IETHRO'S JUSTICE OF PEACE. A SERMON PREAched at a general Assizes held at BURY St. EDMVNDS, for the County of Suffolk. By SAMVEL WARD Bachelor of Divinity. LONDON, Printed by Edw. Griffin for john Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop, at the sign of the white Flower-de-luce near Fetter-lane end in Fleetstreet. 1618. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE Sr. FRANCIS BACON Knight, Lord Chancellor of England, etc. WHen we see one go or do amiss, though his feet or hands be the next actors and instruments of his error: yet we say not, Are you lame? but, Have you no eyes? or, Can you not see? What ever swerving or stumblings any part of the body politic makes, the blame lights not upon the Gentry or Commonalty, the immediate delinquents, but on the principal lights in Magistracy or Ministry, which being as Guardians and Tutors of the rest, should either prevent or reform their aberrations. And herein miserable is the condition of these two optic pieces, that they are more subject, and that to more distempers than other inferior parts: yet herein more, that being hurt, they are more impatient of cure; not only of searching acrimonious waters (which yet oft are needful) but shy of the most soft and lawny touches: but most of all in this, that being once extinct, they leave a void darkness to the whole body, exposing it to the pits of destruction. As exceeding great on the other hand, is the happiness, honour & use of them, if clear and single. For this our national body, it will little boot either to applaud the one, or to bewail the other: I rather wish and look about me for some eyesalve, which may help to descry and redress, if any thing be amiss. And behold here (Right Honourable) a confection poomising something thereto: It was prescribed first by jethro, whom Moses calls the eyes of Israel, Num. 10. 31. And newly compounded by an Oculist, of whom as I may not, so I need not say any thing at all. Next under the sacred Fountain of light (the light of our Israel) I worthily account your Lordship most sufficient in law to accept, to make use, to judge, to patronize it. The subject of the book is the principal object of your office, to elect, direct and correct inferior Magistracy. To which purposes, Nature, Literature and Grace have enabled you, that if you should fail the world's expectation, they will hardly trust any other in hazel. Many in rising have followed the stirrup, pampered and jetting honour not standing the ground, but once seated have done renownedly. But your Lordship had never any other greeces than your birth and desert; to which, hereditary dignity hath so gently tendered itself, that you have not let fall your name of religion in getting up. Therefore now you are in the top of honour, all that know you, look you will be exactly honourable. For my part, bounden to your Lordship for a favour formerly received, greater than your Honour knows of, or I can express: I shall leave jethro to be your Montoir, and myself remain ever an humble suitor to God, who hath made you a judge of conscience, that he would make you continue a conscionable judge, improving your place and abilities to the best advantage belonging to it, the furtherance of your reckoning at the last day. Your Honour's daily Beadsman, NATH. WARD. EXOD. 18. 21. 22. 23. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness, and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of ten. And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou do this thing, and God command thee so, than thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. IF jethro were, as the fashion of those times, and the nature of his style will bear, and (as some conceit) both Prince and Priest; Cohen. then was he beyond all exception, every way qualified; for skill, as a judicious Divine; and for experience, as an aged Governor, to give direction in matters of Magistracy, and to cast Moses a mould for a Polity in Israel. Sure I am, a godly and religious man he was, for he begins with prayer and ends with sacrifice. And such as himself, was his advise, sage and holy. And howsoever it passed from him at the first under God's correction, yet afterward allowed by God and practised by Moses, becomes of good policy, sound divinity; of private counsel, a general oracle: ruling for the substance of it, all ages and persons. Venerable it is for the very antiquity of it. What price do men set upon old copies, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ignat. ad Marian Cassob. coins and Statues? who passeth by a crystal fountain bearing some ancient name or date, and tastes not of it, though no thirst provokes him? Such is this, the clear headspring of all ensuing brooks in scripture and other writers concerning Magistracy. All those texts (which I wish were set as a frontlet between the eyes, and as a seal upon the hearts of all in authority) Iehosaphats charge, 2 Chro. 19 5. job his character, cha. 29. David's vow, Psal. 101. The scattered Parables of Solomon, and passages of the Prophets, chiefly that round and smart one Isai. 33. 14. are they not all branches of this root? In which respect it must needs be of sovereign use for the discovering and reforming of whatsoever error time hath soiled government withal. How are defaced copies and disfigured pictures better amended, then by reducing them to their original? if the pipe fail, go we not to the head? here is the Archetype or first draft of Magistracy, worthily in this regard chosen by judicious Bucer to press upon Edward the sixth, for the purgation of his offices and laws, from the dross and filth contracted under the Romish confusion: which considering, that worthy josiah of ours took in such good part, and practised with such good success. Yea, Moses himself learned in all good literature, trained up in Court, the greatest Lawgiver that ever was, and father of all lawgivers, of the thrice great Hermes, Lycurgus, Solon. Plato, justinian, & the rest. Yea, God's familiar favourite, faithful in his house, known by name and face, honoured with miraculous power, etc. And that at the hands of one (age and fatherhood excepted) his inferior. I trust that none will dare to reject or slight it of, remembering that Divinity, as the mistress taketh upon her to direct her handmaid, and that the Scripture is the best man of counsel for the greatest Statesman in the world: This little portion thereof containing in it more than all Lipsius his Beehive, or Machiavel's Spiderweb. All which will best appear by the opening of this rich cabinet, and viewing the several jewels in it, which are these. The parts of the Text. Division. It first gives order for the care and circumspection in the choice, Provide. Secondly, it directs this choice by four essential characters of Magistrates. 1. Men of ability. 2. Fearing God. 3. Men of truth. 4. Hating covetousness. Thirdly, it applies these four to Magistrates of all degrees, in an exact distribution of them, by way of gradation descending step by step, from the highest to the lowest. And place such over them to be rulers. 1. of thousands. 2. of hundreds. 3. of fifties. 4. of ten. Fourthly, it prescribes to the Magistrates, thus qualified and chosen, their offices; viz. to judge the people in the smaller causes, etc. and their assiduity and industry therein. And let them judge the people at all seasons, etc. And it shall be that they shall bring every great matter to thee, but every small matter they shall judge. Lastly, it propounds the blessed fruit and emolument that will necessarily ensue thereupon. First, to Moses himself, So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee, and thou shalt be able to endure. Secondly, to the people, And all this people shall go to their place in peace. The first point, Techezeh, Provide, or look out. Circumspection. A word implying all exactness and curiosity incident to elections, as Inspection, circumspection, inquisition, suspicion, information, deliberation, coming of Chozah, to see or contemplate, whence the Prophets were called Chosi, Seers. It is in a manner translated by a word of the like force in a business of the like nature. Acts 6. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, survey the whole body of the people, and choose the best you can cull out. It were somewhat strict and strange to say, that prayer and fasting must be used: And yet this I find practised in such cases, Acts 1. and Numb. 27. 