the mischiefe of it the Sinne in the Doer the Iniurie to the Sufferer the Mischiefe to the Common-wealth Euerie false report raised in iudgement besides that it is a lye and euerie lye is a sinne against the truth a Wisd. 1.11 slaying the soule of him that maketh it and b Apoc 22.15 excluding him from heauen and binding him ouer vnto c Apoc. 21.8 the second death it is also a pernicious lye and that is the worst sort of lyes and so a sinne both against Charitie and Iustice. Which who so committeth let him neuer looke to d Psal. 15.1.3 dwell in the Tabernacle of God or to rest vpon his holy Mountaine God hauing threatned Psal. 50. to take speciall knowledge of this sinne and though hee seeme for a time to dissemble it yet at last to reproue the bold offender to his face e Psal. 50.19 21. Thou fatest and spakest against thy brother yea and hast slandered thine owne mothers sonne These things hast thou done and I held my tongue and thou thoughtest wickedly that I was euen such a one as thy selfe but I will reproue thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done §. 14. 2. from the Wrong And as for the Iniurie done hereby to the grieued partie it is incomparable If a man haue his house broken or his purse taken from him by the high way or sustaine anie wrong or losse in his person goods or state otherwise by fraud or violence or casualtie he may possibly eyther by good fortune heare of his owne againe and recouer it or he may haue restitution and satisfaction made him by those that wronged him or by his good industry and prouidence he may liue to see that losse repaired and be in as good state as before But hee that hath his Name and Credite and Reputation causlesly called into question sustaineth a losse by so much greater than anie theft by how much a Pro. 21.1 a good name is better than great riches A man may out-weare other iniuries or out-liue them but a defamed person no acquittall from the Iudge no satisfaction from the Accuser no following endeuours in himselfe can so restore in integrum but that when the wound is healed hee shall yet carrie the markes and the scarres of it to his dying day §. 15. 3. from the mischiefes Great also are the mischiefes that hence redound to the Common-wealth When no innocencie can protect an honest quiet man but euerie 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 vnnecessarie expence of money and time torture him with endlesse delayes and expose him to the pillage of euerie hungrie officer It is one of the grieuances God had against Ierusalem and as hee calleth them abhominations for which hee threatneth to iudge her Ezek. 22. Viri detractores inte a Ezek. 22.9 In thee are men that carrie tales to shedde bloud Beware then all you whose businesse or lot it is at this Assises or hereafter may be to be Plaintiffs §. 16. An exhortation to auoid the fault Accusers Informers or anie way Parties in anie Court of Iustice this or other Ciuill or Ecclesiasticall that you suffer not the guilt of this prohibition to cleaue vnto your consciences If you shall hereafter be raisers of false reports the words you haue heard this day shall make you inexcusable another You are by what hath beene presently spoken disabled euerlastingly from pleading anie Ignorance eyther Facti or Iuris as hauing been instructed both what it is and how great a fault it is to raise a false report Resolue therefore if you be free neuer to enter into anie action or suite wherein you cannot proceede with comfort nor come off without iniustice or if alreadie engaged to make as good speedie an end as you can of a bad matter and to desist from farther prosecution Let that golden rule commended by the wisest a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Stob. serm 2. Idque per praeconem cum aliquem emendavet dici iubebat Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris Quam sententiam vsqueadeo dilexit vt in Palatio in publicis operibus praescribi iuberet de Alex. severo Lamprid. in Alex. Heathens as a fundamentall Principle of morall and ciuill Iustice yea and proposed by our blessed Sauiour himselfe as a full abridgement of the b Matt. 7.12 Law and Prophets be euer in your eye and euer before your thoughts to measure out all your actions and accusations and proceedings thereby euen to doe so to other men and no otherwise than as you could be content or in right reason should be content they should doe to you and yours if their case were yours Could anie of you take it well at your neighbours hand should he seeke your life or liuelyhood by suggesting against you things which you neuer had so much as the thought to do or bring you into a pecke of troubles by wresting your wordes and actions wherein you meant nothing but well to a dangerous construction or follow the Law vpon you as if hee would not leaue you worth a groate for euerie pettie trespasse scarce worth halfe the money or fetch you ouer the hip vpon a branch of some blinde vncouth and pretermitted Statute He that should deale thus with you and yours I know what would be said and thought Griper Knaue Villaine Diuell incarnate all this much more would be too little for him Well I say no more but this Quod tibi fieri non vis c. Doe as you would be done too There is your generall Rule §. 17. and the Causes thereof But for more particular direction if any man desire it since in euery euill one good step to soundnesse is to haue discouered the right cause thereof I know not what better course to prescribe for the preuenting of this sinne of sycophancy and false accusation than for euery man carefully to avoyd the inducing causes thereof and the occasions of those causes There are God knoweth in this present wicked world to euery kinde of euill inducements but too too many To this of false accusation therefore it is not vnlikely but there may be more yet we may obserue that there are foure things which are the most ordinary and frequent causes thereof viz. Malice Obsequiousnesse Couerture and Couetousnesse The first is Malice §. 18. which are 1. Malice Which in some men if I may bee allowed to call them men being indeede rather Monsters is vniuersall They loue no body glad when they can doe any man any mischiefe in any matter neuer at so good quiet as when they are most vnquiet It seemeth Dauid met with some such men that were a Psal. 120.6.7 enemies to peace when hee spake to them of peace they
Credimus esse Deos Vario See Plat. de leg Cic. 3. de Nat. deor Senec. de prouid Aug. 3. de lib. arb 2. Menand apud Stob. Serm. 104. heathen to see good men oppressed and vice prosper it made them doubt some whether there were a God or no others nothing better whether a prouidence or no. But what maruell if they stumbled who had no right knowledge either of God or of his prouidence when Iob and Dauid and other the deare children of God haue beene much puzzled with it Dauid confesseth in Psal. 73. that c Psal. 73.23 his feete had welnigh slipped when hee saw the prosperity of the wicked and certainty downe he had beene had hee not happily stepped d Ibid. 17. into the Sanctuary of God and there vnderstood the end of these men Temporall euills though they be sometimes punishments of sinne yet they are not euer sent as punishments because sometimes they haue other ends and vses and are ordinabilia in melius and secondly they are neuer the onely punishments of sinne because there are greater and more lasting punishments reserued for sinners after this life of which there is no other vse or end but to punish since they are not ordinabilie in melius If we will make these temporall euills the measure whereby to judge of the Iustice of God wee cannot secure our selues from erring dangerously Gods purposes in the dispensation of these vnto particular men being vnsearchable But those euerlasting punishments are they wherein Gods Iustice shall be manifested to euery eye in due time at that last day which is therefore called by S t Paul Rom. 2. e Rom 2.5 the day of wrath and of the reuelation of the righteous iudgment of God Implying that howsoeuer God is just in all his iudgements and acts of prouidence euen vpon earth yet the Counsells and Purposes of God in these things are often secret and past our finding out but at the last great day when f Ibid. 6. he shall render to euery man according to his workes his euerlasting recompence then his vengeance shall manifest his wrath and the righteousnesse of his iudgement shall be reuealed to euery eye in the condigne punishment of vnreconciled sinners That is the second Certainety Temporall euills are not alwayes nor simply nor properly the punishments for sinne If any man shall be yet vnsatisfied §. 