Thirty-Six Sermons, Collection of sermons 1 · Group of sermons 2 · Sermon 2
AD MAGISTRATUM.
The Second Sermon.
At the Assises at Lincoln, 7 March, 1624. at the request of William Lister, Esq, then high Sheriff of the County.
EXOD. XXIII. ver. 1, 2, 3.
1.
Thou shalt not raise a false report▪ …ut not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2.
Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou speak in a cause, to decline after many to wrest judgment.
3.
Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause.
THere is no one thing, (Religion ever excepted) thatI. more secureth and adorneth the State, than Iustice doth. It is both Columna, and Corona Reipublicae: as a Prop to make it subsist firm in it self; and as a Crown, to render it glorious in the eyes of others. As the Cement in a building, that aIus & aqu… t…s vincula civita…um. Ci…. Parad. 4.holdeth all together, so is justice to the publick Body: as whereunto it oweth a great part both of its strength, (for by it the bProv. 16. 12.throne is established, in the sixteenth) and of its height too; for it cProv. 14. 34.exalteth a Nation, in the 14th of the Proverbs. As then in a Building, when for want of good looking to, the Mortar getting wet dissolveth, and the walls dVentrosi paietes. P. Bles. Ep. 85.belly out; the house cannot but settle apace, and without speedy repairs fall to the ground: so there is not a more certain symptom of a declining, and decaying, and tottering State, than is the general eforeign. Soph. in Ajac. Ubi non est pudor, nec cura juris, Sanctitas, P…etas, Fides, Instabile regnum est. Sen. in Thyest. Act. 2.dissolution of manners for want of the due execution and administration of Iustice.
The more cause have we, that are Gods Ministers, by frequent exhortations, admonitions, obsecrations, expostulations, even out of season sometimes, but especially upon such seasonable opportunities as this, to be instant with all them that have any thing to do in matters of Iustice, but especially with you, who are fRom. 13. 4.Gods Ministers too (though in another kind) you who are in commission to sit upon the Bench of Judicature, either for Sentence or Assistance, to do your God and King service, to do your Country and Calling honour, to do your selves and others right, by advancing to the utmost of your powers the due course of Iustice. Wherein as I verily think none dare gTrasci mihi nemo poterit, nisi qui ante de se voluerit confiteri. Cic▪ pro lege Ma…il. Frequenter culpa populi redundat in principem, quasi de majorum negligentia obve…iant errata minorum. Pet. Bles. Ep. 95.but the guilty, so I am well assured none can justly mislike in us the choise either of our Argument that we beat upon2. these things; or of our Method, that we begin first with you. For, as we cannot be perswaded on the one side, but that we are bound for the discharge of our duties, to put you in mind of yours: so we cannot be perswaded on the other side, but that if there were generally in the greater ones that care and conscience and zeal there ought to be of the common good, a thousand corruptions rife among inferiours, would be, if not wholly reformed, as leastwise practised with less connivence from you, confidence in them, grievance to others,
But right and reason will, that hGal. 6. 5.every man bear his own burthen. And therefore as we may not make you innocent, if you be faulty, by transferring your faults upon others: so far be it from us to impute their faults to you, otherwise than as by not doing your best to iQui non vetat peccare cum potest, jubet. Senec. in Troad. In cujus manu est ut prohibeat, jubet agi, si non prohibet admitti. Salvian. 7. de provid.hinder them, you3. make them yours. For Iustice we know is an Engine, that turneth upon many hinges. And to the exercise of judicature, besides the Sentence, which is properly yours, there are divers other things required; Informations, and Testimonies, and Arguings, and Inquests, and sundry Formalites, which I am neither able to name, nor yet covetous to learn: wherein you are to rest much upon the faithfulness of other men. In any of whom if there be, as sometimes there will be, foul and unfaithful dealing, such as you either cannot spie, or cannot help; wrong sentence may proceed from out your lips, kforeign. Arist. 8. Top. 111.without your fault. As in a curious Watch or Clock that moveth upon many wheels, the finger may point a wrong hour, though the wheel that next moveth it be most exactly true: if but some little pinn, or notch or spring be out of order in or about any of the baser and inferiour wheels. What he said of old, lforeign. apud Stob. Ser. 44.Non fieri potest, quin Principes etiam valde boni iniqua faciant; was then and ever since, and yet is, and ever will be, most true. For say a Iudge be never so honestly minded, never so zealous of the truth, never so careful to do right: yet if there be a spiteful Accuser that will suggest any thing, or an audacious witness that will swear any thing, or a crafty Pleader that will maintain any thing, or a tame Iury that will swallow any thing, or a craving Clark or Officer that for a bribe will foist in any thing; the Iudge who is tied (as it is meet he should) to proceed secundùm allegata & probata, cannot mIpsos justitiarios, quos vulgariter Errantes, vel Itinerantes dicimus, dum errata hominum diligenter explorant, frequenter errare contingit. Excessus namque hominum absconduntur, &c. Pet. Bles. Epist. 25.with his best care and wisdom prevent it, but that sometimes justice shall be perverted, innocency oppressed, and guilty ones justified.
Out of which consideration, I the rather desired for this Assise-Assembly, 4.to choose a Text as near as I could of equal latitude with the Assise-Business. For which purpose I could not readily think of any other portion of Scripture, so proper and full to meet with all sorts of persons and all sorts of abuses, as these three verses are. Is there either Calumny in the Accuser, or Perjury in the Witness, Supinity in the Iurer, or Sophistry in the Pleader, or Partiality in any Officer; or any close corruption any where lurking amid those many passages and conveyances that belong to a Iudicial proceeding? my Text searcheth it out, and indicteth …e offender at the tribunal of that impartial Judge that keepeth a privy Sessions in each mans breast.
The words are laid down so distinctly in five Rules or Precepts, or rather5. (being all negative) in so many Prohibitions, that I may spare the labour of making other division of them. All that I shall need to do about them, will be to set out the several portions in such sort as that every man, who hath any part or fellowship in this business, may have his due share in them. Art thou first an Accuser in any kind: either as a party in a Iudicial controversie; 1.or bound over to prosecute for the King in a criminal Cause, or as a voluntary Informer upon some penal statute? here is something for thee; Thou shalt not raise a false report. Art thou secondly a Witness: either2. fetched in by Process to give publick testimony upon oath; or come of good or ill will, privately to speak a good word for, or to cast out a shrewd word against any person; here is something for thee too; Put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. Art thou thirdly returned3. to serve as a sworn man, in a matter of grand or petty inquest? here is something for thee too; Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Comest thou hither fourthly to advocate the cause of thy Client, who flyeth to thy4. learning, experience, and authority for succour against his adversary, and commendeth his state and sute to thy care and trust? here is something for thee too; Neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest Iudgment. Art thou lastly in any Office of trust, or place of service 5.in or about the Courts, so as it may sometimes fall within thy power or opportunity to do a suiter a favour, or a spite: here is something for thee too; Thou shalt not countenance (no not) a poor man in his cause. The two first in the first, the two next in the second, this last in the third verse.
