Rarâ temporum faelicitate ubi sentire quae veli◠quae sentias dicere licet Tacit. procem hist not only think what he wil but also speak what he thinks Let the like happines of ours be a ioyfull memoriall for ensuing ages and let vn-borne posteritie haue cause to triumph in the matter of our glorie But I leaue this consultation in businesse of State and passe to deliberation before iudgment Quid agendum What shall wee doe g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist 3. Eth. Things of small importance may for a while possesse our fancies but seldome take vp our serious thoughts We cā here quickly resolue This we will doe whereas weighty affaires deserue pawses and demurs What shall we doe You are now beloued in Ahasuecus case expecting when the Iudges will passe their sentence The one vpon mens estates the other vpon their persons The least is a matter of no ordinary consequence I need not exhort either Iudge or Iurer otherwise then God inioyned in the like case Thou shalt enquire and search and aske diligently in the 13 of Deuteronomy Questionlesse he well weighed the value of a man and priz'd his life at an higher rate then to haue rash decrees make hauocke of his blood h meruit quo crimine servus Supplicium quis testis adest quis detulit Iuv. Sat. 6. Such a cause deserues an earnest enquirie concerning the matter of the obiection the reputation of the witnesses the disposition of the accusers i Targ. Ionath in Num. 9.8 Rabbi Ionathan obserues of Moses that being to examine ordinary inditements he did hasten but in the cause of those that were to dye his sentence was not so speedy In Targ. k Nulla unquam de morte hominis cunctatio longa est Juven ibid. No delayes can be tedious no paines superfluous no interrogatories frivolous when a mans life depends on the Iudges and Iurers diligence His life which Satan perceiued to be so much worth that a man will ransome it l Iob 2.4 with all he hath Precious gale of breath that cost the mother so many pangs and throes to bring it forth that cost its owner so much care to preserue it so much tendernes to cherish it and must hee now at last through the malice of accusers or the periury of witnesses be depriued of it which for want of deliberation are not discouered m Vlpian How doth old Rome that allowed nine houres for defence of each petty cause condemne our ouerture and our hastie proceedings shall they haue such large respite for their estates and we so litle for our liues Well may the life of man be termed a buble if it deserue but such a momentary triall But obserue the Holy Ghost Deut 19. The Iudges shall make diligent inquisition which implieth long aduise and mature deliberation But while I exhort to deliberation before iudgment a tedious sute long depending prevents my exhortation The forlorne Client is tired out with delayes while his Advocat demurs about his cause as long as n Deliberandi unum sibi diem postulauit c. Cicer. de nat Deorum Simonides did about the nature of GOD. Hieron must first allow him a day afterwards two at last the longer he was about it the lesse he had determin'd Thus while they are consulting and doubting what may be done the deluded Client is quite vnd one o Charron of wisedome Therefore a certaine Lawyer doth aduise euery King to abolish that pernicious mystery of pleading you see he makes bold with his own profession but I forbeare such peremptory and tart language and reprehend it no otherwise then milde Ismenias did his Schollars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p Plut. in vit Demet. It ought not thus to be No it ought not to be that the Lawyers What shall we doe in a pretended deliberation should driue the Client to his Quid agam in an exigent of passion and so make him crye with those in the Acts which were pricked at the heart with sorrow and anxiety Men and brethren what shall I doe I am now a companion for that distressed Steward q Luk. 16.3 Digge I cannot and to begge I am ashamed Those many acres which I once possest are through lingring sutes brought to six or seuen foot to hide my carkeise Neither can I enioy that without the submisse Epitaph of Cyrus r O homo ne mihi sepulturam invideas Cons of time O man envie not vnto me this small parcell wherin to bury me Thus hauing nothing left of what he was but the remembrance he passeth from a tedious iudgment on earth to one in heauen more speedy such as Paul tels vs shall be in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and he that wanted the fauour to be iudged heere may haue the honour to bee a Iudge heereafter Know yee not that the Saints shall iudge the world 1 Cor. 6.2 Their nimble thoughts shall not be clogg'd with needlesse demurs but will instantly approue what the supreme Iudge decrees And Lord let this chearful expedition hasten the zeale of our earthly Iudges that thy people may haue quick dispatch from misery and thy truth an increase of its due glory And lest thy Vice-gerents should