Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	according_a	judge_v	righteous_a	3,244	5	8.2741	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95723	Two assize sermons preached at Bridgnorth for the county of Salop in the year 1657. The first, upon Psalm 58. verse 1. Doe you indeed speak righteousnesse, o congregation? Doe ye judge uprightly, o ye sonnes of men? The second, upon Psalm 37. verse 37. Marke the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace? / By Mich. Thomas; rector of Stockton in the same county.	Thomas, Michael, rector of Stockton.	1659 (1659)	Wing T970; Thomason E1790_1; ESTC R209682	31,232	144

yet in his infinite wisedome he sees it fit to continue it and still we see the poor and needy become a prey to the rich and mighty But these permissive acts of Providence are no warrant or security for such acts of Injustice He is far from a perfect man who seeks to slay the upright or as Solomon speaks Robs the poor because he is poor and unable to help himselfe The third instance is The wicked borroweeh and payeth not againe In which is noted an high act of injustice and contrary to that Evangelicall precept delivered by St. Paul Owe nothing to any man but love provided alwayes there be sufficiency and ability to pay Whosoever shall pretend poverty to his creditour and make a fraudulent composition contracts upon his owne soul the guilt of theft in an high degree And some have been so curious to make the observation That estates compounded for seldome prosper there is for the most part something of fraud and concealment and that constitutes the wicked man whom David here points at He borroweth and payeth not again You see in common experience how the Courts of Justice are troubled and pestered with suits and causes in these cases with actions in regard of conspiracy The wicked plotting against the Just with actions of trespasse and battery The drawing his sword against the poor and by might oppressing Him and with actions of debt The wicked borroweth and paying not again And no doubt David desiring to winne and work up the souls of men to this perfection and uprightnesse hath proceeded in that Method throughout this Psalme as it were Antiphonically and by way of contra-position to set down the Characters of the upright and the wicked man and describe them by their intentions by their words and by their actions Of so much concernment did David conceive it to be exactly to know the perfect and the upright man And in all this discourse I have pursued the same method as contraries are best discern'd when they are placed together so in every mark of this perfect man you have had something positively something negatively delivered And now that I have presented the Object before you in which the great part of my businesse lay I am now to invite you to the Act To mark and to behold him which was the second part I proposed to observe The second part The Act. But I need not detaine you long in this Act. I do not find any Expositour whom I have consulted that stops upon it Mollerus conceives that David onely calls upon us to observe the passages of Divine Providence and the various issues of his Dispensations concerning the wayes and the ends of the wicked and the perfect man It is the humour or rather the weaknesse of most men to judge outward appearances and to conclude a man either Happy or Miserable according to his successes in this world So Job's friends passed their censures upon Him and he must needs be a dissembling Hypocrite because He was so grievously afflicted But this according to that saying of our Saviour was unrighteous Judgement And as David had made his observation concerning the righteous man I have been young but now am old yet I never saw the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging their bread so he calls upon all others to make the like observation concerning the perfect man Mark and behold Him sayes He And although ye may see the wicked flourishing like a bay tree and the upright man withering like a shrub the one in honour and flowing with all temporall abundancies the other vile and despised and lacking necessaries yet judge not They are yet upon their way they are not yet come to their journeys end they are now busied in their severall works and have not received their wages but when the day of our life shall begin to close and the shaddowes of death shall spread themselves and the grave begin to open her mouth and the Arch-angell's trumpet in a passing bell shall summon the sonnes of men to Judgement then will be fulfilled that of the Prophet Malachi At that time God will make up his Jewells and men shall discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not Chap. 3. vers 17 18. The third part The reason of the Act. And now here enters our third part for the conclusion of all Marke and behold the perfect man for he is worthy of your observation The end of that man is peace Our blessed Saviour speaking of John the Baptist What saith He went yee out into the wildernesse to see A reed shaken with the wind It may be in the eyes of some that saw him he seemed not much more considerable but I tell you He is a Prophet and more then a Prophet And if any prophane spirit should say What do you call us to mark and behold broken reeds and smoaking flax persons that have lived in trouble and are dying in dishonour such as have been the subject of wanton wits to make Songs of and the object of