16. Let the Lord God of the spirits of all flesh set a man over this Congregation. Yea, jethro himself sanctified this his advice with a prayer, verse 19 God be with thee. And good reason he should be called to counsel whose the judgement is, and whose providence is always very special in those elections, whether sought or no. If God supravise not, Samuel the Seer shall take seven wrong before one right. 1 Sam. 16. Some men's faults are palpable, and go before election, some are cunningly concealed and break not out till after. First, therefore look up to God, and then amongst the people, have thine eyes in thy head, all the care that may be will be little enough. Say not there are no sufficient persons, nor yet think every one that thinks himself so, or commonly goes for such, is sufficient: seek out such, and such may be found. Look among the Olives, Vines, and Figtrees: such trees must be climbed. Brambles will lay hold on the sleeve for preferment. Ne fit qui ambit. Let him never speed that sues. Lay hands on none rashly. They that are fit and able, must and will be sought to; yea, haled out of their ease and privacy into the light of employment: the charge and danger whereof they weighing, as well as the credit, or gain, and knowing them to be callings, will not meddle with them, till they be called to them. Which ambitious Inconsiderates not being able to ponder, much less to sustain, thrust their shoulders under, and either by hook or crook come in, or climb into the chair of honour, more tickle than the stool Eli broke his neck off: whither when they have aspired with much travail and cost they sit as in the top of a mast in fear and hazard, and often fall with shame & confusion. Not unlike to some rash youth, that having gotten an horse as wild as himself, with much ado backs him, sits him in a sweat, and comes down with a mischief. For the prevention of all which evils avoidable attending ambition, lighting partly upon the intruders themselves, partly upon the admitters, but most heavily upon the commonweal, see how needful Iethro's counsel was and ever will be; That such be provided, not as would have places, but as places should have. Which care, as jethro commits to Moses, so both the Scripture and reason imposeth upon the superior Magistrate, in whose power and place, it is either to nominate or constitute inferior Authorities: and whose fault chiefly it is, if they be otherwise then they ought, or the people injured in in this kind. How circumspect and religious ought such to be, in the performance of this greatest and weightiest duty. Unless you will reply, as I fear many a Fox doth in his bosom; Thus indeed you have heard it said of old, but those times were plain, and jethro a simple meaning old man. A beaten Politician of our times, learned in the wisdom of newer state, and acquainted with the mysteries of the market, that knows how to improve things to the best, for his own time and turn, and to let the common body shift for itself, would have projected Moses a far more commodious plot, after this or the like manner: Now you have offices to bestow, a fair opportunity in your hand, to make yourself for ever, to raise your house, to pleasure your friends, either proclaim it openly or secretly, set it abroach by some means or other, see who bids fairest, weigh the sacrifices, choose the men of the best and greatest gifts. Oh gall of bitterness, oh root of all evil to Church and Commonwealth, when authorities and offices of justice shall be bought and sold, as with a trumpet or drum to the candle or outrope. Tanquam sub hasta. The particular branches whereof, when I seriously consider, I wonder not that Christ with such zealous severity broke down the banks, and whipped out the chapmen out of the Temple: nor that Peter with such fiery indignation banned Simon and his money. For if such men and money perish not, Kingdoms and Churches must perish, and both Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts will soon prove dens of thieves. Whose soul bleeds not to see men's souls bought and sold, like sheep at the market to every Butcher? of this you Lawyers much complain against the Clergy men, for buying of benefices: which you might do the more justly, if yourselves were not often the sellers of them. I would the fault rested only in benefices, and reached not into offices and civil dignities. Indeed that kind of purchase we call not simony, it may from his other name be fitlier styled magic: for by I know not what kind of witchcraft, men sin by leave and law in these civil purchases. The laws and statutes provided for the remedy of the evil in some cases, tolerating it in other, and the practice by means of this allowance growing intolerable. Some of them (as the world reports) offices for life & at pleasure, amounting to the rate of lands and inheritances. I am not ignorant of the distinction of judicature, trust and pains; but are they not all offices of justice? do they not prepare to judicature, and lies it not in them to guide or misguide, to hasten or delay justice, etc. which how can they freely give, which buy dearly. Doth not Bucer deal faithfully with his Sovereign? Offices are not livings and salaries; but charges and duties: not preferments for favourites; but rewards of deserts, etc. Doth julius, justinianus, or Theodosius their laws give allowance to any? See then how providently jethro provides against this Hemlock-root of justice? out of whose proviso I conclude that which Augustine saw in his time, and dear experience confirms in others: Aug. Lib. 〈…〉 That such as provide themselves places, and are not provided for them; come into them, and execute them, not with a mind of doing good, but domineering; not of providing for others welfare, but for their own turns. Let us pray, that if it be possible this fault may be forgiven and amended. And not this only, but another near of kind to this, Generality. met withal in the very next clause of my text, Among all the people Micol Hagnam.) Where jethro restrains not Moses to his own Family, to any particular Tribe, or to the richer sort: but requires this freedom, as well as the former circumspection. Generality and impartiality being requisite to the good being of a choice: and limitation and restraint the very banes of Election; yea, contradictions to it. As if one should say, you shall choose amongst twenty, but you shall choose this or that one: Doth he not in effect say you shall not have your choice? will a man when he goes to Market be confined to any shop or stall, if he mean to provide the best? How grossly is the country wronged and befooled, chiefly in the choice of such, as into whose hands they put their lives and lands at Parliaments, by a kind of Congee defliers, usually sent them by some of the Gentry of the Shires, persuading (if not prescribing) the very couple they must choose. Thus have we seen Naturals tied to a post with a straw, which they durst not break. This text bids you know and stand fast in your lawful liberties of election, which that you may not abuse, I come to the second part of the Text. The second part. It teacheth you how to order and direct it by these four marks following: which I reckon as four supporters of the throne of justice, not altogether unlike to those four in Christ's throne, so often mentioned in the old and new Testament, which being properties of Angels, are symbols both of Magistrates and Ministers. These four whosoever is compounded of, is a man after Gods own heart, and a star in his right hand. He that wants any of them, is but a blazing comet, how high soever he seems to soar. These will not only serve for the trial of such as are Candidati, and to be chosen: but also of such as are invested and already in in place to approve or reprove their condition. And for this end and purpose, let us use them this day, as four weights of the Sanctuary, whereunto whatsoever Officer here present, from the judges to the Bailiffs, shall not answer: This Text (as the hand-writing on the wall) shall say unto him from God; Thou art weighed in the balance, & found too light, and thine office (at least ought to be) taken from thee. The first Character or weight. Ability. The first and prime mark is Ability (Anishi Chaijl). So our new translation expresseth it well in a comprehensive word, and so I find it in Scripture signifying and comprising all the severals that belong to faculty or ability: whereof I number first three complemental for conveniency; secondly, three substantial and of necessity. First Chaijl includes strength of body and manhood, Strength. such as enableth them for riding, going, sitting, watching, and industrious execution of their place: Such as the scripture commends in Caleb at fourscore and five, and stories in Vespasian, our Alfred, Hardicanutus, Ironsides, etc. Which our strait buttoned, carpet and effeminate Gentry, Wealth. wanting, cannot endure to hold out a forenoon or afternoon sitting without a Tobacco bait, or a game at Bowls, or some such breathing to refresh their bodies and minds, little acquainted with the tediousness of wise and serious business: Woe to the people (saith Solomon) whose Princes are children and eat in the morning; and blessed are the people whose Governors eat in time and for strength. Eccles. 