JETHROES COUNSELL TO MOSES: OR, A DIRECTION FOR MAGISTRATES. A Sermon preached at St. Saviour's in Southwark. March 5. 1621. Before the Honourable judges by that Reverend Divine THOMAS SUTTON Dr. in Divinity.  LEVIT. 19.15. 
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgement; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty; but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.  
LONDON, Printed by WILLIAM JONES, dwelling in Red-crosse-streete. 1631.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR ROBERT DUCE, Knight Baronet, Lord Major of the City of LONDON: and to the Right Worshipful the Sheriffs and Aldermen of the same; W. I. P. wisheth increase of knowledge and grace in Christ here, that you may reign with him hereafter in glory.  
HAVING a Sermon come to my hands, of the Counsel of jethro given to Moses the servant of the Lord, how he might with more ease to himself and the people decide all controversies; as it was preached before the judges in Southwark, by that Reverend and learned Divine, Mr. Dr. Sutton, late Preacher at Saviour's: The which Sermon giveth direction, not only to judges, but also to all Magistrates in the Land, how to carry themselves in their several places against all offenders, and betwixt man and man: It being a subject of so necessary a use; it is thought meet to publish it in these evil times, because the seat of justice is now had in much contempt by many who live as if there were no God in heaven to behold their wickedness, nor Magistrate on earth to punish their horrible crimes. And seeking out for a Patron, I thought fit to dedicate it to your Honour, and Worships: To your Honour, who in your Shreivalty shown your great zeal and love to the Gospel of Christ, that upon a discovery of the practices of jesuites and Priests, rose at midnight to execute the warrant of Sir Robert Nanton, than Secretary to King james of most blessed memory; where was taken seventeen Altars for their Popish Mass, ten Copes, twelve or thirteen Surplices, above ten thousand Popish books, besides several packets of Letters, partly come from Brussels, and going to Brussels, etc. And seeing the Lord hath advanced your Honour into the chair of Moses, under our gracious Sovereign Lord King CHARLES, the Lord give you courage and zeal, against all Popish superstitition and Idolatry: requesting you that you would be pleased to peruse the short directions in it: That so you may with the rest of your Right Worshipful Brethren, the better direct all and several Officers in their several places, under you in your several Wards; that they also may be men of courage, fearing God. To that end I beseech the Lord of heaven, who directed his servant Moses, so to direct your hearts, that you may have both the courage and zeal of Moses, against all idolatrous Priests and jesuites that swarm in the Land, whose treacherous practices this worthy Sermon doth at large discover: and so put them out of all hope of gaining any Proselytes here among you. Thus daily praying unto the Lord on your behalf, I humbly take my leave.  
Your Honours, and Worships, to be commanded in the Lord jesus: W. I. P.   

Dr. SUTTONS Prayer.  
OH most gracious and most glorious God, before whom the Sun and the Moon become as darkness, the blessed Angels stand amazed, and the glorious Cherubims are glad that they may cover and hide their faces, as not daring to behold that incomprehensible greatness, and that infinite goodness which thou art; with what confidence shall we forlorn sinners be ever once able to appear before thy all seeing providence, that terrible and angry countenance, that sinne-revenging justice of thine, which is so fierce and terrible, that it will shake the heavens, melt the mountains, dry up the seas, and make the tallest Cedars in Lebanon to tremble: Good Lord, where shall we hide ourselves from thy presence; masses of corruption, mountains of sin, dead and dry trees, fit fuel for thy fierce wrath to work upon: if we should climb up into heaven to hide us from thee, thou art there, or go down into the bottom and depth of hell, thou art there also; or take the wings of the morn, and fly to the utmost part of the seas even there also will thy allseing eye behold us, and thy right hand will quickly visit and find us out: we will therefore here dissolve and melt ourselves into a flood and fountain of many tears, bewailing and bemoaning our woeful and miserable estate; for albeit by reason of that soul Chaos, and stain of natural corruption and original sin, we have deserved long since to have had the sweet issue of all thy good blessings to be stopped and dried up, thy mild and gentle corrections to be turned into the sudden execution of bloody tortures and fearful judgements upon us even in this life, and at our departing out of this world to be plunged everlastingly into a pit of destruction, there to be fried and scorched with Satan and his Angels for evermore. And yet for all this, O Lord, we have never ceased to add oil unto this flame, and to blow up the coals of thy fearful displeasure, through the hot and eager pursuit of many loud crying actual sins and transgressions; so that from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot, there is not one place sound or whole within us, but we are all full of sores and swellings, and botches, full of sin, full of corruption: our understandings which should have known thee to be our true God, and him whom thou hast sent jesus Christ our Redeemer, these are blinded and miss with ignorance and doubting, our affections which should have been good guides to have directed our feet into the way of peace, they are become swift messengers of Satan to buffet us; our bodies which should have been sweet Temples for thy blessed Spirit to dwell and lodge in, they are sinks of sin, and cages of filthy birds: our eyes O God, are like open windows, and doors to receive sin, our hearts like common Inns to lodge sin, our heads like skilful Politicians to contrive sin, our tongues smooth and sweet Orators to plead for the maintaining of sin, and all our hands like stout soldiers and courageous Champions to fight in the defence of sin. Thus have we waged and managed war against thee our God, ever since we were borne, so that now thou mayst justly spew us out of thy mouth, cut