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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39295	The magistrates obligation to punish vice a sermon preach'd before the right worshipful the mayor, aldermen, sheriff, &c. of the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne, at the parish Church of St. Nicholas, October 8, 1699, upon the election of the mayor / by Nathanael Ellison ...	Ellison, Nathanael, 1656 or 7-1721.	1700 (1700)	Wing E610; ESTC R37317	18,338	44

and for fear that his own personal Endeavours might prove ineffectual he calls in all good Men to assist him in so Pious a Work Psal 94. 16. Who will rise up for me against the evil Doers or who will stand up for me against the workers of Iniquity And yet after all notwithstanding the Design was so Pious in it self and was most vigorously Prosecuted yet the Success answer'd not Expectation as we may probably conjecture from the Psalmist's own Complaint of an universal Degeneracy and Corruption of Manners that still prevailed Psal 12. 1. as That the Faithful were minished from among the Children of Men Psal 14. That they were Corrupt and Abominable in their doings and that there was not one that did good no not one Insomuch that Rivers of Water ran down his Eyes Psal 119. 136. to consider that all the severity he had used could not totally suppress that depravation of Manners that was become universal in his Days But if so Epidemical a Disease was not to be perfectly cured all on a sudden yet however Time and a severe Course of Physick might very much correct it Now if even the severest Execution of Laws has not had that Success as totally to prevent and suppress the growth of Profaneness I leave it to you to guess what a dismal Consequence must inevitably follow a total suspension and relaxation of those wholesom Laws If Mens hearts are fully set in them to do Evil because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily what would they do what would they not do if it were not executed at all If the very Delay of Justice would encourage Sin How much more would a total Obstruction of it We shall be better able to judge of the ill Effects of this by producing an Instance or two of what Disorders have been occasion'd by too great Remisness and Indulgence of Government Gregory Nazianzen was prevail'd upon to intercede with the Secular Power for some Favour to be shew'd to the Apollinarians but when he saw how ill it succeeded and what ill use they made of it he wrote back to the President in this manner I now own my Intercession on behalf of these Men to be unseasonable since I find they make not so good use of your Indulgence as to be reclaim'd But no Instances like those that are taken out of the Word of God If you look into the Book of Judges Chap. 18. 7. you 'll find the People of Laish dwelling quiet and secure It had been a good Character of a People if it had been a true Quiet and well-grounded Security but as 't is there added 't was a Careless and Supine Security which in all probability made them indulge themselves in Luxury and Sensuality And this it seems was occasion'd either by their having no Magistrates at all or by the shameful Remisness of those they had for so it follows There was no Magistrate in the Land that might put them to shame in any thing they did and no wonder then that they became an easie Prey to the first Enemy that Attack'd them Laish had the Character of a sweet and plentiful Country it being a Place where there was no want of any thing that was upon the Earth ver 10. A pity it was that so good a Place should want good Magistrates From whence 't is natural to observe That though a Country abound with every thing desirable and want nothing else but a good Magistracy yet they want that which will make them a happy People This was what Laish wanted There was no Magistrate among them i. e. they had either none at all or as good as none for there was none that took due care to execute his Office none that restrain'd them from Sin or punish'd them for it or so much as fixed any Mark of Disgrace upon them There was none that put them to shame for any thing they did And this proved in the end the Ruine of that People and so it will prove of any Persons whatsoever Thus there was nothing perhaps that contributed more immediately to the Wickedness and in effect to the Ruine of Eli's two Sons than the too great Indulgence of their old compassionate Father who being a Judge as well as a High-Priest in Israel should have made it his Business to discountenance and punish Vice severely and impartially where-ever he saw it but especially in his own Family But it seems that good Man was of too mild and easie a Temper and his natural Affection to his Children made him forget the Duty both of a Parent and a Judge for when their Sins became so scandalous and notorious that the Congregation publickly remonstrated against their Lewdness and Debauchery Eli instead of Punishing his Sons severely for their Wickedness instead of turning them out of the Priest's Office for Desecrating and Profaning their Sacred Character and instead of calling them to a more severe Account for their Adultery as the Law required he Expostulates with them with too much Calmness and Mildness * 1 Sam. 2. 22 c. Vid. Sanctium in 1 Reg. c. 2. §. 90 91 c. Id. in cap. 3. §. 