: nor tie your selves to the informations of some one, or a few, or of him that cometh first; but let every party have a fair and an equal hearing. Examine proofs: Consider circumstances: be content to hear simple men aaforeign. Arist. 2. Elench. 10.tell their tales in such language as they have: think no pains, no patience too much to sift out the truth. Neither by inconsiderate haste, prejudice any mans right: nor weary him out of it by torturing delays. The cause which you know not, use all diligence, and covenient both care and speed, to search it out. But ever withal remember your standing is slippery; and you shall have many and sore assault…, and very shrewd temptations: so that unless you arm your selves with invincible resolution, you are gone. The wicked ones of this world will conjure you by your old friendship and acquaintance, and by all the bonds of Neighbourhood and kindness; bribe your Wives, and Children, and Servants, to corrupt you; procure great mens Letters, or Favorites, as engines to move you;4. convey a bribe into your own bosoms, but under a handsomer name, and in some other shape, so cunningly and secretly sometimes, that your selves shall not know it to be a bribe when you receive it. Harden your faces, and strengthen your resolution with a holy obstinacy, against these and all other like temptations. Count him an enemy, that will alledge friendship to pervert justice. When you sit in the place of justice, think you are not now bbQui induit personam judicis, exuit amici, Cicer.Husbands, or Parents, or Neighbours; but Iudges. Contemn the frowns, and the favours, and the Letters of great ones: in comparison of that trust, which greater ones than they, the King and State, and a yet Greater than they, the great God of heaven and earth, hath reposed in you, and expecteth from you. Chastise him with severe ccRejecit alto dona nocentium vultu. Horat. 4. Od. 9.indignation, if he begin: and if he continue, spit defiance in his face, who ere he be, that shall think you so base as to sell your ddLibertatem arguendi amittit, qui ab e… accipit qui ideo dat ne corrigatur. Ambr. in 1 Cor. c. 19.freedom for a bribe. Gird your sword, upon your thigh; and (keeping your selves ever within the compass of your Commissions and Callings, as the Sun in the Zodiack) go through stitch, right on in the course of Iustice, as the Sun in the firmament, with unresisted violence; and as a Giant that rejoyceth to run his race, and who can stop him? Bear not the eeRom. 13. 4.Rom 13:4sword in vain: but let your right hand teach p. 116you terrible things. Defend the poor and fatherless▪ and deliver the oppressed from them that are mightier than he: Smite through the loyns of those that rise up to do wrong; that they▪ rise not again: Break the jaws of the wicked, and pluck the spoil out of his teeth. Thus if you do, the wicked shall fear you, the good shall bless you, the poor shall pray for you, posterity shall praise you, your own hearts shall …hear you, and the great God of Heaven shall reward you. This that you may do in some good measure, the same God of Heaven enable you: and give you and every of us grace in our several places and callings, to seek his glory, and to endeavour the discharge of a good conscience. To which God, blessed for ever, Fathers, Son, and Holy Ghost, three Persons, and one eternal, invisible, and only wise God, be ascribed all the Kingdom, Power, and Glory, for ever and ever.

Amen.