times for the mean services they were to perform to the Saints were called also Diaconissoe and were therefore to be maintained out of the contributions of the Church and the Common Stock The parties being of such wide distance it had been most unseemly for him to have given to them but extreme and most ridiculous arrogancy in them to have expected from him any honour properly so called honour of reverence and subjection But the honour he was to give them was such as was meet for persons of that quality especially in relation to their maintenance that in the execution of his Pastoral charge amongst his other cares he should take care that those widows should be provided for in fitting sort that so in the Province of Ephesus there might be no cause of such complaint as had formerly been by the Grecians at Ierusalem Acts 6 that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration 7. In like manner we are to understand the word Honour here in the Text in such a notion as may include together with the Honour properly so called and due to Superiours only all those fitting respects which are to be given to Equals and Inferiours also which is a kind of honour too but more improperly so called And then it falleth in all one with that of St. Paul Rom. 13. Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour As if he had said I would not any of you should be behind with any man in any thing but if you owe him any duty perform it to the full If any honour or respect in whatsoever kind or degree belong to him account it as due debt and let him have it to the utmost of what can with justice or in equity be demanded So that we then fulfil this Precept of our Apostle when we are careful to our utmost power and best understanding to respect every man whether Superiour Equal or Inferiour secundum gradum meritum according to his place and desert For those two are as it were the Standards whereby to measure out to every man his proportion of Honour in this kind That is to say every man is to be honoured and respected according to the dignity of his place whatsoever his deserts are and according to the merit of his person whatsoever his place and condition be 8. It would be a tedious indeed rather an endless task and therefore I undertake it not to drive the general into its particulars and to shew what peâ—uliar honours and respects are due to all estates of men considered in their several ranks and mutual relations It must be the care of every godly wise man to inform himself the best he can for that matter so far as may concern himself and those whom he may have occasion to converse withal and it must be his resolution to give honour to every man accordingly that is to say neither more or less but as near as he can understand within a convenient latitude that which is justly his due Yet let him take this withal that where the case is doubtful it is the safest course lest self-love should incline him to be partial to pinch rather on his own part than on his Neigbours especially if his Superiour That is to say rather to forego a good part of that honour which he may think is due to himself if he be not very sure of it than to keep back any small part of that honour which for any good assurance he hath to the contrary may fall due to his neighbour Agreeably to the other Apostles advice Rom. 12. that not in taking but in giving honour we should go one before another 9. Now we see in the meaning of the words both what duty we are to perform and to whom The Duty Honour and that to all men and all this but Quid nominis It may next be demanded Quid Iuris upon what tye we stand thus bound to Honour all men I answer Funiculus triplex There lieth a three-fold tye upon us for the performance of this Duty to wit of Iustice of Equity of Religion A tye of Iustice first whose most proper and immediate office it is suum cuique to give to every one that which of right appertaineth to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Aristotles Phrase but St. Pauls is far beyond it in the fore-cited Rom. 13. Render to all their dues So we translate it but the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which imports more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It signifieth Debts accordingly whereunto he saith in the next verse there pursuing his Metaphor Owe nothing to any man We do not account it discourtesie but dishonesty in any man that is able not to pay debts With-hold not good from them to whom it is due saith Solomon Prov 3. Whosoever with-holdeth a debt or a due from another doth an unjust act and is next a kin to a thief and as a thief is bound to restitution The other word in the same place inforceth as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is more than Aristotles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very same word that is used where Zacheâ—â— promised four-fold restitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 19. render or restore 10. It is a thing not unworthy the observing that all those words which usually signifie Honour in the three learned Languages do either primarily signifie or else are derived from such words as do withal signifie either a Price or a Weight Now by the rules of Commutative Iustice the price of every Commodity ought to be according to the true worth of it And things payable by weight are by Law and Custom then only current when they have their due and full weight and that usually with some draught over rather than under Even so it is a righteous thing with us to make a just estimate of every mans worth and to set a right valuation upon him so near as we can respectively to the quality of his Place and his Personal desert and to allow him his full proportion of Honour accordingly neither under-rating him in our thoughts nor setting lighter by him than we should do in our carriage and conversation towards him A false weight is abominable and so is every one that tradeth with it and certainly that man maketh use of a false beam that setteth light by his brother or perhaps setteth him at nought whom he ought to honour The question is put on sharply by the Apostle Rom. 14. Why doest thou set at nought thy brother As who should say With what face with what conscience canst thou do it He that defalteth any thing of that just honour which he ought to allow his brother let his pretence be what it can be how is he not guilty of the sin of Ananias and Saphira even according to the Letter Act. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
with patience and permit all to the judgments of your own Consciences and of God the Judg of all mens Consciences But yet still in Conscience the obligation lyeth equally upon you and us As we are bound to give you honour so are you to give us safety as we to fear you so you to help us as we to fight for you so you to care for us as we to pay you tribute so you to do us right For For this cause pay we tribute and other duties unto you who are Gods Ministers even because you ought to be attending continually upon this very thing to approve your selves as the Ministers of God to us for good Oh that we could all superiours and inferiours both one and other remember what we owed to each other and by mutual striving to pay it to the utmost so endeavour our selves to fulfil the Law of God But in the mean time we are still injurious if either we withdraw our subjection or you your help if either we cast off the duty of Children or you the care of Fathers Time was when Iudges and Nobles and Princes delighted to be called by the name of Fathers The Philistines called their King by a peculiar appellative Abimelech as who say The King my Father In Rome the Senators were of old time called Patres Fathers and it was afterwards accounted among the Romans the greatest title of honour that could be bestowed upon their Consuls Generals Emperors or whosoever had deserved best of the Commonwealth to have this addition to the rest of his stile Pater Patriae a Father to his Country Naaman's servants in 4 King 5. 13. call him Father My Father if the Prophet had commanded thee c. And on the other side David the King speaketh unto his Subjects as a Father to his Children in Psal. 34. Come ye children c. and Solomon in the Proverbs every where My Son even as Iob here accounteth himself a Father to the poor Certainly to shew that some of these had and that all good Kings and Governours should have a fatherly care over and bear a fatherly affection unto those that are under them All which yet seeing it is intended to be done in bonum universitatis must be so understood as that it may stand cum bono universitatis with equity and justice and with the common good For Mercy and Iustice must go together and help to temper the one the other The Magistrate and Governour must be a Father to the poor to protect him from injuries and to relieve his necessities but not to maintain him in idleness All that the Father oweth to the Child is not love and maintenance he oweth him too Education and he oweth him Correction A Father may love his Child too fondly and make him a Wanton he may maintain him too highly and make him a Prodigal but he must give him nurture too as well as maintenance lest he be better fed than taught and correct him too as well as love him lest he bring him most grief when he should reap most comfort from him Such a fatherly care ought the civil Magistrate to have over the poor He must carefully defend them from wrongs and oppressions he must providently take order for their convenient relief and maintenance But that is not all he must as well make provision to set them on work and see that they follow it and he must give them sharp