CIVIL MAGISTRACY BY DIVINE AUTHORITY, Asserted, and laid forth In a SERMON, Preached at the Assizes holden at Winchester, for the County of South-Hampton, on Thursday the 4th day of March, 1651/52.  
Afterward, the same Subject much enlarged, and in some particulars more cleared, and applied, on the like occasion, at Taunton in Somerset, on Sunday in the Assize week, Aug. 22. 1652.  
By WILLIAM SCLATER, Doctor in Divinity, Preacher of the Word of God in Broadstreet, London.  ROM. 13.1. Let every soul be subject unto the Higher Powers; for there is no power but of God: the Powers that be are ordained of God. Non sine gravi consilio Apostolus [abstractiuâ] locutione uti voluit, ut ostenderet Subditos non debere ad Personas Imperantium respicere; sed ad ipsorum Officium, & ad Potestatem, quâ divini●ùs sunt instructi: Quos enim Apostolus hoc loco vocat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, eos Christus appellat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Luc. 22. ver. 25. Joh. Gerard. Loc. Com. Tom. 6. cap. 1. §. 8. 
LONDON, Printed by T. M. for George Treagle at Taunton: and are to be sold at London by William Roybould, at the Unicorn in Paul's Churchyard. 1653.   

To the Worshipful JOHN TROTT, Of LAVERSTOKE Esquire; High Sheriff of the County of Southampton, (A most accomplished Gentleman), A full Paradise of Blessings.  
SIR,  
AS your Merits (attended with the Reputation and Honour of your Country) by the guidance of the Supreme Providence, advanced you to that present Station, wherein, as some new Beneficent Star arisen in that Hemisphere, you shine with so amiable Lustre, as it powerfully attracts the Gordiall Regards and Love of all Eminent and Good men: So was it no mean Happiness to myself, that (whilst I studiously served you) I found so fit an occasion, wherein to declare my Zeal for Magistracy, a thing so acceptable to God, and so beneficial to men: It pleased Heaven so far to favour my Endeavours this way, that my Discourse gaining upon that Honourable Assembly, before whom it was uttered, was by Authority requested (whereas it might have been enjoined) to the Press: And being thus become more public and spreading, to whose name could I more justly inscribe it, then to yours? whose Munificence may challenge it as a Testimony of my Gratitude, and whose Superlative Endowments, both of Nature and Grace (set off by so exquisite Education) win it Esteem and Acceptation abroad; Surely, under such a Patronage, it cannot but be safe, and speed the better in other hands and hearts.  
Two principal things there are, which render you (above others) not Commendable only, but Exemplary; the one is, that you are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (for God's pure Glory sake) a 
a 1 Joh. 4.19.  Lover of God; and the other, that you are (for pure Goodness sake) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a Lover of 
b Tit. 1.8.  Good men, and chief, of Able and Godly Ministers, the 
c 2 Tim. 3.17.  Men of God: Both these conjoined, denominate you, without either Affectation or Ostentation, an Israelite 
d Joh. 1.47.  indeed. Your other Virtues of Temperance, Sobriety, Mansuetude, Affability, Hospitality, Sweetness of Disposition, Candour, Liberality, Prudence, etc. all which so intortelled as they are within each other, and within you, and so indissolubly, as it were, concatenated together, they are as the Gold of 
e Gen. 2.12.  Havilah, Good; but your Piety is as the Gold of 
f Psal. 45.9.  Ophir, eximious, and 
g See Pro. 8.19  Very Good: And were I a chrysostom, and flowed with all his golden Oratory, wherein Elegantly, or copiously to embellish your due praises, I could not more graphically express you, than under that your so genuine Character, of being 
h Psal. 116 16. 2 Cor. 1.12.  Truly, and withal most 
i Prov. 2.11. Psal. 112.5.  Discreetly Religious; And as that Noble Emperor Theodosius, thought it a greater Honour, to be Membrum Ecclesiae, then Caput Imperii, A Member of the True Church, than Monarch of the World; even so you do; and may more solidly cheer your heart in being Pious, than in being Opulent, though God hath opened both his hands, and poured forth his 
k Prov. 8.18.  Blessings upon you: And that which farther augments the Value of all, is this, that as the richest Carbuncles shine best in varied lights, so your untainted Virtues (whilst you keep your  
l Jam. 1.27.  unspotted from the world) in this lose, inconstant and wavering Age, are displayed in the brighter splendour.  
How Happy then must your Father (to whose Encouragements, and Liberality I own many Acknowledgements) be esteemed in such a Son? being the staff and comfort of his old Age: I may well hither apply that Apposite sentence of 
m Prov. 20 7. confer Psal 112.2, 3.  Solomon, The just man walketh in his Integrity, and his Children are blessed after him: In him I cannot omit to mention one Grace (among many others resplendent in him) remarkable, and that is, his singular 
n 1 Tim. 6.16. Eccles. 5.18, 19  Contentation, accompanied with Temperance unto Admiration.  
But, doubting lest I have exceeded the measure of an Epistle, I now betake myself to my most Fervent Devotions, for the accumulation of Heavens Benedictions upon yourself, your Virtuous Consort, and your Hopeful Children (enclosing also your worthy Parents) promising you to persevere what I am,  
Sir, Yours, most Affectionately to Love and Honour you, WILLIAM SCLATER.   

CIVIL MAGISTRACY BY Divine AUTHORITY.  2 CHRON. 19.6, 7. And he said unto the Judges, Take heed what ye do: For ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the Judgement: Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you, Take heed and do it. 
I Shall not presume to detain you by any Impertinent Preface, or as Tertullus the Orator, 
1 Act. 24.1.  before Faelix the Governor, stand Courting your Ears this day, whereby to gain upon your Clemency to hear me a few words on this Scripture; sigh both the Text, and this Occasion, like Righteousness and Peace, do so sweetly embrace and kiss each other: The Accommodation of the one being as Consonant to the other, as sometimes was to the Coin of Caesar, the 
b Mat. 22.20, 21  Image of Caesar; so that both the Importance, and withal the Seasonableness of this Word (being like an 
c Pro. 25.11  Apple of Gold in a Picture of silver) anticipates an Apology, and may well promise me the Favour of your Noble Patience. And indeed, as Quintilian observes, Where the Matter is Serious, and the Auditors indulgent, there a Proaem is useless: Such, I am sure, is my Matter, and such, I trust, are my Hearers: To my business therefore.  
And now, as that Woman in the Gospel, first lighted her 
d Luke 15.8.  Candle,  she sought her Groat; So, afore I come to present you with the Jewels, I must first open the Cabinet wherein they are locked up; Led you by the Portall into the Inner Rooms; by the Circumstances of this whole Period of Scripture, direct and light you to the main Materials of the Text.  
Here are many Circumstances, and my Text like an Ingenuous Picture looks upon all.  
The first was the Occasion of this grave advice to the Judges; which was a Solemn Reformation both of Church and State intended by King Jehoshaphat; in the Diamonds of whose Crown, though there were some flaws, yet the sparkling of the one, overblazed the duskishness of the other; for the good things found in him, ver. 3, in his hands was now entrusted the Supreme Authority over the Kingdom of Judah; which Kingdom, partly through his own Oscitancy or Connivance; and partly also (as the Story foregoing intimates) through his God-displeasing League with Ahab, that Sacrilegious, Idolatrous, and Wicked Prince, having been lately ridden with but lose rains; He now (admonished by Jehu the son of Hanani the Seer, ver. 2) resolves to give a check to his foregone regardlessnesse, and by a speedy Expergefaction, to awaken both Himself and his People to a discreet Regulation of all past Disorders.  
And this he sets about in the right course, and after the best order: He gins first with Himself; next with Religion; and then with Civil Justice, as the strong Guard to both.  

1. With Himself; And as the 
e Prov. 30.28  Spider taketh hold with her hands, and gins to mend her Web at the middle, He prepared his [Heart] to seek God, ver. 3. By which Personal Reformation, the Virtue of his Pious Example proved so Magnetical, that it attracted the Observation of all his People; He went out again through the people, from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim: The Ancients were wont to place the Statues of their Kings by Springs or Fountains; to intimate, as one observes, that they were the Fountains of Good or Ill in a Common Wealth; So was Jehoshaphat, here, of good, to his Subjects.  
2. Next to Himself, and his own Heart and Actions, He takes care immediately for Religion, and the right Worship of the true God; and surely, none so fit to restore that, as they who first have made their own hearts as it were, the mould, wherein to cast Religion as in the proper Form; and surely, thus did Jehoshaphat, as is abundantly manifest in the twentieth Chapter ensuing, by his Fasting and Praying, and seeking of God; so that as soon as his heart had 
f Psal. 45.1.  indicted so good a Matter, his tongue incontinently becomes as the pen of a ready writer; By an effectual Invitation reducing his Exorbitant people from their Adoration of Idols in their Groves, unto the Veneration of the True God in Jerusalem; He brought them back unto the Lord God of their Fathers, ver. 4.  
3. After himself and Religion, having so well entered with God; He then, and not till then, provides for Civil Justice, and the due administration thereof, according to the rules of Equity and Judicious Reason throughout the Land; and this to be managed by such Persons, whose Learning and Experience in the Laws, should give weight to their Proceed, whose Age and Gravity win Reverence and Honour to their Persons; such as these He set Judges in the Land, throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City, ver. 5. and having given them their Commission, and withal pondered the seriousness of the Employment; He said to the Judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, etc.   
And thus I have shown you the several Circumstances of this Scripture, which, were it, happily, in a skilfuller hand, might yet be branched out farther into more variety: But lest I may seem to have hovered too long in the Air of Generalities, I shall now fasten on those Substantial Materials which are here before us in the Text.  
Which Text is as the short abridgement, or Epitome of what concerns the Magistrate, as such, in the discharge of that Function; insomuch, that whatsoever lines of Paticularities can be drawn from the largest Circumference, may be all here concentred in this Point: Yet for my Method in the present Sermon, I observe out of it, these Heads of Discourse.  

1. 
The Division  The Office itself, Ye Judge, or Judge ye.  
2 The Authority or Commission by which they execute that Office, Not for man, but for the Lord; Vices Domini gerentes, as Junius notes, As God's Vice-gerents.  
3. The Discharge of that Office, Do it, or Judge ye; Judicabitis, Ye shall Judge, so translated in the Future, hath, after the Hebrew Idiotism, the Virtue of an Imperative.  
4. The due Caution or Circumspection to be heeded in that Discharge, Cavete, Take heed; which is twice repeated, both in the Front, and in the Foot of the Text; The one standing as an Ecce, prefixed, the other, as one of David's Selahs, subjoined; both which Notes, serve to set an Accent upon our Observation: The former Cavete hath relation to the Matter, Take heed what ye do. The later Cavete hath respect to the Manner, Take heed Now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you.  
5. The Motive to persuade the well accomplished discharge of the whole, Vobiscum Jehovah in rebus Judiciariis; God is with you in the Judgement, or in the matter of Judgement: Which phrase of Gods being [with them] is in travel, as Rebekah, with a Twin of Interpretations; It denoting, either God's presence, as a Spectator; or else God's pre-eminence, as a Protector of you in the matter of Judgement; Which later seems by the last words of this Chapter to be the most genuine, where he saith, Deal courageously, and the Lord shall be [with] the Good, to wit, for their Divine Assistance.   
