Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	answer_v	know_v	word_n	2,215	5	4.1186	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28565	The justice of peace, his calling and qualifications by Edmund Bohun, Esq.	Bohun, Edmund, 1645-1699.	1693 (1693)	Wing B3458; ESTC R18572	84,020	203

so Express it for they are to take the best care they can that they be not deceived in what they do by false Information to which end an Oath may be sometimes absolutely necessary But Magistrates are not only to avoid Giving Oaths in all Cases where they have no Authority but also in as many of the rest as they can I have read that the Turkish Country-Magistrates which are like our Justices of the Peace Determine almost all Cases without Oaths and yet if they are not corrupted by neither Party will by Queries observing the looks of Men when they Answer Laying things together and comparing one thing with another and by making all the several Parties tell the Story one after another or so much of it as they know by these I say and such like Methods they will so pick out the Truth that no Oath could do it half so well Now I know this Way is troublesome and will take time but it will discover the Truth sometimes when Oaths would not and save the Perjury too and so is worth the while And I have observed also that Men who are in Passion one against another do little regard the Religion of an Oath and yet their very Passion will discover the Truth without one if a Magistrate will have but a little Patience and give them time and liberty of Speech but on the contrary Men do generally revere an Oath when they are quiet and undisturbed and a Magistrate may best give an Oath when they are in that temper and rely upon the truth of what they say Secondly Oaths would not be given in things that are not of some Moment It is good to hear what a Person can say before he is Sworn and if it be nothing to the purpose then not to Swear him at all but if it be then to Swear him and bid him tell the Story the second time and observe if he vary by which means the Truth may be often found out Thirdly It is good to bring things into as narrow a compass as is possible by observing wherein the Parties agree and wherein they differ before any Oath be given and this will determine many Cases without an Oath the Parties agreeing at last about the Matter of Fact and if it will not that only in which they differ is to be proved upon Oath which will be liable to less hazard of Perjury than the whole If the Justice of Peace observes the Party who is to take an Oath be ignorant or young it is good to shew him the Nature of it in short plain words and to tell him the Danger and great Sin of Perjury and how severe God is against it and for that purpose to Alledge the Third Commandment or some other such like short place of Scripture which will have great effect upon untainted minds If he finds at any time after an Oath given that any thing is spoken that is not truth by the Party Sworn it is good to give the Party a grave sharp reproof at least It is an usual thing not to grant a Warrant of the Peace but upon Oath that the Party who requires it doth not do it upon Malice but purely out of fear Yet if it be well observed there will be found many Instances of Perjury in that case And therefore I think it were much better to grant a Warrant to shew cause why the Surety of the Peace should not be granted and so Examine the pretended fear when both the Parties are face to face than to pursue the old Method of Swearing the Complainant and then making the Warrant absolute Especially if there be not a grievous hurt or some other apparent cause for it I have often found by this way of proceeding that I have prevented Perjury and delivered an Innocent and sometimes an Injured Person from Vexation for it is no unusual thing for ill Men to Swear the Peace against others by way of Prevention when they have given them too much cause to do it to themselves and at other times by way of revenge when they have for good cause been forced to find Sureties Now in such instances as these it is good to prevent men from being actually forsworn even when they are too much disposed to it And when all this care is taken there will be many Perjuries committed how much more when there is none of it But the Justice of the Peace when he hath done what he could to prevent it may comfort himself and believe that God will not lay another mans Sin which he could not hinder to his Charge but if he Swear men rashly and without due precaution he as well as they must without doubt bear a part of the blame in the sight of God The Conclusion AND now I have with the greatest brevity I could run thorough all those Particulars I thought fit to Discourse on in relation to my Subject and thô it might have been better done by an abler Person yet never did any man enter upon any thing with more sincere and candid intentions for the Publick good And all that remains is to perswade those that are or shall be Justices of the Peace to reflect seriously upon what I have Written and then if they do not approve of my thoughts they may yet give them occasion of others and in all likelihood much better and it may also possibly excite some other Person to do it better and so oblige the World and me in the first place But in the mean time I humbly beseech all Magistrates that they would seriously consider Three things First That they are the Ministers of God and that is so honorable a Title that Constantine the Great took much Pride in it but then it will become them that Wear it to act as such for God is a severe Judge of Unprofitable Servants and much more of slothful and wicked ones for whom he hath provided a Punishment equal to the greatness of their offence and the dishonour they do him And on the other hand none shall enjoy more happiness in Heaven than they who have not only been good themselves but have laboured to make others such by governing them with Prudence and Discretion here on Earth Secondly They are the Representatives of their King and it is the greatest Disloyalty and Infidelity imaginable to pretend to Serve him and then Dishonour him to his People and deceive him in the Trust reposed on them Thirdly The People whom they are to govern will certainly rise up in Judgment against them if they mislead or misuse them for thô perhaps they cannot help themselves for the present whatever injuries they suffer yet their Redeemer is mighty and with him is no respect of Persons And when all this is seriously thought of I do not fear that they will treat their Monitor unkindly who had no other design in this than to make them happy here and hereafter by exposing those Vices that prevail more in general upon Men for want of Precaution than out of any Affection they have to them A Prayer O Thou who art the Soveraign Judg of the World seeing it hath pleased thee to call me into the Number of the inferior Judges in it Grant that I may administer Justice truely and indifferently to the punishment of Wickedness and Vice and to the maintenance of thy true Religion and Virtue And to that end enlighten my Vnderstanding that I may choose what is Just and Right in thy sight without respect of Persons and pursue the same with Courage and Industry Quiet all Divisions amongst us that we may not hinder each other nor dishonour thee by our Contentions Set a Watch O Lord before my Mouth and a Door with a Guard about my Lips Give me a meek patient humble spirit that I do nothing through Strife or Vain-glory but that I may patiently hear and submit to the reasons of others And finally in all things direct thy Servant into those things which may tend most to thy Glory the good of thy Church the Service of our Soveraign and the Peace and Happiness of my Country that when I shall appear before thy Tribunal to receive an an Eternal Sentence I may not perish forever but that thou mayest Remember me for Good and spare me in that day Grant this O Blessed Judg and Saviour for thy own sake Amen FINIS

