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

LONDON, Printed in the Year 1681.