A SERMON Preached at the ASSIZES AT Northampton, August the 9th. 1669. Wherein is asserted, The Excellency of Religion, against the Atheist. The Dignity of Regal Government, against the Independent. The Supremacy of his Majesty in Causes Ecclesiastical, against the Presbyterian. The Necessity of Judges, Law, and Magistrates, against the Anabaptist. By John Howes, sometimes Fellow of Cajus college in Cambridge; now Rector of Abington near Northampton. Sublata Religione, fides etiam,& societas humani generis,& una excellentissima virtus justitia tollitur. Cicero de nat. dear. lib. 1. in principio. {αβγδ}. Arist. Eth. lib. 8 cap. 10. {αβγδ}. Demost. in Philip. LONDON, Printed for William leak, at the Crown in Fleetstreet, between the two Temple-Gates, 1670. To the Right Reverend Father in God, Joseph, by the Divine Providence, Bishop of Peterborough. May it please your Lordship, MY Pen is unable to express how much my heart hath been, and is obliged to your Lordships service; who ever since you were our most Reverend and Honoured Father and governor, have declared yourself the Pillar of the Church, in your Lordships diocese, the Patron of your conformable and virtuous Clergy, and the great and good Example of Piety, Justice, Charity, and Religious Devotion. The present demonstration of this my cordial service, is a Sermon preached this last Assize in your Lordships diocese; the which( confiding in your Lordships obliging candour) presumes to kiss your Lordships hands in this public address. I hope there can be no Solecism herein, upon the account either of Divinity or Morality; for one Subject of the Sermon is Religion, whose beautiful face would be not only sullied by the foul fingers of deformed Errors, but also woefully scratched, and miserable torn by the poisonous nails of many-headed Schism, and monstrous Heresies, unless the Apud nos, Apostolorum locum Episcopi tenant. S. Hier. Epist. ad marcel& in Epist. ad Evag. Apostolical Order of Episcopacy protected this Celestial Virgin from violence and rape, according to that of Ad Papianum St. Cyprian, Unde Schismata& Hereses ortae sunt? nisi dum Episcopus qui unus est,& Ecclesiae praeest, superba quorundam presumptione contemnitur. As also, another Branch of this Discourse is Kingly Government, the real interest whereof is so twisted with the sacred Order of Bishops, that it seems animated by the same Soul; for like Hippocrates twins, they smile and weep together, and live and die together: the which most certain truth was too truly and plainly demonstrated in the late schismatical times, which sealed with sacred blood that Confer. at Hampt. Court. Aphorism of wise King James, No Bishop, no King. A third Branch of the Sermon is, the Supremacy of his Majesty, in Causes Ecclesiastical; of which Royal Prerogative, inherent in the Imperial Crown, the Protestant Bishops have always been the most faithful and worthy Episc. Eliens. Resp ad Apol. Bellarm. cap 4. Bishop White against Fisher. p. 570, &c. Hyperaspistae: whereas the Genius of Presbyterian Discipline is always nibbling at the Royal sceptre. The last Branch concerns the Law, which is Vinculum Humanae Societatis, and concerns Magistracy, which is Propugnaculum Legis, to whose due Rights none tender a more cheerful and ready obedience, than those of the Episcopal judgement, who preach and practise passive obedience, not call. Instit. lib. 4. cap. 20. Sect. 31. Genevizing resistance, who say with S. Ambr. in Orat. ad Auxentium. St. Ambrose, Dolere potero— flere potero— aliter nec debeo, nec possum resistere. Accept therefore, my good Lord, of this Mite of Duty, which upon the earnest entreaty of some Persons of worth and integrity, adventures into the Ocean of a critical world: and although I freely aclowledge, my well-intended endeavours did not merit the sprinkling of that florid and fluent rhetoric, which the then sergeant Broom. Lord Judge( who hath a Suada in his tongue) vouchsafed in his eloquent and loyal charge to pour upon them: yet I hope your Lordship will not throw them away into the gulf of neglect, seeing they found a candid reception from the Pulpit, and come from him who accounts it his great honour to be a regular Son of the Church of England, and conceives it his lawful ambition to be reputed by your Lordship, as he is unfeignedly in all canonical obedience, Your Lordships most humble and devoted Servant, JOHN HOWES. The Text. 2 Chron. 