And these (at least as to my observation they occur) are the proper parts of this Scripture, the measures of my Sermon, and of your Christian Patience: Please to favour me with the one, whilst I am, by God's blessing, in the dispatch of the other, I shall be as compendious as the Gravity of this matter, and the great affairs ensuing shall allow in all.  
And he said to the Judges, Take heed what ye do, etc. 
The first part   
The first member of my Division mentioned, is the Office itself of Magistracy, which I apprehend may well be couched under the Term or Style of Judging, an eminent degree of the same: From whence the Point that I would commend to you, is this, viz.  
The Office and Benefit of Government, Doctrine. together with the mischief and misery of Anarchy.  
In speaking whereof, I shall use the same modest Apology, which 
g Calv. Instit. lib. 4. c. 20. §. 9  Mr. Calvin (that bright burning Taper of Geneva) did, being about to write upon the same Subject: In Expounding (saith he) the Magistrate's Office, Non tàm Magistratus ipsos instituere consilium est, quàm alios docere quid sint Magistratus; It is not my intention to inform the Rulers, or Magistrates themselves; but to instruct others of the people, who are to be Ruled and Governed by them, What the Magistrates are, and for what good end and purpose they are ordained of God himself: Not to inform them, this were for me (under this Station) to exceed the activity of my own proper Orb, and to move in the Excentrics; yea, this were after a sort to blend Professions, and to mingle Civil Judicatures with Theological Doctrines; to fetch that into the Pulpit, which is proper only, and adequate to the Bench; my Office is to teach others the great benefit, and good that God by the Ordinance itself of Magistracy intendeth, and doth; this, under favour (in a Spiritual notion) appertains to our Ministry, the better to excite the people to their duty, both of Prayer and Praises for them, and of constant fidelity to them.  
Now, Two things there are that must come under this Head. First, the Office or Government itself. Secondly, The Benesit, and Advantage of the same. These two like 
h 1 King. 7.21  Jachin and Boaz in Solomon's Temple, are the two main Pillars, supporting the whole Fabric of my speech; and in my speaking of them, I shall of necessity so twist my Discourse with the Benefit, that, as that Artificer wrought his own name so cunningly in the Buckler of Minerva, that it could not be picked out, without the dissolution of the whole Frame; so take out the name of Benefit from Government, the most beautiful frame of any State may soon lie in the dust.  
The first thing that I shall endeavour is, to show you the nature of Magistracy, what it is: and thus I shall describe it.  
Magistracy is a public Power ordained of God, 
What Magistracy is.  for the preservation of Order, Discipline and Peace in a Common Wealth, by Encouragement of the Good, and by the Punishment of Evil and Contumacious Persons, according to Just Laws: This is Magistracy in itself.  
1. Magistracy is a Power, so styled by the great Apostle, Rom. 13.1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the word signifies, a Power of Right and Authority, which makes it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 High and Supereminent above others; so that the very term of Relation implieth the order of Superiority, and of Inferiority; High and Low, the Scripture mentions, Psal. 62.9. and 49.2. Small and Great, Act. 26.22. Rev. 20.12. The one, in a rational apprehension, supposeth the other; For, Par in parem non habet protestatem; if amongst levelling Equals none may challenge to Rule the rest, than the very name and nature of Government doth enforce an inequality: And indeed, without this, there could be nothing but confusion in the world; For what is 
i Bish. Davenant, quaest. 42. pag. 187, Edit. 1634. Cantabr.  Order? But Parium, impariúmque sua cuique tribuens loca dispositio; A meet disposition of Equals, and Unequals, giving unto each their proper and due places; and without such a moderate and meet Imparity, the 
k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Aristot. l. 1 cap. 5. Polit.  Community will suffer: Government, it's as order to an army, which without it were but a crowd; it's as an hedge to a Vineyard, which without it, would be wasted by Wild Boars, and other spoiling Creatures; it's as an hemn to a garment, which without it would ravel out; Hence was that known saying of 
l Greg. Naz. lib. 3. Theolog.  Nazianzene, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Anarchy is ever Disorder; And that freedom must of necessity be most unfree, which under a 
* Du Moulin, Defence of King James, Art. 22.  Title of Liberty introduceth licentiousness, wherein whilst every one would be chief, he becomes a slave to himself, and to every one: Now such impetuous disorders, where ever they arise, if by any thing, will be by Government removed, or at least overawed: This was not impertinently set forth by the Ancients (saith 
m Ld. Verul. l. 1 Advancement of Learning.  one) in that feigned relation of Orpheus Theatre, where all Birds assembling, and forgetting their several appetites, some of Prey, some of Game, some of Quarrel, stood all sociably together, listening unto the airs and accords of the Harp; the sound whereof no sooner ceased, or was drowned by some louder noise, but every beast returned to his own nature again. Wherein is aptly described the nature and condition of men, who are full of Savage and unreclaimable desires, of Profits, of Lust, of Revenge; which as long as they give ear to Religious Precepts, and to good Laws, sweetly touched with Eloquence, and Persuasion of the Makers, so long is Society and Peace maintained; but if these Instruments be silent, or that Sedition and Tumult make them not audible, all things dissolve into Anarchy and Confusion; We need seek no farther for this, than the Book of Judges, where, under the want of Government, every man did what was good in his own licentious eye; 
n Judg. 17.6. & 21.25.  and that, I am sure, was crooked in God's strict eyes: There was the Corruption in Religion, in the making and worshipping of a Graven Image, horrible 
o Judg. 17.4, 5.  Idolatry, by Micah and his mother; there was Burglary, Robbery, and rifling of Houses, yea, whole Cities of Harmless Poor people, and cutting all their 
p Judg. 18.27.  throats; abominable plundering, and lewdness by the men of Dan: There was (o Prodigious Act!) the ravishing of a woman, and that to death, chap. 19 by the men of Gilead, who also faced it out with impudence, and stood to maintain it; upon the matter, there are no 
* It was a saying under Nerva, It was better to live where nothing, then where all things are lawful.  worse things in the world, than these were; yet all these were the issues of Anarchy in those days: The people likewise in the 
q Exod. 32.  absence of Moses the chief Governor, were as a ship wanting a Pilot at sea, and so ran upon the rock of Idolatry, in making them an Idol the Calf of Egypt: And I marvel, were there no Sessions or Assizes, or Courts of Judicature and Justice in our days, if the whole Land, like that of Egypt, would not swarm with 
r Exod. 10.5.  Locusts and Caterpillats, with Cutthroats, Robbers, Outrageous Vagabonds; and Malefactors, which now (blessed be God) by the besom of Circuit Justice are swept off (what may be) from our earth.  
Wherefore it was wittily observed by Hermes Trismegistus, or whosoever was the Author of that Dialogue, which passeth under his name; 
s Hermes Trismegist. Dialog. 9 ad Aesculap.  that by the Grecians, the world was styled, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that is, Fair: [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, For that God and Nature had so beautified and a dorned it, not only with variety in the production of the Creatures, but in the comely order of whatsoever was made, by a decent subordination of one unto the other. Government was at first founded in Paradise immedately upon the Creation; Dominamini, saith the Lord to Adam, Gen. 1.28. Have dominion over every living thing; yea, 'tis accorded by 
t Vid. Joh. Gerard. loc. Commun. Tom. 6. cap. 2. § 25.26 etc. S. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 19 c. 15.  Divines most Orthodox, that however in the state of innocence there was not, nor should not have been any despotical, or Imperious coercive domination, as is now since the Fall, of one man over another; so that, then, one should have born the sway, cum libidine dominandi, with an ambitious lust or desire to compel others as inferior; yet, even then, under that very state, there would have been a fatherly, or economical subordination in Families, and Societies of mankind, joined with a spontaneous, voluntary yeildance, as it were, through an innate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or natural Instinct, to the mutual counselling and loving of each other; as Husband and Wife, Father and Child, Neighbour and Neighbour, for the Glory of God, and their own Beatitude. Thus the Schoolmen (among whose Disputes, though there be found much Dross of Superstition, yet withal, some Gold of precious and refined Wit) they directly pronounce thus, Fuisset in statu innocentiae praelatio in officio consulendi, & diligendi, non Dominium servituti oppositum, as Themas, Biel, and others to the same Effect, express it: Yea, this may be yet read farther in the Book of the other Creatures themselves, which are indeed half lost, if we only employ them, and learn nothing of them; Totus mundus nihil aliud est, nisi Deus explicatus, saith Cusanus: The whole Macrocosm, or bigger world, is but a book unclasped, wherein are the express characters of Gods Divine Wisdom shining in that order, wherein he first created it; even that God, who by the great Apostle, who was so much for decency and order in the Churches, is directly styled, not the Author of Confusion, but the God of Peace, and order, 1 Cor. 14.33. Yea, meditate but what is written of those, who never yet stained the honour of their Primitive Creation, still keeping their first estate, not leaving their own 
u S. Judas ver. 6  Habitation; look upwards in Heaven, among the confirmed Angels, there are Degrees: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith 
* Damascen. lib. 2. Orthodox. Fid. cap. 3.  Damascen, according to their light and station, so is their Priority; There are, saith Paul, Might's and Dominions, Principalities and Powers, Ephes. 1.21. Rom. 8.38. Yea, among that Sacred Hierarchy, Saint Judas assures us, ver. 9 there is Michael an Archangel; to omit any farther enumeration of more orders of them, after the Computation of Dionysius Areopagita, an Author, however said to be suppositious, as reckoned among Saint Paul's Converts, Act. 17.34. yet yielded to be of long antiquity. Again, from those Heavens, let us behold the Starry Firmament, and there we discover two great Luminaries, as 
x Psal. 136.8, 9  Rulers of the times and Seasons, the Sun to rule the Day, and the Moon the Night. Look yet below these into the Etherial Heavens, and there we find the 
y Horat.  Eagle soaring aloft and prevailing: 
z Plin. l. 10. cap. 23. Nat. Hist.  Pliny writes of Cranes, birds of a subordinate feather, Ducem quem sequantur, eligunt, they select a guide: Upon the earth, among Beasts, the Lion; among Trees, the Cedar overtops: If we go down to the 
a Psal. 107.23.  sea in ships, and occupy our business in the great waters, even there find we a 
b Psal. 104.26.  Leviathan to take his pastime: In a word, Take view of the Microcosm, or little world, man himself, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith 
c Aristot. l. 1. c. 5. Polit.  Aristottle, the soul commands the body, and the mind in the soul itself, the sensual appetite, and all the Inferior Powers in the same: Yea, I had almost added, if we cast our eyes downwards, even in the pit of darkness, the 
d Rev. 12.9.  Dragon hath his Angels, and there are orders, and 
e Mat. 12.24.  degrees, even in the Region of Confusion.  