through misprision or connivence be mis-led giue them vnderstanding to know the law and grace to follow it as their vn-erring guide which is my last part The leuell and rule of iudgment The Law What shall we doe vnto the Queen Vasthi according to Law The positiue Law and Man were once of an equall extention One Law and one Man That Law accidentally taught him to know Sin the increase of Sin hath taught his posterity to know good Lawes Ex malis moribus bonae lages When the Lawes of nature would not serue the turne humane power put on Maiestie and angry Iustice learn'd how to discipline their enormities with a rougher hand So that at last varietie of Lawes beganne almost to preuent their crimes Iustinian makes them ſ Instit lib. 1 Tit. 2. Nationall Ciuill Those naturall reason made common to euery Country these vpon particular occasion were peculiar to such a society t Aquin. 1ª 2 ae quaest 94. art 3. Therefore 't is the rule of Aquinas that a Law must agree with time place 1ª 2ae q. 95. art 3. It seemes there was some Law proper to the Persians that took hold of the Queenes disobedience And it was a good precedent of the King being aboue that Law to submit himselfe to the direction of the Law What shall we doe saith he according to Law Hereby a King is distinguisht from a Tyrant The King doth measure his attempts by Iustice the other Iustice by his power The Tyrants force is his equity and the sword his duty Laborious cruelty is but sport to his guilty hands till his wild vnbridled passions haue run out of breath in a curreer of blood The pleasure of
THE PARAGON OF PERSIA OR THE LAVVYERS LOOKING-GLASSE Opened in a Sermon at S. MARIES in Oxford at the Assises the 7 day of Iuly 1624. By WILLIAM HAYES Master of Arts of Magdalen Hall Terent. Adolph Act 3. Scen. 4. Inspicere tanquam in speculum in vitas omnium Iubeo atque ex alijs sumere exemplum tibi Make others practice as a Glasse to shew What thou must doe what thou must eschew AT OXFORD Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short Anno Dom. 1624. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL Sir RICHARD GIFFORD Knight the much honoured Patron of my studies together with the religious Lady his wife all grace and happinesse c. Right worshipfull THis was once the Preface to Dauids thankes-giuing What shall I render in a borrowed sense it may be mine Quid retribuam Could I imitate his resolution I should not giue that which cost me nothing 2 Sam. 24 for so I value my best endeauours when they are counter-poysed with your merits I know my dependance engagements find my selfe guilty of too weake performance yet such as I haue my piety makes it Gods and my duty yours And I wish the worth of this which I present vnto your hands could as easily satisfie your deserts as the sight of it wil many mens requests Then might the same fauour which hath sustained the Author haue greater encouragement to protect the works Then might I hazard it among these seuere eyes which daylie scanne our shops and staules whereas now the number of my Copies shall not exceed the number of my friends Yet in this fewnesse I congratulate my owne prouidence that I leaue my selfe libertie to choose my readers which as nigh as I can shall be onely such as either will respect this Taske for my sake or me for my owne or both it and me for yours The very name in my Dedication doth promise me to be speake some in Dauids compassionate language for Absalom Deale gently for my sake with the yong man If so let their loue enioy the vse not grudge your deserts the patronage Thus while you encourage me with your Countenance they with their acceptance I shal praise God for his mercies solace my selfe in your fauours So resting in hope of this happinesse I attend you with my prayers which shall be incessant both for you and yours from Your Worships in all duty and seruice vnfainedly deuoted WILLIAM HAYES 〈◊〉 Oxford this 20 of Iuly 1624. ESTER 1.15 Part of the verse What shall we doe vnto the Queene Vasthi according to Law c. THis Text may perswade you I am making towards Persia to see the King banqueting with his Peeres A sight as well worth your notice as my paines Let your thoughts but accompany me I will vndertake to shew you Ahasuerus whom a Ioseph Antiq Iudaic. lib. 11. cap. 4 1. Esd c. 3. Iosephus and others call Darius Hystaspis sitting in his royall palace where that Persicus apparatus his stately complements in entertaining his subiects prooued him not more a Prince then a Persian Such was wont to be the port of that nation that they would surpasse other Countries as well in magnificence as dominion Insomuch that one b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In hist à Photi◠excerptis Ctesias and Dion deliuer in their histories that the King had at meales 15 thousand a day in his Palace Now to make vp the solemnity of those meetings Ahasuerus invites the Queene his wife that her comely presence might adde glory to his Festiuals But