Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n
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A01533
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Gods parley vvith princes with an appeale from them to him. The summe of two sermons on the 3. last verses of the 82. Psalme; preached at Sergeants-Inne in Fleet-Streete. By Thomas Gataker B. of D. and pastor of Rotherhith.
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Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.
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1620
(1620)
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STC 11658; ESTC S102921
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92,716
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94
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GODS PARLEY WITH PRINCES WITH AN APPEALE from THEM to HIM The SVMME of two SERMONS on the 3. last Verses of the 82. Psalme Preached at SERGEANTS-INNE in FLEET-STREETE BY THOMAS GATAKER B. of D. and Pastor of Rotherhith LONDON Printed by EDW GRIFFIN and are to be sold by Timothy Barlow at his shop in Pauls-Church-yard at the signe of the Bull-head 1620. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE his singular good LORD Sir HENRY HOBART Knight and Baronet Lord Cheife Iustice of the Common Pleaes encrease of true Honour heere and eternall happinesse hereafter Right Honourable WHat hath formerly beene offered to your RELIGIOVS eare is now further presented to your IVDICIOVS eie Neither doubt I but that as it then found attentiue audience with the one so it will now finde kinde welcome and acceptance with the other the rather it being for the matter and substance of it the message of Him in whose seate you sit though brought by a weake and vnworthy Messenger and deliuered in meane and vnpolished manner Messages are wont to be respected and receiued and Presents esteemed and accepted more for the party from whom they come then for the Person by whom they come or for the manner of the deliuery of them The matter I hope will not be altogether vnprofitable or vnfruitfull though not handled so artificially or methodically as it might or as were meete But neither mine incessant incumbrances and perpetuall distractions 〈◊〉 of body variety of busines and slender meanes of assistance will afford leasure or liberty for any accurate and exact discourse Nor is there much neede of Art to perswade godly regard and holy obedience where the power of piety hath already in some good measure possessed the heart The Truth of God cannot but finde good entertainment with all those that sincerely loue and like it although it come naked and bare as best beseemeth it or but meanely attired not bedecked and set out with such ornaments and dressings as the naturall eye and eare only affect and regard If in ought it seeme ouer-harsh vnto any the fault is in themselues not in it The word of God saith the Prophet is good yea and pleasant too as the word vsed there signifieth to euery one that walketh vprightly as sweet as hony yea sweeter then the purest hony to such as DAVID professeth of himselfe But euen Hony it selfe though of it selfe good and pleasant and wholesome and medicinall yet causeth paine and smart to an exulcerate part And children therfore that at other times much desire it and crie for it yet will not endure to haue it come neere their lips when they haue sore mouthes It is mans loue of his owne corruptions and impatience of cure that maketh the word of God harsh and vnpleasant vnto any But there is no feare or doubt that ought here should in this kind be distastfull to your Lordship whose discreet and moderate and vpright cariage in your place is so generally acknowledged and testified of all sorts If at vacant houres your Lordship shall vouchsafe to cast your eie on it it shall be more then a sufficient recompence of my paines in it A monument it shall at least be of that duty that I deseruedly owe vnto your Honour and of my thankfull acknowledgement of that vndeserued fauour and countenance that your Lo hath beene pleased from time to time to vouchsafe mee as well before as since I came vnder the wing of your Honourable protection And the Lord of Lords protect your Lordship encrease in you his graces direct you in your courses and blesse you with long life and many good daies to his glory the publike good your owne spirituall comfort in this life and your eternall saluation after this life Your Lordships at command in all Christian duty THO. GATAKER GODS Parly with PRINCES With An APPEALE from them to Him PSALM 82. vers 6 7 8. 6. I haue said Yee are Gods and sonnes of the most High all of you 7. But yee shall die like men and fall as one of the Princes 8. Arise ô God judge thou the earth for thou inheritest all Nations THe Booke of Psalmes though it be called from the greater part by the name of Dauids Psalmes yet were not all the Psalmes in it composed by Dauid but some of them by Moses some by Heman some by Ethan some by others This Psalme as diusers others vncertaine whither written by or for Asaph the Hebrew will beare either But being certaine that it was endited by the Spirit of God our Sauiour himselfe alleadging part of it giueth expresse testimonie thereunto we need not stand to discusse by what or whose pen it was written When letters or mandates are knowne to come from the King and to be signed with the Kings owne hand it is needlesse to inquire either by what Secretary they were drawne or with what quill his name was subscribed The matter of the Psalme doth mainely and principally concerne Magistrates Which to make the more effectuall God himselfe is produced here sitting on the bench said to be his amids the Iudges tearmed Gods tam praeses quam praesens not as present onely with them in place but as President in power and by vertue of that power of his parlying and expostulating with them and that 1. by way of reprehension rebuking them sharpely and taking them vp roundly for their vniust and corrupt cariages in matter of judicature 2. By way of admonition inciting them to the due and diligent performance of their office and discharge of their dutie in the vpright and vnpartiall administration and execution of justice 3. By way of admiration as wondring at their sottish and senslesse behauiour that though the pillars of the whole State and their owne seates withall were shaken vnder them partly through their owne misgouernment and partly also through the just judgement of God vpon it yet they would not see it and take notice of it to amend what was amisse but go on still wilfully in their corrupt courses till all came to confusion Now because such great men might peraduenture alledge for themselues that Iudges as some expound the Psalmist are Gods vpon earth yea that God himselfe hath so stiled them hee hath said himselfe as much of them and therefore they may doe what they liâ—…t without check or controle This the Spirit of God here meeteth withall and maketh answer to partly by way of concession and partly by way of correction as if hee had said True it is indeed I haue said it and I still grant it ye are by office and commission Gods and Gods sonnes and Heires as it were in some part of his power But yet neither doth this exempt you from your natiue condition of frailtie and mortalitie nor depriue or abridge God of