What should I say more? Wherefore, though my heart be much enlarged, and my thoughts voluminous in this matter, yet being straitened in the bowels of the time, as Homer's Iliads were (once) presented to a great Potentate in a nutshell; so I must now be forced to epitomise my expressions in a word or two: Take it in the Orators own lines, Omnem naturam, 
f Cic. de Nat. Dcor. lib. 2.  quae non est simplex, sed cum alio conjuncta, necesse est habere aliquem in se principatum; that is thus much in the sense, Every created nature capable of Society, of necessity, must have in it some Superiority. Forms of Government (its undeniable) have been in several ages and revolutions of time, divers in the world, according to Gods own profound and providential Dispensations; and withal, according as his own Divine Wisdom foresaw to be best for his own Church and people; and under the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very act of the time of mutation, the alteration of Governments (yea or but the succession of Gorvernors) is, saith one, oft times, like the removing of the world from one shoulder of Atlas to another, which occasions Epilepsies, and shake in the earth; nor is it easy, at the first, for men to pronounce their Shibboleths of new Titles, and names accompanying such alteration: For a long time the Government was patriarchal, or Fatherly, rather than Princely, as during all their staying in Egypt, when yet they were grown into the body of a Nation numerous and mighty: After that, even in Canaan, governed they were long by Judges, by advice of the High Priest, and that about the space of four hundred and fifty years, as we read Act. 13.20. until Samuel the Prophet: After that, God gave them Saul a 
g 1 Sam. 8.  King, a man of Benjamin, in anger, and took him away in wrath, Hos. 13.11. Briefly, the 
* Aristot. lib. 8. Polit. cap. 10.  Form was sometimes democratical, sometimes Aristocratical, other whiles Monarchical: But (things here below being in a perpetual gyre of mutation) doth the Crown endure to every generation? Prov. 27.24. Even the most lasting Kingdoms have had their 
i See B. Hall, Serm. on Psal. 107.34. p 10.  Period; and of the most settled Government, God's hand writing upon the wall goes so far, as to say, Mene, Mene, Thy days are numbered: That 
k Psal. 75.6, 7.  God, he who alone it is that putteth down one, and setteth up another, 
l Psal. 59.13.  Ruleth in Jacob, and even unto the ends of all the earth, sitting upon the circle thereof, as the Prophet expresseth it, Isai. 40.22. and as we read Dan. 2.45. that the stone cut out of the mountains without hands broke in pieces the Gold, and the Silver, the Brass and the Iron in the great Image, that is Christ, the 
m Eph. 2.20.  Head stone of the corner, born, unusually, of an incontaminate Virgin, overcame by the Sceptre of his power, the four great Monarchies of the world. Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, Roman, and shall do the Papal also; and the same Prophet again, Dan. 4.17. The living must know, that the most High ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and he giveth it to whomsoever he will: This is the Lords doing and it is marvellous in all men's eyes. But yet, (which is the total of what I aim at) in the great change of times and Seasons, in the alteration of various forms, nevertheless the God of order upholdeth the State or Government itself, which (as I noted in the first branch of the Description) was a Power, and that an High and Supereminent Power; and those Powers that are, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in present, actual being, the same are not without Gods own ordination, as I shall forthwith demonstrate; and to those present Powers in act (commanding lawful things) men must be subject, even for conscience of God, Rom. 13.1.5.  
But ere I go on to that, I may not omit the Epithet, or (if you will call it so) the Adjunct of this Supereminent Power: It is not a private, but a public Power; that is, a Power Authorized by a Lawful Commission to execute, as the Lords avengement of sin, 
n S. Augustin. contr. Faust. Manich. l. 22. & 77. c 70. Ille abutitur gladio, qui nulla Superiori, ac legitimâ potestate vel jubente, vel concedente, in sanguinem alicujus armatur— Nam utique Dominus jusserat, ut ferrum Discipuli ejus ferrent, sed non jusserat, ut ferirent. Vid Rayner. de Pisis Pantheol. tom. 1.2. & Thom. 2a, 2ae, Qu. 40. Art. 1.  Justice and Judgement upon arraigned and convicted Malefactors; for otherwise, as our Saviour said to Peter, all they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword, Mat. 26.52. that is, as all Orthodox Divines expound it, All they who take the sword to smite withal, out of their own voluntary, private motion, to satisfy their own private revenge, these so sinning without Authority, shall for that sin be smitten by the public sword: which, by just Authority, is put into the hands of Lawful Magistrates, as God's Vice-gerents upon earth, to execute and repay God's Just and Public revenge upon Offenders: In Gen. 9.6. we read, Who so sheddeth man's blood (to wit, by a private sword, that makes it Murder) by man shall his blood be shed, namely, by a public sword of the Magistrate, who bears it not in vain, but to be unsheathed and used, which makes it Justice; Magistrates are not Homicidae, but Malicidae, as 
o Bern. de Milite, fol. 109. m. Object.  Bernard wittily.  
If any list to object the Act of Phineas a Priest, and no Civil Magistrate, commended for his Zeal in slaying Zimri and Cosbi, under their sin, Numb. 25.8. as likewise the example of Samson, by suicide, destroying himself, and with himself, both his own, and Gods enemies, Judg. 16.30. Yet he is numbered among the faithful, Heb. 11.32. and so capable of imitation?  
Answ. To this the Resolution is, Answ. that Motus Heroici non sunt in imitationem trahendi, those Heroical motions, as (for distinction sake) Divines do style them, were Personal Dispensations, daigned out of singular Privilege, and so are restrictive to them alone, and such as are guided, upon like assurance, by like warrantable instinct from God, and so not to be drawn into ordinary imitation. The examples even of Saints themselves Contra datam legem, if they do not (as) Saints, but deviate from the general Rule, must be declined: now, the known rule is, 
p Deut. 32.35 Rom. 12.19.  Vengeance is mine, and I will repay it, saith the Lord Himself, who executeth the same by the sword, put into the hand of his own Ordinance, the Public Magistrate, The Higher Powers.  
By this time I presume, the beams of Order and Government itself, by Arguments drawn both from Nature and Grace, from Reason and Religion, shine clearly upon all bright and solid understandings: And yet (woe is me!) I cannot dissemble what black and pitchy Clouds have been interposed between this serene light, and the minds, at least, the refractory wills of some, whom I cannot better compare, then to lose teeth in a man's head, being often more troublesome, then useful to Civil Society: However, with 
q 3 Ep. Job. 9  Diotrephes, they may desire pre-eminence, and would be some body in the trouble, who (it may be) were as no body in the peace of the Church.  
Thus they pretend, Object. wresting the Scriptures, as Saint 
r 2 Pet. 3.16.  Peter speaks, to their own hurt, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, dealing like Chemics, who labour to torture nature, for the extraction of such spirits, as were never inherent in the thing: It's said, Gal. 3.28. and Col. 3.11. There is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, but all are one, under the New Testament, in Christ Jesus, who is all, and in all?  
But for answer: Answ. What think they? Is there no difference in any respect? Belike then, a man must leave his Nation, Jews must be no Jews, nor Grecians, Grecians. In short, the right meaning is this; In respect of Spiritual state and Title to Christ, all are one, Servants as well as Masters, small as well as great, they have obtained the [like precious] faith, 2 Pet. 1.1. and share together in the [common] faith, Tit. 1.4. Because Faith and Piety, and such graces are inward matters of the soul, tending to the better life (and in such Gratuities there cannot be said to be properly any partiality in God, or any 
s Rom. 2.11.  Respect of persons on God's part) yet in respect of civil and outward condition, remains the ancient difference of Rulers and Obeyers, of Master and Servant; or if there be any other external thing, whereby they are distinguished one from the other: Besides, that Christian Liberty, whereby Christ hath made us free from the rigorous exaction of the 
t Gal. 5.1.  Law, and from the power of sin and Satan, doth not at all entrench upon that Order, and those Civil Degrees which he hath most comely established in the world: A Politic Inaequality is not against a Spiritual Equality; Onesimus (saith a Worthy 
u Mr. Josiah Shute, the chrysostom of his time, pag. 132. Ser●on Gen. 16  Divine now with God) was as good as Philemon in Christ; yet, for all that, Onesimus was Philemon's servant. Wherefore, amongst other gifts given to the Church, these are some, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 1 Cor. 12.28. Governments; that is, gifts enabling to govern, to the intent they may be exercised; God and Nature do nothing in vain, neither doth he gift a man for any thing unlawful, nor would so many Godly men have taken on them the managing of that Office, had it been other than such as was, and is allowed by God.  
Beloved Christians, give me leave to speak my mind freely to you, (and I 
* 1 Cor. 7.40.  think also, that I have the Spirit of God directing me herein) It is to be suspected, that all such Samsons, who would thus 
x Judg. 16.9.  tear thewiths of Government asunder, and attempt the exauctorating all Civil Magistracy, do it only, that with the more security they may cocker the wanton Delilahs of their own corrupt Natures, that chafe most under the bit, fretting at what may bridle or curb the carnality of the same; in their lives; some of them are as unclean lepers as ever sore ran upon. Such ulcers (or rather, plaguesores) broke out, and, I am sure, ran with the pernicious infection of many in Germany, not above an Age past, that as 
y Sleidan l. 5. & 10. Commentar.  Sleidan, 
z Bullinger Contra Anabap.  Bullinger, Calvin, and others record the luxury of their reaking Conversation, it appears, that they were, of all men, such as had most need of Government: However, till the Justice of Heaven stopped them, they 
a Psal. 2.3.  threw off the yoke of the Laws, and following the float of their own 
b Judas ver. 8.  filthy dreams, they turned the grace of God into 
c S. Judas ver. 4.  wantonness, despised 
d 2 Pet. 2.10.  Dominion, and spoke evil of Dignities; those ambitious Nimrods', who would have pulled down Zion, to build up Babel.  
But leaving this jarring Discourse about such vain 
e 1 Tim. 1.6.  janglers as those were then, (and if any are found of the same misse-inclinations now) to wallow 
* 2 Pet. 2.22.  in their own mire, till their abominable wickedness be 
f Psal. 36.2.  found out to be hateful: I shall now set the strings of my speech to a more pleasing tune, that it may sound with more harmony in your ears: Whilst, in the next place, I shall present my Hearers with the great Benefits and Advantages that by Government they may enjoy.  
And these being in so multiplicious a variety, 
The Benefits of Government.  I must be forced to do as Lapidaries of rich Jewels are wont, show them only in a short glance, and so lay them up again.  