10. Secondly, neither is wealth to be excluded: That Diana of the world, which it only accounts Ability, and calls it opes & potentia, which yet is better called value than valour, yet may it concur to make up that which our Law term calls mieulx valiant; and though at the beam of the Sanctuary money makes not the man, yet it adds some metal to the man. And beside there is some use of these trappings to the common sort, Ad populum phaleras, which taught Agrippa to come to the judgement seat with pomp, state, and attendance, like that of our Sheriffs not to be neglected, as that which procures some terror and awe in the people: which Alexander well advised of, left his Gigantique armour behind him among the Indians, and used more state then at Greece. Yet remembering that these compliments without the substance are but empty gulls and scarbuggs of majesty, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cassa & hordea●ea morionu sceptra. Chapm. Z●ch. the Sophistry of government, as one calls them. And as Zachary the Prophet saith, the instruments of a foolish Governor. And such as jeremy derides in Shallum the son of josiah, jerem. 22. 14. Thinkest thou to rule because of thy large building, Cedar ceiling, painted with vermilion, did not thy Father prosper when he did execute judgement and justice? which is indeed the truth and substance, th' other but the flourish. Thirdly, I exclude not birth and blood, Birth. which many times conveys spirit and courage with it, Blessed is the land whose Princes are the sons of Nobles. Eccles. 10. 17. Eagles produce Eagles, and Crows cravens, yet regeneration and education often corrects this rule: and experience tells us, That cottages and ploughs have brought forth as able men for the gown and sword, as Palaces and Sceptres. judge 6. 15. Gideon came out of the poorest of the family of Manasse, and he the least in his father's house, a poor thresher. David was taken from the sheepfold etc. yet both mighty men of valour, and special saviours of their people. And the wisdom of some of our neighbour Nations is much to be commended in this, that if they discern an excellent spirit and faculty in any man, they respect not his wealth, or birth, or profession, but choose him into their Magistracy and weighty employments. But these three are but of the by and well being, 1 Wisdom and experience. the three following of the main and essential to Magistracy, all comprised under the word Chaijl, as first wisdom and experience, which the Preacher tells us is better than strength, Eccles. 9 16. either of body or estate. And of this ability Moses expounds this word in his practice, Deutro. 1. 15. which is a good Commentary upon his father's advice. And indeed without this what is a Magistrate, Monstrum eui lumen ademptum. but a blind Polyphemus, or a monster without an eye. If he want either skill in the laws, or observation of his own, must he not be tutored by his Clerk, as it often falls out? or shall he not be misled by some Counsellor, crossed and contradicted by every slander by, that shall tell him this you cannot do by Law, or I take it you are beside your book. The second is strength of mind, to govern and manage passion and unruly affections, 2 Moderation of mind, or equanimity which he that wields at will, is stronger than he that subdues a city and conquers a Kingdom, to bear and forbear, and to order the mutinous perturbations of the mind, is that ability which the Grecians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Very requisite in a judge, who must not suffer his affection to disquiet his judgement and understanding, in rising at the first complaint; nor at any accident or present miscarriage of either party, suddenly occasioned, which is collateral to the cause, and impertinent to the question, but he must be patient and meek towards their personal weakness. Likewise long-minded, to endure the rusticity and homeliness of common people in giving evidence after their plain fashion and faculty, in time, and multitude of words, happily with some absurdities of phrase or gesture, nor impatient towards their foolish affected eloquent terms, nor any thing else whereby the truth of their tale may be guessed at. Lastly and principally, I understand with the Geneva translation, that fortitude, Courage or Magnanimity. valour and magnanimity, which we call courage and spirit; typified in judah the Law-giving Tribe, whose emblem or scutcheon was the Lion Couchant, that sits or lies by the prey without fear of rescue, that turns not his head at the sight of any other creature, Prou. 30. which Solomon symbolized in the steps of his throne adorned with Lions: The Athenian judges by sitting in Mars-street. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Some think that from this virtue Constantine was termed Revel. 12. the Churches male or manchild: others apply it to Luther: others to Christ, the true Lion of juda. And though I regard not the Salic Law, because the God of spirits hath often put great spirits into that sex; yet I mislike not Theodoret's observation upon that in Leviticus, Leuit. ●. 22. & 27. where the Ruler for his sin is enjoined to offer an he-goat, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. the private man a shee-goat. The male suits the Ruler best, and the female the ruled. This ability is so requisite, that it is often put for the only quality, as if this alone would serve, as in Moses charge to joshua, and David's to Solomon. And experience hath taught, that where this one hath abounded, though the other have been wanting in some Magistrates: they have done more good service to their Country, than many others who have had some tolerable measure of the rest, but have failed only in this. Had not the principal posts of an house need to be of heart of oak? are rulers & standards that regulate other measures, to be made of soft wood, or of lead, that will bend and bow at pleasure? do men choose a starting horse to lead the team? had not he need be of David's valour, and Sampsons' courage, that must take the pray out of the lions mouth, and rescue the oppressed from the man that is too mighty for him? had not he need to be of some spirit and resolution, that must neglect the displeasure and frowns, reject the letters and suits of great men and superiors? It is incredible to those that know it not, what strength great men will put to (especially if once interested) for the upholding of a rotten Alehouse, countenancing of a disordered retainer, etc., the resistance whereof requires it not some spirit? had not the brain need to be of a strong constitution, that must dispel and disperse the fumes ascending from a corrupt liver, stomach, or spleen? I mean the clamours, rumours, and sometimes the flatteries of the vulgar, which often intoxicate able men, and make them as weak as water, yielding and giving as Pilate, when he heard but a buzz that he was not Caesar's friend, and saw that in dismissing Christ, he should displease the jews. What heroical spirit had he need have, that must encounter the Hydra of sin, oppose the current of times, and the torrent of vice, that must turn the wheel over the wicked; especially such roaring monsters, and rebellious Choras, such lawless sons of Belial, wherewith our times swarm, who stick not to oppose with crest and breast, whosoever stand in the way of their humours and lusts? Surely, if jethro called for courage in those modest primitive times, and among a people newly tamed with Egyptian yokes: what do our audacious and foreheadlesse Swaggerers require? our lees and dregs of time; not unlike to those wherein God was fain to raise up extraordinary judges, to smite hip and thigh, etc. What Atlas shall support the state of the ruinous and tottering world, in these perilous ends of time? For all these forenamed purposes, how unapt is a man of a soft, timorous, and flexible nature? for whom it is as possible to steer a right course without swerving to the left hand or right, for fear or favour, as it is for a cockboat to keep head against wind and tide, without help of oars or sails: experience ever making this good, that cowards are slaves to their superiors, follow-fooles to their equals, tyrants to their inferiors, and winde-mills to popular breath, not being able to any of these to say so much as no. Wherefore this text proclaims and speaks, as Gedeon in the ears of all the fainthearted. Whosoever is fearful and timorous, let him depart from mount Gilead, judg. 7. 