JUDGEMENTS REMOVED, WHERE JUDGEMENT IS EXECUTED.  
OR A SERMON PREACHED to the Court Martial in Laurence jury, London, the 5th of Septemb. 1644. Being the day of their solemn seeking of the Lord for his blessing upon their Proceed.  
By ANTHONY BURGES, sometimes Fellow of Emmanuell College in Cambridge; Now Pastor of Sutton-Coldfeild in Warwickshire; a Member of the Assembly.  
LONDON: Printed by M. Simmons for Thomas Underhill, at the Bible in Woodstreet. 1644.   

TO THE HONOURABLE The Commissioners OF THE COUNCIL OF WAR, now sitting by an Ordinance of PARLIAMENT.  
HONOURABLE;  
HOwsoever the fear of God be not thought necessary to human Judges by men of the world, yet the Scripture doth much press it, Exod. 18.21. 2 Chron. 9.7. Yea, some Heathens have acknowledged the necessity of it, therefore amongst the Ancients the court of Judgement was near the Temple, that so the reverence of their gods might bend the minds of Judges to Justice. And they report that in Aethiopia, the Judges sitting in their Court, leave twelve seats in the highest place empty, which (they say) are the Angels seats. Therefore he was the unjust judge in the Parable, that did not fear God, nor respect man; Such an one was Agesilaus, who wrote to a Captain for a prisoner in these words; Release Nicias the prisoner without fail; for if he have not offended, in justice you are to dismiss him; but of he have heinously offended, and deserved punishment, then dismiss him for my sake. Here he mingled private affections in public administrations, which is very sinful. Therefore that you may avoid such rocks, especially consider, that Argument of the Scripture, It is the judgement of the Lord; judicium Dei est, (saith a Schoolman) ideo judex in tribus Deo debei conformari, in potestate, in bonitate, & in veritate; It is the judgement of the Lord; therefore the Judge ought to resemble God, while he judgeth in power, in goodness, and in truth. All which if you do, the Kingdom may be freed from guilt, truth and peace may kiss each other, and you deliver your own souls; Which is the earnest prayer of him who desires to serve you in the Lord;  
ANTHONY BURGES.   

JUDGEMENTS REMOVED, WHERE JUDGEMENT IS EXECUTED.  PSAL. 106.30, 31. 
Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgement, and so the plague was stayed; and that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore.  
THe Text is a clear mirror, and glass of justice, wherein you have all the necessaries requisite to a righteous action; There is Justus, the person righteous; justum, the matter and fact righteous; and jus●è, this righteous fact done righteously.  
The righteous person is described, by his name Phinehas; It is not worth the while to meddle in the dispute amongst Popish Authors, whether because of the promise made to him, Numb. 25. to wit, A Covenant of peace for ever, that therefore Phinehas be yet alive, and kept till the day of judgement; as they conceive of Enoch.  
Secondly, The just Actions are two; First, He stood up; howsoever this word be used for those that minister and serve; therefore the Angels are called (Zach. 3.) Standards; yet in other places it doth denote Firmness, and Stability; Hence the word that signifies a Pillar, cometh from this root. Ezekiel 22. Can thy heart endure? in the Hebrew, Can it stand? And thus here it implies, the Courage, the Fervency, and Zeal of Phinehas. The second just Action is, he executed justice. Some read, he prayed; and so the Chaldee Paraphrase; the root in the Original doth indeed in one Conjugation signify to praise, but in the other which is here in the Text, it signifies to adjudge, and to condemn; for so Phinehas did both judge, and execute this judgement! therefore Gregory Nyssen calls him, both the Judge and the Executioner. What the Delinquents were, you may read Numb. 25.  
Lastly, That this was justè, righteously done, appears by a twofold effect, or reward; First, Public, the plague ceased; the plague, the word signifies any kind of striking; and therefore what this plague was, is not recorded. The other Effect, is private and personal, It was imputed to him for righteousness; Not as Faith was to Abraham; for that was a righteousness of the person, and universal for justification; but this is of a fact, and particular; and the sense is, it was approved of by God for a just act; whereas otherwise it might have been doubted of; Although some think, what he did here, was done by command of the Elders, and Judges.  