19.5, 6. And he set Judges in the Land, in all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City. And he said to the Judges, Take heed what you do; for you judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in judgement. Right Honourable, Right worshipful, and Well-beloved, THe World before it was civilized, may fitly be resembled to a vast Ocean, or to a wild Wilderness: for as in the vast Ocean, the greater Fish devour the less without control; and as in the wild Wilderness, the strongest Beasts tear in pieces the weaker at their pleasure: So in the World, the raging Nimrods, who are like the Job 41.1. Leviathan in the Ocean; and the furious sons of Belial, who are like Job's Job 40.15. Behemoth in the Wilderness, would make a prey of all who are infirm and quiet, unless there were Government, Law, and Judges, to preserve Propriety, Liberty, and Life. Wherefore Jehoshaphat, a noble and wise Prince, that he might kerb unruly Sensuality, restrain brutish Violence, punish devouring Oppression, and bridle unsatiable Avarice, which are the Scylla and Charybdis of human Society; as also that he might establish Law and Equity, which are the Pillars of a kingdom; settle Righteousness and Truth, which are the Palladium of a Nation; and protect Meum& Tuum, which are the Foundation of Wealth, Peace, and Industry; He doth( as it is in my Text) set Judges in the Land, throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City. And he saith to the Judges, Take heed what you do, &c. The Context. De Jano bifronte. Vide Macrob. Sat. lib. 1. cap. 9. The first word of the Text is a Conjunction copulative, and therefore, like Janus among the Romans, looks backward to the Verse preceding; where we find King Jehoshaphat in his Royal progress, from Beersheba to Mount Ephraim, and in his progress denying himself many contenting delights, and lawful pleasures, that he might promote the public good. For as he was( after the example of all his Royal predecessors) supreme in all Causes both Ecclesiastical and Civil, so he takes care in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Civil: and as he was( after the example of all his noble progenitors) Custos utriusque tabulae, the Guardian of both Tables of the Moral Law, so he takes especial care for the observance of each Table. His care in Causes Ecclesiastical, appertaining to God, appears in the last words of the former Verse, He brought the people back to the Lord God of their Fathers. His care in Causes Civil, appertaining to the kingdom, appears in my Text, And he set Judges in the Land, throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City. And he said to the Judges, &c. And here I beseech you take notice of the Piety and Prudence of this most Religious and heroic King; Observation from the Context. He takes care of God and of Religion in the first place: for what the Soul is to the Body, that is Religion to the State. The Body without the Soul is dead, and the State without some established Religion is confused and disjointed. This was well known by the glimmering Lamp of Nature, to wise Videtur Opheus hoc conatus apud Thraces, quod Pythagoras tentavit apud Ionios,& Numa apud Romanos. E●as. Adag. Chil. 4 Cent. 8. Num. 99. Orpheus among the Thracians, to enigmatical Pythagoras among the Grecians, and to devout Numa among the Romans; who did endeavour in the first place to instil some Principles of Natural Religion, among the barbarous and rough People, that so they might mollify their savage Natures, and reduce them to Civility, Order, and Obedience. For Religion in itself is the Religioni serviendum est, quam qui non suspicit, ipse se prosternit in terram,& vitam pecudum secutus, humanitate se abdicat. Lactant. de falsa sap. lib. 3. cap. 10. in fine. foundation of all moral virtue, the original of all just and pious Law, the cement that strongly combine s all human Society, and the very life of impartial Justice, upright Love, and constant Honesty. And supernatural Religion is the Haec doctrina porta coeli est,& janua paradisi, scala illa Jacobi, &c. Armin. orat. de auct.& fine. Theolog. pag. 45. Ladder of Jacob, by which the Soul may gradually ascend from Earth to Heaven; the silver wings of Davids Dove, by which we approach into the presence of the Almighty; and the golden Chain that unites God to Man, and draws down the rich Blessings of Heaven upon us poor and needy Mortals in the Earth. Wherefore Jehoshaphat did most prudently, as well as piously, to give primitias Deo, the first Fruits to God, who is {αβγδ}, Apoc. 1.8. Primus& ultimus, the first and the last. And having {αβγδ}. Aratus in Phaen. Vid. Lorin. in Act. 17.28. first served God in Religious Affairs, he proceeds in the next place to take care of the kingdom in Civil Affairs, And he set Judges in the Land, &c. The which words do represent unto us, as in a clear optic Glass, two noble Objects, namely, The Kings most Excellent Majesty; And The most Reverend and Learned Judges. And they represent these Objects without any envious or eclipsing cloud: They represent them in their orient splendour, and dazzling lustre. 1. They represent the King in his sovereignty and Supremacy, which is the most precious and beautiful Flower in his Crown. 2. They represent the Judges in their Circuit and Commission, which is their venerable Honour and Authority. 