Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	aaron_n	become_v	rigour_n	22	3	10.0254	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A93723	The magistrates dignity and duty. Being a sermon preached on Octob. 30. 1653. at Pauls Church before the Right Honourable, Thomas Viner, Lord Major, and the aldermen of the city of London. Being the first sermon after his entrance into his majoralty. By William Spurstowe, D.D. minister of Gods Word at Hackney neere London.	Spurstowe, William, 1605?-1666.	1654 (1654)	Wing S5095; Thomason E727_3; ESTC R203652	18,023	51

Justice without partiality and respect of persons so as not to weigh the poore mans cause by the ballance of the law and the rich mans cause by the ballance of favour and affection to be a hatefull tyrant to the one and a shamefull flatterer to the other The Silkworm in the Fable boasted to the Spider that the threads which she spun did captivate Nobles and great ones but the web which the Spider made did serve onely to catch Flies And such should be the lawes and the execution of them by Magistrates which have strength and power in them to take hold of great men when offenders as well as of the poore who usually most feele the smart of them What honour is it for a Judge to stock to whip to mulct a malefactor that is poore and friendlesse and to court with civilities a Right worshipfull swearer or drunkard to be full of Invectives against the one and to be mute before the other Is this to fulfill the office of a Magistrate who by his oath is bound to doe justice without feare and without favour I have read that in Justinians time the Oath of the Judges had dreadfull imprecations annexed unto it whereby they did wish unto themselves that if they did not do right unto every one the trembling of Cain the leprosie of Gehazi the lot of Judas might befall them Though there be no such bitter ingredients put into your Oath that might make it to be like the water of jealousie yet let me tell you that God can inflict upon corrupt Magistrates judgements that may be parallel to these He can by letting his dread fall upon them make the joynts of their loynes to be loosed and their knees to smite one against another He can cause a leprosie to cleave to their estate which shall make it unclean both to them and their posterity He can by filling their consciences with horror and despaire make them to say as Job did My soule chooseth strangling and death rather then life And therefore be wise O ye Rulers and consider often what comfortable answer your consciences can make to that question of David Doe ye indeed speak righteousnesse O congregation doe ye judge uprightly O ye sonnes of men Psal 58. vers 1. Thirdly be like unto God in wisdom and mature deliberation that so rashnesse and precipitancy may not blemish the sentence and decree which you pass nor make others to cry out that their cause is judged but not examined Justice in the Emblem is represented with a ballance in the one hand and a sword in the other and first matters must be weighed by it that so it may be seen on which side truth lies before an equall sentence and judgement can be passed He that useth onely the sword and not the ballance may smite an innocent Naboth and acquit a guilty Ahab A Judge though he is to be Coecus in exequendo blind in the impartiall execution of the law yet is he to be Oculatus in dijudicando eagle-ey'd in the scrutiny and disquisition of all matters that come before him whether judiciall or criminall Though he is not to know any persons yet he is to know and understand every cause and to be more circumspect in regard that truth oft-times stands like a little marke in a wide field which cannot be easily discerned especially when it is hid by the false accusations of a malicious informer Thus David was slandered by wicked Doeg unto Saul 1 Sam. 22. 10. Or when it is disguised by the arts and insinuations of the Advocate and thus Paul was misrepresented to Foelix by Tertullus the Orator Acts 24. 5. Or when it is darkned by the want of evidence and testimony to give light unto it and thus it was in that eager contention between the two mothers for the living childe 1 Kings 3. 22. Now in these difficulties if the eye of wisdome in a Magistrate should not be awake to discern if prudence should not be more then ordinary to direct how quickly might judgement be turned into gall and the fruit of righteousnesse into hemlock how soon might the sword of justice be stained with the blood of innocency by having the edge of it turned upon the righteous and the back of it towards the wicked Doe you therefore who are in Authority and sit in the high places of Judicature make the prayer of Solomons when he was called to the Throne of his father to be frequently yours in asking of God an understanding heart to judge his people that you may discern between good and bad 1 King 3. 9. And make the practice of Job your constant pattern to search out the cause which you know not Job 29. 16. Fourthly be like God in mercy who is by the Apostle represented unto us both as a Father and as a Judge in one and the same verse 1 Pet. 1. 17. All whose waies are by the Prophet said to be mercy and truth Psal 25. 10. He hath not one path of truth and another of mercy but they are both enterchangeably woven and twisted one within another and thereby are made a mutual foile to set off each others beauty In the highest manifestation of Gods justice upon sinne in which it and mercy did seem to be at an irreconcileable distance his wisdome found out a way for righteousnesse and peace to meet and kisse each other by making his Sonne a Suerty to suffer punishment for mans sinne and an Head to sanctifie his nature and to restore to him his image It should therefore be the greatest care of those who are called Gods on earth to preserve the unity concord of justice and mercy in the exercise of their office as the two fairest Jewels that doe most adorn Authority as the two strongest pillars that doe best support it and establish it upon the surest Basis The Throne is established by righteousnesse Prov. 16. 12. The Throne is upholden by mercy Prov. 20. 28. Justice without mercy turns into rigour and so becomes hatefull mercy without justice turns into fond pitty and so becomes contemptible As then the Rod of Aaron and the Pot of Manna were by Gods command laid up in the same Ark so let Mercy and Justice be both preserved entire in the bosome of the same Magistrate And the one will render his Authority awfull and the other will make it amiable full of complacency And now to move you to demeane and carry your felves as so many living pictures of the great God and to make his excellencies to shine in the righteous administration of your Office I shall briefly propound two arguments which the Text in two words doth suggest First God stands in the congregation The Ethiopians were anciently wont to set an empty chair in the midst of the judgment place to put them in mind that God was present among them as Lorinus reports Others say twelve to signithat the Angels were spectators of them But you need no such significant Ceremony to quicken you to the doing of righteous things The memento in the Text that God standeth in the congregation of Gods duely thought upon and believed cannot but be more prevalent then all other Remembrances whatever What souldier is there that will be a Coward in the presence of his Generall What servant is there that will be a loiterer under the eye of his master And what Magistrate is there that will or can be corrupt that believes God to stand at his right hand Will he not say with Joseph how can I doe this great wickednesse and sinne against God Gen. 39. 9. will he not say with Job what then shall I doe when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Job 31. 13. Secondly God judgeth the Gods themselves Though you here sit upon Thrones yet you must ere long stand at his Tribunal and be openly judged in the sight of Angels and men Though now you weigh and scan the actions of others by your beam yet you must be weighed by the ballance of heaven and woe unto you if you be found too light God weighed Belshazzar in the midst of his cups Dan. 5. 27. And so he may doe you in the midst of your oppression and tyrannie And the greater your sinnes be the lighter you will be in the scale of divine justice but the heavier will be your condemnation God weighed the rich man in the midst of his security and while he promised himselfe the rest of many yeares that night he required his soule of him Luke 12. 20. And so he may deale with you while you blesse your selves in your heart saying I shall have peace though I walk in the imaginations of my heart and adde one iniquity to another Deut. 29. 19 20. If therefore there be any whose consciences tell them that though they sit in the Assembly of the Gods they yet doe things most unworthy of their name and office Let them consider that he who judgeth without respect of persons must be their Judge whose sentence they cannot fly whose wrath they cannot beare And this amazing thought if any thing will make Daniels counsel to Nebuchadnezzar to be most acceptable to them To break off their sinnes by righteousnesse and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poore if it may be a lengthning of their tranquillity Dan. 4. 27. FINIS ERRATA PAge 22. line 7. for affected read effected p. 29. l. 8. for dust r. dull