And now, What 
g Hos. 12.10.  similitudes shall I borrow to illustrate this Blessing? We may sooner beggar the whole Exchequer of Nature, or impoverish Wealth itself, then from thence be able to fetch a meet comparison for its complete embellishment. Lo! The 
h Char. lib. 1. c. 49. §. 1.  State, that is to say, Rule, Dominion, or a certain order in Commanding and Obeying, is the prop, the cement, and the soul of Humane things: it is the bond of Society, which cannot otherwise subsist: it is the very vital spirit whereby so many millions of men do breathe, and the whole Creation hath a well-being. Tell me, What is it that  you in 
i 2 Sam. 1.24.  Scarlet, with other delights, and puts on ornaments of gold upon your apparel; is it not Government? What is it that  your Downs, your Pastures, your Valleys with Flocks and Store, till they 
k Psal. 65.13.  shout and sing for joy; is it not Government? What is it that brings your 
l Job 5.26. Prov. 3.10.  shocks of corn, in their seasons, into your barns and granaries; is it not Government? By what is it that you are delivered from Violences and Plunderings, from Rifle, Robberies, and Rapine, but alone by this? and (that which is indeed the Diamond set in the ring of this whole Encomium) by what is your Religion guarded more than by this? all Godliness, as well as Honesty, is preserved by this, 1 Tim. 2.1.2. Remove this, what but ataxyes and disorders, more deformed than the first rude Chaos, break in upon you? as when the Sluices are pulled up, the floods overflow, not to water, but to wash away the fruits of the earth: or, as Heraclitus once said, If the Sun were wanting, it would soon be night, for all the Stars; so, where, or when this is absent, 
m Psal. 137.2.  how are the Harps hung up upon the Willows? and how do men, as Augustus sitting between Horace and Virgil, inter suspiria & lachrymas, the one given to weeping, and the other to sighing, sit down under a night of sorrow and lamentation? I have read of a Law among the Persians to this effect, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That when their Chief Governor was dead, there should be no Laws in force, for the space of five days together, upon which there ensued so Prodigious Disorders, Violences and Perturbations, that as sometime Rachel impatient of her barren Womb, cried out, 
n Gen. 30.1.  Give me children or else I die; so the people cried out, O give us Governors to rule, or we die, we are all undone: They had learned by the want, to set a price upon the enjoyment; as the 
* See Psal. 106 24, 25.  pettish Israelites, (a people seldom if ever, pleased with God's present Providencies) who 
o Exod. 15.24.  murmured under Moses, though the 
p Numb. 12.3.  meekest man alive, would yet, in all likelihood, had not God by some Angel conveyed his body 
q Deut. 34.6.  out of sight, 
Vid. S. Judas ver. 9  (so prone were they also to Idolatry) have worshipped him for an Idol, after he was dead. But I fear that I do all this while, but darken this so shining a Topaz of Government, by my rude polishing; sigh to express the excellency thereof, quills plucked from the wings of the Blessed Seraphims, or Cherubims themselves, would be but competent: Wherefore, waving this humble kind of Oratory; harken a little, I beseech you, to what the inspired 
r Amos 3.7.  Secretaryes of Heaven itself, the Sacred Penmen of the Holy Canon (
s 2 Pet. 1.21.  over ruled therein by a Celestial direction) have un-erringly, under many Resemblances, expressed of those persons who manage this great affair, and so reflexively the splendour of the thing itself, may be the better displayed.  
And out of so fair a Garden, adorned with so great Variety, I shall present you with a Posy of the choicest flowers. In the eleventh Psalm and the third verse, as also Micah 6.2. they are called metaphorically, The Foundations of the earth; If the Foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? that is, as the most Orthodox expound it, Magistratus pessundati, If Governors, that should be to God's people, as foundations are to the building, supports and stays, if these are cast down, that is, either deprived of their Power, or through sloth or tyranny so degenerate from what they should be, that an honest man may look for no favour or secure from them; then, what shall the righteous do? Directly implying, that whilst they remain as Foundations, unshaken and 
t 2 Tim. 2.19.  firm, then may the righteous and the true Religion be sure both of countenance and supportation; whence also, in a Title of Cognation, they are styled, Psal. 47.9. The Shields of the earth, to defend, and to safeguard from Injuries and Wrongs.  
In another Style, they are called Saviour's; so is Othniel, who delivered Israel, styled, Judg. 3.9. We read Gen. 41.45. that Pharaoh called Joseph, when advanced to the chief Government over all Egypt, Zaphnath Paaneah, which, in the Hebrew, signifieth as much as a revaler of secret things, or a mysterious Counsellor, in regard of his Interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream: But, in the Egyptian Language, as 
u Beauximis in Harmon. Evangel.  Beauxamis acquaints us, it is by interpretation, A Saviour of the world; in as much as by his Providence, He saved so many besides his Father's house, from perishing by famine: and expressly: the Magistrates, Neh. 9.27. have the appellation of Saviour's, in respect of that outward incolumity and safety, which they procure to such as are under their Governance and Protection: To this same purpose is it, that 
* Simon Maiolus. p. 347. de Bellor. Eventu.  Aristotle the Master, said to Alexander the Scholar, Governors were appointed, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not, by an Imperious Domination, to become injurious, but, by a gracious Dignation, to become 
x Luke 22.25.  Benefactors: So saith Euripides likewise, That a good Magistrate was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; the same is also sweetly illustrated by that Vision offered to Nabuchadnezzar, under the similitude of an high Tree, Dan. 4.11, 12. The leaves whereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; the Beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the Heaven dwelled in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it: Because the good Magistrates procure sustentation, defence, and quiet Habitation to those that are under them.  
Again, Under another Metaphor, they are resembled unto Pastors, or Shepherds; So Cyrus, whom God unexpectedly raised up for a Deliverer to his people, Isai. 44.28. is called The Lord's Shepherd: and Moses likens people without a Governor, to sheep without a Shepherd, Numb. 27.17. And King David gives the style of sheep unto his Subjects, 2 Sam. 24.17. So in ruling them, he is said to [feed] Jacob the Lord's people, and Israel his Inheritance, Psal. 78.71, 72. So Psalm 28.9. that word which is translated [Feed] thine inheritance, is in the Original [Rule] thine inheritance; and that not unfitly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith 
y Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Xenophon, because the Offices of the one bear a kind of correspondence with the other, in the suppeditation of wholesome pastures and provisions: And as it's reported to have been the saying of 
* Sucton in Tiber.  Tiberius, It is the care of a good Shepherd tondêre pecus, non deglubere; to fleece them, not to flay them: As in the great Charter of England, 
Theodoricus rex admonuit Marcellum, Ne plus tribueret Fisco, quàm Justitiae, Cassiodor. lib. 1. Epist. 22.  Fines were imposed, salvo contenemento, in a gentle moderation.  
Lastly, They are called 
* Num. 11.12 Exod. 20.12  Fathers, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: chief when good and godly, Isa. 49.23. By the Romans, their Senators were called Patres conscripti; and 
* Xenoph. l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Xenophon approves the Title, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in regard of that providence and nutrition they have and provide for their people. S. 
z S. Hieron. l. 9 in Ezek.  Hierom observes, That, as the King of Egypt was successively called Pharaoh, after one Name; so among the Philistims, the King was styled Abimelech, which is a compound, signifying My Father King; Even as in the other sex, Deborah was said, for counselling well, to be a Mother in Israel, Judg. 5.7. Joseph, advanced to the Regiment over Egypt, saith of himself, (Gen. 45.8.) That the Lord had made him a Father to Pharaoh: and by his command, the people (as he road in his Chariot of State, Gen. 41.43.) were to cry before him, Abrech, that is, mild, or tender Father; as 
a Hieron. in Tradit. Hebraicis, super Gen. tom. 3 pag. 390.  Hierom renders it, (from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Pater & mollis) however the LXX take no great notice of the word) before whom all were to how the knee.  
And now, after this so copious an amplification, both of the Office and Benefit of Magistracy, or Government, It's time, I presume, to hasten to an Application of the Point.  
And here (perhaps) it may be expected, on some hands, Use. That I should, first of all, become a Monitor, at least a Remembrancer to the Judges themselves, and put them in mind of their Duty: But I told you even now, [that] was none of my purpose: It were more meet to 
* 2 Sam. 13.24  beseech them as 
b Num. 11.12 Exod. 20.12  Fathers, then to instruct them as Magistrates. I know the snuffers of the Sanctuary were to be of pure 
c Exod. 37.23  gold; and I am not of so good metal to take on me to do that; lest what here Jehoshaphat insinuated to his Judges in the plural, may be returned upon me in the singular, Caveto, Take heed what thou dost. I shall therefore become as some divine Proteus, to metamorphose an expected Exhortation into an humble and cordial Congratulation, to magnify and bless God, that he hath raised up so eminent Worthies, whose Learning in the Laws, whose Sanctity and cleanness of hands will altogether occasion judgement to run down as a river, and righteousness as a mighty stream.  
My Counsel that I have to subminister upon this occasion, must look on some other objects; at such (I mean) who are under such Magistrates; even all obsequious people who are 
d Psal. 35.20  quiet in the Land: Pliny tells us of some herbs, that however they be set in the waters, yet will not grow so well absque imbribus supervenientibus, without some showers from above: No more will this obedience, which I am now about to press, without continual watering by good advice.  
And the whole that I have to say to such, shall be reduced to these four Heads, from whence, as from the 
e Gen. 2.10  four Rivers in Paradise, shall be derived such streams as may 
f Psal. 68.9  refresh the inheritance of God.  
First then, Let me mind you of that of the Apostle, very apposite to our present purpose, Rom. 13.7. Render to all their deuce, Fear to whom fear, Honour to whom honour. And to whom can there be of right and conscience justly more due, then to those Higher Powers, who are ordained of God himself? It's a quaere in Politics, Whether a Ruler were better to be feared, or to be loved? Sigismond the Emperor (as 
g Panormitan. de dictis & factis Alphonsi, lib. 4. cap. 35. Vid. Dieter. Dn. 23 post Trin. p. 841, 842, etc.  Panormitan acquaints us) wisely resolved it, That Superiors will be both feared and beloved too: and indeed, both conjoined argue a reverence meet for Authority. And surely, if they be Fathers (as ye heard but now) They must have Honour, Mal. 1.6. This comes under the Fifth Commandment, To honour our Father; Not only of our Bodies, but also of our Country: And this, 

1. In Thought; by carrying an awful and reverential esteem of them, in regard both of their Persons, and Power; yea, of their Persons for their Power sake  
2. In Word. Exod. 22.28. Thou shalt not revile the Gods, or the Judges, nor curse the Rulers of they people, Act. 23.5. Let us not be too hasty in censuring actions of Superiors; for we may see but one end of the staff: like as when a stick is put into the water, that part above in the air is straight, though that under the water seems crooked, yet is in itself strait still, though we think it otherwise. Saint Peter makes it a note of such as Despise Government, to be presumptuous, self willed, no way afraid to [speak evil] of Dignities, 2 Pet. 2.10. And usually it holds true, where detraction goes before, as Esau; there sedition takes, it by the 
h Gen. 25.26.  heel, as Jacob; Wherefore (as a 
i Bish. Andrews Serm. on Prov. 24.21. p. 950, 951.  Learned man observes) the same word in the Hebrew, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 [Shonim] signifies both Detractor, and also Seditious; properly, after the Hebrew Criticism, they are Biters, it comes of Shen, a tooth, they have teeth in their tongues.  
3. Honour them in Deed. Be so far from resisting the lawful Magistrate, commanding lawful things (and good Rulers will be content that men should serve God first, and them next) that rather, on the other side thou shouldest resolve to be moulded, as it were Platonically, after all their Legal Ideas; For they that resist, shall receive to themselves judgement, Rom. 13.2. Pride this way cannot climb so high, but Justice will sit above it.    
Secondly, As you must give them the Tribute of Honour, so also of your Prayers, and Supplications, and Intercessions, even for all that are in Authority, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or in Eminent place, That we may live a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty; for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, 1 Tim. 2.1, 2, 3. So Jeremy advised the Jews, even under Captivity, to pray for the peace of that place where they were, Jer. 29.7. Praying a long Life, wise Counsels, safe Government, valiant Armies, faithful People, quiet Times, or whatsoever else may conduce to their welfare.  