1. Here is the King in the pronoun primitive, He. 2. Here is the Kings sovereignty and Supremacy, in that, He set Judges in the Land,( which none but Royal Majesty can do.) 3. Here is the Circuit of the Judges, throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City. Lastly, Here is the Commission of the Judges; Wherein is contained, 1. A pious and prudent Caveat, Take heed what you do. 2. The Plea for putting in the Caveat, You judge not for men, but for the Lord. 3. The Seal to strengthen the Caveat, God is with you in judgement. And he set Judges in the Land, throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah. And he said, &c. 1. Of the King, in the first word of the Text, the Pronoun primitive, He. And now I may say with holy David, Psal. 45 1. My Heart is inditing of a good matter, I speak of the things I have made concerning the King; my Tongue should be as the Pen of a ready Writer. For Kings are not the Invention of active Wits, or of ambitious Heads, or of politic Brains, as the deluded Sleid. eom. lib. 10. Anabaptists, and other Enthusiasts dream; neither are they Creatures of the Peoples making, or the product of the Multitude, as Bell. de Laicis. lib. 1. cap. 6. E. Bellarmine on the one hand, and the long contraria est huic doctrinae Christi, Fanaticorum Angliae opinio, qui docent Regem esse creaturam populi, &c. Salmasius in reg. defence. cap. 3. in principio,& cap. 10. circa medium. Independents, with other seditious Persons on the other hand, maintain: But they are grounded on the Law of Nature in paternal Authority, which is co-aevall with the World; they are founded on the Law of right Reason, which gives a Dignity and Authority to the First-Born over all his Brethren; they are rooted in the Original Law of Nations, as Cicero lib. 3. de Legib. testifies, where he saith, Omnes antiquae Gentes Regibus paruerunt, All the ancient Nations of the World were governed by Kings: They are confirmed by the unerring Law of God, who did institute the Deut. 17.15. Government of Kings over his own chosen People, and gave express 1 Sam. 16.1. Commandement for David to be anointed King over Israel. Finally, they are Prophetically promised, as a very great Blessing to the Church in Gospel-times, Isa. 49.23. Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers, and Queens shall be thy nursing Mothers. This Government by Kings, Plato the seraphic Philosopher In Timaeo. calls {αβγδ}, the most divine Government. And Herodotus lib. 3. in orat. Ostanis, pro Monarchia. Herodotus( who is styled Pater Historiarum, the first Historian among the Heathen) calls it {αβγδ}, the most ancient Government. And Aristotle( who was the most rational and judicious of all the Philosophers) {αβγδ}. Eth. lib. 8. cap. 10. calls it {αβγδ}, the most excellent Government. For Monarchy is the imitation of the Government in Heaven, which is by one God; the restitution of the Primitive Government in the World, which was by one King: And it is the reflection of that admirable government of Nature, which rules the many Members of the Body by one Soul. Experience proves, that Ship is best guided which is steered by one Pilot, though trimmed by many Sailors; that Army is best ordered which is commanded by one General, though assisted by many inferior Officers; and that Nation is best governed who is ruled by one King, though advised by divers prudent and religious counsellors. Doth not Nature give us a hieroglyphic hereof in the mellifluous Bees, whose sweet Commonwealth is ordered by one King, — Quem admirantur, george lib 4. & omnes Circumstant fremitu denso, stipantque frequentes, whom they all reverence, and like little nimble Courtiers, wait upon. As also in the subtle Cranes, Plin. not hist. lib. 10. cap. 2●. who in their annual flight over the Mount Taurus,( where the Eagles, their mortal enemies lodge) do by instinct reduce themselves into a form of Battalio, like a Triangle, and follow the conduct of one Leader, who flies before them, as if he was their King. Let us therefore in a unanimous Suffrage conclude with the judgement of the Hom. Iliad. B. Prince of Poets, {αβγδ};— Let there be one Lord, one King. But what is a King without Power? He is as a bide without wings, or a Picture without life: He is as judge. 16.20, 21. samson among the philistines, with his locks cut off; or like Aesop. fab. 17. Aesop's Log, cast by Jupiter into the Lake, among the croaking Frogs, at first their Fear, but afterwards their Scorn. Power therefore is essential to the Being of a King, without which he is but like the Spartans Nightingale, Vox,& praeterea nihil, a Noise, and nothing else. Power is so necessary, that without it he cannot protect his loyal Subjects from wrong, or his Vide Salmas. reg. defence. cap. 10. per totum. Sacred Person from outrage: He cannot defend his Laws from shameful neglect, or Himself from base Contempt; neither can he repel a sudden invasion from abroad, or charm down the Evil Spirit of Rebellion and Insurrection at home. And this brings me to the second part of the Text, and that is,— The Authority, sovereignty, and Supremacy of the King, in these