6. the third certainety that all Euills of Paine and desire to haue Gods Iustice somewhat farther cleared euen in the disposing of these temporall things although it be neither safe nor possible for vs to search farre into particulars yet some generall satisfaction we may haue from a third Certainety and that is this Euery euill of Paine whatsoeuer it be or howsoeuer considered which is brought vpon any man is brought vpon him euermore for sinne yea and that also for his owne personall sinne Euery branch of this assertion would be well marked I say first Euery Euill of Paine whatsoeuer it be whether naturall defects and infirmities in soule or body or outward afflictions in goods friends or good name whether inward distresses of an afflicted or terrours of an affrighted conscience whether temporall or eternall Death whether euills of this life or after it or whatsoeuer other euill it be that is any way greiuous to any man euery such euill is for sinne §. 7. â—owsoeuer considered I Say secondly euery euill of paine howsoeuer considered whether formally and sub ratione poenae as the proper effect of Gods vengeance and wrath against sinne or as a fatherly correction and chasticement to nurture vs for some past sinne or as a medicinall preseruatiue to strengthen vs against some future sinne or as a clogging chaine to keepe vnder and disable vs from some outward worke of sinne or as a fit matter and obiect whereon to exercise our Christian graces of faith charity patience humility and the rest or as an occasion giuen and taken by Almighty God for the greater manifestation of the glory of his Wisedome and Power and Goodnesse in the remoueal of it or as an act of Exemplary iustice for the admonition and terrour of others or for whatsoeuer other end purpose or respect it be inflicted §. 8. are for the siâ—ne I say thirdly Euery such euill of paine is brought vpon vs for sinne There may be other ends there may be other occasions there may be other vses of such Euills but still the originall Cause of them all is sinne a Psal. 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sinne It was not for any b Ioh. 9.2.3 extraordinary notorious sinnes either of the blinde man himselfe or of his parents aboue other men that he was borne blinde Our Sauiour Christ acquitteth them of that Ioh. 9. in answer to his Disciples who were but too forward as God knoweth most men are to iudge the worst Our Sauiours answer there neuer intended other but that still the true cause deseruing that blindenesse was his and his parents sinne but his purpose was to instruct his Disciples that that infirmitie was not laid vpon him rather than vpon another man meerely for that reason because he or his parents had deserued it more than other men but for some farther ends which God had in it in his secret and euerlasting purpose and namely this among the rest that the workes of God might be manifest in him and the Godhead of the sonne made glorious in his miraculous cure As in Nature the intention of the c see Arist. 2. Phys. End doth not ouerthrow but rather suppose the necessity of the Matter so is it in the workes of God and the dispensations of his wonderfull prouidence It is from Gods Mercy ordering them to those Ends he hath purposed that his punishments are good but it is withall from our sinnes deseruing them as the Cause that they are iust euen as the raine that falleth vpon the earth whether it moisten it kindly and make it fruitfull or whether it choake and slocken and drowne it yet still had its beginning from the vapours which the earth it selfe sent vp All those Euills which fall so daily and thicke vpon vs from heauen whether to warne vs or to plague vs are but arrowes which our selues first shot vp against heauen and now drop downe againe with doubled force vpon our heads Omnis poena propter culpam all Euills of paine are for the euills of sinne §. 9. of the sufferer I say fourthly All such Euils are for our owne sins The Scriptures are plaine a 1 Pet. 1.17 God iudgeth euery man according to his own workes b Gal. 6.5 Euery man shall beare his owne burden c. God hath enioyned it as a Law for Magistrates wherein they haue also his example to lead them that c Deut. 24.16 not the fathers for the children nor the children for the fathers but euery man should be put to death for his own
punishing one for another §. 23. Consid. 3. from the distinction of impulsiue Causes ariseth from a third consideration which is this That the children are punished for the fathers sins or indefinitely any one man for the sins of any other man it ought to be imputed to those sinnes of the fathers or others not as to the causes properly deseruing them but onely as occasioning those punishments It pleaseth God to take occasion from the sinnes of the fathers or of some others to bring vpon their children or those that otherwise belong vnto them in some kind of relation those euills which by their owne corruptions sinnes they haue iustly deserued This distinction of the Cause and Occasion if well heeded both fully acquiteth Gods Iustice and abundantly reconcileth the seeming Contradictions of Scripture in this Argument and therefore it will be worth the while a little to open it §. 24. The Impulsiue Cause what it is There is a kind of Cause de numero efficientium which the learned for distinctions sake call the Impulsiue Cause and it is such a cause as a quae principalem efficientem impellit ad efficiendum Keckerm 1. Syst. Log. 10. moueth and induceth the principall Agent to doe that which it doth For Example A Schoolemaster correcteth a boy with a rod for neglecting his booke Of this correction here are three distinct causes all in the ranke of efficients viz. the Master the Rod and the boyes neglect but each hath its proper causality in a different kind and maner from other The Master is the Cause as the principall Agent that doth it the Rod is the Cause as the Instrument wherewith he doth it and the boyes neglect the impulsiue cause for which he doth it Semblably in this iudgement which befell Iehoram the principall efficient cause and Agent was God as hee is in all other punishments and iudgements b Amos 3.6 shall there be euil in the City and the Lord hath not done it Amos 3. here he taketh it to himselfe I will bring the euill vpon his house The Instrumental Cause vnder God was c 4. King 9. Iehu whom God raised vp and endued with zeale and power for the execution of that vengeance which he had determined against Ahab and against his house as appeareth in 4. Kings 9. and 10. But now what the true proper Impulsiue cause should be for which he was so punished and which moued God at that time and in that sort to punish him that is the point wherein consisteth the chiefest difficulty in this matter and into which therefore wee are now to enquire viz. whether that were rather his own sinne or his father Ahabs sinne Whether we answer for this or for that we say but the truth in both for both sayings are true §. 