rain down fire and brimstone presently No I le goe down and see first saith he See whether they have done altogether according to the cry And thus in punishing the old world And thus in confounding the language And this he did not for himself He is omnicient knows all things and therefore needs no inquisition or examination or triall to informe his knowledge but for our example Nè mala hominum praesumamus credere ante quam probare sayes Gregory Lest we should credit reports before we examine them Judges should herein be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Plutarch speaks Living Images of God The Thebanes pictured their Iudges somtimes without eys somtimes without hands but never without ears The cause I knew not I searched out saith Job Examinarion must ever goe before judgement And here mighty warinesse and caution and circumspection is required of Magistrates here they had need to take heed what they doe As namely that they doe it First speedily Without demurs delays procrastinations beyond what is necessary Secondly Meekly mildly patiently not in passion in anger in wrath The wrath of man works not the righteousnesse of God sayes James Thirdly Diligently not oscitantly sluggishly slothfully sleepily as Philip of Macedon once who by that means gave wrong sentence so that the partie was fain to appeal from Philip sleeping to Philip waking Fourthly Equally too indifferently Heare small aswell as great poore as well as rich Stranger as well as brother And heare both parties both sides Plutarch reports of Alexander that when he sate in judgment he was wont alteram aurem praebere actori alteram verò integram servarereo always to stop one eare to the Plaintiffe saying he kept that for the Defendant Condemne no man before he which is accused hath his accuser face to face and hath liberty to answer for himself concerning the thing laid to his charge It was a Rule among the Romans And it was a good Rule for why He that is first in his owne cause is just till his Neighbour comes says Salomon One mans tale is good till another's is heard Besides If to accuse be sufficient to make a man nocent who shall be innocent Fiftly judiciously understandingly A Judge He had need be a man of a most exact understanding that he may be able to discerne betwixt man and man cause and cause just and unjust true and verisimilus false and specious between the confidence of accusing or denying and the truth or falsitie of the accusation betwixt impudent guiltinesse and diffident innocence No cause so bad but there are that by their quirks and devises wil make it seem good And so on th' other side no cause so good but through the modestie or unskilfulnesse or unfaithfulnesse of those that plead it it may possibly seeme bad It 's strange to see with what confidence and what impudence with what a brazen forehead that Harlot carries it 1 King 3. and how right and innocencie in the other had even like to have betray'd it self through modestie and simplicitie of earriage and expression Had not Salomon had {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as Basil speaks a sharpe and exact understanding to discerne between the modesty of the innocent plaintiff and the malice of the envious defendant he had certainly been deceived Quibus bonestior conscientia iis plerumque frons imbecillior sayes Jerome Dishonesty many times like Tamar is vailed with a maske of fair words and a smooth tongue when innocencie is timorous and uneloquent Therefore Justitia though it should be coeca in exequendo yet it must be oculata in dijudicando impartially blinde in executing but eagle-ey'd in searching out a matter That 's the first thing Judges must take heed what they doe in Hearing causes Let the cause be opened let evidences be produced let the accused and the accuser bee brought face to face Let them get a manifest cognizance of the thing by a fair free calme hearing of matters on both sides before they passe sentence For why Possibly they may erre else Nay it 's almost impossible but they should erre else However unjust they shall be sure to be yea aequum licet statuerint as the Tragoedian though possibly they should light upon the right Though the Judgement should be just yet the Judge should be unjust Those that commence suits Those that plead and prosecute suits Those that testifie and give in evidence Those that bring in verdict All had need to take heed what they doe that they carry themselves as in the presence of God and doe nothing in these cases before Gods Vicegerents which they would not doe before God himselfe whose judgement it is and who is with them in the judgement But above all Judges had need to take heed Because when all have said all they can still the judgment lyes in the judges brest Secondly In passing sentence Judges must heare causes speedily patiently diligently indifferently understandingly and when they have so heard them they must passe sentence And here likewise abundance of warinesse and circumspection