we finde in the Text shee refused to come at the Kings command Serarius the Iesuite an enimy to Kings prerogatiues by his profession hath the face to approue her disloyall action and taxeth our Brentius for disliking her palpable disobedience But hee whose soueraignty might haue made his word a law proceeds against her not after his priuate humour but according to law To which purpose hee appeales to his Iudges fit oracles for a King in execution of iustice and referres himselfe to their advise What shall we doe vnto the Queene Vasthi according to law Wherein is set before vs 1 An offender to be adiudged The Queene Vasthi 2 Deliberation before iudgment What shall we doe 3 The level and rule of iudgment The Law What shall wee doe vnto the Queene Vasthi according to law Beginne I pray with the party to be sentenced the Queene Vasthi Quaeres about this woman could make me out-runne your attention as far as some in this point doe their reason But I omit scruples concerning her person content my selfe with the evidence of her condition The Text is manifest shee was the Queene Could any thing priuiledge disloyalty toward Kings eminence and alliance might be faire pretences but neither of these could yeeld her aduātage The reasō is prest by one of the Iudges in the 3 next ensuing verses In effect it is this The offence of the Queen an eminent person would become exemplary therefore must be censured with the greater seuerity Such is the seruile basenesse of our disposition that sinne it selfe shall not want imitation Nay c August de pec meritis cap. 1.2.3 St Austin tels vs it was once the opinion of the Pelagians That only imitation is the cause of original sin That Father did not and I dare not yeeld to them for originall but I may safely for actuall especially for those offences which gaine countenance by a great ones practice Nay 't is sometimes in fashion to take the resemblance and patterne of a naturall imperfection d Tull. de oratore lib. 2. Imitari etiam vitia voluit Let Caius Fimbria but speake clownish 't is hard but some Fusius will take vp his language e Plutarch moral Aristotles authority and Plato's estimation can make sects of crump-backes and stammering tongues 'T is the vnhappy priuiledge of greatnesse to warrant both their own and Natures errours Hence it is that so many vnaduised idiots borrow their just ruines taking vp crimes on trust that they may perish vpon credit for such are not swayed by reason so much as by opinion Let an admired Pharisee but say CHRIST ought to dye the vulgar dare blaspheme themselues to hell for his company f Acts 7.51 As your fathers did said Steuen in the Acts so doe yee you sinne by prescription and haue authority for your damnation Habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum c. As Cassius hath it in Tacitus The example of great ones doth wrong to all sorts It teacheth the good to be euill and the euill to be worse for the lustre of their eminence adornes the deformity of their offences and cheates the world with the faire garb of their persons especially being beheld by such partiall eyes as cannot discerne the truth of things from their appearance When a pesant meetes luxurie in Socrates gowne he dares to be such hauing so faire a cloake for his sin
them these sheep what haue they done The punishment of these impotent wretches doth not argue the Iudges valour but the lawes iustice The edge of authority wil be thought but dull and growne rusty except it wound others beside them that cannot make resistance 'T is mercie to let those no longer liue in whom imprisonment hath left scarce life enough to dye So that did we not perceiue in them speech whereby the Philosopher distinguisht men from beasts wee should scarce distinguish these from carcases There they stand arraigned not more the prisoners of the King then of death Some of them haue liued long enough to see their lasting calamities out-liue their friends and fortunes insomuch that their aged eies can doe them no other seruice but see themselues miserable and weep for their distresse That our Lawes doe vanquish these halfe-dead vassals proues them I confesse impartiall yet nothing powerfull Å¿ Consent of time Cambyses would shew what his tyrannie could invent and what his hand durst execute by shooting a great mans Sonne to the heart Then doth appeare the force of our Lawes and the courage of our Magistrates when Phoneas-like they thrust the sword of Iustice through the noblest transgressours He was only to sacrifice for the sin of the people yet he durst sacrifice t Zimri and Cosbi Num. 25. two Princes of the people for their daring sinne A fact that deserued not more thankes from the Iewes for its benefit then it doth from vs for its example But by perswading impartiality to great ones I intend not to procure impunity for inferiours No n Quisque exercetur paenis veterumque malorum Supplicia expendat Aen. 6. Quisque excercetur paenis c. Wee haue a good rule