self to reduce the Scales of Justice once sway'd down to an eqnal Ballance Wherefore it is the safest Course for a Judge that Nothing touching the proofs and merit of the cause be intimated before-hand untill both Parties be heard together Thus far this great Man who was once Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England And a Justice of the Peace is in much more danger of being prepossessed than a Judge because the Complaint is made at first immediately to him and he may afterwards be more easily approached yea and deceived too than a Judge as being not so well versed in affairs or prepared for the Execution of his Office by his Education and therefore should be the more Wary and Jealous of himself Sometimes the prejudice is of an Ancienter date than the Complaint depending and is sometimes the fault and at others the misfortune of the Party if he have given just cause for it by his former misdemeanors and ill Life then he can blame no body but himself and yet the Justice ought not to condemn him in his very thoughts till he is clearly proved Guilty for the Worst of Men may be Wronged and every man is supposed at first innocent and afterwards penitent till the contrary be shown not by surmises but by proof But alass we live in so False and Slanderous an Age that the Fame of very Good men is often blasted behind their backs and it is become a common practice for men to blacken their Reputation whose Persons or Estates they design to Ruine and for the most part more mischief is done the Party by these Under-hand Accusations which he can never answer then by all the direct proof And therefore the Justice of the Peace ought to suspect all informations that are from the purpose as Slanders and designed for no other purpose than to prepossess him with an ill opinion of the party What I have said will in some degree discover the Mischief of Prejudice but there is this further in it Reason is the Light and Eye of the Soul Now if the Eye be simple the Whole shall be full of Light but if it be darkened with prepossession how great is that Darkness Matth. 6. 23. and I may add how incurable how inexcusable too It is certain we shall all stand before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ and whatever Judgment we here pass upon Things and Persons shall be there reviewed and therefore it befits us to be very exactly careful that we do not draw upon us a just Condemnation from that most Righteous and All-seeing Judge by condemning our fellow-Servants thro Prejudice and Prepossession Wrongfully Nor let us ever think that we shall escape the censure of men for they will certainly at one time or other discover the Cheat and esteem us according as they find cause tho perhaps they will not dare freely to tell us their minds and if they never should yet our Consciences will Accuse us for it and God in his Providence will take care to punish us for it and that it may be in the same way we have offended So that he that can be secure in the midst of so many dangers and open his Ears and expose himself to every secret Whisper against a Man is a Person disposed for ruine and doth neither deserve the Advice or Pity of any Man Bribery and Prepossession do for the most part spring from others Favour and Hatred Favour and Hatred take their Rise from our selves and are as great hinderances to Equal and Impartial Justice as the other two there is no man so mean but he may by Accident or upon Design oblige his Betters and beget in them a good opinion of him and most men are naturally apt to do it before hand and all the little Arts of Flattery Obsequiousness and Courtship are on such occasions made use of and many a man hath been drawn in by them who would have abhorred a Bribe Nor can any man on the other side live so innocently as at all times to avoid the displeasure of his Neighbours and a Justice of Peace is as capable of resentment as other Men and in some degree more because Pride and great Expectations of Submission and Regard do naturally follow Power in all its degrees and Circumstances and the least opposition or defeatexasperates such more then ten times as much would another so that the Natural Consequence is that a man in Authority and Power will have many pretending Friends and if he be not the more careful as many real or suspected Foes and if his Love and his Hatred have any room left for their Activity in the Execution of his Office they will betray him to many Inconveniences and Acts of Injustice which he would otherwise have avoided Whereas Justice should in this respect be blind and not see the Parties but the Fact on one side and the Law on the other and then with discretion and impartiality without Favour or Affection Hatred or ill Will give to every Man according to his Works But in the State man is this is so difficult that if Reason and Religion be not called in to our Assistance it will not be done the man hath injured me and therefore another is false Logick but yet so powerful that it is almost impossible to see the Fallacy especially whilest a Man is under the Dominion of Anger and Hatred which are powerful Passions and the Argument is as weak the other way the man is an honest man and therefore would not do amiss or complain without good Cause Why he is a man still and subject to all the Infirmities of Flesh and Blood and therefore I ought not to surrender my self blind-fold to his Conduct but diligently search out the truth And indeed if men would entertain low and humble thoughts of themselves they would seldom be mistaken but if I think my Smile my Nod my kind Word or Look a mighty Obligation and make a Muster of my Friends by the List of my Flatterers and Admirers I shall soon have a large Roll but they will in Adversity appear to be what they are like false Musters in Peace appear in their Ranks and Files a full Body but in time of necessity and need be like the gleaning after the Vintage thin and of no use and every Act of Injustice I do will diminish the number of my Friends even of those for whose sakes I did it and increase the number and fury of my Enemies But on the other side Exact and Impartial Justice is venerable and lovely in the sight of God and Men and even those that suffer by it will when the smart is over love and revere the man that Administred it to them so the upright Impartial Magistrate shall in the end have fewer Enemies and more hearty Friends then the other If there were nothing but this to be said for it there were reason enough to banish all our Affections and Passions when we sit