Correction when they grow idle stubborn dissolute or any way out of order This he should do and not leave the other undone There is not any speech more frequent in the mouths of Beggars and Wanderers wherewith the Country now swarmeth than that men would be good to the poor and yet scarce any thing so much mistaken as that speech in both the terms of it most men neither understanding aright who are the poor nor yet what it is to be good to them Not he only is good to the poor that delivereth him when he is oppressed nor is he only good to the poor that relieveth him when he is distressed but he also is good to the poor that punisheth him when he is idle He is good to the poor that helpeth him when he wanteth and he is no less good to the poor that whippeth him when he deserveth This is indeed to be good to the poor to give him that Alms first which he wanteth most if he be hungry it is Alms to feed him but if he be idle and untoward it is Alms to whip him This is to be good to the poor But who then are the poor we should be good to as they interpret goodness Saint Paul would have Widows honoured but yet those that are Widows indeed so it is meet the poor should be relieved but yet those that are poor indeed Not every one that begs is poor not every one that wanteth is poor not every one that is poor is poor indeed They are the poor whom we private men in Charity and you that are Magistrates in Iustice stand bound to relieve who are old or impotent or unable to work or in these hard and depopulating times are willing but cannot be set on work or have a greater charge upon them than can be maintained by their work These and such as these are the poor indeed let us all be good to such as these Be we that are private men as brethren to these poor ones and shew them mercy be you that are Magistrates as Fathers to these poor ones and do them justice But as for those idle stubborn professed wanderers that can and may and will not work and under the name and habit of poverty rob the poor indeed of our Alms and their Maintenance let us harden our hearts against them and not give them do you execute the severity of the Law upon them and not spare them It is Saint Paul's Order nay it is the Ordinance of the Holy Ghost and we should all put to our helping hands to see it kept He that will not labour let him not eat These Ulcers and Drones of the Commonwealth are ill worthy of any honest man's Alms of any good Magistrates protection Hitherto of the Magistrates second Duty with the reasons and extent thereof I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a Father to the poor Followeth next the third Duty in these words The cause which I knew not I searched out Of which words some frame the Coherence with the former as if Iob had meant to clear his Mercy to the poor from suspicion of partiality and injustice and as if he had said I was a Father indeed to the poor pitiful and merciful to him and ready to shew him any lawful favour but yet not so as in pity to him to forget or pervert justice I was ever careful before I would either speak or do for
our selves and others See now if we have not reason to love Justice and Judgment and to make it our delight to put Righteousness upon us and to cloath us with judgment as with a Robe and a Diadem being a thing in it self so excellent and being from it there redoundeth so much glory to God to our selves so much comfort and so much benefit unto others The Inferences of use from this first Duty as also from the rest I omit for the present reserving them all to the latter end partly because I would handle them all together partly also and especially for that I desire to leave them fresh in your memory when you depart the Congregation And therefore without farther adoe I proceed forth with to the next duty contained in these words I was eyes to the blind and feet was I to the lame I was a father to the poor Wherein Iob declareth his own readiness in his Place and Calling to be helpful to those that were any way distressed or stood in need of him by affording them such supply to his power as their several necessities required And like him should every Magistrate be in this also which I propose as the second Duty of the good Magistrate he must be forward to succour those that are distressed and oppressed and to help and relieve them to his power Mens necessities are many and of great variety but most of them spring from one of these two defects ignorance or want of skill and impotence or want of power here signified by Blindness and Lameness The blind man perhaps hath his limbs and strength to walk in the way if he could see it but because he wanteth his Eyes he can neither find the right way nor spy the rubs that are in it and therefore he must either sit still or put himself upon the necessity of a double hazard of stumbling and of going wrong The lame man perhaps hath his Eyes and sight perfect and knoweth which way he should go and seeth it well enough but because he wanteth his limbs he is not able to stir a foot forward and therefore he must have patience perforce and be content to sit still because he cannot go withal Both the one and the other may perish unless some good body help them and become a Guide to the blind a Staff to the lame leading the one and supporting the other Abroad in the World there are many in every Society Corporation and Congregation there are some of both sorts some Blind some Lame Some that stand in need of Counsel and Advice and Direction as the Blind others that stand in need of Help and assistance and support as the Lame If there be any other besides these whose case deserveth pity in what kind soever it be the word Poor comprehendeth him and maketh him a fit object for the care and compassion of the Magistrate To each of these the Magistrate must be a succourer to his power He must be as here Iob was an Eye to the blind ignorantem dirigendo by giving sound and honest counsel the best he can to them that are simple or might without his help be easily overseen And he must be as here Iob was feet to the lame impotentem adjuvando by giving countenance and assistance in just and honest Causes the best he can to them that are of meaner ability or might without his help be easily overborn If there be either of these or any other defect which standeth in need of a supply in any other man he must be as here Iob was a Father to the poor indigentem sublevando by giving convenient safety and protection the best he can to them that are destitute of help and fly unto him as to a Sanctuary for shelter and for refuge in any misery grievance or distress Upon these he must both have compassion inwardly and he must shew it too outwardly Affectu and Effectu pitying them in his heart and helping them with his hand It is not enough for him to see the Blind and the Lame and the Poor and to be sorry for them but his compassion must be real He must lend his Eyes to the Blind to direct them and he must lend his feet to the Lame to support them and he must pity the Poor as a father doth his children so pity them that he do something for them Princes and Iudges and Magistrates were not ordained altogether nor yet so much for their own sakes that they might have over whom to bear rule and to domineer at pleasure as for the peoples sakes that the people might have to whom to resort and upon whom to depend for help and succour and relief in their necessities And they ought to remember that for this end God hath endued them with that power which others want that they might by their power help them to right who have not power to right themselves Hoc reges habent magnificum ingens c. Prodesse miseris supplices fido lare protegere c. This is the very thing wherein the Preheminence of Princes and Magistrates and great ones above the ordinary sort singularly consisteth and wherein specially they have the advantage and whereby they hold the title of Gods that they are able to do good and to help the distressed more than others are For which ability how they have used it they stand accountable to him from whom they have received it and woe unto them if the Accounts they bring in be not in some reasonable proportion answerable to the Receipts Potentes potenter into whose hand much hath been given from their hands much will be required and the mighty ones if they have not done a mighty deal of good withal shall be mightily tormented And as they have received power from God so they do receive honours and service and tributes from their people for the maintenance of that power and these as wages by Gods righteous Ordinance for their care and pains for the peoples good God hath imprinted in the natural Conscience of every man notions of fear and honour and reverence and obedience and subjection and contribution and other Duties to be performed towards Kings and Magistrate and other Superiours not only for wrath but also for conscience sake and all this for the maintenance of that power in them by the right use whereof themselves are again maintained Now the same Conscience which bindeth us who are under Authority to the performance bindeth you who are in Authority to the requital of these Duties I say the same Conscience though not the same Wrath for here is the difference Both Wrath and Conscience bind us to our duties so that if we withdraw our subjection we both wound our own Consciences and incur your just Wrath but only Conscience bindeth you to yours and not Wrath so that if ye withdraw your help we may not use wrath but must suffer it