3. and there departed twenty thousand; and yet God the second time, out of the remnant, viz. ten thousand, defaulks all the lazy persons, and reduced that huge army to three hundred able persons. It were excellent for the Commonwealth, if such a substraction might be made: and the weakhearted would resign their rooms to able men. For what have servile cowards to do with the sword of the Lord, and Gedeon, with God and the King's offices. On the contrary, it saith to all men of ability, as the Angel to Gedeon, The Lord is with thee thou mighty man of valour, go on in this thy might to save Israel, etc. What is our office that are Ministers, but as God's Trumpeters and Drummers to encourage, hearten and put life in those that fight his battles and do his work. By the virtue then of this my text, I say to every good-hearted Magistrate, proceed and go on from strength to strength. And if any ask me, who then is sufficient for these things? or where shall we get this strength, that are but flesh and blood, and men as others? I answer with job, job 28. Silver hath his vein, and gold his mine where it is found, iron is taken out of the earth, and brass molten out of the stone, but the place of this ability is not to be found in the land of the living. Nature saith it is not to be found in me; Wealth and Honour says not in me: It is falsely said of Cato and Fabricius, that the Sun might sooner be stayed or altered in his race, than they in the course of justice. The stoutest and the richest will yield. But David tells his son Solomon on his deathbed, where he shall find it. Thine, 1 Chron. 29. 11. & 12. o Lord, is greatness and power, thou art the head of all riches, honour and strength are in thy hands, it is in thee to make great, etc. This God hath taught David to break a bow of steel with his hands: It is he that looseth the collar of Princes, girdeth their loins, & ungirdeth them again, befools the Counsellor, the judge and the spokesman: He it was that made the shoes of joseph as strong as brass, jeremiah as a wall of brass, Caleb as strong at fourscore and five as at forty; if Sampsons' hair be off, and God departed from him, he is as other men, and he can strengthen him again without his locks at his pleasure. If any man want wisdom or strength, let him pray, and he can make him wiser than the children of the East, and stronger than the Anakins: wherefore be strong in the Lord, faint not, be not weary of well-doing, for fear of opposition and crossing: though in rowing this ship, the winds blow, and the seas rage, Christ can strait send an halcyon, and set it on shore. It is the fault of many Christian Magistrates, ever to be complaining and groaning under the burden: as if ease and delicacy were to be sought for in government. What if there be a Lion in the way? the righteous is bolder than the Lion: what if thou be weak? is not God strength? and doth not he perfect his strength in our weakness? what if there be many opposites in the way, true courage is strong as death, Cant. 8. and will trample all under feet without resistance. Yea, but what if an host come against thee, and as Bees encompass thee? true faith sees more on God's side then against him, even guards of Angels, as plainly as men do the Sheriff's halberds, and doubts not, but in the name of the Lord to vanquish them all. One concluding place for all, out of a Preachers mouth, Eccles. 7. 1●. that knew what he said, wisdom strengthens one man more than twenty mighty Potentates that are in a city, he that feareth God shall come forth of all dangers. Whence by way of passage, note that the next point of the fear of God, is that which giveth life to the foregoing, and to the two following also: and is placed in the text, as the heart in the body, for conveying life to all the parts; or as a dram of musk, perfuming the whole box of ointment. Fearing God. jethro must be understood not of the poor bastardly slavish fear, The second Character. which depraved nature hath left in all: nor of any sudden flash of fear wrought by word or works, such as Felix, Balshazzar & Caligula were not void of, and yet never the better Magistrates: But such a filial fear, as faith and the assurance of God's love and salvation breeds; such as awed joseph, Cornelius, David, etc. This is the fear required by jethro, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae parit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, godliness which breedeth an heedfulness in all our ways and actions. Without this fear of God, what is ability but the devils anvil, whereon he forgeth and hammereth mischief? what is wisdom but subtlety? what is courage unsanctified, but injustice? wherein is such skill in the laws commonly employed, but in colouring and covering bad causes and persons, and in making the laws a nose of wax to private ends? other men have other bits and restraints; but men in authority, if they fear not God, have nothing else to fear. Wherefore Christ joins them well in the unrighteous judge, that he feared neither God nor man. If he be a simple coward, he fears all men, if a man of ability, he fears none at all. What are the nerves and sinews of all government, the bonds and commands of obedience, but an oath? and what are oaths to profane men, but as Sampsons' cords, which he snapped asunder, as fast as they were offered him. The common sort of our people count the oaths that men take when they take offices, no other then formal: so they distinguish them (a strange distinction) from other oaths of contract, and dally with them accordingly. They discern God no more in oaths, than Christ in the Sacraments: and therefore take them, and break them rashly and regardlessly, which when they have done, the Devil enters into them, as into judas; and runs them headlong into all perjured courses: which makes the land to mourn for the contempt of oaths, and neglect of duties. What is the ground of all fidelity to King and Country, but religion? welfare Constantius his maxim, He cannot be faithful to me, that is unfaithful to God. Why then, what are oaths for Atheists and Papists, other than collars for monkeys necks, which slip them at their pleasure? such neither are nor can be good subjects: much less good Magistrates. Papists will keep no faith with Protestants, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. let Protestants give no trust to Papists, 〈…〉 though they swear upon all the books in the world. Finally, what is the principal scope of Magistracy in God's intention, whose creature and ordinance it is; but to promote his glory, countenancing the Gospel and the Professors of it, safeguard of the Church and Commonwealth, the first and second table, and principally the two former. Now for all these, chiefly for the chiefest, what cares a Cato or a Gallio, who bears the sword in vain for God and his ends; who never minds any thing but his own Cabinet, or the ship of the Commonwealth at the best: for the other, sink they swim they, all is one to him, he took no charge, nor will he take notice of them. Wherefore I conclude, that the fear of God is the principal part, as of my Text, so of a good Magistrate, whom Christ calls a Ruler in Israel, Paul God's Minister and sword-bearer: john 3. yea, Rom. 13. the very form and soul of such an one: yea, it troubles me to make it, Eccles. 12. 