is required of Judges Judges had need to take heed what they doe as namely that they do it 1 Righteously Heare the causes betwixt man and man and judge righteously Deut. 1 16. with equability with proportion Proportion 1 to the minde of the Law 2 To the quality of the offence 3 To the nature and disposition of the party offending 1 To the minde of toe Law A Judge must proportion his sentence square his sentence not to his own or other mens passions affections humours favours but according to the Minde of the Law Not the words of the Law they are but vestitus legis but the Minde of the Law the true sense and meaning of the Law the intent of the Law that is according to justice and truth and equity and reason 2 According to the quality of the offence Artaxerxes that heathen King even by the light of nature prescribed this rule That every one that should offend should be sentenced According to his offence some to death some to banishment same to confiscation of goods some to imprisonment Ezra 7.26 As there is a difference of offences so there must be a difference of punishments Greater offences greater punishments lesser offences lesser punishments 3 According to the nature and disposition of the offender Respect herein must be had to that too It 's true the letter of the Law is the guide of judgement {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for the most part But yet because mens actions are infinite and there are sundry particular cases which the Law in its generall mandats cannot foresee and provide for by reason of divers circumstances extenuating perhaps the nature of the fact and it would seem harsh if every thing should be censured by the rigour of the Law therefore much is left to the Judge herein and there ought to be in His breast an
Esay 1.23 Not for taking purses by the high way side but for taking bribes in their chambers for so it follows Every one loveth gifts and follows after rewards And her Rulers love to say with shame Give yee Hosea 4.18 And what difference between Give yee and Deliver yee only one goes in chains of gold many times while the other lies in fetters of Iron But in Gods account they are all one It 's that that turns magna regna into magna latrocinia sayes Augustine Guildhall into Shuters Hill and Westminster Hall into Salisbury Plaine as one well Englishes it 6 Speedily Currat lex let justice have quick dispatch A miserable thing when Iudges shall use causes as unconscionable Chyrurgions use sores hold them long in hand not for any difficltie in the cure but for gain Speed is requisite in justice as well as integritie And the Judge in the Parable why is he called unjust only for this he defer'd to doe justice to the poor widdow he would not for a while sayes the text Luk. 18.4 Even in delaying judgement unjustly and needlesly there is injustice Sentence must be given speedily Yet 7 Deliberately Two things are to be avoided in judgement Too much delay Too suddain expedition Deliberation ought to accompany judgement Especially if the punishment be capitall ultimo supplicio if it be to life Life is precious death terrible 8 Tenderly and with abundance of mercie and clemencie and moderation It 's true excess herein too much clemencie is not a vertue but a vice But yet there 's a difference between the exercise of justice and the severity of justice noli esse justus nimis sayes Solomon Eccles. 7.18 Presse not justice too far doe not turn judgement into gall and justice into wormwood Take heed of rigour Rigour of justice is injustice where mitigation may be Indeed there are cases wherein a Judge must not spare Notorious malefactors Traitors wilfull murtherers they must die Who so sheds mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shead Gen. 9.6 Such too in whom is found malicious wickednesse especially if the ground of the quarrel be laid in irreconcilable principles to Religion in this case qui malis parcit bonis nocet sayes Scaliger He wrongs the lambs and wrongs the sheep that lets the foxes goe and lets the wolves goe Therefore the Law must have course justice must be done But yet with aboundance of tender-heartednesse and aboundance of Christian compassion Seneca reports of Augustus that he never pronounced sentence of death but he did ex imo pectore alta suspiria ducere fetch deepe sighs from the very bottome of his heart Yea even Nero himselfe though otherwise cruell yet it 's reported of him that being asked to subscribe to a sentence of death utinam nescirem literas says he I would to God I knew not how to write That 's the next thing therefore in the execution of justice Qualifie as much as may be the rigour of it mix mercie with it I will sing mercie and judgement sayes David Psal. 101.1 Justice without mercie is not Justice but cruelty on the other side mercie without justice is not mercie but foolish pitty 3 In executing sentence A Judge when he hath heard the cause and pronounced sentence must execute that sentence Three things make a