mens hatred and scorn Such indeed is the lot and portion of the upright man yet let me tell you he is somewhat more yea very much more then he is conceived to be Though the Wicked raise warre against him yet He is the Son of peace though he sayle through a rough Sea yet he hath a calm haven though he meet with crosses on his way yet he shall find comforts in his end And herein lyes the weight of the reason and upon which the state of the perfect man becomes so worthy of all observation Man as he is a rational creature proposes to himself some end in all his actions That 's the great wheel that moves him and sets him to work and whatsoever he proposes to himself as his end that in his present sense and opinion hath an appearance of Good Those two maxims in Philosophy consist well together Omnia agunt propter finem and Omnia appetunt Bonum But now it oft-times comes to passe that there is a sad miscarriage men project one thing and another falls out There is Finis Operis Finis Operantis The end which is properly consequent to the Work And the end which is in the design of the Workman And these doe oftentimes differ Men engage themselves into sinfull actions and propose to themselves as their End pleasures or profits or preferments this is Finis Operantis the end of the workman but this is not Finis Operis the end of the worke For the wages of sinne is death In the eighth of the prophecy of Amos the Lord threatens his people Israel for their oppression and prophannesse Hear this ye that swallow up the needy I will turn your feasts into mourning I will make it as the mourning for an only Son and the end thereof as a bitter day at the 10 verse This bitter day was the end properly consequent to the worke of

to the humour or the Designes of Saul whose Counsellours and Officers they were but prudently and equally to consider both his Cause and his Conversation and to give sentence accordingly And allowing this to be the Argument or Occasion of the Psalm as truly it is grounded upon very fair probabilities you will easily perceive that the Text in the proper Application of it will have an influence upon this Congregation and prove a word in season in respect of the occasion of this solemn Convention We are met at this time in the Name and fear of God about the work of Justice the Persons and Causes of men are to be weighed and examined And as I cannot say that there are any Davids to be tryed at this Assizes men of such eminent Pietie and Integrity as He was So I hope there are none of Saul's Officers here neither Men of such prostitute and mercenary consciences as they were Omnia Dicta Domini omnibus posita sunt sayes Tertullian The words of God have a generall prospect and though they may seem a particular Admonition to some few men yet they intend a generall Instruction to all men who may be concerned in the like case This Psalm was written about a matter of Justice and Judgement and that is the businesse wee are all met upon And forasmuch as the Administration of Justice in this Nation is by the Prudence and Wisedome of our fore-fathers cast into that forme that in all judiciall proceedings there are many Parties The sentence upon any cause issues not from the bosome of any Judge alone seeing he is tyed up to Proofs and Allegations So that the miscarriage in the worke of Justice may proceed from the corruption of those parties which prepare a Cause for Sentence If the Counsellors shall be corrupt and Covetous and by their flourishing Eloquence shall guild over a rotten Cause If the Witnesses shall be false and malicious and seek rather their private revenge than Publick Justice If the Jury shall be pack'd and partiall or instructed to sweare according to the private interest of a Friend or a Landlord there may prove sad obstructions in the vvork of Justice this as the Prophet Amos speaks may turn judgement into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlock And therefore I shall not addresse my discourse to any particular Party or Officer in this great work of Justice but to all who are in any respect concerned in it and enforce Holy David's admonition in the Text That they would speak righteousnesse and judge uprightly in all causes and between all parties that so Wickednesse and Impiety may have its condign punishment and Innocence and Honesty their due protection and reward And this is the design and project of the ensuing discourse for which I humbly entreat your Christian patience and the Lord's assistance The Text you see is presented in the form of a Question but it appears by the Context that it is such a Question which as Divines observe hath vim Negationis it implyes a denyal like that of St. Paul Doe we provoke the Lord to Jealousie are we stronger then He No wee are not So here in the Text Doe yee speake righteousnesse doe ye Judge Uprightly No ye do not for their conviction followes in the second verse Yea in heart yee worke wickednesse and weigh the violence of your hands in the earth So that the Text becomes as Musculus hath it an invective or a reproofe of the iniquity and injustice of Saul's Officers and Counsellours that when according to that place and power which they had with Saul they should have defended and protected Him as an innocent person they on the contrary prosecuted and sentenc'd him as a seditious conspiratour And this reproofe is imbitter'd with terrible threatnings and imprecations as we find in the body of the