weary Legs and fainting Hearts renew their Strength and mount up as Eagles and Religion spreads amain like the Vine which God brought out of Egypt which when his Hand planted fill'd the Land Psal 80.9 4. When 't is scorn'd by few persecuted and suppress'd by none then as the Gospel when it hath a free Course runs and is glorified 2 Thes 3.1 when the Stream of Righteousness hath no Dams in its Chanel to obstruct its flowing it will like Jordan in the time of Harvest overflow its Banks and water the Land as Nilus doth Aegypt to make it fertile When neither the Sword of the Mouth nor the Mouth of the Sword are whet against it When no Arrows of invenom'd bitter Words dipp'd in the Poison of Asps are shot against it 'T is not stigmatized or branded with opprobious Names which blast it as the burning East-wind nips the tender Buds and when the Foot of Violence cannot approach to hurt it but those Dogs who delight to worry and to suck the Blood of the Lambs of Christ are so muzzled or chain'd up that though they may grin and show their Teeth they cannot tear and rend them But Men may be as good as they will and the Grace of God excites and enables them to be and the Voice of Providence say to them even in this Life present what Christ spoke with relation to the Life to come Fear not little Flock Luke 12.32 And what our Lord speak in a Vision to Paul Be not affraid but speak and hold not thy Peace for I am with thee and none shall set upon thee to hurt thee Acts 18.9.10 And Righteousness obtains that Privilege with which St. Luke concludes the History of the Acts in relation to St. Paul He received all that came into him preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all Confidence no Man forbidding him When the Children of God are not at the proud and cruel Mercy of the Slaves of Satan nor at the Will of them who hate them for their Father's sake When a Nation is an holy safe and quiet Habitation to righteous Men. When under Kings and those in Authority we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 as St. Paul directs us to pray and as our own Liturgy excellently teacheth us with Fervency to beg for our King and Queen That in all their Thoughts Words and Actions they may ever seek God's Honour and Glory and study to preserve the People committed to their Charge in Wealth Peace and Godliness In such a Season Piety Equity and Honesty are in a hopeful way to be exalted in a Nation and then they will exalt that Country People Government in Honour Safety Plenty which was the second Head of Discourse to shew when or in what Circumstances of Time it doth it I proceed to the third Head to be discoursed on viz. To demonstrate the Reasons why and shew the means by which Piety Equity Probity thus exalt a Nation And though they are many Time will allow me to insist upon but few of them The first and principal is because they engage God to be God of such a Nation and to own them and bless them as his People To demonstrate this might supersede the rest as needless or leave them but as Grains to be cast into the Balance which add but little to the main weight I may say of this as the great Statesman who being ask'd what was the wisest and safest way to govern a Kingdom wrote in the top the middle and foot of the Page Moderation Moderation Moderation Or as the Rhetorician who was ask'd what was the chief Excellency of an Orator reply'd Pronunciation Pronunciation Pronunciation So may we truly answer him who asks what exalts a Nation with redoubled Repetition God's Presence with them This is the First the Second and the Third this is truly all in all 'T was a bold Motto that King us'd Cui adhaereo praeest He prevails whose part I take But it is certainly so with those on whose side God vouchsafes to be Isa 43.5 Fear not for I am with thee is full Security If God be for us who can be against us Rom. 8.31 Let who will let who dare kick against the Pricks they are like to have a hard Task and they are sure to be over-match'd The Lord is on my side I will not fear what Man can do unto me Psal 118.6 124.1 2. When David spent many Verses in recounting what makes Nations flourish in Men's Esteem and concluded Happy is the People which are in such a Case he corrects himself in the last Words yea Happy is that People whose God is the Lord Psal 144. ult They chiefly nay they only will be found so In his Hand is Power and Might so that none is able to withstand him 2 Chron. 20.6 as Jehosophat strengthned his own Faith and the Faith of his People And David as fully as excellently Thine O Lord is the Greatness and the Power and the Glory and the Victory and the Majesty for all that is in Heaven and in Earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou art exalted as Head above all Both Riches and Honour come of thee and thou reignest over all and in thine Hand is Power and Might and in thine Hand it is to make great and to give Strength unto all 1 Chron. 