words, {αβγδ} He set Judges in the Land. And now behold the King in his Throne. Behold him not only with a Crown of Gold upon his head, but with the glittering Sword of Justice in one hand, and the golden sceptre of Law in the other hand. Behold him attended with his reverend, wise, and learned Judges; and they not imposed upon him,( as if he was a Minor, and in Wardship) but of his own free choice, and gracious Election; for so saith my Text, {αβγδ} He set Judges in the Land. And this is a Point very remarkable, The second part of the Text. and of highest Concern: For there hath been in our sad and woeful Memory, Two Pretenders unto this supreme Act of Power; the one is the People, Qui vult decipi, non vult cogi; the other is the Senate, which is the Representative of the People. But to say little hereof, ( ne cicatricem refricarem) both are absolutely excluded by my Text: For the Text doth not say, {αβγδ}, They set Judges in the Land; but the Text speaks in the singular number, {αβγδ}, He set Judges in the Land. This is an Act of Supremacy, and therefore belongs to the King: It cannot belong to the People, unless we do, with the unreasonable Fanatici' docent, populum dominum esse Regis. Salmas. in reg. deafen. cap. 3. Fanaticks, make the Feet the Head; neither can it belong to the Senate, for their many Oaths, and the title of their frequent Petitions disavow it, whereby they both swear and declare themselves, His Majesties most humble, loyal, and obedient Subjects. St. Peter the Apostle makes it a ruled Case in the Law of God, 1 Pet. 2.13. Submit yourselves to every Ordinance of Man, for the Lords sake, whether to the King as supreme,( here is the Kings Supremacy asserted by divine Authority) or to Governours, as sent by him,( here is the inferiority and dependency of all Judges and Magistrates established) Jehoshaphat in my Text, after the practise of all his Royal progenitors, after the example of all his noble predecessors, after the president of pious 1 Chron. 26.29, 30. 1 King. 4.4, 5. David, wise Solomon, and all the other Kings of Judah, {αβγδ}, He set Judges in the Land. And it must needs be so; for according to the Greek Aphorism, {αβγδ}, &c. the Throne and the Bed will not bear a Rival. To set Judges in the Land without the King, is either to be above the King, which Nec quenquam jam far potest Caesarve priorem, Pompeiusve parem. Lucan. Phars. lib. 1. Caesar could not brook; or else to be coordinate with the King, which Pompey could not digest; or else to cut off a skirt from the Kings royal Mantle, which made 1 Sam. 24.5. Davids Heart to quake and tremble. What Gentleman of the long rob, who is advanced beyond his Littleton, doth not know, it is a received maxim in the Laws of England, that the King is the Fountain of Honour, and of Justice? Therefore as all Nobility is like a crystal Stream, which flows from that glorious Spring; so all Judges, Justices, and inferior Magistrates, are as Rivers which issue from that noble Ocean. Alexander told the ambassadors of Darius, Q Curt. hist. de Alex. lib. 4. The Firmament will endure no more but one Sun, and the Regal Throne will bear no more but one supreme;— He set Judges in the Land. But there are two sort of Judges; the one Ecclesiastical, the other Civil: The one to judge in things that appertain to God, and Divine Worship; the other to judge in things secular, appertaining to Right and Wrong, which concern Mens Liberties, Lives, and Fortunes. Both these depend upon Kingly Power, and are goodly Branches, which grow and flourish upon the Royal three of Monarchy. For we find in the 8th. Verse of this Chapter, that King Jehoshaphat appoints an Ecclesiastical Court of Priests and Levites, to determine in Matters Spiritual and Ceremonial; and he constitutes Amariah the High-Priest, Chief Judge in this his Ecclesiastical Court, Verse the 11th. of this Chapter. Further, He appoints a Civil Court, to determine matters of the King, and Pleas of the Crown, and constitutes Zebadiah the Son of Ishmael, chief Judge therein, as it is in the same Verse. And this jurisdiction of King Jehoshaphat in Matters Ecclesiastical and Civil, was no intrusion, or innovation, but a just asserting of the ancient Charter of his most honourable predecessors: For King Solomon, whose King. 4.30. wisdom excelled all the wisdom of the East, and all the wisdom of Egypt, did appoint Zadok the Priest to be 1 King. 2.35. High-Priest. And thus did Christian Emperours in the Bilson of Obedience. Primitive times, until Boniface the Third usurped that ambitious and tyrannical title of Universalis Episcopus. Yea Heathen Kings by the principles of just Policy, have, and do keep this Prerogative inviolate, namely, To be supreme governor over all Pesons, and in all Causes, both Divine and Civil: well knowing, it is a dangerous Cancer in the body of the State, to suffer any Power in a kingdom to be independent upon the Royal; and that it makes a kingdom, like the Serpent( which Plin. nat. hist. lib. 20. cap. 20. Pliny calls) Amphisbaena, who having two Heads, drawing two several ways, doth writhe the body miserable, and after many painful convulsions, doth tear the body into loathsome pieces. Presumptuous therefore, and highly injurious, is the Usurpation of the Bishop of Rome, in claiming a Supremacy over Kings and Princes in Bell. de Rom. pontiff lib. 5. cap 1.