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
Commodus was Law enough to warrant the mangling and massacres of his subiects by making them enter the list with beasts O that excesse of power should so transport one beyond nature as that his will should be all his reason to rank men with creatures so vnreasonable wherefore one in Seneca would haue those to be least free which haue power to be most guilty and wisheth it not lawfull for such to haue liberty to doe that which is vnlawfull to be done But what Shal any dare to limit soueraignty and prescribe Maiestie its duty shall he that enioyes the subiection of others by the law be subiect himselfe to the law No in no other sense then that of Aquinas Quantū ad vim directivam non coactivam in 1ª 2 ae of his Summes Not that the lawe should drawe him by compulsion but lead him by directiue perswasion v In Decret lib. 1. Tit. 2. Cap. Cum omnes If hee conforme his actions to the prescript of the lawes it is of his owne accord if he doe not is he liable to acount Yes but it is only to God Against thee only haue I sinned saith King Dauid Psalm 51. Those modest times had not the face to capitulate with their Soueraignes The pride of faction had not yet hatcht this rebellious doctrine That if Kings obey not laws subiects haue leaue to disobey their kings No let it glory in no ancienter author then New Rome and in no better successe then confusion And seeing it owes it selfe to Iesuited Patrons let it be banisht this land together with their persons And let them whom it concernes be inquisitiue for autoriz'd Rauiliakes such as doe not value the price of a man much lesse of a Prince otherwise a fee should neuer perswade them to hazard their owne liues nor to rifle for a few peeces of coyne in the bowels of their Soueraigne and so sell his deere blood for an houres wages But while I exempt Princes from humane censures I incourage not their neglect of humane lawes The law is the life of a state their practice is the life of the law Then it concernes them that haue most power to uiolate lawes to haue most care to fulfill thē x Non tam imperio nobis opus quā exemplo Plin. Pan. Else the imitating vulgar will grow vnruly by the example of their Rulers Which his Maiesty implies in aduise to his sonne in 2d booke of his Basilicon Doron Wherefore himselfe measures not the law by his owne will but conformes his will to the measure of the law This is his practice this is the duty of all Iudges What shall wee doe according to law Which words admit of a double sense First According to law that is as much as the law inioynes Secondly According to law that is No more then the law intends And first of the first sense as much as the law inioynes What shall we doe according to Law z Iustinian lib. 1. Tit. 2. institut That Imperiall giuer of the law makes giuing euery one his owne the end of the law And I desire no iuster distribution then S. Paules in 13 to the Rom. The Magistrate is the minister of God to thee that dost well for good but if thou that which is evill bee afraid The law then doth assigne to euery publique action Reward or Punishment as its due guerdon The least open good may challenge some reward if thou gain nothing else yet the Apostle promiseth Thou shalt haue praise But if thou doe not well sinne lyeth at the dore God made it the doom of Cain and the law makes it thine Sinne lyeth that is punishment the reward of sinne by an Hebrew metalepsis as I am warranted by a Parae c. in locum approued authors Now this punishment without the Law were but a wooden sword in the hand of a grim Anticke able to awe none beside fooles and children But if authority come arm'd with lawes the sinnewes of State it can strike terrour to the stourest heart b Iustinian in proaem institut No marvell then that the Emperour thought Maiestie but adorned with armes and to be arm'd with Laws Thē let any peece of this furniture bee laid aside malice will level its ayme at that open part Whether it bee the helmet for the head or the breast-plate and shield for the body politique Those helmet-lawes which doe fence the head are of the greatest moment Seeing on the safety of that depends the welfare of the whole State Our glorious Head hath receiu'd in this kinde from the prouidence of Ancestors armour of proofe against all annoyance Now bloody Iesuits those sly messengers of Antichrist are alwaies furnisht with messengers of death Thanks be to God this body of ours hath escap't in the head for God hath dealt with vs as with Dauid by his protection c Psal 140. vers 7. he hath couered our head though we haue as it were put off the helmet I meane lawes to this purpose haue layen in a long sleepe and for good reasons of State haue not beene executed Yet wee haue with Achilles receiued wounds in the heele which are still fresh bleeding in the inferiour people They beginne to putrifie to draw contagion through the whole body But the sword is now vnsheath'd you haue is againe in your owne hands 't were pitty it should euer be put vp till it hath cut off our home-bred corruptions and giuen all forraine factours their fatall blowes An ill man once spake like a good Cittizen Act. 19. The law is open And how can I vse a stronger motiue then to presse your consciences with your free leaue His Maiesty told you he did for a while d His owne word in his first speech in the Parliament 1623 conniue but now againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The law is open It is open I hope for the Iudges to execute it is open for accusers to implead Then hauing against these maine enimies the laws full advantage what shall wee doe according to law The body of our State hath other pernicious adversaries that dayly afflict it with continuall wounds The extenuating of murther by the fauorable name of man-slaughter hath cost our King many a subiect and this land euen streames of blood T is not for me to censure the law yet thus much I knowe that the Law of Moses and the law of conscience will scarce admit some of our limitations Doth a man come presumptuously vpon his neighbour God tells you by Moses he shall dye Ex. 21. But except he assault him vpon long-studied malice and purposed revenge with vs he shall not dye We say he did it in his anger and he slew a man not murthered him But old Iacobs propheticke spirit well knewe the minde of God therefore suffered not his own sonnes so easily to escape e Gen. 49.6.7 O my soule saith hee come not thou into their secret vnto their