Thirdly, You must give them the Tribute of Obedience and due Homage, (they giving you protection) in what they command, according to God, and according to Just and good Laws (for otherwise we must choose rather to obey God, than man against God, Act. 5.29. after the example of 
k Esth. 3.2.  Mordecai, and of the three Children, Dan. 3.8.) So the Apostle Paul, Rom. 13.1. Let every soul be subject, even for conscience of God's Ordinance, and that, not Timore paenae, sed amore Justitiae, as S. 
l Gregor. Mag. l. 35. c. 10. Expos. Moral.  Gregory expounds it, Not for the servile fear of punishment, but out of the charitative love of Justice. To the same purpose S. Peter in that famous Text, 1 Pet. 2.13, 14. and again S. Paul, Tit. 3.1. Put them in mind to be subject to Principalities and Powers, to obey Magistrates: This will be a mean to keep a City or a Common Wealth in Peace and Safety, if, as sometimes that wise Lawgiver Solon, in 
m Stobaeus c. 43 De Republ. p. 280.  Stobaeus, said, Cives obtemperent suis Magistratibus, Magistratus autem legibus; The Citizens obey the Magistrate, and the Magistrate the Laws.  
Fourthly, and lastly, There must be given them Tribute and Custom, all subsidiary Supplies, Rom. 13.7. due to them for all their public care, Providence, Protection, Vigilancy, great Travel and Pains, which they undertake and undergo for the general good of community. There is an old word made use of by some for money, in Latin, Moneta, à Monendo, so called (saith 
n Dieter. quâ supra, p 849.  one) from monishing men of their duty, due even by it to the public Magistrate; some there be who love to desire the Magistrate, but they do not desire to love the Magistrate; they care not how much the Magistrate doth for them, but they regard not how little they do for Him. Even our Saviour Himself with his parents submitted to the Tax of Augustus Caesar, who then swayed the Empire, when he was born, Luke 2.4, 5. and afterwards provided both for himself and Peter (to avoid offence) a piece of Tribute Money, Matth. 17.27. Now it is not the meanest part of Religion to imitate him, whom thou worshippest in things capable of imitation.  
I shall not need many 
o Eccles. 12.11  nails to fasten this persuasion upon you; sigh the consideration of the greatness, not of the dignity, more than of the weight and burden of the office itself, is enough: This appears by the same Title which Jethro gave it, when he counselled Moses to join Assistants with him, to help to bear the [
* Num. 11.11  Burden] of Judicature with him, Exod. 18.22. this Honos is also Onus: the Naturalists observe, that the head is leaner than any part of the body, because it takes care for all: The Governors empty themselves as it were of themselves, to bestow themselves on the Public; yea, if they care for themselves at all, they do it more for the People's sake, then for their own, as if they thought themselves only ordained for their weal, often breaking their own rest, that they may the better procure yours.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Homer.   
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
Briefly, without using more arguments, I well read in the hilarity of your looks, the alacrity of your hearts, 
— Super omnia vultus  
Accessêre boni.—   
I discover your readiness to close with me in this serious intimation. Give me leave then to interrogate and return answer to myself, as sometimes 
p Act. 26.27.  Paul did on another occasion of Agrippa, King Agrippa, Believest thou the Prophets? I know that thou believest: So, my Beloved and Christian Hearers, do you, as Jeremy hath expressed it, cap. 30.21. do you [engage] your hearts to approach unto the Lord? I, as S. Paul, or as the 
q Judg. 5, 29.  mother of Sisera, may return answer to myself, I know that you do engage your hearts to approach unto the Lord; and withal to a willing subjection to those Higher Powers of Magistracy, the great advantage and benefit whereof you have thus far heard enlarged: Yea, as S. Paul said of philemon's readiness to give entertainment to Onesimus upon his motion, I know that you will do 
r Philem. v. 21.  more than I say; being, as the same Apostle said of Titus, in relation to another Exhortation, 2 Cor. 8.17. more forward of your own accord: And indeed, how can it be otherwise with you? if, in the next place, you seriously consider the Commission, or Divine Authority of this Office, which we have here presented to us in the second member of my Division; contained under these words, Ye judge not for man, but for the Lord: Vices Domini gerentes, as Junius glosseth it, as Gods Vice-gerents, doing his business, and executing what he himself commands.  
Which now comes in order to be fully, but succinctly spoken of; on which I shall so strive to husband my Discourse, as to lay it out in a due proportion to the time. And he said to the Judges, Take heed what ye do, for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord.  
The Ordination of these Powers is 
s Vide Calvin. Instit. l. 4. c. 20. Pertot. & S. August. l. 4. c. 33. De Civ. Dci.  divine, 
The 2d Part  they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Ordained of God himself, saith the great Apostle, Rom. 13.1. By me, that is, by my own Paramount Authority, saith the Lord, rule even all the Judges of the earth, Prov. 8.16. [Per] me, [By] me, The nature of this Preposition is to note a Cause certain, and a certain Cause excludeth Chance; they be no Casualties, Fortè fortunâ, at hap hazard, Causalls they are, (said 
t Bish. Andrews Serm. on Prov. 8.15 p. 935.  one, sometimes a great Ornament of this Church:) Casual they are not: Per me, not Perseus: it's worth the noting, that it is said, By me, not by, or from themselves; it is not their own place they sit in, nor their own Power they execute, it is derived to them from God himself; so that they may say of themselves even in this regard, Ipse nos fecit, non ipsi nos, It is he that hath made us, 
n Psal. 100.3.  and not we ourselves; and therefore the Judgement that they decree is Gods, Deut. 1.17. Many seek the Ruler's favour (saith Solomon) but every man's Judgement cometh from the Lord, Prov. 29.26. And indeed, as Josephus expresseth it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Without God it is utterly impossible that any such Power should subsist in the world; considering the furious, and seditious Commotions that Satan the Author of Confusion and Rebellion, is apt to raise up in the breasts, to vent and foment in and by the actions of the sons of Belial, against all Authority of Divine appointment. But it is 
* Psal. 144.2.  God who subdueth one man in subjection to the other, for the more uniform Composure, and Peace of the whole Universe: Wherefore when men offer to reject that form of Government which is by providence cast upon them, in the language and style of the Holy Ghost, they do not reject man, but they do reject God himself, that he should not rule over them, 1 Sam. 8.7.  
For this cause is it, that God himself (whose Vicegerents they are upon earth) to grace, and honour their persons, and Authority the more, hath given them the Title of his own name, Psal. 82.6. I have said, ye are 
x 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Gods: and again, Exod. 22.28. which are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Swelling words of vanity, titles of compliment, or of Adulation, but they are of God's Royal imposition. Nor is this Old Testament only, as some would have it, but our Blessed Saviour in the New Testament, comments upon these very same words, Joh. 10.34, 35. where, not only the Title, but the word, that is, the Warrant and Commission they receive from God is as a binding Law, which cannot be loosed. Now so they are called, say 
y S. Aug. Tract. 48. in John. and Lyra in Psal. 82.  Austin and Lyra, by participation, Participando fiunt dii, tanquam lumina illuminata, in regard of their derivative power, as lights enlightened from on high: They are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, called Gods, saith Saint Paul, 1 Cor. 8.5. in respect of their deputed power from God; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith 
z Just. Mart. qu. ad Orthod. 142. Confer. B. King pag 166 on Jonah.  Justin Martin, that Use, or Office ceasing, the Title leaves them: For however they be Gods with men, yet are they but men with God, who standeth in the Congregation of those Gods, Psal. 82. ver. 1. and that, not only as a spectator to behold them, which noteth his presence; but also as a Judge above them, which notes his pre-eminence; intending one day to take an account both of them and all their proceed, which under his Title, and by his Authority they undertook.  
Now Gods own proceeding in Judicature is presented to us in the glass of the Scriptures, after this manner.  
First, It's Impartial, and without respect of persons: so here, ver. 7. There is no iniquity with the Lord our God (saith Jehoshaphat) nor respect of persons; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as the Septuagint render it. So they who judge for God, though they may have respect to the equity of the Cause; yet may not have of the quality of the 
* Deut. 16.19.  person, above the Cause. Deut. 1.17. the face of the poor man because he is poor, must not be regarded; nor rich men's persons held in admiration, as Saint 
a Judas v. 16.  Judas speaks, for any advantage whatsoever: As was said of Anacharsis Laws, they were like Spider's webs, which the bigger flies broke through, but the lesser were taken and held fast therein: but as Phocylides hath it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Do judgement, not for 
* Vid. Episc. Davenant. pag. 966. Expos. in Coloss.  Favour, but for Justice sake. The Ancients (as we read in Scripture) held their Judicatories in the 
b Ruth. 4.1. & Gen. 34.20. Prov. 31.23.  gates of their Cities, for the more free and open access of all, as well small as great: Justitia non novit Patrem, non novit Matrem, Veritatem novit, saith 
c Dieter. Dn. 23 post Trin. pag. 840.  one; A Magistrate on the Bench should be like Melchizedek, without father, without mother, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, without 
d Hebr. 7.3  descent, or kindred. As I have heardit reported of a 
* Judge Popham.  Judge (sometime of this Western Circuit) when one arraigned before him, alleged, that he was his kinsman, however than an offender before him (as there are but few Families wherein some (as the grains in the fairest Pomegranate) are not tainted; and as it is in the hebrew proverb, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Vinegar may be the son of Wine) Are you so, said He? I must therefore never the later condemn you, being convicted; I must deny myself, with all my relations, to make Justice exemplary. A Judge must be (to use the word of 
c Aul. Gel. noct. Attic. l. 14. c. 4  Gellius) Inadulabilis, above flattery; or as 
f Cic. l. 1. Tuscul. quest.  Tully expresseth it, Inexorabilis, beyond entreaty, when the Cause expects it. Plutarch in the life of Themistocles, reports of him, That when Simonides the Poet of Chios desired a favour of him, beside what was just and equal, made answer, As thou shouldest be but an ill Poet, if thou shouldest not observe Numbers, and due Measures in thine Art; So neither can I be a good Praetor, in case I do prefer any man's favour before the equity of the Laws.  
