heare it so readie of resolution that they know which way their verdict shall goe assoone as they know the partie whom they would pleasure or please to bee the plaintife or the defendant before the cause bee opened or euidence produced But as the Law doth presume you to bee Gentlemen of choyce for wisedome and integritie and yeomen of good note for truth and honestie experienced in Law-courses and cases to bee tryed so be diligent in sifting and examming all proofes and euidences readie to conceiue and acknowledge apparant equitie and conscionable in bringing in an approued verdict not partiall nor vnequall in hope of reward or for feare of daunger for fauour to your friends or enuy to your aduersaries but such as may be allowed of God and men to your credite and comfort and the publique good Lastly you my brethren the bodie of the Countrey 6. To the body of the Countrey who seeke in these places of iudgement the face the Iudge to haue your causes tryed in matters of controuersie or else are brought hither to be iudged in matters of crime Follow peace with all men and holinesse without which no man shall see the Lord. Whatsoeuer you would that men should do vnto you euen so doe yee to them For matter of crime 1. Pet. 2.17 Psal 34.13 1. Pet. 3.11 take those exhortations Feare God honour the King Eschew euill and doe good Practise pietie toward God equitie toward men Liue holily as good Christians in a Christian Church liue blamelessely as good subiects in a Christian Common-wealth Auoid those capitall crimes and shamefull courses which bring men to censure before these iudgement seats And to speake particularly Rom. 13.3 If thou wilt not bee afraid of the power of the magistrate doe that which is good and thou shalt haue prayse of the same whosoeuer thou art But if thou doe euill then be afraid for he beareth not the sword in vaine for hee is the minister of God a reuenger to execute wrath vpon him which doth euill Art thou then a traytor to the King or Common-wealth a wilfull murtherer or poysoner of thy brother Then the sword of iustice must be sheathed in thy bloud that euill may be taken away that the land be not guilty of thy foule offence that others may heare and feare that sinne may bee punished in thee and preuented in other that heare or see thee If thou receiue censure for some smaller offence learne by this thy censure to amend thy life lest a worse thing hereafter befall thee for thy iterating of thy sinne will increase thy punishment In case of controuersie I beseech you all to obserue these rules seeke peace and follow after it follow peace with all men Defraud not one another Publicè interest vt lites iniustae atque inanes coerceantur ne Magistratus querelis atque causis nihil◠occupetur neue ciues temerè iuter se rixentur pacemque turbent L. 21. ff si certum petatur And if controuersies arise vse all good meanes for the speedie compounding of them that the Iudgement-seat be not troubled with euery trifling brawle and needlesse suite And whereas none are more readie than you to cry out of Lawyers Atturneys and such men as vnconscionable in peruerting of iustice as vnreasonable extortioners and extorters of fees as defrauders and vndoers of the Common-weale scraping to themselues the fat of the land c. Take heed that the fault and cause of these euils doe not first issue and spring out from your selues from your peeuish and wrongfull and reuengefull dispositions Whosoeuer thou art therefore that complaynest of others take heed lest the fault be found in thy selfe Prosecute no bad cause of hatred to hurt another but onely good causes and that of necessitie to relieue thy selfe Packe no Iuries Suborne no witnesses Bribe no Iudges Lawyers nor ministers of justice vse no calumnies forgeries or vnjust protractions or vn-warrantable practises for the effecting of thy purposes in vnlawfull proceedings for if it fall out thou be justly cast in thy bad cause then shalt thou beare an heauie burden of iust punishment for thy wilfull prosecution of thy vnrighteous suit Or if by force or fraud thou preuayle against equitie then which is worse thou burdenest thy selfe with the fearefull guilt of double iniquitie And though thou get the day in the place of iudgement on earth yet shalt thou loose the day at Gods Iudgement-seat in Heauen Application to all ioyntly And now at length to grow to a finall conclusion of all these things being so as Iehosaphat that most worthy seruant of God did charge those Iudges whom he had made so do I a poore Minister of Christ in the name of the Lord charge you all that haue the least finger in matters of iustice as Reuerend Iudges worthy Iustices Counsellors Iurors witnesses and the rest Take heed what yee doe ◠Chron. 