assembly mine honour bee not thou vnited for in their anger they slew a man he blames their anger only not their malice yet marke what followes Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell I will diuide them in Iacob scatter them in Israel Here anger and the heat of blood could not excuse the spilling of blood They felt the rigor and full weight of Iustice yea the heaviest punishmēt that then was a Patriarchs propheticke curse And in conscience such resolute hot-spurres deserue with vs that Curse of Moses the heauiest temporal one that now is Cursed is hee that hangeth on a tree Deut. 21. Moreouer blood is importunate each drop whereof hath a tongue and cryes lowd at the throne of Heauen Or if that were silent your owne eyes are trusty witnesses of many a widdowes teares And the vntimely death of murtherd fathers bids their orphant children solicite your eares with their sad lamentations I but the death of murtherers will doe them no good admit It doe not yet let not their life doe others hurt Let not the lawes indulgence encourage their bold hands to the like attempts but ere others feele againe the extremitie of their violence let them first feele the extremity of your iustice and to the vtmost that the law inioynes let them knowe What you can doe according to law There is also the swearer whose tongue wounds the State and like a sharpe sword strikes deepe euen to the heart hence it is that the land mourneth saith the Prophet No maruell that this sinne is growne licentious for they say 't was lawlesse and without the verge of iustice Till at last that honourable assembly of Parliament which posterity shal admire no lesse for religion then for their wisdome haue restrained the freedome of this crying sinne It concern'd your Honours to further such a religious purpose not only for aduancement of Gods glory but to enlarge your owne liberty for til thē a blasphemous tongue might sweare God and you in the face you might tremble and blush you could not punish T were pitty this free crime which Chrysostome counts f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. Hom. 15. Ad pop Antioch worse then murther should longer violate the law of God and Magistrates not be able to say What shall we doe according to law I could shew you other offenders which haply among vs are lawlesse but with God they speed like S. Paules Gentiles which hauing not the Law are a law vnto themselues Rom. 2.14 But I must hasten to the second sense No more then the Law intends of which exceeding briefly What shall we doe according to law A depraued glosse may corrupt the Text and a corrupt Iudge may depraue the Law Thus truth that in the Oratours time had strength enough for its owne defence is enforced to yeeld vnto crafty violence Christ also that originall truth found the perverse Pharisee and petty-fogging Scribe wresting the derivatiue truth to their own bent g Lib. 2. contra Apion Iosephus may bragge of the Iews priuiledge aboue other nations in that they suffered no chāge in their laws yet by his leaue though they remain'd intire in words they were much peruerted in sense Thus could the wit of iniquity ouer-reach Gods intentions and inhance its owne advantage by the misconstruction of his precepts I wish that while we looke vpon those times in detestation God hath not cause to looke vpon ours in revenge I pray God the sword of Iustice doe neuer among vs become the Sword of Delphos h Eras Adag Chil. 2. cen 3. that serued for all purposes as those grosse flatterers abus'd it in the cause of Cambyses who desiring to marry his owne sister was aduertisd by them that there was no law which allowed that copulation but there was one that he being their King might doe what pleas'd him How doe such Iudges befoole their Ancestors intimating that they doted and spake at randome for enacting constitutions no surer then the old oracles that might admit of a double sense Wel-deseruing antiquity hath made this land of ours as happy as any by leauing vs so ample an inheritance of laws and ordināces T were shame not to preserue them as inviolable as those of Solon and the i Dan. 6.8 Medes that sufferd no repeale Now to racke them beyond their literall intention I count the highest degree of violation Seeing extreme right is extreme wrong and when a law is not executed at all it argues but too much lenitie negligence or ignorance but being wrested beyond its intent and ouer-executed to a mans preiudice it condemnes the Iudge of vnchristian-like malice Then 't is safest breaking the law in the Iews extream who hauing charge and power to giue k Deut. 25.3 fortie stripes to a malefactor would as Paule witnest of them giue but fortie lacking one 2. Cor. 11. That they came short charity may hope 't was commiseratiō of their brother in his affliction but should they exceed the law wee might suspect their mindes for bloody revenge Then let the law of Iustinian be my last exhortation l Iudex ne aliter indicet quà m legibus aut constitutionibus aut moribus proditum est Institut lib. 4. Tit. 17. Index ne aliter iudicet c. And as Balaams feare engaged his fidelity cōcerning the word of the Lord so let Iustice deale with your consciences concerning the word of the law If Balaack would giue me his house full of Siluer and Gold I will not goe beyond it to doe lesse or more Num. 22.18 In which resolution the Lord make you prosper So shall you be of their number that had their robes washt in the Revelation and made white in the blood of the Lamb. This awfull colour of State shall then turne to the pleasing lustre of glory And as you liue to glorifie God here God grant you liue with him in his glory hereafter Amen FINIS
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