& cap. 6.& cap. 7. Causes Ecclesiastical: especially presumptuous is he in claiming a Superiority over the King of England, who was held to be {αβγδ}, by the Vide the primitive Rule of Reformation. pag. 33, 34. Romanists themselves; and as our learned cambden. Brit. cap. Ordin. Angl. Antiquary proves, holds not his Empire in vassalage unto any, neither is enthroned, or installed by any foreign Power, and hath an Arch-Bishop in his own Dominions, who is {αβγδ}, a great Metropolitan, & magnus totius orbis Patriarcha, a great Patriarch of the Christian World. Injurious likewise, and more highly presumptuous, is the little Church of Geneva, in her novel and high-minded opinion, concerning the power of the Presbytery over Kings and Princes, Travers. de discipl. Eccl. fol. 136, 137. even to the dreadful sentence of Excommunication; as also in teaching the People,( as appears in the Writings of call. instit. lib 4. cap. 20. Sect. 31. Danaeus de Christiana polit. lib. 3. cap. 6. Bucan. Inst. theol. de Magistratu. num. 77. &c. Calvin, Beza, Danaeus, Bucanus, Knox, Buchanan, and many others) that it is lawful for them to take up Arms against their sovereign, in case of Religion or Liberty; the which seditious Doctrine, clean contrary to sacred Rom. 13.1.2, 5. Scripture, clean contrary to the practise of the Tertul. in Apolog. primitive Christians, and diametrically contrary to the judgement of the ancient Circa Majestatem imperatoris infamamur, tamen nunquam Cassiani inveniri pouerunt Christiani. Tertul. ad Scapulam. Fathers,( if it be not thoroughly quenched in England) will be a Fire-brand to kindle a new war in the bowels of the Nation, Dolere potero, flere potero▪ aliter nec debeo, nec possum resistere. S. Ambr in orat. in Aux●nt. as soon as the people are like Tinder prepared for the work. I am sure this novel and people-flattering Opinion is a poisoning of the Subject in point of Loyalty, and a robbing of his gracious Majesty of the most choice and glorious Flower which grows in the Crown Imperial, the which Flower was planted by the hands of God himself. And thus much for Ecclesiastical Judges; who as they are by Divine and Civil Authority established in England, do like 1 King. 1.23: Nathan the Prophet bow down before King David, and hearty aclowledge the King( as tart. in apol. adver. gentes. cap. 30. Tertullian in his Apology declares the primitive Christians acknowledged the Roman Emperour) à Deo secundus, post quem primus, ante omnes,& supper omnes; Next to God himself in his own Dominions, and superior to all persons in his own kingdoms. I proceed to the other kind of Judges, which are Civil, of which my Text directly speaks— He set Judges in the Land. And what are Civil Judges? They are the honoured Fathers of their country, the worthy Patrons of the Subjects Birth-right, which is Propriety, and legal Liberty; and as the holy Psal. 47.9. Scripture calls them, {αβγδ}, the shields of the Earth. Judges are the Atlas's which bear up the pillars of a flourishing Nation; the Altars to which the desolate Widow, the forlorn Orphan, and the distressed Innocent fly for succour; and they are the Oracles of Law, from whose well-guided Lips the Princes of the Earth learn wisdom and Righteousness. They are so extremely necessary, that not only the Well-being of a kingdom, but the very Being of human Society depends upon them. So that what some Modern Philosophers say of the Sun, namely, Rob. de fluct. in utriusque cosmi. hist. tract 1. lib. 1. cap. 6. That if that glorious Planet was pulled out of his sphere, by the hand of Omnipotence, the lovely frame of Heaven and Earth would sink into a Chaos: So we may confidently say, that if Judges and Magistrates were thrown out of the Seat of Government, and leveled with the Vulgus, by the evil spirit of Quakerism, Anabaptism, and Enthusiasm, all human Society would quickly corrupt into self-destroying Confusion, and be swallowed up in the gaping gulf of Oppression, Violence, and ruining Misery. How happy then are we of this kingdom, Bona si sua norint Agricolae, if we had Eyes to see our Happiness, that we have Judges and Magistrates in the Land: That we are not left like the harmless Dove, to the greedy violence of Birds of prey; that we are not left as the quiet Sheep, to the gripping hunger of ravenous Beasts; nor constrained to cry out according to the elegant E●asm Adag. cent 6. num. 22 Greek Adage, {αβγδ}, Let there be Equality by casting of Lots, and not a taking by the Throat, to snatch away what is ours by strong hand and power. As also what great cause have we to bless God, that we have Judges in the Land, who make the Law their rule, and Religion their guide; who are loyal to their gracious King, and faithful to his obedient Subjects; who know God sits in the Congregation of the {αβγδ} Psal. 82.1. Gods; and as Homer saith, {αβγδ}, hath an impartial Eye to revenge all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Finally, what great cause have we to magnify God, for this Happiness of the kingdom, far above other kingdoms in the world, that these honourable and learned Judges of our Land, do like the Vine and Fig-tree in judge. 