13. but a part which Solomon calls the whole of a man, especially such a man who is sent of God, 1 Pet. 2. for the praise of the godly, and the punishment of evil doers. In which respect being the main of my Text, give me leave to give you a short character of such a Magistrate, as this quality will make him, where ever it is found in any good latitude. He is one that came into his place by God's door, and not by the devils window: when he is in, he eyes him that is invisible, even God in the assembly of Gods: and therefore sits on the judgement seat in as great, though not in so slavish a fear of offending, as Olanes upon the flayed skin of his 〈…〉, nailed by Cambyses on 〈◊〉 Tribunal: or as a Russian judge that fears the boiling cauldron, or open battocking: or the Turkish Senate, when they think the great Turk to stand behind the Arras, at the dangerous door. Who hath always, (as God enjoineth, Deut. 17. 18.) a copy of the law of his God before him, and reads it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and to keep the Commandment without turning aside, either to the right hand or left. If at all he be glad of his place, it is not as a chair of honour, or farm of commodity, nor sword of revenge: but only as a mean of furthering his reckoning, and pleasuring his Country. For his oath, he remembers it, and trembles, lest if carelessly he transgress it, the winged flying book overtake him before he get home: if he cut but the skirt or lap of justice, his heart smites him with a privy pinch, till he sets all right again with God and man. He dares not so much as by countenance offend any of God's little ones, nor afford a good look to a varlet, nor yet so to respect their persons, as to wrong their cause; for he knows all these to be abomination to his Lord, into whose hands he dreads to fall, as knowing him a consuming fire, and one that hath provided Tophet for Princes. When an unlawful suit is commenced by power or by friendship, his heart answers if not his tongue) with job: How shall I do this, and answer God when he comes to judgement. As for bribes, he dares not look on them, lest they blind his eyes before he be aware: such pitch he dares not touch, nor receive into his bosom, lest it defile him in the open sun, if tendered in closet or chamber, he fears the timber and stones in the wall would be witnesses against him. When he comes in court, he fixeth his eye, neither before him on that person, nor about him on the beholders, nor behind him for bribes, Summa boni Iudicu est neque respicere, neque despicere, neque circumspicere, sed suspicere. 〈◊〉 in joh. 5. 30. but upward on God: generally considering that Christ is Lord paramount of all courts of justice, and that now his father hath resigned all judgement into his hands. He stewards all to his content, promotes his profits without wrong to the Tenant. Looks so to the Church, that the Commonweal receive no detriment: and so to the Commonwealth, as the Church shall surely flourish: so countenancing the servants of God, that he wrong not the worst worldling: maintains piety, and neglects not equity: keeps his house well, but his Church better: in frequenting whereof, he with his family are precedents to all the hundreds where he dwells: And in a word, doth as much good by his example, as by his authority. This is the godly man, whom the Lord chooseth and guideth, whose praise and reward is of God: which David having found true in his life, a little before his death, recordeth to all ages. 2 Sam. 〈…〉. 3. 4 The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel spoke to me, the strength of Israel said, thou shalt bear rule over men, being just, and ruling in the fear of God. Even as the morning light when the sun riseth, the morning, I say, without clouds, so shall mine house be, and not as the grass of the earth is by the bright rain. For God hath made with me an everlasting covenant, perfect in all points and sure. Let the Devil and the world storm and burst with envy, one of these is worth a thousand of the common sort, though men will see no difference, but say, Are not all honest and sufficient men? Let men talk of their quiet and peaceable neighbours, and good housekeepers, good Commonwealths men: though these be good things, yet if religion come not in, as a number to make them of some value, they are but all as ciphers in God's account. Now if God think of meanly of these, who are either mere civil and politic men, or idle pleasurable Gentlemen, what reckoning do we think he makes of such profane uncircumcised vice-gods (as I may in the worst sense best term them) that sell themselves to work wickedness? that give themselves to all good fellowship (as they call it) and to all excess of riot (as the Apostle calls it) and that hate to be reform: such I mean as hold religion a disparagement to Gentry, and fear nothing more, then to have a name that they fear God, who think when they have gotten an office, they may swear by authority, oppress by licence, drink and swill without control. What shall I say of such? are these Gods, and children of the most high, or the characters of his most holy Image? devils are they rather, than Deputies for him, Imps of his Kingdom, far better becoming an Alebench, than a Shire-bench, and the bar, than a judgement seat. But what shall I say to such mock-god-like Esau's? shall I take up the words of Moses: if thou wilt not fear this glorious name, The Lord thy God, I will make thy plagues wonderful, and of great continuance: Or those of David, which perhaps will sit them better, and these times of imminent changes, They know not, and understand nothing; they walk in darkness, albeit the foundations of the earth be moved: I have said ye are Gods, but ye shall die like men, and fall like others. Or will they suffer the Prophet's exhortation, who art thou that dreadest a mortal man, Isa. 52. 8. 12. 13. whose breath is in his nostrils, whom the moth shall eat like a garment, and the worm like wool: And forgettest thy maker, that hath spread the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, that giveth the first and latter rain, that hath set the bounds to the sea, Ier 5. 22. 24. etc. Or will they hear Salomon's end of all? Fear God, that will bring every secret to judgement: or a greater yet than Solomon, Fear him that is able when he hath killed the body, to destroy the soul also in hell fire for evermore. Well, the Lord cause them to hear, that hath planted the ear: and plant his fear in their hearts where it is not, increase it where it is, that there may be more holy Magistrates, and that the holy may yet be more holy. And then we hope the other two properties following will more abound, and we shall spend the less time and labour about them: For men fearing God truly, will be also Men of truth. Without which, show of religion is but lying vanity: The third Character. a glorious profession, but plain hypocrisy: And courage, if it be not for the truth and in the truth, is but either Thrasonical audacity, or wicked impudence. And therefore this character added to the former, joins those which are in the form of jurates, and aught to be in all Officers, good men and true. This style, men of truth, admits two interpretations, both compatible with the text and theme. A man of truth is either a true Israelite, a true Nathaniel void of guile, as truth is opposed to hypocrisy: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. or else a lover of the truth, as truth is opposed unto falsehood. One that in particular cases, suits, and controversies between man and man, counts it his honour ro sift out the truth, maintain the truth, stick to it, not suffering himself to be misinformed by talebearers, Promoters and Sycophants: nor misled and perverted by the false pleading and colouring of consciencelesse counsellors: But brings judgement to the balance and rule of righteousness, & delights (as the hound doth naturally in scenting out the hare) to search and trace out the truth, out of all the thickets and dens of juggling and conveyance, labouring as much to boult it out by examination in Hypothesi, as the Philosophers by disputations in Thesi: being of his temper that worthily said, Plato is my friend, Socrates my friend, but the Truth is my dearest friend. Or like job, job. 29. 16. who covered himself with justice, and to whom judgement was as a rob & a crown, who when he knew not the cause, sought it out diligently. And for this purpose, a man of truth keeps men of truth about him: and with David, Psal. 101. 7. abandons all liars out of his household: whereas of a Prince that hearkeneth to lies, all his servants are Liars. And of such justice, which is in truth and for truth, I say (as of old it was said) neither the evening nor the morning star equals it in brightness. 