29.10 11 12. Safety is of the Lord as the holy Father David Psal 3.8 and the wise Solomon Prov. 21.31 both assure us Yea how oft and fully doth Nebuchadnezar an Heathen acknowledge God's absolute Dominion as God of Gods and Lord of Kings Dan. 2.47 His Dominion is an Everlasting Dominion and his Kingdom from Generation to Generation All the Inhabitants of the Earth are as nothing He doth according to his Will in the Armies of Heaven and among the Inhabitants of the Earth None can stay his Hand or say What doest thou Dan. 4.34 35. How oft doth David call him his Strength And when 't is said of Sampson his Strength departed from him the next Verse explains it telling us God was departed from him Judg. 16.19 20. Excuse my overdoing in so plain a Case I must suppose they have no Bibles or use them not or believe them not to be God's Word that need more Now to have this All-sufficient God to be with us and to be our Sun and Shield we must walk before him and be perfect which I look upon not as spoken to Persons only but to Nations because to Abraham to whom God said upon the changing of his Name and the reason of his doing it A Father of many Nations have I made thee and I will make thee exceeding fruitful and I will make Nations of thee and Kings shall come out of thee Gen. 17.5 6. He was to be the Father of the Faithful and all Nations were to be blessed in him 'T is spoke to
needs no Proof and the very Text expounds it making any People in the latter Branch parallel to Nation in the former 3. The Government and Polity by which such a People are governed in such a Country defended from their Enemies secur'd in their Rights restrain'd from doing ill encourag'd to do well by Wise and Righteous Laws and just Execution of them by Rewards and Punishments For if House may be put for the Master of it as Luke 19.9 This day is Salvation come to this House i e. to Zacheus as I find it expounded And Church for the ruling Part in the Church Matth. 18.17 Tell it to the Church 'T is not less proper to expound Nation for the Government of a Nation Secondly The Cause Righteousness with respect to Nations may be considered as Threefold for Evangelical Righteousness respects Persons singly not Nations complexly which we may call Religious Civil Moral Righteousness Religious Righteousness is Godliness or Piety which gives to God the Worship and Service he expects The Glory due unto his Name Psal 29. Which is the Scope of the first Table 2. Civil Legal Political Righteousness which is Justice and Equity consisting in due Administration of Judgment by just distribution of Rewards and Punishments according to the true Design and Intent of the Wise and Righteous Laws of every Nation and Society of Men defending and rewarding those who observe and keep them and restraining and punishing those who transgress and break them that the Administration of Justice may be really the Terrer of evil doers and to the Praise of them who do well Rom. 13. 3. Moral Righteousness is Honesty and Probity fair and upright dealing by private Persons betwixt Man and Man the Source of which is to love our Neighbour as our selves Mat. 22.39 And that Golden Rule of our Saviour to do to others as we would they should do to us Luke 6.31 And the whole amounts to walking in all capacities with all good Conscience void of offence towards God and Men Acts 24.16 Thirdly The Effect Exalteth This also may imply Three Things Honour Safety Plenty 1. To Exalt signifies to set up on high in Honour Renown and Fame To make thee high above all Nations which he hath made in Praise in Name and Honour Deut. 26.19 And the very Text intimates this in opposing Reproach to being exalted 2. Safety To be set on high oft signifies to be placed out of the reach of Danger To set him on high from him that puffeth at him He shall dwell on high his place of Defence shall be the Munition of Rocks Isa 33.16 He is my Shield and my Salvation my high Tower and my Refuge my Saviour thou savest me from violence 2 Sam. 22.3 3. Plenty and Prosperity when it is with a Notion as David pray'd it might be with his Psal 144.13 14 15. That our Sons may be as Plants grown up in their youth our Daughters as Corner-Stones polished after the similitude of a Palace That our Garners may be full affording all manner of Store That our Sheep may bring forth Thousands and ten Thousands in our Streets That our Oxen may be strong to labour That there be no breaking in nor going out that there be no complaining in our Streets Happy is the People that is in such a case Happy here is consignificant to being exalted And that enlarged Promise of exceeding Plenty Deut. 28.11 12. The Lord shall make thee plenteous in Goods in the fruit of thy Body thy Cattel thy Ground The Lord shall open to thee his good Treasure Ends thus v. 13. And the Lord shall make thee the Head and not the Tail and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath So that Plenty and Prosperity properly exalts in Scripture-Language and Account Thus from this genuine Explication of the Words you may please to take a comprehensive view of this excellent Text and grasp the Strength and Substance of it into one Proposition viz. That Religion and Piety Justice and Equity Probity and Honesty exalt into Honour and Renown Safety and