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A25492 Another New-Years-gift for arbitrary judges, or, Some sober reflections on injustice 1681 (1681) Wing A3271; ESTC R19348 3,292 2

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ANOTHER New-Years-Gift FOR Arbitrary Iudges OR Some sober Reflections on Injustice THE last years New-years Gift to the Chief Justice Scroggs was as it seems but ill accepted by him and though it might have been as a Looking-Glass for him to have seen the ill favour'd and ugly Face of a Corrupt Judg and the odiousness of Injustice He laid not his Hand on his Heart nor seriously considered the evil end it would bring him to but still continuing in his iniquity Roared Ranted and Blustered more like an Hector than a Judg and has ever since endeavoured all that in him lay not to execute Justice and Judgment according to Law and Truth but arbitrarily and illegally to abuse imprison and undoe all such as he thought any ways opposed his Violence or cry'd out of his Proceedings He surely never remembered what Moses say'd to the Judges of his People Deut 16.19 Thou shalt not wrest Judgment thou shalt not respect Persons neither shalt thou take a Gift for a Gift doth blind the eyes of the Wise and pervert the words of the Righteous The Acquittal of Sir George Wakeman will never be forgot and 10000 l. will be still in the Mouths of the People They have many Eyes and are not easily blinded or deluded The good Jehosaphat King of Judah gave in Charge to his Judges 2 Chron. 19.6 Take heed what you do for you Judg not for Man but for the Lord. To what end at last will Injustice Oppression and Bribery lead even to Destruction as you may see in Samuels Sons who turned after Lucre took Bribes and perverted Judgment 1 Sam. 8.3 You know what became of them they were destroyed And Job says Chap. 15. Vers 34. Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of Bribery They shall not long enjoy what is unrighteously got It will not be amiss again to insert in this our New-years Gift the Oath of the Judges 20th Edw. 3d. for they cannot too often behold their Duties nor be remembred of it Ye shall Swear that well and truly ye shall serve our Soveraign Lord the King and his People in the Office of a Justice c. That ye do equal Law and Execution of Right to all the Kings Subjects Rich and Poor without having regard to any person And that ye shall not take by you or by any other privily nor in part any Gift or Reward in Gold or Silver nor any other thing which may turn to Profit c. of any Man that hath Plea or Process before you nor after for the same Cause And that ye take no Fees nor Robe of any Person great or small so long as ye be Justices but of the King himself c. And that ye shall not delay any Person of common Right for the Letters of the King or of any other Person nor for any Cause c. And to proceed and do the Law notwithstanding these Letters c. This is a clear Mirrour for the Judges of the Land to look into and had they remembred the true tenour of this Oath they would not Act so Illegally and Arbitrarily as they have done Our Laws are Good Just and Righteous but if our Judges are defective and not upright and Consciencious what signifie good Laws Let them bear in mind the Parliament holden the 11th year of Richard the 2d and the Execution they did on Trisilian Chief Justice who was hanged at Tyburn and all the rest of the Judges condemned to dye but by the Queens Intercession Banish'd the Land and their Goods Confiscated Thorp also Lord Chief Justice was Sentenc'd to Death for taking Bribes contrary to his Oath And in the 17th of King Edward the 1st so great was the Corruption of the Judges that they were all Sentenced and Fined by the King 'T is for Injustice that a Land mourns and nothing more endears a King to his People than to Constitute upright Judges that Justice may run down as a stream But of late we have seen as the Prophet Zephaniah says our Judges like evening Wolves who gnaw not the Bones till the Morrow Zeph. 3.3 They artificially and by delays seek to torment those they have a mind to oppress It was in the time of Henry the 3d proposed that the Lord Chief Justice and other Chief Officers of the Kingdom might be chosen by the Parliament But 't is impossible to dive into the Hearts of Men it is Time and Action that shews them to the World for the Lord Chief Justice S. seem'd one thing in the Trial of Coleman and another thing in the Tryal of Wakeman With what care did he acquit the one and with what Zeal did he Condemn the other Auri sacra fumes O sacred hunger of Gold How honestly and like a Protestant he acted and how suddenly alter'd and convinc'd and appeared to the People Monstrum horrendum ingens cuilumen ademptum He lost the light of his Reason and Understanding submitting to Covetousness the root of all evil Solomon says To do Justice and Judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than Sacrifice Prov. 21.3 It is better to obey God than Man Who would ever have thought that under the Reign of so good and gracious a Prince we should have seen no less than four Judges at once Impeached by the Commons of Arbitrary Violent and illegal Proceedings To what pass should we have been brought by these evil Ministers had not his Majesty graciously at last yielded to the importunate desires of his People in calling this blessed Parliament who come with healing under their Wings What could you think with your selves O you unjust Judges could you imagine that so palpably an Arbitrary and unprecedented an Act as the discharging the Grand Jury of Middlesex in the midst of their business and also with ill words because you would not receive their Petition which was not agreeable to your Humour should not be questioned when ever we had the happiness of a Parliament Did not you believe in your own Consciences that you should once be called to an Account for your Arbitrary and illegal Rule of Court against the Writing Printing and Publishing a Book put forth only in Vindication of the Protestant Religion whilst so many Papistical and Jesuitical Phamphlets were every day published to the scandal of our Religion without being question'd by you Did you believe so vainly as that you were not taken notice of in your partial Fines favouring the Popish Party Delinquents and crushing severely or rather grinding to Powder the Protestant Offenders that came before you and all this with a squinting eye in hopes of the false prospect you had of the favour of a Popish Successor from which God defend this Kingdom Did you also suppose that all the Illegal Oppressions of the several Bailable persons you committed would not be I oli●d into and that you who should be the dispensers of Justice Law and Equity should act so Arbitrarily and against all Right and Law and commit such high Breaches of the Liberty of the Subject Who could ever have believed that we should have seen and heard a Judge openly upon the Bench Condemning the first main Reformers of the Romish Religion and the Authors of the Reformation and with the same breath to speak against a Parliament placing all Power in the King only saying that he is the only Representative endeavouring at once to derogate from our Religion and the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament and to raise a discord between his Majesty and his Subjects who would have imagined they should have heard a Judg openly Inveighing against the Subjects Petitioning their King for a Parliament to redress their Grievances Who could have thought to have heard a Judg pronounce Sentence of Death against a Traitor and yet shortly after to say publickly he believed him Innocent And who would lastly believe that a wise Judg should give under his Hand Illegal and Arbitrary Warrants to bring himself into danger But alas we did not think of a Parliament It was the complaint of the Prophet Esay Chap 59.14 That Judgment were turned backward and Justice stood afar off Truth was fallen in the Streets and Equity could not enter God saw it and was displeased that there was no Judgment And not long since it might be said to be our Cafe but God be thanked for his Gracious Mercy and may his Majesty be humbly thanked for his kindness and commiseration to his People in calling this Parliament to do Justice on Offenders and to secure the Rights and Priviledges of the People And now I shall conclude desiring Just and upright Judges who sit in the Seat of Justice and who are like God's in a Nation showring down Blessings on the People like the dew of Heaven to take this New-Years-Gift in good part and to take warning by the harms and punishment of others that they be not perverted but that they may act according to an upright Conscience and by the Law of God and the Kingdom and firmly believe that nothing is more odious to God and Man than Corruption Bribery Injustice and Oppression in a Judge whose fall no Man will pitty or lament Set before your eyes continually the examples of evil and unjust Judges both in sacred and prophane History and you will see their end to be miserable and detested full of shame and confusion from which may God keep henceforth all our grave Learned Reverend and Pious Justicers Amen LONDON Printed in the Year 1681.