19.6.7 for yee iudge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the iudgement Wherefore now let the feare of the Lord be vpon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquitie with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts And as Moses to these Iudges of Israel in this place Heare the causes between your brethren and iudge righteously betweene euery man and his brother and the stranger that is with him Yee shall not respect persons in iudgement but you shall heare the small aswell as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of man V. and last poynt Of reseruation of iudgement for the iudgment is Gods Now I should proceed to the case of reseruation And if the cause be too hard for you bring it vnto me and I will heare of it But of this I say no more but this That whereas these causes and matters of iudgment are farre too great for any of vs who of our selues cannot thinke a good thought Therefore let vs appeale to God and to his Throne of grace for his assistance and blessing in these weighty affaires of Iudgment O blessed Lord God Father of mercies and God of all grace graunt we humbly intreat thee to our Iudges and Magistrates heauenly wisdom christian courage godly feare vncorrupted integritie in hearing and iudging to all the ministers and instruments of iustice and equitie vprightnes and good conscience in prosecuting and promoting of actions and causes to all the people louing affections and peaceable dispositions one toward another thankfulnes vnto thee for this thine ordinance of iudgement and dutiful obedience to the rules of pietie iustice and equitie that so vice may be punished vertue encouraged iniustice may be remoued equitie maintained The common-wealth may be prospered the Church enlarged our poore soules may be saued and thy great name glorified in the manifestation of thine aboundant mercie in our felicitie and that for the merits of thine onely Sonne and our onely Sauiour Iesus Christ the righteous Iudge of quicke and dead to whom with Thee O Father and with thy Holie-Spirit three glorious Persons but one only true and euer-liuing God be ascribed of vs and of thy whole Church all Honour Glorie Praise Power Maiestie Dominion and Thankes-giuing from this time forth for euer-more Amen All glorie be to GOD. FINIS
this regular and circular revolution all motion begins in God and ends in God for mans felicitie and Gods glory infinitely and eternally Great you see is your honour as great is your charge A double charge from God Deut. 17. v. 18 19 20. from King God chargeth the King God and King whose Ministers and sword-bearers you are haue charged you Rom. 13.4 Your office then of Magistracie as ours of Ministery is not so much nomen honoris as oneris Aug de Ciuit. Dei l. 19. c. 19. Your desire must therefore be not so much praeesse as prodesse to beare rule as to profit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luc 21.25 to be benefactors for the good of men that is your end who are publique Patrons oracles of your Country Hauens and Refuges to poore distressed ones Your symbole must be that of Alphonsus Alphons Neapolitan Rex The Pelican with her own bill picking and drawing bloud out of her owne breast with this inscription Pro lege pro grege Magistraâ—us virio ostendit Arist ex Biante Herein will Magistracie shew your manhood Lastly where as these matters of iudgment are disposed and dispensed not by your selues alone but by many other inferior organs and instruments who need due inspection and daily information 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as interpreters of Law instruct them as Moderators of Iustice direct them as charged your selues of God and King to doe iustice lay great charge on them yea as armed with power coactiue by vertue thereof as far as shall be lawfull and needfull as Guardians of equitie vrge them to doe what God and King law and conscience equitie and honestie exact at their hands that this chaste Virgin Iustice be not by them deslowred Hesiod that conscience of crime in vnrighteous dealing may not inwardly Hieron epist. wound their consciences at home nor their name and familie outwardly besmeared with iust reproch and ignominie abroad But that good right be maintained good conscience discharged good name preserued that God may be honoured 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods people benefited the Common-wealth cherished the Church inlarged our communion with God and society with men may become most comfortable happy and blessed while iudgment and iustice are equally dispensed of all manner persons vnder God and King as from God by God and for God as is more largely declared in this insuing Treatise which being heretofore once vttered by me and now drawne into publique by effectuall perswasion of others I now make bold to present to your Honours and Worships because it concernes you all though for manner not so worthy as I well could wish your learned wisdomes view and approbation Well hoping that in your priuacie and retirednesse from your weighty imployments you will please to peruse it couering what faults and slips you espie therein with your robes of loue and Christian Charitie 1 Pet 4.8 not looking at my want of discharge of my dutie which I ingenuously acknowledge and sue for pardon thereof at the hands of God and you but at the better discharge of your owne whereto this my poore labour as a weake meane would further For so you stand charged of God and the King Take heede therefore what yee doe 2 Chron 19.6 for yee iudge not for man but for the Lord. And the Lord be with you in the iudgment Amen Your Honors and Worships in all dutie to be commanded William Pemberton The Charge of GOD and the KING DEVTER 1.16 17. 