In which distribution of the Offices of Justice in my Text, let none imagine, because I have shared out all among them that are below the Bench, 6.that therefore there is nothing left for them that sit upon it. Rather as in dividing the land of Canaan, Levi, who had nNum 18 20, 21.no distinct plot by himself, having yet (by reason of the oDeut. 33. 10.universal use of his office) in every Tribe Deut. 18. 1, &c.something, had in the whole, all things considered, a pSee Numb. 25. 2. 38. & Jos. 21. 1, &c.far greater proportion, than any other Tribe had: So in this Scripture, the Iudge hath by so much a larger portion than any of the rest, by how much it is more diffused. Not concluded within the narrow bounds of any one; but, as the blood in the body, temperately spread throughout all the parts and members thereof. Which cometh to pass not so much from the immediate construction of the words (though there have not wanted qLyran. hic.Expositors to fit the words to such construction:) as from that general inspection, and (if I may so speak) superintendency, which the Iudge or Magistrate ought to have over the carriage of all those other inferiour ones. A great part of whose duty it is, to observe how the rest do theirs: and to find them out, and check and punish them as they deserve, when they transgress. So that with your patience (Honourable, Worshipful, and dearly Beloved) I have allowance from my Text (if the time would as well allow it) to speak unto you of five things. Whereof the first concerneth the Accuser; the second, the Witness; the third, the Iurer; the fourth, the Lawyer; the fifth, the Officer: and every one of them the Magistrate, Iudge, and Iusticer. But having no purpose to exceed the hour, (as I must needs do if I should speak to all these to any purpose:) whilst I speak to the first only, I shall desire the rest to make application to themselves, so far as it may concern them, of every material passage: which they may easily do, and with very little change for the most part▪ only if they be willing.
To our first Rule then, which concerneth the Accuser and the Iudge; in7. the first words of the Text, Thou shalt not raise a false report. The Original rforeignverb signifieth to take up; as if we should read it sH. A. hic.Thou shalt not take up a false report. And it is a word of larger comprehension, than most Translators have expressed. The full meaning is, tOld English translation hic.Thou shalt not have to do with any false report, neither by uConsentiendo vel loquendo, Gloss. interlin. hic. Ne falsi rumoris author, vel adjutor esto. Jun. in Annot.raising it, as the Author, nor by spreading it, as the Reporter, nor by receiving it, as an Approver. But the first fault is in the Raiser: and therefore our translations have done well to retain that rather in the Text; yet allowing the Receiver a place in the Margent. Now false reports may be raised of our brethren by unjust slanders, detractions, back-bitings, whisperings, as well out of the course of judgment, as in it. And the equity of this Rule reacheth even to those extrajudicial Calumnies also. But for that I am not now to speak of extrajudicial Calumny so much, as of that quae versatur in foro & in judiciis, those false suggestions and informations which are give into the Courts, as more proper both to the scope of my Text, and the occasion of this present meeting: Conceive the words for the present as spoken especially, or at leastwise as not improperly appliable to the Accuser. But the Accuser taken xAccusatorem pro omni actore & petitore appello. Cic. in partit. orat.at large, for any person that impleadeth another in jure publico vel privato, in causes either civil or criminal; and these again either capital or penal. No not the Accused or Defendant excepted: who although he cannot be called in strict propriety of speech an Accuser; yet if when he is justly accused, he seek to defend himself by false, unjust, or impertinent allegations, he is in our present intendment to be taken as an Accuser, or as the Raiser and Taker up of a false report.
But when is a Report false? or what is it to raise such a report? and how8. is it done? As we may conceive of falshood in a threefold notion; namely, as it is opposed, not only unto Truth first, but secondly also unto Ingenuity, and thirdly unto Equity also: accordingly false reports may be raised three ways. The first and grossest way is, when we y—struunt de proprio calumnias innocentiae. Bern. lib. 1. de Confid. prope finem.feign and devise something of our own heads to lay against our brother, without any foundation at all, or ground of truth: creating (as it were) a tale ex nihilo. As it is in the Psalm, zPsal. 35. 11.They laid to my charge things that I never did: and as Nehemiah sent word to Sanballat, aNehem▪ 6. 8.There are no such things as thou sayest, but thou feignest them of thine own heart. bCic. act. 2. in Ver. lib. 3.Crimen domesticum, & vernaculum; a meer device: such as was that of Iezebel's instruments against c3 Reg. 21. 10.Naboth, which cost him his life; and that of Zibah against d2 Sam. 16. 3.Mephibosheth, which had almost cost him all he had. This first kind of Report is false; as devoid of Truth.
The second way (which was so frequently used among the Roman Accusers that eNon utar ista accusatoria consuetudine, &c Cic. Act. 2. in Ver. lib. 5.Custom had made it not only excusable, but f—quae quoniam accusatorio more & jure sunt facta reprehendere non possumus. Cic. pro Flacco.allowable; and is at this day of too frequent use both in private and publick calumniations) is, when upon some small ground of truth, we run descant at pleasure in our9. own informations, interweaving many untruths among; or preverting the speeches and actions of our adversaries, to make their matters ill, when they are not; or otherwise aggravating them to make them seem worse than they are. As tidings came to David, when Ammon only was slain, that g2 Sam. 13. 30Absalom had killed all the Kings sons. It is an easie and a common thing, by misconstruction to hThey daily wrest my words. Psal. 56. 5.—Nihil est Quin malè narrando possit depravarier. Terent. in Phorm.deprave whatsoever is most innocently done or spoken. The Ammonitish Courtiers dealt so with David, when he sent i2 Sam. 10. 2.Ambassadors to Hanun in kindness, they informed the King as if he had sent spies to discover the strength of the City and Land. And the kNeh. 6. 6, 7. & Ezra 4. 12.Iews enemies dealt so with those that of devotion repaired the Temple and the Wall of Ierusalem, advertising the State, as if their purpose had been to fortifie themselves for a Rebellion. Yea and the malicious Iews dealt so with Christ himself; taking hold of some words of his, about the destroying and building of the Temple, which he understood of the lJoh. 2. 10. 21.Temple of his body, and so mMatth. 26. 61.wresting them to the fabrick of the Material Temple, as to make them serve to give colour to one of the strongest accusations they had against him. This second kind of Report is false, as devoid of ingenuity.