2. And yet secondly, although God be impartial, in respect of the Person; yet is he full of equanimity in respect of the execution of his Judgement, even after conviction: In the 
f Hab. 3.2  midst of judgement God remembers mercy; nor without incorrigible provocations doth he execute the fierceness of his anger, Hos. 11.9. Yea, though Justice and mercy are Attributes both equally in God; yet quoad nos, in respect of us, the manifestation of the acts of clemency seem to come more kindly from him, than those of severity: The acts of mercy flow from God (the 
g 2 Cor. 1.3  Father of mercies) as a stream running kindly, and derived clearly from a sweet Spring or Fountain: but the acts of Justice, like liquor, or wine from the grape, which is not without squeezing or 
h Gen. 40.11  pressing forth: From God floweth not more Mercy than Justice; yet [rather] Mercy than Justice: And therefore when he proceeds to wrath, he is said by the Prophet, Isa. 28.21. to do his work, a [strange] work; as if he had been unacquainted with such an act: It is observed, That God was longer in destroying one poor City Jericho, than he was in making the whole world; 
i Josh. 6.16.  for he was [seven] days in destroying it, but 
k Gen. 1.31. Exod. 20 11  six days only in creating the world; In the second Commandment we read of his visitation of wrath but unto the third and fourth Generation of them that hated him, but of his mercy unto [
l Exod. 20.6.  Thousands] of them that love him. It's worth our Observation also, how our Saviour wrought no destructive miracles, but all salving, or restorative: We read in the Gospel, that our Saviour was once angry, but it was in an anger of Zeal, not of Livor, when he saw his Father's House (the House of Prayer) to become, by buying and selling therein, a Den of Thiefs, robbing God of his due honour in that place; he than made a 
m Joh. 2.15.  Whip of small cords to scourge those Money-Changers out of the Temple; he made a whip, to show his displeasure, but of [small] cords, to show the mitigation of that displeasure; God sends his lightning with 
n Psal. 135.7.  rain, saith the Psalmist; as the one affrights with fiery flashes, and coruscations, so the other cools, and comforts the inflamed air; yea, 'tis observed by 
o Ruffin. Hist. l. 2 c. 23.  Ruffinus in his Story, that the Ancients were wont to place upon the Statue of their Jupiter, Modium, a certain measure, as an emblem of Moderation: And this by way of Analogy, is imitated by those who are called Gods with men. Clemency is that golden thread, which runs through all their actions of Judicature: They will remember that of 
p Chrysost. Ser. De Mansuetud.  chrysostom. That its better to give account to God the 
q Heb. 12.23.  Judge of all, for showing mercy, rather than too much rigour or severity; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith 
r Isidor. Pelusiot. l. 3 cpist. 131.  Isidor Pelusiota, Extremities prove often dangerous; There is more safety in walking in the middle path, then upon the very brink of the River; if men do all they may do, they may soon be apt to do (through humane Infirmities or Passions) what they should not do; Moderation therefore, and a sweet 
s 2 Cor. 10.1.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (sigh the Law Maxim is, Justitia nescit irasci) may be like that water observed by Anatomists in the Pericardium, which cools the Ebullitions about the heart; or like Minerva's golden bridle to the winged horse: it makes a good Magistrate always to carry a Chancery in his own breast, and inclines him, like the Master Be, to rule, but without a sting. And yet, let me not be mistaken neither, for it is so sometimes, that Summa justitia proves to be Summa misericordia, the extremity of Justice, the height of Mercy; it is, when Justice is executed upon obstinate Malefactors, than mercy is shown to the Country, which they spoil, tifle and depopulate. Bonis Nocet, quisquis pepercerit malis, saith 
t Seneca, sen. 99  Seneca: he hurts the Innocent, who spares the Nocent: In this case Justice deals like Alcon, who espying a Dragon to clasp his child, so directed his arrow, that he shot the Dragon, and preserved the child. In cutting off unreclaimable Malefactors, Vice is destroyed, Virtue encouraged, and the Country preserved: It was the saying of Ludovicus Divus, as is written in the Annals of France, Pietatis opus est, non saevitiae, justitiam facere. It was an act of Piety, and not of cruelty to do Justice; so that, this notwithstanding, Mercy like a refulgent beam of the orient Sun, may shine in the midst of Judgement from the Seat of an upright Magistrate.  
3. Saith Jehoshaphat here, With the Lord our God there is no taking of gifts; yea, covetousness is as 
u Col 3.5.  Idolatry; and God 
* Psal. 10.8.  abhors both it, and the persons that bow down to it; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; saith 
x Isidor Pelusiot. l. 3. Epist. 337.  Isidor Pelusiota; 'tis for Vultures, not for Eagles, to pray upon garbage: Magistrates, like the woman clothed with the Sun, Rev. 12.1. that is, the Church arrayed in the robes of the Lord Christ, the Sun of Righteousness (as he is styled, Mal. 4.2.) they have the Moon under their feet, by which fickle and dim Star, all the inconstant vanities of this Sublunary lower world (where, with many, the present Possession is but the Possession of the present) are resembled. Oh what a pure breast, and what clean hands had innocent Samuel (a Prophet, and withal a Judge too in Israel) when bidding his last adieu to the world, and putting off his Office with his earthly Tabernacle, he made a challenge to all, saying, Whose Ox have I 
y 1 Sam. 12.3.4  taken, or whose Ass (he means unjustly) or whom have I defrauded? and the people answer him, as every 
* 2 Sam. 23 3, 4  just Ruler's conscience should to him, Thou hast not defrauded: O the tranquillity of a spotless breast! there is nothing to a man in Judicature comparable to samuel's integrity, both to get, and to keep an inward, solid peace: Who then would suffer his eyes by 
* See Exod. 23.8. Deut. 16.19 Eccles. 7.7.  bribery or corruption, to be blinded, as old Tobits were, with the Swallows dung of this earth; or end anger the whole ship of his soul for a little ballast of gain? 
z 1 Sam. 12.3.  
* Tob. 2.10.  It's said among the Poets, that the River 
a Sic tibi cum fluctus subterlabêre Sicanos, Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam. Virgi.  Alpheus glides under the salt sea, yet still preserves itself untainted by the brackish waters, till it salutes the sweet and limpid Fountain Arethusa; so all Godly and Religious Governors keep themselves (
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ho. mer.  above others) unspotted 
b Jam 1.27.  of the world, till they drink of the well of Life in the new Jerusalem, I mean, till their souls be refreshed with pure comfort in the Kingdom of Heaven.  
And yet, perchance, though the Prophet will not be tempted, 'tis not impossible, but there may be some 
c 2 King. 5.20.  Gehazi, whom some shekels of Silver, or some changes of Raiment, may, though to the hazard of a Leprosy to be entailed upon Posterity, secretly seduce: But because I know none such in this Circuit to be tainted (and who can take a fixed aim at a flying mark?) yet however I know men may be 
d Gal. 6.1.  tempted, as Atalanta was stopped in the way by the Golden Apples: Wherefore let me not be mistaken; thus think, My Speech is no Reproof which supposeth a Crime, but only as a Caution to forestall such Temptations, that like the sons of Zerviah to David, may in some particulars, prove [
e Sam. 3.39.  too hard] for them.  
And so I come to the fourth and last Particular, that I shall at this time make any instance in: God's Judgement is not passed without deliberation precedent: Hence its observable, That before sentence passed upon Adam the Protoplast, and the very first man that sinned, God came to him, not in the heat of any subitaneous Passion, but in the 
f Gen. 3.8, 9  cool of the day, and then reasoned with him, saying, Adam, Where art thou? Non in quo loco, quaero, sed in quo statu, as S. Ambrose upon that Passage; I do not ask, Where thou art in respect of Place, but where thou art, in respect of Grace? First Convincing, before he Doomed him: So likewise read we, Isai. 1.18. that though the sins of Israel were (in guilt) as red as Crimson or Scarlet, that by their very hue called for a Judgement of the same colour, as appears ver. 20. yet before the sword was actually unsheathed, Come, saith the Lord, and let is: [reason] together, and debate the matter: In like sort, by proportion and Analogy are the proceed of these terrestrial Gods with men; and indeed, so much is employed in Jehoshaphats Cavete here, Take heed what ye do, Ne praecipitantèr, sed cum magnâ deliberatione sententiam feratis, saith Lyra: Be not over hasty in Judgement. Your Commissions run (as I suppose) with Oyer before Terminer, Hear, before you determine. 
g Erasmus l. 4. Apotheg. Alexand. 46.  Erasmus, among the Apothegms that he collected of Alexander the Great, notes this as a principal, He should always reserve one ear open to the Defendant, as he hath given the other to the Plaintiff; for else, praepossession may prove a prejudice; 
h Prov. 18.17.  He that is first in his own cause, saith Solomon, though really most obnoxious, yet often apparently makes his matter most specious, and feasible: Surely, some Causes are very difficult, and hard, Deut. 1.17. So that, as Agapetus said to Justinian, He needed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and to have many eyes assisted by Caution and Circumspection; like those living Creatures which S. Gregory mentions, which were in circuitu, 
i S. Oregor. Mag. par. 3. Pastor. Cur. Admon. 5.  & intus oculis plena, full of eyes within and without, well eyeing the substance of the Cause within, and observing all the circumstances of it round about; it may otherwise prove difficult to keep the Balance even, and justly to decide it. I have read of a Spanish Judge, when a murder was committed in a tumultuous crowd of people, he caused all their bosoms to be made bare, and so feeling upon their breasts, discovered the guilty author by the palpitation and panting of his heart; so will a prudent Magistrate by sharpness and acuity of understanding, upon debate, so anatomize the very bowels of a Cause, that a fair outside only, by virtue of some gaudy dress, may not carry the matter: He that ruleth therefore (saith the great Apostle) let him do it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, with diligence, Rom. 12.8.  
And thus I have done with my Analogies: Now, as the Apostle to the 
k Heb. 13.22.  Hebrews, suffer, I beseech you, a word of Exhortation; I cannot tune it to a better Harp, then to that of the sweet Singer of Israel, Psal. 2.10.11. Be learned ye Judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear. Now, Judges serve God two manner of ways, 1. As men; by 
l Psal. 50.23.  ordering their conversation aright, according to the Laws of the Lord. 2. And 
m S. August Epist. 50. add Bonifac.  as Judges, in quantum Judges, when they do those things in, and for the service of the Lord, which none can do but Judges, by virtue of their Office and Commission, which is to execute Justice and Judgement, according to the righteous Laws of the Land; and being in a right sense Custodes utriusque Tabulae, to have the first regard to what concerns the right Religion, and the next to the supportation of equability amongst men: so shall they show themselves what they are by Divine Ordination, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Rom. 13.4. The Ministers of God for good to the Common Wealth: so shall they be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Living Laws. In short, because I must hasten (as well knowing this to be none of Jeshuah's days, wherein the Sun 
n Josh. 10.13.  stood still) There is not in the world a more reasonable request then this, namely; What you [would] be, that [too] be, to make good your name, to be as Gods to men, in doing good; for God (for whom ye Judge) is good, and 
o Psal. 119 68  doth good; specially the common good to all: for so doth God do, Psal. 145.9. this is the time and place for it; and so my wish is, that they may, and my trust is, that they will do. Nor have I in all these intimations, done other, then shown them a mirror of what they are already; as not needing, nor indeed presuming to exhort them farther to what they should be: Themselves will take notice of Jehoshaphats doubled Cavete in the Text; sigh they judge not for man, that is, as some interpret, they may not please any man in his sin, nor may they sin (in 
* Prov. 18.5.  Judgement) to please any man: But they judge for God, and for his glory; who, upon so doing, is with them in the Judgement; With them as a Spectator, which notes his presence; With them as a Mighty Protector, which notes his Pre-eminence; God is thus with them, thus judging; Wherefore now, if ever, Let the fear of the Lord be upon them, take heed, and do it.  
And thus, after my measure, as I could, though not after my wishes, as I would (in a meet correspondence to such an Auditory), I have dispatched my main intentions for this time. There are yet more parts of my first Division remaining; but the time and the weighty affairs ensuing command me to dismiss the larger handling of those at the present.  
