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A11792 The proiector Teaching a direct, sure, and ready vvay to restore the decayes of the Church and state both in honour and revenue. Deliuered in a sermon before the iudges in Norvvich, at summer assises there holden, anno 1620. By Thomas Scot Batchelor in Diuinity. Scott, Thomas, 1580?-1626. 1623 (1623) STC 22081; ESTC S116987 26,622 45

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malicious persons vvho seeke and hunt after occasions of suite and contention might not onely bee restrained but by seuere censures made examples to warne others to beware of vncharitablenesse As Dauid prayed to God Lord bee not mercifull to them that sinne of malicious wickednesse so do I to you my Lords Doubtlesse whilst Dauid prayes that God vvould not be mercifull to such hee intended to shew no mercie towards them himselfe for vvhere malice is the pursuer of the quarrell it is pitie but iustice with seueritie should meet with the pursuite As for all others I aduise them that where they can they should charitably compound their owne differences or suffer themselues for their owne good to be governed by the Iustices of peace or their next discreetest neighbours who are ready to doe for them without charge what must be here done perhaps by Twelue lesse sufficient men after all their expences But in vaine speake I to them hot-headed fellowes as they are I must therefore turne me to their Pastors by whom perhaps they will bee governed Alas no the Suit for the most part is betwixt him and them hee by his example learnes them to wrangle and onely in that they will be his followers But if hee bee such a man as rather attends vpon the preaching of the Gospel of Christ then the practise of the Lawes of the Kingdom I meane in forbearing to commence actions and so out of conscience will rather suffer some wrong then right himselfe too hastily by the Lawe euill men will esteeme him the lesse and giue him the lesse nay they will giue him nothing and care nothing for him They say of such that they are God Almighties fooles and they meane to make them their fooles too Or lastly if hee be as too often he is a good-fellow Parson as they style him that is a Flie in euery cup a Flea in euery companie skipping from the pot to the pulpit then out of base fellowship and familiarity with him in sinne they worthily contemne him He may leade them perhaps to the Alchouse there to drinke themselues friends and then foes againe when they are drunke or sober but from the alehouse he will not and from contention he cannot otherwise leade them hauing shamed and stayned and dishonored the dignity of his Priesthoode and so worthily lost all respect and reuerence due to his person and calling Therefore hopeles heere of remedy for this mischeefe I must turne me to their learned Counsell at lawe by whose aduise perhaps they wil be ruled for these stand both for the Plaintife and Defendant and the acts and words of the one are taken for the acts and words of the other You learned Gentlemen are the eldest sonnes of the Lawe the profest followers and seruants of Iustice Is it not therefore a shame that in this Country where you Norfolk● most abound most suites abound as if you bred diseases and did not take care to cure them Giue me leaue I beseech you all free and generous minds amongst you to scoure off the rust which canker-frets your noble profession that so no spots may be seene to blemish your honors where the guilty meets reprehension there the vertuous meet commendation The fall of the one is the raise of the other The good mount vp with Iustice the bad sinke downe with shame I know the workeman is worthy of his hire I know what an honorable age a well spent youth deserues to haue But is not this a shame I appeale to the best of you that a man should sell himselfe for a Fee as Achab sold himselfe to worke wickednes or let himselfe out for an hower or two to boulster out an vniust action and to outface a just action and that for a person that is knowne to be malitious against a widdow or an orphane or a poore simple man at least assuredly against an innocent Nay is it not a shame to be seen to haue a hand in such causes much more to giue counsel countenāce to such persōs for the aduantage of such causes to vse all art and skill and authority to peruert iudgement to seduce the Iury to preiudice and confound the true witnesse and to direct and animate the false as if God had giuen vs all those talents of Eloquence learning judgement memory fauour credit authority wealth and wit only to do wrong O! I beseech you since Iustice makes you so great as you rise to build the greatest families of this Land lay a lawfull foundation vpon good ground that it may not totter assoone as you are dead and rot before Iosuah 7. your bodyes be rotten Let not an ill-gotten wedge be found in your coffers to corrupt and consume all the rest O gather not your Oakes to build your houses vpon that day which God hath set apart for himselfe Num. 15. For if stickgatherers were punished who wrought to supply Exod. 16. 