The third way is, when taking advantage of the Law, we prosecute the 10.extremity thereof against our brother, who perhaps hath done something contrary to the letter of the Law, but not violated the intent of the Law giver, or offended either against common Equity, which ought to be the nforeign. Epictet. apud Stob. Serm. 143. Nos legem bonam à malâ nulla alia nisi naturali norma dividere possumus. Cic. lib. 1. de legib. Quod fit injustè nec jure fieri potest. Non enim jura dicenda sunt, vel putanda, iniqua hominum constituta. Aug. l. 9. de Civ. 21.measure of just Laws, or against the common good, which is in some sort the oAtque ipsa utilitas justi prope mater & aequi. Horat. 1. serm. 3.—ex aequo & bono jus constat, quod ad veritatem & utilitatem communem videtur pertinere. Cic. ad Herenn. lib. 2.measure of Equity. In that multitude of Laws, which for the repressing of disorders, and for the maintenance of peace and tranquillity among men must needs be in every well-governed Common-wealth; it cannot be avoided, but that honest men, especially if they have much dealings in the world, may have sometimes just and necessary cause to do that, which in regard of the thing done may bring them within the compass of some Statute or branch of a statute; yet such as, circumstances duly considered, no wise and indifferent man but would well approve of. Now, if in such cases always rigour should be used, Laws intended for the benefit, should by such hard construction become the bane of humane society. As Solomon saith, pProv. 30. 33.Qui torquet nasum, elicit sanguinem; He that wringeth the nose too hard forceth blood. Guilty this way are not only those contentious spirits, whereof are too many in the world; with whom there is no more ado, but a Word and an Action, a Trespass and a Process: But most of our common Informers withal, Sycophants you may call them (for that was their old name) like Verres his qCanes venatici. Cic. in Verri nis. saepeblood hounds in Tully, that lie in the wind for game, and if they can but trip any man upon any breach of a penal statute, there they fasten their teeth, and tugg him into the Courts without help; unless he will dare offam Cerbero, (for that is it they look for) give them a Sop, and then they are charmed for that time, Zacheus, besides that he was a Publican, was it seemeth such a kind of Informer; rLuk. 19. 8. Si quid cui per calumniam eripui. Apud Tert▪ 4. cont. Marc. 37.foreign, is the word Luke 19. If I have played the Sycophant with any man, If I have wronged any man by forged cavilation, or wrung any thing from him by false accusation. A report of this third kind is false, as devoid of equity.
But it may be thought I injure these men, in making them raisers of false reports; and am my self a false accuser of them, whilst I seek to make them false accusers of others: when as they dare appeal to the world, they report not any thing but what is most true, and what they shall be well able to11. prove so to be. At once to answer them, and clear my self, know that in Gods estimation, and to common intendment in the language of Scripture, it is all one to speak an untruth, and to speak a truth, in undue time, and place, and manner, and with undue circumstances. One instance shall make all this most clear. Dog the Edomoite, one of the s1 Sam. 21. 7.servants of the house of Saul, saw when David went into the house of Ahimelech the Priest, and how Ahimelech there entertained him, and what kindness he did for him: of all which he t1 Sam. 22. 9, &c.afterwards gave Saul particular information, in every point according to what he had seen. Wherein, though he spake no more than what was true, and what he had seen with his own eyes: yet because he did it with an intent to bring mischief upon Ahimelech, who had done nothing but what well became an honest man to do, David chargeth him with telling of lyes▪ and telleth him he had a false tongue of his own for it, Psal. 52. [uPsal. 52. 2. 4. Thy tongue imagineth wickedness, and with lies thou cuttest like a sharp rasor: Thou hast loved unrighteousness more than goodness, and to talk of lies more than righteousness: Thou hast loved all words that may do hurt, O thou false tongue.] Conclude hence; he that telleth the truth where it may do hurt, but especially if he tell it with that purpose, and to that end that it may do hurt, he hath a false tongue, and he telleth a false lye, and he must pardon us if we take him for no better than the raiser of a false report.
We see what it is to raise a false report: let us now see what a fault it is:12. The first Accuser that ever was in the world, was a false Accuser: and that was the Devil. Who as he began betimes, for he was a xJoh. 8. 44.lyer from the beginning: so he began aloft; for, the first false report he raised, was of the most High. Unjustly accusing God himself unto our mother Eve in a yGen. 3. 1, 4, 5.few words, of no fewer than three great crimes at once, Falshood, Tyranny, and Envy. He was then a slanderous accuser of his Maker; and he hath continued ever since a malicious accuser of his zApoc. 19. 6, 10.Brethren: Satan, foreign, &c. he hath his name from it is most languages. Slanderers, and Backbiters, and false Accusers may here hence learn to take knowledge of the rock whence they were hewn: here they may behold the top of their Pedigree. We may not deny them the ancienty of their descent; though they have small cause to boast of it; semen serpentis, the spawn of the old Serpent; aJohn 8. 44.children of their father the Devil. And they do not shame the store they come of; for the works of their Father they readily do. That Hellish Aphorism they so faithfully practise, is one of his Principles: it was he first instilled it into them, Calumniare fortiter, aliquid adhaerebit, bJer. 18. 18.Smite with the tongue, and be sure to smite home; and then be sure either the grief, or the blemish of the stroke will stick by it.
A Devilish practice, hateful both to God and man. And that most justly;13. whether we consider the sin, or the injury, or the mischief of it: the Sin in the Doer, the injury to the Sufferer, the mischief to the Common-wealth. Every false report raised in judgment, besides that it is a lye; and every lye is a sin against the truth, cWisd. 1. 11.slaying the soul of him that maketh it, and dApoc. 22. 15,excluding him from heaven, and binding him over unto eApoc. 22. 8.the second death: it is also a pernicious lye, and that is the worst sort of lies; and so a sin both against Charity and Iustice. Which whoso committeth, let him never look to fPsal. 15. 1, 3.dwell in the Tabernacle of God, or to rest upon his holy Mountain: God having threatned, Psal. 50. to take special knowledge of this sin; and though he seem for a time to dissemble, yet at least to reprove the bold offender to his face, [gPsal. 50. 19. - 21. Thou satest and speakest against thy brother: yea and hast slandered thine own mrothers Son. These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtest wickedly, that I was even such an one as thy self; but I will reprove thee, and set before thee the things that thou hast done.]
And as for the Injury done hereby to the grieved party, it is incomparable.14. If a man have his house broken, or his purse taken from him by the high way, or sustain any wrong or loss in his person, goods, or state otherwise, by fraud, or violence, or casualty: he may possibly either by good fortune hear of his own again, and recover it, or he may have restitution and satisfaction made him by those that wronged him, or by his good industry and providence he may live to see that loss repaired, and be in as good state as before. But he that hath his Name, and Credit, and Reputation causelesly called into question, sustaineth a loss by so much greater than any Theft, by how much hProv. 21. 1.a good Name is better than great Riches. A man may out-wear other Injuries, or out-live them: but a defamed person no Acquittal from the Iudg, no satisfaction from the Accuser, no following Endeavours in himself can so restore in integrum, but that when the Wound is healed, he shall yet carry the marks and the scars of it to his dying day.
Great also are the mischiefs that hence redound to the Commonwealth. 15.When no innocency can protect an honest quiet man, but every busie base fellow that oweth him a spite, shall be able to fetch him into the Courts, draw him from the necessary charge of his family and duties of his calling, to an unnecessary expence of money and time, torture him with endless delays, and expose him to the pillage of every hungry Officer. It is one of the grievances God had against Ierusalem, and, as he calleth them, Abominations, for which he threatneth to judge her, Viri detractores in te. iEzek. 22. 5.In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood.