25. Two sorts of impulsiue Causes God punished him for his owne and God punished him for his Fathers sinne The difference only this His owne sinnes were the impulsiue cause that deserued the punishment his fathers sinne the impulsiue cause that occasioned it and so indeed vpon the point and respectiuely to the iustice of God rather his own sins were the cause of it than his fathers both because iustice doth especially looke at the desert also because that which deserueth a punishment is more effectually primarily and properly the impulsiue cause of punishing than that which onley occasioneth it The termes whereby Artists expresse these two different kindes of impulsiue causes borrowed from Galen and the Physitians of a See Keckerm 1. Syst. Log. 10. called by Brulif Causa Dispositiua Excitatiua apud Altenst in dict Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would be excellent and full of satisfaction if they were of easie vnderstanding But for that they are not so especially to such as are not acquainted with the termes and learning of the Schooles I forbeare to vse them and rather than to take the shortest cut ouer hedge and ditch chuse to leade you an easier and plainer way though it 's something about and that by a familiar example §. 26. explained by a familiar example A man hath liued for some good space in reasonable state of health yet by grosse feeding and through continuance of time his body the whilest hath contracted many vitious noisome and malignant humours It happeneth he hath occasion to ride abroad in bad weather taketh wet on his feete or necke getteth cold with it commeth home findeth himselfe not well falleth a shaking first and anon after into a dangerous and lasting feuer Here is a feuer and here are two different causes of it an antecedent cause within the abundance of noisome and crude humours that is a interìores dispositiones quae irritantur ab externis causis Melancthon causa dispositiua Brulifer causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the euident cause ab extra his riding in the wet and taking cold vpon it and that is Galens b Causa externa irritatrix Melancthon causa excitatiua Brulifer causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let vs goe on a little and compare these causes The Physitian is sent for the sicke mans friends they stand about him and in commeth the Physitian among them and enquireth of him and them how he got his feuer They presently giue him such information as they can and the information is both true and sufficient so farre as it reacheth they tell him the one cause the occasionall cause the outward euident cause Alas Sir he rode such a iourney such a time got wet on his feete and tooke cold vpon it and that hath brought him to all this That is all they are able to say to it for other cause they know none But by and by after some suruiew of the state of the Body hee is able to informe them in the other cause the inward and originall cause whereof they were as ignorant before as he was of that other outward one and hee telleth them the cause of the malady is superfluitie of crude and noisome humours rankenesse of bloud abundance of melancholy tough fleame or some other like thing within Now if it be demanded which of these two is rather the cause of his sicknesse The truth is that inward antecedent cause within is the very cause thereof although perhaps it had not bred a feuer at that time if that other outward occasion had not beene For by that inward hidden cause the body was prepared for an ague only there wanted some outward fit accident to stirre and prouoke the humours within and to set them on working And the parties body being so prepared might haue fallen into the same sicknesse by some other accident as well as that as ouer heating himselfe with exercise immoderate watching some distemper or surfeit in diet or the like But neither that nor any of these nor any other such accident could haue cast him into such a Fit if
periphrasis of bribery or sixtly guilty of the same transgressions hee should punish or of other as foule Neuer a man of these is for the turne not one of these will venture to breake the iawes or tuskes of an oppressing Tygar or Boare and to plucke the spoyle out of his teeth The timorous man is affraid of euery shadow and if hee doe but heare of teeth hee thinketh it is good sleeping in a whole skin and so keepeth aloofe off for feare of biting g Iam. 1.8 The double minded man as S. Iames saith is vnstable in all his wayes hee beginneth to doe something in a sudden heate when the fit taketh him but before one iawe can bee halfe broken hee is not the man hee was he is sorry for what is done and instead of breaking the rest falleth a binding vp that which he hath broken and so seeketh to salue vp the matter as well as hee can and no hurt done The vaine man that will be flattered so hee get faire words himselfe he careth not who getteth foule blowes and so the beast will but now and then giue him a licke with the tongue he letteth him vse his teeth vpon others at his pleasure The depending creature is charmed with a letter or a message from his Lord or his honourable friend which to him is as good as a Supersedeas or Prohibition The taker hath his fingers so oyled that his hand slippeth off when he should plucke away the spoyle and so he leaueth it vndone The guilty man by no meanes liketh this breaking of iawes he thinketh it may be his owne case another day §. 24. in some mediocrity You see when you are to choose Magistrates here is refuse enough to be cast by But by that all these be discarded and throwne out of the bunch possibly the whole lumpe will be neere spent and there will be little or no choyse left Indeed if we should looke for absolute perfection there would be absolutely no choise at all a Psal. 14.3 there is none that doth good no not one We must not be so daintie in our choyse then as to finde one in euerie respect such as hath beene charactered We liue not b dicit enim tanquam in Platonis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non tan quam in Romuli faece sententiā de Catone Cic. 2. ad Attic. 1. in Republica Platonis but in faece saeculi and it is well if wee can finde one in some good mediocritie so qualified Amid the common corruptions of mankinde he is to be accounted a tolerably good man that is not intolerably bad and among so manie infirmities and defects as I haue now reckoned we may well voyce him for a Magistrate not that is free from them all but that hath the c vitiis nemo sine nascitur optimus ille est Qui minimis vrgetur Hor. 1. serm Sat. 3. fewest and least And we make a happie choyse if from among those we haue to chuse of wee take such a one as is likely to proue in some reasonable mediocritie zealous of iustice sensible of the wrongs of poore men carefull to search out the truth of causes and resolute to execute what he knoweth is iust That for Direction I am next to inferre from the foure Duties in my Text a iust reproofe §. 25. The second Inference of Reproofe and withall a complaint of the common iniquitie of these times wherein men in the Magistracie and in offices of Iustice are generally so faultie and delinquent in some or all of these dueties And first as for zeale to iustice alas that there were not too much cause to complaine It is griefe to speake it and yet we all see it and know it there is growne among vs of this land within the space of not manie yeares a generall and sensible declination in our Zeale both to Religion and Iustice the two maine pillars and supporters of Church and State And it seemeth to be with vs in these regards as with decaying Merchants almost become desperate who when Creditours call fast vpon them being hopelesse of paying all grow carelesse of all and pay none so abuses and disorders encrease so fast among vs that hopelesse to reforme all our Magistrates begin to neglect all and in a manner reforme nothing How few are there of them that sit in the seate of iustice whose consciences can prompt them a comfortable answer to that Question of Dauid Psal. 58. a Psalm 58.1 Are your mindes set vpon righteousnes ô ye congregation Rather are they not almost all of Gallio's temper Act. 18. who though there were a foule outrage committed euen vnder his nose in the sight of the Bench yet the Text saith b Acts 18.17 he cared for none of those things as if they had their names giuen them by an Antiphrasis like Diogenes his man Manes à manendo because he would be now and then running away so these Iustices à iustitia because they neyther do nor care to doe iustice Peraduenture here and there one or two in a whole side of a countrey to be found that make a conscience of their duetie more than the rest and are forward to doe the best good