26 their necessities and Manna Angels food a Sacrament of Christ might not be gathered on that day then how shall they escape nay how shall they be punished for escape they shal not who neglect Gods seruice who neglect the workes of iustice charity and piety to themselues to their neighbours and to God and make a couenant yea sell themselues that day to do vnjustly vncharitably and impiously to defend vniust causes to oppose charitable actions to ouerthrow pious works and to gather wealth for the maintenance of ryot excesse and all manner of sin It was once a question indeed amongst the Pharesies whether it were lawfull to doe good on the Sabaoth day or no but I thought till now that to do enil vpon any day especially vpon this day had beene without question vnlawfull But if it be now questionable with any learne to ouerrule it vvith a booke-case in the Scripture the Law of God And for Leuit. 26. 34. 35. practise in the Lawes of the Land take the reuerend Iudges for a president and be sonnes vvorthy of such fathers vvho being moued by the vveake oratory of simple man but the powerfull operation of Gods holy Spirit haue left an old corrupt custome submitted thēselues to the holy ordinance of God forborne to trauell vpon that day because they would doe iustice and not rob God vvhilst they vvere seruing Caesar for they knew well That Iustice exalteth a Nation but sinne is a shame to any people And thus much for the second and third person the Plaintife and Defendant their learned Counsel at Law The fourth person required necessarily in euery ordinary judgement is the vvitnesse And this is not only hee vvhich is brought in by Sub-paena in some speciall action but euery Iury-Man euery Officer vvho ought to informe the Court of truth to present such crimes as are vvithin the compasse of their inquirie These vvould be looked after my Lords for these are the principall cause that justice is not executed vvhilst for feare or fauour
hauing one iust man the Magistrate A Kingdome is honoured by hauing a iust and wise King but when all or the greatest part of men are iust in the houshold and all or the greatest part of housholds are iust in the Citie and all or the greatest part of those Cities and Counties are iust in a Kingdome when iustice raignes thus vniuersally then then is that verified which Salomon here affirmes Iustice maketh a Kingdome or Nation glorious or Iustice exalteth a Nation For as in old Rome all the Senators seemed Kings so here the Magistrates seeme gods resembling God in iustice I haue sayd ye are gods the Ministers seeme Angels resembling Angels in sanctitie and diligence the people seeme blessed spirits liuing in loue in peace in holinesse and happinesse and the whole Common-wealth seemes a heauen vpon earth full of sobrietie iustice and godlinesse Euill men may malice it the Kings of the earth may conspire against it Satan and his associates may vndermine it but God protects it with his arme guides it with his Word and Spirit and guilds it with his glorious presence Take one example without exception for all euen the Raigne of that euer-memorable Queene Elizabeth within whose heart as all royall Vertue was enshrined and in her Raigne all true Religion and Iustice flourished so for the confirming of this Maxime after her death this Elogium was engraued vpon her Tombe by the commandement of her vnpartiall Successor which is the more remarkable for the honour both of the liuing and of the dead because Princes can hardly with patience heare the praises of their Predecessors much lesse write them or command them to be written Religion reformed Peace vvell grounded Monie reduced to the true valevv a Navy vvell furnished in readinesse Honour at Sea restored Rebelliō extinguished England for the space of fortie and fovvre yeeres most vvisely governed inriched and fortified Scotland freed from the French Fraunce relieved Netherlands supported Spaine avved Ireland quieted and the vvhole Globe of the Earth tvvise sayled round about What could be more yet all this was true and much more And