Beware then all you whose business or lot it is at this Assizes, or hereafter16. may be, to be Plaintiffs, Accusers, Informers, or any way Parties in any Court of Justice, this or other, Civil or Ecclesiastical: that you suffer not the guilt of this Prohibition to cleave unto your Consciences. If you shall hereafter be raisers of false Reports, the words you have heard this day shall make you inexcusable another: You are by what hath been presently spoken, disabled everlastingly from pleading any Ignorance either Facti or Iuris; as having been instructed both what it is, and how great a Fault it is to raise a false Report. Resolve therefore, if you be free, never to enter into any Action or Suit, wherein you cannot proceed with Comfort, nor come off without Injustice: or, if already engaged, to make as good and speedy an end as you can of a bad matter, and to desist from farther prosecution. Let that Golden Rule, (commended by the wisest kforeign, apud Stob. Serm. 2. Idque per praeconem, cum aliquem emendaret, dici jubebat, Quod tibi fieri non vis▪ alteri ne feceris. Quam sententiam us que adeo dilexit, ut & in palatio, & in publicis operib. praescribi juberet. de Alex. Severo Lamprid, in Alex.Heathens as a fundamental Principle of Moral and Civil Iustice; yea and proposed by our blessed Saviour himself as a full abridgment of the lMatth. 7. 12▪Law and Prophets,) be ever in your eye, and ever before your thoughts, to measure out all your Actions, and Accusations, and Proceedings thereby: even to do so to other men, and no otherwise, than as you could be content, or in right reason should be content, they should do to you and yours, if their case were yours. Could any of you take it well at your Neighbours hand, should he seek your life or livelihood by suggesting against you things which you never had so much as the thought to do? or bring you into a peck of Troubles, by wresting your Words and Actions, wherein you meant nothing but well, to a dangerous construction; or follow the Law upon you, as if he would not leave you worth a groat, for every petty Trespass, scarce worth half the money? or fetch you over the hip upon a branch of some blind, uncouth and pretermitted Statute? He that should deal thus with you and yours, I know not what would be said and thought; Griper, Knave, Villain, Devil incarnate; all this and much more would be too little for him. Well, I say no more but this, Quod tibi fieri non vis, &c. Do as you would be done to. There is your general rule.
But for more particular direction, if any man desire it; since in every evil 17.one good step to soundness is to have discovered the right Cause thereof: … know not what better course to prescribe for the preventing of this sin of Sycophancy and false accusation, than for every man carefully to avoid the inducing Causes thereof, and the Occasions of those Causes. There are (God knoweth) in this present wicked World, to every kind of evil, inducements but too too many. To this of false Accusation therefore it is not unlikely, but there may be more: yet we may observe that there are four things, which are the most ordinary and frequent Causes thereof; viz. Malice, Obsequiousness, Coverture, and Covetousness.
The first is Malice. Which in some men (if I may be allowed to call18. them men, being indeed rather Monsters) is universal. They love no body: glad when they can do any man any mischief in any matter: never at so good quiet, as when they are most unquiet. It seemed▪ David met with some such; men that were mPsal. 120. 6, 7.Enemies to peace: when he spake to them of peace, they made themselves ready to battel. Take one of these men, it is meat and drink to him, which to a well-minded Christian is as Gall and Wormwood, to be in continual sutes. nVirg. Eclog. 3.Et si non aliqua nocuisset, mortuus esset: he could not have kept himself in breath but by keeping Terms; nor have lived to this hour, if he had not been in Law. Such cankered dispositions as these, without the more than ordinary mercy of God, there is little hope to reclaim: unless very want, when they have spent and undone themselves with wrangling (for that is commonly their end, and the reward of all their toyl) make them hold off, and give over. But there are besides these, others also; in whom, although this malice reigneth not so universally, yet are they so far carried with private spleen and hatred against some particular men for some personal respect or other, as to seek their undoing by all means they can. Out of which hatred and envy they raise false reports of them: that being in their judgments (as it is indeed) the most speedy, and the most speeding way, to oQuare solent inimici mentiri? ut petentiamcujusque minuant de quo mentiuntur, Aug. Psal. 65.do mischief with safety. This made the Presidents and Princes of Persia to pDan. 6. 3, 5.seek an Accusation against Daniel; whom they envied because the King had preferred him above them. And in all Ages of the World, wicked and prophane men have been busie to suggest the worst they could, against those that have been faithful in their Callings; especially in the callings of the Magistracy or Ministry; that very faithfulness of theirs being to the other a sufficient ground of malice. To remedy this, take the Apostles rule, Heb. 12. qHeb. 12. 15.Look diligently lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled. Submit your selves to the Word and Will of God in the Ministry; submit your selves to the Power and Ordinance of God in the Magistracy; submit your selves to the good pleasure and Providence of God in disposing of yours and other mens Estates: and you shall have no cause by the grace of God, out of Malice or Envy to any of your brethren, to raise false Reports of them.
The second Inducement is Obsequiousness. When either out of a base19. fear of displeasing some that have power to do us a displeasure, or out of a baser Ambition to scrue our selves into the service or favour of those that may advance us; we are content, though we owe them no private grudge otherwise, yet to become officious Accusers of those they hate, but would not be seen so to do: so making our selves as it were bawds unto their lust, and open instruments of their secret malice. Out of that base fear, the r3 Kings 21. 11.Elders of Iezreel, upon the Queens Letter, whom they durst not displease, caused an Accusation to be framed against innocent Naboth. And out of this base Ambition, s2 Sam. 22. 9.Doeg to pick a thank with his Master, and to endear himself farther into his good opinion, told tales of David and Abimelech. To remedy this, remember, the Service and Offices you owe to the greatest Masters upon Earth, have their bounds set them which they may not pass. tforeign. Pericles apud Agel 1. Noct. 3.Usque ad aras: the Altar-stone that is the Meere-stone; and Iustice hath her Altars too, as well as Religion hers. Go as far then as you can in Offices of love and service to your friends and betters, salvis pietate & justitiâ: but not a step farther for a world. If you seek to uGal. 1. 10.please men beyond this, you cannot be the servants of God.
Coverture is the third Inducement. And that is, when either to make our 20.own cause the better, we seek to bring envy and prejudice upon our adversaries, by making his seem worse: or, when being our selves guilty, we think to xScelere velandum est scelus. Sen, in Hippol. Act. 2.cover our own crimes, and to prevent the Accusations of others by getting the start of them, and accusing them first. As yGen. 39. 17.Potiphar's Wife accused Ioseph, and the zDan. 13.Elders Susannah, of such crimes, as they were innocent of, and themselves guilty. An old trick, by which C. Verres, like a cunning Colt, often holp himself at a pinch, when he was Praetor of Sicily; as aCic. in Verr. passim.Cicero declareth against him by many instances, and at large. For sithence the Laws in most cases rather favour the Plaintiff, because it is presumed men should not complain without grievance: we may think perhaps to get this advantage to our selves, and so rather choose to be Plaintiffs than Defendants, because (as Solomon saith) bProv. 18. 7.He that is first in his own tale seemeth righteous. To remedy this; Do nothing but what is just, and justifiable: be sure, your matters be good and right: they will then bear out themselves well enough, without standing need to such damned shifts for support.
