the weale publike as is the siders web out of her bowels but as q Laert. l. 1. Solon once complain'd even as spiders webs indeed which every great Droane or Humble bee will breake thorow at his pleasure when the poore seely fly shall be caught and entangled in them to his overthrow Nay without these two what will Iudges themselues be but as Greater thieues sending lesse thieues to execution Nay without these saith r Austin de civit l. 4. c. 4. Austin Quid sunt regna nisi magna latrocinia quia latroâ—inia quid sunt nisi parva regna What are kingdoms themselues but as great robberies For what else are robberies but little kingdomes Mercy must bee aboue iustice in the Magistrato Howbeit as before I noted that though God be both mercy and iustice it selfe yet mercy hath the predominaÌ„cie and preeminence over his iustice So I hold it a good caveat to all Magistrates that Å¿ Margarita decreti Rationem praelati tutiùs reddent de miscricordiâ quà m de crudelitate When the righteous Iudge of all the world shall call Iudges themselues to the bar of his iudgement more easily will he dispense with their overmuch lenity than with their overmuch crueltie For God who loveth mercy so well that he hath made her as it were a Queene giving her the supremacy and soveraigntie t Psal 145.9 over all his workes Psal 145. and hath so inserted and ingraffed her within the very bowels of man that when hee would speak to mans capacitie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the maner of men and would insinuate his owne mercifull affection to man he is wont to expresse it by calling himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man as in that parable Luc. 14. u Theophil in Luc. 14. where it is said A certeine man made a great supper c. no doubt but as himselfe is abundant in mercy so will his mercy abound to those that abound in mercy but there shall bee iudgement mercilesse to him that sheweth no mercy and mercy reioiceth against iudgement as it is * Iames. 2.13 Iames 2. Be it then that our English lawes be not alwaies written in bloud but somtimes in oyle providing for some malefactors of better hope some easier penaltie than death as the Pylorie rather than the Galowes or perhaps a note of invstion in the eare or in the hand or whipping or slitting of the nose or the like shall they therefore be condemned as partiall because they would in iustice punish sinne and yet in mercy spare the Sinner No no there must bee that which the Morall Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an aequity that must allay and lenify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the severity of iustice Reverend x Ioh. Gerson Gerson sometimes Chancelour of Paris cals it Iustitiam interpretativam a iustice that will make a favourable yet a conscionable construction of law respecting that intent and meaning which the Law-giver had or of likelyhood would haue had in this or that particular case each circumstance thereof being duly and rightly pondered Wel and wisely therefore hath it been provided that there should be a conscionable Court of Chancery to mitigate the rigid austerity of other Courts because as y Cicer. the heathen man saith SummuÌ„ius summa iniuria Extremity of right is no better than extremity of wrong And truely The occasion of this text I should do my text but right if I should terme it a Chancery-text For to confesse a truth that which caused me to fasten my me ditations vpon it was this that I haue often heard it fal from the lips of my most honourable Lord the Lord Chancelor as great as graue as wise as noble as iudicious as mercifull a Iusticer as ever this kingdome had that with such sweete complacency of affection that he hath sometimes professed that were he a Preacher this should be His Text A righteous man is mercifull to the life of his beast As is the song of the Civill Magistrate Mercy and iustice in the Minister such must also be the song of the Spiritual magistrate which is the Minister It must be a song bipartite of mercy and iudgement Mercy in applying the sweet promises of the Gospel iudgement in delivering the feareful threats of the Law A thing not obscurely signified vnto vs z Act. 2.3 in those Linguae dispertitae or cloven tongues wherein the holy Ghost appeared to the Apostles Act. 2. Cloven tongues to teach them that their song must be both of mercy iudgement Not alwaies of mercy for feare of presumption nor yet alwaies of iudgement for feare of desperation but of mercy and iudgement both for that 's good discretion because either of them without the other is like a good medicine ill applyed which rather hurts than helps the wound Mercy aboue iustice in the Minister But ô let the smoaking flaxe never be quenched so long as the paenitent sinner can but send forth smoaky sighes and sobs for his sinnes and so long as there is any light or sparke of grace in