thus were we happy And thus we see how Iustice exalteth a Nation when it giues Sinne his due punishment and Vertue his due reward when the Countriman dares trauell safely abroad or sleepe at home vnder his owne Vine without feare of theeues or enemies when the Merchant dares trade without feare of Pirates at Sea or Farmers and watchers at Land when euery man dares buy and sell without feare of cousening dares flie to the Courts of Conscience without feare of vndoing dares plant and plow and sow and reape and grow honestly rich and be knowne to bee so without feare of Empson and Dudley or the like when if men haue no other capitall crime Innocence shall not be accounted one when all men dare serue one God after one and the selfe same manner deuoutly and none dares serue him otherwise vvhen things are generally thus disposed this makes a flourishing estate this makes a nation glorious And thus much of the first proposition or Aphorisme Iustice exalteth a Nation We come to the second But sinne is a shame to any people Aug. de 2. animal Peccatum est volunt as retinendi vel consequendi quod justitia vetatur And heere that rule holdes Iniustitia vniver sa justitiae opposita non pars vitij est se vniversum vitium Arist Eth. lib. 5. As justice before contayned all vertues but especially the carriage of one man to another as the most supreme and sensible vertue so heere all sinne is intended but especially injustice as the proper and most apparant opposite to justice And that to let vs see how in justice vvhich is justice mis-done corruptly or left vndonenegligently is the cause of all sinne and so consequently of all shame the reward of sinne as justice duly executed is the cause of all vertue and so by consequence of glory the reward or crowne of vertue both heere and heereafter To cleere this looke into Paradise looke into Hell looke into Heauen and looke vpon the Earth for examples 1. In Paradise when God had made man according to his image in originall justice and giuen him the law of Nature to be his guide and to teach him how to obay God and command the Creature with this one easie and expresse prohibition not to eate of the fruite in the midst of the Garden Sathan comes to the woman and like a Sophister perswades her that if Man would eate thereof he should be like God knowing both good and euill They vvere like gods before being created the image of God but in coueting more they lost vvhat they had And obserue the vvayes and degrees of precipitation Euah that vvas made to obay would needs command for the text saith the Serpent perswaded her but shee gaue to the Man like a Mistresse and it is sayd he did eate thereof as if he durst do no othervvise So priuate justice being infringed it made vvay to publique and the particular lavv being broken the vniversall defection follovved Before this vvhilst Adam stood in integrity of Iustice he vvas naked and not ashamed nay hee neede Genes 2. 2● not be ashamed for he vvas a most glorious creature God himselfe approues him for such and beholding him so pronounceth him to bee good But presently after vvhen justice vvas transgrest and the lavv broken it is sayd Their eyes were opened and they saw that they were Genes 3. 7. naked They were then ashamed and therefore made Genes 3. 8. themselues aprons of fig-leaues They were then afrayd and therefore hid themselues in the shadow of the trees For they knevv that God vvas just euen justice it selfe and therefore as the sentence vvas gone out of his mouth The Genes 2. 19 day that thou shalt eate thereof thou shalt dye the death so the svvord of Iustice follovves to execute and they must dye and all their posterity No sinne shall goe vnpunished without shame All must dye vvith him since all sinned in him And thus vvee see hovv shame follovves sinne naturally and hovv till man had sinned there vvas no shame but now Pudor est timor justae vituperationis Shame is a feare of a just reprehension nay rather Shame is a feare of a just reiection vvhich man had by sinne deserued 2. Looke into hell see the sinne of Diues repayd vvith Shame and that according to the rule of justice Lege Talionis ●uc 16. He beg'd a drop of water and could not haue it because he denyed a crumme of bread before when Lazarus beg'd it Doubtlesse had he giuen a crumme he should haue receiued a drop There is lesse mercy showne to him then to a dog he could not be suffered to lap a little water to coole his tongue because he shewed lesse mercy to Lazarus then the dogs did vvho lickt his sores with their tongues 3. Looke into heauen see Abrahams heart