they can Gods blessing rest vpon their heads for it But what commeth of it The rest glad of their forwardnesse make onely this vse of it to themselues euen to slip their owne neckes out of the yoake and leaue all the burden vpon them and so at length euen tyre out them too by making common packhorses of them A little it may be is done by the rest for fashion but to little purpose sometimes more to shew their Iusticeship than to doe justice and a little more it may bee is wrung from them by importunitie as the poore d Luke 18.4.5 widow in the parable by her clamarousnesse wrung a piece of iustice with much adoe from the Iudge that neyther feared God nor regarded man Alas Beloued if all were right within if there were generally that zeale that should be in Magistrates good Lawes would not thus languish as they doe for want of execution there would not be that insolencie of Popish Recusants that licence of Rogues and wanderers that prouling of Officers that enhaunsing of fees that delay of suits that countenancing of abuses those carkases of depopulated townes infinite other mischiefes which are the sinnes shal I say or the plagues it is hard to say whether more they are indeed both the sinnes and the plagues of this land And as for Compassion to the distressed is there not now iust cause if euer to complaine If in these hard times wherin nothing aboundeth but pouerty and sinne when the great ones of the earth should most of all enlarge their bowels and reach out the hand to relieue the extreme necessity of thousands that are ready to sterue if I say in these times great men yea and men of Iustice are as throng
as euer in pulling downe houses and setting vp hedges in vnpeopling townes and creating beggars in racking the backes and grinding the faces of the poore how dwelleth the loue of God how dwelleth the spirit of compassion in these men Are these eyes to the blinde feet to the lame and fathers to the poore as Iob was I know your hearts cannot but rise in detestation of these things at the verie mentioning of them But what would you say if as it was said to Ezechiel so I should bid you d Ezech. 8.6.13.15 turne againe and behold yet greater and yet greater abominations of the lamentable oppressions of the poore by them and their instruments who stand bound in all conscience and in regard of their places to protect them from the iniuries and oppressions of others But I forbeare to doe that and chuse rather out of one passage in the Prophet Amos to giue you some short intimation both of the faults and of the reason of my forbearance It is in Amos 5.12 13. I know your manifold transgressions and your e Amos 5.12 13. mightie sinnes they afflict the iust they take a bribe and they turne aside the poore in the gate from their right Therefore the prudent shall keepe silence in that time fortia peccata vulg ibi for it is an euill time And as for searching out the truth in mens causes which is the third Duetie first those Sycophants deserue a rebuke who by false accusations and cunningly deuised tales f Pindar Olymp ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of purpose inuolue the truth of things to set a faire colour vpon a bad matter or to take away the righteousnesse of the innocent from him And yet how manie are there such as these in most of our Courts of iustice Informing and promoting and pettifogging make-bates Now it were a lamentable thing if these men should be known and yet suffered but what if countenanced and encouraged and vnderhand maintained by the Magistrates of those Courts of purpose to bring Moulter to their owne Mills Secondly since Magistrates must be content for they are but men and cannot be euery where at once in many things to see with other mens eyes and to heare with other mens eares and to proceed vpon information those men deserue a rebuke who being by their office to ripen causes for iudgement and to facilitate the Magistrates care and paines for inquisition doe yet eyther for feare or fauour or negligence or a fee keepe backe true and necessarie informations or else for spight or gaine clogge the Courts with false or trifling ones But most of all the Magistrates themselues deserue a rebuke if eyther they be hastie to acquite a man vpon his owne bare deniall or protestation for si inficiari sufficiet ecquis erit nocens as the g Delphidius Orator contra Numerium apud Ammian Marcell l. 18. Oratour pleaded before Iulian the Emperour if a deniall may serue the turne none shall be guiltie or if hastie to condemne a man vpon anothers bare accusation for si accusasse sufficiet ecquis erit innocens as the Emperour excellently replied vpon that Oratour if an accusation may serue the turne none shall bee innocent or if they suffer themselues to bee possest with preiudice and not keepe one eare open as they write of Alexander the Great for the contrarie partie that they may stand indifferent till the truth be throughly canvassed or if to keepe causes long in their hands they eyther delay to search the truth out that they may know it or to decide the cause according to the truth when they haue found it And as for Courage to execute iustice which is the last Duty what need we trouble our selues to seeke out the causes when wee see the effect so daily and plainly before our eyes whether it be through his owne cowardise or inconstancy that he keepeth off or that a faire word whistleth him off or that a great mans letter staveth him off or that his owne guilty conscience doggeth him off or that his hands are manacled with a bribe that he cannot fasten or whatsoeuer other matter there is in it sure we are the Magistrate too often letteth the wicked carry away the spoile without breaking a law of him or so much as offering to picke his teeth It was not wel in Dauids time and yet Dauid a Godly King when complainingly he asked the Question h Psalm 94.16 who will stand vp with me against the euill doers It was not well in Salomons time and yet Salomon a peaceable King when i Eccl. 4.1 considering the Oppressions that were done vnder the Sunne hee saw that on the side of the oppressours there was power but as for the oppressed they had no comforter Wee liue vnder the happy gouernment of a godly and peaceable King Gods holy Name bee blessed for it and yet God knoweth and we all know it is not much better now nay God grant it be not generally euen much worse §. 26. The third Inference for Exhortatiō Receiue now in the last place and as the third and last inference a word of Exhortation and it shall be but a word You whom God hath called to any honour or office appertaining to iustice as you tender the glory of God and the good of the Commonwealth as you tender the honour of the King and the prosperity of the Kingdome as you tender the peace and tranquillity of your selues and neighbours as you tender the comfort of your own consciences and the saluation of your owne soules set your selues throughly and cheerfully and constantly and conscionably to discharge with faithfulnesse all those duties which belong vnto you in your seuerall stations and callings and to aduance to the vtmost of your power the due administration and execution of Iustice. Doe not decline those burdens which cleaue to the honours you sustaine Doe not poast off those businesses from your selues to others which you should rather do than they or at least may as well do as they Stand vp with the Zeale of a Psal. 106.30 Phinees by executing iudgment helpe to turne away those heauie plagues which God hath already begun to bring vpon vs and to preuent those yet heauier ones which hauing so rightly deserued wee haue all iust cause to feare Breathe flesh life into the languishing lawes by mature and seuere and discreete execution Put on righteousnesse as a garment and cloathe your selues with iudgement as with a robe and diademe Among so many Oppressions as in these euill daies are done vnder the Sunne to whom should the fatherlesse and the widow and the wronged complain but to you whence seek for reliefe but from you Bee not you wanting to their necessities Let your eyes be open vnto their miseries and your eares open vnto their cryes and your hands open vnto their wants Giue friendly Counsell to those that stand need of your Direction affoord conuenient helpe