us off in the midst of our sins, come amongst us this very present, and bind us hand and foot, and at the end of these few and miserable days send us all into hell together, that so Satan might pay us our wages only, whom thus long we have obeyed and served: thus emptying ourselves from all trust and confidence in the arm of flesh, we fly unto thee O God, the anchor of our hope, and the tower built for our defence, with many deep sighs and groans from our perplexed consciences and discased souls, most humbly entreating thee to be gracious and merciful to all our sins, for they are wondrous great, make it thy glory to pass by and to wink at them; pour into our souls the oil of thy mercies, supple our hard and dry hearts with the sweet influence of thy best graces, and cure all our swelling wounds with the true balm of Gilead; purge (good Lord) and cleanse all the polluted and infected corners of our hearts, that though at this day our sins be as old as Adam, as numberless as the stars of heaven, as high as the tallest Cedars in the forest, Lord pluck them up by the roots, bury them in everlasting forgetfulness, that they may never stop the issue of thy blessings, nor draw down upon us the vials of thy wrath, nor be a wound and grief to our troubled consciences in this life, or work despair in us at the end of our days; nor stand up in judgement to be the utter ruin and condemnation of our souls and bodies at the last day. Good Lord prepare us all for a better life, fit us all for the kingdom of thy Son Christ jesus, guide us all with thy blessed Spirit, tutor us out of thy holy word, humble us by thy merciful corrections, and by thy fatherly blessings, wed our affections, and knit our hearts more near unto thee in newness of life, than ever heretofore they have been: that living as becometh thy obedient children and servants an holy and a religious remnant of our days, we may by thy grace and mercy be partakers of a joyful and a comfortable death, and after death of a glorious resurrection to everlasting life & peace among thy Saints. Neither do we pray to thee for ourselves only, but for all people and Nations of the earth, but more particularly for the place in which we live, and therein according to our bounden duty for thy servant & our Sovereign, Charles, by thy special providence King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the most true, Ancient, Catholic and Apostolic faith, and in all causes, and over all persons within these his Majesty's Realms and Dominions next under thee and thy Son Christ jesus supreme Governor, add unto his days, as thou didst unto the days of Hezekiah, that he may enjoy a long and a prosperous reign over us; and in the mean time remember him in goodness for the good he hath done already to thy Church. Bestow the sweetest of thy blessings upon our gracious Queen Mary, our hopeful Prince Charles, and the rest of those royal branches beyond the seas, season them in their young and tender years with thy fear, that they may be great in thy favour: and if it may stand with thine eternal Decree, let us never want a holy and a religious man of that house and line to govern the sceptres of these Kingdoms, and to maintain the preaching of thy glorious Gospel within these his Majesty's Realms and Dominions so long as the Sun and Moon endures. Bless our King with an honourable, valiant and a religious Council and Nobility, bless him with a learned, painful, and a zealous Clergy, by what names or titles soever they be called, whether they be Arch-Bishops, or Bishops, and all other painful labourers in this thy Vineyard: bless him with a wise, prudent, and a religious Gentry: bless him with a peaceable, a loyal and a religious Commonalty, and good God we beseech thee to shower down thy blessings upon the right hand and upon the left to them whom it hath pleased thee to send to this Congregation, that by the blessing of thy good Spirit whensoever they shall stand on thy Mountain to deliver a Message from thee, give them good Father, (what wilt thou give them?) give them wise and understanding hearts, that they may open to thy people the wondrous things of thy law; good Father touch their tongues with a coal from thy holy Altar, that by the blessing of thy holy Spirit they may be able to work some holiness in the hearts of a sinful and unbelieving people: and cut down the head and strength of some sin that remaineth in us: and to this end and purpose make them sound in thy Doctrines, terrible in thy threatenings sweet in thy comforts, powerful and effectual in all thy persuasions; and merciful Father make thy word like the bow of jonathan, and like the sword of Saul or Gideon, that never returned empty from the blood of the slain, and the fat of the mighty.  
Lastly, we come unto thee for ourselves again thy most unworthy servants, that are here assembled in a reverend fear of thy most holy and blessed name, most humbly entreating thee in jesus Christ to be gracious and merciful to all our sins, and to be effectually present with thy blessed Spirit in the midst of us all, and grant that thy word may drop and distil upon our tender consciences, like rain upon the mown grass, and as dew comes down from heaven to water the earth; take away the scales of ignorance from all blind and dark understandings, remove fare from us all lets and hindrances whereby the blessed seed of thy word hath been to many and sundry times made unfruitful in the hearts of sinful and unbelieving people: and to every soul that is present in thy house this day, or at any other time, grant us all holy diligence to seek thee, godly wisdom to know thee, and sanctified understanding to find thee aright; that so thy word may prove the sweet savour of life unto everlasting life, through jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour; in whose most holy and blessed name we are bold to conclude these our weak and imperfect prayers in that perfect form of prayer which Christ hath taught us, saying, Our Father, etc.   

A DIRECTION FOR MAGISTRATES.  EXOD. 18. Chap. Verse 21. 
Moreover, provide thou among all the people, men of courage, fearing God, men dealing truly, hating covetousness, and appoint such over them to be Rulers over thousands, Rulers over hundreds, Rulers over fifties, and Rulers over ten.  