happy Common-wealth Good Laws Upright judgement according to those Laws And just execution And herein likewise Judges must take heed what they doe As namely 1 That they doe it with all the grains of allowance of time of mercie of clemencie that justice will permit Especially if to life 2 With all the mitigation that may be The Jews might give forty stripes to a malefactor yet in their greatest corrections they would give but thirty nine 2 Cor. 11.24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one sayes Paul They bated him one 3 With aboundance of compassion If the judgement be severe and such as cannot justly or safely admit of any further delay or any remisnesse or mitigation by reason of the haynousnesse and atrocitie of the crime yet even then he must doe it not with insolence and elation and revilings and reproachfull speeches c. but with all the meeknesse and demonstration of compassion that may be My sonne give glory to God sayes Joshua to Achan he calls him his Sonne What ever the punishment be mercie and compassion must be used in the inflicting of it Must not by any cruell course make the torture either greater or longer then necessity requires for why Duo sunt nomina sayes Austin homo peccator As he is a malefactor punish him but yet as he is a man pitty him Thus in all their actions in their whole conversations but especially in matters of judgement in their judiciary proceedings as in hearing causes that are brought before them in passing sentence in executing that sentence in all these Iudges and Magistrates ought to be men of marvellous caution and circumspection And thus we have done with the explication of the point We come now to application And here something I will say to all But yet I beseech you give me leave to begin with you the honourable and reverend Judges and Magistrates of this magnificent and renowned Citie And the sum of what I shal say to you is only this charge of K. Jehosophat to his Iudges here It is the charge of the King of Kings to you this day by mee who also am in Gods stead and am set here to mind you of your dutie Take heed what you doe c. Oh that this sentence were painted upon the doores and gates and walls of all your Courts and all your judgment seats But above all oh that it were ingraven deeply in all your hearts and that you would think you heare it sounding continually in your eares as Jerom did that voice Arise ye dead come to judgment Take heed what yee doe And especially and above all what you doe in your judiciary proceedings When Causes are brought before you heare them speedily patiently diligently indifferently understandingly And then passe sentence righteously religiously couragiously impartially A miserable thing when Lawes are like Cobwebs which doe Inferiora animalia retinere valentiora transmittere as Anacharsis said Catch little flies but let the great ones break thorough When one man may better steal a horse then another looke on One man better betray a Castle a Citie a Country then another parley about the betraying of it when for one and the same fault some shall be punishrd others not so much as called in question Redde superiori redde inferiori redde aequali cuique quod suum est redde sayes Bernard Be they superiours be they inferiours be they equals what ever they be give them their due encouragement to whom encouragement punishment to whom punishment Let justice be like the Sun which falls equally and indifferently upon all rich ones poore ones Pallaces Cottages Take
order for bloudie Joabs cursing Shimeys treacherous Absolons punish sin as well in great ones as in small ones not sparing with Moses To hang up even the Princes of the people before the Lord God is no respecter of persons no more be you Remember that message out of Smithfield the other day Freely too Let love of justice constraine you to do justice and desire of Gods glorie and desire of the publike good Not promises gifts rewards gratuities Herodotus has a dreadfull story of one Cambyses a Persian King who finding that one Sicanus a Iudge had been hired by money to pronounce a wrong sentence Eum excoriari jussit pellem ejus affigi ad sedem judicialem Hee caused him to be flead and his skin to be nailed over the judgement seat and there to remain for the terrour of succeeding Iudges If all perverters of judgment had been so served there be many Iudges in England had had but little skin on their backs Bion was wont to say A Magistrate when he leaves his place should go out non ditior sed clarior not more rich but more righteous And what is it for a Iudge to have lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia as Austine speaks Gaine in his Coffer and losse in his Conscience A full purse a foul soul 'T will prove like Judas his bag his bane at last Remember that of Iob Fire shall consume the Tabernacle of bribery Never let it be said of you as Eschanes said of Demosthenes that you incline that way most that brings In most Iustice is a debt you owe scorne