to those that stand need of your Assistance carry a fatherly affection to all those that stand need of any comfort protection or reliefe from you Be eyes to the blinde and feete to the lame and be you instead of fathers to the poore But yet do not countenance no not b Exod. 23.3 a poore man in his cause farther than hee hath equity on his side Remember one point of c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neruus est sapientiae non cito credere dictum Epicharmi apud Cic. 1. ad Attic 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. in Helena The simple belieue euery word Prou. 14.15 Wisedome not to be too credulous of euery suggestion and information But doe your best to spie out the chinkes and starting holes and secret conueyances and packings of cunning and crafty companions and when you haue found them out bring them to light and doe exemplary iustice vpon them Sell not your eares to your seruants nor tye your selues to the informations of some one or a few or of him that commeth first but let euery party haue a faire an equall hearing Examine proofes consider circumstances bee content to heare simple men d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. 27. elench 10. tell their tales in such language as they haue thinke no paines no patience too much to sift out the truth Neither by inconsiderate hast preiudice any mans right nor weary him out of it by torturing delayes The Cause which you know not vse all diligence and conuenient both care and speede to search it out But euer withall remember your standing is slippery and you shall haue many and sore assaults and very shreud temptations so that vnlesse you arme your selues with inuincible resolution you are gone The wicked ones of this world will coniure you by your old friendship and acquaintance and by all the bonds of neighbourhood kindenesse bribe your wiues and children and seruants to corrupt you procure great mens letters or fauourites as engines to moue you conuey a bribe into your own bosomes but vnder a handsomer name and in some other shape so cunningly and secretly sometimes that your selues shall not know it to be a bribe when you receiue it Harden your faces and strengthen your resolutions with a holy obstinacy against these and all other like temptations Count him an enemy that will alledge friendship to peruert iustice When you sit in the place of Iustice thinke you are not now e Qui induit personam iudicis exuit amici Cicero husbands or parents or neighbours but Iudges Contemne the frownes and the fauours and the letters of great ones in comparison of that trust which greater ones than they the King and State and a yet greater than they the great God of heauen and earth hath reposed in you and expecteth from you Chastise him with seuere f Reiecit alto dona nocentiuÌ„ vultu Horat. 4. Od. 9. indignation if he begin and if hee continue spit defiance in his face who ere hee bee that shall thinke you so base as to sell your g Libertatè arguendi amittit qui ab eo accipit qui ideo dat ne corrigatur Ambros. in 1. Cor. cap. 19. freedome for a bribe Gird your sword vpon your thigh and keeping your selues euer within the compasse of your Commissions and Callings as the Sunne in the Zodiake goe thorough stitch right on in the course of Iustice as the Sunne in the firmament with vnresisted violence and as a gyant that reioyceth to runne his race and who can stop him Beare not the h Rom. 13.4 sword in vaine but let your right hand teach you terrible things Defend the poore and fatherlesse and deliuer the oppressed from them that are mightier than hee Smite through the loynes of those that rise vp to doe wrong that they rise not againe Breake the iawes of the wicked pluck the spoyle out of his teeth Thus if you doe the wicked shall feare you the good shall blesse you the poore shall pray for you posterity shall praise you your owne hearts shall cheare you and the great God of Heauen shall reward you This that you may doe in some good measure the same God of Heauen enable you and giue you and euery of vs grace in our seuerall places and callings to seek his glory and to endeauour the discharge of a good conscience To which God blessed for euer Father Sonne and Holy Ghost three Persons and one eternall invisible and onely wise God bee ascribed all the Kingdome Power and Glory for euer and euer Amen THE SECOND SERMON At the Assises at Lincolne 7. Mar. 1624. Exod. 23. Ver. 1 3. 1. Thou shalt not raise a false report put not thine hand with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous witnesse 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill neither shalt thou speake in a cause to decline after many to wrest iudgement 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poore man in his cause THere is no one thing §. 1. The necessity of this Argument Religion euer excepted that more secureth and adorneth the State than Iustice doth It is both Columna and Corona Reipubl as a Prop to make it subsist firme in it selfe and as a Crowne to render it glorious in the eyes of others As the Cement in a building that a Ius aequitas vincula civitatum Cic. parad 4. holdeth all together so is Iustice to the publique Body as whereunto it oweth a great part both of its strength for by it b Prou. 16.12 the throne is established in the 16 th and of its height too for it c Prou. 14.34 exalteth a Nation in the 14 th of the Prouerbs As then in a Building when for want of good looking to the Morter getting wet dissolueth and the walls d Ventrosi parietes Petr. Blesâ—ns Epi. 85 belly out the house cannot but settle apace and without speedy repaires fall to the ground so there is not a more certaine symptome of a declyning and decaying and tottering State than is the generall e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soph in Aiace vbi non est pudor nec cura iuris Sanctitas Pietas Fides Instabile regnum est Sen. in Thyest. act 2. dissolution of manners for want of the due execution and administration of Iustice. §. 2. both in respect of the Magistrate The more cause haue wee that are Gods Ministers by frequent exhortations admonitions obsecrations expostulations euen out of season sometimes but especially vpon such seasonable opportunities as this to bee instant with all them that haue any thing to doe in matter of Iustice but especially with you who are a Rom. 13.4 Gods Ministers too though in another kinde you who are in Commission to sit vpon the bench of Iudicature either for Sentence or Assistance to doe your God and King seruice to doe your Countrey and Calling honour to doe your selues and others right by
aduancing to the vtmost of your powers the due course of Iustice. Wherein as I verily thinke none dare but the guilty so I am well assured none can iustly mislike in vs the choyce either of our Argument that we beat vpon 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 bouÌ„d for the discharge of our duties to put you in mind of yours so we cannot bee perswaded on the other side but that if there were generally in the b Frequenter culpa populi redundat in Principem quasi de maiorum negligentiâ obueniant errata minorum Pet Blesens Ep. 95. greater ones that care and conscience zeale there ought to be of the common good a thousand corruptions rife among inferiours would be if not wholly reformed at least wise practisd with lesse conniuence from you confidence in them grieuance to others But right and reason will that a Gal. 6.5 euery man beare his owne burthen §. 