it is not much better now nay God grant it be not generally even much worse Receive now in the last place and as the third and last inference a word of Exhortation and it shall be but a word You whom God hath called to any honour or office appertaining to justice as you tender the glory of God and the good of the Commonwealth as you tender the honour of the King and the prosperity of the Kingdom as you tender the peace and tranquillity of your selves and neighbours as you tender the comfort of your own consciences and the salvation of your own souls set your selves throughly and cheerfully and constantly and conscionably to discharge with faithfulness all those duties which belong unto you in your several stations and callings and to advance to the utmost of your power the due administration and execution of justice Do not decline those burdens which cleave to the honours you sustain Do not post off those businesses from your selves to others which you should rather do than they or at least may as well do as they Stand up with the zeal of Phinees and by executing judgment help to turn away those heavy plagues which God hath already begun to bring upon us and to prevent those yet heavier ones which having so rightly deserved we have all just cause to fear Breathe fresh life into the languishing laws by mature and severe and discreet execution Put on righteousness as a Garment and cloath your selves with Iudgment as with a Robe and Diadem Among so many Oppressions as in these evil days are done under the Sun to whom should the fatherless and the Widow and the wronged complain but to you whence seek for relief but from you Be not you wanting to their necessities Let your eyes be open unto their miseries and your ears open unto their cries and your hands open unto their wants Give friendly Counsel to those that stand need of your Direction afford convenient help to those that stand need of your assistance carry a Fatherly affection to all those that stand in need of any comfort protection or relief from you Be eyes to the Blind and feet to the lame and be you instead of Fathers to the poor But yet do not countenance no not a poor man in his cause farther than he hath equity on his side Remember one point of wisdom not to be too credulous of every suggestion and information But do your best to spie out the chinks and starting holes and secret conveyances and packings of cunning and crafty companions and when you have found them out bring them to light and do exemplary justice upon them Sell not your ears to your servants nor tie your selves to the informations of some one or a few or of him that cometh first but let every party have a fair and an equal hearing Examine proofs Consider circumstances be content to hear simple men tell their tales in such language as they have think no pains no patience too much to sift out the truth Neither by inconsiderate haste prejudice any mans right nor weary him out of it by torturing delays The cause which you know not use all diligence and covenient both care and speed to search it out But ever withal remember your standing is slippery and you shall have many and sore assaultâ— and very shrewd temptations so that unless you arm your selves with invincible resolution you are gone The wicked ones of this world will conjure you by your old friendship and acquaintance and by all the bonds of Neighbourhood and kindness bribe your Wives and Children and Servants to corrupt you procure great mens Letters or Favorites as engines to move you convey a bribe into your own bosoms but under a handsomer name and in some other shape so cunningly and secretly sometimes that your selves shall not know it to be a bribe when you receive it Harden your faces and strengthen your resolution with a holy obstinacy against these and all other like temptations Count him an enemy that will alledge friendship to pervert justice When you sit in the place of justice think you are not now Husbands or Parents or Neighbours but Iudges Contemn the frowns and the favours and the Letters of great ones in comparison of that trust which greater ones than they the King and State and a yet Greater than they the great God of heaven and earth hath reposed in you and expecteth from you Chastise him with severe indignation if he begin and if he continue spit defiance in his face who ere he be that shall think you so base as to sell your freedom for a bribe Gird your sword upon your thigh and keeping your selves ever within the compass of your Commissions and Callings as the Sun in the Zodiack go through stitch right on in the course of Iustice as the Sun in the firmament with unresisted violence and as a Giant that rejoyceth to run his race and who can stop him Bear not the sword in vain but let your right hand teach you terrible things Defend the poor and fatherless and deliver the oppressed from them that are mightier than he Smite through the loyns of those that rise up to do wrong that they rise not again Break the jaws of the wicked and pluck the spoil out of his teeth Thus if you do the wicked shall fear you the good shall bless you the poor shall pray for you posterity shall praise you your own hearts shall â—hear you and the great God of Heaven shall reward you This that you may do in some good measure the same God of Heaven enable you and give you and every of us grace in our several places and callings to seek his glory and to endeavour the discharge of a good conscience To which God blessed for ever Fathers Son and Holy Ghost three Persons and one eternal invisible and only wise God be ascribed all the Kingdom Power and Glory for ever and ever Amen AD MAGISTRATUM The Second Sermon At the Assises at Lincoln 7 March 1624. at the request of William Lister Esq then high Sheriff of the County EXOD. XXIII ver 1 2 3. 1. Thou shalt not raise a false report â—ut not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness 2. Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment 3. Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his cause THere is no one thing Religion ever excepted that more secureth and adorneth the State than Iustice doth It is both Columna and Corona Reipublicae as a Prop to make it subsist firm in it self and as a Crown to render it glorious in the eyes of others As the Cement in a building that holdeth all together so is justice to the publick Body as whereunto it oweth a great part both of its strength for by it
their own and the Gospels reputation before men they must endeavour both to do the will of the most Wise God and to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men by submitting to every humane Creature that the Lord hath set over them for his sake 2. This I conceive to be the scope of that part of the Chapter whence the Text is taken which I now stand not with farther curiosity to Analyze Suffice it us to know that in this seventeenth verse St. Peter shutteth up his general Exhortation concerning subjection to Superiours in four short Precepts or Aphorisms of Christian life Honour all men Love the Brotherhood Fear God Honour the King Which four though considerable also apart and as each hath a complete sence within it self may yet not unfitly be ranged and that agreeably as I conceive to the Apostles intendment into two Combinations The two former into one as thus Honour all men but not all men alike you must be ready to do all offices of respect and love as occasion serveth to every man but yet you are to remember that your brethren in Christ may claim a nearer and deeper interest in your affections and so in the exercise of your charity too than they that are without have any reason to do Honour all men but especially love the Brotherhood The two latter also into one thus Fear God and the King where the fear of the one will consist with the fear of the other But where they are incompatible hold fast to the fear of God howsoever but even in that case where you may not fear the King you must yet do him all the honour otherwise that may be Fear God yet honour the King too 3. We shall now hold us to the former Combination only consisting of these two Precepts Honour all men love the Brotherhood In either of which we may observe First the Duty what it is and then how that duty is either extended or limited in regard of the Object The duties are Honour and Love The duty of Honour in the former Precept tand that extended to every man Honour all men The duty of Love in the latter Precept and that limited to the Brethren Love the Brotherhood Of which in their order keeping the same method in both even this to consider first Quid nominis then Quid Iuris and lastly Quid facti The first by opening the Duty and what we are to do The next by enquiring into the Obligation and why we are so to do The last by examining our Performance and whether we do therein as we ought to do or no. And first of the former Precept Honour all men 4. Honour properly is an acknowledgment or testification of some excellency or other in the person honoured by some reverence or observance answerable thereunto Thus we honour God above all as being transcendently excellent and thus we honour our Parents our Princes our betters or superiors in any kind And thus the word is clearly used in the last Precept of the four in this verse Honour the King But so to take it in this first Precept would be subject to sundry difficulties and inconveniences this especially above the rest that the Scripture should here bind us to an impossible thing Impossible I say not only ex hypothesi and by consequent in regard of the weakness and corruption of our nature for so is every good duty impossible to be performed by us without the grace of God preventing and assisting us but impossible ex natura rei as implying a flat contradiction within it self For honouring in that notion being