The Doctrine: When men execute their just judgements, than God removes his.  
First, We will show the necessity of Justice, and that flows from divers streams.  
First, From God, who (besides those many commands for justice) shows that all their other religious Sacrifices, were rejected for want of this. Isaiah 1. As long as their hands were full of blood, how doth he loath their Ordinances? therefore it is not enough to reform, nor to set up a good Ministry, to abolish corruption, unless also the just judgements of the Lord be executed: The will of the Lord is to be done, not only in the Assemblies for Worship, but also in Judicatories: And you may observe in the Prophet, that commonly those two sins are linked together, Idolatry and Blood. And had not England the experience of this? Are we to this day cleansed either from the one, or the other? Yea to do justice is an acceptable service, Pinguior mactari Deo victima non potest quam homo sceleratus; so that the high prize which is put upon this service of him, may make men courageous and faithful; And certainly the Acts of Justice, are so apt to be obstructed, that unless a man look up to God, he can never bear up his heart in them.  
Secondly, From ourselves; We shall hereby be freed from the guilt of others; For where Justice is not executed, there a whole Kingdom is defiled. Now to have other men's sins become ours, to have the blood of Ireland, all those outrageous insolences there, and in England, to become our sins, this is terrible. The sins of others may become ours negatively as well as positively, when we do not humble ourselves, when we do not labour a Reformation; therefore the Prophet complained, that there was none who called for justice. It was a sin in the people, not to pray for it, and desire it. And this is the reason, why in public calamities, the righteous perish as well as the wicked, because they get some infection, when the plague is general. You say the plots and the conspiracies of enemies, they ruin and undo us, but may not also our sins in civil Judicatories undo us?  
Thirdly, We shall hereby prevent the public judgement that may come upon a Land; As neglect of Justice brings other men's sins upon us, so also it ushers in all public calamities; See what Achan, what saul's sons unpunished did bring upon the Nation; therefore Zach. 8.16. It is said; Execute the judgement of truth and peace in your gates; Justice brings peace; contrary to the sinful thoughts of many, who think that this is the way to spoil all. And we have the rather cause to look to this, because the Imprisonments, the Injustice that hath been done upon the godly, and faithful men upon the earth, may still cry; their imprisonments, their banishments, their death may still cry for vengeance. Justice is called by Aristotle, Hesperus, the Glorious Star; yea, it is the Sun of the world; Therefore consider, If you stand up like Phinehas with pure zeal, to do the judgement of the Lord, it may be the war shall cease, God's anger shall be appeased; it may be when the Jonahs' are out, the Ship will be quiet. And certainly how can we pray, that the Lord would be avenged on the Cruelty, and the Bloodiness of the wretched Adversary, if we ourselves will not do it when we may?  
Fourthly, It is necessary, in regard of others; If they be good, then to spare the bad, it is cruelty to them. Amos 5. observe that phrase, of turning justice into Wormwood; which implies that Justice of itself is sweet, even as honey, and the neglect of it is Wormwood: Qui malis parcit, piis nocet; To let the Lions and Bears alone, it is to wrong the Sheep and Lamb. And therefore this may serve to reprove all sinful Mildness and Lenity; When you pity the Bad, you are hardhearted to the Good: you pity the Delinquent crying, and you never think how the innocent Land and Nation would have cried. I do not speak against true Clemency, but I show the duty in the general. If you will pity a Catiline, pity Rome much more. Besides, pity the whole, rather than the part: Pereat unus magis quam unit as: So that there is no just public act, though it seem never so severe in respect of a person, yet it is a merciful act to the Commonwealth: you had better have one Malefactor sit mourning, than a whole Kingdom.  