But the fourth thing is that, which causeth more mischief in this kind, than all the rest. That which the Apostle calleth c1 Tim. 6. 10.—scelerum matrem. Claud. 2. de laud. Stillic. Inde fere scelerum causae—Juv. Sat. 14.the root of all evil; and which were it not, there could not be the hundredth part of those sutes, and troubles, and wrongs, which now there are, done under the Sun: Even the greedy worm of Covetousness, and the thirst after filthy lucre. For though men be wicked enough, and prone to mischief of themselves but too much: yet are there even in corrupt nature such impressions of the common principles of justice and equity, that men would not often do great wrongs dMaximam partem ad injuriam faciendam aggrediuntur n…nnulli▪, ut adipiscantur ea quae concupiverunt: In quo vitio latissime …atet avaritia. Cic. li. 1. de offic Sic vita hominum est, ut ad maleficiumnemo conetur sine spe at que emolumento accedere. Cic. pro Sex▪ Roscio. Pars vilissima rerum Certamen novistis opes. Bucan. lib. 3. foreign. Diphilus apud Stob. Serm. 8.gratis, and for nothing. If Zibah slander his Master falsly and treacherously; it is in hope of getting the living from him. And it was Naboth's Vineyard, not blasphemy, that made him guilty. Those sinners that conspired against the innocent, Prov. 1. [ePro 1. 12, 13. Come let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without a cause: Let us swallow them up, &c.] They had their end in it: and what that was the next following words discover, We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil. And most of our prouling Informers, like those Old Sycophants in Athens, or the Quadruplatores in Rome; do they aim think you so much at the execution of good Laws, the punishment of Offenders, and the reformation of Abuses, as at the prey, and the booty, and to get a piece of money to themselves? For let the Offence be what it will, deal but with them; and then no more speech of Laws or Abuses, but all is husht up in a calm silence▪ and no harm done. To remedy this; as Iohn Baptist said to the Soldiers in Luke 3. fLuke 3. 14.Accuse no man falsly (foreign, is the word there too) and be content with your wages: so if you would be sure not to accuse your Neighbour falsly, content your selves with your own Estates, and covet not gExod. 20. 17.his Ox or his Ass, his land or his money, or any thing that is his. Reckon nothing your own, that is not yours by fair and just means: nor think that can prosper with you and yours, that was wrung from another by Cavil or Calumny.
I have now done with you that are Accusers: whose care must be, according22. to the Text reading, not to raise a false Report. But the Margent remembers me, there are others whom this prohibition concerneth besides you, or rather above you; whose care it must be, not to receive a false report. A thing so weighty, and withal so pertinent to the general argument of this Scripture, that some hforeign Septuag. Non suscipies vocem mendacii. Vulg. edit. Thou shalt not receive a false report. Genev.—hunc sensum sequitur Chaldaeus, Vatabl.Translations have passed it in the Text. And the Original word comprehendeth it. For albeit the Raiser indeed be the first taker up; yet the Receiver taketh it up too, at the second hand. As it is commonly said of stollen goods, There would be no Thieves, if there were no Receivers; and therefore some Laws have made the Receiver iforeign. Phocyl.equal Thief with the Stealer, foreign: so certainly there would be fewer false reports raised in judgment, if they were more sparingly received. And therefore in this case also the Receiver must go pari passu with the Raiser: who, if he give way or countenance to a false Report when he may refuse or hinder it, by being an Accessary maketh himself a Party; and becometh kNon solum ille reus est qui falsum de aliquo profert; sed & is qui cito aurem criminibus praebet. Is…d. l. 3. de summo bono.guilty of the same sins, the same wrongs, the same mischiefs, with the first Offender, the false Accuser. David as he envieth against Doeg in the lPsal. 52.Psalm for telling, so he m1 Sam. 24. 9.elsewhere expostulateth with Saul for hearing unjust Reports of him. The Raiser and Receiver are both possessed with the same evil spirit: they have the same nforeign. Thucyd. apud Stob. Ser. 40.Devil, the same Familiar; only here is the difference, the Raiser hath his Familiar in his Tongue, the Receiver in his Ear. Whosoever then sitteth in the place of Magistracy and publick judicature in foro externo, or is by virtue of his Calling otherwise invested with any jurisdiction or power to hear and examine the Accusations of others: I know not how he shall be able to discharge himself in foro interno from a kind of Champerty (if my ignorance make me not abuse the Word) or at leastwise from misprision of Calumny and unjust Accusations; if he be not reasonably careful of three things.
First, let him beware how he taketh private informations. Men are partial, and will not tell their own Tales but with favour, and unto advantage.23. And it is so with most men; the oProv. 18. 17. Est vitium, cujus si te immunem sentis, inter omnes quos novi, ex his qui Cathedras ascendunt, sedebis me judice solitarius. Facilitas credulitatis haec est: cujus callidissime vulpeculae Magnorum neminem compe…i satis cavisse versutias. Bern. 3. de confid. in fine.first Tale possesseth them so, as they hear the next with prejudice: than which there is not a p—inde eis ipsis pro nihilo ira multa, inde innocentium frequens addictio, inde praejudicia in absentes. Bernard. Ibid.sorer enemy to right and indifferent judgment. A point so material, that some Expositors make it a thing principally intended in this first branch of my Text, qLyr. hic.Ut non audiatur una pars sine alia, saith Lyra. Suiters will be impudent, to forestal the publick hearing by private informations: even to the Iudg himself, if the access be easie; or at leastwise (which indeed maketh less noise, but is nothing less pernicious) to his Servant or Favorite that hath his ear, if he have any such noted Servant or Favorite. He therefore that would resolve not to receive a false report, and be sure to hold his Resolution, let him resolve (so far as he can avoid it) to receive no Report in private; (for a thousand to one that is a false one) or, where he cannot well avoid it, to be ready to receive the Information of the adverse part withal; either rforeign. Demosth. de Cor.both or neither, but indeed rather neither, to keep himself by all means equal and entire for a publick hearing. Thus much he may assure himself; there is no man offereth to possess him with a Cause before-hand, be it right, be it wrong; who doth not either think him unjust, or would have him so.
Secondly, let him have the conscience first, and then the patience too (and24. yet if he have the (s) conscience, certainly he will have the patience) to makef The righteous considereth the cause of the poor▪ but the wicked regardeth not to know it. Prov. 29. 7. search into the truth of things: and not be dainty of his pains herein, though matters be intricate, and the labour like to be long and irksom, to find out if it be possible the bottom of a business; and where indeed the fault lieth first or most. It was a great oversight in a good King, for t2 Sam. 16. 4.David to give away Mephibosheth's living from him to his Accuser, and that upon the bare credit of his accusation. It had been more for his honour to have done uJob 29. 16.as Iob did before him, to have searched out the cause he knew not; and as his son x3 King. 3. 23.Solomon did after him in the cause of the two mothers. Solomon well knew, what he hath also taught us, Prov. 25. that it was yProv. 25. 2.the honour of Kings to search out a matter. God as he hath vouchsafed Princes and MagistratesQuo exemplo moniti, ne ad proferendam sententiam—aut temere indiligenterque indiscussa quaeque quoquo modo judicemus: sed exemplo Domini descendamus, videamus, & justo examine criminosos diligenter perscr… temur. Concil. Trid. c. 22. his own zPsal. 82. 6.name; so he hath vouchsafed them his own example in this point. An example in the story of the Law, Gen. 18. where he did not presently give judgment against aGen. 18. 20, 21.Sodom upon the cry of their sins, that was come up before him: but he would go down first and see whether they had done altogether according to that cry; and if not, that he might know it. An example also in the Gospel story, Luk. 16. under the Parable of the rich man: whose first work, when his Steward was accused to him for embezeling his good, was not to turn him out of doors, but to bLuk. 16. ….examine his accounts. What through Malice, Obsequiousness, Coverture, and Covetousness, counterfeit reports are daily raised: and there is much cunning used by those that raise them, much odd shuffling, and packing, and combining, to give them the colour and face of perfect truth. As then a plain Country-man, that, would not willingly be cosened in his pay, to take a slip for a currant piece, or brass for silver, leisurely turneth over every piece he receiveth; and if25. he suspect any one more than the rest, vieweth it, and ringeth it, and smelleth to it, and bendeth it, and rubbeth it, so making up of all his senses as it were one natural touch stone, whereby to try it: such jealousie should the Magistrate use, and such industry, especially, where there appeareth cause of suspicion, by all means to sift and to bolt out the truth, if he would not be cheated with a false report instead of a true.