the preferring of some before other some we should be bound by this Text were the word so to be understood to prefer every man before every other man which how it should be possible for us to do is beyond the wit of man to imagine For to prefer all is in truth to prefer none and so the Apostles command to honour all men shall be all one upon the point as if he had directly forbidden us to honour any man It is necessary therefore for the avoiding of this contradiction and sundry other absurdities which would follow thereupon and I omit to take the word Honour in this place in a signification somewhat looser and larger than the former so as to import all that esteem or regard be it more or less which either in â—ustice or charity is due to any man in respect of his place person or condition according to the eminency merit or exigency of any of them respectively together with the willing performance of such just and charitable offices upon all emergent occasions as in proportion to any of the said respects can be reasonably expected In which sence it is a possible thing for us to honour not only our Superiors that are over us or above us but our Equals too that are in the same rank with us yea even our inferiours also that are below us or under us 5. And in this latitude you shall find the word Honour sometimes used in the Scriptures though not so frequently as in the proper signification You have one example of it in the seventh verse of the next Chapter where St. Peter enjoyneth husbands to give honour to the Wife as to the weaker vessel It was far from his meaning doubtless that the husband should honour the wife with the honour properly so called that of Reverence or Subjection For that were to invert the right order of things and to pervert Gods Ordinance who hath given man the preeminence and commanded the woman to be in subjection The woman therefore may not by any means 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurp authority over the man but it is her duty to reverence her husband and she must see that she do it His meaning clearly is that the husband should cherish the wife as one that though in some degree of inferiority is yet his yoke-fellow bearing with the weaknesses whether of her Sex or Person framing to her disposition and yielding to her desires as far as reason and wisdom will allow Being her head he must not make himself her slave by giving her the honour of dutiful observance and obedience and yet being his Companion he may not make her his drudge by denying her the honour of a tender respect and loving condescension Which kind of honour is in some measure and according to their different proportions due also to be given by Parents to their Children and by the greatest Masters to the meanest of their Servants 6. We have another example of the like use of the word 1 Tim. 5. where St. Paul biddeth Timothy honour Widows that are Widows indeed Timothy was a man of eminent rank in the Church of God a Bishop and that of no mean See but of Ephesus a famous City and the chief Metropolis of Asia and the Widows he there speaketh of were poor old women such as in those
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the Phrase there in keeping back as they did part of the full price when they should have laid it down all Thus we are tied in Iustice to honour all men 11. The next tie is that of Equity where the Rule is Quod tibi fieri non vis A Rule which Severus a wise Emperour magnified exceedingly Lampridius saith that he learnt it of the Christians And it may very well be so for Christ himself commended it to his Disciples as a perfect breviate of the whole Law Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you do ye even so to them for this is the Law and the Prophets He meaneth so far as concerneth our dealings and transactions with men A short Lesson but of a large comprehension all one in the meaning and result with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Iames calleth it that Royal Law which comprehendeth in it the whole Second Table of the Law with all the several offices reducible to each Commandment therein Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself If we would but once perfectly learn this one Lesson and soundly follow it Do as we would be done to sailing always by that Compass and framing all our actions by that Rule we should not need any other Law for the guiding of our consciences or other direction for the ordering of our Conversations in respect of our carriage towards others But there is a base wretched pride in us that disordereth all both within and without and will not suffer us to be I say not just but even so much as reasonable Like some broken Merchants that drive their Creditors to low Compositions for great Sums but call hard upon their poor Neighbours for petty reckonings that stand uncrost in the Book or the Evil Servant in the Parable Mat. 18 who having craved his Masters forbearance for a very vast Sum went presently and shook his fellow-servant by the throat for a trifle or as young prodigal heirs that are ready to borrow of every man that will lend them but never take any care to pay scores so are many of us Nulla retrorsum We care not how much honour cometh to our selves from others how little goeth from our selves to others Nay you shall observe it and the reason of it is manifest for the same pride that maketh men over-prize themselves maketh them also undervalue their brethren you shall observe it I say that those very men that stand most upon the terms of bitterness and look for most respect from those that are below them are ever the slackest in giving to those that are above them their due honour Who so forward generally to set bounds and to give Law to the higher powers as those very men that exercise the most unbounded and unlimited tyranny among their poor neighbours and underlings crowing over them without all mercy and beyond all reason I forbid no man to maintain the rights and to preserve the dignity that belongeth either to his Place or Person rather I hold him much to blame if he do not by all fair and justifiable means endeavour so to do For qui sibi nequam cui bonus He that is wretchless of his own honour there is no great fear that he will be over careful of doing his neighbour right in giving him his Let every man therefore in Gods name take to himself that portion of honour and respect that is due to him and good luck may he have with his honour Provided always that he be withal sure of these two things First that he take no more than his due for this is but just and then that he be as willing to give as to take for that is but equal He that doth otherwise is partial and unreasonable And thus we are tied in Equity to honour all men 12. There is yet a third tie that of Religion in respect of that Image of God which is to be found in man All honour is in regard of some excellency or other and there is in man no excellency at all of and from himself but all the excellency that is in him is such only as God hath been pleased to put upon him So as those Characters and impressions of excellency which God hath stamped upon man as some image of himself is the true foundation of all that honour that can any way belong unto him And that excellency is twofold Natural and Personal The Natural excellency is that whereby man excelleth other creatures Personal that whereby one man excelleth another 13. Of the Natural first which ariseth from the Image of God stamped upon man in his Creation And this excellency being it was put upon the whole species of mankind is therefore to be found in all men and that alike so as in this respect all men are honourable and all alike honourable Thou that comparing thy self with thy poorer Brother thinkest thy self the better man and so despisest him compare thy self and him another while in puris naturalibus and thou shalt find no difference Take him as a man he is every way as good a man as thou thou carriest a body about thee no less mortal than his he harboureth a soul within him no less immortal than thine And where is the difference Well then here is the first honour we owe to all men even as they are men and that without all either exception none to be excluded or differences none to be preferred viz. this That we despise no man but that as much as lieth in us we preserve the being and advance the well-being of every man and that because of Gods Image set upon him As when a piece of base metal is coyned with the Kings stamp and made current by his Edict no man may thenceforth presume either to refuse it in pay or to abate the value of it So God having stamped his own Image upon every man and withal signified his blessed pleasure how precious he would have him to be in our eyes and esteem according as you shall find the tenour of the Edict in Gen. 9. At the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man with the reason of the Edict also annexed for in the Image of God made he man we must look to answer it as an high contempt of that Sacred Majesty if we set any man at nought or make less account of him than God would have us The contumelious usage of the Image is in common construction ever understood as a dishonour meant to the Prototype upon which consideration it was that the Romans when they meant to set a mark of publick disgrace or dishonour upon any eminent person did manifest their such intention by throwing down breaking trampling upon or doing some other like disgrace unto their statues or pictures And Solomon in sundry places interpreteth all acts of oppressing mocking or otherwise dèspising our neighbours not without a strong reflection upon