Peace Plenty and Prosperity a Nation the Land in which they are found the People by whom they are practised the Government by which they are defended and promoted In the handling which Proposition I shall set these Limits and bounds to my Discourse as the Method and Measures of it 1. To confirm its Truth that they do it 2. To shew the Season and Circumstances when they do it 3. To demonstrate the Reasons why or shew the Means by which they do it All which I shall pursue as distinctly as I can I begin with the First to confirm this Truth viz. that Piety Justice Honesty exalt Countries People Governments in Honour Safety Plenty There cannot be a more full and comprehensive Confirmation given of any Truth than what may be drawn to confirm this from Deut. 28. in the 14 first Verses in all the Branches of it which I must refer you to being too long to transcribe and point at the Particulars When it goeth well with the Righteous the City rejoiceth By the Blessing of the Vpright the City is exalted Prov. 11.10 11. Religion and Justice are like the two Pillars Solomon erected before the Porch of the Temple Jakin and Bouz Establishment and Strength 1 Kings 7.21 Justice with Religion as a Great Man hath observed is the strong Foundation and the steddy Prop of States and Kingdoms Therefore good Men are as Elisha call'd Elijah The Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof 2 Kings 2.12 What a Blessing had ten righteous Men been to Sodom for the sake of so small a number God would not have destroyed them Gen. 18.32 Peace is the Skin of a Nation but Religion and Justice are its Soul and Spirits The rubbing off the Skin may make it sore but the loss of Soul and Spirits bring Death without Remedy Golden Christians are truly the Brazen Walls and Iron-Gates which secure Cities Wisdom that is Goodness or Piety in Solomon's Stile is better than Weapons of War and strengthneth more than Ten a number of Perfection that is very many mighty Men that are in the City Eccl. 7.19 But I shall confirm the Truth of this Sentence Righteousness exalts a Nation according to the more enlarged Sense of it given in the Explication and Proposition By Arguments drawn from 1. God's Promises 2. Observation and Experience 3. The Aptitude and Tendency of such Causes to produce such Effects I begin with the First God hath made good Promises that it shall be so The Text is express and speaks in the present Tense for greater assurance it exalteth to prove it shall so do I at present take the Promises for granted and shall by and by produce them and on that Supposition argue They being made shall be made good or else either God cannot do it or he will not do it Not the first for he is Almighty He can do all things Job 42.2 Nothing is too
the Nations then in his Loins The Lord will be with them that are with him Hear what Azariah said to Asa when the Spirit was upon him 2 Chron. 15.2 The Lord is with you while you are with him If you seek him he will be found of you if you forsake him he will forsake you Yea what God himself saith 1 Sam. 2.30 Him that honoureth me will I honour but he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed The Lord will do good to them that are good and upright in their hearts He will be with the good Magistrate as Jehoshaphat told his Judges 2 Chron. 10.11 and with a good People as all his Words assure them I will urge one Scripture more 't is Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their Evil I will repent of the Evil I thought to do unto them And at what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build and to plant it if it do evil in my sight that it obey not my voice then I will repent of the Good wherewith I said I would benefit them Let us pause here I confess my Infirmity this Scripture strikes me with horror and amazement Never did the Voice of Providence speak more audibly more distinctly more intelligibly and more encouragingly concerning a Nation to build and to plant it than in the late Revolution and Opportunity not only afford it self but even press'd upon us to make us a righteous Nation and an happy People and it may be never was a Work in it self so hard rendered so easie to have been accomplish'd had it not been our own fault and whether it be recoverable and not past remedy God only knows and the things of our Peace hidden from us because we would not know them in the day of our Visitation There are many Texts of Scripture have a Black a Melancholy Saturnine Aspect upon our Circumstances a few of which I 'll point to Ezek. 24.13 In thy filthiness is Lewdness because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not be purged from thy Filthiness any more till I have caused my Fury to rest upon thee When God's Call is entertained with a deaf ear and his manifested expectation frustrated and disappointed which is our Case if ever it were the Case of any Nation under Heaven then surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die saith the Lord God of Hosts Isa 22.14 Ephraim is joyned to Idols let him alone Hos 4.17 7.8 Ephraim is a Cake not turned England is joyned to