him let him never want cherishing But when with the sharpe share of the law we haue made as it were deepe furrowes of sorrow in the hearts of our hearers then let vs sow the comfortable seed of the gospell following the example of God him selfe who first said to Adam a Gen. 2.17 Morte moriêris thou shalt dy the death there is the furrow of the law then comes with b Gen. 3.15 Semen mulieris the seed of the woman shall break the head of the serpent there is the seed of the gospell But must iustice and mercy rest only vpon the heads of Moses Aaron the magistrate and the minister No beloved they must be like that pretious ointment Mercy and iustice in all sorts of men which being powred vpon Aarons head ran downe to his beard and so to the very skirts of his garments they must descend to the very lowest meanest of the people And so deare must they be to all sorts of men that c Prov. 3.3 Salomon Prov. 3. not content to haue said Let not mercy truth forsake thee addeth further Bind them on thy necke or weare them vt torquem aureum as a chaine of golde about thy necke and write them in the tables of thy heart He afterward giues the reason d Prov. 21.21 Prov. 21. He that followeth after righteousnes and mercy shall finde life and glory 2. HYPOTHESIS And so from my first generall part which is the Thesis A iust man is mercifull I now descend to the second which is the Hypothesis that in particular he is mercifull to the life of his beast Wherin I told you we are to note first How then Why he is to reguard it In the handling whereof because I am not to teach you husbandry but divinity I will briefly make particular
sloud because as it may be probably coniectured the waters had much impared the natiue iuice and virtue of herbs and fruite which before were the only food of man given him as it were a License to eate flesh Gen 9. saying e Gen 9 3. Everie thing that liueth and moueth shall be meate for you as the greene herbe haue I giuen you all things But yet behold I shew vnto you a mystery out of the words following Flesh with the life thereof I meane with the bloud thereof shall yee not eate Where though the vse of flesh be permitted yet the eating of the bloud is interdicted lest by accustoming themselues to eating the bloud of beasts they should make light of spilling the bloud of men It hath therefore ben a prudent caution of our Law-givers that Butchers men acquainted with shedding the bloud of beasts should not be admitted for Iurors in cases of life and death it being a strong and violent presumption that he that hath no pity vpon the life of beasts will not haue so much as he ought to haue vpon the life of men It is noted by some interpretours vpon f Gen. 4.23 Gen. 4. that when Lamech vnadvisedly slew his Great grandfather Cain he thought he had slaine a beast not a man yet for all that he was punisht as an Homicide either that it might appeare how heinous a thing in Gods sight it is to kill a man or that therefore he was punisht because he did not more advisedly cōsider whither it were a man or a beast that he slew And so much was he perplexed with this fact when he had done it that his owne mouth not only brings in the evidence but likewise passeth the sentence against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the 70 read it I haue slaine a man to the wounding of my selfe If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold to wit for slaying his brother Abel truly Lamech 70 times sevenfold to wit for slaying Cain O consider this and tremble yee bloud-thirsting Papists who yet haue had no lesse than 8 of your Holy Fathers the Popes that haue named themselues Clements which signifieth Mercifull Clements haue beene their names but yet crueltie hath been with them as it is with you Iudge the while how glorious a virtue Clemency is when very Crueltie it selfe desires to mask shrowd it self vnder the name of Clemency I say consider this tremble yee who like vulturs are still expecting and gaping for a carcase even Cadaverosam ecclesiam rempublicam the carcase both of our Church Commonwealth while yee thirst after the life-bloud not of a cursed Cain but of a blessed King whose life is the life and soule of them both And so yee may bee Hosticidae killers of your enemies yee care not to be Homicidae killers of men nay so yee may be Regicidae killers of the King yee care not to be Regnicidae killers of his kingdome I had almost said Deicidae killers of God himselfe while yee labour to extinguish the true religion and worship of God and his Christ And as for all true professours such as cannot either halt downe-right or at the least limp a little in their religion your desire is to bereaue them not of one life but of three in one the life of nature the life of grace and the life of glory O consider this also and tremble yee the noble Ruffians or ruffianly Nobles of these daies