3. and others And therefore as wee may not make you innocent if you be faulty by transferring your faults vpon others so farre bee it from vs to impute their faults to you otherwise than as by not doing your best to b Qui non vetat peccare cum potest iubet Senec. in Tro. ad In cuius mann est vt prohibeat iubet agi si non prohibet admitti Salvian 7. de prouid hinder them you make them yours For Iustice wee know is an Engine that turneth vpon many hinges And to the exercise of Iudicature besides the Sentence which is properly yours there are diuers other things required Informations and Testimonies and Arguings and Inquests and sundry Formalities which I am neither able to name nor yet couetous to learne wherein you are to rest much vpon the Faithfulnesse of other men In any of whom if there be as sometimes there will bee foule and vnfaithfull dealing such as you either cannot spie or cannot helpe wrong sentence may proceed from out your lips c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. 8. Top. 11.1 without your fault As in a curious Watch or Clocke that moueth vpon many wheeles he finger may point a wrong houre though the wheele that next moueth it bee most exactly true if but some little pin or notch or spring bee out of order in or about any of the baser and inferiour wheeles What hee said of old d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Stobae Ser. 44. Non fiere potest quin Principes etiam valdè boni iniqua faciant was then and euer since and yet is and euer will be most true For say a Iudge be neuer so honestly minded neuer so zealous of the truth neuer so carefull to doe right yet if there be a spitefull Accuser that will suggest any thing or an audacious witnesse that will sweare any thing or a crafty Pleader that will maintaine any thing or a tame Iurie that will swallow any thing or a crauing Clerke or Officer that for a bribe will foyst in any thing the Iudge who is tyed as it is meet he should to proceed secundùm allegata probata cannot a Ipsos Iustitiarios quos vulgariter Errâ—ntes vel Itinerantes dicimus dum errata hominum diligenter explorant frequenter errare contingit Excessus namque hominum absconduntur c. Pet. Blesens Epist. 95. with his best care and wisedome preuent it but that sometimes Iustice shall bee peruerted innocency oppressed and guiltie ones iustified §. 4. The Fitnesse Out of which consideration I the rather desired for this Assise-Assembly to choose a Text as neere as I could of equall latitude with the Assise-Businesse For which purpose I could not readily thinke 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 Periury in the Witnesse or 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 conueyances that belong to a iudiciall proceeding my Text searcheth it out and enditeth the offender at the tribunall of that vnpartiall Iudge that keepeth a priuie Sessions in each mans brest §. 5. Diuision The words are so laid downe distinctly in fiue Rules or Precepts or rather being all negatiue in so many Prohitions that I may spare the labour of making other deuision of them All that I shall need to doe about them will be to set out the seuerall portions in such sort as that euery man who hath any part or fellowship in this businesse may haue his due share in them Art thou first an Accuser in any kinde either as a party in a iudiciall controuersie or bound ouer to prosecute for the King in a criminall cause or as a voluntary informer vpon some penall Statute here is something for thee Thou shalt not raise a false report Art thou secondly a Witnesse either fetched in by Processe to giue publique testimony vpon oath or come of good or ill will priuately to speake a good word for or to cast out a shrewd word against any person here is something for thee too Put not thine band with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous Witnesse Art thou thirdly returned to serue as a sworne man in a matter of graund or petty inquest here is something for thee too Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill Commest thou hither fourthly to aduocate the cause of thy Clyent who flyeth to thy learning experience and authority for succour against his aduersary and commendeth his state and suite to thy care and trust here is something for thee too Neither shalt thou speake in a cause to decline after many to wrest iudgement Art thou lastly in any Office of trust or place of seruice in or about the Courts so as it may sometimes fall within thy power or opportunity to doe a suiter a fauour or a spite here is something for thee too Thou shalt not countenance no not a poore man in his cause The two first in the first the two next in the second this last in the third verse §. 6. and Extent of the Text. In which distribution of the offices of Iustice in my Text let none imagine because I haue shared out all among them that are below the bench that therefore there is nothing left for them that sit vpon it Rather as in diuiding the land of Canaan Leui who had a Num. 18.20.21 Deut. 18.1 c. no distinct plot by himselfe hauing yet by reason of the b Deuâ— 33.10 vniuersall vse of his office in euery Tribe something had in the whole all things considered a c See Numb 35.2 8 and Ios. 21.1 c. farre greater proportion than any other Tribe had So in this Scripture the Iudge hath by so much a
should be such i Nehem. 5.15 Euen their seruants bare rule ouer the people saith good Nehemiah of the Gouernours that were before him but so did not I because of the feare of God Nehem. 5. What did not Nehemiah beare rule ouer 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 seruants so to doe as they did theirs implying that when the seruants of the former gouernours oppressed the people it was their Masters doing at leastwise their Masters suffering Euen their seruants bare rule ouer the People but so did not I because of the feare of God The Magistrate therfore that would speedily smoake away these gâ—ats that swarme about the Courts of Iustice and wil be offering at his eare to buzze false reports therinto he shall do well to begin his reformation at home and if hee haue a seruant that heareth not well deseruedly to packe him away out of hand and to get an honester in his roome Say he bee of neuer so seruiceable qualities and vsefull abilities otherwise so as the Master might almost as well spare his right eye or his right hand as forgoe his seruice yet in this case hee must not spare him Our Sauiours speech is peremptory k Mat. 5.29 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 Dauids resolution was excellent in Psalme 101. and worthy thy imitation l Psal. 101.5 c. Who so priuily slaundereth his neighbour him will I destroy who so hath a proud looke and high stomacke I will not suffer him Mine eyes looke to such as be faithfull in the Land that they may dwell with mee who so leadeth a godly life hee shall bee my seruant There shall no deceitfull person dwell in my house hee that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight Hee that will thus resolue and thus doe it may bee presumed hee will not knowingly giue 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 §. 32. The summe and Conclusion of all My first purpose I confesse was to haue spoken also to the Witnesse and to the Iurer and to the Pleader and to the Officer from the other foure Rules in my Text as punctually particularly as to the Accuser from this first for I therefore made choyce of a Text that taketh them all in that I might speake to them all alike But if I should enlarge my selfe vpon the rest as I haue 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 doe it And indeed if what I haue spoken to this first point were duly considered and conscionably practised I should the lesse need to doe it For it is the Accuser that layeth the first stone the rest doe but build vpon his foundation And if there were no false reports raised or receiued there would be the lesse vse of and the lesse worke for false and suborned Witnesses ignorant or packt Iuries crafty and sly Pleaders cogging and extorting Officers But vnto these I haue 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 diuision was allotted them as their proper share and withall to make application mutatis mutandis vnto themselues of whatsoeuer hath beene presently spoken to the Accuser and to the Magistrate from this first rule Whereof for the better furtherance of their Application and reliefe of all our Memories the summe in briefe is thus First concerning the Accuser and that is euery party in a cause or tryall he must take heed hee doe not raise a false report which is done first by forging a