9.10. Jotham's Parable, leave their own Sweetness and self-enjoyments, to bear precious fruit to us; that they value not their own Ease and Rest, to bring upright Judgement to our doors, and impartial Justice to our County; that they are as burning and shining Lamps, wasting the oil of their Health and Strength to enlighten and refresh us. In a word, that they do with Exod. 18.13. Moses, sit from Morning to Evening, to hear the Causes between man and man. And this brings me to the third part of the Text, the Judges Circuit,— Throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah. The third part of the Text. But what have fenced Cities to do with Judges? Fenced Cities have need of valiant Souldiers, and experienced Commanders; have need of swelling Granaries, and loaden magazines; have need of Vitruvius, to build strong Bulwarks; and of De Archimede. Vid. Plut. in vita Marcelli. Archimedes, to draw geometrical lines. Julius Caesar told the honest Tribune, who forbade him to break open the Roman Treasury, because it was against Law; Plut. in vita Julii Caesar. Julius Caesar told him, that the shrill sound of the Trumpet, and the rattling beat of the Drum, did so deafen his Ears, that he could not hear the voice of any Law. Yet notwithstanding all this, and much more that might be said, there is great necessity and abundant advantage, when Judges are appointed to visit all the fenced Cities of Judah. For a City may be fenced in the Halcyon dayes of Peace; a City may be fortified, when the Temple of Janus is shut; and the politic wisdom of Princes teacheth them, to provide as well against the Fraud of a pretended Ally, as against the watchful Malice of a proclaimed Enemy. It is something too late to draw Fortifications, when the Herald denounces war, and the Canon spits fire: And therefore 2 Reg. 23.9. 2 Chron. 19.15, 16. 2 Chron. 26.14, 17. David, and Solomon, and U●iah, did fence their Cities in time of Peace; and every Prince who is a Prometheus will do so. Preventing physic is the cheapest and the best physic. Now in this case, Judges are as needful and useful for fenced Cities, as their deep Trenches, and double Walls: Nay, they are more needful, and more strong defences, than all their Walls of ston or Earth; stronger than that brazen Wall, which common famed relates, the learned friar endeavoured by Magical skill to erect round about this famous iceland. Lycurgus the renowned Law-maker of Sparta was clearly of this judgement, and therefore Plut. in vita Lycur. forbade his Citizens to build any Walls about their Sparta, affirming, that good Laws duly executed were the strongest monuments to Towns or Cities; the which Truth was confirmed by real Experience, for( as Plutarch observes) Sparta, Plut. in vita Lysandri. which had no Walls, but good Laws, was longer lived, and more illustrious than Thebes, or Corinth, or Athens, or any other City of Greece, which had supposed invincible Fortifications. And this Truth is established by solid Reason: For as Impostumes within the Body, if they are not cured, do more certainly kill, than loathed Ulcers that are in the external parts: And as infected blood running in the channel of the Veins doth more speedily transfix the heart, than wide wounds which are exposed to the Eye; so Division, and Oppression, and Riots, and Debaucheries, and sordid vices within a City, do more certainly and speedily ruin a fenced City or Corporation, than Hannibal ante portas, than a threatening Enemy that beleaguers the Walls, or a bold Foe that throws a Granado into the Town, or strikes a Petard upon the Gates. needful then are Judges, even in fenced Cities, that they may be Healers of in-bred Divisions, Repairers of tumultuous Breaches, and Restorers of quiet paths to dwell in. Necessary be Judges, that they may charm with the rod of Mercury, the evil spirit of Violence, and punish with the glittering Sword of Justice, the impudence of incorrigible offenders. They are necessary to protect the Gown from the Buff; to shelter the un-armed Townsman, from the imperiousness and rapine of the Man of war, who would roar and swell like the raging Waves of the Sea, if Judges and Governours did not with the Trident of Law, assuage the fury of the thundering Tempest.