that if Paul had the preaching of it hee would make euery groping and griping Felix to tremble I meane such as the Scripture termeth roaring Lions ranging Beares Horse-leeches Wolues deuouring all in the euening and leauing none till the morning as well Iudges that iudge for reward and say with shame Bring you such as the Countrey calls Capon-Iustices as also such mercenary Lawyers as sell both their tongues and their silence their clients causes and their owne consciences who only keep life in the law so long as there is money in the purse and when this golden streame ceaseth the mill stands still and the case is altered such extorting Officers of Iustice as inuent pullies and winches for extraordinary fees to the miserable vndoing of poore suitors such false periured Sheriffs Stewards of liberties and their Deputies as for money falsifie their charges such corrupted Iurates and witnesses of the post which are as hammers and swords and sharp arrowes in their brethrens hearts such cheese-bayliffs and lamb-bayliffs as vex the poore Countrey-men with vniust summons to the Assises and Sessions with the rest of that Rabble These Muck-wormes of the world which like the Gentles breede of putrefaction Beetles fed in the dung relishing nothing else but earthly things thinke there is no other godlinesse but gaine no happinesse but to scrape and gather to haue and to hold Let such consult shame to their houses let such make their offices as casting nets for all fish that come till they get the Diuell and all Let them heap vp treasures of wickednesse and treasures of wrath withall But where there is any feare of God and loue of the truth let Iohns counsell preuaile with them to bee content with their due wages Let Paul perswade them that godlinesse is gaine with contentation Salomon that Gods blessing maketh rich and adds no sorrow therewith So shall they follow Iethro's aduise the better and and prooue compleat Magistrates Officers Men of courage men of religion men of truth hating couetousnesse These are the foure Cardinall vertues of Magistrates of which if all were compounded and were as eminent for them as for their place and did as the great Dictator of reason speakes in his Politicks as far exceede the vulgar sort in those heroycall vertues as the statues of the gods the statues of men then would people become voluntary subiects put the scepters into their hands and the law of commanding and obeying become easie things thought irreparable would easily be reformed The third part But before I come to make vse of what hath beene sayd let mee as the third part of my text and the distribution of Magistracy requires tell you to whom all this hath beene spoken not to Iudges and Iustices of peace onely as I feare most haue imagined in hearing it but to all from the highest and greatest to the lowest and least Instrument of Iustice from the Gouernour of the thousand to the Centurion from him to the Tithingman or Decinour To the which ancient diuision of the Iewish Common-wealth our platforme agrees in substance Their Sanedrim or Senate of seuenty to our Parliament Counsell-Table Starr-chamber Exchequer-chamber c. Our Iustices of Assises in their Circuit and Iustices of peace in their generall commission or dominion High Sheriffs in their Shires answering to the Rulers of thousands Our Iustices in their seuerall diuisions Iudges of hundred Courts and Turnes to their Rulers of hundreds to whom I may adde high Constables in their places our Court-leets and Court-barons to the rulers of fifties to whom I adde ordinary Constables in their offices our cheefe Pledges Tything-men or Deciners to their rulers of tens Now all these Iethro meanes and speakes of euery one of them in their station and degree conceiuing the Common-wealth as an instrument not well in tune if but the least of these strings be false or naught Contrary to the common and dangerous opinion of the vulgar who to their owne iniury thinke and say that it matters not for petty Officers Constables and Bayliffs c. though they be of the lees and dregs of men nay they hold that for some offices It is pitty any honest men should come into them Alas alas the more subiect to tentation vice it is the more needfull it is that none other should haue them Oh but say they a good Iudge or Iustice may help all they erre and are deceiued it is no one beame though neuer so bright that enlightens all It is not the light and influence of the fixed starres though the greatest and highest but of the Sunne and Moone and the lowest and neerest orbs that gouerne the world It is the ground-winde not the rack-winde that driues mills and ships It is in the Ciuill as in the Ecclesiasticall body if Bishops be neuer so learned and the parishionall Minister negligent worldly proud or blinde Sr. Iohns the people perish for want of vision What can the Superiour doe if the Inferiour informe not what can the eye doe if the hand and foot be crooked and vnseruiceable yea not only if such as be organs of Iustice such as haue places of Iudicature but if the media