THERE are in the body natural three principal members, the liver, the heart, and the brain, resembling three principal members in the body politic, the Magistrate, the Physician, and the Divine. The liver is the beginning of natural faculties, segregates the humours, engenders alimental blood, and by veins sends it into the body of man from noxious humours, whereby it may be endangered, and prescribes wholesome diet, whereby it may be preserved and kept in health. The heart is the beginning of vital faculties, generates vital spirits, sends them into every particular member: Like to this is the Divine, for he is Principium, though not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of generation, nor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Radication, yet to use the word of the Anatomist, he is Principium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of dispensation of the vital spirits, he takes a man where the Physicians leave him, makes him of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, of a natural to be a spiritual man, transforms him from a mere man to be a pure Saint. The brain is the beginning of animal faculties, chief commander of the body, sits in the highest room, as in her royal palace, compassed about with the Cranium, the Pericranium, and the two meanings, which are like strong Castles and Countermures against foreign invasion; it hath the five external senses as intelligencers, to give notice what is done abroad, the common sense, he fantasy, the understandings privy counsellors, the memory as register & book of records, yet the brain is not idle, but busied in tempering the spirits received from the heart, sending them by nerves into the old body, and thereby giving sense and motion to each part: And this brain is the fit emblem of a good Magistrate, who as he hath forts and guards, and Counselors, and records, so must he know that he hath them not for his own use, but for the benefit of the body Politic; and therefore must bestir himself in tempering the spirits received from the heart, I mean in making use of spiritual counsels received from the Minister of the Gospel. Now as the body Natural is in best estate when all these three are well affected, but very ill at ease if there be a distemper or dyscracie in any of them; so in the body Politic, if the Physician, the Divine, and the Magistrate, be faithful in their places, and follow the rule of their books, there would be no complaining in our streets: But if the Physician instead of wholesome Physic, minister nothing but hemlock; the Divine in stead of wholesome Doctrine broach nothing but heresy and curiosity; the Magistrate turn justice into wormwood: then is the head sick, and the heart heavy, and in the Symptoms of death upon the whole body, once more. Of all parts in the body Natural the brain is most subject unto diseases, and of all parts in the body Politic the Magistrate most obnoxious to slips and falls. First, because he hath many provocations which others want. Secondly, he wants a benefit which others have, he is not freely reproved, as others are. Thirdly, because of those Cubiculares Consiliarij, as Lypsius calleth them, Politic. cap. 9 lib. 3. Tineae et Sorices Palatij, these rats and moths of the Court that feed upon other men's wants, live by other men's losses; and as the common soldier, in Tacitus in Pompeium, Miseriâ nostrâ magnus es, grow great by others men's miseries, who sell their Master's favours, as Zoticus in Lampridius sold the fair promises of Heliogabolus; and are always ready for their own advantage to applaud their Master's worst and basest actions.  
Hence is it, that jethro gives this good direction to Moses, the judges and Magistrates which thou dost appoint must be men of courage, fearing God, dealing truly, hating covetousness. Which words have in them, 1. A Quis, 2. A Quos, 3. A Quibus. The Quis is Moses, Sed consulto Domino, and gives this conclusion, that the ordination of judges and Magistrates is of God. In the beginning of time the Lord prescribed to the heavens their courses and motions, and they observe them; to the Elements he set bounds and limits, and they keep them; the bees he gave a King, saith Elian de hist. animal. lib. 1. cap. 11. and they obey him; to man he gave laws, and he transgressed them, wrote them in his heart, and man blotted them out. Again, whensoever the Heathen made laws, they were wont to father them upon some of their gods, thereby to purchase credit and reverence: When Lycurgus made laws for the Lacedæmonians, he fathered them upon Apollo: Minos for the Cretians, he fathered them upon jupiter, Solon, and Draco: For the Athenians, they fathered them upon the Goddess Minerva, as Diodorus Siculus reports of them. When Numa made laws for the Romans, he fathered them upon the Goddess Egraecia, as Plut. in the life of Numa Pompilius reports. When Anacharsis the Scythian Philosopher made laws for the Scythians, he fathered them upon Zamolxis, as Vives upon Aug. and Herodotus in his Melpomene have related: but all this could not refrain wilful man from exorbitancy and manifest riot against God. It is true of him which the old Lacedæmonians said of the old Athenians, they knew what was to be done, but did it not; and which the Cimickin Laertius objected to the Philosophers of Greece, they had good laws, but practised them not, they made no more account of laws than Remus in Livy, dec. 1. lib. 1. of bestriding the walls which Romulus had built, he stood in no more awe than the frogs in the fable of leaping over the jaws of the lion, when he was couchant and fast asleep; and therefore did God appoint the Magistrate to put life into this dead letter, and made him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as Aristotle calls him, Ethi. lib. 5. cap. 4. a living law, that these two, the Law and the Magistrate, the one as a sword, the other as a soldier to draw it, the one as a sovereign medicine, the other as a Physician to apply it, the one as a pebble gathered out of the stream, the other as a skilful David to sling it, might unite the forces to the utter extirpation of idolatry, the protection of justice, the supporting of sound religion, the disparaging of sin: and this is the authority they have from God.  
In which point we must with Tully distinguish the power itself. Secondly, the means of attaining. Thirdly, the manner of execution. The first is always of God, but not the second nor the third; Potestatem Deus distribuit, God gives the power. Elationem potentiae malitiam venit, saith Gregor. as he is quoted by the ordinary gloss; If the Magistrate be good, he is set there for the good of the people, if wicked, he is set there for the sin of the people; Saul is appointed by God as well as David, Nero as well as josiah, and Ashur as well as Moses or joshua; But the one is stirred up to be the Saviour of the people, as Ehud was, jud. 3.15. the other as the rod of his wrath, as Ashur was: Esa. 49.23. King's shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queens thy nurses: Nor from Christ, who commands to give unto Cesar that which is due unto him, Mat. 22.21. nor from Peter, who bids honour the King, 1. Pet. 2: 27. nor from Paul, who bids pray for Kings and Magistrates, 1. Tim. 2: 2. nor from Moses, who commands not to rail upon the judge, nor speak evil of the ruler of the people, Ex. 22.28. It is true of them which God said to Samuel concerning the jews, when they disliked their present government, they have not cast away thee, but they have cast away me, that I should not rule over them, 1. Sam. 8.7. The other is the Papist, who denies not temporal authority of our Kings and judges, yet ties one of the Magistrates hands, lessens his authority, and limits him only ad Temporalia, and for spiritual matters, he hath no more to do with them than Vzzah had to touch the Ark, who for his pains was stricken with death. 