Profaneness and Formality Dough-bak'd Crusted on the outside with the Form of Godliness but raw within and cold at heart as to the Life and Power of it O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be Jer. 13. ult Such a State of a Nation God puts himself to a loss what to do to them or with them O Ephraim what shall I do unto thee O Judah what shall I do unto thee Thy Goodness is as a Morning-Cloud and as the early Dew it goeth away Hos 6.4 The good Lord avert the bad Omen given by our obstinate Unrighteousness the grey hairs of which are already upon us Hos 7.9 though most are so blind they know it not and none so blind as those who will not see that it be not to us according to the Folly of our Provocations 2. Righteousness makes Nations flourish Removendo prohibens by putting a stop to and rooting out those Vices which blast and make them wither Which it effects partly by prevailing upon Men's Consciences to see the evil of them and to hate and loath them be ashamed of them and cast them off with detestation saying to them Get you hence Which is the first Best Partly While the honest zealous Magistrate restrains by due execution of Justice such flagitious Offenders from polluting the Land and infecting others Which is the next Best That those whom the Love of God Themselves and Country will not constrain to be good the Fear of the Sword of Justice may restrain from being at least openly so bad as their unbridled Lusts would hurry them to be were that coercive Curb removed Such Sins to instance in a few which destroy Kingdoms are First Whoredom Give not thy strength unto Women nor thy Ways to that which destroys Kings Prov. 31.3 When they neigh after their Neighbours Wives like sed Horses and assemble themselves by Troops in Harlots Houses and to look beyond second Causes to that God the Rod of whose Anger they are Isa 10.5 What destroyed Sechem and his City but the Rape of Dinah Jacob's Daughter Gen. 34. What brought the Moors into Spain but the like Provocation to revenge it And what the Saxons into England 2ly Violent Oppression I joyn these Two together because I find them so as the only Sins instanced in which brought the Flood upon the Old World Gen. 6. And the chief which brought Hell out of Heaven upon Sodom Jude 7. the two standing Instances of Divine Indignation set up to terrifie all succeeding Ages from the like So Drunkenness and Riot which drown Men in Sottishness and bereave them of the Force both of Mind and Body their Reason and their Hands to preserve themselves and make them forget the Law and pervert the Judgment of the afflicted Prov. 31.5 When Benhadad was drinking himself drunk in the Pavilions with the Thirty and Two Kings that helped a little handful of Israelites routed his mighty Army 1 Kings 30.16 And when Belshazzar was in the like condition the Medes took his City and slew him So Blasphemous Oaths which make a Land mourn Pride and all its Retinue the Rabble of Vices which are press'd to serve it which are not easily reckon'd up See a comprehensive Place Hos 4 1 2 7. The Lord hath a Controversie with the Land because there is no Truth nor Mercy nor Knowledge of God in the Land By swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing Adultery they break out and Bloud toucheth Bloud therefore shall the Land mourn as they increased so have they sinn'd against me therefore I will turn their Glory into Shame Sin shall bring them under Reproach but Righteousness promoted prevents and roots out at least restrains these and so exalts a Nation by removing what hinders it out of the way 3. It doth it promovendo adjuvans by promoting what greatly contributes to it All that beautiful Train of Vertues which are the Ornament and Establishment of Nations are the Issue and the Offspring of Righteousness brought forth or brought up by it To instance in a few Diligence and Industry which make Families and Kingdoms rich But who will be diligent when the more he acquires the fairer Mark and Prey he is to oppressive Violence from
Nations shall take hold of the Skirt of one that is a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you These are a few of the Reasons why and Means by which Righteousness exalts a Nation makes it flourish and sets it up in Honour Safety Plenty and in all desirable Prosperity and are in Truth comparatively but a taste and sprinkling but one Cluster of Grapes such as the Spies brought from the Brook of Eshcol Numb 13.23 to shew what Fruits a Land of Righteousness brings forth for its Inhabitants But on the contrary Unrighteousness Iniquity and Sin pull down upon any People all God's Curses and where they prevail The Vine of that Land is the Vine of Sodom and of the Fields of Gomorrah the Grapes are Grapes of Gall their Clusters are bitter Their Wine is the Poison of Dragons and the cruel Venom of Asps And now Right Honourable much honoured and well-beloved in our Lord I humbly beg your leave that I may and your Patience whilst I endeavour to make a free impartial improvement of what hath been delivered in a seasonable Application I shall dispatch it in two Uses 