JUS POLIET FORI OR, GOD and the KING. Judging For RIGHT Against MIGHT. As it was delivered in a Sermon before the Honourable His Majesty's Judges of Assize in the Cathedral Church of LINCOLN, Septem. 10. 1660. By Edward Boteler, sometimes Fellow of St. Mary Magdalen College in Cambridge, and now Rector of WINTRINGHAM in the County of LINCOLN. Isa. 28.5, 6. In that day shall the Lord of Hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people. And for a spirit of judgement to him that sitteth in judgement, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. LONDON, Printed for G. Bedell, and T. Collins, at the Middle Temple gate in Fleetstreet, 166●. TO THE Right Worshipful, Sir WILLIAM TROLLOP Baronet, High Sheriff OF The County of Lincoln. SIR, During the late Whirlwind in Church and State (in which, He that could not hold his tongue, could not hold his peace) I studied to Comment practically upon that Text of the Prophet; Am. 5.13. The prudent shall keep silence in that time, for it is an evil time. Privacy was then a privilege, nothing so safe as solitude, and I could not but hug myself, and applaud my condition, in obscurity. No ties of Interest, no flatteries of the Times could draw me out of my recesses, or court me to make a step on that public Theatre, where I perceived little acted, but what would put ingenuity to the blush, and make honesty ashamed: But now that by the goodness of God, the clouds are scattered, our day clears up, and we seem to sit under the smiles of Heaven, I have adventured abroad under the Conduct of your name, to salute our newborn Peace, and bid that desirable Stranger welcome into our more than wearied world, and this I have done in the great Congregation. Nor have I done yet, but that you may see how my obedience strives to be as large as your Commands, I have followed them from the Pulpit to the Press. And though I thought these worthless conceptions public enough before, as having delivered them in the face of the Country: yet since yourself and others, neither the least, nor least considerable and intelligent part of the Auditory, are pleased to think otherwise, I submit what ever I think myself. They are now no longer mine, but yours, the Dedication makes them so, design them your protection, they beg it, they need it. I heard some whisper, as if I were too tart, I value it not, error must needs be the sore, where truth makes the smart. I shall not so much as Epistle the Reader to be courteous, the candid and clear browed will be so, as for the tetrical and angry generation, let them go; Rumpatur, si quis rumpitur, invidia. I am Sir Your most humble & most obliged Servant E. BOTELER. PSAL. 72.4. He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the Oppressor. In our other Translation. He shall keep the simple folk by their right, defend the children of the poor, and punish the wrong doer. IT is not long since we were in as sad a case as the poor captive Jews, Psal. 137.1, 2. who sat by the waters of Babylon, weeping to remember our sometimes happy Zyon. Hanging our harps upon the willows, and being out of tune for any song, unless to descant upon our miseries with the lamenting Prophet: Lam. 2.1. How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger, and cast down from heaven unto the earth, the beauty of Israel, Amos 4.9. and remembered not his footstool in the day of his anger! And we are now as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: seasonably plucked out: For, Isa 1.9. Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah: and the glory of this flourishing Church and Kingdom, had been like that of the material Temple at Jerusalem, which fell from courting the clouds, to kiss the dust. So that when I recognize what we lately were, and take a view of what we now are; when I behold our captivity turned as the rivers in the South, Ps. 126.4. 1 K. 10.9. fully, suddenly, unexpectedly: The Lord delighting in the King, Isa. 1.26. to set him on the throne of Israel: restoring our Judges as at the first, and our Counsellors as at the beginning. Jer. 30.21. Our Nobles being of themselves, and our Governor proceeding from the midst of us. Num. 16.2. Our Tribunals and seats of justice furnished with Princes of the Assembly, famous in their congregation, men of renown: Isa. 30.20. Our Teachers no more removed into corners, but our eyes seeing our Teachers. When I consider all these, me thinks I cannot keep my Meditations from running those numbers of David: To climb the heavens, Psal. 148.1, 2, 3, etc. and call in the glorious Inhabitants, and powerful Hosts thereof, the Angels, Sun, Moon, and Stars of light: To range the Air, and summon thence the Fire and hail, Snow, Vapours, and stormy winds: To dive the Abyss of waters, and bring up the Dragons and all Deeps: To traverse the Earth, and gather the mountains, and all hills, fruitful trees, and all Cedars, Kings of the Earth, and all people, Princes and all Judges of the Earth: both young men & maidens, old men and children, that all may bear a part in the rejoicings of this day, and join in praises to the God of Jeshurun, Deut. 33.26 who rideth upon the Heavens in our help: who giveth salvation unto Kings, Ps. 144.10. who delivereth David his servant from the hurtful sword, Ps. 78.71. that he may feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. That he may judge the poor of the people, that he may save the children of the needy, and break in pieces the Oppressor. The Psalm, like the Times, presents us with a most pleasant, and delicious prospect, full of blessings both: what's written in the one, you may read in the other. The Traveller, who in his observations of several Countries, reports he found in one Pulchrum Regem, and in another Pulchrun Regnum, might here see both, a gracious King, and a flourishing Kingdom. If you take a view of the Psalm, you may find, 1. God prayed to, to bless the King, v. 1. Give the King thy judgements, O God, etc. 2 The King made by God a blessing to the people: He shall judge the people, etc. to v. 18. 3 The King and people blessing God, in the following verses. I would not stumble at the threshold, by engaging in a quarrel about the Title, which some have left worse than they found it, perplexing it with more, whilst they pretend to free it from some difficulty. A Psalm for Solomon. Lovinus in loc. Not for Solomon the son of David & Bathsheba saith one; but for Christ, who is here called Solomon, as he is called David elsewhere: The children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, Hosca 3.5. and David their King. And therefore it is, Genebrard. that he approves of another, making it a patronymie. In Solomonidem: for the Son, the Nephew, one sprung from Solomon: or is willing to allow it an Appellative, speaking no more than Peacemaker, and so is eminently the due of the Lord Jesus Christ, Heb. 7.2. who is King of Salem, that is, King of Peace. But I cannot list under this opinion, to cut Solomon quite out of this Psalm, to which the Inscription gives him so clear a Title. I know, a greater than Solomon is here, but yet Solomon is here too; Solomon in the figure, and Christ in the perfection of Kingly administration. Solomon's kingdom shall be a map of Christ's. And as David was a type of him in his encounters with, and triumph over the Church's enemies: so shall Solomon be in the calm, and happy days of the Church, when Christ shall give his beloved rest, and find a repose for the daughter of Zion, making peace within her walls, and plenteousness within her palaces. In short, those blessings that flow in with the rule of Christ, shall not be wanting to the Reign of Solomon, only he shall govern by, and compose to, this model. He shall judge the poor of the People, etc. The Text seems to have some little dependence upon the first verse, we'll quit it of that, and then we shall come clear to it. The thread of connexion runs through both it, and the two former verses thus Give the King thy judgements O God, etc. v. 1. And then, He shall judge thy people in, etc. v. 2. And, The mountains shall bring peace to, etc. v. 3. And, He shall judge the poor of the, etc. in the Text. The connexion than is plain. The King prays hearty: Give she King thy judgements, O Lord, etc. The King's son proves accordingly: He shall judge the poor of the people, etc. The King's Son, and the King's Subjects and all far the better for the prayers of pious Kings. We are the happy witnesses of this truth this day: I am very confident, the peace, the plenty, the prosperity, the rich confluence of mercies we are now entering upon, and do in some good measure enjoy, are the sweet fruits of his late Majesty's prayers. He sowed in tears what we are now reaping in joy. That Princely Martyr was excellent at those spiritual wrestle, such another devout duelist as Jacob, his faith made him more than man, a Match for the Angel. Hos. 12.4. And though his Treaties on Earth were sadly successesse, yet his entreaties with Heaven were of invincible strength and urgency; as a Prince he had power with God, Gen. 32.28. and prevailed. God hath heard the King's prayer for the King's Son, and given him such a return of Judgement, and Righteousness, that we may promise ourselves in the confidence of the Text: He shall judge the poor of the people, etc. The Psalm being Depositum Davidis, (as it is called because of the last words of it) David's Testament, the Text is one of those Legacies which he bequeathes to Solomon, and in him to those happy people which should live in the peaceable & plenteous days of his flourishing Reign, looking also through the Perspective of Faith, at their incomparable condition, which should see the most desirable days of the Son of Man, and follow the conduct of the Prince of Peace in the glorious administration of his Kingdom. Wherein David, (as elsewhere) sings of Mercy and Judgement. Mercy: He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy. Judgement: And shall break in pieces the Oppressor. Or if you please, Here is all distributive justice summed up, and comprised in two particulars. 