Thirdly, let him take heed he do not give countenance or encouragement, more than right and reason requireth, to contentious persons, known Sycophants, and common informers. If there should be no Accusers, to make complaints, Offenders would be no offenders, for want of due Correction; and Laws would be no Laws, for want of due Execution. Informers then are cAccusatores multos esse in civitate utile est, ut metu contineatur audacia: veruntamen hoc ita est vtile, ut non plane illudamur ab accusatoribus. Ibid.necessary in a Common-wealth, as Dogs are about your houses and yards. If any man mislike the comparison, let him know it it dNihil mali est, Canes ibi quamplurimos esse, ubi permulti observandi, multa que servanda sunt. Cic. pro Sex. Roscio.Cicero's simile, and not mine. It is not amiss, saith that great and wise Orator, there should be some store of Dogs about the house, where many goods are laid up to be kept safe, and many false knaves haunt to do mischief; to guard those, and to watch these the better. But if those eCanes aluntur in Capitolio, ut significent si fures venerint. Quod si luce quo que canes latrent, cum Deos salutatum aliqui venerint: opinor iis crura suffringantur, Ibid. &c.Dogs should make at the throat of every man that cometh near the house, at honest mens hours, and upon honest mens business: it is but needful they of the house should sometimes rate them off, and if that will not serve the turn, well favouredly beat them off, yea, and if (after all that they still continue mankeen) knock out their teeth, or break their legs, to prevent a worse mischief. Magistrates are petty Gods, God hath lent them his name. fPsal. 82. 6.Dixi Dii, I have said ye are Gods, Psa. 82. and false Accusers are petty Devils; the Devil hath borrowed their gApoc. 12. 9▪ 10.name, Sathan, foreign, the Accuser of his brethren. For a Ruler then orDe ipso eliam nomine Diaboli delatorem. de anima, c. 35 Magistrate, to countenance a Sycophant, what is it else, but as it were to pervert the course of nature, and to make God take the Devils part? And then besides, where such things are done; what is the common cry? People as they are suspicious, will be talking parlously, and after their manner: Sure, say they, the Magistrates are sharers with these fellows in the adventure; these are but their setters, to bring them in gain, their Instruments and Emissaries to toll grist to their mills for the increasing of their moulter. He then that in the place of magistracy would decline both the fault and suspicion of such unworthy Collusion; it standeth him upon, with all his best endeavours, by chaining and muzling these beasts to prevent them from biting where they should not; and, if they have fastned already▪ then by delivering the oppressed (with Iob) hJob 29. 17.To pluck the prey from between their teeth, and by exercising just severity upon them to break their jaws for doing farther harm.
I am not able to prescribe (nor is it meet I should to my Betters) by what means all this might best be done. For I know not how far the subordinate Magistrates power, which must be bounded by his Commission, and by the Laws, may extend this way. Yet some few things there are, which I cannot26. but propose, as likely good Helps in all reason and in themselves, for the discountenancing of false accusers, and the lessening both of their number and insolency. Let every good Magistrate take it into his proper consideration; whether his Commission and the Laws give him power to use them all, or no, and how far.
And first; for the avoiding of Malicious sutes, and that men should not be brought into trouble upon slight informations, I find that among the iCael. ad Cicer. 8. Fam. Epist. 8. vide l. 7. & l. 13. Sect. qui damni ff. de damno infect. In omnibus causis, sive-sancimus non aliter—Nisi prius qui eas exposcunt, juramentum de calumnia praestiterint, quod non, &c. l. Unic. Cod. de jurejurando proptercalum.Romans, the Accuser in most cases might not be admitted to put in his libel, until he had first taken his corporal oath before the praetor, that we was free27. from all malicious and Calumnious intent. Certain it is, as dayly experience sheweth, that many men who make no conscience of a lye, do yet take some kNam sacramenti timore contentiosa litigantium instantia compescitur. Ibidem. foreign. Sophocl.bog at an Oath. And it cannot but open a wide gap to the raising and receiving of false reports, and to many other abuses of very noisom consequence in the common weal; if the Magistrate when he may help it, to enrich himself or his Officers, or for any other indirect end, shall suffer men to be impleaded and brought into trouble upon Bills and Presentments tendered without Oath.
Secondly, since Laws cannot be so conceived, but that through the infinite variety of humane occurrences, they may sometimes fall heavy upon particular men: and yet for the preventing of more general inconveniences it is necessary there should be Laws [for better a mischief sometimes, than28. always an Inconvenience:) there hath been left, for any thing I find to the contrary, in all well governed Policies, a kind of latitude more or less, and power in the Magistrates, even in those Courts that were strictissimi juris, upon fit occasion to qualifie and to lSolio audire in potestate esse judicis mollire sententiam, & mitius vindicare quam jubeant leges. Aug. Ep. 158.mitigate something the rigour of the Laws by the Rules of Equity. For I know not any extremity of mSummum jus summa injuria. Ib. foreign. Arist. 5. Eth. 10.wrong beyond the extremity of Right: when Laws intended for fences, are made snares, and are calumniously wrested to oppress that innocency which they should protect. And this is most properly nExistunt et iam saepe injuriae calumnia quadam, & nimis …alida sed malit iosa interpretatione. Cic. l. 1. de offic. Scriptum sequi calu…iatoris esse: boni judicis, voluntatem scriptoris authoritatemque defendere. Id. pro A. Cecin.Calumny in the prime notion of the word, for a man upon a meer trick or quillet from the oAucupia verborum, & literarum tendicula. Cic. pro. A. Cecin.letters and syllables of the Law, or other writing, or evidence pressed with advantage, to bring his Action, or lay his Accusation against another man; who yet bonâ fide, and in Equity and Conscience, hath done nothing worthy to bring him into such trouble. Now if the Magistrate of Justice shall use his full power, by interpreting the Law in rigour where he should not, to second the boldness of a calumnious Accuser: or if he shall not use his full power, by affording his lawful favour in due time and place, to succour the innocency of the so accused; he shall thereby but give encouragement to the Raisers, and he must look to answer for it one day, as the Receiver of a false report.
