Cause And 3. In determining it Not denying or delaying or Perverting Justice Not Extending or Diminishing his Jurisdiction Not Proceeding upon his Own Opinion or Humour without Good Warrant 9. Abhorrence of Perjury In himself by considering carefully the Oaths which he hath taken In others to be Avoided by his care to Administer none but Lawful and Necessary Oaths 2. To give good Admonitions and sharp Reproof in cause of failure THE Justice of Peace HIS CALLING A Moral Essay AS all the Works of God are perfect The Introduction so are they full of Variety and Wonder whether we Consider the Works of his Hands the Fabrick of the World and all the Beings in it or the Works of his Providence in the Government and Conduct of them at once preserving what he has made and so disposing them as to produce those Effects for which they were Created without their Knowledg and sometimes against their Wills But tho this is true of all the Creatures yet it is most apparent and full of Wonder when it is applyed to the Government of Mankind for all the other Creatures do pay a blind and unerring obedience to the Laws of their Creation and do never transgress willingly but Man being endued with discursive Faculties and Corrupted by the Fall doth very often act against what he knows to be his Duty and as often mistake it But then if we consider the Mass of Mankind we shall find that there is nothing in the whole World more Uncertain and Unconstant than Men changing like the wind very often to the quite opposite Points of the Compass without any Reasonable and sometimes without any Sensible Cause Yet in this they seldom vary that they are almost always unwilling to obey envious against their Supâ—riours jealous of their Conduct and discontented with almost all Events they all think themselves wise and good enough to Command and because this is impossible affect a dispensation from all Obedience which they miscall Liberty And which is yet worse there never was nor ever will be wanting a Sort of Ambitious ill-natured men to instill into the heads of the Rabble a greater Aversion for their Governors and their Government be it never so Easy Gentle and Just and a love for a Liberty which they promise â—â—em will Ensue upon the ruine of the â—â—rmer by which Means this Natural ill â—â—clination to Licentiousness is yet more â—â—flamed and inraged So that a man may wonder to see so â—any Hundred Thousands Obey one â—ingle Man whom they never saw and â—â—om whom they Expect no Extraordinary â—â—vour and as Seldom meet with it And if at any time their own natural â—â—clinations and the Cursed insinuations â—f their Tempters so far prevail as to tranâ—â—ort them into Tumults and War and â—â—ey prevail in that too so far as to destroy â—oth them and their Government yet then â—hey Constantly and Unavoidably fall â—nder some other Power as bad if not â—orse than the former and so do but toss â—hemselves from one supposed misery to â—â—other For since the Creation of the World was 〈◊〉 never known that any Number of men â—ived long without some Government or â—ther nor can the Multitude subsist withâ—ut it any more than the Individuals can â—ithout breath Some inquiring into the Cause of this â—ave ascribed it to Fate and the Influence 〈◊〉 the Stars and others to the Nature of â—ankind But I cannot conceive it proceeds from any of these Causes for taking Fate as it ought properly for a blind and Natural determination of things to their Events it cannot be supposed that there should be such an inclination to perfect and uncoâ—troulable Liberty in Man without any possibility of having it satisfied And as to the Stars their Influences and Aspects vary every moment and are different in one Country from what they are in Others But this inclination runs thro all Mankind tho it is sometimes restrained by External Accidents and is like the Seaever disposed to Motion tho sometimes quiet because no Winds Excite it And as to any Natural Inclination in Mankind to be governed and Acquiesce in the Wisdom of Others it is so contrary to the former of Living in perfect Liberty that they two are inconsistent and cannot stand together And therefore I have ever thought the reason lay higher and that it Must proceed from some Decree of God Almighty which is irresistable and uncontroulablâ— and that he in his Divine Providence hath set Bounds to this raging Sea saying to it Hither shalt thou come and no further For if it were otherwise those strange Revolutions that have hapned in the World would Certainly have left us some instances of a People that had attained and continued in a state of Natural freedom for some time without any Government or Governors For to speak the truth that is the thing they all seek On the other side were there not such an Inclination in Mankind why should they so restlessly pursue that airy Notion and for it venture the loss of Life and Limbs And what is the Multitude concern'd whether one or twenty or ten