I shall humbly crave the favour only to press even with a Laconical brevity, this Exhortation of Jehoshaphat, in the close of the Text, in a latitude, or larger extension unto all in general: and I shall only, as Jonathan did the Honey, touch all but as with the 
p 1 Sam. 14.27.  tip of my staff, or dip in it the end of my rod; and may the same hand that gave this opportunity, add also a success to this business. Now, Let the fear of the Lord be upon you all.  
An Exhortation, though at all times useful, yet at this time very opportune, and seasonable; sigh we are fallen into those last days of which the Prophecy was, That in them 
q Mat. 24.12.  Iniquity should abound; and wherein the wounds of the Church seem so wide, that none but Heaven's Chirurgery can cure them; and if it should be said now to me, what the Lord did sometime to the Prophet, Son of man, What 
r Jer. 1.11.  seest thou? Surely, I must return answer (which I do also, Non exclamantis study, but dolentis affectu; not out of a desire to declaim on the dismembered condition of these broken times, but only to declare my zealous sorrow for them) I say, I must return answer, I see a world of Atheism and Ungodliness in most sorts of men to superabound; Sin, with more spots than the 
s Jer. 13.23.  Leopard hath upon him, in all kind of variety, flows to the height of full sea, whilst purity of Religion, and manners, keeps for the most part, at a low water mark; so little, or no 
t Rom. 3.18.  fear of God is there upon earth, or 
u Luke 18.2.  reverence of good men: and from this great depravation in manners, proceeds so great corruption in Judgement; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the 
* Aristot. Eth. l 6. c. 5.  Arch Philosopher, Wickedness in practice corrupts even the very principles of reason, and of Religion both; as, on the other side, a 
x Psal. 111.10.  right understanding, and the 
y Psal. 25.14. and Prov. 3.32.  secret of the Lord, is with them that fear him: we find that that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Reprobate, and in-judicious mind ariseth from vile affections, and from an unseemly conversation, Rom. 1.24, 28. Hence spring those monsters of opinion vented in speeches, and in Pamphlets, whereby many have taken pains (the more is the pity) to destroy those principal spurs and motives unto all Virtue, to wit, the providence of God, the Resurrection of the dead, the immortality of the soul, the Joys of a future Local Heaven, and the pains of a future Local Hell, the Radical cause (saith Learned 
z Hooker Eccl. Polit. l. 5. p. 188  Hooker) of their Atheism, and the miserable 
a See Bish. King upon Jon. p. 62. & 275.  scandal of the Christian Religion: O take heed what ye do, and (if there be any here within this audience, this day, who secretly harbour such thoughts bordering upon blasphemy) O serve the Lord with fear, and with trembling; For this let me tell all such, without fear of their faces, or blushing in mine own, whether they will hear, or whether they will 
b Ezek. 2.5.  forbear; either they shall serve to the building, if their hearts be sound or straight; or if hollow and crooked, to the burning: serve they must all, one way or other.  
But I am, thus, too general; I now come in order to make a more particular Application, according to this occasion. I have 
c Vid. Joh. Gerard. loc. Com. tom. 6. p. 447. §. 7. De Magistratu Polit.  read, that of old, men were wont to build their Villages nigh to some one common Fountain, which in the Greek tongue is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and in the Doric Dialect thereof, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from whence all of the Vicinity were denominated Pagani, living in open buildings without any wall to compass them; and yet all that water in that common Fountain, could not advantage any, unless every one for himself had brought thither his own Pitcher, and had drawn up, and drank it for his own particular refreshing: In like manner, I shall now strive to 
d 2 Tim. 2.15.  divide to every one his proper 
* Luke 12.42  portion.  
And first of all, 
Advice to Mr. High Sheriff, Mr John Trot Esquire, of Laverstoke.  I shall crave leave to present my desires to Mr. High Sheriff, whose merits (being so transcendent as they are) have betimes won him the regards and high Reputation of this Country, and whose fidelity inclined the State to promote him to this present Station: I shall request him to be but like himself (for as Juno said of Hercules in Seneca, Quaeris Alcidae parem? Nemo est nisi ipse; If he will contend with an equal, he must strive with himself): I shall beseech him but to do as he doth do, so piously, so prudently, so munificently, and he shall stop the mouth of all contradiction; yea, his name and praise is already mounted upon the wings of honour, and carried throughout his Country.  
Next, 
Advice to the Grand Jury.  Take heed what ye do, and Let the fear of the Lord be upon you also, Gentlemen of the Grand Inquest; Your Wisdom and Providence, like to a well drawn Picture, must look upon every corner of your Country: God, by you, makes 
e Psal. 9.12.  Inquisition for Blood, that it may be cleansed; for Sabbath-Breakers, that they may be avenged; for Blasphemers of God's Name, or Ordinances; for when you are tender of God's 
f 1 Sam. 2.30.  Honour, God will be of your safety: For Antichristian Popery, and Superstitious Idolatry, that it may be purged; for Jesuitical Impostors, those who carry Jesus in their Names, but 
g Rev. 9.11.  Abaddon and Apollyon in their hearts; those 
h Mat. 7.15.  Wolves in sheep's clothing, those Serpents, that 
i 2 Tim. 3.6.  creep unawares into secret Chambers, beguiling 
i 2 Tim. 3.6.  unsettled, and 
k 2 Pet. 3.16.  unstable souls; whether under the habit of Carpenters, of Seamen, of Butchers, of Cooks, of Coach men, or any sort of Mechanics, or indeed of what not, so be they may gain 
l Mat. 23.15.  Proselytes, and make them ten times more the children of Hell, than they were before; most Pernicious Incendiaries, not only in a Church, but in a State; and believe it, brethren, if the Magistrate do not early root out them (so soon as they may be unmasked and detected) they will, if possible, extirpate the Magistrate; Sunt Homines multorum nominum, sed non boni nominis, they are men of many names, as may best advantage their occasions, but really of no good name or repute. In a word, Deal faithfully for God, for the true Religion, and for the quiet of your Country, by preserving it from Rapines, Robberies, Adulteryes, or whatever else may defile the Land: Take heed, and do it.  
And for all you Jurers of a subordinate Rank, 
Advice to the Pe●ty Jury and Witnesses.  Take heed what you do; and now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; be not like Ostriches, to swallow down Iron; bring your hearts to the temper of Josiah's be 
l 2 King. 22.19  tender in the matter of swearing, and learn to 
Eccles 9.2. 1 Sam. 14.26.  fear an Oath; Remember who said, The land mourns because of Oaths, Jer: 23.10. When so me unadvisedly, others continually, and as it were by custom, make an Oath an Interjection of filling of all their speeches, and to serve to close up the empty hiatus of their broken sentences; Yea, which thereby come, as one expresseth it, to a Diabetica passio of swearing, so that Oaths run from them, and they feel them not: Joshuah, who had the Authority, chose out 
n Josh. 3.12. and 4.2.  twelve worthy men out of the twelve Tribes, to serve their Country; have regard that there be no 
o Job. 6 70.  Judas among your twelve; he bore the 
p Joh. 12.6.  Bag, and for silver 
q Mat. 27.4.  betrayed Innocent Blood; let there be none like Jezabels' Knights of the Post, 1 King. 21.8, 9, 10. who by Impudent Perjury, through the wicked Subordination of a quean, occasioned the shedding of Innocent Blood, and the Injurious Usurpation of another's Inheritance: If any particular hath been discovered in this kind, shake him off from your company, as Paul did the 
r Act. 28.5.  Viper off from his hand; Qui semel malus fuit, semper praesumitur esse malus, in eodem genere, saith the Civil Law; He is no more to be trusted, in the same kind: In short, Let not that, which is appointed of God to decide and 
s Heb 6.16.  end Controversies among your Neighbours, be made, by any secret, malevolent, or revengeful intentions, the beginning of a greater 
t Hos. 4.1.  Controversy, between God, and your own souls: Take heed, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; Tremble to contest the 
u Joh. 21.17.  Omniscient, soul-fearching 
* Psal. 44.21. Psal. 7.9. Act. 1 24. Rom 8.27  God to a falsity; that God whom you so provoke, will not hold you 
x Exod 20 7.  guiltless: bring not then the 
y Zech. 5.3, 4.  curse of God upon your souls, or into your houses, by 
z Zech. 8.17.  false or by 
* Eccles. 5.2.  rash swearing, Wherefore endeavour rather to be like to the Sun, and Moon in the Heavens, as 
a Psal. 89.36, 37.  faithful Witnesses, Take heed, and do it.  
Thirdly, 
Advice to the Lawyers.  I might say also to you Lawyers, Take heed what ye do, and let the fear of the Lord be upon you: Open your mouth, and plead the cause of the poor and needy, Prov. 31.9. Let the 
b Job 31 20.  Loins of the desolate Widow, and the Bowels of the 
d Lam. 5.3.  Fatherless Orphan, bless you, Psal. 82.3, 4. A Widow by your Law, is called Relicta, one left and exposed to Injury, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Greek Proverb, When the Oak (the man) falleth, every one will be fetching of wood, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Hesychius, is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one in the dark, or, under clouds, or, as Photinus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, one that hath no helper; wherefore do you defend both: And yet I may not conceal, but that there have been some, who because S. Paul (1 Cor. 6.) forbade the Corinthians to go to Law one with another, and to wrangle about trifles, being Christians, before 
* Hoc loco non simpticitèr vetat judicio contendere propter res temporarias, sed Corinthios reprchendit, quòd impatientes essent nimiùm, ac insupè malas causas in judicia [Ethnicorum] afferrent, & in cis ità se gererent, ut magnam praeberent occasionem Ethnicis vituperandi Evangelium. Bullinger. advers. Anabapt. lib. 5. cap. 4.  Infidel Judges, whereby the Apostle meant only the Correction of a disorder, and the avoiding of scandal; would yet, by a distortion of that Text, from a false Topick of the abuse, have the whole profession itself totally abolished; not pondering the mean while, the hazard of what they possess by that Precipitant, and (I had almost said) whimsical wish; not considering the excellency of our English Laws, tempered with so great equanimity, that on the one side, they be not like Draco's Laws, written in blood, and altogether savouring of cruelty; nor on the other side, Illusory, and light, savouring of vanity. O, say such Rooters, if the Client prove not a Gerund in Do, the Lawyer will soon become a Gerund in Dum: They deal by their Clients as Musicians do by their Sackbuts, contract or distend their Causes, as the Fee strengthens the breath; and in snarling language compare them to those Creatures, that having swallowed one gobbet, stare again in your faces, as if they had received none at all; like the 
e Prov. 30.15.16.  grave or the barren womb, they still cry, Give, Give, and yet are not satisfied; and as they say of Bears, there is no such deformed lump, but with their tongues they can lick it into some fashion, and can easily smooth even the roughest stone: Such, and the like are the flowers of these men's Rhetoric, or rather the purulent excreations of their corrupt lungs, fittest for them to resume, who first disgorged them: for myself, I might well blush under such kind of Oratory, lest you might regest upon me, as they did, Luke 11.45. Master, thus saying, thou reproachest us also: But it is not for me to turn an Exhortation into a Satire, or to express myself in the style of the stage: the times require a Character of Love, not of any such indiscreet, or intemperate Zeal; I should rather vindicate your Honour, (chief if you plead for ours, and our rights) then asperse that Noble Profession, which is of that 
f Job 9.21.  age, that it's well able to speak for itself: Go on then, and 
g Psal. 45.4.  prosper; up, and be 
h 1 Chron. 22.16  doing good, that your Country, and your 
i Act 13.36.  Generation may 
h 1 Chron. 22.16  praise you; Take heed, and do it. 