1. Information 2. Exhortation First By way of Information If Piety Equity and Honesty exalt a Land its People and Government in Honour Safety Plenty render it prosperous and slourishing Let me draw these Four instructive Inferences 1. Let us learn hence who are the most faithful to their Country's Interest and the truest Friends to Government righteous religious just sober upright honest Men or profane godless unjust debauch'd fraudulent dishonest ones A Man would think it impossible to err in making Judgment in so plain a Case For surely they are better Friends who do it good than they that do it mischief they that hold it up than they that pull it down they that engage God to be its Defender than those who provoke him to become its Enemy they that serve it than those who serve themselves of it And yet however it comes to pass never was poison'd Weapon so constantly made use of as this I say as this against the best and honestest of Men that they were not Friends to Caesar true to their Country's Interest and Government That it should be thus very frequently is not unaccountable nor need it seem strange if we consider that most Governments have been idolatrous licentious wicked and as the most are the worst the Community too ready to comply with them and applaud them as being like them and making their corrupt advantage of them Those who could not do so but shewed the most innocent dislike and most modestly bewailed or reproved what they saw amiss were stigmatized and branded with this hateful Character as Enemies to the Publick as the most swinging Revenge they could take of them as exposing them to the greatest Hate and Danger Thus it fared with Noah in the old World And thus was Lot treated in Sodom because his righteous Soul was vexed with their Abominations and could not comply and because he dissuaded them from an Abomination not to be named as modestly and kindly as the oyliest Words could express it I pray you Brethren do not so wickedly Gen. 19.7 they reproach him as a busie malepert assuming Fellow which must needs be forsooth a Sodom-mender This Fellow came in to be a Sojourner and he will needs be a Judge therefore will we deal worse with thee than with them Gen. 19.7 Thus it fared with David amongst Saul's Sycophants though he ventured his Life far and wrought such great Salvations for his People and was so innocent beyond Exception that Saul was constrained more than once to acknowledge him more righteous than himself The Land of Israel was too hot for him and he found more shelter amongst the Philistins whose Champion he had slain than in his own Countrey for the sake of which he put his Life in his Hand and ventured the Combat in which he slew him Eliah was the Troubler of Israel though in Truth the Chariots and Horsemen and Jesabel must have his Head And holy Jeremiah the best Man then alive must dye as one who sought not the Welfare of his People but their Hurt Jer. 38.4 and King Zedekiah himself had much ado to save him The Time would fail me to tell you of Zacharias the Son of Jehojadah of Isaiah Daniel Amos whose Words the Land could not bear and of all the Prophets and Old Testament Saints of which Hebrews the 11th gives so large an Account And they of the New Testament sped no better 't is more than petty Treason in John Baptist to tell Herod 't was unlawful to have his Brother's Wife and his Head must pay for it Our Blessed Lord himself was accused for speaking against Caesar Perverting the Nation and forbidding to give Tribute to Caesar St. Luke 23.2 So impudent was their Malice to lie in a Matter of Fact when he had vindicated Caesar's Right in set conference with them and bid them give to Caesar the things which were Caesars Mark 12.17 and wrought a complicated Miracle to pay him Tribute Mat. 17.27 Nay Pilate himself was bugbear'd into the Murther of the Lord of Glory by this Weapon If thou let this Man go thou art not Caesar's Friend Joh. 19.12 When Tertullus the Orator was hired to accuse St. Paul that elect Vessel he could find no ranker Poison in which to dip his venal Tongue than We found this Man a pestilent Fellow and a Mover of Sedition Acts 24.5 And his Fellows the Holy Apostles were shot at with the like invenom'd Arrows And the Primitive Christians because they could not swear by Caesar's Genius or offer Incense to his Statue though they prayed for him most zealously obeyed him most loyally in all things consistent with their obeying God and lived most innocently and usefully among their Fellow-Subjects yet were esteemed no better than Traytors and Rebels and common Enemies of Mankind But I hope better things now The Second Inference If Righteousness exalt and Sin reproach a Nation They take wrong Measures and give others false aim who think the carnal Policy of conniving at Men's Unrighteousness and humouring them in their Lusts and winning them by laying the Reins of their Wickedness loose upon their Necks lest they grow turbulent and kick if they feel the Curb or Spur is the only way to settle a Nation and secure its Interest in Honour Safety Peace Surely this is to build with untempered Mortar and the Wall so built will fall and overwhelm those who vainly hoped to be sheltred and defended by it For God hath said Let Favour be shewed to the Wicked yet will he not learn Righteousness In the Land of Vprightness will he deal unjustly and will not behold the Majesty of the Lord. Isa 26.10 3. We may hence conjecture yea foresee what is like to be the Fate of Nations according to the Prevalency of Righteousness or Sin in the midst of them
