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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A46712	A sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Norwich at the Mayor's Guild, June xx, 1693 by John Jeffery ...	Jeffery, John, 1647-1720.	1693 (1693)	Wing J520; ESTC R35426	13,856	34

A SERMON Preached in the Cathedral Church OF NORWICH AT THE Mayor's Guild JVNE xx 1693. By JOHN JEFFERY M. A. Minister of S. Peter's of Mancroft in Norwich LONDON Printed for Iames Adamson at the Angel and Crown in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1693. Imprimatur Septemb. 8. 1693. GEO. ROYSE To the Right Worshipful Robert Cooke Esq MAYOR OF The City of Norwich SIR JUstice is so necessary to Society and so essential to Religion that none can be Safe in this World or Happy in the next farther than it prevails in their Hearts and Lives The Dignity and Fitness of the Subject was that which induced me to chuse it for the Occasion And the same Reason I believe made you desire the Sermon might be printed for your Use And as nothing is more agreeable to the Office of a Magistrate or to the Duty of a Christian than Justice so I do most heartily recommend this great Truth to the serious Consideration of all and particularly of your self Adding my Prayers unto God for you That he would endow you with all those Gifts that are necessary for your Office and make you faithful in it which is the most proper Expression of my Regards to you who am Your Humble Servant JOHN JEFFERY 2 Chron. xix 5 6 7. And he set Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah city by city And said to the Judges Take heed what ye do for ye judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of Gifts THE Matters of Government and the kinds of Governours are Military Civil and Ecclesiastical And the Supreme Powers are supreme in all these Cases Accordingly we find in the History of Jehoshaphat which is contained in Chap. 17 18 19 20. of this Book how he placed subordinate Governours of every kind throughout his whole Kingdom There were Garisons in all those Cities which could be fortified For it was a Time of War c. 17.1 There were also Civil Magistrates in the same Cities as in the Text. There were also Ecclesiastical Rulers which are particularly mentioned concerning Jerusalem v. 8. He set Levites and Priests And the chief Ecclesiastical Governour there was Amariah v. 11. The King himself was supreme and in him all the Powers Military Civil and Ecclesiastical did concenter So it was among the Gentiles and among the Jews And there is a Necessity it should be so for there cannot be two Supremacies in one Nation (a) Letters of Father Paul Let. 123 But the Text and the occasion confine my Discourse to the Subordinate Civil Magistrates which the King placed in every City And these are called Judges The Word Judges is not used so strictly in the Scriptures as in our Nation For there it signifieth at large a Governour and sometimes the supreme Governour Moses in his Time was undoubtedly such and S. Stephen recounting the History of him noteth That the injurious H●brew said unto Moses Who made thee a Ruler and a Judge over us (b) Acts 7.27 and in Exodus it is Who made thee a Prince and a Judge (c) Exod. 2.14 Where Ruler or Prince and Judge are Words of the same import and S. Stephen useth the same Words that the LXX do viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (d) Ex. 2.14 and Acts 7.27 35. Nor was the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unknown in this Signification among the Gentiles any more than among the Jews Among the Jews all the Supreme Governours from Moses and Joshua to the Kings were called Judges and they had such a Power as the Dictators had among the Romans and did such Offices for the Jews as the Heroes Hercules and Theseus (d) v. Plutarc in vita Thess and others did for the Gentiles viz. delivering them from Violence and Oppression I need not enquire further into the Form of the Jewish Government at that Time Or state how far it was in ordinary Aristocratical with respect to the Sanedrim (f) Exod. 18.24 c. or Theocratical with respect to God (g) 1 Sam. 8.7 and 12.12 or Monarchical with respect to the Judges (h) Judg. or how it was mixed of all these 'T is sufficient for my present Purpose that by Judges in Scripture are meant at large Civil Magistrates That the Supreme Governour is sometime so called and that the Subordinate are so called in the Text so that the meaning of it is this That King Jehoshaphat set Civil Magistrates in every City and that each City had a Chief Civil Magistrate of its own And that the King charged them to govern righteously in their several Places In the Words we have I. The Appointment of Civil Magistrates in every City by the King II. The Charge which the King gave unto them concerning their Office I. The Appointment of Civil Magistates in every City by the King Jehoshaphat set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah city by city We have in the Old Testament the History of the Jewish Nation And that from the first original and fundamental establishment thereof so that we know not only what manner the Supreme and Subordinate Magistrates did succeed in after-Times but also how they were constituted