Thirdly, since that Iustice which especially supporteth the Common-weal, 29.consisteth in nothing more than in the right distribution of rewards and punishments: many Law-givers have been careful, by proposing rewards, to encourage men to give in true and needful Informations, and on the contrary, to suppress those that are false or idle, by proposing punishments For, the Informers Office, though it be (as we heard) a necessary, yet it is in truth a very thankless office; and men would be loth, without special grievance, to undergo the hatred and envy, which commonly attendeth such as are officious that way; unless there were some profit mixt withal to sweeten that hatred, and to countervail that envy. For which cause, in most penal Statutes, a moiety, or a third, or pQuartam accusatoribus secundum necessitudinem legi… Tacit. lib. 4. Annal.fourth (which was the usual proportion in Rome, whence the name of qQuadruplatores, accusatores, seu delatores criminum publicorum sub poena quadrupli, sive quod ipsi ex damnatorum bonis quos accusaverant, quartam partem consequebantur. Ascon. in Ver. See Fest. in Quadruplatore, Turneb. 3. Adver. 9. Lips. in lib. 4. Ann. Taciti Bisciol. 14. subses. 15.quadruplatores came) or some other greater or lesser part of the fine, penalty, or forfeiture expressed in the Law, is by the said Law allowed to the Informer, by way of recompence for the service he hath done the State by his information. And if he be faithful and conscionable in his Office good reason he should have it. For he that hath an office in any lawful Calling (and the Informers calling is such, howsoever through the iniquity of those that have usually exercised it, it hath long laboured of an rQuadruplator, ut breviter describam, capitalis est. Est enim improbus & pestifer civis. Cic. lib. 2. ad Heren.ill name:) but he that hath such an office, as it is meet he should attend it, so it is meet it should maintain him; for, s1 Cor. 9. 7.Who goeth to warfare at any time of his own cost? But if such an Informer shall indict one man for an offence, pretending it to be done to the great hurt of the Common-weal, yet for favour, fear, or fee, balk tAequitas in paribus causis paria jura desiderat. Cic. in Top. Quis hoc statuit, quod aequum sit in Quintium, id iniquum esse in Nevium? Id. pro Quin.another man, whom he knoweth to have committed the same offence, or a greater; or, if having entred his complaint in the open Court, he shall afterwards let the suit fall, and take up the matter in a private Chamber, this is uPraevaricatio est accusatoris corruptela ab reo. Cic. in partit. orat.—Praevaricatorem eum esse ostendimus, qui colludit cum reo, & translatitiè munere accusandi defungitur. Mar. in lib. 1. ff. ad Senatusc. Turpil.Collusion; and so far forth a false report, as every thing may be called false when it is partial, and should be entire. And the Magistrate, if he have power to chastise such an Informer, some semblance whereof there was in that xV. Plin. 3. Epist. 9. lib. 1. ff. ad Senatusc. Turpil. Rosi…. 9. Antiq. Rom. 25.Iudicium Praevaricationis in Rome, he shall do the Common-weal good service, and himself much honour, now and then to use it.
Fourthly, since nothing is so powerful to repress audacious Accusers, as30. severe punishment is; it is observable, what care and caution was used among the Romans whilst that state flourished, to deter men from unjust Calumniations. In private and civil Controversies, for trial of right between party and party, they had their yV. Ascon… in Vertin. 3.Sponsiones; which was a Sum of Money in some proportionable rate to the value of the thing in Question; which the Plaintiff entred Bond to pay to the Defendant in case he should not be able to prove his Action; the Defendant also making the like Sponsion, and entring the like Bond, in case he should be cast. But in publick and criminal matters, whether Capital or Penal, if, for want of due proof on the Accusers part, the party accused were quit in judgment; there went a Trial upon the Accuser, at the suit of the accused, which they called Iudicium Calumniae, wherein they examined the original ground and foundation of the accusation; zV. lib. 1. Sect. 2. &c. ss▪ ad Senatusc. Turpil. Rosin. 9. Antiq. Rom. 25.which if it appeared to have proceeded from some just error or mistake bonâfide, it excused him; but if it should appear, the Accusation to have proceeded from some left handed respect, as Malice, Envy, Gain, &c. he was then condemned of Calumny. And his ordinary punishment then, was, whereunto he had virtually bound himself by suscribing his Libel, Poena talionis, the same kind of punishment, whatsoever it was, which by the Laws had been due to the party accused, if the libel had been proved against him. Yea, and for his farther shame it was provided by aLege Rommia v. l 1. sec. 2. ff. ad Senatusc. Turpil & Gothif…ed. in annot. ibid. Rosin. 8. Antiqu. Rom. part. 2. cap. 22.—literam illam i ta vehementer ad caput affigent, &c. Cic. pro Sext. Ros.one Law, that he should be burnt in the forehead with the Letter K. to proclaim him a Calumniator to the world; that in old Orthography, being the first letter of the word Kalumnia. The same letter would serve the turn very well with us also, though we use it to signifie another thing; and yet not so much another thing▪ as a thing more general, but comprehending this as one species of it. But, as I said, I may not prescribe, especially beyond Law. The thing for which I mention all this, is this; If all that care and severity in them could not prevent it, but that still unjust actions would be brought, and false accusations raised, what a world of unconscionable Suits and wrongful Informations may we think there would be, if contenticus Plantiffs, and calumnious Sycophants, when they have failed their proof, should yet get off easily, and escape out of the Courts without Censure or Punishment, or at the most but with some light check; and the poor injured innocent the while be held in as in a prison, till he have paid the utmost farthing? I say not of what is due, but of what shall be demanded by every man that hath but a piece of an Office about the Courts. It is a strong heartning to Accusers, and multiplieth false reports beyond belief when they that are wrongfully accused, though the cause go with them, shall yet have the worst of the day, and shall have cause to answer the congratulations of their friends, as bforeign. Plutarch. i… Pyrrho.Pyrrhus did his, after he had gotten two famous victories over the Romans, that if they should get a few more such victories, it would be to their utter undoing. If the Magistrate had power to make the wronged party full restitution, allowing him all costs and damages to a31. half penny; nay, if he had power to allow him double or treble out of his unjust adversaries estate, it were all little enough and but too little. Zacheus took himself bound to do more, when for this very sin of false accusation, he imposed upon himself, as a kind of satisfactory penance, cLuk. 19. 8.a four-fold restitution, Luk. 19. Here was a right Quadruplator indeed, and in the best sence; you shall not lightly read of such another.