thousand command them to do what they would not or to suffer what they hate above all things But God is a cause strong enough to Over-rule this Ocean always the same ever Watching over the affairs of Mankind and making things fall insensibly and irresistibly into the Order he wills they should be in Accordingly he laid the foundations of humane Society in a Single Person and Made all the rest to spring from him like a Fountain and enured them from their infancy to obedience and made them sensible of the use and benefit of Government before they could consider what it was And as no Government was ever destroyed without force so that force like the Ashes of the Phenix being warmed by the Sun of the Divine Favour hath ever produced another to succeed it and left the Multitude repining and discontented at those Chains it never could nor ever shall break till Time shall be no more SECTION I. IT is no less a Wonder to see how God in every Age and Nation hath raised up Men to Govern and indued them with such a proportion of Abilities as fitted them more or less for that employment Man is not Naturally his Brothers Keeper and great is the number always of them who are perfectly unconcern'd for the Publick Prosperity or Misfortune of their own Times or Countries till they find the danger approach their own houses or persons and then for the most part 't is too late to prevent it And those few that are otherwise minded do as often mistake or but pretend the Publick Good and yet after all this there is very seldom Wanting a Sufficient Number so qualified as to Keep the Several Parts of the World in some tolerable order And the Wonder is the greater if we consider how often these men meet no other recompence than Death and Ruine from their Superiors or
the two first but I hope by placing them in the Conclusion they will Leave the stronger impression on the Mind of the Reader Courage is so necessary a Qualification in Magistrates Courage that God himself never omits it in his Charges to them and there is good cause for it For they are sometimes to deal with Men Equal to themselves in all things and at others with their Superiors and as the Nature of Mankind stands may justly fear hard usage for doing but their Duty And yet we have another difficulty that will try the most daring we live in a factious Age and a Divided Nation and a Magistrate must sometimes disoblige not only single persons but great Bodies of Men united for the carrying on ill designs And we have before our Eyes instances of many great Families that have been ruine or impoverished within the Memory of Man for their Loyalty and Honesty and too many have Considered the same may happen again and this hath made the difficulty the greater by les'ning the Number of them that should have overcome it But yet would men consider Seriously of it this will never justify their Pusilanimity who have refused to serve the Publick or not performed their Duty out of Cowardise For God himself hath promised to stand by them and protect them in the discharge of their Duty Ye shall not Respect persons in judgment but you shall hear the Small as well as the Great you shall not be afraid of the face of Man for the judgment is Gods Deut. 1. 17. So he is pleased to own the Act and is bound to protect his own Minister and he may securely rely upon him that he will for he hath ingaged his Veracity for it whose Power no Faction how formidable soever can Master And yet if he should Suffer a man to be persecuted for doing his Duty Even that is no such dismal thing as is represented by fancy and delusion but this subject hath been so Excellently treated of by the Author of Jovian in his Conclusion that for brevity sake I will refer the Reader to it Of Evils the least is to be chosen and in the state things are we must submit our Selves and Families as Eternal Slaves to these Factions or defend the Government against them by a Couragious Execution of our Laws We have tryed their Mercy and Clemency and found Solomon's Observation true The tender Mercies of the Wicked are Cruel We have felt the Smart of being Loyal and if we were so treated for being obedient to the Laws of God and Man we may Expect as much Mercy in other instances as we please We have tried what could be done by fair Courses and Concessions and our Experience tells us nothing but an intire submission at discretion will satisfie these insolent Men and this hath inspired some Besieged Starved Places with a resolution to perish bravely but blessed be God we are not upon such terms yet with them But then this reproacheth our faint-hearted Gallants who dare not do their Duty whilest they have the Advantage Clearly on their Side The thing is indeed not only possible but easie for all Combinations against an Established Government besides the Providence of God have the United Forces of all good men against them they are lyable to many hazards have no Authority to Unite them are and ever will be