poorest beggar within his Realm as to protect him from violence and to require an account of his blood though it should be spilt by the hand of a Lord. 17. And yet behold a greater than Iob although I take it he was a King too within his own Territories a greater than any of the great Kings of the earth ready to teach us this duty by his example even our Lord Iesus Christ and the same mind should be in us that was in him And what was that He was pleased so far to honour us base sinful unworthy Creatures as we were as for our sakes to lay aside his own greatness emptying and divesting himself of glory and Majesty making himself of no reputation and taking upon him the form of a Servant Ill do they follow either his Example or his Apostles Doctrine here who think themselves too good to condescend to men of low estate by doing them any office of service or respect though they need it never so much crave it never so oft deserve it never so well And they who look another way in the day of their brothers distress as the Priest and Levite passed by the wounded man in the Parable without regard And not to multiply particulars all they who having power and opportunity thereunto neglect either to reward those that have worth in them according to their merit or to protect those that are wronged according to their innocency or to relieve those that are in want according to their necessity 18. There are a third sort that corrupt a good Text with an ill gloss by putting in a conditional limitation like the botching in of a course shred into a finâ— garment as thus The Magistrate shall have his Tribute the Minister his Tythâ— and so every other man his due honour if so be he carry himself worthily and as he ought to do in his place and so as to deserve it In good time But I pray you then first to argue the case a little with thee whoever thou art that thus glossest Who must judge of his carriage and whether he deserve such honour yea or no Why that thou hopest thou art well enough able to do thy self Sure we cannot but expect good justice where he that is a party will allow no other to be judge but himself Where the debtor must arbitrate what is due to the creditor things are like to come a fair reckoning 19. But secondly how durst thou distinguish where the Law distinguishes not Where God commandeth he looketh to be answered with obedience and dost thou think to come off with subtilties and distinctions The Precept here in the Text is plain and peremptory admitteth no Equivocation Exception or Reservation suggesteth nothing that should make it reasonable to restrain the Universality expressed therein by any such limitation and therefore will not endure to be eluded with any forced Gloss. 20. Least of all thirdly with such a Gloss as the Apostle hath already precluded by his own comment in the next verse where he biddeth servants to be subject to their Masters not only to the good and gentle but to the froward also and such as would be ready to buffet them when they had done no fault Such Masters sure could challenge no great honour from their servants titulo mâ—ritâ— and as by way of desert But yet there belonged to them jâ—â— dominii and by vertue of their Mastership the honour of Obedience and Subjection Which honour due unto them by that right they had a good title to and it might not be detained from them either in part or in whole by cavilling at their desert 21. But tell me fourthly in good earnest dost thou believe that another mans neglect of his duty can discharge thee from the obligation of thine dic Quintiliane colorem Canst thou produce any publick Law or private Contract or sound Reason whereon to ground or but handsom Colour wherewith to varnish such an imagination Fac quodtuum est do thou thy part therefore and honour him according to his place howsoever He shall answer and not thou for his unworthiness if he deserve it not but thou alone shalt answer for the neglect of thine own duty if thou performest it not 22. Lastly ex ore tuo When thou sayest thou wilt honour him according to his place if he deserve it dost thou not observe that thou art still unjust by thy own confession For where place and merit concur there is a double honour due The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 5. There is one honour due to the place and another to merit He that is in the place though without desert is yet worthy of a single honour for his place sake and justice requireth he should have it But if he deserve well in his place by rightly discharging his duty therein he is then worthy of a double honour and justice requireth he should have that too Consider now how unjust thou art If he deserve well sayest thou he shall have the honour due to his place otherwise not Thou mightest as well say in plain terms If he be worthy of double honour I can be content to afford the single otherwise be must be content to go without any Now what justice what conscience in this dealing where two parts are due to allow but one and where one is due to allow just none 23. But I proceed no further in this argument having purposely omitted sundry things that occurred to my meditations herein and contracted the rest that I might have time to speak something to the latter Precept also Love the brotherhood To which I now pass hoping to dispatch it with convenient brevity observing the same method as before Quid nominis Quid juris Quid facti What we are to do and Why and How we perform it 24. First then for the meaning of the words we must know that as Adam and Christ are the two roots of mankind Adam as in a state of Nature and Christ as in a state of Grace so there is a twofold brotherhood amongst men correspondent thereunto First a Brotherhood of Nature by propagation from the loins of Adam as we are men and secondly a Brotherhood of Grace by profession of the faith of Christ as we are Christian men As men we are members of that great body the World and so all men that live within the compass of the World are Brethren by a more general communion of Nature As Christians we are members of that mystical body the Church and so all Christian men that live within the compass of the Church are Brethren by a more peculiar Communion of Faith And as the Moral Law bindeth us to love all men as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common Nature in Adam so the Evangelical Law bindeth to love all Christians as our Brethren and partakers with us of the same common faith in
to him are all things to him be glory for ever and ever Amen 14. But say there lay no such Obligation upon us yet thirdly in point of Wisdom it would concern us to seek our Masters Glory the benefit whereof would so abundantly redound upon our selves For as was touched before there accrueth no advantage to him thereby the gain is solely ours By seeking his glory we promote our own and so by doing him service we do upon the point but serve our selves Doth Iob doth any man serve God for nought I speak it not for this purpose as if we should aim at Gods Glory with a further aim therein at our own benefit For that could be but a mercenary service at the best neither worthy of him nor becoming us And besides the reason should contradict it self for how could Gods Glory be our farthest end if we should have another end beyond it for our selves I note it only to let us see the exceeding goodness of our gracious Lord and Master and for our better heartening that we faint not in his Service who doth so infallibly procure our Glory whilst we unfeignedly seek his And whereof we have a fair and full assurance and that from his own mouth and that in as plain and express terms as it is possible for a promise to be made 1 Sam. 2. Them that honour me I will honour 15. From the point thus confirmed will arise sundry profitable Inferences some whereof I shall propose to you and those all by way of admonition Since our chief aim ought to be that in every thing God may have the Glory due to his name beware we first that we do not by base flattery or other too much reverence or obsequiousness give unto any mortal Man or other finite Creature any part of that Honour which is due to the infinite and immortal God alone Not the glory of Omnipotency unto any Power upon Earth be it never so great God spake once twice have I heard the same that power belongeth unto God Psal. 62. Experience sheweth there is impotency in them all Not the Glory of infallibility to any judgment be it never so clear not to any Iudicatory be it never so solemn Let God be true and every Man a Lyar Rom. 3. Experience sheweth there is Error and Partiality in them all Not the Glory of Religious Worship to any Image Saint Angel or other Creature though never so blessed and glorious For God is extreamly jealous in that particular above all other My glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images Isa. 42. Experience and reason sheweth there is some deficiency or other in them all 16. Beware we secondly that we do not sacrilegiously rob God of his honour by deriving the least part of it upon our selves As Ananias kept back for his proper use part of the price of his land when he should have brought in all for the Churches use Like crafty Stewards that enrich themselves by lessening their Lords fines or untrusty Servants that turn some of their Masters goods into Money and then put the Money into their own purses Non nobis Domine non nobis saith David Psal. 115. Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy name be the praise He repeateth it twice that he might disclaim it wholly and wash his hands of it so clearly that not any of it might stick to his Fingers as who say By no means to us Our blessed Lord himself Christ Iesus who was the very brightness and express Image of his Fathers Glory and without robbery of equal and coeternal Glory with him yet as he was man he did not glorifie himself nay let me say more having taken upon him the form of a Servant he durst not seek his own Glory but the glory of his Father that sent him We use to call it vain-glory when a man seeketh his own glory unduly or inordinately and rightly we so term it for Vanity is next akin to nothing and such glory is no better if Solomon may be judge For to men seek their own glory is not glory Prov. 25. 17. But though we may not seek to pull any glory upon our selves yet if others will needs put it upon us unsought for may we not admit it May we not take it when it is given us No that you may not neither Beware of that therefore thirdly It is a strong temptation I grant to our proud minds but that maketh it nothing the less it rendreth it rather the more dangerous For what hath any man to do to bestow what is none of his And if we know they have no right to give it sure we are greatly to blame if we take it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that receiveth stollen goods is not much less guilty than he that stole them It did not any thing at all either excuse Herod from guilt or exempt him from punishment that he did no more but admit those shouts and acclamations wherewith the people so magnified his eloquence It is the voice of God and not of man Great ones had need take heed how they listen too much to those that magnifie them too much Because he did not some way or other shew himself displeased with those flatterers not chastening them so much as with a frown nor transmit the glory they cast upon him higher and where it was of right due he standeth convicted and condemned upon record for not giving God the glory Acts 12. Marvel not that one of God's holy Angels was so ready to do Execution upon him there for that fault when you find another of those holy Angels so very shy in a case of that nature Who when Iohn fell at his Feet with the intent to worship him timely and severely forhad him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 see thou do it not at any hand I am but thy fellow-servant that honour belongeth to our Master only and not to me worship God And how did Paul and Barnabas bestir themselves at Lystra when the people began to deifie them and were preparing Oxen and Garlands to sacrifice to them As soon as ever they heard of it in token of grief and detestation they rent their clothes and in all haste ran in among the people crying out Sirs what do you mean Why do you thus Mistake not your selves nor us Neither are we Iupiter and Mercury as you suppose neither if we were are Iupiter and Mercury Gods but we men subject to like passions both of sin and misery with you and they but Idols and Vanity 18. There is yet a fourth thing whereof I cannot but intreat you to be exceeding wary above all the rest Not that it is worse nor perhaps simply so ill as some of those afore-named but that is in some respects more dangerous as being for the most part less suspected than they are not altogether so easie to be
a fitter similitude whereby to express the miseries of the hell within us that of an evil conscience or of the hell without us that of eternal torments than by inner and outer darkness But light is a most glorious creature than which none fitter to express to our capacities either the infinite incomprehensible Glory and Majesty of God He clotheth himself with light as with a garment and dwelleth in the light that no man can approach unto or that endless glory and happiness which the holy Angels do now and all the Saints in their due time shall enjoy in heaven Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1. 14. In these respects he that hath the honour to be stiled a Christian in any degree hath also a title so far forth to be stiled a child of light Whether it be by the outward profession of the Christian faith only or by the inward sanctification of the Spirit also Those are nomine tenus Christiani Christians but in name and shew equivocal Christians these only are Christians indeed and in truth Of these is made up the Church of Gods Elect otherwise called the invisible Church of Christ and not unfitly because the persons appertaining to that Church as members thereof are not distinguishable from others by any outward infallible Character visible to us but by such secret and inward impresses as come not within the cognizance of any creature nor can be known by any creature otherwise than conjecturally only without special revelation from God The foundation of God standeth firm having this seal Dominus novit The Lord knoweth who are his Should we take these here meant the opposition between the children of this world and the children of light would be most perfect Those who remain in the state of depraved nature and so under the dominion of Sin and Satan being the children of this world in the strictest notion and those whom God hath called out of darkness into his marvellous light that is brought out of the state of Nature into the state of Grace and translated into the Kingdom of his Son Iesus Christ being the children of light in the stricter notion also 15. But forasmuch as we who cannot look beyond the outside are no competent judges of such matters It will best become us to make use of that judgment which alone God hath allowed us I mean that of Charity And then it will be no hard business for us to pronounce determinately applying the sentence even to particular persons who are to be esteemed the children of light Even all those that by outwardly professing the name and faith of Christ are within the pale of the visible Church of Christ. The holy Apostle so pronounceth of them all 1 Thes. 5. Ye are all the Children of the light and of the day And Eph. 5. Yea were sometimes darkness but now are light in the Lord. Our very Baptism entitleth is hereunto which is the Sacrament of our initiation whereby we put on Christ and are made members of Christ and Children of God Whence it is that in the Greek Fathers Baptism is usually called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is an enlightening and persons newly baptised 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Officer in the Greek Church to whom it belonged to hear the confessions of the Catechumeni and after they were approved to present them to Baptism with many other phrases and expressions borrowed from the same metaphor of light and applied in like manner to Baptism 16. Now to bring all this long and as I fear tedious discourse home to the Text the question here resolved seemeth in the right stating thereof to come to this issue whether natural and worldly men in the managery of their worldly affairs to the best temporal advantage or they that profess themselves Christians in the business of their souls and pursuit of everlasting salvation do proceed the more rationally and prudentially in their several ways towards the attainment of their several ends How the question is resolved we shall consider by and by In the mean time from this very consideration alone that the children of light and the children of this world stand in mutual opposition one to the other we may learn something that may be of use to us We would all be thought what I hope most of us are not nomine tenus only by outward profession and at large but in very deed and truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good Christians and children of light in the stricter and nobler notion Yet were it but the other only our very Baptism and profession of Christianity would oblige us to a holy walking sutable to our holy calling and Profession and to the solemn vow we took upon us at our Baptism It were a base yea a very absurd thing for us to jumble and confound what we find here not only distinguished from but even opposed against the one the other Children of God and of the Church by profession and yet children of Satan and of the world in our conversation Children of light and yet hold fellowship with and take delight in the unfruitful works of darkness Quae communio saith St. Paul It astonisht him that any man could think to bring things so contrary as Light and Darkness to any good accord or but tolerable compliance When we were the children of this world and such we were as soon as we were born into the world by taking Christendom upon us at our Baptism we did ipso facto renounce the world with all the sinful pomps and vanities thereof and profess our selves children of the God of light If now being made the children of God and of the light we shall again cast back a longing eye after the world as Lots wife did after Sodom or Demas-like embrace this present world clasping our hearts and our affections about it how do we not ipso facto renounce our very Christendom with all the blessed comforts and benefits thereof return with the dog to lick up our old vomit and reduce our selves to that our former wretched condition of darkness from which we had so happily escaped Can any of us be so silly as to think the Father of lights will own him for his child and reserve for him an inheritance in light who flieth out from under his wing and quite forsaketh him to run after the Prince of darkness The Apostles motion seemeth very reasonable Eph. 5. that whereas whilst we were darkness we walked as children of darkness now we are become light in the Lord we should walk as children of the light The children of the world perfectly hate the light why should not the children of light as perfectly scorn the world We have not so much spirit in us as we should have if we do not nor so much wisdom neither as we should have if we do not no nor