meere vntruth and secondly by peruerting or aggrauating a truth and thirdly by taking aduantage of strict Law against Equity Any of which who euer doth hee first committeth a heynous sinne himselfe and secondly grieuously wrongeth his neighbour and thirdly bringeth a great deale of mischiefe to the Common-weale All which euils are best auoyded first by considering how wee would others should deale with vs and resoluing so to deale with them and secondly by auoyding as all other inducements and occasions so especially those foure things which ordinarily engage men in vniust quarrels Malice Obsequiousnesse Couerture and Greedinesse Next concerning the Iudge or Magistrate hee must take heed hee doe not receiue a false report Which he shall hardly auoide vnlesse he beware first of taking priuate informations secondly of passing ouer causes slightly without mature disquisition and thirdly of countenancing Accusers more than is meet For whose discountenancing and deterring hee may consider whether or no these fiue may not be good helpes so farre as it lyeth in his power and the Lawes will permit first to reiect informations tendred without Oath secondly to giue such interpretations as may stand with Equity as well as Law thirdly to chastice Informers that vse partiality or collusion fourthly to allow the wronged party a liberall satisfaction from his aduersary fifthly to carry a sharpe eye and a straite hand ouer his owne seruants followers and officers Now what remaineth but that the seuerall premises earnestly recommended to the godly consideration and conscionable practice of euery one of you whom they may concerne and all your persons and affaires both in the present waighty businesses and euer hereafter to the good guidance and prouidence of Almighty God wee should humbly beseech him of his gracious goodnesse to giue a blessing to that which hath beene spoken agreeably to his word that it may bring forth in vs the fruites of Godlinesse Charity and Iustice to the glory of his grace the good of our brethren and the comfort of our owne soules euen for his blessed Sonnes sake our blessed Sauiour Iesus Christ. To whom with c. At the Assises at Lincolne 4. Aug. 1625. THE THIRD SERMON PSALME 106.30 Then stood vp Phinehaez and executed iudgement and the plague was stayed §. 1. The Argument THe abridgement is short which some haue made of the whole booke of Psalmes but into two words a Boys Expos. of proper Psalmes in init out of Gueuara Hosannah and Hallelujah most of the Psalmes spending themselues as in their proper arguments either in Supplication praying vnto God for his blessings and that is Hosannah or in Thanks-giuing blessing God for his goodnesse and that is Hallelujah This Psalme is of the later sort The word Hallelujah both prefixed in the title and repeated in the close of it sufficiently giueth it to bee a Psalme of Thanks-giuing as are also the three next before it and the
Mark 10.21 Vnum tibi deest One thing is wanting so when wee haue done our best and vtmost fasted and wept and prayed as constantly and frequently as feruently as wee can vnlesse you the Magistrates and Officers of Iustice bee good vnto vs one thing will be wanting still One maine ingredient of singular vertue without which the whole receipt besides as precious and soueraigne as it is may bee taken and yet faile the cure And that is the seuere and fearlesse and impartiall Execution of Iudgement Till wee see a care in the Gods on earth faithfully to execute theirs our hopes can be but faint that the God of heauen will in mercy remoue his iudgements If God send a b 2 Sam. 21.1 c. Famine into the land let holy Dauid doe what hee can otherwise it will continue yeare after yeare so long as iudgement is not done vpon the bloudy house of Saul for his crueltie in slaying the Gibeonites God will not bee c Ibid. ver 14. entreated for the land One knowne Achan that hath got a wedge of gold by sacriledge or iniustice if suffered is able to d Ios. 7.25.26 trouble a whole Israel and the Lord will e I will not bee with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you vers 12. not turne from the fiercenesse of his anger till hee haue deserued iudgement done vpon him If f Num. 25.3.4 Israel haue ioyned himselfe vnto Baal-Peor so as the anger of the Lord bee kindled against them he will not be appeased by any meanes vntill Moses take the heads of the people and hang them vp before the Lord against the Sunne If the Land be defiled with bloud it is in vaine to thinke of any other course when God himselfe hath pronounced it impossible that the Land should be g Num. 35.33 purged from the bloud that is shed in it otherwise than by the blood of him that shed it Vp then with the zeale of Phinehes §. 29. A generall Exhortation thereunto vp for the loue of God and of his people all you that are in place of authority Gird your swords vpon your thigh and with your jauelins in your hand pursue the Idolater and the Adulterer and the Murtherer and the Oppressour and euery knowne offender into his tent and naile him to the earth that hee neuer rise againe to doe more mischiefe Let it appeare what a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lysias apud Stob. Serm. 44. loue you beare to the State by your hatred to them and shew your pity to vs by shewing none to them The destroying Angel of God attendeth vpon you for his dispatch if you would but set in stoutly hee would soone be gone Why should either sloath or feare or any partiall or corrupt respect whatsoeuer make you a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lysias apud Stob. Serm. 44. cruell to the good in sparing the bad or why should you suffer your selues for want of courage and zeale to execute iudgement to lose either the opportunity or the glory of being the instruments to appease Gods wrath and to stay his plagues §. 30. With particular applications to But for that matters appertaining to Iustice and Iudgement must passe through many hands before they come to yours and there may bee so much iuggling vsed in conueighing them from hand to hand that they may be represented vnto you many times in much different formes from what they were in truth and at the first that your care and zeale to execute Iustice and Iudgement faithfully according to your knowledge may not through the fault and miscarriage of other men faile the blessed end and successe that Phinehes found I desire that euery of them also as well as you would receiue the word of Exhortation each in his place and office to set himselfe vprightly and vnpartially as in the sight of God to aduance to the vtmost of his power the due course and administration of Iustice. And for this purpose by occasion of this Scripture which pointeth vs to the End of these assemblies I shall craue leaue to reflect vpon another which giueth vs sundry particular directions conducing to that End And it is that Scripture whereinto wee made some entrance the last Assises and would haue now proceeded farther had not the heauy hand of God vpon vs in this his grieuous visitation led mee to make choyce rather of this Text as the more seasonable That other is written in Exod. 23. the three first verses Exod. 23.1 3. Thou shalt not raise a false report Put not thine hand with the wicked to bee an vnrighteous witnesse Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe euill neither shalt thou speake in a cause to decline after many to wrest iudgement Neither shalt thou countenance a poore man in his cause Wherein were noted fiue speciall Rules shared out among fiue sorts of persons the Accuser the Witnesse the Iurer the Pleader the Officer I will but giue each of them some briefe intimation of their duty from their seuerall proper rules and conclude If thou commest hither then as a Plaintiffe §. 