Psalm And these David in the Spirit of prophesie breathes out and denounces against them as knowing that the Lord in his due time would plead his Cause and by the glorious effects of his Power and Justice would give men occasion to say Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous Doubtlesse there is a God that judgeth in the earth It well became the majesty of that Spirit by which David wrote to convey his admonition in that form by way of reproof or invective But it will become me to observe a greater distance And I humbly crave leave to present that instruction which I conceive due to this Auditory and Occasion by way of Exhortation Let me exhort you I say justitiam loqui recta judicare to speak righteousnesse and to judge uprightly And when I have opened the Duty to you and shewn you what it is and how it may be done we shall find in the other words of the Text weight enough to press it by way of motive or consideration And this I shall do by Gods assistance with all respect to your Patience and Imployment For the Duty it selfe to declare unto you what Righteousnesse and Upright Judgement is I shall not perplexe your attention with the variety of definitions and distinctions which might be offer'd out of the School-men and Casuists In this first part I intend onely the edification of the common sort of people who now are or hereafter may be concerned as parties in the Administration of Justice To them I say this Righteousnesse is a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their own And you may very easily perceive how this Definition agrees with the Case in the Text. David complaines of the Corruption and Iniquity of those that were Judges in his cause Doeg was a false witness and gave in a malicious information against him Saul was too apt of himselfe to believe it and yet he wanted not some flattering Courtiers some perchance of his privy Councell who blew the Fire and by their evill suggestions turn'd Sauls hatred and jealousie into a flame that David was a suspitious discontented person and the Crown would not sit fast upon his head while David lived and with this unrighteous dealing David charges them Now Had these men been endued with the grace of Justice and Righteousnesse had they had a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their owne that is their due then they had given David that Character and commendation which vvas due to him namely this That David was mis-represented to Saul that he had given large testimonyes of a peaceable and quiet Spirit that he had spared the Life of Saul when it was in his power twice to have slaine him Thus they should have spoken righteousnesse and defended an innocent person But they did not They wrought wickednesse in their hearts as David speaks here they complied with Saul's humour in his bloody intentions and persecutions against David and did not care though he perished so long as they might secure their owne persons and fortunes But this case this tryall of righteousnesse doth not often

you the Quomodo How it is to be performed which appeares in the words of the question Do ye indeed speak righteousness do ye judge uprightly I shall observe in this part but two branches for we may well conceive that those phrases Speaking righteousnesse and judging uprightly are but Synonyma important of the same thing and under that joynt-notion I shall consider them And then a second thing will be This speaking righteousnesse indeed we shall perceive some weight in that word when I come to open it For the first of these How are we to speak righteousness or to judge uprightly Mollerus tells that some Expositours render the words thus An certè mutam justitiam loquimini It seemes to be an improper speech but they thus explaine it that David charges the counsellours of Saul with an unjust silence Do ye speak righteousnesse that is Ye do not speak righteousnesse ye do not declare that innocence and integrity which in your owne consciences ye believe to be in me I touch'd upon this before and shewed you what reflection it might have upon the great Officers and Counsellours of State let me in a word or two bring it a little lower As it may be a fault in a Witnesse to depose more then the truth so it may be a fault to conceal any materiall circumstance which may make for the discovery of the truth They had a proverb among the Antients when a man would not speak freely what he thought or knew in any cause they would say Bovem habet in lingua He hath a bull in his tongue the Atnenian money having the figure of a Bull stamp'd upon it and by that proverb they would taxe him with bribery that he had taken money to hold his peace And the like scoff was put upon Demosthenes when upon a gift received he would not plead as he did against the Melesian Embassadours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He had swallowed a bribe and that made his throat sore I have heard complaints in this kind Poor men when with great cost and trouble they have prepared their Cause for a hearing have yet lost it their witnesses have bin corrupted to say lesse then they knew and their Counsell taken off to attend other causes in other Courts and so all hath miscarried for not speaking righteousnesse unrighteousnesse hath prevailed against him But I le carry this note no further Let me now take up that terme in the Text indeed and weigh it to you and you may receive some farther light and instruction from