to be hired to pay your debts Doe it speedily too Jethro was troubled to see causes hanging from morning to evening Surely t would have troubled him more to see them hanging from year to year To see causes depending to become immortall And then execute that sentence when you have passed it And if it be to life execute it with all the allowance of time of mercie of clemencie of mitigation that justice will permit And with aboundance of compassion In a word doe nothing rashly unadvisedly inconsiderately but every thing gravely warily deliberately with abaundance of caution and circumspection To helpe you a little consider 1 the person you represent in judgement You judge not for man but for the Lord The Ordinance of Magistracie it is the Ordinance of God Rom. 13. The person who judgeth is a person sent of God {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Minister of God Rom. 13.4 The person sustain'd by the Iudge is the person of God He is Gods vicegerent Gods delegate Gods deputy The persons and causes to be judged are Gods The man is Gods his life is Gods his estate Gods The judgement too If righteous and just and good it 's Gods God will own it approve it defend it reward it Consider that You have your commission from God receive your office from God derive your power and authority from God sustain Gods person doe Gods worke execute Gods judgement take heed therfore what you doe Doe nothing but what God would doe if he were in your room Now would God punish the poor and pardon the rich would God justifie the wicked and condemne the righteous would God pervert judgement would God accept persons would God receive gifts would God be corrupted why no more be you You execute Gods judgement make God your pattern in the execution of it Follow his rule Imitate his example He accepts not persons nor takes rewards Deut. 10.17 but without respect of persons judges according to every mans work 1 Pet. 1.17 The greatest potentates and the highest Monarchs in the world if wicked and ungodly can no more escape the vengeance of God then the poorest wretches that live upon the face of the earth witnesse Pharaoh Zenacherib Nebuchadnezer Herod Hamon c. Yea and his dearest children he corrects as well as those that are his veriest enemies Yea Judgment Begins at the house of God 1 Pet. 4.17 and tribulation and anguish to every one that doth evil to the Jew First Rom. 2.9 God carries himselfe equally and indifferently to all in the execution of judgement Doe you likewise Set up God for your pattern your president imitate God Thinke would God shew mercie now would God acquit this man now or would God condemn this man now If not why should I doe it It is a sweet thing when a Magistrate lying down at night can reflect upon the day and say I have done nothing this day but what God himselfe would have done if he had been in my room That 's the first reason And He is with you in the judgement That 's another mighty argument why you should take heed what you doe The Lord is with you in the judgement 1. with you to assist you The burthen 's too heavie for you aye but God will put under his own shoulders you shall be assisted by the great God 2 With you to protect you defend you safeguard you from wrongs from hurts from violences Friends may frown enemies may threaten aye but God is with you and if God be with you who can be against you 3 With you To behold all your proceedings God stands in the assembly of gods Psal. 62.1 Stands Not sits but stands Stands to looke this way and that way and the other way to heare what this man sayes and what that man does To heare who gives an I when the nocent is to be punished who gives a No when the innocent is to be quitted Therefore take heed what you do 4 With you To reward your integritie punish your partialitie Remember that When ever you set foot into the place of judgement say as Jacob Surely the Lord is in this place ô how dreadfull is this place The Lord is here and he heares every word I speak and he sees every action I doe I have not only men to behold mee and Angels to behold me but even God himself he is present with me There was a Canon made in the Chalcedon and Ephesine Councell that upon the Judges Bench the Book of the Gospell should be set up which the Judges were to cast their eyes upon to the end they might doe every thing according to the minde of Christ And the Ethiopians were wont to set up a Chaire of State in their Senate and that to be emptie as if the God of judgement sate there as Umpire and Moderator whom the Senators ought to look upon in passing sentence that they might imitate him in their judgment to the end they might doe every thing as in the sight of God who as the text says is with them in the judgement These are the Reasons in the text You sustain the person of God sit in the seat of God execute the judgment of God stand in the presence of God Therefore take heed what you doe Execute Gods judgment as God himself would execute it Nay yet more you must