and spectacles of the sense will yeelde a false report how shall the common sense make a right iudgement If Pleaders and Attourneyes will colour and gloze if the Clarkes and Pen-men make false records may not any of these disturb or peruert Iustice if the least finger or toe of this body be distorted I meane Iaylor or Sargeant or any other that should execute Iustice be remisse and slacke then must the Dutch-mans prouerb bee verified Looke what the bell is without the clapper such are good lawes and iudgements without due execution Thus we see in this curious clock-work of Iustice the least pin or wheele amisse may distemper disorder all but if care were had to frame all these parts of the building according to the plat-forme of this skilfull Architect what an absolute harmony of the parts what an exact perfection of the whole yea what golden times should we liue to see Hearken ô yee mountaines and little hills you Rulers of thousands you Rulers of tens you reuerend Sages of the Lawes you worshipfull Knights and Gentlemen of the Countrey yee listen to this charge of Iethro ye of the meanest place of the common-welth weigh not things nor persons at the common beame of custome and opinion but at the golden standart of Gods Sanctuary with these Goldsmiths waights of my text which if I shall perswade you to doe I feare that wee must say with the Psalmist that sonnes of men Beni-Adam yea the cheefest men Beni-ish to be layd vpon the ballance will bee found lies and lighter then vanity heere money will not make the man nor craft carry it away Euery Nabal of mount Carmel nor euery Achitophel may not bee admitted This text saith to euery timorous prophane falsharted couetous person as
IETHRO'S IVSTICE OF PEACE A SERMON PREAched at a generall Assises held at BVRY St. EDMVNDS for the Countie of Suffolke By SAMVEL WARD Batchelour of Diuinitie LONDON Printed by Edw. Griffin for Iohn Marriot and are to bee sold at his shop at the signe of the white Flower-de-luce neere Fetter-lane end in Fleet-street 1618. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE Sr. FRANCIS BACON Knight Lord Chancelor of England c. WHen wee see one goe or doe amisse though his feet or hands bee the next actors and instruments of his error yet wee say not Are you lame but Haue you no eyes or Can you not see What euer sweruings or stumblings any part of the body politique makes the blame lights not vpon the Gentry or Comminalty the immediate delinquents but on the principall lights in Magistracy or Ministery which being as Guardians and Tutors of the rest should either preuent or reforme their aberrations And herein miserable is the condition of these two opticke peeces that they are more subiect and that to more distempers then other inferiour parts yet heerein more that being hurt they are more impatient of cure not only of searching acrimonious waters which yet oft are needefull but shie of the most soft and lawny touches but most of all in this that being once extinct they leaue a voyd darknesse to the whole body exposing it to the pits of destruction As exceeding great on the other hand is the happines honor vse of them if cleere and single For this our Nationall body it will little boot either to applaud the one or to bewaile the other I rather wish and looke about mee for some eye-salue which may help to descry and redresse if any thing bee amisse And behold heere Right Honourable a confection poomising something thereto It was prescribed first by Iethro whom Moses calls the eyes of Israel Num. 10. 31. And newly compounded by an Oculist of whom as I may not so I need not say any thing at all Next vnder the sacred Fountaine of light the light of our Israel I worthily accompt your Lordship most sufficient in law to accept to make vse to iudge to patronize it The subiect of the booke is the principall obiect of your office to elect direct and correct inferiour Magistracy To which purposes Nature Literature and Grace haue inabled you that if you should faile the worlds expectation they will hardly trust any other in hasle Many in rising haue followed the stirrop pampered and ietting honor not standing the ground but once seated haue done renownedly But your Lordship had neuer any other greeces then your birth and desert to which hereditary dignity hath so gently tendred it selfe that you haue not let fal your name of religion in getting vp Therefore now you are in the top of honour all that know you looke you will bee exactly honourable For my part bounden to your Lordship for a fauour formerly receiued greater then your Honour knowes of or I can expresse I shall leaue Iethro to be your Montoir and my self remain euer an humble suitor to God who hath made you a Iudge of conscience that hee would make you continue a conscionable Iudge improouing your place and abilities to the best aduantage belonging to it the furtherance of your reckoning at the last day Your Honours daily Beadsman NATH WARD EXOD. 18. 21. 22. 