2. Sam. 6.7. he dares not deny but Magistrates be gods, for David should confute him; I have said ye are gods. Psa. 82. but yet say of them as the Aramite said of the God of Israel, that he was the God of the Mountains, not of the Valleys, 1. King. 20.28. they be gods and governor's of the Laity, not of the Clergy; For the Council of Constance: Sess. 31. Laicus in clericum iurisdictionem non habet. The Council of Trent. Sess. 25. Personarum Ecclesiasticarum immunitas adeò instituitur: Beller. lib: de eler: cap. 28. clerici non possunt à iudice politico puniri, nec sunt Reges Clericorum superiores, idque habuit iure divino. The exemption is by a divine right, saith the same Cardinal 'gainst Berclay. cap. 34. quite contrary to the order and course of Scripture, for David had the same power over the high Priests that Kings have over their subjects, and calls Zadoc the Priest and Nathan the Prophet his servants, 1 Kings 1. Solomon his son turned Abiathar out of the Priesthood, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled which was spoken against the house of Ely, 1 King 2.27. Which text hath so puzzled Bell. writing against Berclay, that he is glad to confess that in salomon's time Priests were subject unto Kings: Christus solvit etc. Math: 17, 24, 25. Paul appealed ad Caesarem, non ad Petrum, and he hath warrant, Act. 23.11, when Saint Chrisostome expounded that of the Apostle Rom. 13. speaketh thus etc. consonant to this is Tert: lib. de Idela: cap. 15. and St. Bernard ad Archiepiscopum Senonensem Epist: 42. Si omnis anima et iam et vestra quis vos accepit ab universitate, si quis tentat excipere conatur decipere. For conclusion note, only how Bellarmine in this point hath contradicted himself in writing against Barclay, cap. 34. his position is, Clerici exempti sunt non solum privilegijs Principum, sed jure divino: and yet in his 1 Lib. Ecclesiae de membris militantis, entitled De Clericis cap. 28. Nullum potest deferri Dei verbum quo ista Clericorum exceptio confirmetur: Propos. 4. In the first skirmish he is like to Thrasilius in Anthony's Deipnosoph lib. 12. challengeth every page of Scripture to be their advocate, that if it were possible for paper and ink to blush, his books would be as red as his Bonnet, and at the parting he is willing to confess, that there is no express precept of Scripture for it. I end with the speech of Constantine the great, noted by Theodoret, lib. 1. cap. 20. when he exiled Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia, Si quis Epispiscoporum in consulto tumultuatur meae authoritati illius audacia coarcebitur.  
If it be God's prerogative to appoint Magistrates, what may we think of them that would wring this power from God, and cast it upon him that sits in the Temple and advanceth himself above all that is called God, making himself the King of all other Kings, to whom all Kings and Kingdoms must do homage and pay tribute, the greatest Monarches must fall down and kiss the feet of his Holiness, as they say their books Sacrarum Ceremoniarum, lib. 1. cap. 3. sect. 2. The Emperor must hold his stirrup when he mounteth, the bridle when he lighteth, bear his train when he walketh, hold the basin when he washeth; he now acts the same part that the Devil acted, Matth. 4.9. and takes upon him as he did to dispose of all the Kingdoms of the earth; and we may say of him as Irenaeus said of the Devil, Mentitur Diabolus, nam cujus jussu homines creantur, illius jussu regna constituuntur. Who knows not that Frederick the first was deprived of his Kingdom by Pope Alexander the third, as Petrus justinianus reports in his Lib. 2. Rerum venatarum: Frederick the 2. by Innocentius the 4. Leo the 3. called Leo Isauros was by Gregory the 3. first excommunicate, and then deprived of all his revenues in Italy, because he commanded that Images should be pulled down in their Churches, as Carrion in 3. of his Chro. in the life of Leo the 3. That Paul the 2. in the beginning of his life a Venetian Pedlar, as Platina calls him, at the end strangled by the Devil in the act of Sodomy, as Melancton lib. 5. pag. 913. deprived George the King of Bohemia, and stirred up the King of Hungaria to make war against him, as Omiphrius saith of him, and for no other reason but because he favoured the doctrine of john Husse, as Bonfimus Rer: Hung: Dec: 4. lib. 1. Pope julius the 2. deprived the King of Castille. Pope Alexander the 6. took away the East Indies from the true owner, and gave it to the Lusitanians; the West, and gave it to the Spaniard, that Atabalippa might justly challenge, but all in vain: Quid monstri esset iste Papa qui sic daret non sua? as Montinaeus de temporali pontij monarchia, cap. 5. That Pius the 5. as Genebrard, at the year 1569. took away this Kingdom from the late Queen, and gave it to Philip King of Spain. That Sixtus the 5. deprived Henry the 3. of France, first of his Kingdom, and then of his life: I omit the wrongs to Henry the 2. they are noted by Matthew Paris at the year 1170. to have been so shameful, that Matchaivell himself in the Lib. 1. Hist. Florent. seems to scorn him for it. Rex his flagellis tergum subjecit, quorum hodie puderit quemlibet privatum. And when King john complained, Romanis artibus emunxi Anglos argento: Pope Innocentius the third took away his Kingdom, and gave it to Philip of France, as Matthew Paris at the year 215. I marvel not that the Pope would fain have footing in England, which Innocentius the 4. called Hortum delitiarum, puteum vero inexhaustum. Who would not desire to have such a garden, who would not wish such a well as that? The Poets feign, that the River Arethusa being suddenly swallowed up into the ground, runs quite through the sea, and riseth again in Sicily. But without feigning, from England as from a well hath sprung golden rivers, which being suddenly swallowed up did run through the sea, and rise again at Rome in the Pope's Exchequer. But I marvel why Priests and jesuites will be his Factours, whom he useth as a fisher useth little fishes to catch great ones, he fisheth with Priests and jesuites as baits to catch Kings and Princes, and Kingdoms. I remember a fable of the Ape, seeing a Chestnut in the fire, and knowing not how to get it, spied a Spaniel by the fireside, and suddenly catcht his foot to take out the chestnut: wherein these men may see their faces in a homely glass. The golden Supremacy is the chestnut, perils and dangers the fire; the Pope loathe his own fingers, useth them as the Spaniels foot to scrape forth the chestnut: little cares he how they be scorched, so he be in hope to obtain his desire; and though many of them have burnt both their hands and hearts, yet blessed be God he missed the chestnut. We have heard the roaring of his Bulls, but they have not hurt us, they have been like the shows of Semiramis the Astrian Queen, when she warred against the King of India, which seemed afar off to be Elephants and Dromedaries, but being examined were nothing else but hides of oxen stuffed with straw; such have been all Popish machinations against us. They have plotted, but God hath prevented them, laid snares, but God hath broken them; attended mischief, but God hath confounded them: Nati natorum & qui nascentur ab illis, the children that are yet unborn have continual cause to remember what the Lord hath done for us; let our tongues cleave unto the roof of our mouths, let the Sun deny us his light, the heavens their influence, the earth her fruits, if we forget to give God thankes, and to say as Psal. 124. If the Lord had not been on our side, they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us, etc. and this I pass over and come to a two fold duty. The one concerns our duty to the Magistrate, the other, the Magistrates duty towards God.  