— But my Text goes further— City by City. that is to say, Every City had Judges appointed for the composing of civil differences, and the punishing of notorious malefactours. Urbes noviter structae, Urbes bello acquisitae, &c. Cities which were newly built, and Cities which were lately conquered, have Judges appointed to determine in all Causes civil and capital, as the incomparable Grot. Annot. in loc. Grotius observes upon the Text. And this was a singular act of Prudence: For if there be no City, Town, or Corporation,( except in Sr. Thomas Moor's Eutopia) which is privileged in a moral sense, as Heylins Cosmogr. de Creta& Hibernia. Creet and Ireland are in an historical sense, from venomous Creatures; then there is an absolute necessity of providing the antidote of Law, and the amulet of Justice for every City, that the Good and virtuous be not stung to death by the flying Serpent of Oppression, or gnawn to the bones by the weeping Crocodile of hypocrisy. Poets do Hefiod. Virg. Ovid, &c, fable of the Golden Age, that it flourished sine Lege,& sine Judice, without Law, or Judges; and that Men were then so virtuous, that— Vindice nullo Sponte sua, sine lege, fidem, rectumque tenebant, — Paena metusque aberant. that men in those ancient times were honest and faithful of themselves; and that they were just without penal Laws, or fear of punishment. But that Age of Innocency is long ago expired, and we live in the Iron Age, where Facit indignatio Versum. Juvenal. Sat. 1 Num. 79. blushlesse crimes out-face the Sun. Where Faith and Truth are strangers, or else exiles; Where Fraud or Force do undermine, or storm; And therefore there is extreme need of Judges, and of Law, that the Augaean Stable may be cleansed; the stinking sinks of foul sins may be washed; that men may not be Cannibals, or else turn Brutes, and be like Monsters to tear and devour one another. For the body politic is in many regards like the body natural: And as the body natural doth every year contract some ill humours, and therefore hath sometimes need of incision, sometimes of purgation, sometimes of breathing a Vein, and sometimes of caustics, and sometimes of the amputating Saw, Ne pars sincera trahatur, lest the sound parts be gangrened; so it is in a City or Corporation, the diseases of Impiety and Iniquity abound, and like the crawling infects breed and multiply of themselves: and therefore there is a necessity of Judges and Magistrates, to be the blessed Aesculapius's to cure all these destroying Maladies; to cure the Tympany of Haec sunt septem peccata capitalia, ut numerantur à Canisio in cat. pag. 455. Pride, the dropsy of Covetousness, the Itch of Luxury, the imposthume of Envy, the Caninus appetitus of Gluttony, the fever of Wrath, and the Lethargy of Idleness. Need of Judges itinerant to visit a kingdom, City by City, that they may cure the Megrim of Disloyalty, the leprosy of Schism, the Frenzy of quarreling, the stinking Breath of false Witness, the Rheum of railing Language, and the palsy of a lying Tongue. Who knows not that Cities and Corporations are as Common-shores, wherein the filth of a kingdom runs? As great Rivers, which admit the streams of any muddy Rivulet to mingle with them; as vast boiling Pots, wherein there ariseth naturally abundance of Scum. In a kingdom there is foul-mouthed Swearing, Heaven-provoking Cursing, swinish Drinking, abominable Cheating, injurious Bargaining, false Conveyances, pretended Titles, cursed failing in Trust. In a kingdom there are bloody murders, impoverishing Thefts, frighting Burglaries, Soul-destroying Perjury, Religion-ruining Simony, execrable Treasons, and detestable sacrilege. Wherefore it is necessary to have Law and Judges in the Land, that these Impostumes may be lanced, that these Ulcers may be cured, that these pestilential Humours may be emptied, and these epidemical Diseases may be thoroughly purged by the sovereign Pill of Justice, Righteousness, and Equity. And it is high time that these ill Humours of 'vice and Wickedness be evacuated: For what a blazing Comet, in reference to the whole kingdom, is that universal Profaneness which abounds both in City, Town, and country With what dreadful rays doth it threaten t●● whole Nation? when as Gods holy ordinance the spiritual Manna of our Souls, is loathe● when Gods sacred Messengers, the Heralds ●● Evangelical Peace, are despised; when Gods divine Worship, which is the Quotidiana Oblatio, the daily Offering prophesied of by Malachy, Mal. 1.11. is not only omitted, but mocked at. And men make no account of their immortal Souls, more precious than ten thousand Worlds, but sell them, as profane Esau sold his Birth-right, Heb. 12.16. for a mess of Pottage, to gratify any worldly Interest, or carnal, momentary Pleasure. What a dismal Prognostication for the whole kingdom is the slighting of Authority, the speaking evil of Dignities, the murmuring of Corah's, the whispering of Miriam's, the refusing the Waters of Siloam, which run softly, and the impatient longings after the puddles of leveling Government in the Church, as the fickle and giddy Israelites did once