16. And I charged your Iudges at that time saying Heare the causes betweene your brethren and iudge righteously betweene euery man and his brother and the stranger that is with him 17. Yee shall not respect persons in iudgment but you shall heare the small aswell as the great you shall not be afraid of the face of man for the iudgment is Gods and the cause that is too hard for you bring it vnto me and I will heare it AL the counsels and works of God the most mighty Creator most wise disposer of all things doe proceede from the good pleasure of Gods will Ephes 1 12. which is the cause of all causes and tend to the glory of his name Voluntas Dei omnium quae sunt ipsa est causa Aug deâ—en contra Manich l. 1. c. 2. Prou 16.14 which is the end of all ends And that in the manifestation of his mercy in the gracious saluation and happines of some and of his iustice in the deserued condemnation and misery of others And this our naturall and temporary life which we liue on earth is in the counsell and decree of God a praeparation and degree to a better life And in the elect to omit the rest to a life spirituall and supernaturall begun on earth in this time of grace and continued in Heauen in that eternitie of glory This life well led in faith and obedience doth highly aduance vs to felicitie and happines This life ill led in infidelitie and sin doth deeply depresse vs into miserie and wretchednesse The entrance of Lawes Now that man on earth might liue well God did giue him a Rule to liue by This Rule is the Law of God the rule of piety the square of equitie first instamped in mans nature in his created innocencie AntequaÌ„ scripta fuit in hominum legthus in mentibus vigebat Ambrâ—â— lib. 4. de Abra hamo Patriare cap. 4. Eph 4.24 In libro aduersus Iudaeâ—s For what was that Image of God in man consisting of righteousnesse holinesse and trueth but Lex primordialis a primordiall Law as Tertullian speakes exactly requiring and absolutely inabling the performance of duties of piety to God and of equitie to man both in habite and act and that in sinceritie and perfection of them both And what was the Morall Law proclaimed on Mount Sinah Exod. 20. after that man had defaced Gods image by transgressing his command but this primordiall Law renewed and repeated as an absolute and eternall rule and square of piety to God Exod. 31.18 and equitie to man which God with his owne finger did ingraue in two Tables of stone and gaue vnto Moses for the vse of his Church This Morall Law requires obseruation according to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or exact perfection thereof but it giues no abilitie to performe obedience It sheweth what man now ought to doe what once he could haue done but not what he now can do nor what it will inable him to do but accuseth and accurseth euery man as guilty of sinne for the least transgression of it Whereupon God in mercy to releeue mans misery to this law of works giuen in Sinah Exod. 20. did adde another Law as the Apostle stiles it the Law of Faith Rom. 3.27 Isâ—â— 2.3 Mich. 4.2 giuen in Sion which promiseth life and blessednesse to all that beleeue in
of courage fearing God dealing truely Exod. 18. Esay 1.17 and hating couetousnesse And seeke iudgement relieue the oppressed iudge the fatherlesse and defend the widow that you may safely preuent such fearefull sin and wofull miserie Your calling is honourable ordained of God as a soueraigne antidote against euill and promoter of good Your persons are selected to this function by God The person you susteine is the Sonne of God who hath honoured you with the title and authoritie of God who is present as chiefe President in the assemblies of Gods Your iudgement which you giue is the iudgement of God and he will auow and defend both it and you if it be iust hee will renounce both it and you if by your wit or will it be vnjust as vnbeseeming his Maiestie who is iustice it selfe 3 To Counsellors You the Aduocates of justice as Counsellors and Pleaders I beseech you to endeuour in the feare of God to cleare your selues of those two imputations which sometimes are layd vpon some of you how iustly vpon any of you that are present not I but God and your owne consciences can tell you namely first that there is no cause so bad but by your shifts and pretences you can make it seeme good secondly nor no cause so good but by your vnskilfulnesse or vnfaithfulnesse in handling you can make it seeme bad Turpe est defendere quod non mihi consliterit iustum esse Gregor Consider I beseech you that it is a verie fowle thing resolutely to defend what cause you know not to be iust but when you perceiue know it to be vniust then by querkes and deuises to cloake and ouer-shadow falsehood and wrong and against conscience to out-face both truth and iustice in the face of the Court and Iudgement-Seat before Gods Minister of Iustice yea God himselfe it is a most horrible and fearefull sinne This were to call good euill and euill good Esa 5.18 to instifie the wicked for a reward and to take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him yea to draw iniquitie with cords of vanitie and sinne as with cart-ropes Against which manie fearefull woes are denounced Remember I pray you that worthie example of the learned and vpright Lawyer Papinian who being desired by the Emperour Antoninus Caracalla to defend his fratricide of his brother Geta answered boldly Spartian Non tam facile est excusare fratricidiuÌ„ quam facere It s not so easie to defend fratricide as to doe it And he would rather dye thaÌ„ vndertake the defeÌ„ce of an vniust and vnrighteous cause And if you haue taken on you the defence of a good cause doe not by your ignorance ouer-throw it or by your vnfaithfulnesse betray it and make your poore client pay