23. Moreouer thou shalt prouide out of all the people able men such as feare God men of truth hating couetousnes and place such ouer them to bee rulers of thousands and rulers of hundreds rulers of fifties and rulers of tens And let them iudge the people at all seasons and it shall bee that euery great matter they shall bring vnto thee but euery small matter they shall iudge so shall it bee easier for thy selfe and they shall beare the burthen with thee If thou doe this thing and God command thee so then thou shalt bee able to endure and all this people shall also goe to their place in peace IF Iethro were as the fashion of those times and the nature of his stile will beare and as some conceipt both Prince and Preist then was hee beyond all exception euery way qualified for skill as a Iudicious Diuine and for experience as an aged Gouernour to giue direction in matters of Magistracy and to cast Moses a molde for a Politie in Israel Sure I am a godly and religious man hee was for hee begins with prayer and ends with sacrifice And such as himselfe was his aduise sage and holy And howsoeuer it passed from him at the first vnder Gods correction yet afterward allowed by God and practised by Moses becomes of good policie sound diuinity of priuate counsell a generall oracle ruling for the substance of it all ages and persons Venerable it is for the very antiquity of it What price do men set vpon olde copies coynes and Statues who passeth by a christall fountaine bearing some ancient name or date and tastes not of it though no thirst prouokes him Such is this the cleare head-spring of all ensuing brookes in Scriture and other writers concerning Magistracy All those texts which I wish were set as a frontlet betweene the eyes and as a seale vpon the hearts of all in authority Iehosaphats charge 2 Chro. 19. 5. Iob his character cha 29. Dauids vow Psal. 101. The scattered Parables of Salomon and passages of the Prophets cheefly that round and smart one Isai. 33. 14. are they not all branches of this root In which respect it must needes bee of soueraigne vse for the discouering and reforming of whatsoeuer error time hath soyled gouernment withall How are defaced copies and disfigured pictures better amended then by reducing them to their originall if the pipe faile goe we not to the head Heere is the Archetype or first draught of Magistracy worthily in this regard chosen by Iudicious Bucer to presse vpon Edward the sixt for the purgation of his offices and lawes from the drosse and filth contracted vnder the Romish confusion which considering that worthy Iosiah of ours tooke in such good part and practised with such good successe Yea Moses himselfe learned in all good literature trained vp in Court the greatest Law-giuer that euer was and father of all Law-giuers of the thrice great Hermes Lycurgus Solon Plato Iustinian the rest Yea Gods familiar fauorite faithfull in his house knowen by name and face honoured with miraculous power c. And that at the hands of one age and fatherhood excepted his inferiour I trust that none will dare to reiect or sleight it of remembring that Diuinity as the mistresse taketh vpon her to direct her hand-mayd and that the Scripture is the best man of counsell for the greatest Statesman in the world This little portion therof containing in it more then all Lipsius his Bee-hiue or Machiauels Spider-web All which will best appeare by the opening of this rich cabinet and viewing the seuerall Iewels in it which
are these The parts of the Text. It first giues order for the care and circumspection in the choyce Prouide Secondly it directs this choyce by foure essentiall characters of Magistrates 1. Men of ability 2. Fearing God 3. Men of truth 4. Hating couetousnesse Thirdly it applies these foure to Magistrates of all degrees in an exact distribution of them by way of gradation descending step by step from the highest to the lowest And place such ouer them to be rulers 1. of thousands 2. of hundreds 3. of fifties 4. of tens Fourthly it prescribes to the Magistrates thus qualified and chosen their offices viz. to iudge the people in the smaller causes c. and their assiduity and industry therein And let them iudge the people at all seasons c. And it shall bee that they shall bring euery great matter to thee but euery small matter they shall iudge Lastly it propounds the blessed fruit and emolument that will necessarily ensue thereupon First to Moses himselfe So shall it be easier for thy selfe and they shall beare the burthen with thee and thou shalt bee able to endure Secondly to the people And all this people shall goe to their place in peace The first point Techezeh Prouide or looke out A word implying all exactnesse and curiosity incident to elections as Inspection circumspection inquisition suspition information deliberation comming of Chozah to see or contemplate whence the Prophets were called Chosi Seers It is in a manner translated by a word of the like force in a businesse of the like nature Acts 6. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suruey the whole body of the people and chuse the best you can cull out It were somewhat strict and strange to say that prayer and fasting must be vsed And yet this I finde practised in such cases Acts 1. and Numb 27. 