〈…〉. But withal, I must complain as of old, that truth is fallen in the streets, and utterly perished from among men, Isa. 54. 4. judgement fails and stands a far off, equity enters not. The common trade of the times, being to weave lies in all cases, especially against the true servants of God. And the common weakness of the times, to receive the slanders which are broached and bruited by tongues set on fire from hell: so that he that refrains from cunning, makes himself a prey, the Latin whereof was all that Lewis the eleventh would have his son to learn: 〈…〉 and is all the policy that most study and practise. Insomuch that the common bywords are, that when men swear by faith and truth, they swear by Idols that are not, names they are and notions, things they are not, nor substances: jewels they are, but such as use them die beggars: honourable Ladies and Mistresses they are, but such as follow them close at the heels, may have their teeth dashed out of their heads. Well, let deceivers thus deceive themselves, let cunning heads and glozing tongues make as much as they will of Tiberius his Art, or the Devils rather, the father of the Art, of dissimulation. In the end they shall prove it to be most pernicious to the Students and Masters of it. Let the children of truth justify their mother, which hath the reward of honour in her right hand, and of wealth in the left. And if it should be attended with hatred and crosses for a time, yet he that is Amen, the true witness, yea truth itself, will reward them in the end: when he shall shut out with the dogs, all such as love and make lies; with whose exhortation I close up this link, and knit with the following, Buy the truth and sell it not, which he that means to do must be A true hater of covetousness, Else will Salomon's several proverbs meet in him. The fourth Character. Prou. 17. 4. The wicked gives heed to the false lip, & the liar to a naughty tongue. He taketh the gift out of the bosom to wrest judgement. Acceptatio muneris est prevaricatio ver●tatis Acceptation of gifts prove commonly prevarication to the truth. It is impossible to be a champion to Truth, and a slave to Mammon: but he must love the one and hate the other. It is best therefore to hate the worst, yea the worst of all vices incident to Magistracy: the root of all evil, which if it be not rooted out of the Magistrates heart, it alone will poison all the three former qualities required in him. Neither strength, nor religion, nor love of the truth, shall be able to preserve him from enchantments of covetousness. Which being an inordinate love of money, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. an evil concupiscence of having more than God hath allotted, or a lawful course affordeth: is such a kind of Idolatry, as transformeth the worshippers of this golden calf into Idols themselves, Exod ●7. making them to have eyes that see not, ears that hear not: only leaving them hands to handle that which perverteth the eyes of the wise. Deut. 16. 19 It boreas out their eyes, and maketh them as blind as ever was Samson and Zedekiah. Eyes you know are tender things, and small motes annoy them, even handfuls of barley and morsels of bread make such men to transgress: 〈…〉 And a drams weight injected, incline the golden schools of justice to which side they please. There is such a strange bewitching power in Balaams' deceitful wages, that he that will admit them for justice, 〈…〉 shall soon take them for injustice: if the right hand be full of bribes the left hand must be full of mischief. The Devil as well as the Briber layeth his hooks in this shrap, whereof he that is greedy, and will needs be rich, falleth into his snare, and many other noisome lusts, 1 Tim. 6. which sink men into perdition, pierceth their souls with sorrow, their names with reproach: cause them to swerver from the truth, and make shipwreck of a good conscience: Even the most precious things are vile and cheap in his eyes: to whom money is dear, he will not stick with Ahab to sell even himself to work wickedness for the compassing of that this soul loveth and longeth after. But thou oh man of God fly these things, and hate covetousness with a perfect hatred. Hate it as Ammon did Thamar, first thrust it out of thy heart, and shut and lock the door after it. Secondly, Heb. 13. 5. let thy behaviour and conversation be averse and strange from the love of money. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let all sordid and filthy lucre be abominable: all ill gotten goods execrable; let them stink in thy nostrils, as ill as Vespasians tribute of urine. Shake thy lap of bribes with Nehemiah. Consider as Bernard counsels Eugenius, 〈…〉 How the people may grow rich under thee, & not thou by them. Remember the end of Balaams' wages, and of judas his bag. And wish with Damianus rather to have gehazy's lepry, than his curse entailed to thee and thy posterity, & inheritance after thee: fretting thine estate as a canker and moth, consuming your flesh as fire, and crying in the ears of the Lord of hosts for vengeance. But what do I making myself ridiculous to this old doting covetous age of the world: this theme only made the pharisees laugh at Christ his woes, because they were covetous: And so do they serve all our caveats against covetousness, applauding themselves and laughing in their sleeves, when they behold their bags in the chest, and their lands from off their Turrets, saying to themselves, What is a man but his wealth? What is an office but the fees? There is a text in Esay, that if Paul had the preaching of it, Esay 33 14. he would make every groping and gripping Felix to tremble, I mean such as the Scripture termeth roaring Lions, ranging Bears, Horseleeches, Wolves, devouring all in the evening, and leaving none till the morning: as well judges that judge for reward, and say with shame, Bring you; such as the Country calls Capon-Iustices: as also such mercenary Lawyers, as sell both their tongues and their silence, their client's causes and their own consciences: who only keep life in the law, so long as there is money in the purse; and when this golden stream ceaseth, the mill stands still, and the case is altered: such extorting Officers of justice, as invent pulleys and winches for extraordinary fees, to the miserable undoing of poor suitors: such false perjured Sheriffs, Stewards of liberties and their Deputies, as for money falsify their charges: such corrupted jurates and witnesses of the post, which are as hammers and swords, and sharp arrows in their brethren's hearts: such cheese-bayliffs and lamb-bayliffs, as vex the poor Countrymen with unjust summons to the Assizes and Sessions, with the rest of that Rabble. These Muckwormes of the world, which like the Gentles breed of putrefaction, & Beetles fed in the dung, relishing nothing else but earthly things: think there is no other godliness but gain, no happiness but to scrape and gather, to have and to hold. Let such consult shame to their houses: let such make their offices as casting nets for all fish that come: till they get the Devil and all: Let them heap up treasures of wickedness and treasures of wrath withal. But where there is any fear of God and love of the truth, let john's counsel prevail with them, to be content with their due wages: Let Paul persuade them, that godliness is gain with contentation: Solomon, that God's blessing maketh rich, and adds no sorrow therewith: So shall they follow Iethro's advise the better, and and prove complete Magistrates & Officers: Men of courage, men of religion, men of truth, hating covetousness. These are the four Cardinal virtues of Magistrates, of which if all were compounded, and were as eminent for them as for their place: and did (as the great Dictator of reason speaks in his Politics) as far exceed the vulgar sort in those heroical virtues, as the statues of the gods, the statues of men: then would people become voluntary subjects, put the sceptres into their hands, and the law of commanding and obeying become easy, things thought irreparable would easily be reform. The third part. But before I come to make use of what hath been said, let me, as the third part of my text, and the distribution of Magistracy requires, tell you to whom all this hath been spoken: not to judges and justices of peace only, as I fear most have imagined in hearing it: but to all from the highest and greatest, to the lowest and least Instrument of justice, from