1. Defensive justice: (let me so call it) He shall judge the poor of the people; that's one piece of it, and the second is like unto it: He shall save the children of the needy. 2. Offensive justice: and shall break in pieces the Oppressor. Each of these hath an Agent, Act, Object. The Agent; He: the same in all. The Act; divers, as it meets with an object: judge, save, break in pieces. The Object diversifying this Act; The poor of the people: the children of the needy: the Oppressor. He shall judge the poor of, etc. I begin with the Agent, his first Act and Object; He shall judge the poor of the people. He: But who is that? is he invested with Authority? is he qualified for so great a work? Is he commissioned first? that's a question would be asked: We have had many invaders of late; some have taken Aaron's honour upon them, Heb. 5.4. and never were called of God, as Aaron was. Others have climbed Moses his Chair by strange steps of their own laying, who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead, 1 Pet. 4.5. when they shall be asked the Hebrews question to Moses; Exo. 2.14 Quis constituit te Principem & judicem? Who made thee a Prince and a Judge? And is he sufficient? let that be asked too. For we have had some whose names and places have been of the greater print, and themselves of little or no letters. How many have possessed themselves of Gamaliel's seat, that never did, nor were ever worthy to sit at his feet? of whom we may say as St. Paul of the Gentiles in another case; That having not the Law, Rom. 2.14. they were a law unto themselves, I and to others too, who have cause enough to complain they feel it yet. How many have been set on high, like the Idols of the Heathen, Psal. 115.5, 6, 7. of whom the Psalmist, They have eyes and sea not, ears and hear not? it had been well if they had been like them in that other defect too, that they had hands and handled not: But they were too active with them it is to be thought, and that makes so many poor of the people at this day. And hence it was that Judgement, like Jordan's streams, was turned backward, or as the Prophet complains; Am. 5.7: Judgement was turned into wormwood, & Righteousness was left off in the earth. Oh! but the He in the Text, is infinitely furnished for his employment: Col. 2.3. having all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge bid in him, knowing the Law exactly, even as he kept it in every title of it, Jam. 4.12. being that one Lawgiver, who is able to save, and to destroy. He is a Judge that sees without evidence, and knows without witness. He that can read the dark letters of the heart, as if they were written with a beam of the Sun upon a wall of crystal. He that can discern a false cause through a fair varnish. He that shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, Eccl. 12.14. whether it be good, or whether it be evil. He shall judge the poor of the people, etc. And he is commissioned too, in answer to the other query. He brings his authority with him, for on his vesture and on his thigh he hath a name written, King of Kings, & Lord of Lords. Rev. 19.16. Isa. 9.6. It is He whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Lu. 1.32, 33. It is He who is great, and called the son of the Highest, to whom the Lord God hath given the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Psal. 19.6. It is He whose going forth (like that of the sun) is from the end of Heaven, and his circuit to the ends of it. Mat. 24.30 Chap. 25.31. It is He who shall come in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory, and all the holy Angels with him. Rev. 20.9. It is He who shall sit on the great white throne, from whose face the Earth and the Heaven shall flee away, and there shall be no place found for them. It is He before whom the dead, small & great shall stand, Rev. 20.12 and be judged out of those things which are written in the books according to their works. It is He to whom the Father hath given authority to execute judgement, John 5.27. because he is the son of man. Jesus Christ as Mediator hath had the Sceptre and rule in his hands ever since the fall, and the last and great act of his Regal power shall be to judge the world, to settle the eternal and unalterable estates of men and Angels, 1 Cor. 15.24. and then he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all. This is He, the first He, He in the Antitype, and by way of Eminency. He shall judge the poor of the people, etc. But lest some of St. 2 Pet. 3.4. Peter's scoffers should question this Judge, and say, Where is the promise of his coming? Or some desperate daring wretch should argue himself into folly from the distance of the day; Eccls 8 11. and because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, his heart should be fully set in him to do evil. Here is an He in the Type too, another He, deputed, authorized, commissioned from Heaven, and in trusted with the management of judgement till that day, and He also shall judge the poor of the people. And if you ask who he is, though the matchless iniquity of the late times interdicted all mention of him with that honour due unto his Name, forcing men either to cancel or conceal it, and pouring contempt upon it: yet blessed be God, we may now speak out! this He is the King. He shall judge the, etc. Judgements is the King's, He hath it from good hands, he comes fairly and freely by it. Give the King thy judgements O Lord! The power of judging is in the King, is from him, so St. Paul tells us. Acts 25: 10. I stand at Caesar's judgement seat, where I ought to be judged. And Absalon, as great a Rebel as he was, grants this. 2 Sam. 15: 3. Thy matters are good, but there is none deputed of the King to hear thee. The hearing Causes is proper to the King, and whom he shall depute. It is said of Samuel, when he held the Kingly power engrossed in the Judiciary, that He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, 1 Sam: 7.16. and Gilgal, and Mispeh, and judged Israel in all those places. But because as Jethro told Moses, Exod. 18.18. ultra vires tuas est negotium, the thing is too heavy for one. Deut. 1.12 And Moses himself complains, Non valeo solus; how can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, & your strife? If you please, we'll follow that Model of Jethro, and take in wise and understanding men, known in our Tribes, that they may take off part of the burden by subjoyning with the He in the Text, and helping to judge the poor of the people. And the He will be, He the King, and He the Judge. The King in person, and the King in proxy. The King in himself, and the King in his substitute. He that hath the primitive, and he that hath the derivative power. The supreme and the subordinate Magistrate, the Co-Assessor, Counsellor, every one that is commissioned to act in matters of Justice, He is the man, it is He shall judge the poor of the people. And that for the Agent, He, of whom we shall speak no more single, but as he falls in with the several Acts and Objects, to which we now proceed, beginning with the First, Judge. He shall judge. And here we shall not make a stir about judging. To judge in its highest signification, imports to Rule, to exercise the supreme power, to hold the reins of Government in the hand, and stit at the Stern. To command in chief, and give Laws. — Victorque volentes Per populos, dat jura— So the Chieftains in the polity and Commonwealth of Israel, in the nonage of Kings, or in the inter-regnum rather, Deu. 33.5. betwixt Moses who was King in Jeshurun, and Saul the first anointed, are said in their several Generations to have governed Israel. But we shall wave this and other significations less of kin to our purpose, and speak of such only as may go along with our sense, and be of concernment to us. The whole business of judging takes up in these two, Oppressos liberare; Oppressores coercere; to support the poor, and oppress the proud, that's judging. Or thus, there is judicium comprobationis, & condemnationis, a judging for, and against. 1. There is a judgement of comprobation, a judging for, in the safer sense, a laying out of entrusted power for the behoof of those that want it. Judicare aliquem, Ribera in Hos. a p. 3. n. 95. est sententiam pro illo far. To judge a man is to give sentence for him, to appear for his rescue. Isa. 1.17. Or let the Prophet english it: Seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. This is a judging for, and is sometimes rendered a delivering: As David in his compurgatory speech, and selfe-vindication against the cruel, causeless, and unhandsome persecution of Saul. The Lord be judge, 1 Sam. 24: 15. and judge between me and thee, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand. They that are skilful in the lefthanded language, Plurimi ln bonam parte interpretantur judicandi vocabulum ut sit defendere ac tueri destitutos opisque indigentes. Lovin. in loc. render it indifferently, judge, or deliver, or by judging deliver. And therefore what is here judge, in the other Translation we have keep, or preserve. He shall keep the simple folk by their right: And the following words are exegetical, or expository, tell us what it is to judge, he shall save. To save, to keep, to deliver, this is to judge, to judge for, to judge in the first sense. Oppressos liberare, He shall judge the poor of the people. 