16. Let the Lord God of the spirits of all flesh set a man ouer this Congregation Yea Iethro himselfe sanctified this his aduice with a prayer verse 19. God bee with thee And good reason hee should bee called to counsell whose the iudgement is and whose prouidence is alwayes very speciall in those elections whether sought or no. If God supravise not Samuel the Seer shall take seuen wrong before one right Some mens faults are palpable and goe before election some are cunningly concealed and breake not out till after First therefore looke vp to God and then amongst the people haue thine eyes in thy head all the care that may bee will bee little enough Say not there are no sufficient persons nor yet think euery one that thinkes himselfe so or commonly goes for such is sufficient seeke out such and such may be found Looke among the Oliues Vines and Fig-trees such trees must be climbed Brambles will lay holde on the sleeue for preferment Ne fit qui ambit Let him neuer speede that sues Lay hands on none rashly They that are fit and able must and will bee sought to yea haled out of their ease and priuacy into the light of employment the charge and danger whereof they weighing as well as the credit or gaine and knowing them to bee callings will not meddle with them till they bee called to them Which ambitious Inconsiderates not being able to ponder much lesse to sustaine thrust their shoulders vnder and either by hooke or crooke come in or climbe into the chaire of honor more tickle then the stoole Eli brake his necke off whither when they haue aspired with much trauaile and cost they sit as in the top of a mast in feare and hazard and often fall with shame confusion Not vnlike to some rash youth that hauing gotten an horse as wilde as himselfe with much adoe backes him sits him in a sweat and comes downe with a mischeefe For the preuention of all which euils vnauoidably attending ambition lighting partly vpon the intruders themselues partly vpon the admitters but most heauily vpon the common-weale see how needefull Iethro's counsell was and euer will bee That such be prouided not as would haue places but as places should haue Which care as Iethro commits to Moses so both the Scripture and reason imposeth vpon the superiour Magistrate in whose power and place it is either to nominate or constitute inferiour Authorities and whose fault cheefly it is if they be otherwise then they ought or the people iniured in in this kinde How circumspect and religious ought such to be in the performance of this greatest and waightiest duty Vnlesse you will reply as I feare many a Fox doth in his bosome Thus indeede you haue heard it sayd of olde but those times were plaine and Iethro a simple meaning olde man A beaten Politician of our times learned in the wisdome of newer state and acquainted with the mysteries of the market that knowes how to improoue things to the best for his owne time and turne and to let the common body shift for it selfe would haue proiected Moses a farre more commodious plot after this or the like manner Now you haue offices to bestow a faire opportunity in your hand to make your selfe for euer to raise your house to pleasure your friends either proclaime it openly or secretly set it abroach by some meanes or other see who bids fairest waigh the sacrifices chuse the men of the best and greatest gifts Oh gall of bitternesse oh root of all euill to Church and Common-wealth when authorities and offices of Iustice shall bee bought and solde as with a trumpet or drum to the candle or outrope The particular branches whereof when I seriously consider I wonder not that Christ with such zealous seuerity brake down the bankes and whipt out the chapmen out of the Temple nor that Peter with such fiery indignation banned Simon and his money For if such men and mony perish not Kingdoms and Churches must perish and both Ciuill and Ecclesiasticall Courts will soone prooue dens of theeues Whose soule bleedes not to see mens soules bought and solde like sheep at the market to euery Butcher of this you Lawyers much complain against the Clergy men for buying of benefices which you might doe the more iustly if your selues were not often the sellers of them I would the fault rested onely in benefices and reached not into offices and ciuill dignities Indeede that kinde of purchase we call not simony it may from his other name be fitlier stiled magick for by I know not what kinde of witch-craft men sinne by leaue and law in these ciuill purchases The lawes and statutes prouided for the remedie of the euil in some cases tolerating it in other and the practise by meanes of this allowance growing intolerable Some of them as the world reports offices for life at pleasure amounting to the rate of lands and inheritances I am not ignorant of the distinction of Iudicature trust and paines but are they not all offices of Iustice doe they not prepare to Iudicature and lies it