it The Lxx render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Do ye truly speak righteousnesse Apollinarius thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is do ye undauntedly speak righteousness So now we may guesse at holy Davids meaning Do ye speak righteousnesse without feare without favour from the truth and sincerity of your hearts And now that I have clear'd the words let all the Officers and Ministers of Justice from the highest to the lowest be pleased to suffer a word of Exhortation There is no one thing Religion onely excepted that more secureth and adorneth a State then justice doth It is both Columna Corona Reipub A prop to make it subsist firme in it selfe and a crown to make it glorious in the eyes of others Jus et Aequitas vincula Civitatum saies Cicero As the Cement is to the Building so is Justice to the Body-politick it holds all together Bodies politick owe both their strength and their height to Justice So Solomon tells us Righteousness establisheth the Throne and exalteth the Nation It was the Lords command to the officers of justice in the 16 of Deuter That which is altogether just shalt thou follow Justissimam Justitiam sectare Tremelius renders it The old Vulgar Justum justè persequere According to the originall we should read it Justice Justice shalt thou follow The Charge you see from the great Law-giver is very strict pressing all his under-officers to the execution of Justice We of this Nation are happy in an excellent body of Lawes and we want but one Law more to enforce Magistrates to the execution of those Lawes Execution in Polity is like Elocution in Oratory Primum Secundum Tertium The prime and the maine the all in all of it The Lord by his Prophet Isaiah commands Keep ye judgment and execute Justice Now it were a sad thing if we should keep judgment as a Prisoner or execute it as a Malefactour The Apostle Paul complain'd of some such that did withhold the truth in unrighteousnesse but God forbid there should be any such found amongst us who by any base arts should obstruct the course of judgment or award a punishment to any one who hath walked according to antient and known Lawes The purpose of the Lord by his Prophet was this keep Judgment that is declare it lay open the Law in the grounds and reasons of it and execute justice that is administer it impartially indifferently and without respect of persons The Jewes had a proverb Transgressours need a Sessions house It is not enough that good Lawes are enacted by pious Princes and their Councell It is not enough that they are rightly understood by the Reverend and learned Judges Nor enough that they are diligently enquired into by the Grand or petty Juries The maine thing is the execution of the Lawes that unrighteousnesse should not dare to out-face Justice that the Magistrate do not withhold his hand from seizing upon impudent iniquity Remember the importance of this word in the Text Indeed that ye speake and doe righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly without any by or base respects and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without fear or care Self-respects are too often obstructions in the course of Justice Viderit Utilitas is no good motto for a Magistrate Favour may blear his eyes but gifts will blind them He that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will easily become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that undoes all Consider the case in the Text between SAUL and DAVID and you will wonder the lesse at the Corruption of his Officers when you hear the argument he urged to them He had intelligence that his Son Jonathan was in league with David and suspecting the revolt of other great Officers he speaks thus to them Hear now ye Benjamites Will David give every one of you Fields and Vineyards and make you Captains of thousands and Captains of hundreds 1 Sam. 22. 7. Here was an hook cunningly baited to draw them to his own party and it is hard to say in whom the Corruption was greater In Saul to offer or in his Officers to accept in Him to suggest a temptation or in them to yeeld to it but between both we know that David a man after Gods owne heart was pursued and persecuted So David tells Saul I have not sinned against thee yet thou huntest my Soul to take it 1 Samuel 24. 11. I perswade my selfe you never readd the

to be slain And there was an end of Saul and Doeg his informer and their family The Lord by that army of the Philistines brake up the Congregation and made them know they were but the Sons of men and that they were not able to stand when he came to judge them Now the Lord help us to consider of these things and dispose our hearts to love the work of righteousnesse and in all our dealings with men to behave our selves justly and uprightly that when we shall come to dye like men we may finde the fruit of righteousnesse which is peace even Peace with God and peace with our owne consciences that we may commend our spirits into the hands of the God of our righteousness with joy and not with fear The Prayer after Sermon GReat and Glorious Lord God who art righteous in all thy wayes and holy in all thy works be good and gracious unto us thy poor Creatures who here stand guilt before thee of many acts of unrighteousnesse for having rejected and despised thy most pure and holy lawes and have chosen rather to walke after the lusts and imaginations of our owne hearts We have defaced