Fifthly, If others be bad, Justice is necessary, because otherwise you encourage them in their impiety; and this aught much to be laid to heart. If wicked men abuse the Patience of God, they will much more abuse men's Patience. One end of Justice is to strike terror into others, that they may be afraid; and when you sinfully acquit men, if they do wickedness afterwards, it is not so much they that do it, but you. It was an ingenuous acknowledgement of an Emperor, who when a man had committed wilful murder, and friends importuning for him, he was released; but presently after, he commits murder again; then complaint was again made of him to the Emperor, as being twice guilty of murder; No, (saith the Emperor) he is guilty of the former only, I am guilty of the latter. And so if you acquit the ungodly, and they run afterwards into vile enormities, what will men say? Yea what will your Consciences say? It is not they that are guilty, it is we that are guilty, we have thus murdered, we have thus destroyed, not they.  
Sixthly, It is necessary, in respect of the Malefactors themselves; for these acts of Justice, being the appointment of God, they may be blessed by him, to the awakening and rousing of men's consciences; it is to make them see their pride, their wickedness; God hath suffered all this to fall upon them, in mercy to their souls: It is a very uncharitable opinion of the Socinians, That none of those, who die as Malefactors, for their wickedness, can be saved; this is against the tenor of the Gospel and Mercy; but howsoever, if Justice do not work the salvation of their souls, yet it works to the restraining of their sin; the measure of their wickedness is the less. That is a grave Speech of Seneca's:  nemo pereat, nisi quem perire etiam pereuntis intersit; That none perish but those, to whom it is an advantage to perish. Thus you see upon how many foundations this act of Justice is built: if God, if man, if others, if ourselves, if the Commonwealth, be looked upon, than aught Righteousness to be exalted: I shall end this part with Amos 5.24. where the Prophet takes them off from all their religious duties; do not think Sacrifices, Prayers will avail, But let Righteousness run down like waters; where righteousness is compared to water, how welcome is it to a thirsty ground? and than it must run down, which denotes abundancy, and like a torrent, which denotes fervency.  
In the second place, we will show you, how you are to do it:  
1. By Prayer, and seeking the Lord; therefore I cannot but encourage you in that you have desired to begin with God; and certainly there is great reason: for Counsel and Wisdom, they are the gift of the Lord, and direction in these great matters is from him; you see how that prayer pleased God, when Solomon prayed for Wisdom; and certainly to miscarry here is very dangerous, you may soon provoke God, you may soon bring guilt upon the Kingdom, you may quickly condemn the innocent, or absolve the guilty: and as the Danger is great, and therefore pray; so the Duty is hard, and therefore pray; to be void of all sinful affections, and partiality, all fear of men to do it, as an act of Justice, out of love to God; these things cannot be had without Prayer; for this you must know, that though you condemn a man justly in regard of the Law; yet for all that, if you have carnal ends, or sinful aims in you, God will be avenged of you, even as if it were murder, as I shall show you afterwards.  
2. By judging yourselves for your own sins; that is also necessary to you to judge yourselves, and to humble yourselves before the Lord. Our Saviour, to convince the Pharisees, bids them that were without sin, throw the first stone at the Adulteress; this was to imply, that men who judge others, they must consider their own sins. And certainly, you have deep matter of humiliation; for is there any sin committed by any man, the root of which is not in thy heart? may we not all acknowledge the grace of God, that we are not cain's, Judass, and haply the Lord hath given up some delinquents to such notorious sins, because of such pride, or such contempt of the means of grace, or such ambitious desires, for the favour of great ones, which thy heart hath been propense unto; Luther commended a man, who hearing of another fallen into a great sin, cried out, Hodie illi cras mihi; It is his turn now, it may be mine to morrow. It is disputed by Divines, whether a Judge that is guilty himself, may condemn a malefactor, and they conclude, he may; but yet it is his great duty to see his own sin.  
