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. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
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
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
the Lord for he is our God Josh. 24. But beloved let us take heed we do not gloze with him as we do one with another we are deceived if we think God will be mocked with hollow and empty protestations We live in a wondrous complemental age wherein scarce any other word is so ready in every mouth as your servant and at your service when all is but mere form without any purpose or many times but so much as single thought of doing any serviceable office to those men to whom we profess so much service However we are one towards another yet with the Lord there is no dallying it behoveth us there to be real If we profess our selves to be or desire to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the servants of God we must have a care to demean our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all respects as becometh the servants of God To which purpose when I shall have given you those few directions I spake of I shall have done Servants owe many duties to their earthly Masters in the particulars but three generals comprehend them all Reverence Obedience Faithfulness Whereof the first respecteth the Masters person the second his pleasure the third his business And he that will be Gods servant in truth and not only in title must perform all these to his heavenly Master Reverence is the first which ever ariseth from a deliberate apprehension of some worthiness in another more than in a mans self and is ever accompanied with a fear to offend and a care to please the person reverenced and so it hath three branches whereof the first is Humility It is not possible that that servant who thinketh himself the wiser or any way the better man of the two should truly reverence his Master in his heart St. Paul therefore would have servants to count their own Masters worthy of all honour 1 Tim. 6. 1. he knew well they could not else reverence them as they ought Non decet superbum esse hominem servum could he say in the Comedy A man that thinketh goodly of himself cannot make a good servant either to God or man Then are we meetly prepared for his service and not before when truly apprehending our own vileness and unworthiness both in our nature and by reason of sin and duly acknowledging the infinite greatness and goodness of our Master we unfeignedly account our selves altogether unworthy to be called his servants Another branch of the servants reverence is fear to offend his Master This fear is a disposition well becoming a servant and therefore God as our Master and by that name of Master challengeth it Mal. 1. If I be a Father where is my honour And if I be a Master where is my fear saith the Lord of Hosts Fear and reverence are often joyned together and so joyntly required of the Lords servants Serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce to him with reverence Psal. 2. and the Apostles would have us furnished with grace whereby to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12. From which fear of offending a care and desire of pleasing cannot be severed which is the third branch of the servants Reverence to his Master St. Paul biddeth Titus exhort servants to please their Masters well in all things So must Gods servant do he must study to walk worthy of him unto all pleasing not much regarding how others interpret his doings or what offence they take at him so long as his Master accepteth his services and taketh his endeavours in good part Whoso is not thus resolved to please his Master although he should thereby incur the displeasure of the whole world besides is not worthy to be called the servant of such a Master If I yet sought to please men I should not be the servant of Christ Gal. 1. And all this belongeth to Reverence Obedience is the next general duty Servants be obedient to your Masters Eph. 6. Know you not whom you yield your selves servants to obey his servants ye are to whom ye obey Rom. 6. As if there could be no better proof of service than obedience and that is two-fold Active and Passive For Obedience consisteth in the subjecting of a mans own will to the will of another which subjection if it be in something to be done maketh an Active if in something to be suffered a Passive Obedience Our Active Obedience to God is the keeping his Commandments and the doing of his will as the people said Iosh. 24. The Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey And this must be done in auditu auris upon the bare signification of his pleasure without disputing or debating the matter as the Centurions servant if his Master did but say Do this without any more ado did it So Abraham the servant of the Lord when he was called to go out into a place which he should receive for an inheritance obeyed and went out though he knew not whither Nor only so but in the greatest trial of Obedience that ever we read any man any mere man to have been put unto being commanded to sacrifice his only begotten Son of whom it was said That in Isaac shall thy Seed be called he never stumbled as not at the promise through unbelief so neither at the command through disobedience but speedily went about it and had not failed to have done all that was commanded him had not the Lord himself when he was come even to the last act inhibited him by his countermand If mortal and wicked men look to be obeyed by their servants upon the warrant of their bare command in evil and unrighteous acts When I say unto you Smite Amnon then kill him fear not have not I commanded you saith Absalom to his servants 2 Sam. 13. Ought not the express command of God much more to be a sufficient warrant for us to do as we are bidden none of whose commands can be other than holy and just That is our Active obedience We must give proof of our Passive obedience also both in contenting our selves with his allowances and in submitting our selves to his corrections He that is but a servant in the house may not think to command whatsoever the house affordeth at his own pleasure that is the Masters prerogative alone but he must content himself with what his Master is content to allow him and take his portion of meat drink livery lodging and every other thing at the discretion and appointment of his Master Neither may the servant of God look to be his own carver in any thing neither ought he to mutter against his Master with that ungracious servant in the Parable complaining of his hardness and austerity if his allowances in some things fall short of his desire but having food and rayment be it never so little never so
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
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