2. There is a judging against, and in the severer sense, and that is all one with condemning: Heb. 13.4. Whoremongers and Adulterers God will judge: that is in plain English, condemn. So St. chrysostom and other Fathers understand that of the Apostle: Know you not that we shall judge Angels? 1 Cor. 6.3. that is evil Angels, whom we shall as glorious Co-assessors with the righteous Judge, arraign, sentence, and damn to their miserable eternity. Quae res Daemonibus superbissimis molestissima erit poena, says the learned Suarez. It will be a cutting, tearing torment to the proud Devils to see the victorious insultings of the Saints, that they, of whom they have been the accusers, shall now be their Judges, and sit upon their Condemnation: and this is judging in the second sense, to judge against; Oppressores coercere, To break in pieces the Oppressor. So that these two sorts of judging, suit with the two sorts of men in the Text. Here is the judgement of comprobation, of deliverance, of salvation, and that's for the poor of the people, and children of the needy. And Here is the judgement of Condemnation, that's for the wrong doer, the Oppressor. And shall break in pieces the Oppressor. And that both these judge may be regular and right, they must be made up of these three principal Ingredients. The Judge must Examine, Discern, Execute. 1. The Judge must examine; which is so necessary, that without it he cannot be a Judge. Qui statuit aliquid parte inauditâ alterâ, aequum licet statuerit, Seneca. ipse haud aequus fuerit. To do right without hearing, is to do wrong. What an ingrateful Traitor was Mephibosheth whilst Zibah's story was told only? 2 Sam. 16.3. But let him have a hearing, and how faithful was he? his words are the very breath of Loyalty: Let him take all, Chap. 19: 30. forasmuch as my Lord the King is come again in peace into his own house. Lud. de vita, Christi. p. 1. c. 83. n. 2. John 8. Judex igitur qui audit accusantes, non debet statim sententiam dare, sed discutere, says Ludolphus upon our Saviour's writing on the ground at the accusation of the woman for adultery. The Judge is to take discussion in his way to determination. The Judge of all the Earth hath cut us out this method in his own proceed in the case of Sodom, who though he sees the most secret prevarications of the heart, the very first tendencies to sin; and so seeing those monsters in their conceptions cannot but know them in their growth and height: And though those wretches were both Accusers and Witnesses, and gave in a Declaration against themselves (insomuch that impudent sinners are after said to declare their sins as Sodom) Yet, Isa. 3.9. I will go down, saith God, Gen. 18.21 and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not I will know. Nicodemus gave check to the whole force and fury of the chief Priests and Pharisees against our Saviour, with his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth our Law judge any man before it hear him? John 7.51. And well had it been if some had had either the courage, or the conscience, to have said as much for our Law. We all know who complained sadly that he could not be heard. But the just and righteous God hath heard him, and now he is making inquisition for blood: Psal. 9.12. He remembreth him, he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. But I would touch that sore gently. To examine, that's the first ingredient in judging. 2. The Judge must discern, see into the substance, as well as hear the sound of the Cause. Though he must have no eye for persons, yet he should be all eye for Causes, that he may look through all those Tinctures, and complexions which are laid on with so much art upon the face of falsehood. It was Saint Paul's happiness, that he might make his defence before Agrippa, Acts 26.3. whom he knew expert in all customs and questions which were among the Jews. When poor Truth comes to the Bar, assaulted by all the powers of wit, and art, perplexed with difficulties, and doubts, and intricacies, than well far a sagacious Judge that can expedite her, and set her free. The word of my Lord the King shall now be comfortable, 1 Sam: 14.17. (saith the woman of Tekoah) for as an Angel of God, so is my Lord the King to discern good and bad. It is no small comfort to a People, when their King, and the King's Ministers are terrestrial. Angels for their knowledge and intuition. 1 K. 10.9. Blessed be the Lord his God, which delighteth in the King to set him on the throne of Israel: because the Lord loved Israel for ever, therefore hath he made him King to do judgement and justice. And blessed be God for a more knowing and learned Magistracy, that the Judges of the Earth are more instructed then formerly, never more need of them. Time runs low, the very dregs and all come, Impostors, Hypocrites, Pretenders, these overrun us; sagacious Judges are necessary, are seasonable. To discern, that's the Judge's second ingredient. 3. The last but not the least is Execution. The Scire justitiam, we have spoken of, discerning, knowing Justice, that's something, but that's not enough; no nor Diligere justitiam neither, which goes further, to love justice, so must every one; Nor doth Quaerere justitiam to seek justice, carry it high enough, for the Jury must do so as well as the Judge; but to execute it, that, all that is his charge. Execution, though sometimes the death of the Offender, is always the life of the Law. When we read of Idolatry, Rape, and other wild exorbitances in the book of Judges, the holy Ghost, that we might not miss the cause of such misdemeanours, Judg. 18.1. & Ch. 19.1. & Chap. 21.25. gives us it no less than three times, non erat Rex, In those days there was no King in Israel, none to invigorate and put life into the Laws, all was either dead or dormant, they had no head to discern, no hand to execute justice, there was no King in Israel. Execution in a Judge is like Elocution in an Orator, it is primum, secundum, ultimum, it is all in all. Travellers tell us of a law in Rhodes, that none should shave, and yet observed, that none, or few in the Isle were unshaven: It was vox & praeterea nihil, a Law talked of, but was nothing, for want of execution. And is not our Island a transcript of that? have we not good laws against swearing, drinking, debauchery? and yet where do they abound more? The one is counted the Gallantry, the other the Civility of the Times: so that profaneness grows daring and brass-browed, and out faceth the Law itself, because Magistrates do not countenance and abett it, but Gallio like, Act. 18.17. they care for none of those things. Will not this make men say the Magistrate wears a scabbard only, and not a sword? Or if a sword, will they not say it is rusty for want of drawing? O remember, my Lords and Gentlemen, you that are in authority, Rom. 13.14. that you bear not the Sword in vain. Officium inane maleficium immane; a vain Officer is a main offender. If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. To examine, to discern what you examine, and to execute what you discern, this completes judgement. And that's the first Act, judge, which I now leave, and remove to the Object, the poor. He shall judge the poor of the people. But why the poor? Doth not the Philosopher call the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a mind without affections? a soul without passions? insinuating that Justice sees, but takes no notice; Knows but is not moved with any eccentric considerations. Leu. 19.15. And are they not the express words of the royal Law, You shall do no unrighteousness in judgement; thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty? True, not the person. It is not to prefer the person of the poor under that nude and abstracted consideration that the Magistrate must judge for him; but to bear him up against those incommodations and disadvantages which poverty is apt to labour under. The hand of power must keep the scales even, that the poor man's condition do not let down his cause, must so regulate and guide the balance, that he who wants weight in honesty, may not turn the scales by the odds of his honour. Thus far the poor may be, must be respected in judgement, to set their causes upon even ground with theirs, whose persons are higher than they. Thus He shall judge the poor of the people. The poor of the people. Cicero. The plebecula in the Orators term, the lowest rank, and meanest sort of people: and one of the Fathers makes them poor enough; In justitia judicabit mendicos, Tertul. Cont. Martion. c. 14. so poor that they are scarce less than beggars. I care not for dealing with the Allegorical senses, which usually rather play with, then improve truths. I'll but tell you how Euthymius taking judging in the worst sense, expounds the poor of the people, the rude and raffle sort of the Jews, poor in understanding, Lovin. in loc. Qui nudae legis literae insistentes, ad occultas sancti spiritus divitias prospicere non valebant. Who insisting upon the bare letter of the law, and their beggarly rudiments, were ignorant of the hidden riches of the spirit: And they have one that judgeth them, John 5.45. even Moses in whom they trust. And taking judging in the better sense, by the poor of the people understands the Apostles, monyless for the most part, John 3.6. as Peter, Gold and silver have I none, and at best having but one purse amongst them all: And by the children of the Needy, the Disciples, who forsook all and followed Christ, who hath therefore promised to make them ample reparation, when he comes to judge, and sit on the Throne of his glory. Mat. 19.27, 18, 29. Every one that hath forsaken houses or friends, or lands for my Names sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Our two Translations will show us poor enough, we need not seek or make more. In the other Translation, they are called the simple folk. He shall keep the simple folk by their right. Not simple, that