3. By doing it, as the judgement of the Lord: so in the Chronicles, in Deuteronomy, it is called the judgement of the Lord; you are in the Lord's stead, and therefore to do it, as the Lord would do it: Jus dicere, is res sacra, it is a holy thing, (saith the Civilian) hence the Lawyers were sometimes called Sacerdotes, because it is a kind of a holy thing to judge and pronounce sentence; you are to look higher than to men, even unto God himself. The Romans are much commended for their Justice, yet their actions were but splendida peccata, refined sins: Aristides the just was but a Glow-worm, and severe Cato but a Blazing-star; Vincit amor patriae laudumque immensa cupido, the praise of men overcame them; you must not walk by this rule, This man must be condemned, the people will have it so, and the City will have it so; but will the Lord have it so?  
4. Deliberately and advisedly, howsoever it be questioned, whether a Magistrate may release the punishments of sins, yet that he may delay, all agree; Truth is the daughter of Time, Alius dies de alio judicat, de omnibus supremus; one day judges of another, and the last of all; an act of Justice ought to flow from mature deliberation, and advised attendency: It is said of Lewis King of France, that when he had through inadvertency granted an unjust thing, as soon as he read that verse in this Psalm, Blessed is he that doth righteously at all times, presently recalled himself; especially there ought to be deliberation, when it is above the life or death of men: When Theodosius had rashly killed many in a City, which did much trouble him, afterwards it was ordered, that thirty days should intervene between the sentence and execution; Potest dilata poena exigi, exacta revocari non potest, deferred punishment may be executed when we will, but if once executed, it cannot be recalled.  
5. With much godly pity and compassion; A Butcher (they say) may not be of the Jury, much less may he be a Judge; and certainly there is just cause of great relenting, whether we consider ourselves or others; ourselves, who are of the same mould, and subject to the same temptations as others; though we may delight in Justice, yet to do it as it is the evil and grief of another, so to be glad of it, this is very sinful; and though you may have much Religion and Piety in your breasts, yet sourness and severity doth much discourage: how did Joshua speak to Achan, My son, give glory to God; where there is Justice within, and nothing but austerity without, it is like those houses where they say treasures of Gold are, but the place is so haunted with spirits, that none dare come near; though there be Piety and Justice, yet Passion and Frowardness hinder others from being made partakers of it: It is remarkable of David, that when the news of saul's death was brought, he rejoiced not at all, though it was greatly to his outward advantage, but wept and bewailed him.  
6. With sure Knowledge and Understanding; it is observed of all, Gen. 18. as a pattern in judgement, I will descend and see, if it be so: so Job 29. If I did not search out the cause, that was too hard for me; the Judges had an Image with a Jewel upon it, that was called Truth, and a multitude of books lying by, to show the Knowledge of the Judge; and this made Solomon so pray for Wisdom: In matters of life and death, proofs ought to be full; therefore Moses ordered, that if there fell out matters too hard for inferior Courts, they should go to the higher; you are to give physic to the Commonwealth, and Ignorance may endanger the whole; besides, Knowledge is not enough, but Prudence is requisite, which is, Rectaratio agibilium, the right way of ordering things; the Physician hath not Knowledge enough, when it is theoretical, but it must also be Practical; therefore, know what you do, for there is nothing that you judge, but God will judge, yea, the world will judge it over and over again.  
7. With Courage and Boldness; Much opposition, and hatred, will always be in the way of justice; but the Rule is, Fiat justitia, & ruat mundus; Let justice be done, though the world be ruined: and that is a true saying, Odia qui nimium timet regnare nescit; He that fears the hatred of men too much, knows not how to govern. You will find that to resist Friends, and to overlook Enemies, in this your work, will be difficult; To have friends entreating, and to have Enemies reviling, will be a great temptation. Magistracy is called Cos hominis, the Whetstone of a man; it is not only a Touchstone, to try what a man is, but a Whetstone also, to quicken him in that work. Saul when he was called to the government, had another spirit; and do you pray, That as the work you have, is other work than you have had, so your spirit also may be otherwise; Especially, harden yourselves against worldly fears. It is noted by some Expositors, that Moses when he had killed the Egyptian, he looked up and down, as being afraid, which (they say) was his weakness, and corruption. Let that be true of you, which was said of chrysostom, That he feared nothing but sin.  