who as if yee could no way shew the nobilitie of your bloud but by your manful shedding as yee deeme it of the bloud of others are apt vpon every light occasion to challenge a duel or single-combate With you it 's no more but a word and a wound with you nothing can expiate the ly-giving but the life-taking O consider this also and tremble yee wanton strumpets who by smothering your poore and innocent infants are wont to smother your fornication And so far are yee from g Gen. 30.15 Rahels minde who asked mandrakes of Leah to make her fruitfull Genes 30. that yee rather seeke Savin or Coloquintida to make an abortion Or if yee suffer them to see light yee doe the office of h Exod. 1.16 the Aegyptian Midwiues Exod. 1. to make them away with the soonest I would not haue touched this vlcer but that it 's now growne to such a head that needs it must be launced Thus the wicked doe Patrizare they are of their father the divell who was i Ioh. 8.44 a Homicide from the beginning Io. 8. and in Greeke he is named k Apoc. 9.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Destroyer Apoc. 9. And well may hee so bee named for hee spares neither man nor beast In Matt. 8 the Divels begg'd leaue of Christ that if he cast them out of the men who before were possessed with them they might enter into the heard of swine which no sooner had they obteined but they presently entred into the swine and ran them headlong into the sea and so destroyed them Whence yee may learne whose children and of what spirit Witches are who when they cannot haue power l Matt. 8.32 over the persons themselues will bewitch and torment their poore cattell But on the other side the godly they also doe Patrizare for they are like God their heavenly father m Virg. Pan curat oves oviumque magistros Our Great God Pan who is n 1. Cor. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All in all 1. Cor. 15 he saueth both man and beast o Psal 36.7 Homines iumenta saluabis Deus Psal 36. Thou o God savest both man and beast 2. Iumenti quia jumenti 2 A second reason why a righteous man reguardeth the life of his beast is because it is Iumentum a serviceable and helpfull creature For though God did iustly punish mans disobedience to that Primum magnum mandatum that first and great commandement which he gaue him in Paradise by abridging and lessening the obedience of all his creatures towards him for over all of them had he the rule given him if hee could haue kept it p Gen. 1.26 Praesit saith God Let him beare rule over them all Gen. 1. yet did hee not vtterly abolish mans dominion over them but so tempered the severity of his iustice with mercy that some of them he turned Ad Supplicium to the punishment of man and those are call'd Ferae or Bestiae wild and savage Beasts as Lyons Beares and the like which teare and devoure men Others Ad Remedium to the cure and remedy of man and those are call'd Reptilia creeping things as are all kind of serpents which though they bee venemous creatures yet Physitions knowe howe to make soveraigne medicines of them Others Ad Obsequium to the vse and service of man those are properly call'd Iumenta à iuvando of helping as Horses Oxen Sheep and the like which are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living instruments of
omne tempus est liberum mercedem non operis sedmisericordiae vndecimae horae operarij consequentur All time is free for hope and the laborers even of the eleuenth houre shall receiue a reward not of their owne merit but of Gods mercy Thus though mercy and iustice go hand in hand both in God his Christ yet hath mercy the right hand that is the vpper hand of their iustice and though mercy overtop yet it never overturnes their iustice Mercy and iustice in Gods liefetenents As it is in God the King and Iudge of all the earth so should it also be with Gods Liefe-tenents the Kings and Iudges of the earth who though they be called Dij terrae Gods of the earth yet must they remember that they are but Dij terrei God 's made of earth Vice-Gods pety-Gods and vnder-Gods and men-Gods And as they are Reguli litle kings here on earth vnder that Great King of heaven so must they also be Regulae liuing Rules of iustice Not a Cael. Rhodogin lect antiq l. 7. c. 22 Regulae Lesbiae Lesbian leaden rules flexible with the clamours or importunities of whomsoever but Regulae rectae Rules no lesse streight than inflexible infallible ministring to every one a true and a right measure of iustice For the old rule is Regula per quam alia regulantur debet necessariò esse recta A rule by which other things are to be ruled had need be right and streight it selfe There must therefore be in them as in God there is a blessed medley and mixture of iustice mercy Mercy to mollifie iustice and iustice to qualifie mercy that neither the one nor the other grow too-ranke For iustice without mercy is not iustice