poor He shall deliver their souls from falshood and wrong and dear shall their blood be in his sight And the like instructions to those of his Father he received also from his Mother Bathsheba in the Prophecy which she taught him with much holy wisdom for the matter and with much tenderness of motherly affection for the manner What my Son and what the Son of my Womb and what the Son of my Vows Prov. 31. where she giveth him this in charge vers 8 9. Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction Open thy mouth judg righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy 6. For the further evidencing of the necessity of which Duty that so we may be the more effectually quickened to the chearful and conscionable performance of it there are sundry important whether reasons or inducements or both for we shall not now stand so much upon any nice distinguishing of the terms but take them togetherward the one sort with the other very well worthy our Christian consideration Some in respect of God some in respect of our selves some in respect of our Brethren and some in respect of the thing it self in the effects thereof 7. To being with the most High we have his Command first and then his Example to the same purpose First His Command and that very frequently repeated both in the Law of Moses and in the Psalms and in the Prophets I shall the less need to cite particular places since that general and fundamental Law which is the ground of them all is so well known to us even that which our Saviour maketh the second great Commandment that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Iames calleth it that Royal Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self Oh how we can stickle in our own Cause◠and solicite our own business with unwearied diligence How active and provident and vigilant we can be in things wherein our selves are concerned or when our own lives or livelihoods are in jeopardy Not giving sleep to our eyes or slumber to our eye-lids till we have delivered our selves from the snare of the Oppressor As a Roe from the hand of the hunter or as the Bird from the snare of the fowler Now if we can be thus fiery and stirring when it is for our selves but frozen and remiss when we should help our neighbour how do we fulfil the royal Law according to the Scripture Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self 8. Let no Man think to put off this duty with the Lawyers question Luke 10. But who is my neighbour Or with the Pharisees evading Gloss Mat. 5. Thou shalt love thy neighbour My neighbour True but not mine enemy Or with Nabal's churlish reasoning 1 Sam. 25. Shall I put my self to pains and trouble for Men whom I know not whence they be For in all the cases wherein the offices whether of Iustice or Charity are to be exercised every Man is every other Man's neighbour All Men being by the Ordinance of God so linked together and concorporated one into another that they are not only all members of the same body of the same civil Body as they are Men and of the same mystical Body too if they be Christians but even members also one of another Eph. 4. yea even every one one anothers members Rom. 12. So that if any Man stand in need of thy help and it be in the power of thy hand to do him good whether he be known to thee or a stranger whether thy friend or thy foe he is a limb of thee and thou a limb of him He may challenge an interest and a propriety in thee as thy poor and thy needy Deut. 15. Yea more as thine own flesh Isa. 58. Thou mayest not therefore hide thy self from him because he is thine own flesh For thy flesh thou art bound tho not to pamper yet to nourish and to cherish it by affording all convenient succour and supply to the necessities of it 9. God then hath laid upon us his Royal Command in this behalf Nor so only but he hath also laid before us a Royal Precedent in his own blessed example Lord thou hast heard the desire of the poor to help the fatherless and poor unto their right that the Man of the earth be no more exalted against them Psal. 10. saith David for the time past and for the time to come Psal. 140. Sure I am that the Lord will avenge the poor and maintain the cause of the helpless If you would hear it rather from his own mouth take it from Psal. 12. Now for the comfortless troubles sake of the needy and because of the deep sighing of the poor I will up saith the Lord and will help every one from him that swelleth against him and will set them at rest You see which way your heavenly Father goeth before you Now be ye followers of God as dear children It is the hope of every good Christian that he shall hereafter be like unto God in glory and happiness it should therefore be his care in the mean time to be like unto God in grace and goodness in being merciful as his heavenly Father is merciful in caring for the strangers and defending the fatherless and widow in helping those to right that suffer wrong and in doing works of Piety and Charity and Mercy The duty concerneth all in general 10. But Princes Iudges Magistrates and all that are in authority are more specially engaged to follow the example of God herein sith God hath been pleased to set a special mark of honour upon them in vouchsafing to put his own Name upon them and so to make them a kind of Petty Gods upon earth Dixi Dii I have said ye are Gods Psal. 82. Not so much be sure for the exalting of their Power and to procure them due honour esteem and obedience from those that are under them though that also no doubt was intended thereby as to instruct them in their Duty and estsoons to remember them that they are very unworthy the glorious title they bear of being Gods if they do not imitate the great and true God by exercising their Godships if I may so speak in doing good and protecting innocency Flatterers will be ready enough to tell you You are Gods but it is to evil and pernicious purposes to swell you up with conceits of I know not what omnipotency You are Gods and therefore may do what you will without fear in your selves or controul from any other They that tell you so with such an intention are liers and you should not give them any countenance or credit or so much as the hearing But when the God of Truth telleth you Ye are Gods he telleth you withal in the same place and as it were with the same breath what you are to do answearably to that Title
blood by Man shall his blood be shed And that Iudges should be very shy and tender how they grant Pardons or Reprievals in that case he established it afterwards among his own people by a most severe sanction Num. 35. Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a Murderer which is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death And there is a reason of it there given also For blood saith he defileth the land and the land cannot be cleansed from the blood that is shed therein but by he blood of him that shed it Read that passage with attention and if both forehead and conscience be not harder than the neither milstone thou canst not have either the heart or the face to glory in it as a brave exploit whoever thou art that hast been the instrument to save the life of a Murderer 20. Indeed all offences are not of that hanious nature that Murder is nor do they cry so loud for vengeance as Murder doth And therefore to procure undeserved favour for a smaller offender is not so great a sin as to do it for a Murderer But yet so far as the proportion holdeth it is a sin still Especially where favour cannot be shewn to one Man but to the wrong and grievance of some other as it hapneth usually in those judicial controversies that are betwixt party and party for trial of right Or where favour cannot be shewn to an offender but with wrong and grievance to the publick as it most times falleth out in criminal causes wherein the King and Commonwealth are parties Solomon hath taught us that as well he that justifieth the wicked as he that condemneth the just are an abomination to the Lord. Yea and that for any thing that appeareth to the contrary from the Text and in thesi for circumstances may make a difference either way in hypothesi they are both equally abominable In doubtful cases it is doubtlesly better and safer to encline to Mercy than to Severity Better ten offenders should escape than one innocent person suffer But that is to be conceived only when things are doubtful so as the truth cannot be made appear but where things are notorious and evident there to justifie the guilty and to condemn the innocent are still equal abominations 21. That which you are to do then in the behalf of the poor is this First to be rightly informed and so far as morally you can well assured that their cause be just For mean and poor people are nothing less but ordinarily much more unreasonable than the great ones are and if they find the ear of the Magistrate open to hear their grievances as is very meet it should be they will be often clamorous and importunate without either cause or measure And if the Magistrate be not very wary and wise in receiving informations the Country swain may chance prove too cunning for him and make him but a stale whereby for himself to get the start of his Adversary and so the Magistrate may in fine and unwares become the instrument of oppression even then when his intention was to vindicate another from it The Truth of the matter therefore is to be first throughly sifted out the circumstances duly weighed and as well as the legal the equitable right examined and compared and this to be done with all requisite diligence and prudence before you engage in the poor Man's behalf 22. But