29. Why do ye such things for I hear of your evil Dealings by all this People Nay my Sons 't is no good Report that I hear Ye make the Lord's People to Transgress But this was so gentle a Reprimand that his Sons gave no ear to it but become † 1 Sam. 2. 12. Filii Belial i. e. sine Jugo Grot. in 2 Cor. 6. 15. Sons of Belial indeed their Father's Indulgence made them so i. e. it had made them throw off the Yoke and sin without all restaint and in this obstinate Course of Impiety they continue until God thought fit to destroy them Neither is this all but observe how severely God dealt with Eli and his whole Family for this neglect These two profligate Sons of his die an untimely Death both in one day and which is greatly to be fear'd they died in their Sin the News of which sad Disaster so confounds Eli that he fell back and died immediately And well had it been if God's Vengeance had stopp'd here but ‖ 1 Sam. 3. 11. c. there is a dreadful Curse entailed upon his whole Posterity * Vid. Selden de Success in Pontif. Ebraeorum l. 1. c. 2. c. Const l'Empereur Annot. in Bertram de Rep. Ebr. c. 15. Sanctium in 1 Reg. 9. c. 1. §. 6. Let the Learned resolve you how Eli that was of the Stock of Ithamar the younger Son of Aaron's Family came to be High-Priest However he came by that Sacred Office we know not so well as that ‖ 1 Sam. 2. 32 35. God threatned for the future to transfer it from his Family to Eleazar's Posterity again and takes a solemn Oath 1 Sam. 3. 13 14. That the Iniquity of Eli's House shall not be purg'd with Sacrifice nor

The Magistrates Obligation to Punish VICE A SERMON Preach'd before The Right Worshipful the Mayor Aldermen Sheriff c. of the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne AT THE Parish Church of St. Nicholas October 8. 1699. Upon the Election of the Mayor By Nathanael Ellison Vicar of Newcastle Published at the Request of the Mayor and Aldermen LONDON Printed by W. B. for Richard Randell Bookseller in Newcastle upon Tyne And sold by Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-yard 1700. To the Right Worshipful ROBERT EDEN Esq Mayor The Right Worshipful Sir Robert Strafloe Kt. Recorder And to the Right Worshipful and Worshipful Aldermen Sir William Blackett Bar. Sir Ralph Carr Kt. Timothy Robson Esq Nicholas Fenwick Esq William Auboney Esq William Carr Esq Matthew White Esq Thomas Wasse Esq Joseph Atkinson Esq George Whinfield Esq Jonathan Hargrave Esq Sheriff of the Town and County of Newcastle upon Tyne Right Worshipful and Worshipful THE just Sense I had of the many Defects of this Sermon made me very unwilling to Appear in Publick when so many Correct and Excellent Discourses have been Printed upon the same Argument and Occasion But when You were pleas'd to make it Your Request I thought Obedience would be better Resented than Excuses and was therefore willing rather to Publish my Own Infirmities than to Incur the Imputation of Disrepect or Disobedience to my Superiours to whose Commands I owe an Absolute Deference and Regard I wish the Performance had been more Worthy of Your Names But such as 't is it is with all Humility Address'd to You as the Only Opportunity I have yet had of making those Publick Acknowledgments that are Due for Your singular Favours to my Self and for Your Generous Liberality to the Clergy of this Place few Corporations if any in the Kingdom Voluntarily Contributing as You do out of Your Publick Revenue above Eight Hundred Pounds per Annum towards the Maintenance of the Clergy and Schools But what ought to be dearer to us than this is the Charitable Constructions You put upon our Labours Your early and constant Attendance and solemn Deportment at Church Your frequent receiving Monthly Sacraments and Your sober and exemplary Conversation which as they bespeak a true Sense of Religion so also Your sincere and steady Affection to the present Establishment of our Church And because nothing is so much wanting to make us the happiest Church in the World as Reformation of Manners Your late Orders for the better Observing the Lord's Day and Your putting the Penal Laws in brisk and vigorous Execution against Profaneness and Immorality give us no small Hope that as You have already put a stop to the present Growth of Debauchery among us so also that hereafter You will more effectually Suppress it If this Sermon be any way Instrumental in promoting so good a Work it will answer Your Design in commanding it to be Printed and mine in Preaching it which that it may be subservient to so good an End is the hearty Prayer of Your most Obliged and Faithful Servant N. ELLISSON ERRATA IN the Dedication l. 4. r. Shaftoe l. ult r. ELLISON Sermon p. 8. l. 8. after Forfeitures add and of several lesser Corporal Punishments p. 31. l. 17. after little instead of which read will p. 32. l. 23. after before add him p. 33. l. 9. after have add the best Cause in ECCLES VIII 11. Because Sentence against an evil Work is not Executed speedily therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil. THOUGH these Words be Interpreted by the Generality of Commentators to be primarily meant by Solomon of the ill Use that wicked Men make of God's Clemency and Forbearance yet they may be Secondarily and Consequentially Applied also to the ill Effects that usually attend the Remisness and Indulgence of Magistrates and Men of Power and Authority As this is a Sense of which the Words are very capable as they may be taken Absolutely