his appeale vnto So those that are here oppressed are not therefore to be discouraged if at mans hand they can haue no helpe here they may make their appeale to God and they are sure to preuaile with him according to the equitie of their cause for he is one with whom there is no respect of persons nor accepting of bribes one who as he will not be corrupted so he cannot be deluded And he that the poore may not alwaies be forgotten nor the hope of the oppressed perish for euer hath set downe a certaine day wherein hee will without faile and without further delay if not before heare euery mans cause and right euery mans wrong and doe iustice vpon euery wrong-doer As in this world then howsoeuer some rebellious persons are by martiall law sometime presently dispatched and some notorious Malefactors are sometime extraordinarily arraigned and out of hand executed in terrorem for the terror and example of others yet the greatest number the maine multitude of Theeues Robbers and Murtherers and the like Offenders are reserued to the ordinary Sessions or the Gaole-deliuery at the generall Assise So God albeit he sit in Session sometime by extraordinary iudgements on some notorious Blasphemers or professed Atheists or corrupt Iudges or cruell Oppressors or vsurping Tyrants c. making them spectacles of his wrath and their fearefull ends so many reall sermons of the diuine justice and vengeance to others yet the triall of most matters and the execution of most Malefactors hath he differed and put of to that day wherein hee hath determined to iudge the whole world by his Lord Cheife Iustice Generall the Man Iesus whom he hath wholy cōmitted that authority vnto And as one therefore that either hath beene robbed himselfe or that hath had his friend murthered if he haue the party apprehended and laid vp fast in prison is not presently out of patience because he seeth him not instantly executed but is well content quietly to expect the time of Assise though it be halfe a yeare after as long as he is sure that then he shall haue iustice against him So ought we not presently to grow impatient if wee see not iustice done instantly so soone as our ouer-hasty hearts shall require it vpon those that we suppose haue wronged vs but rest content to stay Gods leasure and to expect his vniuersall day of Assise when we shall be sure without faile to haue iustice done vs according to that which the equitie of our cause shall require Remembring withall that all wicked ones are the meane while in this world as in Gods Iaile vnder the chaines of a guilty conscience out of which there is no possible meanes of escape for them But let vs haue patience till then and assure our selues we may that whatsoeuer losse or damage we shall thereby sustaine God will then vndoubtedly with large ouerplus make good againe to vs. And for Oppressors and Wrong-doers let them take heede how they deceiue themselues in hoping to go hand smooth away with it for euer because they can for the present cary matters so cunningly delude or corrupt Iudge and Iury and make all so sure that no writ of error can be had nor reversement of iudgement none to call them or those they corrupt to account here There is yet an other and an higher Tribunall whereat they and those that they wrong must appeare one day together where they shall not be able to delude or to bribe Iudge or Iury or to procure an vniust sentence Yea where their former sentence and iudgement wretchedly purchased by them and wrongfully passed for them shall be ripped vp and sifted and reversed againe to their euerlasting confusion if it be not before that time seriously and sincerely repented of Neither let them fondly and vainely suppose that because it is not done instantly therefore it will neuer be Gods Mil saith the Heathen man may seeme to grinde soft and slow but it grindeth sure and small It is not because God hath either lost his power or left his prouidence but because he exerciseth his patience while he expecteth thy repentance Which vnlesse with the more speede it preuent his sentence his seeming slownesse and slacknes before he commeth will be recompenced with the surer and seuerer payment when he doth come Seldome saith the Heathen man is it but that the diuine vengeance ouertaketh wicked wretches though it seeme but limpingly to pursue them Seldome it is here but that in some one kinde or other it catcheth them and meeteth with them there where they looke not for it but elsewhere it is certaine neuer to misse of them whether it meete with them here or no. Remember Ahabs doome and Iezabels They thought they had made all sure when false witnesses suborned and the Iudges corrupted a wrong iudgement was procured and poore Naboth not condemned onely but executed But what doth Elias from God tell Ahab In that very place where the Dogs licked Naboths bloud shall dogs likewise licke thy bloud And The Dogs shall eate Iezabell vnder the wals of Izreel And Iezabels carcase shall lie like dung on the ground in the fields of Izreel so that none shall be able to say This is Iesabell And no lesse euill if not the same shall befall all those that take the courses that they did When God shall stand vp as he will one day to iudge and to right all those that are now wronged and oppressed And it wanteth not his emphasis that the Psalmist saith Iudica terram Iudge the earth not Iudica istos Iudge these men but Iudica terram ipsam Iudge the earth or the Land it selfe as he said before Terrae ipsius statumina dimoventur the very props and shores of the whole State are shaken For when corruptions are crept into place of iudicature they become the sinnes of the Land of the State When priuate men doe wrong the sinne is their owne it is their personall offence and they must answer it with their heads But when priuate mens abuses and enormities are borne with or bolstred out by authority are not duly redressed and condignely punished by those that bee in authority when either iustice is denied to those that bee wronged or iniustice is done them by those that should doe them right then the offence becometh publike euen the sinne of the whole State And maketh God enter into iudgement not cum senioribus populi principibus eius With the Elders of his people and their Princes alone but cum terra vniuersa with the whole Land with the state in generall They execute no iudgement neither for fatherlesse nor poore And what followeth thereupon And should not I then visite my selfe saith the Lord should not my very soule be a venged on such a nation not on them alone but on the Nation