is plain and downright. As Jacob was a plain man, Gen. 25.27. vir simplex, says the vulgar Latin, a simple man dwelling in Tents. Simple, that is sincere, and without guile, a man made after the honest plain mode of those better times: Simple folk are folk without mixture, and those too familiar compositions of subtlety, fraud, and cunning, of which the greater part of the world are made up at this day. Men unsophisticated, uncompounded of those semblances, artifices, and pretences which have put so many cheats upon the world. Single-hearted and clear breasted men, you may see what they are by what they do, their thoughts and actions are both of a piece: so single in every thing, that they'll suffer, rather than double in any thing. These simple ones are those our Saviour calls poor in spirit, the blessed poor, Mat. 5.3. poor as to possession, but rich in their reversion, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Et quò longiùs affectu a terrenis distant, Novarinus in Ma●. p. 122. n. 126. ●R. Paupertas spiritus est contemptus sui. Lud. de vita Christ p. 1. cap 33. n. 4. Gen 32.10 eò coelo sunt viciniores. They are so far from the earth in their affections, they must needs be near heaven. These are they that are poor in their own opinion, being filled with their own emptiness, that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that selfe-contempt, which makes them think and speak as Jacob with his minor miserationibus, less than the least of all mercies, and they are as poor in the world's opinion too; for those Filij Zion inclyti, Lam. 4.2. those precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the Potter! And therefore God will judge better of them, and provide better for them; Ps. 74.19. He will not deliver the soul of his Turtle Dove unto the multitude of the wicked, nor forget the congregation of his poor for ever. His poor, the simple folk, the poor in spirit, they are the first. He shall judge the poor of the people. This Translation, in which I have read and followed the Text, 1 Tim 6.17. seems to intent another sort of poor: the poor outwardly, the poor of this world. There are the rich in this world, and the poor in this world, St. Paul calls them so, Jam. 2.5. St. James these; such as want not only the affluence and abundance, but even the conveniences and necessaries of this life. Of these we may meet with three sorts. There are poor by the hand of Negligence, Violence, Providence. 1. There are some poor by the hand of negligence, Act. 20.34. Whose hands minister not to their necessities. And how should they? when the wise man tells us, Abscondit piger manum suam sub ascella, Ascella, idem quod Axilla. Pro. 19.24. A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, or under his arm, hugging it because it is idle, and making much on't as it were for doing nothing, given up to supiness and oscitancy. Oh! that's Manna indeed that will drop into their mouths, and no diet so sweet as the bread of idleness. Indeed he must either eat that or starve, for his own crop will not afford him bread, do but see it, and you'll say so. Pro. 24.30, 31. I went by the field of the slothful, and lo it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof. The wise man by an elegant Mimesis brings him in the person, posture, Vers. 33. and language of the sleeper; Yet a little sleep, a little slumber: but this sinite paululum ibit in Longum (as St. Augustine) all's little with them, and their little will never be enough. Ep minondas. It was the saying of a Captain: who ran his sleeping Sentinel through, talem reliqui, qualem inveni, I left him as I found him. You into whose hands God hath given the Sword of Justice, as you may not kill these sleepers upon that single account, so neither will you (I hope when you meet with them) leave them as you found them. Especially remembering that expression of our Saviour's, Mat. 25.26. Thou wicked and slothful servant; â nequaquàm facilè transitur ad nequam. Idle will soon be evil, 1 Pet 2.14. and you are for the punishment of evil doers. And another sort of Poor there are by the hand of negligence, which I humbly crave leave to mention in this place, because they have hitherto passed with little or no notice from the Magistrate, and I know some places have been pestered with them, I mean a running sort of Sectaries, that are first idle-headed, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. and then idle-handed, creeping into houses (and are commonly as poor as they can creep) and these screw themselves into the opinion & affection of their Proselytes so far, till they call them from their callings, and make them spend themselves in frequent treatments of their seducers. The former Solomon calls sleepers, and these St. Judas 8. Judas calls dreamers, filthy dreamers, despising dominion, and speaking evil of Dignities. These religious kind of Vagabonds (pardon the expression) having got a stock of Confidence and Canting, presently set up for themselves, traverse the Country, and scatter up and down their wild and empty discourses against Magistracy and Ministry, Church, and Church-Government, maintenance by tithes, and Paedobaptism, and like Theudas, Acts 5.36. boast themselves to be some body, to whom a number of men join themselves, as in the late days of desection, and I wish I could not say, at this day. So that what Pharaoh with cruelty enough charged upon the poor oppressed Israelites, will without breach of charity be the crime of these Errants, Exo. 5.17. You are idle, you are idle, and therefore you say let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord: and some such employment as the Israelites had would be fittest for them; Verse 12. Better they were scattered abroad throughout all the Land, though but to gather straws, than suffered to meet in such riotous numbers to spread their Heresies and Treasons. They are the first, and worst sort of poor, let them be judged, but with judgement in the sharper, and severer sense. So, He shall judge the poor of the people. Poor by the hand of negligence, they are the first. 2. There are the poor by the hand of Violence. Some that make themselves poor, and it is pity but they should be so, by laying violent hands upon their own estates. Such the proud, that wear out their Lordships upon their backs. Such the riotous, that sends an estate down his throat, and consumes all upon his belly. Such the gamester, that crumbles it away with his fingers. Such the Litigious, that quarrels it away at the Bar, and will be never the wiser for the proverb that tells him, Lawyers houses are founded upon the skulls of fools. Such poor will find no relief by the judging of the Text. But there are some made poor by the violent hands of others, such who knew no goods to a good conscience, and have lost all to keep faith unfeigned; as resolved as Job, Job 27.5. till I die I will not remove my integrity from me. Heb. 10.34 As stout as those noble confessors, that took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing they have in heaven a better and more enduring substance. Keeping possession of their inward peace against all assaults, it being indeed the unplunderable riches of a Christian, standing unbroken, unshaken in their profession and Loyalty, even when times were like those ante-diluvian days, corrupt before God, Gen. 6.11. and the earth was filled with violence. There is a He that will judge this poor of the People, and therefore you sons of Violence, whoever you be, rest not wholly in an Act of Grace here below (for which you have cause to bless God, and the King, and much good may it do you) but sue out your pardon above too, and to your impunity add your repentance. For if the Judge called him fool, Lu. 12.20. St. August. who laid up his own goods: vos illi invenite nomen qui tulit aliena, Find a name bad enough for him if you can, who takes away another man's. And if the sentence shall run so severe against negative offenders, I was hungry & you gave me no meat: Mat. 25.42 43. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink: I was a stranger and you took me not in: naked and you clothed me not: sick and in prison and you visited me not; how dreadful must the doom needs be against all positive impiety? against such as took meat from his mouth, from his back, turned him out of his own doors, and cast him into prison? He shall judge the poor of the people. Poor by the hand of violence, they are the second. 3. There are the poor by the hand of Providence, such to whom the hand of Heaven hath carved more sparingly, and given a shorter allowance in the things of this life. This sort of poor are one of the standing Orders of the Creation, the great and only wise God having disposed of the Inhabitants as of the Earth itself, raising some into mountains in estate and dignity, and laying others in the plain and level of a mean and indigent condition. These are God's poor, he makes them, he keeps them. He takes notice of them, and cares for them. His notice is observable, in that whereas he calls the rich man by an Appellative only, Luke 16.19, 20. he owns Lazarus by a proper name. His care is remarkable in that he is said to prepare for them. Psa. 68.10. Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. As if they were such extraordinary Guests, they could not be treated without preparation. The rich have got all they're like to have. Luk. 6.24. Woe unto you that are rich, for you have received your consolation: The estate of the poor lies in hope, he's but preparing for the poor. He will not put them off with a portion in this life, with those pitiful riches, Ps. 17.14. (of which the Father) nec verae sunt nec vestrae, they are neither true, nor truly his that hath them; but he'll give them treasure in Heaven, where their bank of happiness is going on. They shall have the riches of Grace here in earnest, and he will most assuredly possess them of those untold sums of glory which outvie the Stars. They are his, they must be the Judge's care. He shall judge the poor of the people. Poor by the hand of Providence, they are the third. I have now done with the Act and Object singly and by themselves, let us take a short view of them jointly and together, and I shall leave this particular. The poor you see are given in charge to the Judge; He shall judge the poor of the people. For which discharge there are these requisites; He that will judge the poor of the people must be thus qualified. With Magnanimity; He must not be fearful. With Humility; He must not be scornful. With Impartiality; He must respect no persons. With Integrity; He must receive no gifts. 1. With Magnanimity; he must not be fearful. The Athenian Judges were minded of this courage by sitting in Mars street. And such remembrancers to Solomon were the 12. Lion's standing upon the steps of his Throne. 1 K. 10.20 If there be truth in the Armorial Ensigns of the children of Israel, Br. pseudodex. lib. 5. cap. 10. or in the four Legionary standards (under every one of which marched three Tribes) the Lion was constantly the bearing of the Tribe of Judah the Royal and Judiciary Tribe: And whether there be or not, I am sure there is in jacob's prophetic blessing, where with the Sceptre and Law-giving power, he bequeathes him the emblem of a Lion. He couched as a Lion, Gen. 4●. 9. Com. in Gen. p. 314. l. B. and as an old Lion; who shall rouse him? Hos leoninos Judae animos habeant deuces, (says A Lapide) Let the Chieftains and Judges of the people be spirited like Lions, to on with courage in all their actings. A poor spirited Judge is no Judge for the poor. The prey is often in the very mouth of the Bear and Lion, and 'twill need the heart of David to make a rescue. And this is one thing they are taught by being called Gods; Sciant se esse Deos ut homines non timeant; Corn. a Lapid. Com. in Exod. That knowing themselves Gods, they need not fear men, not the greatest of men, their frowns, their threats, though armed with never so much power, and interest for Revenge. As the shaking hand carries not true, so the cowardly, timorous Judge too often misseth the mark of justice. Take but Moses' rule, and it will keep you steady. Deu. 1.17. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgement is Gods. Magnanimity, that's the first Requisite which he must be furnished withal, that will judge the poor of the people. 2. With Humility; He must not be scornful. The proud was never the poor man's friend. Magistrates should be like clouds, exalted and taken on high by the Sun, that they may with more advantage distribute their bounty to the craving ground. V 6. hujus Psal. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth, and sweet are those influences of justice which fail upon the lower grounds. Let not your God ships swell you above the bigness & proportion of men; if they do, Psal 82.7. remember, I beseech you, there's a Moriemini will spoil your Deity, you shall die like men, and fall like one of the Princes. When you are culminant and at your highest point, like the Sun, let your beams even then be most powerful, and influence with life upon the lower world. God's seat is higher than yours, Psal. 11.4. it is in Heaven, and yet his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men, do not you then overlook them. Isa. 57.15. The high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity; dwelleth also with him that is of an humble spirit: And if he dwell with him, be not you strangers to him. Humility, that's the second Requisite in him that will judge the poor of the people. 3. With Impartiality; He must respect no persons. Not for Condition, not for Relation. 1. Not for Condition; Ita parvum audietis ut magnum was Moses' rule, must be yours, Deut. 1.17. You shall hear the small as well as the great. Paul with his chain shall have as fair a decision as Bernice coming into the place of hearing, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all her fantastic pomp and bravery. If that same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (as St. James calls him) that gold-fingered man carry all, and the poor man in vile raiment be set, sub scabello, Jam. 2.2, 3, 4. under your footstool; Are you not then partial in yourselves, and are become Judges (indeed but it is) of evil thoughts? We read of twice when all men meet without difference in their composition and first materials. The rich and poor meet together, Prov. 22.2. Job 3.19. the Lord is the maker of them both. In the Grave, and their last resolution, The small and the great are there. I pray you, let them have a third meeting upon even terms even before the seat of Justice. Let your Tribunal make no more difference than was in their Rise, and Original, then shall be in their dust, and Redaction, when they shall lie down alike in the chambers of darkness. Be as eye-less as the Athenian Judges, who sat in the night, when they might hear Causes only, not see persons. Respect them not for their condition, that's first. 2. Not for their Relation: Favour looks illfavouredly upon the Bench. Exuat personam judicis qui induit Amici: He that will be a friend, let him be no Judge. The Magistrate must be like Levi, who said unto his father and to his mother, Deu. 33.9. I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children. Torquatus did not, Zaleucus did not, the one a Roman, the other a Grecian, neither a Christian, and yet both eminently known for their impartial severity toward their own sons. Amica veritas, Truth is the just man's nearest friend, and let the Judge know no other favourite. This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this impartiality, respecting no persons either for Condition or Relation, that's a third Requisite in him that will judge the poor of the people. 4. With Integrity; He must receive no gifts. Love dazzles, but gifts dash out the eyes, blinds them; says he that made the eyes, Exo. 23 8. Thou shalt take no gift, for the gift blindeth the wise. If the Cause go by gifts, to be sure the poor must needs go by the worst on't. As therefore the Judge must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a respecter of persons, so neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an accepter of presents. It is the glory of a Judge (but how few attain it?) when it may be said of him non ditior sed clarior evadit, A Lap. Com. in Exod. he leaves not such a name for being rich, as being righteous. When he can make Samuel's challenge: 1 Sam: 12.3. Witness against me before the Lord and before his Anointed: whose Ox have I taken? or whose Ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hands have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes. Jud. 16.21 25. What a sad spectacle was Judge Samson without his eyes? but a bribe-blinded Judge is so much the worse, because his own hands put out his own eyes. Oh! this sententia venalis (as St. Ambrose phraseth it) a sale sentence is one of the worst bargains a man can make, and the very next to that in the Gospel, of taking the world in exchange for the soul. We have read and heard of strange sales: — Venalesque Lucan: Phars: manus— Sale-Armyes, Forces let out, Mercenary soldiers, though that be no rarity now. We have seen stranger, the King, the Church (I had almost said) Religion and all exposed to sale. The Law was at stake too for company, & therefore you that are the Professors of it, add not to the number of monstrous sales, by making any unconscionable sale of it, now it is confirmed in your hands again; have not Os venale, sell not your speech, your silence, your cause, your Client and all for advantage. Let not God complain, Mic. 3.11. Hesiod. as of old, that the heads of Israel judge for reward. The Poet tells us of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a bribeeater, and a Bribe-devourer: but the time will come, when every such devourer that runs open-mouthed at gifts, and swallows all that comes, with so much greediness, shall be sick of his Morsels, and they shall not stay with him. Job 20.15. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. Rain is good (says one) and the earth is good, Tr. in Prov. sed ex eorum commixtione fit lutum, mix them two together, and they make dirt. To give is laudable, and to receive allowable: but the unequal mixing of them two often makes foul and dirty the clean and fair paths of justice. Let me therefore for a close of this lay the practice of holy David before you; I was upright before him: Ps. 18.23. and I kept myself from mine iniquity, therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. Keep your hearts right, & your hands clean, and the Lord recompense you accordingly; that's your integrity, the fourth and last of the Requisites, wherewith he must be furnished, that will judge the poor of the people. I have done with the first particular in the defensive part of justice, the Agent with his first Act and Object. The Act, judge, the Object, poor: He shall judge the poor of the people. Let us on to the second: He shall save the children of the needy. Which is not another Act and Object, but rather the same under other expressions. For pauperes, & filii pauperum: the poor and children of the needy, Aug. l. 4. Cont. Marc. c. are all one, as Zion and the daughter of Zion, so St. Augustine. And so the children of the needy are but the poor in the lowest sense, and to save is but to judge in the best signification, to employ and lay out the judiciary power in maintaining the cause of the poor, and being an Helper to the friendless. Ps. 10.14. The words then being exegetical, and declarative