Our duty to you is reverence and honour Aristotle: and Herodotus in Euterpe, have recorded a story of Amasis the King of Egypt, who being mocked of his Subjects, by reason of his mean descent, took a golden basin wherein they used to wash their feet, and turned it into the Image and similitude of one of their gods: and the men that before regarded it not, did then fall down and worship it. The story applies itself, though when you were private men your respect was ordinary, but the Lord hath given you his own name: I have said you are gods, and set you in his own place of judgement, and trusted you in his work, the cause and lives of his people; we obey and reverence you even for conscience sake, and this is our duty towards you.  
The next is the Magistrate's duty towards God: God hath given you much, and he requireth much from you, and yet sometimes it comes to pass that they pay him least who own him most. Tacitus reports of Claudius that he was a good subject, but a bad Emperor; and in his lib. 2. Hist. of Titus, that he was a bad private man, but a good Emperor; But where one proves like Titus, bad private men, and good governor's; a thousand prove like Claudius, good private men, but bad governor's. As Pope Vrban said of Baldwine the Metropolitan Bishop of this Kingdom that he was Monachus ferventissimus, Abbas calidus, Episcopus tepidus, Archiepiscopus remissus. or as Bucolcerus at the year 1464. reports of Aenaeus Silvius, that after he got the Popedom and changed his name into Pius Secundus, he then condemned many things which before he allowed: whereupon one wittily plays upon him thus, Quod Aenaeas probavit, Pius damnavit. It was the practice of heathen persecutors, to place the Image of Venus, in the same place, where Christ was crucified, that if any came there to worship, they might seem to worship Venus. A trick which the Devil useth at this day, to set in God's room and seat of judgement an Idol Magistrate, sometimes a Cupid, or Venus, delighting in pleasure, sometimes a Mars, delighting in blood, sometimes a Mercury, with a voice like jacob, to speak smoothly, but hands like Esau, and fingers like lyme-twiggs, to bring all homewards, and make their places but bands for their profits. And howsoever this point may seem as needless, as for Phormio to discourse of military Discipline before Hannibal; yet I beseech you bear with patience, for though I must remember you, I must not forget myself, nor my place, nor the mount whereon I stand. For I also am in God's room, and am set here to put you in mind of your duty: your main duty is the care of religion and worship of God, the suppressing of Idolatry, and profanes. There are a kind of men whereof I may say as Tully said of the Catelinarians, Semper prohibetur, semper retinetur, we have laws against them, and yet still we keep them: a good common wealth consisting of heterogenial parts, must be like Peter's sheet in the 10. of the Acts. wherein though there be all manner of beasts, and fowls; yet must it be knit at the four corners: though in a common wealth there be Nobles flying above, like the fowls of the heaven, and meaner men creeping below, yet must it be knit at the four corners, the remotest parts as lines in a centre, must meet in unity of religion; if you be slack in this, it is no small danger whereto our Kingdom may be quickly brought. Seneca on Theavil. reports, that Cadmus the King of Phoenicia seeing some of his followers stain by a serpent, slew the serpent, and sowed the teeth of it; Ex quibus prodiere homines armati: and we have good cause to fear it, though some of these serpent's brood be dead, yet there be armed men bred out of their bones, who though they may speak us fair, yet I approve the judgement of Caesar, who stood more afraid of Brutus, who had his mouth in his heart, than of Anthony, who had his heart in his mouth. Our land never was so sick, never groaned so loud, never mourned in such a passion, never traveled of such Hermaphrodites with half so much pain and grief, as now it doth; she hath already bred, and at this day both feedeth, and clotheth numberless swarms of outcast professors, who sometimes like judas pretend to kiss, but if they can come near enough, intent to kill her; she may conclude a peace with foreign enemies, but they will cut her throat by way of friendship: It is no whispering rumour, but the voice of truth, but they are warmly lodged and richly friended, and costly fed, with the marrow and fatness of our land, who in the midst of our jubiles make flaws in our peace, and in the midst of our joys endanger our lives; and if ever foreigner should invade our Land, would lend their knives to cut our throats, and be the foremost men to bear arms against us: this alas, this is the malady that makes the visage of our Church so won, and her face so full of wrinkles, her back so full of furrows, and her eyes so full of tears, and her heart so full of sorrows, that though many good Physicians will speak her fair, and wish her health, yet they launch not the Impostume, they purge not the fretting humour that consumes and grieves her; you may read in her face that the gripings and convulsions are unsufferable; you may hear by her groans, that her pains are intolerable; you may presage by her pulses the signs and Symptoms of desolation and death: And when these Catholic vipers have broken her heart, what will become of us, who suffer such professors, as will never prove good subjects to varnish their nests, and make their bowers within her. It would do them good to do us hurt, it would lengthen their lives to shorten ours, it would bring them half way to heaven, to bury their poniards in our breasts, it would make a new feast, and another holiday in the Roman Calendar, if they might smell the burning, or hear tell of the smoke and ashes of our Churches, they are already become so bold, their number so exceeding great, their religion so bloody, their malice so inveterate, that if no sharper course be taken to repress and smother them, they will adventure within a while, to try whether we or they shall be the Masters; and if either malice, or multitude can do it, they will make bonfires of our flesh, they will cut off our lives, and confiscate our live, and set fire on our Churches, and martyr our Clergy, and massacre our judges, and murder our Princes; and say of England as Edome did of jerusalem, down with it, down with it, even to the ground. And if ever this day of mourning come upon us, which I pray God may never come, we may thank ourselves for keeping such Romish wasps in our English Hives.  