if when this is done you then find that there is much right and equity on his side and that yet for want of skill or friends or means to manage his affairs he is in danger to be foiled in his righteous cause Or if you find that his Adversary hath a legal advantage of him or that he hath de rigore incurred the penalty of some dis-used statute yet did not offend wilfully out of the neglect of his known duty or a greedy covetous mind or other sinister and evil intention but meerly out of his ignorance and inexperience and in the simplicity of his heart as those two hundred Israelites that followed after Absalom when he called them not knowing any thing of his conspiracy had done an act of treason yet were not formally traitors In either of these cases I say you may not forsake the poor Man or despise him because he is poor or simple But you ought so much the rather to stick by him and to stand his friend to the utmost of your power You ought to give him your counsel and your countenance to speak for him and write for him and ride for him and do for him to procure him right against his Adversary in the former case and in the latter case favour from the Iudge In either case to hold back your hand to draw back your help from him if it be in the power of your hand to do him any help is that sin for which in the judgment of Solomon in the Text the Lord will admit no excuse 23. Come we now in the last place to some reasons or motives taken from the effects of the duty it self If carefully and conscionably performed it will gain honour and estimation both to our persons and places purchase for us the prayers and blessings of the poor yea and bring down a blessing from God not upon us and ours only but upon the State and Commonwealth also But where the duty is neglected the effects are quite contrary First do you know any other thing that will bring a Man more glory and renown in the common opinion of the World than to shew forth at once both justice and mercy by doing good and protecting the Innocent Let not mercy and truth forsake thee bind them about thy neck write them upon the table of thine heart so shalt thou find favour and good understanding or acceptance in the sight of God and Man Prov. 3. As a rich sparkling Diamond addeth both value and lustre to a golden Ring so do these vertues of justice and mercy well attempered bring a rich addition of glory to the Crowns of the greatest Monarchs Hoc reges habent magnificum ingens Prodesse miseris supplices fido lare Protegere c. Every Man is bound by the Law of God and of Charity as to give to every other Man his due honour so to preserve the honour that belongeth to his own person and place for Charity in performing the duties of every Commandment beginneth at home Now here is a fair and honest and sure way for all you that are in place of authority and judicature or sustain the persons of Magistrates to hold up the reputation both of your Persons and Places and to preserve them from scorn and contempt Execute judgment and justice with wisdom and diligence take knowledge of the vexations of those that are brought into the Courts or otherwise troubled without cause be sensible of the groans and pressures of poor Men in the
day of their adversity protect the innocent from such as are too mighty or too crafty for him hew in pieces the snares and break the jaws of the cunning and cruel oppressor and deliver those that are drawn either to death or undoing 24. The course is preposterous and vain which some Men ambitious of honour and reputation take to get themselves put into the place of Magistracy and Authority having neither head nor heart for it I mean when they have neither knowledge and experience in any measure of competency to understand what belongeth to such places nor yet any care or purpose at all to do God their King and Country good service therein The wise Son of Sirac checketh such ambitious spirits for their unseasonable forwardness that way Sirac 7. Seek not of the Lord preeminence neither of the King the seat of honour Think not he hath any meaning to dissuade or dishearten Men of quality and parts for medling with such employments for then the service should be neglected No Men that are gifted for it although the service cannot be attended without some both trouble and charge yet should not for the avoiding either of charge or trouble indeed they cannot without sin seek either to keep themselves out of the Commission or to get themselves off again being on His meaning clearly is only to repress the ambition of those that look after the Title because they think it would be some glory to them but are not able for want either of skill or spirit or through sloth nor willing to perform the duties And so he declareth himself a little after there Seek not to be a Iudge being not able to take away iniquity lest at any time thou fear the person of the mighty and lay a stumbling-block in the way of thy uprightness 25. Did honour indeed consist which is the ambitious Man's error either only or chiefly in the empty Title we might well wish him good luck with his honour But since true Honour hath a dependence upon vertue being the wages as some or as others have rather chosen to call it the shadow of it it is a very vanity to expect the one without some care had of the other Would any Man not forsaken of his senses look for a shadow where there is no solid body to cast it Or not of his reason demand wages where he hath done no service Yet such is the perversness of our corrupt nature through sloth and self-love that what God would have go together the Honour and the Burden we would willingly put asunder Every Man almost would draw to himself as much of the honour as he can if it be a matter of credit or gain then Why should not I be respected in my place as well as another But yet withal would every Man almost put off from himself as much of the burden as he can If it be a matter of business and trouble then Why may not another Man do it as well as I Like lazy servants so are we that love to be before-hand with their wages and behind-hand with their work 26. The truth is there is an Outward and there is an Inward Honour The Outward honour belongeth immediately to the Place and the place casteth it up on the Person so that whatsoever person holdeth the place it is meet he should have the honour due to the place whether he deserve it or not But the Inward honour pitcheth immediately upon the Person and but reflecteth upon the Place and that Honour will never be had without desert What the Apostle said of the Ministry is in some sense also true of the Migistracy they that labour faithfully in either are worthy of double Honour Labour or labour not there is a single honour due to them and yet not so much to them as to their Places and Callings but yet to them too for the places sake and we are unjust if we with-hold it from them though they should be most unworthy of it But the double Honour that inward Honour of the heart to accompany the outward will not be had where there is not worth and industry in some tolerable measure to deserve it The knee-worship and the cap-worship and the lip-worship they may have that are in worshipful places and callings though they do little good in them but the Heart-worship they shall never have unless they be ready to do Iustice and to shew Mercy and be diligent and faithful in their Callings 27. Another fruit and effect of this duty where it is honestly performed are the hearty prayers and blessings of the poor as on the contrary their bitter curses and imprecations where it is slighted or neglected We need not look so far to find the truth hereof asserted in both the branches we have a Text for it in this very Chapter Prov. 24. He that saith unto the wicked Thou art righteous him shall the people curse nations shall abhor him But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them Every Man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer As he that with-holdeth corn in the time of dearth having his Garners full pulleth upon himself deservedly the curses of the poor but they will pour out blessings abundantly upon the head of him that in compassion to them will let them have it for their mony Prov. 11. So he that by his place having power and means to succour those that are distressed and to free them from wrongs and oppressions will seasonably put forth himself and his power to do them right shall have many a blessing from their mouths and many a good wish from their hearts but many more bitter curses both from the mouth and heart by how much men are more sensible of discourtesies than of benefits and readier to curse than to bless if they find themselves neglected And the blessings and cursings of the poor are things not to be wholly disregarded Indeed the curse causless shall not come neither is the Magistrate to regard the curses of bad people so far as either to be deterred thereby from punishing them according to their desert or to think he shall fare ever the worse doing but his duty for such curses For such words are but wind and as Solomon saith elsewhere He that observeth the wind shall not sow so he that regardeth the speeches of vain persons shall never do his duty as he ought to do In such cases that of David must be their meditation and comfort Though they curse yet bless thou And as there is little terrour in the causless curses so there is as little comfort in the causless blessings of vain evil Men. But yet where there is cause given although he cannot be excused from sin that curseth for we ought to bless and to pray for not to curse even those that wrong us and persecute us yet vae homini withal woe to the