so also as they relate to the Context do I find them to be so Translated and Interpreted by some * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmach Est autem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc loco sententia Iudicis Drus Sententia Judicum de Opere malo Pagnin Vatabl. Men of Note And Mr. Cartwright's Note upon the Place is this Hoc Magistratus Admoneat ne Poenam sceleribus Justam Debitam differant nisi velint Terram scelerum velut Diluvio obrui That this should be a Caveat to Magistrates how they delay the Execution of Justice upon Criminals lest a Deluge of Profaneness and Impiety break in upon them and cover the Face of the whole Earth In this Sense will I Discourse of the Words as most suitable to our present Occasion They contain a very sharp and cutting Reflexion upon some soft and easie and careless Magistrates viz. That the Growth and Predominancy of Wickedness is owing in a great measure to the Negligence and Remisness of those in Authority who are intrusted with the Administration of Justice The Truth of which Observation shall be made appear in the Sequel of my Discourse In the Prosecution of which I will endeavour to shew First The Magistrates Power and Obligation to Punish Vice and Execute Sentence upon every evil Work Secondly The ill Consequence that naturally attends their Neglect of this Duty The Growth of Sin and Wickedness is thereby promoted and encouraged the Guilt of which is laid at their Door whose Neglect occasioned it This is the Conclusion that the wise Man draws from such Premises Because Sentence against an evil Work is not executed speedily therefore the Heart of the Sons of Men is fully set in them to do Evil. Thirdly I shall conclude all with a word or two of Exhortation First Consider we the Magistrates Power and Obligation to Punish Vice God has invested and intrusted you with this Power and Authority and also has laid an Indispensable Obligation upon you to Correct and Punish Delinquents And here my Design is not so much to direct you that are Magistrates in your Duty as it is to Vindicate your Acts of Justice in bringing Criminals to condign Punishment by Representing to those that are under your Government the Indispensable Obligation that lies upon you to Execute this Power and to Discharge this Trust that is reposed in you by God the King and your Country The Punishing of Criminals is what is very disagreeable to all good Tempers and for that very Reason is it most of all Ungrateful to our English Nation which perhaps is the most Merciful and Compassionate in the World we being as singular for our Good Nature as we are for the use of that * The Earl of Clarendon observes That no Language in the World has any single Word to express what we understand by Good Nature Phrase but it may be we overvalue our selves too much upon this Character what we reckon our Commendation

or as some think when he had but a prospect of it So early do you find him resolving * Psal 101. to govern first himself and then his Court and then his whole Kingdom with such care and caution that good Men might secure themselves of his Favour and the wicked be afraid of feeling the Severity of his Displeasure I will behave my self wisely in a perfect way I will walk within my House with a perfect Heart I will not know a wicked Person He that walks in a perfect way shall serve me he that works Deceit shall not dwell in my House And as the Conclusion of all says he I will destroy all the Wicked of the Land that I may cut off all wicked Doers from the City of the Lord. And if the Seventy fifth Psalm were Composed by the same Pious King you have him there renewing the like pious Resolution and that at a time when there was the greatest Occasion and Necessity for interposing his Royal Authority when the Earth i. e. the Kingdom of Juda and its Inhabitants threatned its Ruine by an universal Dissolution of Manners when wicked Men lift up their Horn on high and spake with a stiff neck i. e. when they bad open defiance to all Divine and Humane Laws then even then did the Holy Psalmist interpose with heroick Courage and Magnanimity every way becoming a King in such a desperate Juncture then did he resolve to cut off all the Horns i. e. all the Power of the Wicked and Prophane and that all the Horns of the Righteous should be exalted But whether David were the Author of that Psalm or no 't is not to be doubted but that the 72 Psalm was of his own Composing the Title of which is a Psalm for Solomon and was made by David as 't is supposed * 1 King 1. when Nathan the Prophet and Zadok the Priest by David's own Command and while he was yet living took Solomon and set him upon his Throne In which Psalm he prays That God would give his Son Solomon his Judgments and his Righteousness that so he might judge his People with Righteousness and the Poor with Judgment that he might keep the simple Folk by their Right defend the Children of the Poor and punish the Wrong-doer But there are two Examples more behind which very well deserve your Consideration and which indeed in strictness should have been mention'd before if we had regarded the Age they lived in The one is Job Job 1. 3. the other is Moses Job is called the Greatest i. e. one of the greatest Men in all the East in all probability he was a King and if his Dominions were not so large yet his Power might be as great and absolute as any Monarchs at this day 'T is evident he was a Man in great Power and Authority by what we read Chap. 29. 