at the beginning And as for the Subordinate Magistates we find that they were at the first chosen by Moses the Supreme and that his Choice was approved by God At their coming out of Egypt Moses was the only Governour and Jethro observing the intolerable Encumbrance gave him counsel To provide out of all the people able men such as feared God men of truth hating covetousness and to place such over them to be rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds and rulers of fifties and rulers of tens And let them says he judge the people at all seasons And it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall judge So it shall be easier for thy self and they shall bear the burden with thee If thou shalt do this and God command thee so then thou shalt be able to endure and all the people shall go unto their place in Peace (i) Exod. 18.13 c. 24 c. This Counsel Moses followed chusing Subordinate Governours under him and chusing such Men as were fit to be Governours The History of this Moses recounts in his last Speech to the People (k) Deut. 1.9 c. And the Qualifications of those Men were much the same that Aristotle says must be in Governours He that is to govern says the Philosopher must have 1. Love to the People whom he is to govern 2. Power sufficient for his Office And 3. Vertue or Honesty and Justice (l) Arist Pol. l. 5. sect 89. Sufficiency is a necessary Qualification in one who is to

in their Hearts a great Veneration of Divine Justice Let the Fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God nor respect of persons nor taking of gifts Justice is doing Right unto Men And that doing Right is doing Benefit and those who do it are Benefactors (c) Luke 22.25 But as Men are united in Society so the Personal Rights of Men are retrenched that the Publick Rights may be established And every one gains more Advantage from Society than he parts with for it (d) Ex quo leges moresque constituti tum juris aequa descriptio certaque vivendi disciplina per quas bene beateque vivitur quas res mansuetado animornm consecuta verecundiae est Effectumque ut effet vita munitior atque ut dando accipiendo mutandisque facultatibus commodis nulla re egeremus Tull. Offic. l. 2. Besides Benefit is to be conferred and Right is to be done unto one Man in such sort that Benefit may be conferred and Right done to all others (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Pol. l. 3. c. 9. Communis Reipublicae Sponsio Justice is therefore doing Right and Kindness to all and there is a great Wisdom necessary for the adjusting those Rights and a great Power necessary for the maintaining them For this the Justice of God is venerable because there is no Partiality or Respect of Persons with him But he is equally Just and Good unto all and his tender Mercies are over all his Works He employs the greatest Wisdom and Power to maintain Right And as the Rights of Men are originally from God so they are defended by him The Laws of God oblige every one to do Right to every one as he himself does And as the Dispensations of his Providence are Exercises of his Dominion so by them God defends the Rights of Men. And most certain it is that no Man can do Wrong but he shall suffer Punishment Vengeance belongs unto God and he will repay it God does not perhaps avenge so soon as we desire or in such manner as we desire because God's Wisdom and Justice are more perfect than ours But as the Justice of God is manifested by his Laws and by his Judgments so that manifestation of his Justice is the Assurance of our Right and Welfare This Justice of God we ought to have in the greatest Veneration by which he protects the Rights of the Innocent and punishes the Injuriousness of the Wicked All that good which any of us enjoy not only comes from God but is secured to us by him And that we are not deprived by the Injustice of others of any thing we value is owing unto the Justice of God 'T is not by our own Wisdom Power and Friends whatever we may think that we either obtain or keep what is commodious or necessary for us But we should lose it through the greater Subtility and Power of others if it were not for God (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. Odyss 3. A Man who well considers the World must be convinced of this and he who is convinced of it must adore the Justice of God And may every one so consider this as to be possessed with the greatest Veneration of that Justice For by such a Perswasion a Man shall honour God and enjoy himself Whereas he who ascribes all to his own Wisdom and Power must needs be forgetful of God and disordered in his Mind And either be vainly conceited of his own Abilities or extreamly fearful of others Nor can a Man possess his Soul long in Tranquility through the Delusions of his Pride Since God in Justice may let loose the Malice of others against him and convince him of his Insufficiency by bringing him to Shame 'T is indeed through the interposing of the Justice of God who does Right to every Man that any Man does enjoy what he has a Right to and most adorable is that Justice which maintains Right among Men where so many employ all their Power to do Wrong The Divine Justice does not effectually hinder all Men from doing any Wrong But it does