The Second part of the Text.  I come now to the second part of the Text, The Quos, (viz. The persons whom he must appoint:) and these are described, first generally, The Magistrate must be a choice man, one of a thousand, culled and selected out of all the people. Secondly, He is described by his particular properties, and these are 4. First, they must be Viri potentes, powerful and able men. Secondly, They must be, viri timentes Deum, Such as fear God. Thirdly, They must be, viri amantes veritatem, such as love truth. Fourthly, viri abhorrentes avaritiam, such as hate covetousness. Of these in order.  
And first of the general, he must be chosen out of all the people, he must be a ch●… man. It is the observation of Abulensis, that Moses chooseth the high Priests out of all the people of Israel, Numb. 17. It is the observation of Pelargus, that Moses summoned by death to resign his place, nec filios obtrudit suos, nec populum in suffragia mittit, he shuffles not in one of his sons, nor commit to most voices, but desires God to appoint and nominate some one whom he had singularly enriched with his spirit, Numb. 27. David, a man culled out of all the sons of jesse, 1 Sam. 16. the twelve Apostles picked and chosen out of all the Disciples, Luke 6.13. Were the birds of the air to choose them a governor, it should be the Phoenix; were the stars of the heaven to choose them a governor, it should be the Sun; were the trees of the forest to choose a governor, it should be the Cedar; were the flowers of the garden to choose them a governor, it should be the Lily, or the fragrant Rose.  
We must observe the rule of Paris King of Troy, when Pallas juno, and Venus contended for the golden apple, Detur digniori, let the most virtuous have it: the Magistrate should be like a poesy made of the choicest flowers, or like the picture of Helena that Zeuxes made in the Temple of the Croconians, whatsoever was fair and beautiful in any other, was admirably composed and wrought in that one. St. August. De Civit. Dei, lib. 5. cap. 12. says, the ancient Romans built their Temple of virtue directly in the way to the Temple of honour, to signify that it was not for a man to ●…pe to a seat of honour, before he had proceeded in the school of virtue.  
Hence I might justly challenge the precipitant forwardness of some, who boldly intrude into places of eminence, both in Church and State, though it be well enough known that they are as eminent for their imperfections, as they are for their places: and the injurious dealings of others, who set Idols in the room of God, prefer unworthy persons, who come little short of Calligula, who was so in love with his horse Incitatus, that he gave him his provender in a golden charger, made his horse a Priest, and solemnly promised to make him a Consul. But the general will be manifest, if we take view of the particular properties, whereof the first is, they must be viri potentes, able men, non corporis fortitudine, sed animi, saith Ferus: If the eye of a judge be not be not like sn Eagle, his hand like a Ladies; if the heart of a judge be not like a lion, he is not fit to be God's swordbearer, he must have a Surgeons heart, who cuts the wound, weep the patiented never so bitterly. Plorat secandus, & secatur, plorat urendus, & uritur, saith Aug. in Mat. Ser. 15. & this is not cruelty but mercy; for sevit in vulnus, ut homo sanetur, si palpetur vulnus, homo perditur. It was God's speech to joshua, Be thou strong and of good courage, Iosh. 10. the commendation that the Angel gave Gideon, The Lord is with thee thou uàliant man, judg. 6.8. I am of the opinion of Chabrias in the history, if you be lions, let all the rest of the people be timorous hearts, we shall do well; let all the rest of the army be lions, if you be timorous hearts, nothing can be well. O then awake and put on courage, you that minister judgement, me thinks God speaks to you as Gideon did to his men of war in the seventh of judges, If you be timorous and fearful, depart from Mount Gilead, and lay no hands upon your swords; you must remember that as the royal throne of Solomon whereon he sat to judge was supported by lions on both sides, 1 King. 10.20. so when you sit in seats of judgement, which is as the throne of Solomon, be supported by the lion-like virtues of courage and magnanimity; you must not transgress for fear or favour, therefore you have need of courage; to silence the mighty, therefore you have need of courage; to rescue the poor out of the hands of the oppressors, with as much danger as David rescued his silly lamb out of the mouth of the lion and the bear, therefore you have need of courage: you must with Zeileucus King of the Locrenses, pass sentence upon your own children if they be found worthy of death, therefore you have need of courage; you must confute the sins of the mighty, you must support the work of the Ministry, you must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a living law, to help the poor to their right that suffer wrong, to hear the widow's cause, to acquit the innocent josephs' and jeremies', whom malice and revenge hath cast into prison, & shut fast into the stocks, and therefore you have need of courage.  