that perfect Image of righteousnesse and Holynesse in which we were created we have defiled our selves with the pollutions of sinne so that all our righteousnesse is but as a filthy ragge and we cannot but loath and abhorre our selves for all our abhominations Blessed God we desire to return unto Thee and to seek thy face not only for thy mercy and pardon for the sins we have cōmitted but for thy Spirit and thy grace that we may be renewed restored to that state of holines whence we are faln And forasmuch as the Ministry of thy Word is the means which thou hast ordained promised to sanctifie to that end We humbly call upon thee for a blessing upon that portion of thy Word which hath bin dispensed unto us at this time Great God! our hearts are in thy hand we beseech Thee mould and fashion them according to thine own holy will Beget in us a constant purpose and resolution of giving to every one their owne and re-imprint in our hearts that excellent rule of righteousnesse Not to do any thing to our neighbour which we would not be content that he should doe to us We are met at this time O Lord about thine own worke The Execution of Justice and Judgement we beseech thee assist us in it As we begin this worke in thy Name give us grace to continue in it in thy Fear Touch the hearts of all those who are in any respects interested as parties in the administration of Justice that they may all speak righteousnesse and judge uprightly without respect to themselves or respect to their friends and without feare of the face of any man And give us all grace to consider that a congregation of men conspiring in an act of unrighteousnesse are but as a sheafe of straw not able to contest with thee who art a consuming fire Oh help us to consider that how great or mighty soever we be in this World we are yet but the sonnes of men fraile and mortall and know not how soon we may be called to thy Judgment Seat And let these meditations quicken us to an holy care to prepare our accounts and to behave ourselves so righteously toward all men here on earth as that we may cheerefully commend our Spirits to the God of Heaven Hear us O God and answer us according to thy wonted grace goodnesse supply all our defects out of the fullnesse of Christ Jesus who is the Lord our Righteousnesse to whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit we desire to ascribe all honour and power and prayse now and for evermore Amen Amen A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES Held at BRIDGNORTH For the County of Salop in the year 1657. On the Lord's Day By Mich Thomas Rector of Sockton in the same COUNTY LONDON Printed for Humphrey Moseley at the Prince's Armes in St. Paul's Church-yard 1659. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psalme 37. verse 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright For the end of that man is peace IT may perchance raise your attention to the Doctrine of this Text when you shall consider that it is a branch of that Psalme which hath alwayes bin in very high esteem both among the Antients and our Moderne Divines Origen calls it Humanae animae Medicinam It is Physick for the soul of man forasmuch as it reproves sinne and teaches us to live according to the lawes of God Athanasius recommends it to be readd by all those who are scandalized at the prosperity of the wicked and find themselves tempted to go along with them in their wayes and to think this world to be governed by chance or fortune that God is not a God of Judgment that he makes no difference between the righteous and the wicked Calvin and Mollerus meet both in this censure of it that it containes doctrinam apprimè utilem exceeding profitable doctrine and Lorinus tells us that Fulgentius that great light of the Church in Africa by reading St. Augustines commentary upon it was converted by it The tree then being so good you may fairely presume the Text which is a branch of it may yield you the like fruit I may not unfitly call the Text Totius Psalmi Epitomen The summary or abridgement of the whole Psalm The doctrine which is dispersed in the other verses of it is collected and united in this All the defect will lye on my part by reason of my weakenesse I shall not be able to shake this so full laden branch that all the fruit of it may fall amongst you So farre as the Lord hath enabled me to understand the doctrine of it I shall humbly present it to your religious consideration and shall hope that that sleight tast of it which you will receive at this time by my service will provoke your holy appetites to make a farther enquiry in your private meditations But not to waste more either of the time or your patience be pleased to take the Text divided into these three parts Here is an Act and an Object and they are both twofold The Act is to Mark and to Behold The Object of this Act is the Perfect and the Upright man And in the third place here is the reason of the Act which is very weighty and considerable For the end of that man is Peace But I must crave leave to invert the order of these parts and consider the Object first Who this perfect and upright man is And then passe to the Act what it is to Mark and to behold Him To which act we shall be the better disposed by the weight of the reason which enforces it Mark the perfect man and behold the upright For the end of that man is peace The first part The Object I confesse I find much variety in the severall Translations