but tyranny mercy without iustice is not mercy but fatuity And what else saith c Gregor S. Gregory was meant by annointing the Kings of old with oyle out of a horne but that there must be a due temper of rigor and clemencie Vt sicut cornu fodiantur it a oleo foveantur that as some are to be goared with the horne of iustice so others are to be annointed and cherished with the b Chrysost in Matt. oyle of mercy But most notable is d Pet. Blesensis ser 16. Blesensis his illustration of this point He tels vs there are two kinds of letting bloud The one by diminution of the quality when the bloud is corrupt the other by diminution of the quantity when the bloud is too-abundant Nec minùs periculosa est superfluitas quà m corruptela and no lesse dangerous to the state of the body is the superfluity than the corruption of it Yet what more sweete and pleasing to the nature of man than bloud Wherefore as it is sometimes expedient that there should be a diminution of bloud in the body so is it sometimes meete that there should be a diminution of virtue it selfe in the soule It was e Eccl 7.16.17 a skilful Physition that said in the time of the law Noli nimis iustus esse Be not too iust there is a iust man that perisheth in his iustice And there was another of better skill than he in the time of grace that would haue f Rom 12 3. no man presume to be wise aboue that which is meete to be wise but that every man be wise according to sobriety Rom. 12. And if iustice and wisdome two such capital virtues had neede of diminution Cui putas venae virtutum parcendum est What one veine of virtues is there trow yee that would not be let bloud If the Iudge be too-iust though it be in a case against a rich man what 's that but to turne g Amos 6.12 Fructum iustitiae in absynthium the fruit of righteousnes into wormewood Amos. 6. And if he bee too mercifull though it be in a case for a poore man what 's that but to turne Mel in toxicum hony into deadly poyson For h Prov. 25 27. Nimium mel non est bonum Too-much hony is not good Prov. 25. And therefore God though otherwise a father to the poore yet because men naturally if nature be not corrupted by the are of bribing are more enclined to pity the poore than the rich hath given an expresse charge concerning the poore i Exod. 23.3 Exod 23. Pauperis non miscreberis in iudicio Thou shalt not pity no not a poore man to the preiudice of iustice So that Iustice is a pure intemerate Virgin that must not be corrupted by either of those two vnchast or vniust Suitors Nimium or Parum too-much or too-little because too-much iustice is too little iustice and too-little iustice is too much iniustice And for a Iudge either way to commit iniustice by being either too-long or too-short handed in the administration of iustice is an argument of very great impotencie of affection Therefore well hath k Sirac 20.3 the son of Sirac c. 20. compared such a Iusticer to an impotent Eunuch Concupiscentia spadonis deuirginavit iuuenculam c. As when a guelded man through lust would defile a Virgin so is hee that vseth vtolence in iudgement And both are abhomination to the Lord saith l Prov. 17.15 the wise man Prov. 17. Et qui iustificat impium qui condemnat iustum aswell hee that iustifieth the wicked through too-much favour and clemencie as hee that condemneth the iust through too-much rigor and extremity Let a Iudge then saith one carry in his right hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bloud-stone wherewith to staunch innocent bloud and in his left hand Gladium a sword wherewith if need be to smite malefactors to death And surely great reason haue Iudges being themselues as m Greg. Naz Gregory Nazianzen tearmes them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living lawes and many of them also living by the law to support mercy and iustice because mercy and iustice support the law as did n Exod. 17 12 Aaron and Hur support the hands of Moses Exod. 17. Whence I take it to bee that o Prov. 3.16 the wiseman Prov. 3. v. 16. for so the 70 haue it though the words be not at all set downe in the English hath placed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law betweene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnesse and mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Out of her mouth viz. out of the mouth of wisdome goeth forth righteousnesse and shee carrieth law and mercy in her tongue There is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Law betweene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 righteousnes and mercy And no lesse reason haue Kings to preserue mercy and truth because as the wise King p Prov. 20.28 Salomon tels vs Pro. 20. Mercy truth preserue the King Without these two what are all those good and wholsome Lawes which by sincere and righteous lawgivers haue beene spun out of the bowels of their compassionate care of