distrustful each of other and faithless too as occasion serves and one Passion prevails upon another So that it is not Prudence which makes men timorous but want of Considering the Nature of things together with Infidelity Distrust of God and Cowardize and if any man will aspire to these Titles of Honour and tamely purchase them with Slavery and Beggery much good may his bargain do him and let no man envy his happiness And as to the rest let them pluck up their spirits and with the Rosolution of English Men and Christians bring under this Hydra this Many-headed Monster and they may be assured the Event will answer their Desires and will find that the strength of our Factions lies more in our want of Wit and Will to Suppress them than in their own Ability to defend themselves much less to bring under and ruine us But not only Combinations of Men but single persons have sometimes over-awed Magistrates and made them not dare to do their Duties and here the fault is so much the greater as the Temptation is less For why should a Justice of the Peace under the Protection of God and the Laws fear a Wealthy Clown or a Ruffling Gentleman Let him be but once sure what the Law and the Matter of Fact is and he need not fear any man But 't is a great disgrace to the Magistrate and a great dishonour to Justice to have the Laws take none but the poor helpless offenders whose very Innocence may be easily trodden under foot and the great and insolent Offenders escape without any Chastisement It were great reason rather to take the latter than the former and tends more to the terror of ill men It is true that sometimes these great and rich Malefactors do find means by their Wealth and Friends to trouble a Justice of the Peace on some other pretence but this doth not often happen God in his Providence preventing it and when it doth ought to be born as other Calamities which God sends for Causes best known to himself and which for the most part end very well for the Minister of Justice But on the Other Side when a man hath purchased their good will at the loss of his Reputation by denying Justice or doing injury he hath but rendred himself more obnoxious to their injuries by shewing his fear of them which makes them yet more insolent and he hath made God and good men his Enemies to boot So that he is then become really miserable and yet must Expect no bodies Pity or Assistance So that all things Considered it is better to trust God and rely on the Protection of the Laws and so to proceed to do our Duty without the least Consideration Whether the Party Complained of be a Poor man or a rich man but according to Gods Commandment and Our Oath to do equal Right to both which in all probability will be as safe and much more honourable and at last bring a man to peace according to that of the Psalmist Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the End of that Man is Peace Psal 37. v. 37. There is another Fault which is just the opposite to this and doth not so often happen yet sometimes may out of too much Pity and Compassion ill Placed and Worse Expressed and that is when more regard is taken to the Poverty than Innocence of a man contrary to the Command of God Thou shalt not Countenance a poor man in his Cause Exod. 23. 3. That is any further than there is Right and Reason for it I might perhaps not have mentioned this
but that it hath been more frequent here in England of late than perhaps in all the World besides Especially as to our Penal Laws for every Township with us being bound to maintain its own poor Inhabitants which way soever they become such many men interest themselves in the Cases of these People and for fear they should become a Charge to the Parish connive at many of their Misdemeanors and intercede with the Magistrates in others for their non-punishment till for Want of timely Correction for small faults and thro hopes of impunity they become insufferably Wicked and are cut off by the hand of Justice or grow Insolent and are a plague all the days of their Lives to the Places in which they live It is great pity the power of inflicting Corporal punishment instead of Pecuniary should not be Extended further than it is for that is the way to meet these small ill natured Animals As for Instance Many of them turn Atheists and never come at Church onely because they are not able to pay Twelve pence for their absence And I might instance in some other particulars but till this can be done it is certainly much better to run the Hazard of maintaining these men when they are reformed than thus to suffer them to become worse and worse by impunity till in the End they become not only Extreamly wicked and troublesome but poor also and so the thing that was feared falleth upon them which might in likelihood have been prevented by a timely Severity By Honesty Honesty I understand that Comprehensive Virtue which in Scripture is call'd an Honest and Good Heart and includes in it Sincerity in