7 c. But he was not contented with the bare Ostentation and Pageantry of Greatness but he shew'd his Greatness in Acts of Goodness in the highest Instances of Justice and Mercy I delivered says he ver 12 c. the Poor that cryed from Oppression c. I put on Righteousness and it clothed me my Judgment was as a Robe and a Diadem By which it appears he took not so great Pride in the Ornaments of State which he wore as in the impartial Execution of Justice upon Offenders and in breaking the Jaws of the Wicked Num. 12. 3. Moses had the Character of being the meekest Man upon the face of the Earth and yet notwithstanding his unparallel'd Meekness we read of his exerting very severe Acts of Justice when he saw God's Honour Prostituted and his sacred Laws violated and trampled on witness * Exod. 32. Numb 25. the Idolatry of the Golden Calf and that of Baal-Peor These four Illustrious Examples I have mentioned are very well worthy your Imitation none need to be asham'd to be taught their Duty by such Persons who had so establish'd a Reputation both for Greatness and Goodness But 't is high time to advance to my Second General To consider the dismal ill Consequence that naturally attends the Carelesness Negligence and Remisness of Magistrates The growth of Sin and Wickedness is thereby promoted and encourag'd the guilt of all which is laid at their Door whose Neglect occasion'd it for thus the wise Man tells us in my Text Because sentence c. Ill Men are emboldned and encourag'd by this Impunity and as long as they meet with (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. No Contradiction nor (b) Haud prompta fit oppositio Arab. Opposition no Check nor Controll from Men of Power and Authority they go on to do ill with (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sym. a fearless Heart nay 't is d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. fully persuaded setled and confirm'd in their Wickedness They grow daring and obstinate and at last obdurate in their Sins This is a melancholy Truth that has obtained too much Credit in all Ages * Plutarch Rom. Apopth Cato the Elder was wont to say That he wou'd rather be unthankful for a good Deed than not punish a bad one which as 't is an Argument of the ill Opinion he had of Ingratitude so also of the Necessity there was of Vindictive Justice Nay he thought soft and easie Magistrates intolerable in a Government and not only so but that even their suffering Death was a small Compensation for the Damage and Injury the Publick sustain'd through their Negligence and Remisness Such a violent Propensity to sin there is in all of us that all Nations have thought it absolutely necessary to restrain it by the severest Punishments To this purpose is that Observation of a Heathen Philosopher That tho' several Nations have differ'd in the several Punishments they appointed for the Violation of Religion and good Laws yet they were all agreed in affixing some Punishment or other upon such Violation But the severest Penal Laws are but a dead Letter without Execution and signifie no more than if they had never been made at all To have such Laws made and not executed is an Argument of Weakness either in the Government or Governours that they cannot or dare not Punish and ill Men take occasion thence to strengthen themselves in their Wickedness when Laws or Magistrates want Power or Courage to restrain them And no wonder indeed for if even the vigorous Execution of Laws is little enough and too little effectually to prevent or wholly to suppress and obstruct the growth of Impiety what Progress must it of necessity make if all Restraint and Opposition be removed out of the way When the Flood Gates are once broken down 't is a Miracle if an Inundation does not follow David was of invincible Courage and was resolv'd as you have heard to do what in him lay to put an early stop to the growth of Debauchery and Profaneness in his Reign

Offering for ever for the Iniquity which he knows because his Sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not Doubtless Flesh and Blood would be apt to resent it as a very great Hardship if not Unnatural for a Father to Condemn his own Children but where God's Honour is struck at and affronted our Duty to our Heavenly Father must over-rule the strongest Affection to our own Children * Chrysost l. 3. adv vituprat vit Monastic St. Chrysostome observes That though Eli was truly Admirable in other Matters and though God had nothing else to lay to his Charge but this Neglect of his Children and his Tenderness to them Yet this very thing was so great a fault that it blemish'd his whole Life and God would not forgive him for it Because he refused to punish them severely for their sin God punish'd him severely for it and destroy'd both him and them and his whole Family Which single Instance is pregnant Proof that notwithstanding the great Aversion that there is in our Natural Tempers to be severe that the † Qui induit Personam Judicis exuit Amici Cicer. Publick Station Magistrates are in should over-rule all private Interest Relation and natural Affection and make them execute the Laws impartially even upon their nearest Relations if they should deserve it Numerous Examples of which * Valer. Max. l. 5. c. 3. l. 6. c. 5. occur in Prophane