long after the stinking Leeks and Onions of Egypt. Numb. 11.5. Certainly these prodigious Iniquities, these ominous Disorders, and these dangerous Presumptions, call aloud for the coercive Power of the Magistrate, who is {αβγδ}, the Minister of God, Rom. 13 4. {αβγδ}, the Revenger, to execute wrath on them that do evil. Certainly these heinous and monstrous Sins cry aloud in the Ears of our most Reverend Judges, for due execution of the Laws, without which God himself will enter into Judgement with us, and pled his own Cause in Thunder and Lightning, in Storms and Tempests, far more terrible than the late fiery Torrent of Aetna, which to the amazement of the World, consumed all that was before it. And doubtless it is most safe for Judges and Magistrates, Venienti occurrere Morbo, to meet a Disease, before the Malignity of it hath seized the Vitals; and to destroy the Cockatrice, whilst it is in the shell. I beseech you consider seriously, what dreadful flames have kindled from neglected sparks; and how many stately Ships have sunk by small neglected leaks. I may not, I must not enlarge— Cinthius aurem vellit, Virgil Eglog. 6. & admonuit. And so much for the third part of the Text, the Circuit of the Judges,— throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah, City by City. The fourth part of the Text. We should come to the last Part of the Text, which is the Commission of the Judges.— But that Part of the Text is the beginning of the next Verse, and therefore may be the Conclusion of my present Discourse. And the first particular in that part is the Caveat which King Jehoshaphat gives to the Judges, in these words— And he said to the Judges, Take heed what you do— Which Caveat given to such Wise, Reverend, and Learned Persons, should move me to reflect upon myself, and to take heed what I do, namely, lest I presume upon your Honoured Patience, and retard your Weighty Affairs, and public Concerns. Wherefore beseeching God to bless what hath been delivered, we humbly return to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, &c. FINIS. Books Printed for, and Sold by William Leak, at the Crown in Fleet-street, between the two Temple-Gates. folios. AN Exact Abridgement of the Records in the Tower of London, from the Reign of K ng Edward the Second, to King Richard the Third; of all the Parliaments holden in each Kings Reign, and the several Acts in every Parliament; Collected by Sir Robert Cotton, Knight and Barone●. {αβγδ}, or An Exposition of the Apostles Creed, in several Sermons, by William Nicholson now Lord Bishop of Gloucester. Davids Harp strung and tuned, or an Analysis of the whole Book of Psalms; by William Nicholson now Lord B shop of Gloucester. The Union of Honour; containing the Arms ●f the Nobility of England, with the Arms of the L●ncolnshire Gentlemen; by James York. quartos. A Bible of a very fair large Roman Letter. 40. Man become Guilty, or the Corruption of Nature by Sin; written originally in French by John Francis Senault, and put into English by Henry Earl of Monmouth. An Apology in the Defence of the Church of England, in Answer to the Admonitory Letter; by William Nicholson, now Lord Bishop of Gloucester. The Reading of that Famous and Learned Gentleman Robert Callis Esquire, sergeant at Law upon the Statute of Sewers. The Result of False Principles, or error convicted by its own evidence, written by Laurence Womack, D. D. Vienna and Paris, a Romance. The Posing of the Eight Parts of Speech. Large Octavo's. Mathematical Recreations, or a Collection of sundry problems out of ancient Philosophers; illustrated with divers Brass F●gures; by William Oughtred. Le Prince D' Amour, or the Prince of Love, with a Collection of several choice Songs and Poems. The making, use, and description of a Horizontal Dial, composed by de la Main Student in the Mathematick●. France Painted to the li●e, by Dr. Heylin. Lazarillo de Tormes, or the Hist●ry of the witty Spaniard, translated out of Spanish. The Garden of Eden, or an accurate description of all Flower and Fruits growing in England, in two parts; by Sir Hugh plate Knight. Meteors, or a plain description of all kind or Meteors, as well Fiery and Airy, as watery and Earthy, by William Fulke Doctor in Divinity. Mo●iae Encomium, or the praise of Folly; written originally in Latin, by Des. Erasmus of Roterdam, and translated into English by John Wilson Gent. Fo●t royal of the Holy Scripture, or new Concordance of the chief Heads of Scripture complaced, the 3d. Edition, by J. H. Co derius Dialogues Grammatically translated, by John Brinsley. Twelves. Solitary Devotions, or the Mount of Olives, by Henry Vaughan. Silurist, with an excellent discourse of the blessed state of Man in Glory, by anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. Flamma sine Fumo, or Poems without fi●tions; by Rowland Watkins. The Rights of the People concerning Impositions, Stated in a learned Argument, by a late Eminent Judge of this Nation.