* Zeph. 3.19.   
Fourthly: 
Advice to the Clergy.  and lastly, As in that Marriage Feast, where Christ himself was a guest, at Cana in Galilee, the 
l Joh. 2.10.  good wine was kept till last; 
m Deut. 32.2.  I shall, in all Reverential modesty crave the favour to drop a word or two upon my reverend brethren of the Ministry: For, blessed be God, (notwithstanding the interposition of some 
n S. Judas ver. 12  clouds without water) we yet see some shining lights standing in their 
o Mat. 5.14, 15  Candlesticks, and it were a thousand pities, but it should be so still: We read, that there were 
p Exod. 37.23.  Snuffers in God's Tabernacle, that where the lights did burn but dimly, they might be amended; but I find no mention there made of Extinguishers. And here, as John Baptist said, in an humble renuence to our Saviour, I have need to be baptised of thee, 
q Mat. 3.14.  and comest thou to me? So I being more fit to take, then to give counsel this way; for I know the Schools determine, that an Angel of an Inferior Hierarchy cannot illuminate one of a Superior; Therefore, I would not presume to inform, but only desire to inflame my Reverend Brethren. Let us take heed what we do, and let the fear of the Lord be upon you: Learning is, or hath been of late years, in the very Tropic of Cancer, but when the Sun is at the highest, it is observed by Philosophers, that the Fountains below are coldest: There is often more affectation of knowledge in the brain, than any zealous fervent, 
r 2 Thes. 2.10.  Affection in the heart; even as it was at the first, the Tree of 
s Gen. 3.6.  Knowledge, was preferred to the Tree of Life: I shall not enlarge on this occasion, only let us keep to the proper motion of our own Orbs: then shall we with Authority speak what we do, when we do what we speak: Let us be heard often, and seen seldom, and when we are seen, appear as some Rare and Beneficent Stars; and because the Eye anticipates the Ear among the inconstant Vulgar, (with whom its 
t Mat. 21.9.  Hosanna one day, and 
u Mark 15.13, 14 and Luke 23.21.  Crucify another, Neutrum modò, mas modò vulgus) Let our Lives dazzle, whom our Doctrine will not enlighten: It's possible, soon to make ourselves too cheap, sigh we find it in experience, how too much airing, like some fair coloured Silks, makes us lose our gloss: and men will be apt to tell us, that we are like Barbers, who snip off the 
* James 1.21.  Superfluities of others naughtiness, whilst we suffer our own locks to overgrow, and to deform ourselves: In one word, If we pour the box of Piety, as of Precious 
x Psal. 133.2.  Ointment, upon our own heads first, it may from thence distil, and trickle down to the very skirts of our garments, to the very meanest of our Hearers. And thus, Let us take heed to ourselves, and do.  
To conclude this whole Exhortation: To all this people in general let me say as the Scripture doth, 
y Psal. 34.14. 1 Pet. 3.11.  Eschew evil, and do good, seek not death in the error of your lives, but 
z Deut. 30.19.  choose the ways of life, in pursuing your peace with God; which is a Dicotomy, that makes up the Plerophory of a good Christian: Labour to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Every one to be 
* 2 Cor. 1.12. Col. 3.23.  Entire in his Affections, 
a Psal. 119.6, 7.  Universal in his Obedience; Let every one be what he seems, or else seem what he is; and, as the Church is said Cant. 2.11. to have made her Borders of Gold, with studs of Silver, have the best side innards.  
Stand fast in that Christian 
b Gal. 5.1.  Liberty, wherewith Christ hath made you free, only use it not as a 
c 1 Pet. 2.16.  Cloak of Maliciousness, or as an 
d Gal. 5.13.  occasion of the flesh; but by love serve one another: Take heed of 
e 1 Tim. 4.1.  Seducing spirits, especially of the White Devil, who sometimes transforms himself into an 
f 2 Cor. 11.14.  Angel of Light; beware of those 
g S Judas ver. 13.  Wand'ring Stars, whose faint blazes, shall never be able to out shine the Ancient and Pure Light of the 
h Mal. 4.2.  Sun of Righteousness, or that Faith which was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 
i S. Judas ver. 3.  once for all delivered to the Saints. Give not the Right Hand of 
k Gal. 2.9.  Fellowship to such who would withdraw you from the Ordinances of Christ, making a Religion of wax, depending only upon the train of their own affairs; such as those who fit Religion to their Wills, not their Wills to the true Religion; not bringing their froward Consciences to the 
l Gal. 6.16. and Phil. 3.16.  Rule of the Word Orthodoxly expounded but often, the Word mistaken, if not too much 
m 2 Pet. 3.16.  wrested, to their own misinformed Consciences: O lean not to your own 
n Prov. 3.5.  Understandings, and ever suspect that Doctrine which tends to cherish the 
o Gal. 5.13. S. Judas ver. 4. Psal. 53.1. Ezek. 20 44.  Corruptions of Nature; which is all for the Promises and Privileges, but nothing at all for the Precepts of the Gospel; all for Comfort, but for 
p Psal. 2 3. Luk. 17.10.  Duty not at all: Who dimidiate Christ, would have him only by halves, to be Jesus for a Saviour, but reject him from being a Lord and a King, to Rule or 
q Luk. 19.27.  Reign over them: Such as they reason much from the Power of God: what he [can] do, namely, without the ordinary means; not from his 
r Rom 12.2.  Will revealed, the sole 
s Phil. 3.16. and Gal. 6.16.  Canon of all our Actions: A mere Paralogism, and groundless kind of reasoning. Who questions, but that God [can] give wings to men to fly withal, for he hath done it unto Eagles? but [will] God do it unto men? this were to pervert the Order and Beauty of his Creation, which God (the 
t 1 Cor. 14.33.  God of Order) will not do; no nor ordinarily bring any to the end, which is Salvation, without the precisest use of the ordinary means, which is Sanctification: And indeed, if there be any, who think themselves too good for the means; the means (in God's formidable Judgement) may, in the Event, become too good for them, Amos 8.11. Matth. 21.43. The sum of all that I have now to say, amounts to this; So live, and strive for Holiness, as if thou hadst no mean of Salvation but that; and yet so rest and rely upon the Merits of Jesus Christ, as if thou hadst no holiness at all: And thus let the fear of the Lord be upon you all, Take heed, and do it.  
I have no more to add, save only to assure you (thus doing) of a most ample and glorious Remuneration of all your Gracious Endeavours, by the 
u 2 Tim. 4 8. and Gen 18.25.  Righteous Judge of all the world; no man's Righteous 
* Heb. 6.10.  Labour was ever in 
* 1 Cor. 15.58  vain in the Lord, or went 
x Gen. 15.1.  
x Psal. 19.11. & 31.19 & 58.11 Prov. 24.14. Isal 40.10. & 62.11 Mat. 5.12. Col. 3.24. 2 Ep Joh. 8. Rev 22.12.  unrewarded; Yea thus doing, ye shall be advanced, not only to a more near Communion with God in the Beatifical Vision, but also unto a most precellent honour before the world, being to sit on the Throne with Christ himself, judging the world, yea Angels, as ye read 1 Corinth. 6.2, 3. though not Authoritatively (that 
y Phil. 2.9, 10.  Exaltation being given by God the Father, to his Son Christ, as Man, as the Recompense of his Humiliation, John 5. ver. 22, 27) Yet as Assessors, and Approvers of that Just Sentence, which by 
z Joh. 5.27.  Commission from God, the Lord Christ shall then 
a Mat 25.34.  pronounce upon the world. I shall cite only one single Text very apposite to this purpose, and so close up all: It is extant in the nineteenth Chapter of Saint Matthew, verse the twenty eighth, compared with Luk. 22.30. And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me; In the Regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory, ye also shall sit upon Twelve Thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel. A short Paraphrase, upon which words shall now terminate both my Sermon, and (as I fear) your wearied Patience.  
Ye which have followed me] that is, all ye, not my Twelve Apostles only, but all other sincere Nathaneels, and 
b Joh. 1.47.  Israelites indeed. Which have followed me, to wit, in things capable of imitation: Not in the Acts of Mediatorship, which no mere Creature, and only Christ himself could do, nor in acts of Omnipotence, Infiniteness, or of miraculous Nature, and such like. But in the Moral Actions of obedience. In the Regeneration] Which word is not, as 
c Hilar. Can. 26 in Matth.  Hillary, and some others mistook, to be expounded in this particular Text of that Spiritual Regeneration, by which we are born again of water, and of the Holy Ghost, Joh. 3.5. begun in this life, because it is said here, That the Apostles and Saints shall sit upon Thrones judging, which we read not of at all in this world, where they were rather themselves judged: But this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Regeneration, is to be understood of the 
d Act. 3.21.  Restauration of all things, in the general Resurrection. Sic enim caro nostra regenerabitur, per incorruptionem, quemadmodum est anima nostra regenerata per Fidem, as Saint 
e S. Aug. l. 20. c. 5. De Civ. Dei  Augustin elegantly: For our flesh is, as it were, Regenerate from the grave, by Incorruptions; as our soul is regenerate from the state of nature, by Faith and Holiness: So that this Expression apperatains not, as 
f Joh Gerard Tom. 8. loc. come. c. 1.  Gerard well interprets, to this description of the Subject, or of the Manner and Form, How the Apostles and Saints do follow Christ; but to the Determination of time, which is added to the Predicate, and shows when the Retribution of Glory shall be given unto the Saints; Namely, then, when the Son of Man shall sit upon the 
g Mat. 25.31.  Throne of his Glory. By Twelve Thrones, and Twelve Tribes, putting a certain number for an uncertain (as is not unusual in Holy Writ) are meant the whole number of those who shall be Judges, and also be judged; for else the Twelve Apostles only should be Judges, and none but Jews of the Twelve Tribes be judged; whereas Saint Paul affirms, that all other Saints shall likewise Judge (in the sense but now named) even all the world: O Heavenly Dignity! O Honour Incomprehensible!  
So then, my Dearly Beloved, and 
b Phil. 4.1.  longed for in the Lord, let now but the fear of the Lord be upon you, in this Kingdom of Grace here; then may you even when the last 
i 1 Cor. 15.52  Trump shall sound, and the dead shall rise incorruptible, lift 
k Luke 21.28.  up your heads with joy in the Kingdom of Immortal Glory hereafter, unto all Eternity.  
Which God of his Infinite mercy grant unto us all, for the sake of the Son of his Love, Jesus Christ the Righteous, for whom our souls do bless Thee, O Heavenly Father; and on whom we anchor all our Hopes, and to whom with Thee and thy ever Blessed Spirit, Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, be rendered and ascribed, as is most due, from the bottom of all our Hearts, all possible Praise, and Glory, from henceforth and for evermore. Amen.  
FINIS.