the Governor of the thousand, to the Centurion, from him to the tithing-man or Decinour. To the which ancient division of the jewish Commonwealth, our platform agrees in substance. Their Sanedrim or Senate of seventy, to our Parliament, Counsel-table, starchamber, Exchequer-chamber, etc. Our justices of Assizes in their Circuit, and justices of peace in their general commission or dominion, & High Sheriffs in their Shires, answering to the Rulers of thousands. Our justices in their several divisions, judges of hundred Courts and Turns to their Rulers of hundreds, to whom I may add high Constables in their places, our Court-leets, and Court-barons, to the rulers of fifties; to whom I add ordinary Constables in their offices, our chief Pledges, tithingmen or Deciners, to their rulers of ten. Now all these jethro means, and speaks of every one of them in their station and degree, conceiving the Commonwealth, as an instrument not well in tune, if but the least of these strings be false or nought. Contrary to the common and dangerous opinion of the vulgar, who to their own injury think and say, that it matters not for petty Officers, Constables and Bailiffs, etc. though they be of the lees and dregs of men; nay, they hold that for some offices, It is pity any honest men should come into them. Alas, alas, the more subject to tentation & vice it is, the more needful it is that none other should have them. Oh but (say they) a good judge or justice may help all; they err and are deceived; it is no one beam, though never so bright, that enlightens all: It is not the light and influence of the fixed stars, though the greatest and highest, but of the Sun and Moon, and the lowest and nearest orbs that govern the world. It is the ground-winde, not the rack-winde, that drives mills and ships. It is in the Civil, as in the Ecclesiastical body: if Bishops be never so learned, and the parishional Minister negligent, worldly, proud, or blind Sr. john's, the people perish for want of vision. What can the Superior do, if the Inferior inform not? what can the eye do, if the hand and foot be crooked and unserviceable? yea, not only if such as be organs of justice, such as have places of judicature: but if the media and spectacles of the sense will yield a false report, how shall the common sense make a right judgement? If Pleaders and attorneys will colour and gloze, if the Clerks and Penmen make false records, may not any of these disturb or pervert justice? if the least finger or toe of this body be distorted, I mean jailor or Sergeant, or any other that should execute justice, be remiss and slack, then must the Dutchman's proverb be verified, Look what the bell is without the clapper, Quod campana seen 〈◊〉 & apud 〈◊〉. such are good laws and judgements without due execution. Thus we see in this curious clockwork of justice, the least pin or wheel amiss may distemper & disorder all: but if care were had to frame all these parts of the building according to the platform of this skilful Architect, what an absolute harmony of the parts, what an exact perfection of the whole; yea, what golden times should we live to see? Hearken o ye mountains and little hills, Application. you Rulers of thousands, you Rulers of ten, you reverend Sages of the Laws, you worshipful Knights and Gentlemen of the Country: ye listen to this charge of jethro: ye of the meanest place of the commonwealth, weigh not things nor persons at the common beam of custom and opinion, but at the golden standard of God's Sanctuary, with these Goldsmith's weights of my text: which if I shall persuade you to do, I fear that we must say with the Psalmist, that sons of men Beni-Adam, Psal. 62 9 yea the chiefest men Beni-ish, to be laid upon the balance, will be found lies and lighter than vanity: here money will not make the man, nor craft carry it away. Every Nabal of mount Carmel, nor every Achitophel may not be admitted. This text saith to every timorous, profane, falsharted, covetous person, as Samuel to Saul, God hath rend thine office from thee: and bestowed it on thy better: or as the Scripture of judas, let another more worthy take his place: if this order & rule of trial might take place, how many would be turned out of commission? how many would be offici perdae? how would benches and Shire-houses be thinned? As for this present, to the which God hath called me to speak (for if I had called myself, I could not nor durst not speak) give me leave without offence, to speak that plainly and openly, which I conceive inwardly: when I have come into the Shire-house, sometimes to observe the state of it: it hath presented itself to my view, not unlike to that image of Daniel, or picture in Horace, or table of the Popes of Rome, which for memory's sake I reduce to these two Distiches Ex auro caput est, argentea brachia, venture Aeneus, admisto ferrea crura luto Divino capiti, ceruix humana, ferinus Assuitur truncus Daemonijque pedes. The head of gold. And with such honourable judges God hath usually, & for a long time blessed this circuit. If I had ever heard other of these present, I durst not give titles, lest my maker should condemn me: yet being unknown to me but by fame, which hath spoken all good: I desire you to prove and weigh yourselves by Iethro's weights, and accordingly to have peace and approof in your own consciences, before the judge of all judges. The shoulders of silver. A worthy Bench, yet mingled with some dross, and not so refined as I have known and seen it, like the sky in a clear evening, bespangled with bright stars. Many such there be at this present, God be praised, religious and able justices, and so many, as I believe few other Benches are furnished withal, yet in this silver I fear some dross, some whose skill & ability the Country doubts of, being conceived to be either so simple or so timorous, that they dare meddle with none that dare meddle with them: or else so popular they will displease none. The Devil himself they say may keep an Alehouse under their nose. Others whose religion they call into question, at least for the truth, and for the power of it: unless religion may stand with common swearing, with drinking, with familiarity with Papists & Recusants, with ungoverned and ungodly families, void of all exercises of religion, fraught with spirits of the buttery, Ruffians, Ale-house-hunters, and such as are the Sin-tutours and Sin-leaders to all the Country about them. I hope there be but few such, I could wish there were none at all. The breast and belly of brass, the strength of the Country, in which rank I account the great Inquest, jurymen and Constables, of which number how few make a conscience to present disorders according to oath, or that know and regard the bond of an oath? The legs and feet of iron and clay, or mire. Indeed the very mire and dirt of the Country, the Bailiffs, Stewards of small liberties, Bum-Bayliffs, jailors, etc. if Beelzebub wanted officers, he needed no worse than some of these: what mysteries have they to vex the poor Countrymen with false arrests? and by virtue of that Statute tying every Free holder of forty shillings per annum, to attend the Assizes, but I list not to stir this sediment of the country too unsavoury to be raked up in a sermon. Oh that some jehosophat would visit and reform, or that you judges in these your days of visitations, would redress some part of these grievances, and reduce all to this Idea of Iethro's, which indeed would make an Heaven upon earth amongst us. An Utopia I fear some will say, too good to be true, Ob. objecting to me as to Cato, that he not discerning the times he lived in, looked for Plato's Commonwealth in the dregs of Romulus. And so that these Magistrates thus limbed out, might be found in Moses golden age of the world, but not in these lees of time. To which I answer, Answ. that if jethro were now to give advice, he would double the force of it: If David's reason be true, it is now high time for God to work, for men have destroyed his Law: Was there ever more need of courage then now, when sin is so audacious? of truth, when Esawisme? of religion, when hypocrisy and iniquity? of contentation, when the love of the world so abounds? The only way to repair these ruins of the dying world is to renew government to the primitive beauty of it: the face whereof I have now showed in this excellent Mirror or Looking-glass: so you go not away, and forget both the comeliness and spots it hath showed you, but wash and be clean, and such as it would have you to be. There being nothing else remaining to your perfection, and the peace of the Commonwealth, but this one Item following in my Text, requiring assiduity and diligence. Let them judge the people at all times, The fourth part. etc. A most needful caveat in times that love ease and private employments, with neglect of public. Sitting in the gate is perpetually needful. Diligence in hearing and ending causes would prevent that grievance of delays, which occasioned jethro his discourse. How do you think it would have affected him, to have seen six or seven I have heard sixteen sums set upon one suit. These our English delays being (as Marnixius complained) worse then the Spanish strappadoes. And it is fit, though public and general courts have their Terms, yet that particular audience of petty grievances should have no vacation. Many are the suits and controversies, many are the criminal offences that need continual inspection. Let him therefore that hath an office, attend to his office with cheerfulness; he that hath no leisure to hear his neighbour's causes: Let him (as the woman said to Philip) have no leisure to bear office. Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord negligently, and with holdeth his hands there from. You Gentlemen complain often of Idol shepherds, dumb dogs, etc., in the Ministry. But how many such in the Magistracy? Some in commission, that never sit on the Bench but for fashion: Constables that are but ciphers in their place. Forsooth they will be no pragmatical fellows, no busi-bodies to trouble the Country. Is there no mean between busi-bodies and tell-clockes, between factotum and neant. From this neglect comes that wrong and injury to the Assizes, that such petty causes, trifling actions and complaints trouble these grave and reverend personages, which a mean Yeoman were judge fit enough to end in a chair at home: when the whole Shire must be troubled to hear and judge of a courtesy made out of the path, or a blow given upon the shoulder upon occasion of a wager, or such like bawble-trespasses which I shame to mention. And to punish every petty larceny, every small riot or disorder, which lighter controversies and faults, if particular Officers would compromise & redress in their Spheres, these greater Orbs should not be troubled with them. Then indeed would that follow, which jethro assures Moses of in the last part of my Text, The fifth part. ver. 23. If thou do this thing (God so commanding thee) then shalt thou & thy people endure, & all this people shall go quietly to their place. An admirable emolument of Magistracy & sufficient reward of all the pains of it: that they and the people may go home in peace, sit under their vines and figtrees, follow their callings, and that which is the chief jewel of all, may lead their lives in all godliness and honesty. That the gold, blue and purple silk might shine and glister within the Tabernacle, the outside was covered with red skins and goats hair, such a shelter is Magistracy to God's Church and Religion. Nabuchadnezzar was a great tree, and every particular Magistrate a little one under whose boughs people build & sing, and bring up their young ones in religious nurture, even foster-fathers' as joseph in Egypt. Such were the rich & religious times under David & Solomon, & under such as are described, Esa. 32. which whole chapter is worth the reading, as a just Commentary upon this point: setting forth the felicity, quietness, plenty, virtue and piety of just Governors, as are hiding places from the wind, and refuges from the tempest, rivers of waters to to dry places, and as rain to the new mown grass, etc. Such also were the times enjoyed by the Church under Constantine, deciphered as I take it, Revel. 8. when there was silence in the heaven about half an hour, the golden vials filled with sweet odours, the prayers of the Saints ascending as a pillar of smoke up to heaven. Of these times see panegyrical Sermons, and encomiastical discourses storied of old, Euseb. lib. 10. and one of them at large recorded by Eusebius, which whole book is nothing but an Elogium of those peaceable days, wherein the Church was edified & multiplied. The Commonwealth being to the Church, as the Elm to the Vine, or as the garden to the Bees; the flourishing of the one, the thriving of the other; and the disturbance of the one, the disquiet of the other. How can men either attend God's service or their own work, when they are molested at home with drunkards, barrators, quarrelous persons, when hurried up to London with suits. As I have known a Constable molested with five or six actions, for an act of justice, in punishing vice according to his office. With what bitterness of spirit do men groan under delayed and perverted justice, when it is turned into Hemlock, and turns them out of their wits, some of them swooning at the sight of their orders, as I have heard from credible eye-witnesses, others ready to destroy themselves, their adversaries, yea and sometime their judges. Oh the benefit of good Magistrates, It is an unknown good, as the Countryman in an ancient Poet, when he had met with all, feelingly cries out, that he had found that summum bonum, which the Philosophers so much sought after, he now enjoying more sweetness of little, then of great revenues in troublous times. Surely, we Christians ought to prise it as the mean of our greatest good, of our peaceable frequenting of our Churches, and our serving of God. Merchants make a higher use, & are more glad of a calm then common passengers: so should we Christians than Heathens, by how much we may and aught to improve it for richer ends of God's glory, and the salvation of our souls. Lord what manner of persons ought we to be in all godliness and honesty, which enjoy such length and latitude of halcyon days, as we do; the tithe whereof, not only former days, but our neighbour Nations would now be glad of. God give us the use and fruit of them, continue and increase them, which will then be, when this Text shall be most studied and practised. Then (as Amos speaks) shall judgement flow as waters, and righteousness run down as a mighty torrent; or as David, Then shall the earth increase, all people shall praise God, and God even our God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. And so I make Iethro's preface my conclusion. I have given you counsel this day: Hearken to my voice, and the Lord God be with you all. Amen. FINIS. To my loving Brother Mr. SAMVEL WARD. BRother, if you meet with your Iethro's counsel returned from beyond the seas, and as much beyond your expectation preserved alive, as his son in law was against Pharaoh's Injunction, marvel as much as you will, but be no more offended than you have cause. joab sinned wider on the other hand in destroying David's Absolom, contrary to his serious charge, yet joab was pardoned, and yet no brother. I have noted you hitherto inexorable for your own publishing of any thing of your own; whether out of judgement, modesty, curiosity, or melancholy, I judge not: but when others have adventured them with fruit and acceptance, into the light, I have seen you rest content with the public good The like leave I have taken, expecting like success, assuring you and myself of the general welcomnesse and usefulness hereof to all whom it concerns, which are the greatest number of the land, even so many as have any reference to Sessions and Assizes, if not all sorts of Christians. Only I fear that the corruption of our times is grown so gross and Eglon-like, that it doth not Ebud-like enough sharpen the points, and send them home to the heft, that they may reach to the quick. I had myself added thereto a project and persuasion for the redress of many abuses crept into offices and officers, having spent so much time in the study of the law, and execution of some offices, as made me weary of the errors I saw, and heartily wish the reformation of them: but fearing I have learned too much bluntness & plumpness of speech among the Lutherans, which is here as prime a quality, as smoothness with you, as also loath to meddle out of mine orb, in my second thoughts I suppressed it. And so wishing unto this, many diligent, conscionable and ingenuous Readers and Appliers, and to them God's blessing and the fruit intended, I take my leave. From Elbing in Prusia. Your brother in the flesh, in the Lord, and in the work of the ministry. NATH. WARD.