8. With much Patience; See what a world of Censures you must lie under; some will say, you are too severe; some, you are too merciful; some, that you do nothing; some, that you do too much; and how much patience must here be? And there is nothing more unstable, than the people, who as they are earnest for justice, so when it is done, do relent and pity those that suffer, as if wrong were done to them.  
9 With much Fervour and Zeal; This is the cause of Courage; Adami voluntas non habuit fortitudinem, quia non habuit fervorem; It was Bernard's saying, Adam's will had not strength to endure, because it had not fervency and zeal. The righteous are compared to Palm trees, now they love hot Regions, and so doth Justice a zealous heart. And terrible is that instance of Eli, he did something, yet because he was not zealous, and fervent, how was he punished by the Lord? Every Sacrifice was to have fire; and let your hearts also burn with fire, for the glory of God, and the good of the Commonwealth.  
Lastly, This Zeal must be pure, as an act of Justice, and out of Love too, or it may be thy murder, while it is Justice: hence Numb. 25. Phinehas his zeal is called the Lords zeal; the fire it must be pure Elementary, not Culinary, or basely feeding upon carnal respects. Among the Thebans, the Images of their Judges, were without hands and blind, that so no bribing nor compassion might divert them from Justice.  
And these are the Things which hinder pure Justice:  
First, Malice and Revengeful thoughts; Anger and Envy are present Pests to all Courts and Governments. It was a good speech of Alphonsus, That if he had lived in those times when the Roman Commonwealth was almost consumed with mutual jars, he would have built a Temple Jovi positorio, wherein men should have deposited and lain down all heart-burnings, before they entered into the Senate. How necessary is such a place for men, before they come into Courts, into Committees, into any public Judicatures, where they may meet and lay down all heart-burnings and private grudge, that the public cause may be promoted?  
Secondly, Partiality hinders Justice; Justice is often compared to the Balance; now you know that the Balance doth equally weigh gold and iron, it makes no difference; And so ought you to make no difference between poor and rich, between high and low, between friends and strangers; you are to be like Melchisedec, in this respect, without father or mother, or any private relations.  
Thirdly, Covetousness doth prejudice Justice: Though your Martial Court were a Paradise, yet if this subtle Serpent creep into it, it will spoil all; this is called the Root of all evil; and the Judges were to be men hating Covetousness.  
Fourthly, Carnal or worldly Applause; to do what may please others; You are not ambitiously to affect the glory, either of severe men, or of merciful men, but to have a Temperament of both; like that justice of Gods which is tempered with much mercy.  
Now that all these things may be done, take some Theological Rules; which will serve for your Information.  
First, Whatsoever punishment comes upon a man by your false judgement, the guilt will return upon your own heads, their blood, their death, their loss will be your sin. And on the other side, the sinful acquitting of any, and the sad effects thereof, will also be reckoned upon your score; therefore take heed what you do, lest you bring a curse upon yourselves, and upon your posterity also.  
Secondly, You are to know, that punishments are of two kinds: First, There are such as are immediately commanded by the Law of God, or are evidenced by the Law of Nature. And here though it be seriously disputed among Divines, Whether a Magistrate may remit that punishment, which by God's Law is prescribed; yet that opinion seems safest, which doth wholly deny it: and the reason is cogent, Because that if the Magistrate should release the punishment which God hath commanded, he should then remittere de alieno, release another's right, which is Gods; and that is altogether unlawful. Hence it is that our Divines do justly condemn those Sanctuaries and Refuges in holy places, (as they call them) for wilful murder, because here God's Law doth strictly bind them up: As also they condemn the practice of letting Malefactors lose at the time of Easter, which was a custom of the Christian Emperors: So that custom of the Jews losing a Malefactor, though he were a murderer, is judged unlawful by them. But then in the second place, There are punishments, that are by a mere positive Law; and in these much moderation may be used without any guilt upon the Kingdom; For seeing humane Laws are imperfect, and men could not possibly foresee all causes and circumstances, there is a greater latitude left to them; therefore the Rule is, Summum jus est summa injuria: So that the punishments which are by positive Laws, must be interpreted according unto the affection and sense of the Lawgiver, or of other Laws, or the safety and benefit of the Commonwealth.  