History And would it not be a Reproach to our Religion if ‖ Haec in suggillationem nostri dicta sunt si non praestet fides quod extribuit infidelitas Hieron Epitaph Nepotian Faith will not make Christians as Zealous Impartial and Disinterested in the Administration of Justice as Infidelity did the Heathens I am sure Justice should begin where Charity does and where Reformation should begin and that is at Home which if it did would silence some of the strongest Exceptions that are made against the Administration of it and we might then hope to see a happy Reformation Whereas if Justice stands afar off and Judgment is turned away backward nothing can be expected but that Libertinism and Debauchery must prevail and over-run the Kingdom for so Solomon has told us in my Text that because sentence c. which was never more verified in any Age than that we live in The Government we live under is certainly the most happliy Constituted in the World as having provided the best Laws to prevent restrain and punish the growth of Impiety but how faintly they have been put in Execution appears by the Complaint that has been made by Publick Authority His Gracious Majesty in his Proclamation the late Queen of happy Memory in her Letter to the Justices of Middlesex and the House of Commons in their Address to his Majesty all unanimously declaring That the growth of Profaneness and Immorality has been in a great Measure occasioned by a long continued Neglect of too many Magistrates not putting in Execution those good Laws which were made for the suppressing and punishing thereof The Apostle charges us 1 Tim. 5. 22. Not to be partakers of other Mens sins which implies that we shall be accountable for other Mens Sins as well as our own if we be any way the occasion of them 'T is a dreadful Account we must all of us give one day for our own Sins but how terrible will it be to answer for the Miscarriages of others which shall be laid to our Charge And so will all those be that were occasion'd by our Neglect according to that known saying Qui non prohibet peccare cum potest jubet He that permits Sin when he has power and opportunity to prevent it is interpreted to allow it nay to command it to be done As St. * Homil. 8. in Act. Ap. Chrysostome speaks upon Eli's Indulgence to his Sons 't is much to be feared that such profuse and unreasonable Clemency shall one day meet with the greatest Severity as having given occasion and encouragement to the most Profligate and Flagitious Enormities and if Magistrates neglect to punish the Sins of others here it shall very much aggravate both their own Sin and Punishment hereafter Since Sin then is the natural and necessary Consequence of Impunity and that Impunity will be charged home severely one day as the Effect of Magistrates Negligence and Remisness Give me leave in the Last place to shut up all with a Word or two of Exhortation I have endeavoured in the former part of my Discourse to Assert and Vindicate your Commission and Power what remains but that you do your selves that Right to vindicate your own Authority by more cogent Arguments than any I have used That is by duly exerting it to those good Ends and Purposes for which it was committed to your Trust that you put the wholesom Laws of this Kingdom in brisk and vigorous Execution and rescue them from that Contempt which long disuse and former mismanagement have brought upon them For however the Clemency of the Government has thought fit to suspend for the present several Penal Laws which were formerly made against the publick Exercise of several Religions yet there are other Penal Laws those I mean against Profaneness and Debauchery which remain still in full force and require nothing but a couragious Magistracy to put them in Execution And herein do I find all Parties agreed For whatever difference there is among us as to the execution of Penal Laws relating to Religion all good Men of every religious Persuasion are unanimously agreed as to the expediency and necessity of their Execution against all Irreligion and Debauchery Certainly the Execution of them could never be more seasonable nor was ever more necessary than in that loose and dissolute Age we live in which seems to be distinguish'd from all preceding Generations by this peculiar Character That 't is the most knowing and withal the most prophane and debauch'd Age that ever yet appear'd in the World Such open Profanation of the Lord's Day such hideous Oaths and Imprecations such beastly Drunkenness and Debauchery such abominable Lewdness and Lasciviousness was never known I am perswaded in any Christian Age or Kingdom as is now publickly profess'd and practis'd to the great Scandal of Religion The Confideration of this has animated some sober Persons even of different Persuasions with a Spirit of Zeal to Associate themselves for the Reformation of Manners 'T were well if the Heats of all Sects and Opinions among us were thus united and concentred to stop the insolent Growth of Impiety and Profaneness and to oppose and withstand the common Enemy of our Religion If the Management of these Societies be as regular and orderly as their Designs are Pious I can't but heartily with Success to their Endeavours as any must that has perused the * Printed 1699. 80. Late Account that has been given of them which is very well Worthy your serious and particular Consideration not only