of the former, will need little discussing, I shall be brief, very brief in their dispatch. He shall save. In the other Translation, defend. And indeed where the Rich are Plaintiffs, the Poor had need of a better Defendant than themselves. Ps. 82.1.3. And therefore God, standing in the Congregation of the mighty, and judging among the Gods, gives them this in charge, Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Defend them: be their shield to keep off the thrusts of the mighty. Be a strength to the poor, Isa. 25.4. a strength to the needy in their distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, that the blast of the terrible ones may be as a storm against the wall. Interpose betwixt them and danger, bear off the blows which are made at them. He shall defend the children of the needy. But, if you please, we'll keep to our own Translation: He shall save. Which if we understand of Eternal safety, of that impregnable, & inexpugnable security of the Saints upon the holy hill, when they shall be out of Gun-shot, and beyond the reach of the spoiler, and hands of violence, then is it the alone work of the Lord Jesus Christ: Acts 4.12. Isa 63.1.3 5. Neither is there salvation in any other. Who is this that cometh from Edom, with died garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, travailing in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Ego torcular calcavi folus, I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me. I looked, & there was none to help, therefore mine own arm brought salvation. Chap. 45.15. He that thus saves is a Saviour alone, the God of Israel, the Saviour. But if we take it for temporal saving (as we have most reason in this place) then doth this great Saviour communicate his name, and admit of partners: Judg. 3.9. thus Judge Othniel is called a Saviour. And Nehemiah says as much of the the other Judges: Neh. 9.27. According to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them Saviour's. So that the salvation of the Text is from both hands: Christ's and Solomon's: Gods and the King's: It is a proper work for a God, for a Judge, for both, for either of them, each hath to do in it: He shall save the poor of the people. God shall save; that's the best, the first, let's look a little at that: And we can look no ways but we see it. We of this Nation are the most joyful witnesses of this glorious truth, we have reason to make it our Motto for ever: Salvos faciet, He shall save the children of the needy. Our King miraculously preserved, graciously restored, and that when hope seemed to be posed, and expectation nonplussed, and his case little less desperate than theirs which Heman bemoans to God: Psal. 88.3, 4, 5. His soul full of troubles, and his life drawing nigh to the grave: counted with them that go down into the pit: as a man that hath no strength. Free among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou remember'st no more, & they are cut off from thine hand. Our Religion rescued from the confines of Atheism, the very jaws of irreligion and profaneness. Our Church raised from the dust, and reared out of her rubbish and ruins, after her Adversaries had a long time been chief, Lam. 1.5. and her Enemies prospered, and spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: Vers. 10. The ways of Zion mourning, because so few came to her solemn feasts: Vers. 4. all her gates desolate, her Priests sighing, her Virgins afflicted, and herself in bitterness. Our Laws framed, and founded by the wisdom, and upon the well-grown experience of prudent and more sober Ancestors for successive ages, the boundaries of our liberty and property reestablished, reinforced, against the anomalous encroachments and arbitrary impositions of unreasonable men. Our lives given us for a prey: when, Jer. 21.9. with the widow in Timothy, (though in a far different case, she for pleasure, we for perplexity) we were dead, 1 Tim. 5.6. while we lived. Our peace and happy calm after so great a tempest. Isa. 2.4. Beating our swords into plough shares, and our spears into pruning books, Mic. 4.4. sitting every man under his vine and under his figtree, and none to make him afraid. Ps. 144.14. No breaking in nor going out, no leading into captivity, no complaining in our streets. Our plenty. Ps. 65.11. The year crowned with God's goodness, & his paths dropping fatness. Joel ●. 24, 25. The floors full of wheat, and the fats over flowing with wine and oil. The years restored to us that the Locust had eaten, the Cancker-worme and the Caterpillar, and the Palmerworm, the great Army which was sent among us. All these speak to us in a plain and loud language this salvos faciet of the Text, He shall save the children of the needy. This is prosperity to our King, glory to our Church, happiness to our Kingdom, shipping to our Island, walls to our Garrisons, wisdom to our Counselors, valour to our Soldiers, plenty to our borders, peace to our Nation, joy and security to us all, this is all in all. This salvos faciet, He shall save the children of the needy. That's one Herald He indeed, the sovereign and supreme He, the first and great Saviour. There's another He, a second and subordinate He, a proxy, a sub-saviour, the King, the Judge, the Magistrate, He also hath a part to act in this salvos faciet, He shall save the children of the needy. It is not to be expected that the Lord should make bare his holy arm to work great and miraculous deliverances every day: Isa. 51.10. You that are as the hand to that arm, or rather the instrument in that hand have your posse for that purpose. The Kingdom is the Lords, Obad. 21. but from him shall come Saviour's upon Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau. Therefore hath the great God armed you with his authority, and fortified you with his name, and strengthened you with his Commission, and entrusted you with his power, that you may lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for their feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed, let it be helped, let it be saved. He shall save the children of the needy. The children of the Needy. Of the Poor (says the other Translation) here are two words used for poor, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The one signifieth the poor that worketh with his hands: the other the poor that hath no hands to work, the poorest of the poor, the most forlorn and wretched: the sons of misery the Chaldee renders it. Videri potest exaggeratio in filiis Pauperum, in Loc. p. 325. l. F. says Lorinus, there seems to be a whole heap of poverty in the expressions here used. Every word speaks them poorer than other. Here is populus, or popellus rather, people of the lowest sort, and least account. Then here are pauperes populi, the poor of those people. And then filii pauperum, the children of those poor. Of all people the poor are most have-less, and of all poor the Children are most helpless: They are the neediest of the poor, and the children of those needy. Children that were sold and slaved for want of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the redemption penny: and so signifies those that were a kind of Orphans with living Parents, such as were destitute of all parental helps and advantages, like those precious Pilgrims, Heb. 1●. 37 that were destitute, afflicted, tormented. These, the more lost they are, the more need they have of saving misery is a moving plea where Compassion fits Judge. The God of Heaven will not overlook these children of the needy as little, as low as they are: no more must the Gods on Earth. They need no Advocate but their adversity, their condition is an invitation to their eyes to see them, to their hands to save them. He shall save, etc. But, I must not stay with this, I must hast to the last part. Let me only mind you by a review of what is past, that the Magistrate must be a compound of justice and mercy. He must so do justice that he remember to be merciful, and so show mercy, that he forget not to be just. God furnisheth you with objects for both; when you meet with the evil, idle poor, judge them and spare not: when with the destitute, the afflicted, the children of the needy, save them. Do justice, and love mercy, the one by force, the other by choice. Mica 6. ●. Mercy is a choice, a lovely attribute, God loves it, do you so too. It is said of him that he made a way for his anger. Ps. 78.50. As if there were no way for Anger to pass till he made it: or if it was made, it was grown up again for want of use, till he had made it anew. When the Lord was angry with Judah, & threatened to shave her with a keen and cutting Judgement, it is said he will do it, Isa. 7.20: in novacula conductâ, with a Razor that's hired, as if he had no Instruments of his own for so sharp a work. 2 Cor. 1.3. Rom. 15.5. Hos. 14.3. Ps. 102.17. He is the father of mercies, and God of consolation. With him the fatherless find mercy. He regardeth the prayer of the destitute. He saves the afflicted people and children of the needy. Be you therefore merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful. It's like you will find needy enough, and children of the needy too, for some have slain, and also taken possession, every one hath been ready to tread upon him that was down, and go over the hedge where it was lowest: I shall only be their Advocate so far as my Text warrants me (for I would not repeat old injuries but repel new ones) remember the salvos faciet lies upon you, He shall save the Children of the needy. I have now done with the first general part of the Text, the defensive part of justice, in its double Act and Object: He shall judge the poor of the people, and save the children of the needy. The second, the Offensive part remains: but that it may not be so to you, I shall contract with