ful dearly for your ouersight in formes of prosecution But be aduertised I pray you by vertue of this charge to heare and iudge righteously Informe your selues throughly in the state of the cause and deale faithfully with your Client in relating what you thinke of the equitie of the cause and issue of the controuersie And if it bee bad let it not by any your meanes be prosecuted with cost lost with infamie or wonne by iniquitie and flat injustice If good let it not want good successe by your neglect or ouersight or want of countenance and fidelitie in pleading or become more costly by your procrastinations But vse your best endeauour that right may be found with moderate expenses that law may proue a speciall and speedy remedy of wrongs and not a trap or engine to catch and insnare men as men of all sorts doe commonly complayne Then though your poore Client doe not enrich you with his fees yet shall you bee no loosers when you haue made vp your reckonings but what is wanting in the poore Clients small fees shall God himselfe recompence in your great accounts and bestow vpon you not a temporall garland but an eternal crowne of glorie for your vertue and well-doing to the people of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. To Witnesses You Witnesses who shall for true testimonie to the truth take a solemne oath of God and the King and calling vpon the glorious name of God vow damnation to your soules if you speake not truth Know that a feareful curse is gone out from the Lord vpon all such as shall so solemnely take his glorious name in vaine A false Swearer is guilty two waies Châ—â—soss in mat 5. est 22. q 5. cau quicunque both because he takes Gods name in vaine and because he takes his neighbour by deceit yea a false witnesse is obnoxious and offends against God whom hee contemneth the Iudge whom he seduceth the partie whom he wrongeth by his false testimonie yea to his family which he hurteth and to his owne Soule which he condemneth O be not I beseech you so trayterous to God so treacherous to the Iudge so iniurious to your brethren so hurtfull to your posteritie so desperately prodigall of the bloud of your owne soules as hauing layed them to God for pawnes of truth you will wittingly and willingly sweare and forsweare against God and truth King and Iudge neighbour and familie and your owne selues as lewd and godlesse and gracelesse sonnes of Belial But beeing called hither by God and the King to this seruice of your Countrey all you that haue taken or are to take an oth sweare in truth Ier. 4.22 in iudgement and righteousnesse These three if they be wanting it s not so much an oath as a perjurie Discharge your oathes vnto the Lord. Be not so silly as not to conceiue the truth nor so forgetfull as not to remember truth nor so subtile as to deceiue both others and your selues by false witnesse-bearing against the truth Know what you testifie testifie what you know The whole truth and nothing but the truth The whole truth be not afraid of the face of any great man who may sit on your skirts for speaking the truth Nothing but the truth doe not accept mens persons in iudgement Be not corrupted with friendship nor suborned with reward Shake off vaine feare cast off vaine hope Witnesse for small aswell as for great for Stranger aswell as for brother giue a playne testimonie to truth and veritie So shall you haue the testimonie of honestie for your credite among men The testimony of good conscience for comfort in your selues and testimonie from Christ at the day of the great Assise as fit to inhabite in his holy mountaine for euer 5. To Questmen and Iurors The charge of God and the King to all Quest-men and Iurors is the same in effect with that of the Witnesses that they heare and giue verdicts righteously discharging their oathes vnto the Lord. Far be it from you my brethren to be such as some common Iurors are of some said to be so quicke of conceit as that they know the case before they
Ieremiah the Prophet whom the Priests and Prophets apprehended and conuented before the Iudges and accused capitally as worthie of death for denouncing Gods iudgements against Iuda at Gods command Ieremiahs defence was accordingly heard he acquitted by the Princes and Iudges Ioh. 18.29 Pilate thus farre demeaned himselfe well in the case of our Sauiour while hee would not giue credite to the high-Priests accusation but would heare the poore defendant as well as these plaintifes though men of chief place and authoritie amongst them Nicodemus did reason like a worthie Iudge and prudent Magistrate Doth our Law condemne any man before it heare him Ioh. 7.51 and know what hee doth But the rest his vniust and vnequall Brethren did take him vppe very sharpely for it and resolued to condemne Christ absent and vnheard in his iust defence whereas the most grosse and most vile malefactor ought first to be conuicted by two witnesses at the least Deutr. 