hinder very much Wrong which would be done And it also helps them to Right who suffer Wrong This Consideration is apt to create a great Veneration of God in us and ought to be much thought upon for that Purpose But as this is a proper Subject for the Meditation of all Men so especially for the Meditation of those who have any Share in the Government of Men. Such are in a peculiar Sense the Ministers of God They are the Istruments that God uses in a special manner for doing Right to Men. Those who are Governours ought to reverence Government as a Divine Expedient for the doing of Right And those who rule over others are to look upon their Office as entirely for that End And a Magistrate who reverenceth Justice as that for which God is adoreable must needs count Justice a Duty for which Man is truly Honourable (g) Omni igitur ratione colenda retinenda Justitia est tum ipsa per se nam aliter justitia non esset tum propter amplificationem honoris gloriae Tull. Off. l. 2. The Honour of Magistracy is indeed its subserviency to Justice And so venerable is Justice that to minister to it in any degree is honourable I need not say That Punishments are not the first or chief much less the only part of Justice For they are only accidentally necessary through the Violations of Justice Justice is doing Right and maintaining Right 'T is employing Wisdom and Power to constrain those to do Right who are unwilling and to hinder them from doing Wrong who are disposed to it as most are through Malice or Partiality (h) Arist Pol. l. 6. c. 8. Now as no Man can be any further Happy or Safe than he can enjoy those Rights that God has given him so no Man can keep those Rights that he may enjoy them without God To God's just Government of the World and to his constant interposing for the Defence of Right we owe all the Good that we enjoy This should cause us to magnify God and to account it a most important Office that those are put into who are to govern any part of the World under God and to be his Instruments to defend the Sacred Rights of Men (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Eth. l. 5. This is a Contemplation fit for all Magistrates to entertain themselves with every Day in their Retirements And so to possess their Souls with the greatest Veneration of Justice as the Property and Similitude of God In the just Governing of Men there is an Image of the Government of God and by their Office Governours resemble God and are subordinate to him So far as their Administration of Government is just 't is doing the Work of God And for this a Magistrate ought to Reverence his Office and himself And he that being a Magistrate does for this only reverence his Office and himself will do what shall deserve and gain Reverence i e. will do Right unto all according to his Understanding and Power and nothing can be more Honourable than such Justice for this Justice is the Glory of God and for it God is adored by the whole World II. Let Magistrates pray daily unto God That in their Places and according to their Offices as they rule over Men they may be Just Ruling in the Fear of God (k) 2 Sam 23.3 That no Surprize or Mistake no Passion or Partiality may hinder them from doing all Right to all Men. Such Petitions a Magistrate is to add unto his daily private Devotions And as such Petitions coming from a Soul that unfeignedly desires to do right are a good Sign So through God's Help those Prayers will be a proper means to enable him to all necessary Justice For he who desires heartily That he may govern for God's Glory i. e. for the good of Men shall not be destitute of God's Grace But as God rules for his own Glory doing Good to Men so God will assist those who beg his Assistance that they may follow his Example And what I have said here as Advice to All who are Governours in general I have said to you Two in particular To you Sir who are this Day to Leave and to you Sir who are this Day to take the Place of the Chief Magistrate of this City You Sir that have had Experience of the Venerable Office of doing Right in your Capacity to the Citizens of this City may at leisure recollect your self and bless God for it when you remember he has given you the Heart to do impartial Justice For doing Justice is a Divine Work And you Sir who do this Day enter upon this Office let not the Day pass away without earnest Prayer unto God That he would give you a Heart equal to your Power of doing impartial Justice to your Fellow-Citizens So shall you reflect upon your Year at the End of it and at the End of your Life with Satisfaction and Joy And for this Grace of Universal Justice let let us now pray Grant we beseech thee Almighty God That the Words which we have heard this Day with our outward Ears concerning the Venerable Nature and absolute Necessity and great Advantages of Justice may be so grafted inwardly in the Hearts of all Men whose Duty it is to do Right and of all Governours whose Office it is to maintain Right That they may bring forth in us all the proper Fruit of Just and Good Living to the Honour and Praise of thy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen FINIS Advertisement THERE is published by the same Author a small Treatise entitituled Religion the Perfection of Man In 80.