as much haste as method can fairly and possibly allow. And shall break in pieces the Oppressor. Conteret: shall bruise, or grind, Ribera in Hos. c. 13. n. 19 or break small. Metaphora a rebus quae minutissimè confringuntur, & quasi in nihilum rediguntur. It seems to allude to drugs, or spices in a mortar, which for some time rise and fly about, but at length are brought under, and quieted into a dust. Contundet: is the word some use, shall bruise, shall knock, and by beating, repress. Confringet, is St. Hieroms word: shall break asunder, or into pieces: And blessed be God our Oppressors were in so many pieces before, a little breaking will serve the turn. Comminuet, Perdet, are several words to the same purpose, and therefore it is enough to name them, shall waste, destroy the Oppressor. Humiliabit: so the Vulgar Latin, and most properly for some sort of Oppressors, the affectors of Grandeur, men that are leapt a great height from the ground, and got aloft in the world; grown into sudden estates: who, (it is to be feared) would make but a slender, and faltering answer, should they be asked Isaac's question to his supposed son Esau; Gen. 27.20. how is it that thou hast found it so quickly my son? Humiliabit, will sit such, he shall lay them low, as their deserts are: he shall reduce them to their former state, bring them down, and level them with their beginnings. He shall humble the high looking Oppressor. The word in the other Translation seems to speak all in one: He shall punish: punish is all the other, bruise, and beat, and break, and repress, and waste, and destroy, and bring down; and it seems to cut out, and square a size, and proportion of punishment answerable to that of sin and demerit: the spoiler shall be spoiled, and he that breaks others, shall be broken himself; He shall break in pieces the Oppressor. Oppressor: It is of large signification, and various renderings. The other Translation gives it, the wrongdoer, a man of uneven, or obliqne actings, guilty of deflections and swervings, that walks by no rule, observes no law in his deal, but perfas & nefas, right or wrong, he will have it; This the Oppressor, or wrongdoer. I find three expressions that have obtained most, and are of best credit; a word, and but a word of each. Calumniatorem, that's first. St. Hierom so renders it, the slanderer, the false accuser, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in St. Chrysostoms' language, the Devil himself, Revel. 12.10. Satan the accuser of our brethren, whom Christ overcane by his passion, breaking the head of that Leviathan in pieces. But there is another Devil besides him, a Devil incarnate, that can act that part to the life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Lovin. in loc. p. 325. l. G. Apollinarius calls him the false accusing man, and is excellently construed by some, the fraudulent oppressor, one that by undue, and untrue practices, strikes, wounds, kills the fame of another, to give life to his own. One that cunningly lays fewer honour in the dust to erect and set up his own; for instance, what a male-Administrator of justice was David? how unfit to rule? and what an excellent and well accomplished King would Absalon have made, 2 Sam. 15.3. if you'll believe him? See thy matters are good and right, but there is no man deputed of the King to hear thee! Oh that I were made Judge in the Land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! It is no pleasure to look back, or else you might see how this design was driven on by our late Oppressors. Their calumnies, their false and fucated accusations were very thriving, and they contrived it as their best and most taking expedient, by traducing his late Majesty's government, to introduce and set up their own. Remember Lord the reproach of thy servant, wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O Lord; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine Anointed. The Calumniator, or false Accuser, the fraudulent Oppressor, that's first. The Greek version gives us the second, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Apud Athenienses Lege cautium erat, ne quis ficus exportaret: unde quidam deferendo & accusando victum quaerentes, sycophantarum nomina sortiti sunt. which in the strict and genuine sense imports Calumniosun delatorem, a clawing, daubing accuser; a pickthank, a pickpocket Informer and Prosecutor, that frames and follows mischiefs by a Law: in the larger, and loser sense, it denotes a Deceiver, a juggling, dissembling Oppressor: one that cries up public, while he carries on private interests, and advantages: one that is Master of his trade, can pray and oppress, Mat. 23 14. (a trick of the Pharisees) cry and kill, shed tears and blood, carry Heaven in his looks, and Hell in his thoughts, larvate himself and put on a face of holiness, and justice upon the foulest, and most abominable practices that ever the Sun saw. Such was the contrivance of Jezebel, (who had skill in other paintings, besides that of her face) Naboth's Inheritance will fit Ahab, but how must he come by it? not take it away by arbitrary power, and force; that would be too gross and palpable an oppression, a Tyranny, every one will see it, and cry out of it. No: but let us have a Fast, and let's have a High Court of Justice; 1 K. 21.9. Proclaim a Fast, and set Naboth on high, and then take away his life, and estate and all, and who dare say he is an Oppressor that did it? — Nihil est audacius illis (sumunt Juven. satire. 6. Deprensis, iram, atque animos a crimine Such a sort of cunning, and cleanly Oppressors we meet with in the Psalmist: Psal. 58.2. You weigh the violence of your hands in the earth. St. Hierome reads it, Injustitias manus vestrae concinnant; you trim up oppression, and dress violence in the of justice. You have the very knack of Injustice, and can do wrong as handsomely as if it were the greatest right. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; So the Seventy interpret it, you twine and twist up your iniquity with such shows and pretences of justice and piety, that though you draw iniquity with cords of vanity, yet you seem to spin a fine thread. Or, which our Translation follows: Iniquitates manus vestrae appendunt; your hands weigh violence, or you weigh the violence of your hands. To weigh violence is velle videri agere in pondere, Lorinus. & aequitate, id quod per vim & inique fit: to seem to do that justly, by weight, and measure, which is beyond measure sinful, unjust, and wicked. They are such Artifts at Oppression, that they will not allow an action, or let it pass, till it hath been in the balance: as if they were afraid of the least grain of injustice, when indeed whole pounds will not make so much as a scruple in such men's consciences; but enough of them. The sycophant, the deceitful, dissembling Oppressor, He's the second. Violentum: Let us look at him as a third. The violent man, the impetuous and impudent Oppressor, that blusheth at nothing, Isa. 48.4. Jer. 3.3. having a brow of brass, a whore's forehead, refusing to be ashamed; ranting at Jehu's rate, and driving furiously as the son of Nimshi, charging desperately through all Obligations, honour, and honesty, no law can stop him, no oaths can hold him. He sets up, and pulls down, and Leviathan like is made without fear. A torrent of such Oppressors not long since broke in upon this more than miserable Church and Kingdom, over running all banks and bounds; whose language was Overturn, overturn, overturn, and cared not to throw the foundations of the earth out of course, and unhinge the world. Psal. 83.2. For lo thine enemies, O God, made a tumult, Vers. 3. & they that hated thee have lift up the head. They took crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. Vers. 4. They said come let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. Verse 12. Come let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. Lam. 4.20. The breath of our Nostrils, the Anointed of the Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we said under his shadow we shall live. Gen. 49.5, 6. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul come not thou into their secret! and blessed be the living God, V 14. hujus Psal. who hath redeemed our soul from their deceit and violence, and let our blood be precious in his sight. Psal 9.6. So that now I hope we may say, not insultingly, but humbly, not upbraidingly, but thankfully, O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end. Ps 10.18. God hath judged the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. The violent Oppressor, he's the third. I shall not take upon me to give you in a Catalogue of our late new devised Oppressors, the remembrance of them is grievous, as the burden of them was intolerable. Besides, it would over-match both my time and undertaking, and I should be at a loss for their names and number, they were so many, so monstrous: it's well we may have leisure to forget them, I wish we may do it hearty. Nor would I now have remembered them, had not my Text pointed at them, and led me to them. He that judgeth the poor, and saves the children of the needy, hath broken in pieces these Oppressors. But we have some Oppressors of the old stamp, I would we were as well eased of them too. That we might have no racking, screwing Landlords, that do not only fleece their Retainers, & Underlings, and keep them bare: but go as near as those Princes of the house of Israel, Mic. 3.2. who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones, and are as attractive of their Tenant's silver, as the Sferra Cavallo is of iron, Br. Pseud. l. 2. p. 100 which (they say) will not let a horse keep on his shoes by it. That we might have no usurious Exactors, Psal. 10.9. who lieth in wait to catch the poor, and ravisheth him when he draweth him into his net, his intangling net of Forfeitures, Mortgages, and Obligations. That we might have no quarrelling litigious Great ones, whose full g●lls and purses know no vent, but in Suits and Contentions. Such the Apostle complains of: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Jam. 2.6. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgement-seats? and that only, ob jejunam calumniam, (as the Orator terms it) upon a a nice, a needless, a nothing Cavil. That we might have no falsehood, nor treachery lurking under the long Robe in unconscionable Chamber-practice: Pliny, & Aelian. whilst, like the Amphisbaena, they move both ways: take a reward against the Innocent, sell the Truth, and drive on Judas' bargain, quid dabitis? Matth. 26.15. What will you give me and I will deliver him to you? That we might have no elusions of right, no cheats put upon Justice at the Bar, by crying up Esau's hands with Jacob's voice, and decrying St. Paul's cause with Tertullus his tongue: till Hypocrite-like, the cause is any thing but what it seems, and seems nothing of what it is. You that are entrusted with judging the poor of the people, and saving the children of the needy, will, I hope, take care also to break in pieces these Oppressors. I shall now but speak the sense, and deliver the Errand of the Text, to the Judge, the Oppressor, and the poor of the people, and I have done. To the Judge first. My Lords, I do not, I dare not take upon me to instruct you, whose Commissioned merits, and well famed abilities set you above the reach of such attempts: but remember you, I may, I must: My duty, my Text commands me to it. The Text tells you, you could have no power at all unless it were given you from above. There is another He, whose person, whose power, whose Tribunal, whose Attendants, are above, are beyond yours; who shall judge, and save, and break in pieces, when you have done. O do not save what He would have broken, nor break what he would save! Jam. 5.9. He standeth before the door, he'll be here presently, and he will judge all man's judgement over again. Corn. a Lap. Com. in Eccl. c. 3 Hoc enim est officium Elohim, ut justis Laesis suum jus & famam restituat. It will be the business of God in that great day, to scan the causes of the world, and rectify all the errors of these lower judgements, and therefore it behoves you to judge exactly: if he espy the least detaining of any truth in unrighteousness, the least connivance at any iniquity, the least seducing by any passion or affection, the least prevarication or obliquity, be sure to hear on't. Job 31.4. Doth not he see your ways, and count all your steps? It concerns you then to tread even that have such a looker on. Act 24.25. Judge Foelix trembled to hear of another judgement to come; thoughts of God's judgement will notably influence upon yours. You had need be better than men (if possible) when you remember that God sits among you, especially when you remember that he shall sit upon you: and that as sure as you now judge, you shall be judged by him that shall judge the poor of the people, and save the children of the needy, and break in pieces the Oppressor. 2. To the Opressour, I shall apply myself in that of the Psalmist, Ps. 75.4. Dixi iniquis: I said to the fools deal not so madly, and to the wicked lift not up the horn. Proud dust! whether wilt thou be blown and scattered, when the great Judge shall come riding upon the wings of the wind? Poor stubble! where wilt thou stand before a consuming fire? Thou that treadest upon the necks of the needy with the feet of pride and cruelty, and bearest thyself up by thy outward advantages, as if (with those in Obadiah) thou wouldst nest thyself among the stars, Obad. 4. and sayest in thine heart, Vers. 3. who shall bring me down to the ground? Here's a He in the Text, who hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, St. chrysostom. a most dreadful Tribunal, before which thy pride shall shrink up, thy high looks be levelled, and thy thoughts laid low: Isa. 2.20, 21. In that day thou shalt cast away thy idolised silver and gold to the Moles, and to the Bats; to go into the holes of the rocks, & into the caves of the earth; to go into the cliffs of the rocks, & into the tops of theragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty: when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. Heb. 12.26 Yet once more he shakes not the earth only, but also heaven. Matth. 24.29. The day is coming when all the powers of heaven shall be shaken, the Sun become black, Rev. 6.12, 13. 2 Pet. 3.10. and the Moon as blood, the Stars fall, and all the lights of heaven be put out at once: the Elements melt with fervent heat, Mat. 24 30 Rev. 1.7. the sea roar, and the Tribes of the earth mourn; and then shall appear the sign of the son of man; Every eye shall see him, and thine also which pierced him in the poor members of his mystical body; 2 Sam. 13.13. and thou, whether shalt thou cause thy shame to go? thou wilt then be glad of a Covert that would cut thee in pieces, that thou mightest run into ruin, Rev. 9.6. seeking death and shall not find it, desiring to die, and death flying from thee, Ch. 6.16. saying to the mountains, and rocks, Fall on us and hid us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Dan. 4.27. Wherefore let my counsel be accepted? Break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor: Ps. 50.12. if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity. Now consider this you that forget God, lest he tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver● For he shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the Oppressor. 3. To the poor of the people, and children of the needy, the Text says so much, I need say but little, very little, this. Hail you that are highly favoured, Luk. 1.28. the Lord is with you, blessed are you among men. You are the very darlings, and delight of providence: You are God's care, and he has given you in charge to the Judge: here is both Jus Poli, and Jus Fori for you, so that if either Heaven, or Earth can do you right, you shall have it. You have been oppressed it may be, and shed tears, and found no Comforter: Eccl. 4.1. And on the side of your Oppressors there was power, but you had no Comforter; The Text will show you one, Rev. 21.4. Who shall judge and save you, and wipe away all tears from your eyes, and set you above death, and sorrow, and crying, and pain. You have had your Names clouded, and overcast with Obloquys, disgraces, reproaches; Psal. 36.5. He will clear them up for you: Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. Vers. 6. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, Verse 7. and wait patiently for him: Mat. 13.43 You shall shine forth as the Sun, in the kingdom of your Father. You have been despised, Isa. 53.3. and rejected of men, they hide their faces from you, and esteemed you not; Mal. 3.17. you shall be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my Jewels. You have lost all for keeping the Commandments of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ: Lu. 12.33. You shall have bags which wax not old, treasure in the heavens which faileth not, Mat. 6.20. where neither moth, nor rust can corrupt, and where thiefs cannot break through and steal: a better and more enduring substance: Heb. 10.34. Psa. 58.11. So that you shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous, verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth. You can get no reparation for sufferings, no redress of grievances, but after abundance of waiting; Prov. 13.12. Jer. 8.15. Your hope is deferred, and your heart is sick: You looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of health, Lu. 21.19. Jam. 5.8. and behold trouble. O but in patience possess ye your souls: Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh: Rev 3.11. Ps. 125 3. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy Crown: The Rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous: The needy shall not always be forgotten, the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. That longing expectation of the souls under the Altar, Vsque quò Domine, How long, Rev. 6.10. O Lord, holy, and true? is answered with an Adhuc modicûm, aliquantulúmque Heb. 10.37. Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. For he cometh, Ps. 96.13. for he cometh to judge the earth, he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth. Rev. 22.12 Behold he cometh quickly, and his reward is with him, to give every man according as his work shall be. For He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the Oppressor. Now the great God of heaven and earth, the maker of all things, the Judge of all men, 2 Tim. 4. 1● who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, give you such a spirit of judgement, wisdom, counsel, courage, and the fear of the Lord, that you which now judge men, may one day judge Angels, and sit in glory before the face of the world, Angels and men! and grant to us all such a spirit of meekness, moderation, holiness, humility, and obedience: that we may so live as those that must die, and after death, come to judgement: and then be able to stand in great boldness, being made safe from all oppression, fraud, and violence, secured within the embraces of the everlasting arms, and called into a better Kingdom with that gracious invitation, Come ye blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world was laid. And all this, He giveth us, who hath so dearly purchased it for us, Jesus Christ the Righteous! To whom with the Father and the Eternal Spirit, be rendered of us, and of all creatures both in Heaven and Earth, all honour, glory, adoration, and praise throughout all ages. Amen. Hallelujah. FINIS.