19.15 before sentence of iudgement be passed against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Demosth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ante meridiâ—m causam conscito cum perorarint ambo praesentes 12. Tab. Hee that answereth a matter before it be heard it is folly and shame vnto him saith the Wiseman Prou. 18.13 It was the equitie of the Iudges by the law of the Athenians Ne visum nec auditum hominem damnare nefas vltiâ—um censetur Ammon Marcel Nulla maior iniuria quam indictâ causâ aliquem iudicare to hear both parties alike And an Iniunction set downe in the 12. Tables at auncient Rome Before mid-day take notice of the cause when both the persons in presence haue pleaded And it was alwaies accounted a most haynous offence Lucianus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato in Demodico ex Poeta to sentence or condemne men their causes not first heard And prudent prouision is made by all good lawes that iudgement bee not giuen before the cause bee heard 2. Discussing Iudicantem oportet cuncta rimari et ordinem rerum pleÌ„na inquisitione decurrere quousque ad veritatem perueniatur E lentherius As there must be a simple equall hearing of both the parties so must there be an accurate examination and exquisite discussing of the cause This is the law of God Deutr. 13. ver 12.13 That if the Iudge haue heard of an abhomination done as the seducing of Gods people he must inquire make search ask and that diligently great is the emphasis and weight of the words and if it bee found certainely true then must hee punish Deutr. 17.4.5.6 Ioshuah 7.22 1. Sam. 14.43 Ionah 1.8.10 Ioshuah would not condemne Achan vpon Gods Lot and his owne confession vntill hee found by search his confession to be true Not Saul Ionathan nor the Mariners Ionah taken by lot vntill examination and hearing of their answer and defence Ioh. 7. and Nicodemus doth take it an expresse poynt in Gods Law That a man ought not to be coÌ„demned vpon bare hearing no not till it bee knowne what hee hath done Thus did righteous Iob in his legall processe The cause that I knew not I searched out Iob. 29.16 And thus farre did Pilate well in the cause of Christ Act. 25.27 Act. 24 22.27 Ioh. 18.30 And Festus the President of Caesaria and Foelix his Predecessor in the case of St. Paul And Salomons wisedome was experienced and admired in that first case of the two harlots who contended for the child 1 King 3. when after strict examination through a wise inuention and semblance of diuiding the quicke childe he did extort a confession from the true mother by strange commotion of her naturall affection And God himselfe doth often inculcate this as the dutie of the Iudge The Iudges shall make diligent inquisition Deutr. 29.18 and for this cause they had neede both to haue and vse those excellent parts of wisdome and vnderstanding which God requireth of them and bestoweth vpon them Deutr. 1.13 How needfull and helpfull in iudiciall processe is the exquisite and accurate discussing of the cause it may appeare by this that the more exactly the cause is discerned and knowne the more iust sentence may thereof be giuen as Great Demosthenes did well obserue Wherefore there are required as you know right well in a Iudge or Magistrate in hearing of causes that they may be equally heard and exquisitely discussed Things to be obserued in hearing of causes sundry things to be obserued and practised Serious attention to the matter in hand that no materiall proofe or important reason tending to euince the equitie of the cause through heedles neglect be omitted or let passe without obseruation and notice taken thereof For as one well learned and experienced saith well In eo sape quod aures praetervectum est status causae versatur Joan. Bodin de repub In that oft-times which passeth by the eare doth the state of the cause consist Wise moderation and ordering of the processe that impertinent digressions odious invectiues and calumnious imputations among pleaders or witnesses vsed to prejudice the contrary person or cause be seasonably interrupted and sharply rejected and that neither party be hindred by his aduersaries rash interruptions and caused to omit or conceale what may make for his purpose and to cleare the equitie of his iust and equall cause It is the part of the Pleader or Aduocate Arist lib. Rhet. onely to declare whether the thing be so or not so done or not done whether iust or vniust the Iudge himselfe must know And here I desire the learned and experienced Moderators of iustice to consider whether for the most part the wrong-doer be not the more peeuish and clamorous and best armed with Pleaders and Aduocates against the innocent There must be invincible patience and vnweariable forbearance of the slownesse of speach dulnesse of conceit rudenesse of behauiour and other infirmities and weaknesses of many the meaner and inferior sort whose testimonies for others or defences for themselues in iudiciall processe are of necessitie required Such wants and defects must be passed by with charitable forbearance and compassionate respect All vnquiet affections and inordinate passions of hatred loue enuie an ger rash zeale or the like must be quite put off and wholy laid aside Desire and anger are ill Counsellors worse Iudges Consultores sunt pâ—ssimi cupido ira Salust Amor turbat constia Hieron Loue troubleth counsels Enuie neuer speakes well that is iustly saith our common Prouerbe Yea all inordinate affections blind the eyes and preiudice iudgement and therefore all dealers in iudgement especially the chiefe swayers must speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without affections It was the oath of the Heathen Iudges as the Orator doth report Audiam accusatoreÌ„ râ—um fine affectibus personarum râ—spectione Demosth I will heare the plaintiffe and defendant with an equall mind without affections and respect of persons Not