31. the Accuser or other Party in a ciuill cause or to giue voluntary Information vpon a Statute or to prosecute against a Malefactor or any way in the nature of an Accuser Let neither the hope of gaine or of any other aduantage to thy selfe nor secret malice or enuy against thine aduersary nor thy desire to giue satisfaction to any third party sway thee beyond the bounds of truth and equity no not a little either to deuise an vntruth against thy neighbour of thine owne head or by an hard construction to depraue the harmelesse actions or speeches of others or to make them worse than they are by vniust aggrauations or to take aduantage of letters and syllables to entrap innocency without a fault When thou art to open thy mouth against thy brother set the first Rule of that Text as a watch before the doore of thy lips Thou shalt not raise a false report If thou commest hither secondly §. 32. the Witnesse to bee vsed as a Witnesse perhaps a See Cic. pro Flacco although Turneb 13. aduers. 14. interpret the prouerbe otherwise Graecâ fide â—d est optimâ Graecâ fide like a downe-right knight of the post that maketh of an b quibus iusiurandum jocus est testimonium ludus laus merces gratia gratulatio proposita est Cic. pro Flacc. oath a jest and a pastime of a deposition or dealt withall by a bribe or suborned by thy landlord or great neighbour or egged on with thine owne spleene or malice to sweare and forsweare as these shall prompt thee or to c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dictum solemne Graecorum enterchange a deposition with thy friend as they vsed to doe in Greece Hodie mihi cras tibi sweare thou for mee to day I le sweare for thee tomorrow or tempted
the humours had not bin ripe and the body thereby prepared to entertaine such a disease So as the bad humours within may rather be said to be the true cause and that cold-taking but the occasion of the Ague the disease it selfe issuing from the hidden cause within and the outward accident being the cause not so much of the disease it selfe why the Ague should take him as why it should take him at that time rather than at another and hold him in that part or in that maner rather than in another §. 27. and applied to the present Argument From this Example we may see in some proportion how our owne sins and other mens concurre as ioynt impulsiue causes of those punishments which God bringeth vpon vs. Our owne sinnes they are the true a Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interna antecedens dispositiua hidden antecedent causes which deserue the punishments our fathers sinnes or our gouernours sinnes or our neighbours sins or whatsoeuer other mans sinnes that are visited vpon vs are only the b Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exterterna irritatrix excitatiua outward euident causes or rather occasions why wee should bee punished at this time and in this thing and in this manner and in this measure and with these circumstances And as in the former Example the Patients friends considered one cause and the Physitian another they the euident and outward he the inward and antecedent cause so respectiuely to Gods Iustice our owne sinnes onely are the causes of our punishments but in respect of his Prouidence and Wisedome our fathers sinnes also or other mens For Iustice looketh vpon the desert onely and so the punishments are euer and onely from our owne personall sinnes as wee learned from our third Certainty but it is Prouidence that ordereth the occasions and the seasons and the other circumstances of GODS punishments Hence may wee learne to reconcile those places of Scripture §. 28. The seeming Contradictions of Scripture which seeme to crosse one another in this Argument In Ezekiel and Ieremy it is said that a Ier. 31.30 Ezek. 18.20 euery man shall be punished for his owne sinnes and that the children shall not beare the iniquitie of the fathers and yet the same Ieremie complaineth as if it were otherwise Lam. 5. b Lam 5.7 Our fathers haue sinned and are not and wee haue borne their iniquities Yea God himselfe proclaimeth otherwise I am c Exod. 20.5 a iealous God visiting the sinnes of the fathers vpon the children Nor only doth he visit the sins of the fathers vpon the children but hee visiteth also the sonnes of Princes vpon their Subiects as d 2. Sam. 24.17 Dauids people were wasted for his sinne in numbring them yea and hee visiteth sometimes the sinnes euen of ordinary priuate men vpon publike societies e Ios. 22.20 Did not Achan the sonne of Zerah commit a trespasse in the accursed thing and wrath sell vpon all the Congregation of Israel and that man perished not alone in his iniquity Now how can all this stand together Yes very well euen as well as in the act of punishing §. 29. how to bee reconciled Gods Iustice and his Wisedome can stand together Marke then wheresoeuer the Scripture ascribeth one mans punishment to another mans sinne it pointeth vs to Gods Wisedome and Prouidence who for good and iust ends maketh choyce of these occasions rather than other sometimes to inflict those punishments vpon men which their owne sinnes haue otherwise abundantly deserued On the contrary wheresoeuer the Scripture giueth all punishments vnto the personall sinnes of the sufferer it pointeth vs to Gods Iustiâ—e which looketh still to the desert and doth not vpon any occasion whatsoeuer inflict punishments but where there are personall sinnes to deserue them so that euery man that is punished in any kinde or vpon any occasion may ioyne with Dauid in that confession of his Psal. 51. a Psal. 51.4 Against thee haue I sinned and done euill in thy sight that thou mightest be iustified in thy sayings and cleare when thou iudgest §. 30. with an exemplary instance thereof Say then an vnconscionable great one by cruell oppression wring as Ahab did here his poorer neighbours vineyeard from him or by countenanced sacriledge geld a Bishopricke of a faire Lordship or Mannor and when he hath done his prodigall heire runne one end of it away in matches drowne another end of it in Tauernes and Tap-houses melt away the rest in lust and beastly sensuality who doth not here see both Gods Iustice in turning him out of that which was so foulely abused by his owne sinnes and his Prouidence withall in fastening the Curse vpon that portion which was so vniustly gotten by his fathers sinnes Euery man is ready to say It was neuer like to prosper it was so ill gotten and so acknowledge the Couetous fathers sinne as occasioning it and yet euery man can say withall It was neuer likely to continue long it was so vainely lauished out and so acknowledge the Prodigall sons sinne as sufficiently deseruing it Thus haue wee heard the maine doubt solued §. 31. The resolution of the â—aine doubt The summe of all is this God punisheth the sonne for the fathers sinne but with temporall punishments not eternall and with those perhaps so as to redound to the fathers punishment in the son Perhaps because the sonne treadeth in his fathers steps perhaps because he possesseth that from his father to which Gods curse adhereth perhaps for other reasons best knowne to God himselfe wherewith he hath not thought meet to acquaint vs but what euer the occasion be or the ends euermore for the sons owne personall sins abundantly deseruing them And the same resolution is to bee giuen to the other two doubts proposed in the beginning §. 32. applied also to the rest to that Why God should punish any one man for another and to the third Why God should punish the lesser offender for the greater In which and all other doubts of like kinde it is enough for the clearing of Gods Iustice to consider that when God doth so they are first only temporall punishments which he so inflicteth and those secondly no more than what the sufferer by his owne sinnes hath most rightfully deserued All those other considerations as that the Prince and People are but one body and so each may feele the smart of others sinnes and stripes that oftentimes wee haue giuen way to other mens sinnes when wee might haue stopped them or consent when wee should haue withstood them or silent allowance when wee should haue checked them or perhaps furtherance when wee should rather haue hindered them that the punishments brought vpon vs for our fathers or other mens sinnes may turne to our great spirituall aduantage in the humbling of our soules the subduing of our corruptions the encreasing of our care the exercising of our graces that