a man's Words and Actions Veracity a strong propension to do good to all and fair dealing without fraud or hypocrisie which make a man's Conversation Safe and Profitable Easie and Delightful and was once the General Temper of the English Nation till Foraign Vices and the Last Rebellion altered it Sincere Vpright dealing is an Excellent quality in a private man Sincerity but so necessary in a Magistrate that without it he will be in danger to infect men and make them worse than they would have been by Conversing with them for they will be sure to transcribe the Copy and Out-do it too they will observe how he Circumvented and Deluded them and they will try how the same Arts may be made use of another time for their Advantage against him or any other Neighbour as occasion serves till they turn errant Knaves unfit for humane Society and good for Nothing But this Sort of Dealing is not onely mischievous and hateful but for the most part unsuccessful too for men will soon see thro the thin pretence and discover the insincerity that lurks behind it and then all their Care will be to Countermine it and prevent the Cheat. And where they cannot discover any fraud designed they will yet suspect it and such a man's Words will have no Credit with them and as for his Actions they will Eternally and restlesly turn them and toss them to and fro in their Minds to find the Secret design of them entertaining a Thousand Surmises and Jealousies of them and in the mean time what ever outward respect they pay him out of fear or flattery they will inwardly hate him and always study to defeat and Baffle him and this must needs make his Life uneasie and unsafe and his Actions unprosperous But on the Other Side when a man is Esteemed an upright sincere man every body will love and trust him and they will interpret his Actions Favourably and Candidly and what ever he doth or saith to them will be regarded and revered and the more they try the more willingly will they trust him and rely upon his honesty as their best Security and when they observe the Blessing of God and the Love and Favour of Men and good Success to Attend such men which very rarely sail they will endeavour to be like them in the One that they may be so in the other too Veracity is a debt Veracity that all men who live in Society ow each to others our Souls being not able to Communicate each with others by reason of the interposition of our bodies God hath given us speech as a Means to Communicate our inward Sentiments each to other for Our Mutual Good and Comfort But the Lyar perverts all these great Benefits of Society and turns them into Poyson he thinks no man can see the Contradiction that is between his Thoughts and Words and from thence presumes he shall cheat his Neighbour and give him Chass instead of Corn but he will certainly be deceived in the End for all men have a Natural Logick that will in time by Comparing one thing with another discover the Sophistry and if they frequently trap a man they will never after trust or believe him Matters of Fact and things that are past can never be made out but by testimony either by Writing or Word of Mouth and According to the Credibility of the Person that relates it is the belief Stronger or Weaker that is bui't upon that Testimony So that here is another great use of Speech for when a man is present at the Doing or Speaking of any thing if he minds it it leaves a Picture Impression or Representation of the Words and Things in his Memory as in a Register but then these Characters are visible to none but himself and the use of Speech is to represent them truly to others according as the man finds them now the Lyar in this instance plays the false transcriber fains things that he finds not there and changes and varies what he doth Extends it in some places diminisheth it in others is certain when he should be doubtful and doubtful when he should be certain and here and there interlaces Circumstances Words and Actions of his own and then fathers them upon others and all the while relyes upon this single security That no body but himself can Search his Memoires and find out and prove the Cheat nay perhaps so often tells the Lie that the the false Story defaces the true and at length impregnates his fancy with a false Conception and he arrives at that height of Folly as to deceive himself and believe his own lie to be a real truth And indeed for the most part the man deceiveth none so much as himself for by one means or other the Cheat is at one time or other discovered and very often by himself and his Complices he that tells a Story truly is but like him that reads a Paragraph carefully which will be the same how often soever it be done but if he adds words of his own and his Memory fails he will necessarily vary and observing men soon spy the disagreement and discover the Cheat as plainly as if they stood behind him and saw every letter as well as he and if he have Confederates it will be