Moses must choose judges that do fear God, nothing more needful than this. I may say of it as Aristotle of justice: Eth; lib. 5. He that hath this virtue wants none, and without this, what is the Magistrate, but flagellum piorum, & captivus vitiorum, one that judges others, and is sin's prisoner, himself? without the fear of God, what is he? one that quarter's his coat with Princes, and wants the badge of Christianity upon it: without this fear what is he? one that sits with Kings on earth, but hath not so much as a pew in heaven: without this fear, what is he? An heir of fair and goodly possessions, but a common pander of foul and prodigious vices: Without this fear, what is he? An Ahab, to reave away poor Naboths Vineyard: a  to condemn the innocent: a Saul, to torment the Saints, a Vespasian to squeeze men like sponges: a Gehazi, to pocket up Talents of gold: a Bremus, to let desolation into the Churches: In a word, without this fear, what is he? A perverter of justice, a receiver of false witness, a Patron of violence. Not like Zabulon, a Haven for weather beaten ships: But like Dan, a Serpent in the way, and like Benjamin, a ravening Wolf: And as Paul called Ananias, a whited wall. Act: 23.3.  
But how glorious the name, how beautiful the feet, how welcome the coming, how gracious the admonitions, how strait and impartial the proceed, how joyful the widow, how glad the innocent, how happy the land, from Dan to Bersheba, when valiant Othniels, valiant gideon's, incorrupt samuel's, in whom God hath planted his fear, be placed over us, to judge the people: Then is the judge wise to discern right from wrong, and to find out the hidden Mysteries of injquity, for God reveals secrets to them that fear him, and they have the promise of understanding. Psal. 25.14: then he gins to resolve better than Chrysippus: Si Magistrat●…●…tè non gessero, Deo displicebo, si rectè hominibus ●…t neutrum volo: If I be not upright, I displease God; if I be upright, than I displease men, therefore I will do neither, for the fear of God takes away all desire of pleasing men. Gal. 1.10. Then he judges others, as one that remembers he must be judged himself: meats unto others, as he that looks that God should meet unto him. Again, than he helps the Orphans to their right: Then he lendes an ear to the widow's cause, than he watcheth over his heart, that it receive no malice, over his eyes that they behold no wrong, over his ears, that they hear no false accusation, over his tongue that it utter no unjust sentence, over his hands, that they receive no bribes, over his passions that they sway him not, over his humours that they draw him not, over his followers that they persuade him not: then will he not be like Solon's judge mentioned in Plut: to expound as he lists, nor like Bonutian in Sueto, to punish the poor, and pardon the rich; he esteems not the judgement seat to be a golden harvest, nor is he like a pair of balance, to incline to that side which hath most weight, as Aeschines sometimes objected to Demosthenes, though he should receive such a writ Agesilus in Plut: sent to one of his judges, Si insons est dimitte, Sin minus mei causa dimitte, utcunque dimitte: yet he would neither condemn the innocent, nor justify the wicked; if any spark of this holy fear be kindled in his heart by God's holy Spirit.  
I will owe you the enlarging of the th●… particular: hear but a touch of the 4. and I will captivate your patience & attention no longer. They must be viri abhorentes avaritiam, such as hate covetousness, that is the root from whence all evils grow: 1 Tim. 6.10. and of all evils this is the greatest, that if a man be once infected with this disease, he loves nothing, longs for nothing so much as that which increaseth his malady & sickness. S. Bernard compares him to a little hell, that will never say it is enough. August. Evang. Quest. lib. 2. to the dropsy, whereof Ovid in his fast. quo plus sunt potae, plus sitiuntur aquae: Solomon Prov: 30.15. to the two daughters of the horseleech, that is two forks, she hath under her tongue that be never satiate: non missura cutem nisi plena cruoris hirudo. juven. Saty: 14: to a hot chimney satisfied only with that which sets it on fire: or is like to a man that hath canium appetitum, sitim non pellit nisi causa morbi: A sin which hath been oft arraigned, convicted, and condemned: but still it makes shift, for reproof or pardon, and is not yet executed; the effect of my speech shall be that it may be close prisoner, & not appear at this Assizes, that it may not sit on the bench, the judge must stop his ears, as Ulysses did for fear of the 5 Siren charms, and though a man should come unto him as jupiter came into Danae's lap, Per impluvium aureum, in a shower of gold, he must have no welcome. And Lucian in Hermotinus commends the old Areopagites, that they judged their causes in the night time, that the judge might not see the glistering of gold.  
A man that hath a pearl in his eye, is presently blind, and knows not which is the right way for him to walk in, if he be not led and guided, he stumbles at every block, and falls into every pit, and lives in continual danger of his life: If judges have a rich pearl in their eyes, it quite blinds them, Excellens sensibile destruit sensum, saith Arist: 2. de anima. 12. such bright objects will dazzle them, that they cannot judge between right and wrong. I cannot approve that of Athenaeus, lib. 12. that justice should have, etc. I had rather approve and like her in her old portraiture, as she was painted by the old Heathens, without eyes, and without hands; without eyes, to signify that the judge should not so much as look upon gold to covet it, and without hands, to signify that if never so much were offered, they should not take it.  
Tully Offic. lib. 3. remembers a saying of Caesar borrowed from Euripides in his Phoenicia: Si violandum est jus, violandum est regni causâ; if conscience may be cracked, and justice cast under hatches for any thing, it is for reigning; but mine justly, violandum lucri causâ, if for any thing, it is for gaining: and therefore the Poets feign, that when gold was digged out of the earth, justice took herself to her wings, and flew into heaven: first, Effodiuntur opes, and then immediately upon it, Terras Astrae a reliquit. My hope is, that this impiety dares not pearke up to the bench, and I desire that it may be kept from the bar also; if it may be permitted to speak, it will make a Lawyer Pharise-like to strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel, to tithe mint and cummin, and play fast and lose with his tongue, as he list: a golden key commonly opens a wrong lock; Loquente auro nil pollet quaevis oratio. The mouth of a Lawyer, saith Tully, is an Oracle for the whole City, but if in this mouth there be a guilded tongue, it will prove like the Oracle at Delphos, whereof Demosthenes complained in his time, that it did speak nothing but what Philip would have it that had given a double fee. But I for my part accuse no man, but many that have been ancient Termers say, that Lawyers take much money and say little for it, that they come amongst many of you for succour, as a sheep runs to the thorns and briers for shelter in time of a tempest, they are saved from the shower for that time, but that which saved them pulls that wool from their backs, that they are never able to abide another storm. Some have money for holding their peace, others for speaking; that you who should be like Atropos to cut, become like Clotho to spin, and like Lachesis to draw in length the thread of contention. Maginus and some other Geographers noting the diameter and circuit of the earth, are of opinion, that if a footman had a path round about the world, he might go it in 900 days, and take no hard journeys; a strange thing that one man in that time should go through the world, and some other in twice so much time cannot pass through an English Court, or the length of Westminster hall: let it never be told in Gath, nor published in the streets of Askelon, that English Lawyers should grow great, as that common soldier in Tacitus told Pompey, per nostram miseriam, by the misery of poor clients: it is wickedness inexpiable to build your houses with the fall of others; let it never be said that you are like the milt of a man's body, whereof Laurentius saith, that it never grows great until all other parts of the body decay and perish. But purge your hearts from covetous desires, wash your hands from the rust of that silver, & your consciences from the canker of that gold which with greediness you have congested and raked together, know for certain that God will strictly examine, and your souls shall one day pay for it.  