Thirdly, In all acts of Judgement, especially those of death, it is safer to incline to Clemency, then to Severity; only this Caution must be taken along; That wherein there is an express command of God, or evident profit of the Commonwealth, there must be Severity. saul's pity in sparing Agag, was cruelty to his own self; and that can never be Clemency, which is opposite to true Justice: But yet where neither of those two is, than we ought to incline to Moderation, and Clemency. Howsoever that man is much commended, whose Tribunal was called Scopulus reorum, the Rock where all guilty persons were split; yet Nero's speech hath greater praise, who when he was to subscribe to the death of a man condemned, would say, utinam nescirem literas, I wish I did not know how to write. For there are these things, that may move to Clemency:  
First, The Consideration of man's frail nature, how all sin is contained in him; and therefore Rom. 3. those words; Their Feet are swift to shed blood; which are spoken by the Psalmist of those enemies of the Church, are applied by the Apostle to every particular man by nature.  
Secondly, The Corrigibilitie and relenting of the Offender, may much procure Clemency: It is true indeed that herein Spiritual Punishments differ from Civil; In spiritual, if the party repent, they ought not to inflict them; but in Civil, the Magistrate he doth it howsoever, because he looks at the good of the Commonwealth; yet where men are not straightened by the command of God, if they do see Corrigibilitie in persons offending, they have the greater liberty for their Clemency. And upon this ground it was, that Austin did intercede to the Civil Magistrate for offenders; Intercedimus, etsi non pro secleratis scelerati, tamen pro peccatoribus peccatores.  
Thirdly, There is a great difference between Principals, and those that are Accessaries; between those that were the cause of the Stream, and those that are carried away by it.  
Lastly, Man's Law useth to make a great difference between those that actually have wrought mischief to the Commonwealth, and those that have been in the preparations and endeavours of it only.  
The fourth and last Rule is;  
That in a judicial process, though the Law may condemn a man, yet a Judge ought not to go against his own Conscience, if he have just grounds for the acquitting of the man condemned. It is true, all the Popish Casuists almost, determine, That he must proceed to Condemnation, otherwise (say they) a door will be left open to all Judges, to pretend Conscience, as they please, and so no justice will be done; therefore the Rule is, Illud tantum Judex novit quod novit judicialiter, That only the Judge knows, which he knows as a Judge: But this cannot stand with the Scripture, which requires, that whatsoever we do, should be done out of Faith, that is, a Conscience and persuasion of the thing to be lawful. And there are other remedies for a Judge in this case; As, to appeal to the Supreme, or to delay and respite, or to lay down his Commission, if he cannot help the innocent otherwise.  
The Use of Exhortation, from all this, is, to take these things seriously into your heart; Defile not the Land with false Judgement, as much as the Delinquents have defiled it by their offences; Let no man's life, nor no man's death witness against you; and in all the Justice that you do, especially see that it be out of pure love to Justice, and no other respects whatsoever. Consider that of Jehu, Hosea 1.4. God would avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, yet the fact of Jehu in itself was Justice; and God said, He had done all that was right in his sight: therefore God may be avenged on you, even for that which is a righteous action, if not done by you out of love to righteousness. Consider, why the Lord hath brought all those evils upon our Adversaries, hath not injustice and guilt of blood done it? God forbidden then, that Partiality, or Friends, should carry you into the same sins. Remember, that as you judge others, so God will judge you, and men also. And consider, that when we stand up to execute the judgements of the Lord, the Lord may cease from bringing any further judgements upon us.  
FINIS.