from Ezekiels Prophesie The same soule that sinneth shall dye Ezek. 18. If the same then the meane as well as the mighty for though they are not so hurtfull yet they are as guilty And yet they are hurtful enough too for what they want in power they make vp in nuÌ„ber A x Varro auctor est à cuniculis suffossum in Hispaniâ oppidum c Hist lib. 8. cap. 29. pli Town in Spaine may as well be vndermined with Conies and another in Thessalie by Moles as by the strongest pioners Vnited force in contemptible complices may be answerable to more powerfull machinations Therfore let Iustice haue her due course on both sides and let the Embleme make her hood-winkt but not blind Let her see offences only and punish them but not offenders lest her conâ—ivence spare them She had I confesse well tutor'd the y T. Liu. dec 1. lib. 2. Consul Brutus when she taught him to play the executioner and put off a father So that when punishment was inflicted on his children before his eyes he rould see the malefactors but not his sonnes z 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Rhetor. 2. And passionlesse Amasis could endure the Lictors to shedde his childes blood without shedding of his own teares Then is Iustice her selfe when she can ouer-looke Nature and all respects whatsoeuer Then will she take heed lest she misplace her mercie and so make it degenerate into crueltie for though there be no mercy in cruelty yet there is a crueltie in some kind of mercy Est quaedam crudelis misericordia saith the prouerbe and the mercies of the wicked are cruell a Prouerb 12.10 saith the Holy Ghost Now if Iustice spare great ones for their might and meane ones for their misery Haec est crudelis misericordia this is a cruell mercy Cruell to the State in causing Lawes which Demosthenes cals the soule of a state to be but dead letters Cruell again to the Lawes in making them stales for mens sinister purposes Then let the sword be brandisht on all sides and strike alike all rankes and conditions And though charity to the State allowes me not to intreat for their liues yet Dauids charity to their persons bids me petition for their soules Lord let the sorrowfull sighing of the prisoners come before thee according to the greatnesse of thy power preserue thou those that are appointed to dye Psal 79. And so from the person to be adjudged I passe to deliberation before Iudgement What shall we doe In doubtfull actions Aquinas 1ª 2 ae makes deliberation the first act of our reason and will haue Iudgment come between that and election So noble is the soules naturall progresse that she resolues on nothing hand ouer head but vpon mature aduise And 't is well that a King a god on earth can remember he hath so much of man about him as that he needeth this consultation for he that contemneth all aduise is below a beast he that wanteth none is aboue a man It were to be wisht that all good Princes might enioy Sauls prerogatiue to ouer-top the people by the head as well as out-reach them b Longae Regum manus Adag with the hand or all might with Salomon haue hearts as large as their dominions But they must content themselues with that abridgement in Euripides c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. One man cannot see all and with that other in Tacitus d Nec unius mens tantae molis est capax Tacit. One man cannot beare all Answerable to that of Iethro vnto Moses This thing is too heauy for thee thou art not able to performe it thy selfe alone Exod. 18. The head might quickly draw the members to inconveniences wer 't not for intelligence from the eyes and eares Therefore the King the head of Israel sometimes must enquire where the Seer dwels And who is fitter to be the Seer of Israel then Samuel that iudgeth Israel His discerning thoughts must both see the peoples duties fore-see the Princes dangers Wherfore both Prince and people repaire to him as to an Oracle with Quid agendum What shall we doe Happy State of ours where the coactiue power thus submits it selfe to the guidance of the directiue thrice happy Soueraigne which can heare his power flatter him that he may doe what he will yet so yeelds to convenience that he will not doe what he may Hence it is that he scarce attempts any thing but as 't were with this Motto Quid agendum What shall we doe Men in their Panegyrickes may style him a Salomon a mirrour of wisedome of late especially he hath made it good and neuer gained a greater opinion of wisedome then when he least relyed vpon his wisedome In high matters of deepest consequence it is his vsuall Parliament-phrase I craue your aduise Such was the milde method of glorious Constantine when he allayed the iarres of disturbed Christendome e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. eccles hist l. 1. cap. 5. He cryed not out This I will haue done but meekely entertain'd the whole Councels resolution Blessed time when a mans tongue may bee as free as his opinion and when he may with Tacitus f