When one asked Diogenes, what was the reason that gold always looked pale, he shaped him this answer, Quia tot habet insidiatores, because so many crafty heads lie in ambush for it; I pray God you may all be more greedy of heaven than of earth, more willing to win the straight way to heaven, than the broad way to a heap of wealth: And more careful to make your election, than your lands and possessions sure.  
Thirdly, this sin is to be whipped from all jurers and Witnesses also; if you have but such a thought of this, what shall I have? you shall be sure to meet with Simon Magus, that will say, what shall I give? You must swear in truth and justice, jer. 4.2. You are to be whipped for ever out of the company of God and his Angels, you are to be shut out of the kingdom and inheritance of the Saints, you shall hear the thundering of an angry judge, Mal. 3.5. There will be a writ against you, a flying book, it is ten cubits broad, and twenty cubits long, Zach. 5. and that book is a curse that flieth over the whole earth, verse 3. that curse shall lay siege to the walls and timber of your houses, to consume both you and them, if money make you speak either more or less than the truth. Such men, saith Diodo. Sicu. Bib. lib. 2. cap. were always punished with death: and so Bohemus de moribus gent. lib. 1. cap. 5. ad Aug. in his Quae. in Deut. lib. 5. cap. 34. but that is but an easy punishment, and temporal, but the judgement that God hath for you is endless and easeless, you shall stand without, Apoc. 22.15. without God, without glory, without mercy, without comfort, without hope, without the Kingdom, you shall have your portion in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, Apoc. 21.8. I therefore charge you in the name of God, as you will answer it at the dreadful day of judgement, when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened, and when you shall remember my words, and see my face again, that not money nor moneyworth make you smother the truth, or support an ill cause; that you deal faithfully betwixt a man and his brother, that you remember the Apostles rule, Ephes. 5.3. Let not this sin be once named amongst you. A word for conclusion.  
Right Honourable, be you like jethroes judges, men of courage to help poor ones, to defend weak ones, to oppose great ones, to cut off wicked ones: Like jethroes judges fearing God, setting God always before your eyes, judging others, as if you were going to be judged yourselves, having God's Law that was once written in Tables of stone, firmly, and plainly written in the fleshly tables of your hearts. Be like jethroes judges, men of truth, receiving no false nor suspected witnesses, pronouncing no unjust nor partial sentences. Be like jethroes judges, hating covetousness, as the stain of your Courts, the bane of your consciences, the smotherer and stifler of justice, the death and poison of souls: that when you shall put off your scarlet robes, you may put on the long white robe of Saints, and when you shall be removed from these seats of justice, you may be admitted into a seat of glory: and may follow the blessed Lamb wheresoever he goes.  
Grave and learned Counsellors, you must be like jethroes judges, men of courage to plead against profaneness, men fearing God, as patterns and examples of holiness: men of truth, not setting a good countenance upon a bad cause: men hating covetousness, lest it be truly wrote upon your graves, as it was upon the Tombstone of Trinullius, Hîc ●andem quiescit mortuus qui vivus requievit nunquam: Here he rests in mould, who whilst he lived, could never rest for gold, nor suffered them to rest that would. Think godliness your greatest gain: Plead for Christ, and he will plead for you, that when you shall be called from these bars, to answer for your own sins at the bar and tribunal of God's judgement seat, you may find mercy and favour with God, and you also may follow the blessed Lamb wheresoever he will.  
jurers and witnesses, you also must be like jethroes judges, men of courage, whom greatness of person cannot daunt; men fearing God, whom no private affection can command; men of truth, whom no perjuries can attaint; men that hate covetousness, and say with Balaam, if Balaac would give me his housefull of gold and silver, I will not be suborned or hired to deflect one hairs breadth from the Ecliptic line of truth: that when you have decided controversies among your brethren, God may have no controversy with you; when you have witnessed what possessions belong to men, you may have a witness in your own consciences, that yourselves belong to God, and you also may follow the blessed Lamb wheresoever he goes.  
And let all of us be like jethroes judges, putting on courage to fight the Lords battles, armed with his fear, girded with his truth as with a girdle, hating the rust and canker of the unrighteous Mammon, that when God shall finish our evil days of sin, he may be pleased to quiet our clamorous consciences, to pardon our sins, to save our souls, and to receive both our bodies and souls into his blessed kingdom, and all of us may follow the blessed Lamb wheresoever he goeth. That we may be filled with the glory of the Father, be made partakers of an infinite happiness purchased by the Son, be ravished with the ineffable comfort of the holy Ghost: to which holy, blessed, glorious and immortal Trinity be rendered and ascribed of us, and all God's Saints throughout the world, all power, praise, glory, thanks and dominion, from this time forth, and for evermore. Amen.  
FINIS.