Lastly, men have not dLucian in Hermot.fenestrata pectora, that we can see them throughly and within, yet there want not means of probable discovery. Of ordinary private men we make conjecture by their gestures, by their speeches, by their companions; but Magistrates, and great ones, who live more in the eye of the world, and are ever, as it were, upon the stage, and so do personati incedere, walk under a continual disguise, in respect of their outward deportment, are not so well discoverable by those means. They are best known by their eSyrac. 10. 2.servants and retinue, by their Favorites and Officers, by those they keep about them, or employ under them. If these be plain and down-right, if these be just and upright, if these be free and conscionable, Sycophants will pluck in their horns, and be out of heart and hope to find the Masters of such servants facile to give way to their false Calumniations. But if these be insolent and hungry companions, if these be impudent and shameless exactors, it is presently fforeign. Iso…r. apud Stob. Ser. 44. Si innocentes existimari volumus non s…lum nos abstinentes, sed etiam nostros comites praestare debemus. Cic. 2. in Ver. 2.thought they are then but brokers for the Masters; and there is no question then made, but that false reports will be received as fast as they can be raised, and entertained with both arms. We have learned from gProv. 29. 12.Solomon, Prov. 29. that if a ruler hearken to lies, then all his servants are wicked. They durst not be so openly wicked, if they were not first sure of him. It was but a hNemo unquam tam reus, tam nocens adducitur, qui ista defensione non possit uti. Cic. 2. in Verr. 2.sorry one, when it was at best, but is now withal grown a stale excuse; for great ones to impute their own wilful oversights to the faults or negligence of their Servants. Caius Verres (whom I cannot but now and then mention, because there is scarce to be found such another complete Exemplar of a wicked Magistrate;) would usually iAiunt eum queri solere nonnunquam, se miserum, quod non suis, sed suorum comitum peccatis & criminibus prematur. Cic. ibid.complain, that he was unjustly oppressed, not with his own, but with the crimes of his followers. But why then did he keep such a kennel of Sharks about him? why did he not either speedily reform them, or utterly discard them? It were indeed an unrighteous thing to condemn the Master for the Servants fault, and an uncharitable inference, because the Servant is naught, to conclude straight the Master is little better. For a just Master may have an unconscionable Servant; and if he have a kIn tanta felicitate nemo potest esse in magnâ familiâ, qui neminem neque servum, neque libertum, improbum habeat. Cic. pro Sex. Roscio.numerous family, and keep many, it is a rare thing if he have not some bad; as in a great herd there will be some rascal Deer. But then it is but one or a few, and they play their prises closely, without their Masters privity; and they are not a little sollicitous to carry matters so fairly outward, that their Master shall be the lDedecus ille domûs sciet ultimus. Juvenal. Satyr. 10.last man shall hear of their false dealing; and when he heareth of it, shall scarce believe it for the good opinion he hath of them. But when in the generality they are such, when they are openly and impudently such; when every body seeth, and saith, the Master cannot chuse but know they are such: it cannot be thought, but the Master is well enough content they should be such. mNeh. 5. 15.Even their Servants bear rule over the people, saith good Nehemiah of the Governours that were before him; but so did not I, because of the fear of God, Neh. 5. What? did not Nehemiah bear rule over the people? yes, that he did; there is nothing surer. His meaning then must be, (so did not I) that is, I did not suffer my Servants so to do, as they did theirs: implying, that when the Servants of the former Governours oppressed the people, it was their Masters doing, at leastwise their Masters suffering: [Even their Servants bare rule over the people; but so did not I, because of the fear of God.] The Magistrate therefore that would speedily smoke away these Gnats that swarm about the Courts of Iustice, and will be offering at his ear, to buz false reports thereinto: he shall do well to begin his reformation at home; and if he have a Servant that heareth not well deservedly, to pack him away out of hand, and to get an honester in his room. Say he be of never so serviceable qualities, and useful abilities otherwise, so as the Master might almost as well spare his right eye, or his right hand, as forgo his service; yet in this case he must not spare him. Our Saviours speech is peremptory nMatth. 29. 30.Erue, abscinde, projice; if either eye or hand cause or tempt thee to offend, pull out that eye, cut off that hand, cast them both from thee with indignation, rather want both, than suffer corruption in either. David's resolution was excellent in Psal. 101. and worthy thy imitation: oPsal. 101. 5. &c.Whoso privily slandereth his Neighbour, him will I destroy: whoso hath a proud look, and high stomach, I will not suffer him. Mine eyes look to such as be faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me: whoso leadeth a godly life, he shall be my Servant. There shall no deceitful person dwell in my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. He that will thus resolve, and thus do, it may be presumed, he will not knowingly give either way to a false report, or countenance to the reporter. And so much for our first Rule, Thou shalt not raise a false Report.
My first purpose, I confess, was to have spoken also to the Witness, and to32. the Iuror, and to the Pleader, and to the Officer, from the other four Rules in my Text, as punctually and particularly as to the Accuser, from this first: for I therefore made choice of a Text that taketh them all in, that I might speak to them all alike. But if I should enlarge my self upon the rest, as I have done in this, my Meditations would swell to the proportion rather of a Treatise than a Sermon; and what patience were able to sit them out? therefore I must not do it. And indeed, if what I have spoken to this first point were duly considered, and conscionably practised, I should the less need to do it. For it is the Accuser that layeth the first stone, the rest do but build upon his Foundation. And if there were no false reports raised or received, there would be the less use of, and the less work for false and suborned Witnesses, ignorant or pack'd Iuries, crafty and sly Pleaders, cogging and extorting Officers: but unto these I have no more to say at this time, but only to desire each of them to lay that portion of my Text to their hearts, which in the first division was allotted them as their proper share; and withal, to make application (mutatis mutandis) unto themselves, of whatsoever hath been presently spoken to the Accuser, and to the Magistrate, from this first Rulē. Whereof, (for the better furtherance of their Application, and relief of our memories) the summ in brief is thus. First, concerning the Accuser, (and that is every party in a Cause or Trial) he must take heed he do not raise a false report; which is done, first, by forging a meer untruth; and secondly, by perverting or aggravating a truth; and thirdly, by taking advantage of strict Law against Equity: any of which whoever doth, he first committeth a heinous sin himself, and secondly grievously wrongeth his neighbour, and thirdly, bringeth a great deal of mischief to the Commonwealth. All which evils are best avoided, first, by considering how we would others should deal with us, and resolving so to deal with them; and secondly, by avoiding, as all other inducements and occasions, so especially those four things, which ordinarily engage men in unjust quarrels, Malice, Obsequiousness, Coverture and Greediness. Next concerning the Iudge or Magistrate; he must take heed he do not receive a false report: which he shall hardly avoid, unless he beware, first, of taking private informations; secondly, of passing over Causes slightly without mature disquisition; and thirdly, of countenancing accusers more than is meet. For whose discountenancing and deterring, he may consider, whether or no these five may not be good helps; so far as it lyeth in his power, and the Laws will permit; first, to reject informations tendered without Oath; secondly, to give such Interpretations as may stand with Equity as well as Law; thirdly, to chastise Informers that use partiality or collusion; fourthly, to allow the wronged party a liberal Satisfaction from his Adversary; fifthly, to carry a sharp Eye, and a strait Hand over his own Servants, Followers, and Officers. Now what remaineth, but that the several Premises be earnestly recommended to the godly consideration, and conscionable practice of every one of you whom they may concern; and all your persons and affairs both in the present weighty businesses, and ever hereafter to the good guidance and providence of Almighty God: we should humbly beseech him of his gracious goodness to give a Blessing to that which hath been spoken agreeably to his Word, that it may bring forth in us the fruits of Godliness, Charity, and Iustice, to the Glory of his Grace, the Good of our Brethren, and the Comfort of our own Souls; even for his blessed Son's sake, our blessed Saviour Jesus Christ: To whom with, &c.