Ezek. 14.20 3. Cry mightily to God to pardon thy own and the Nation 's Impiety Iniquity Improbity and with an holy and pathetick vehemency call to Heaven and Earth in Isaiah's Words Chap. 45. ver 8. Drop down ye Heavens from above and let the Skies pour down Righteousness Let the Earth open and let them bring forth Salvation and let Righteousness spring up together And sue out those gracious Promises that God hath made to his Church concerning Righteousness yet to be fulfilled to hasten their Accomplishment Such as these amongst many I will restore thy Judges as at the first and thy Counsellers as at the beginning afterwards thou shalt be called a City of Righteousness the faithful City Isa 1.26 In Righteousness shalt thou be established and shalt be far from Oppression Chap. 54.14 I will make thy Officers Peace and thine Exacters Righteousness ch 60.17 ver 21. Thy People also shall be all righteous And pray down that New Heaven and New Earth wherein Righteousness shall dwell which we expect and St. John saw descending 2 Pet. 3.13 Rev. 21.1 II. The Second Branch of the Exhortation I shall direct to all concerned in the solemn Business of the Day Plaintiffs and Defendants Counsellers and Pleaders Jurors and Witnesses I beseech and warn you to do all you do say all you say as in the sight and hearing of him who judgeth righteously and will render to every Man according to his Deeds All whose Ways are Judgment a God of Truth and without Iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 And if we must give an Account for every idle Word at the Day of Judgment Mat. 12.36 how much more for every false malicious scornful Word spoken before a sacred Tribunal of Judgment Briefly 1. Do to others as you would others should do to you None of you would be falsly witnessed against sworn out of your Estates Lives Liberties by a false Oath or have advantage taken of your Ignorance or Weakness to oppress you in Judgment or be run down by Noise and Clamour Do not serve others so 2. Do as Conscience will do by you at that Tribunal whither you are hastning that will then speak the Truth the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth Let that guide you not Favour nor Affection Love or Hatred Faction or Partiality Expectation of Reward or Fear of Revenge Lastly Let me without imputation of indecent Rudeness or immodest Boldness My Right Honourable Lords the Reverend Judges be your Remembrancer not to instruct you in your Duty which you know much better than I can teach it but to encourage you to persist in the performance of it As the Nations Happiness absolutely depends upon the flourishing of Righteousness and its flowing down as a mighty Stream so the promoting of Godliness and Piety Justice and Equity Honesty and Probity doth much depend upon your Love to them Zeal for them and Courage to execute true Judgment with Impartiality and Truth The Motives to it are so many and so cogent I have neither need nor time to reckon them up I only beseech you always to carry them with you and often to reflect upon them One is instead of all which I shall repeat in the Words of the good and great Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 19.6 Take heed what you do for you judge not for Man but for the Lord who is with you in Judgment Ver. 7. Wherefore now let the Fear of the Lord be upon you take heed and do it for there is no iniquity with the Lord nor respect of persons nor taking of Gifts thus shall you do faithfully and with a perfect heart Ver. 10. And what Cause soever shall come to you of your Brethren between Bloud and Bloud Law and Commandments Statutes and Judgments you shall warn them that they trespass not against the Lord and so Wrath come upon you and upon your Brethren This do and you shall not trespass Ver. 11. Deal courageously and the Lord shall be with the Good Franciscus Alverius writes of some Aethiopian Judges who sate upon the Foot-stool of their Chairs leaving the Seat empty for God or Angels to sit in And Plato tells us That Judgment used to be administred near the Temples that the Reverence of the Deity might bend the Judges Mind to the doing of Justice and I humbly hope this taking the Pulpit in the way to the Bench may have the like Effect Amen FINIS BOOKS Published by Dr. Anthony Walker The Vertuous Woman or the Life of the Countess of Warwick The Danger of deferring Repentance In several Sermons A Sermon before the Company of Apothecaries upon Eccles 10.1 Say on An Assize-Sermon before the Judges Fire out of Water Devotions for Water-Drinkers Discourses on Several Scriptures By Ezekiel Hopkins late Lord Bishop of London-Derry Newly Published